My Year In…

We made it to the end of 2021 in one piece, dear readers. It may have been extremely tough at times but we made it! Before we ring in the New Year, we decided to close the chapter on 2021 in style by summing up the best of the very best of the things we loved this year. Normally, we do a Monthly Round Up but to celebrate the end of the year we decided to do something just a little different. So sit back, relax and get ready to read Our Year In… Special!

Music

This year our Spotify and Youtube Yearly Round Up felt that little bit more special. In a year where live music began to resurface, it was Spotify, Youtube and our CDs that got us through the good, the bad and the ugly of the year. Between us, we listened to well over 800 different artists in over a dozen different genres. In terms of live gigs this year, collectively we made it to nine gigs despite others being rescheduled and COVID ruining a few too!

Top 10 Most Listened to Artists this year (streaming services)

E:1. League of Legends 2. Wild Youth 3. Taylor Swift 4. Dermot Kennedy 5. Billie Eilish 6. Lady Gaga 7. Niall Horan 8. Chasing Abbey 9. Imagine Dragons 10. Hudson Taylor

N:1. Chasing Abbey 2. Only The Poets 3. Wild Youth 4. Taylor Swift 5. Ryan Mack 6. Roisin O 7. Aoife Scott 8. Wrenn 9. Hudson Taylor 10. Yiruma

Top 10 Most Streamed Songs

E:1. Me Too – Meghan Trainor 2. STAY (feat. Justin Bieber) – The Kid LAROI 3. Inferno (feat. Bella Poarch) – Sub Urban 4. Can’t Say No – Wild Youth 5. Next To You – Wild Youth 6. The Phoenix – Fall Out Boy 7. Dirty Little Animals – Bones UK 8. edamame (feat. Rich Brian) – bbno$ 9. 2011 – 5 Seconds of Summer 10. Build A B*tch – Bella Poarch

N:1. ‘Defeated’ Chasing Abbey 2. ‘Older’ Lea Heart 3. ‘Looking At You’ Only The Poets 4. ‘Lately’ Chasing Abbey 5. ‘Waking In The Dark’ Only The Poets 6. ‘Giants’ Dermot Kennedy 7. ‘Heart & Bones’ Roisin O 8. ‘Good Without’ Mimi Webb 9. ‘She Wins, I Loose’ Ryan Mack 10. ‘The Hurt You Gave Me’ Robert Grace

Top 5 Most Artists Listened to via CDs (if listening via CD)

E: 1. The Coronas 2. Dermot Kennedy 3. Taylor Swift 4. Billie Eilish 5. 5 Seconds of Summer

N: 1. Aoife Scott 2. Roisin O 3. Niall Horan. 4. Only The Poets. 5. Taylor Swift

Gaming

Your Top 5 played Games in 2021

Gaming is a big part of what we love to do and 2021 was the year we both were fortunate to get our PS5’s. Although Emma also has her Nintendo Switch which gives us a few more games to choose from. Here are our top picks for this year!

E: 1. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End 2. Spider-Man 3. F1 2021 4. Assassin’s Creed: Origin 5. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

N: 1. The Immortals: Fenyx Rising 2. Final Fantasy VII: Remastered 3. F1 20214. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart 5. Life Is Strange: True Colours

Books

Your Top 5 Books you read in 2021

If music is the gateway to the soul then books are the key to our minds. There is a mixture of new and old releases on this list as we spent some time re-visiting a number of our favourite books and reading a few titles that have been released prior to this year.

E: 1. ‘Kingdom of the Wicked’ by Kerri Maniscalco 2. ‘Go the Distance’ by Jen Calonita 3. ‘I Shall Wear Midnight’ by Terry Pratchett 4. ‘Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold’ by Stephen Fry 5. ‘The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes’ by Suzanne Collins

N: 1. ‘You Will Get Through This Night’ Daniel Howell 2. ‘Firekeeper’s Daughter’s by Angeline Boulley 3. ‘Afterparties’ by Anthony Veasna So 4. ‘A Hug For You’ by David King 5. ‘A State Of Emergency: The Story of Ireland’s Covid Crisis’ by Richard Chambers

Movies & TV

Your Top 5 TV Shows in 2021

This year was dominated by some of our favourite fantasy books being made into TV Shows, Disney Plus original series and what we can only describe as the Marvel take over! It was also the year Niamh decided to let the Norwegian side of Netflix take over her viewing habits. It is safe to say we watched a lot of TV shows this year but only five could come out on top!

E: 1. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier 2. Wandavision 3. Only Murders in the Building 4. Hawkeye 5. Titans

N: 1. Loki 2. The Wheel of Time 3. Only Murders in the Building 4. Hawkeye 5. Ragnarok

Your Top 5 Movies in 2021

Movies are a great source of entertainment regardless of how you feel and, this year, the superheroes made moves to dominate again but the heroes don’t always have to win, right? It also helps that Emma hasn’t seen No Way Home yet. So, let’s see what box office smashes did make an appearance in our favourite 2021 movies.

E: 1. Encanto 2. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 3. Black Widow 4. No Time To Die 5. Dune

N: 1. Spiderman: No Way Home 2. No Time To Die 3. Promising Young Woman 4. Dune 5. Last Night In Soho

Events

This year saw a return to live performances to a certain extent and we just want to acknowledge all the acts we actually managed to see this year. Musicians of all kinds were hugely affected by lockdowns and half capacity venues so, as a way of recognising their strength and commitment to their work, these are the amazing acts we saw this year

Róisín O, Rachel Grace, Wild Youth, Aoife Scott, Moxie, Dea Matrona, Hudson Taylor, Paper Planes, Chasing Abbey, Isaac Anderson and Only the Poets.