twostepcubchart's Best of 2013: Part Five - #60-#51...






We're up to the fifth installment of my recap of the biggest songs on my weekly personal chart this year....you can also check out part one, two, three, and four if you haven't yet...

#60 - Luke Bryan - "That's My Kind Of Night"
from the album Crash My Party (2013)
twostepcubchart peak: #2 (two weeks)
weeks on the chart: 16


The second of Luke's two songs on my countdown, this one was pretty polarizing, with his references to T-Pain and reliance on cliche, but hey, I don't listen to country radio (or any radio) anymore anyway, so I didn't have to be inundated with the testosterone tsunami that format was getting. Hell, this is a fun track that makes a great two-step dance. So there. He does need to work on the nasality, he's full-on young Jim Nabors here.

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#59 - The Black Keys - "Little Black Submarines"
from the album El Camino (2011)
twostepcubchart peak: #5 (two weeks)
weeks on the chart: 15 (in 2013)


This track was in the top-10 on my chart when the year started, and missed my 2012 top-100 by a week's worth of points (added together, it would've been in the top-20 this year). The third song from the hipster-rock duo's excellent El Camino set goes from a quiet space to full on rage in pretty much the way most relationships end up.

#58 - Easton Corbin - "All Over The Road"
from the album All Over The Road (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #7 (one week)
weeks on the chart: 18


The cutie-pie of a singer is one of the few holdover male artists still carrying the "traditional" country banner, meaning 90's country, and I feel with George Strait's retirement Easton's ready to take the reins, and this song is a really pleasant little shuffler.

#57 - Krewella - "Alive"
from the album Get Wet (2013)
twostepcubchart peak: #12 (one week)
weeks on the chart: 20 (in 2013)


The debut single and higher-placed of the two songs by this Chicago trio on my list, "Alive" was a slow-burn EDM track that ruled dance radio in the first half of the year...

#56 - Alicia Keys - "Girl On Fire"
from the album Girl On Fire (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #13 (three weeks)
weeks on the chart: 17 (in 2013)


Alicia scored her fourth #1 album out of five studio sets at the end of 2012, and the title track is one of two of the tracks on the record to make my list. There's no denying the hook on the chorus that she carries, though it was annoying to hear it on credit card ads for a while. (Added bonus, it gave inspiration to RuPaul's Drag Race alums DWV totally awesome "Boy Is A Bottom")...

#55 - Katy Perry - "Roar"
from the album Prism (2013)
twostepcubchart peak: #10 (two weeks)
weeks on the chart: 17 (so far in 2013)


I guess I was swayed by the truce between Perry and Sara Bareilles after the kerfluffle where fans railed against this song's similarities to Sara's "Brave", but still I'm pretty surprised for this showing up this high on the list. Hey, math. Consider it lack of competition during its run. Adequate, but still doesn't hold up to her older pop confections. The club mix is pretty fierce (and sent it up into the top ten for me)...

#54 - Train featuring Ashley Monroe - "Bruises"
from the album California 37 (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #12 (four weeks)
weeks on the chart: 19


I championed this country/rock hybrid (in a good way) when I first heard their sixth album, as something different from their usual schtick. Glad to see it finally catch on at both country and adult-pop radio. Extra points for the beautiful video filmed partly at Red Rocks outside Denver Colorado. Also the refreshingly mature lyrics won me.

#53 - Family Of The Year - "Hero"
from the album Loma Vista (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #15 (one week)
weeks on the chart: 24


The Los Angeles indie-rock group balanced the sweet musical backdrop of "Hero" with the "I just want to fight like everyone else" hook that quiet-like types like me really clung to.

#52 - Taylor Swift featuring Ed Sheeran - "Everything Has Changed"
from the album Red (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #17 (three weeks)
weeks on the chart: 24


 The second of Taylor's Red songs to make my top-100 this year was the album's sweet spot, helped immensely by the British singer/songwriter Sheehan, who toned down her usual ballad overemoting. Very cute video to boot.

#51 - Randy Houser - "Runnin' Outta Moonlight"
from the album How Country Feels (2013)
twostepcubchart peak: #7 (two weeks)
weeks on the chart: 20


The hunky country singer put two songs at #1 on the country chart in Billboard, and this is the one to make my own top-100 (the other, "How Country Feels", just missed at #103). He's in great voice on this mid-tempo sing-a-long. Ohh-ohh indeed.

I'll be back tomorrow with the two highest-placed country songs on my recap, both by the same act. Plus the shortest song on the list.



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