Pixelmator, Beyonce, 'Guardians of the Galaxy' & 'Fargo' lead Apple's iTunes Best of 2014 awards

AppleInsider

Apple on Monday debuted its curated list of the best content available from its various digital platforms, including apps, music, movies, books, podcasts and more.

Leading the way for the iPad was photo editing tool Pixelmator, a longtime Mac application that debuted on Apple's tablet in October. Top honors on the iPhone went to Elevate - Brain Training.

On the music front, Beyonce was the top artist, while "1989" by Taylor Swift was named the top album. "Guardians of the Galaxy" was recognized as the best blockbuster movie, while "Fargo" won "TV Show of the Year."

The full list of Apple's Best of 2014 is included below:

iPad apps

iPad App of the Year: Pixelmator
iPad Game of the Year: Monument Valley

iPhone apps

iPhone App of the Year: Elevate - Brain Training
iPhone Game of the Year: Threes!

Music

Best Artist: Beyonce
Best Album: "1989" - Taylor Swift
Best Song: "Fancy" (feat. Charli XCX) - Iggy Azalea
Best New Artist: Sam Smith, "In the Lonely Hour" (Deluxe Version)

Movies

Best Blockbuster: "Guardians of the Galaxy"
Best Family Movie: "The LEGO Movie"
Best Director: Richard Linklater, "Boyhood"
Best Discovery: "Obvious Child"

Television

TV Show of the Year: "Fargo"
Best Performances: "True Detective"
Best Discovery: "The Honorable Woman"
Best Breakthrough: "Key & Peele"

Podcasts

Best Classic Podcast: Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Best New Podcast: Serial

Books

Favorite Fiction: "All the Light We Cannot See" - Anthony Doerr
Favorite Nonfiction: "The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace" - Jeff Hobbs

thewhitefalcon

I can agree with the app choices, but a big no on the music. Yech.

The TV shows, I have no idea. Movies, didn't bother to see the latest Marvel cashin, but I'm fine with the Lego Movie being on the list.

ifij775

The podcasts are the only category I've actually used. Good to see I'm not totally out of touch

ericthehalfbee

"The hairy one's a dude. Oh, and the metal one too. All dudes."

zaba

How do you define 'best'? Should it be popular or most downloaded, bought, highest star ratings etc.. Or someone at Apple's personal favourites. You should not use the term best unless you have something to quantify it with. Sorry, I'm bored smiley face.

macpro

It always saddens me that Color-It, the all American company out of Des Moines never really succeeded as a Photoshop alternative for those needing less power at a great price. Hats off to Pixelmator but Color-It offered so much back then and if it could have made it through the dark days of the almost death of the Mac, should have risen again and by now would have no doubt been a huge success with the App Store model. It is a shame the programmers didn't manage to regroup and get funded to do so. I often wonder what happened to the code. I see the old version can still be purchased in an early incarnation.

conrail

No love for U2? Seemed like everyone was downloading their new album this year.

yojimbo007

Elevate it pretty cool!

asdasd

Fargo was good to great.

asdasd

Talking of the free U2 download - here is what Noel Gallagher had to say on the issue.

 

All this started with Radiohead didn't it, and people have been reacting to that ever since... I remember the Kaiser Chiefs were like, 'Make your own record, we'll give you a pound.' What? You're giving people a pound?! It remains to be seen how Coldplay react to it. I firmly believe we'll all get a knock on the door at some point over the next two years and Chris [Martin] will be stood there. And he'll say, 'Alright man, you know, here's a Coldplay album.' And you'll go, 'Thanks.' And there's a ladder and he'll say, 'Bass player's just fixing the guttering, Johnny's round the back, he's doing the gardening and I think Will's going to put the recycling out, so enjoy.' And then he'll come back and say, 'Oh, I forgot – here's a tenner.' Who knows what's going to happen. But for the record, no-one's getting anything out of me for free.