It's been an awful year in the music world just everywhere else. Bookended by the deaths of legends like David Bowie and George Michael, we also lost artists across the musical spectrum including Leonard Cohen, Phife Dawg, Glenn Frey, Merle Haggard, Maurice White, Sharon Jones and Prince.
But as painful as it was to be a music fan in 2016, it's also been rewarding thanks to the great songs that came out this year —from Bowie's farewell address "Lazarus" which arrived three days before his death to Cohen's "You Want It Darker" just 11 months later.
In a year marked by a Trumpian "whitelash," black artists took over popular music from the apolitical pop of Drake and the Weeknd to agit-pop by Beyonce and her sister Solange. The year also welcomed a Polaris Prize-winning multi-genre of music from Montrealer Kaytranada, the "Ultralight"-fuelled star turn by Chance the Rapper and even a Tribe Called Quest comeback.
Electronic music kept going strong with great tracks from Canadians like Keys N Krates and indigenous DJ crew A Tribe Called Red, whose "We Are The Halluci Nation" album is sure to rack up well-deserved awards in 2017.
Then there was 2016's best (and least appreciated) album: Rihanna's "Anti," where the superstar turned into a legacy act by blowing off the pop game for good.
Music was maybe the year's only saving grace, and here are the best songs of 2016 (and also a longer Spotify playlist):