(electronic instrumental music)

Music wars, television scandals, movie masterpieces

and major disappointments 2015 had it all,

so let's look at Wired's five top entertainment stories

for the year 2015.

At number five, we got Taylor Swift.

The 25-year-old pop singer brought Apple

to its knees this year by threatening

to withhold her massive album 1989

from Apple's new streaming service.

Swift actually forced the tech giant

to reconsider its policy and pay artists royalties

during its free three-month trial period.

T. Swift one, Apple zero.

In at number four is the idea

that Marvel's cinematic universe might actually

be stalling out a little bit.

(upbeat instrumental music)

The latest Avengers movie was

an uncharacteristic stumble in the studio.

Marvel Comics, good.

Blockbuster movies, good.

Joss Whedon, good, yet Age of Ultron

was kind of a boring formulated mess.

At number three, we turn to the small screen.

Did you kill Joffrey?

Game of Thrones netted its biggest audience ratings ever

for the Season Five finale with eight million viewers.

But, all everyone was talking about

was that rape scene a few episodes back.

Wired's take, Game of Thrones' use of rape

as a plot device was actually just lazy.

And while rape scenes might seen edgy,

it's really just poor writing.

It's been a huge year for VR,

so naturally it comes in the number two spot.

Virtual reality took off in a big way

as small outfits began churning out

their first VR films.

We got our first look at one of the best

of these offerings this summer

when Oculus' Story Studio released Henry,

its CGI VR experience.

Why are we so excited?

Because offered a glimpse at what filmmaking

could look like in the near-future.

And in a huge upset, unprecedented,

our number one story of the year

is about this little art house movie,

Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Months, no, years of anticipation made December 18th

the biggest day of the year.

Let's hope that Disney and Lucas Films' efforts

to resuscitate the Star Wars franchise

means we won't live to see the last Star Wars movie.

What a way to end the year.

(electronic whoosh)