This year has been a brilliant one for music, but never are we brought more alive by beautiful voices and lyrics than when they're brought to the stage for a live performance. Here are some of the best we've been lucky enough to witness this past year…
Adam Levine / Credit: FAMOUS
The 1975 with the BBC Philharmonic - Live Lounge
The 1975 have had an incredible year, releasing their second studio album 'I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it' in February to mass critical acclaim. Frontman Matthew Healy had been teasing the record since 2014, releasing lyrics to some of the new material via Twitter in a series of mysterious tweets. You can check out their incredible hour-long Live Lounge performance with the BBC Philharmonic, which followed their BBC Music award-winning cover of One Direction's 'What Makes You Beautiful' earlier in the year.
Lady Gaga - 'Million Reasons' - Live from the American Music Awards
Lady Gaga has proven time and time again she's much more than your typical popstar. For a start she's always delivered utterly stellar vocals when she takes to the stage, whether she's doing an upbeat number or a more sombre one like the above performance of 'Million Reasons'. This year has seen her release new album 'Joanne' and once again go in a brand new direction with her mainstream-release music. She's a country gal and a rock star rolled into one, and we're sure she'll continue to push the boundaries of music genres moving forward. For that she should be celebrated.
Matt Terry and Nicole Scherzinger/Adam Levine - 'Purple Rain' - Live from The X Factor finale/Howard Stern's Birthday Bash
We may raise some eyebrows with this one, but on your first listen of Matt and Nicole's incredible collaboration during the X Factor 2016 finale you're guaranteed to get goosebumps. The two perfectly blend their vocals together and ensure that everybody in attendance feels the spirit of the late musician Prince running through their veins. It's a beautiful tribute to a genius of a man, which we're sure he would have been extremely proud of. For some reason, The X Factor haven't uploaded the duet to YouTube, so enjoy this 'Purple Rain' performance from the equally brilliant Adam Levine, instead!
Robbie Williams' special one-off show - BRITs Icon Award celebration
Robbie Williams is a performer this country can be proud of. Throughout his career he's managed to remain one of the most interesting and flexible artists of our generation, releasing album after album and successfully storming up the charts with every new release. This year, the BRITs decided to award him with the BRITs Icon accolade, reserved for only the best in the business. Of course, with Robbie the whole thing had to be a spectacle, so a one-hour one-off special was dedicated to him in which he performed live and looked back at his career through a selection of clips and footage.
Little Mix - 'Black Magic' - Live at The BRIT Awards 2016
Little Mix are a girl group who can never be accused of doing things by halves. This year they've been hit with stupid criticisms about their choices of outfits during performances - because who would want to see a woman proud of her body shape, right? - but we only want to celebrate the girls for everything they've got. Taking to the BRIT Award stage at the beginning of the year to sing one of this year's most infectious songs, 'Black Magic', they put on a show-stopping performance and blew everybody away.
What have been some of your favourite live performances throughout the year? Let us know in the comments section below!