Only two of last year’s biggest hits were written without outside help. Guess who?
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Nope, for once, it’s not Adele.

Some will see this as evidence of a masterclass in A&R.

Others will see it as a sad indictment of the over-manufactured world of modern pop.

MBW has analysed the Top 10-selling tracks across the US, UK and Australia last year to see which of these hits were written solely by their featured artist.

There are 16 tracks featured across the three Top Tens in total, and just two of them were completely self-penned by the person officially performing them.

The first is Fetty Wap’s Trap Queen, the seventh most downloaded song in the US last year, according to Nielsen.

Not only was this track 100% written by Fetty Wap, aka Willie Maxwell, but it was also solely produced by Tony Fadd. Impressive.

The other track amongst the 16 solely written by an artist was Hozier’s Take Me To Church, the No.3 biggest single in the UK in 2015 despite originally being released back in 2013.

It was also the No.4 track in Australia last year, largely owing to its persistent popularity on streaming services such as Spotify.

As for the other 14 tracks – or the other 87.5% for stat fans – they all involved a third-party songwriter who was not a featured artist.

This cross-pollination appears to be more organic in some cases than in others.

Major Lazer’s Lean On, for example, wouldn’t be the song we know today without an instrumental written by Jr Blender, a long-time collaborator and friend – but not a featured performer.

Elsewhere, throughout the below Top 10s, you’ll spot some regular industry songwriting hit machines, from Max Martin to Dr Luke and Jeff Bhasker.

The biggest hit in all three territories was Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars’ omnipresent Uptown Funk, co-written with Bhasker, Philip Lawrence and others.

It’s perhaps worth bearing in mind that this week the music business lost a universally beloved hero in David Bowie.

Here are just a few of the tracks Bowie wrote all on his own (aided by some stellar production and musicians, of course): Starman, Changes, Life On Mars?, The Jean Genie, Rebel Rebel, Let’s Dance, Modern Love, Absolute Beginners and Sound & Vision.

All massive hits. There were many more like them.

See? It can be done.

US Top 10 (Billboard/Nielsen Digital Songs)

  1. Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars – ‘Uptown Funk’ (Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars + Jeff Bhasker, Philip Lawrence and more)
  2. Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud (Ed Sheeran + Amy Wadge)
  3. Wiz Khalifa feat Charlie Puth – See You Again (Wiz Khalifa & Charlie Puth + DJ Frank E and Andrew Cedar)
  4. Adele – Hello (Adele + Greg Kurstin)
  5. Maroon 5 – Sugar (Maroon 5 + Dr Luke, Cirkut and more)
  6. Walk The Moon – Shut Up And Dance (Walk The Moon + Ben Berger and Ryan McMahon)
  7. Fetty Wap – Trap Queen (Fetty Wap aka Willie Maxwell)
  8. Omi – Cheerleader (Omi + Mark Bradford, Ryan Dillon and more)
  9. The Weeknd – The Hills (The Weeknd + Ahmed Balshe, Emmanuel Nickerson)
  10. Taylor Swift feat Kendrick Lamar – Bad Blood (Taylor Swift & Kendrick Lamar + Max Martin, Shellback)

UK Top 10 (Official Charts Company)

  1. Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk (Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars + Jeff Bhasker, Philip Lawrence and more)
  2. Omi – Cheerleader [Felix Jaehn Remix] (Omi + Mark Bradford, Ryan Dillon and more)
  3. Hozier – Take Me To Church (Hozier)
  4. Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do (Ellie Goulding + Max Martin, Savan Kotech and more)
  5. Wiz Khalifa ft Charlie Puth – See You Again (Wiz Khalifa & Charlie Puth + DJ Frank E and Andrew Cedar)
  6. Adele – Hello (Adele + Greg Kurstin)
  7. Major Lazer ft Mo & DJ Snake – Lean On (Major Lazer, MØ & DJ Snake + Martin Bresso, Jr Blender)
  8. James Bay – Hold Back The River (James Bay + Iain Archer)
  9. Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean (Justin Bieber + Jason Boyd, Mason Levy)
  10. Justin Bieber – Sorry (Justin Bieber + Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter)

Australia Top 10 (ARIA)

  1.  Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk (Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars + Jeff Bhasker, Philip Lawrence and more)
  2. Omi – Cheerleader [Felix Jaehn Remix] (Omi + Mark Bradford, Ryan Dillon and more)
  3. Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth – See You Again (Wiz Khalifa & Charlie Puth + DJ Frank E and Andrew Cedar)
  4. Hozier – Take Me To Church (Hozier)
  5. Adele – Hello (Adele + Greg Kurstin)
  6. Major Lazer Featuring MØ & DJ Snake – Lean On (Major Lazer, MØ & DJ Snake + Martin Bresso)
  7. Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do (Ellie Goulding + Max Martin, Savan Kotech and more)
  8. Walk The Moon – Shut Up & Dance (Walk The Moon + Ben Berger and Ryan McMahon)
  9. Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean? (Justin Bieber + Jason Boyd, Mason Levy)
  10. Rihanna, Paul McCartney & Kanye West – FourFiveSeconds (Paul McCartney, Kanye West + Dallas Austin, Kirby Dockery and more)

Music Business Worldwide

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