This looks like a pic she took in 2013???
That said, it's interesting that they would pick an artist who didn't even rank top 5 in any major categories or even top 3 in their own genre categories.
It makes me believe that the weeknd/drake/ed sheeran/taylor swift were not willing to do an interview at this time because surely a year end cover would typically make more sense to have the biggest or at least one of the 3 biggest stars of that year on the cover.
Then again, I'm not sure if they have always chosen top 3/5 candidates to be on the cover prior year end issues.