twostepcub's music chart for December 24, 2010...

Happy Christmas, everyone, and it's time for my top tunes of the week. This week Bruno Mars has a fifth week at number one, while Linkin Park (pictured above) make it into the top-5. Songs by Chris Willis, Rihanna, and Steven Lee make the biggest jumps (moves of more than 10 places in red), while former big hits by Sugarland, Alex Gaudino, Jimmy Eat World, and Mike Posner drop out. Link-O-Rama is still in effect, so you can click on the highlighted names of any of the artists to go to their websites to check out more information on them (right click, and you can bring it up on another tab or window!) It's time for Snowcopalyse 2010!

This Week Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses)
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1. Just The Way You Are - Bruno Mars (1)
2. Only Girl (In The World) - Rihanna (2)
3. Raise Your Glass - Pink (4)
4. Waiting For The End - Linkin Park (6)
5. Tighten Up - The Black Keys (9)
6. Teenage Dream - Katy Perry (5)
7. If I Die Young - The Band Perry (3)
8. Secrets - OneRepublic (8)
9. Firework - Katy Perry (19)
10. Animal - Neon Trees (10)
11. Radioactive - Kings Of Leon (7)
12. Just A Dream - Nelly (12)
13. Like A G6 - Far East Movement f/Cataracs & Dev (14)
14. Mama's Song - Carrie Underwood (16)
15. As She's Walking Away - Zac Brown Band f/Alan Jackson (11)
16. Barbra Streisand - Duck Sauce (20)
17. Rhythm Of Love - Plain White T's (17)
18. Give A Little More - Maroon 5 (22)
19. DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love - Usher f/Pitbull (15)
20. For The First Time - The Script (24)
21. Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons (13)
22. Say You'll Haunt Me - Stone Sour (18)
23. Dynamite - Taio Cruz (21)
24. Turn On The Radio - Reba McEntire (28)
25. In For The Kill - La Roux (25)
26. Take Over Control - Afrojack f/Eva Simons (32)
27. Put You In A Song - Keith Urban (31)
28. Above All - Sylvia Tosun (30)
29. All In - Lifehouse (27)
30. September - Daughtry (26)
31. Miami 2 Ibiza - Swedish House Mafia f/Tinie Tempah (45)
32. Mine - Taylor Swift (33)
33. Misery - Maroon 5 (29)
34. Marry Me - Train (44)
35. Hollywood - Michael Buble (35)
36. Smack You - Kimberly Cole (38)
37. I Like That - Richard Vission vs Static Revenger f/Luciana (41)
38. Hands - Ting Tings (23)
39. Voices - Chris Young (39)
40. Somewhere With You - Kenny Chesney (48)
41. Destination - Tony Moran f/Ultra Nate (43)
42. What Do You Got? - Bon Jovi (42)
43. C'mon Get Funky - R Rosario & A Aguilera f/T Wallace (53)
44. Loca - Shakira f/Dizzee Rascal (54)
45. Only Prettier - Miranda Lambert (46)
46. Sometimes I Cry - Eric Benet (51)
47. Jar Of Hearts - Christina Perri (47)
48. Hang With Me - Robyn (50)
49. Get Outta My Way - Kylie Minogue (36)
50. Undisclosed Desires - Muse (52)
51. Dirty Picture - Taio Cruz f/Ke$ha (37)
52. Memories - David Guetta f/Kid Cudi (62)
53. Anything Like Me - Brad Paisley (40)
54. Felt Good On My Lips - Tim McGraw (58)
55. Fuck You/Forget You - Cee-Lo Green (57)
56. We R Who We R - Ke$ha (66)
57. Why Wait - Rascal Flatts (59)
58. Louder (Put Your Hands Up) - Chris Willis (78)
59. Love All Over Me - Monica (55)
60. Peacock - Katy Perry (60)
61. World So Cold - Three Days Grace (71)
62. Maybe - Sick Puppies (74)
63. You Are - Charlie Wilson (73)
64. Porn Star Dancing - My Darkest Days f/Zakk Wylde (68)
65. Someone Else Calling You Baby - Luke Bryan (72)
66. My Kinda Party - Jason Aldean (70)
67. Love The Way You Lie - Eminem f/Rihanna (61)
68. The Breath You Take - George Strait (69)
69. Sick Of You - Cake (81)
70. If I Had You - Adam Lambert (56)
71. Grenade - Bruno Mars (DEBUT)
72. When A Woman Loves - R. Kelly (76)
73. Start A Fire - Ryan Star (75)
74. Farmer's Daughter - Rodney Atkins (64)
75. What's My Name - Rihanna f/Drake (90)
76. Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Steven Lee & Granite f/Zander Bleck (91)
77. I Like It - Enrique Iglesias f/Pitbull (63)
78. The Time (Dirty Bit) - Black Eyed Peas (DEBUT)
79. Hello World - Lady Antebellum (89)
80. Smoke A Little Smoke - Eric Church (84)
81. Parachute - Ingrid Michaelson (83)
82. Strip Me - Natasha Bedingfield (86)
83. Wildflower - JaneDear Girls (85)
84. Bullets In The Gun - Toby Keith (97)
85. One Life Stand - Longo & Wainwright f/Craig Smart (95)
86. The Emergency - BT (94)
87. The Flood - Take That (88)
88. Perfect - Hedley (92)
89. Stereo Love - Edward Maya f/Vika Jigulina (87)
90. Oye Baby - Nicola Fasano f/Pitbull (DEBUT)
91. I'm Doing Me - Fantasia (DEBUT)
92. Who Are You When I'm Not Looking - Blake Shelton (99)
93. Let Me Down Easy - Billy Currington (DEBUT)
94. Back To December - Taylor Swift (DEBUT)
95. Dog Days Are Over - Glee Cast (DEBUT)
96. Real - James Wesley (98)
97. Heroes - X Factor Finalists 2010 (DEBUT)
98. From A Table Away - Sunny Sweeney (100)
99. Closer To The Edge - 30 Seconds To Mars (DEBUT)
100. Sweet Serendipity - Lee Dewyze (DEBUT)

This week there are ten new songs on my list (marked in yellow). I've included links (highlighted in orange) that go to classic videos/songs from these artists.

The highest debut goes to the man with the number-one song on my chart, Bruno Mars. The man is on a roll. After major cameos in B.o.B's "Nothin' On You" and Travie McCoy's "Billionaire", Mars (born Peter Hernandez in Honolulu) followed through with a debut album Doo-Wops & Hooligans which was one of the best CD's I bought this past year. His latest is on track to become his second #1 Billboard solo hit, and it takes my back to the dramatic pop-soul of Motown's heyday. Here's "Grenade"...



The next song is by the Black Eyed Peas, who dominated the pop scene of 2009 capped off with "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling", which totalled 26 weeks (12 for the former, 14 for the latter) at the Billboard Hot 100 #1 spot. That's half the year! They had a third #1 hit with "Imma Be" earlier this year, and their new single hasn't been getting the love from radio that their former album did. However, in Britain, this song kept the sonic abortion that was Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair" from hitting #1 there, so they go up a notch in my book just for that, even though this track ridiculously samples the 1987 Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley hit from Dirty Dancing, "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life". Coincidentally, the cast of Glee just had a US top 40 hit with their version of the original song. Fergie, will.i.am, Taboo, and apl.de.ap transform it into "The Time [Dirty Bit]" complete with special effect video...



Armando Perez, otherwise known as Spanglish rapper Pitbull, has overcome being the Gerardo of this generation by collaborating with just about anybody and keeping his name out there. In fact, three songs on my list this week have Pitbull in a supporting role (including the top-10 songs "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" with Usher and "I Like It" with Enrique Iglesias), as well as a fourth (his own "Hey Baby [Drop It To The Floor]") just bubbling under my chart. His biggest success so far has been his #2 smash from last year, "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)", which samples the dance track "75, Brazil Street" by Miami DJ Nicola Fasano. Pitbull returns the favor by guesting on Fasano's new single which is debuting this week, "Oye Baby"...



Fantasia Barrino has certainly been the most unconventional American Idol winner, between her marriage-breaking affair and reality-show stints. Unfortunately, that sideshow distracts from Fantasia's great voice, and notable work including a memorable run on Broadway in The Color Purple. She's had a #1 pop hit in the US with her Idol winner's song, "I Believe", in 2004, and followed three years later with her first R&B #1 hit, "When I See U". Her latest is a great self-empowering jam, and makes me like her more. Here's Fantasia, and "I'm Doin' Me"...



Next up is country hunk Billy Currington, who is from Savannah, Georgia, and is following up a trio of number one Billboard country hits ("People Are Crazy", "That's How Country Boys Roll", and "Pretty Good At Drinking Beer"). His biggest hit (out of five #1s) is the 2006 smash "Good Directions", which was on top for three weeks. His latest climber is the heartbreaker ballad "Let Me Down Easy"...




The media-crowned "young face of country music", Taylor Swift, just turned 21 a couple weeks ago, and has entered the tabloid cess pool with her kanoodling with Jake Gyllenhaal (yeah yeah, just a little bit jealous). However you can't call her a "flash in the pan", since her third album Speak Now is in the top-10 sold albums of this year (making it the third year in a row Swift has shown up). She also has racked up eight US top-10 pop hits, and four number-one country hits, including the six-week charttopper "Our Song" and her pop crossover smash "You Belong With Me". Her latest is a reported 'apology' song to former boyfriend Taylor Lautner, and it's "Back To December"...



Surprisingly, the cast of the hit TV musical show Glee (if you can call the multi-actor collaborative an act) has finished the first half of their second season (not counting the Christmas episode) by becoming the act with the second-most entries on Billboard's Hot 100 chart (104, four behind Elvis). And while some may dismiss that with the "Those singles only chart for one, at best a couple of weeks", I'd say to consistently week after week sell that many records is still quite a feat in itself. I do still feel uneasy with the loose term "Glee cast" as a "band name", but I think I'll get over it. Their latest is a cover of one of the best rock songs of this year (and another song just "bubbling under" my chart this week), Florence & The Machine's "Dog Days Are Over". The fact that #1) they do a kick-ass job of performing this song, #2) gave new sales life to the original just in time for Florence's new-artist Grammy nomination, and #3) features the sadly underused Jenna Ushkowitz, and I feel it's a great thing, 104 hits or not...



England's version of The X Factor ended on December 12, with male finalist (and Mr. Potato-Head model) Matt Cardle taking the winner's spot. For the third year in a row, the finalists released a charity record benefiting UK's Help For Heroes (following the covers of Mariah Carey's "Hero" and Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone"). This time this year's finalists redo David Bowie's "Heroes"...



30 Seconds to Mars was formed in LA by brothers Jared and Shannon Leto in 1998, and
since then have had three number one hits on Billboard's Modern Rock/Alternative Rock chart. "From Yesterday" was from the band's sophomore record A Beautiful Lie, and their other two, "Kings And Queens" and "This Is War" are from their third album This Is War. That CD also contains their latest hit, "Closer To The Edge"...



The last season of American Idol was the last for judge Simon Cowell before leaving to bring his X Factor to the States. It's only appropriate, then, for both juggernauts to be represented on this weeks list, as last season's winner Lee DeWyze has his first non-Idol hit (after the top-40 Billboard pop cover of U2's "Beautiful Day") on adult top-40 with "Sweet Serendipity"...



Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!