20 good things that happened in 2017

7. Chance the Rapper helped to revolutionize the music industry

This year, the Grammy Awards allowed streaming-only albums to be considered for its awards. This opened to door for Chance the Rapper, a wildly popular but unsigned artist, to get serious recognition. He won three awards: Best New Artist, Best Rap Album, and Best Rap Performance.

This is seriously big news, considering how the music industry has become increasingly difficult to break into. Artists have previously toiled to gain recognition and get signed with a major label before they can even hope to receive an award like a Grammy.

This meant that executives and other people within the music industry held a lot of power. Oftentimes, they can set stringent guidelines for how an artist creates their work, all in the name of selling more albums.

With the success of someone like Chance the Rapper, however, things are clearly changing. Not only is it now possible for unsigned artists to make it big, but they can do so with far more creative control.

Chance the Rapper’s album, Coloring Book, led to him being hailed as one of the most compelling rappers of his generation. It debuted at number 8 on Billboard’s Top 200 list in 2016. Just a year before, he had snagged a spot performing on Saturday Night Live — the first unsigned artist ever to do that. That’s all exciting enough, but gets even more so when you learn that Chance (a.k.a. Chancelor Bennett) turned down multiple record deals to maintain control.

Instead, he continued to release tracks on Soundcloud and social media. His work has evolved through a range of different styles, from rap to jazz, to Christian rock, to gospel music. No matter the genre, it’s just seriously good music.