Formusic fans,2016 wasthe most emotional ofsongs.

Itsmelody knewno stylistic boundaries, crossing over from pop to rock to R&B and beyond. Wecelebrated genius while mourning itsdeath in pretty much everymusical genre.

Welost four true titans—David Bowie, Merle Haggard, Prince and Leonard Cohen — all of whomhailed from different corners of the musical universe.

Forsure, no year is ever without its losses, yet2016 was different. The painful butincreasingly relevantquestion of “Who’snext?” madesome of us hesitantto check social media, for fear the answer would come viaTwitter or Facebook.

Thenews began on the firstday of 2016, as word quickly spread that Natalie Cole had died of heart failure. January turned out to be a particularly cruel month, as fans said goodbye to the Eagles’ Glenn Freyand Jefferson Airplane’sPaul Kantner justas the year gotstarted.

But it wasBowie’sdeath on Jan. 10, following a long battlewith liver cancer, thatresounded like a thunderclap across theplanet. It was one of those

Julya Baer, right, 30, is emotional during a candlelight vigil in Leimert Park in memory of musician Prince on April 21 in Los Angeles.