twostepcub's music chart for January 4, 2013...

Hey gang, it's time for my first "personal chart" of 2013 of my Top-100 tunes for the week. This time out Muse reclaims the #1 spot for the fourth nonconsecutive week, while Calvin Harris and Florence Welch (pictured above) leap into the top-10. Former big hits by David Guetta, Jake Owen, and Luke Bryan drop off my list, while tracks by Cazzette, Maroon 5, and Frenchie Davis make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red). Happy New Year!

This Week                Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses)
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1. Madness - Muse (2)
2. Locked Out Of Heaven - Bruno Mars (4)
3. Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself) - Ne-Yo (1)
4. Ho Hey - The Lumineers (3)
5. Don't You Worry Child - Swedish House Mafia f/John Martin (6)
6. Try - Pink (12)
7. Adorn - Miguel (9)
8. Sweet Nothing - Calvin Harris f/Florence Welch (14)
9. Skyfall - Adele (5)
10. Little Black Submarines - The Black Keys (10)
11. Some Nights - fun (7)
12. I Will Wait - Mumford & Sons (8)
13. Home - Phillip Phillips (15)
14. Little Talks - Of Monsters And Men (11)
15. Southern Comfort Zone - Brad Paisley (19)
16. Chalk Outline - Three Days Grace (13)
17. Diamonds - Rihanna (17)
18. One More Night - Maroon 5 (18)
19. Take A Walk - Passion Pit (23)
20. The A Team - Ed Sheeran (25)
21. Gangnam Style - PSY (21)
22. It's Time - Imagine Dragons (22)
23. Creepin' - Eric Church (27)
24. Die Young - Ke$ha (16)
25. Feel Again - OneRepublic (26)
26. Too Close - Alex Clare (24)
27. Goodbye In Her Eyes - The Zac Brown Band (28)
28. Blow Me (One Last Kiss) - Pink (20)
29. Til My Last Day - Justin Moore (31)
30. Cruise - Florida Georgia Line (30)
31. Troublemaker - Olly Murs f/Flo Rida (35)
32. Girl On Fire - Alicia Keys (33)
33. Candy - Robbie Williams (29)
34. Beneath Your Beautiful - Labrinth f/Emeli Sande (36)
35. El Cerrito Place - Kenny Chesney (37)
36. Catch My Breath - Kelly Clarkson (41)
37. How Country Feels - Randy Houser (42)
38. Finally Found You - Enrique Iglesias f/Sammy Adams (38)
39. Your Body - Christina Aguilera (40)
40. Better Dig Two - The Band Perry (50)
41. Something For The Weekend - Dave Aude f/Luciana (46)
42. I Cry - Flo Rida (49)
43. Hall Of Fame - The Script f/will.i.am (39)
44. Lately - Anita Baker (44)
45. Did It For The Girl - Greg Bates (47)
46. Overjoyed - Matchbox Twenty (54)
47. Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain) - Gary Allan (51)
48. Anything Could Happen - Ellie Goulding (56)
49. Miss Me - Andy Grammer (45)
50. She's So Mean - Matchbox Twenty (48)
51. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift (43)
52. Beer Money - Kip Moore (52)
53. Been Away Too Long - Soundgarden (57)
54. Thinkin Bout You - Frank Ocean (58)
55. Trojans - Atlas Genius (59)
56. Stubborn Love - The Lumineers (61)
57. Tornado - Little Big Town (64)
58. Begin Again - Taylor Swift (60)
59. Superlove - Avicii vs. Lenny Kravitz (63)
60. Thrift Shop - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis f/WANZ (66)
61. Daylight - Maroon 5 (83)
62. Picking Up The Pieces - Paloma Faith (69)
63. Wanted - Hunter Hayes (65)
64. The Only Way I Know - Jason Aldean f/Luke Bryan & Eric Church (72)
65. Love's Got A Hold On Me - Frenchie Davis (80)
66. I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift (78)
67. We Come Running - Youngblood Hawke (67)
68. True Believers - Darius Rucker (68)
69. Beam Me Up (Kill-Mode) - Cazzette (100)
70. I Don't Deserve You - Paul van Dyk f/Plumb (70)
71. Between The Raindrops - Lifehouse f/Natasha Bedingfield (75)
72. Tip It On Back - Dierks Bentley (76)
73. Don't Stop The Party - Pitbull f/TJR (73)
74. Mountain Sound - Of Monsters And Men (82)
75. Beauty And A Beat - Justin Bieber f/Nicki Minaj (85)
76. Somebody's Heartbreak - Hunter Hayes (87)
77. Live While We're Young - One Direction (77)
78. Only Love - Ben Howard (88)
79. Lessons In Love (All Day, All Night) - Neon Trees f/Kaskade (DEBUT)
80. Soldier - Gavin DeGraw (84)
81. Radioactive - Imagine Dragons (DEBUT)
82. Every Day - Eric Prydz (DEBUT)
83. You & I - Avant f/Keke Wyatt (94)
84. Dancing In My Head - Eric Turner vs. Avicii (DEBUT)
85. Gold - Neon Hitch f/Tyga (DEBUT)
86. One Of Those Nights - Tim McGraw (96)
87. Two Black Cadillacs - Carrie Underwood (DEBUT)
88. 93 Million Miles - Jason Mraz (90)
89. Six Degrees Of Separation - The Script (89)
90. Stars - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals (91)
91. Impossible - James Arthur (DEBUT)
92. The Power Of Love - Gabrielle Aplin (92)
93. Crying On A Suitcase - Casey James (95)
94. Parking Lot - Nelly Furtado (98)
95. The City - Madeon (DEBUT)
96. My Love Is All I Have - Charlie Wilson (RE-ENTRY)
97. Let There Be Cowgirls - Chris Cagle (DEBUT)
98. Scream & Shout - will.i.am & Britney Spears (DEBUT)
99. Fiyacracka - Korr-A (DEBUT)
100. Beer With Jesus - Thomas Rhett (DEBUT)

I start this year with an even dozen new songs on my chart (highlighted in blue), and here they are after the break, with a little about the artist. You can also click on any of the artist's names to go to their website...and away we gooooo....


There are four debuting artists that showed up on my Top-100 songs of 2012, and the one that made the year-end top-10, Neon Trees, has the top debut this week. It's the followup to their massive "Everybody Talks" single, "Lessons In Love (All Day, All Night)", and features dance artist Kaskade making the song their most club-oriented yet still on the fringes of rock music.

Las Vegas alt-rockers Imagine Dragons return with the single that succeeds their big hit "It's Time" from last year (also on my year-end Top-20). "Radioactive" continues with their sweeping epic sound that's a good foil for the spate of folkishness (that I still like) that's saturating rock radio. And this is the freakiest episode of The Muppets I've ever seen...

Swedish DJ/producer Eric Prydz was once the king of the filter-sample club-fillers, especially his rework of Steve Winwood on "Call On Me" in 2004. Now he's back with his biggest American dance hit to date, "Every Day", where he leaves the samples in the background to focus on powerchords on synths...

Another Swedish dance artist, Avicii, teams up with American ex-patriate Eric Turner on "Dancing In My Head". Avicii ended up on my 2012 top-20 with his Etta James-sampling "Levels", while Turner backed Tinie Tempah on his worldwide hit "Written In The Stars" in 2010. Love driving with this song on...

 British singer Neon Hitch (real name, her dad's a lighting specialist) had a hit on my chart last year with "Fuck U Betta", and she's a little more tame this time around with "Gold", featuring "Rack City" rapper Tyga. It was co-written with Bruno Mars, and his way with a melody is evident here...

Carrie Underwood had two songs on my 2012 year-end list, "Blown Away" and "Good Girl", and the third single from her Blown Away album may just do the same this year. "Two Black Cadillacs" has the same epic drama as the title track, and I can't wait for the official video to come out....it's my personal highlight from her excellent album...

 The British version of The X Factor just crowned a champion, and it's James Arthur, from the northern part of England (Yorkshire), and his "winner's song" is a remake of the R&B top-10 hit by Barbadian singer Shontelle, "Impossible". It does surprise me that its been huge in the UK, selling enough to be the fourth-biggest selling debut single from an XF winner, since both the artist and the song itself isn't earth-shattering, very good but not on the level of Alexandra Burke's "Hallelujah"...

By far the youngest artist on my list this week is French electronica master Madeon, who only turned 18 last May. He's in with his top-20 dance hit "The City", which combines all his best traits wrapped up in one, great funky understated vocals, a processed bassline that won't let go of my brain, and that anthemic chorus...

Country single Chris Cagle's second single from his "comeback" CD Back In The Saddle, "Let There Be Cowgirls", and with this one he puts his rebel hat on...a little predictable but it's great to hear him in fine form again...

...and now we're up to this. Yes, I have major issues with this piece of product - the inexplicable British accent Britney Spears dons, the 20-word vocabulary will.i.am seems to have, and the lack of any song form other than an extended riff, but it's been big (thankfully not as big as I assume either of them hoped) so here it is, "Scream & Shout". Now tell me, is this made for anybody other than twinks and 21-year-old girls?

Another dance hit, "Fiyacracka" by unknown newcomer Korr-A, slips in right under S&S.

The final new entry is by country newbie Thomas Rhett, who follows up his 2sc hit "Something To Do With My Hands" with "Beer With Jesus". Thomas is the son of 90s country star Rhett Akins, who topped that genre's chart with "Don't Get Me Started" in 1996...

Well that does it for 2013's inaugural chart. You can check out the Top-100 of 2012 from my chart by clicking here, and tomorrow I'll return with another Song of the Day, candletime, and my five-part "chart sweep" of the latest songs to make the charts at Billboard magazine. See you there!...