It’s almost time to say goodbye to 2019 and the horse it rode in on — or the horse that dominated the conversation: Lil Nas X’s. The year in pop has been largely defined by a gay black man peddling country tropes, an all-shapes-and-sizes-glorifying soul shouter and a waif who felt like Kate Bush reincarnated into a rock ’n’ roll high school valedictorian. Which is to say: hardly defined at all. As Hitmaker of the Year Billie Eilish tells it, 2019 was “pretty genre-less. This year has been about accepting or just being open to new stuff that doesn’t necessarily have a specific sound.” Adds her producer-brother Finneas O’Connell: “There aren’t a lot of sound-alikes. Even the top five that we were in for a minute, where it was ‘Bad Guy,’ ‘Old Town Road,’ ‘Señorita’ and ‘Truth Hurts’ — those are pretty different songs, right?” Yes, and with pretty different teams behind them, all with a talent for turning the slightly peculiar into the monumentally popular. Here’s to the creatives and execs who fed us hits so eccentric but memorable that the world may still be grooving to them when Lil Nas has bought his farm and Eilish is deep into her dotage.
See the full list of Hitmakers below and head over to the gallery to read individual capsules and check out the corresponding chart of the most-consumed songs of 2019 here.
| Category | Hitmaker | Artist | Song |
| Songwriter | Amy Allen | Halsey | “Without Me” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Benny Blanco | Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello
Benny Blanco, Halsey & Khalid |
“Señorita”
“Eastside” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Tommy Brown | Ariana Grande | “7 Rings”
“Thank U, Next” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Cashmere Cat | Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello
Benny Blanco, Halsey & Khalid |
“Señorita”
“Eastside” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Cirkut | Ava Max | “Sweet but Psycho” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Cook Classics | Panic! at the Disco
Ava Max |
“High Hopes”
“Sweet but Psycho” |
| Producer | Mike Dean | Travis Scott | “Sicko Mode” |
| Producers-Songwriters | Disclosure | Khalid | “Talk” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Frank Dukes | Post Malone
Jonas Brothers |
“Wow”
“Sucker” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Finneas | Billie Eilish | “Bad Guy” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Charlie Handsome | Khalid | “Better” |
| Songwriter | Sam Hollander | Panic! at the Disco | “High Hopes” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Jonas Jeberg | Panic! at the Disco | “High Hopes” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Ilya | Ariana Grande | “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” |
| Songwriter | Jozzy | Lil Nas X | “Old Town Road” |
| Songwriter | Ilsey Juber | Panic! at the Disco | “High Hopes” |
| Songwriter | Savan Kotecha | Ariana Grande | “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” |
| Songwriter | Madison Love | Ava Max | “Sweet but Psycho” |
| Songwriter | Victoria Monet | Ariana Grande | “7 Rings”
“Thank U, Next” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Jimmy Napes | Sam Smith & Normani | “Dancing With a Stranger” |
| Songwriter | Tayla Parx | Ariana Grande
Panic! at the Disco |
“7 Rings” and “Thank U, Next
“High Hopes” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Ricky Reed | Lizzo | “Truth Hurts” |
| Songwriter | Anthony Rossomando | Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper | “Shallow” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Jake Sinclair | Panic! at the Disco | “High Hopes” |
| Producers-Songwriters | Stargate | Sam Smith & Normani | “Dancing With a Stranger” |
| Songwriter | Ali Tamposi | Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello | “Señorita” |
| Producer | T-Minus | J. Cole | “Middle Child” |
| Producers | Taz Taylor & Nick Mira | Lil Tecca | “Ransom” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Billy Walsh | Post Malone
Post Malone & Swae Lee |
“Wow”
“Sunflower” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Andrew Watt | Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello
Benny Blanco, Halsey & Khalid |
“Señorita”
“Eastside” |
| Producer-Songwriter | Wheezy | Meek Mill f. Drake | “Going Bad” |
| A&R | Joey Arbagey, Epic Records | Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello | “Señorita” |
| A&R | Tyler Arnold, Republic Records | Post Malone & Swae Lee | “Wow””Sunflower” |
| A&R | Tunji Balogun, RCA Records | Khalid | “Talk” and “Better” |
| A&R | Ziggy Chareton, Island Records | Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello | “Señorita” |
| A&R | Brandon Davis, Atlantic Records | Lizzo | “Truth Hurts” |
| A&R | Caroline “Baroline” Diaz | DaBaby | “Suge” |
| A&R | Edgar “Edd Grand” Machuca, Artist Partner Group | Halsey | “Without Me” |
| A&R | Dallas Martin, Atlantic Records | Meek Mill f. Drake | “Going Bad” |
| A&R | Rob Stevenson, Republic Records | Post Malone
Post Malone & Swae Lee |
“Wow”
“Sunflower” |
| A&R | Julian Swirsky, Republic Records | Lil Tecca | “Ransom” |
| A&R | Evan Taubenfeld, Crush | Panic! at the Disco | “High Hopes” |
| A&R | Jeremy Vuernick, Capitol Music Group | Halsey
Marshmello & Bastille |
“Without Me”
“Happier” |
| A&R | Wendy Goldstein, Republic Records | Ariana Grande
Jonas Brothers |
“7 Rings”
“Thank U, Next” “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” “Sucker” |
| Executives | Toby Andrews, Astralwerks | Marshmello & Bastille | “Happier” |
| Executives | Mike Caren, Artist Partner Group | Ava Max | “Sweet but Psycho” |
| Executives | Ethiopia Habtemariam, Motown | Lil Baby f. Gunna | “Drip Too Hard” |
| Executives | Justin Lubliner, The Darkroom | Billie Eilish | “Bad Guy” |
| Executives | Angie Pagano, Artist Partner Group | Ava Max | “Sweet but Psycho” |
| Executives | Jim Roppo, Republic Records | Post Malone
Post Malone & Swae Lee Ariana Grande Lil Tecca |
“Wow”
“Sunflower” “7 Rings” & “Thank U, Next” “Ransom” |
| Executives | Ron Perry, Columbia Records | Lil Nas X | “Old Town Road” |
| Executives | Dana Sano, Republic Records | Post Malone & Swae Lee | “Sunflower” |
| Executives | Astrid Taylor, Mad Love Records and Friends Keep Secrets | Benny Blanco, Halsey & Khalid | “Eastside” |
| Management | Jason Aron and Anthony Li, Anti-Pop | Halsey | “Without Me” |
| Management | Scooter Braun & Allison Kaye, SB Projects | Ariana Grande | “7 Rings”
“Thank U, Next” “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” |
| Management | Andrew Gertler, AG Artists | Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello | “Señorita” |
| Management | Roger Gold, Gold Music Management | Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello | “Señorita” |
| Management | Dre London, London Ent. | Post Malone
Post Malone & Swae Lee |
“Wow”
“Sunflower” |
| Management | Kevin Beisler & Brandon Creed, Full Stop Management | Lizzo | “Truth Hurts” |
| Management | Scott Nagelberg, Crush | Panic! at the Disco | “High Hopes” |
| Management | Adam Leber & Gee Roberson, Maverick | Lil Nas X | “Old Town Road” |
| Management | Danny Rukasin & Brandon Goodman | Billie Eilish | “Bad Guy” |
| Management | Phil McIntyre, Philymack | Jonas Brothers | “Sucker” |
| Management | Moe Shalizi, The Shalizi Group | Marshmello & Bastille | “Happier” |
| Management | Courtney Stewart, Right Hand Music Group | Khalid | “Talk” and “Better” |
| Promotion | Juliette Jones, Atlantic Records | Meek Mill f. Drake | “Going Bad” |
| Promotion | Larry Khan & Nino Cuccinello, Interscope | J. Cole
DaBaby |
“Middle Child”
“Suge” |
| Promotion | Geo Bivins, RCA Records | Khalid | “Talk” and “Better” |
| Promotion | Bill Evans, Capitol Music Group | Lil Baby f. Gunna | “Drip Too Hard” |
| Promotion | Andrea Ganis, Atlantic Records | Ava Max | “Sweet but Psycho” |
| Promotion | Lori Giamela & Kevin Valentini | Khalid | “Talk” and “Better” |
| Promotion | David ‘Davey Dee’ Ingenloff, Republic Records | Post Malone
Post Malone & Swae Lee |
“Wow”
“Sunflower” |
| Promotion | Greg Marella, Capitol Music Group | Halsey
Marshmello & Bastille Sam Smith & Normani |
“Without Me”
“Happier” “Dancing With a Stranger” |
| Promotion | Brenda Romano, Interscope | Billie Eilish
Benny Blanco, Halsey & Khalid Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper |
“Bad Guy”
“Eastside” “Shallow” |
| Promotion | Ayelet Schiffman, Island | Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello | “Señorita” |
| Promotion | Gary Spangler, Republic Records | Ariana Grande
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello |
“7 Rings,” “Thank U, Next”
“Señorita” |
| Promotion | Dixie Tipton, Capitol Records | Lil Baby f. Gunna | “Drip Too Hard” |
| Publishing | Shawn Holiday, Sony/ATV | Lil Nas X
Travis Scott |
“Old Town Road”
“Sicko Mode |
| Publishing | Lillia Parsa, UMPG | Halsey | “Without Me” |
| Publishing | Ryan Press, Warner Chappell | Post Malone & Swae Lee | “Sunflower” |
| Publishing | Casey Robison, Big Deal Music Group | Lizzo
Panic! at the Disco |
“Truth Hurts”
“High Hopes” |
| Publishing | Darryl Watts, Universal Music Publishing Group |
Marshmello & Bastille | “Happier” |
| Marketing & Commerce | Michael Alexander, Republic, Def Jam and Island | Post Malone
Post Malone & Swae Lee Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello |
“Wow”
“Sunflower” “Señorita” |
| Marketing & Commerce | Matt Bernal, Republic Records | Post Malone
Post Malone & Swae Lee Lil Tecca |
“Wow”
“Sunflower” “Ransom” |
| Marketing & Commerce | Jordan Blaugrund, RCA Records | Khalid | “Talk” and “Better” |
| Marketing & Commerce | Marleny Dominguez-Reyes & Donna Grynn, Republic Records | Post Malone
Ariana Grande Lil Tecca |
“Wow”
“7 Rings,” “Thank U, Next” “Ransom” |
| Marketing & Commerce | Mike Horton, Republic Records | Post Malone
Ariana Grande Lil Tecca |
“Wow”
“7 Rings,” “Thank U, Next” “Ransom” |
| Marketing & Commerce | Tim Hrycyshyn, Republic Records | Post Malone
Ariana Grande Lil Tecca |
“Wow”
“7 Rings,” “Thank U, Next” “Ransom” |
| Marketing & Commerce | Kevin Lipson, Republic Records |
Post Malone
Ariana Grande Lil Tecca |
“Wow”
“7 Rings,” “Thank U, Next” “Ransom” |
| Marketing & Commerce | Kerri Mackar, Republic Records |
Post Malone
Post Malone & Swae Lee |
“Wow”
“Sunflower” |
| Marketing & Commerce | Brooks Roach, Atlantic Records | Ava Max | “Sweet but Psycho” |
| Marketing & Commerce | Grace James, Atlantic Records | Lizzo | “Truth Hurts” |
| Media | Joseph Carozza, Marisa Bianco, Beau Benton, Republic Records | Post Malone
Ariana Grande Lil Tecca |
“Wow”
“7 Rings,” “Thank U, Next” “Ransom” |