twostepcubchart's Best of 2013: Part Nine - #20-#11...

Hey gang, it's only a day away from New Year's Eve, and we're down to the next-to-last installment of my recap of the biggest songs on my personal chart from 2013. You can check out what I've counted down so far by clicking here...

#20 - Phillip Phillips - "Gone Gone Gone"
from the album The World From The Side Of The Moon (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #9 (one week)
weeks on the chart: 29

The winner of the eleventh season of American Idol has been one of its most successful on his own terms, with a totally un-Idol sound (sorry, DeWyze). His "winner's" song made me list last year at #54 (and came close this year as well), but the follow-up did even better, as it reached both triple-A and adult-top-40 radio and clung there.

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#19 - Maroon 5 - "Daylight"
from the album Overexposed (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #9 (four weeks)
weeks on the chart: 26 (in 2013)

The album title seems ironic now with Adam Levine's "Sexiest Man Alive" declaration from People magazine under his belt, but they still were one of the ruling pop craftsmen of the year, with this songs basically about leaving after a trick somehow transformed into a feel-good worldwide singalong in this video. Only Adam.

#18 - Passenger - "Let Her Go"
from the album All The Little Lights (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #2 (one week)
weeks on the chart: 37 (so far in 2013)

This year's one-man-act star was the British/American indie folksinger (his father is from Vineland, New Jersey), who first conquered Australia and Europe, then Britain, then America with this understated song that had legs, most likely from its lack of pretense.

#17 - Calvin Harris featuring Ellie Goulding - "I Need Your Love"
from the album 18 Months (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #6 (one week)
weeks on the chart: 26

The Scottish DJ and producer paired up with the spacey English songstress for his highest-placed of his two songs on this year's chart (as well as hers). The video had us all convinced we were peeping into their own relationship.

#16 - Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams - "Get Lucky"
from the album Random Access Memories (2013)
twostepcubchart peak: #1 (three weeks)
weeks on the chart: 24

Until a certain actor's son came along, this was deemed destined to be the song of the summer. It still ended up captivating the world's ears, even though the rest of the album seemed a bit muddled in comparison. Best use of Pharrell Williams award of the year.

#15 - fun. - "Carry On"
from the album Some Nights (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #2 (one week)
weeks on the chart: 28 (in 2013)

The third anthemic modern rock hit for the New York trio seems as if from another age, handed down as bar sing-a-longs for ages. The least offensive hipsters on the planet.

#14 - Pink featuring Nate Ruess - "Just Give Me A Reason"
from the album The Truth About Love (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #1 (two weeks)
weeks on the chart: 26

The lead singer of the previous band gives the colorful singer a hand with her best of three showings on my recap, with a bad-relationship song conversational in tone and unsure on its outcome. Just like life.

#13 - Olly Murs featuring Flo Rida - "Troublemaker"
from the album Right Place, Right Time (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #5 (four weeks)
weeks on the chart: 26 (in 2013)

The British X Factor runner-up finally got his big American break with this rewrite of Maroon 5's "Misery" that was too much pop perfection for me to damn well criticize. I can't think of a better record to play on top-40 radio than this one.

#12 - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz - "Thrift Shop"
from the album The Heist (2012)
twostepcubchart peak: #1 (six weeks)
weeks on the chart: 22 (in 2013)

This little ditty came out in August of last year, and it took a while to catch on (I showed the video to everyone I knew), but there's more than just a comedy record with a funny video going on here. Add in a pointed stab at materialism in culture while glorifying being cheap was the most refreshing development in a totally stale rap genre, and Ben Haggerty has chops that will never have people comparing to Vanilla Ice.

#11 - Fitz & The Tantrums - "Out Of My League"
from the album More Than Just A Dream (2013)
twostepcubchart peak: #4 (one week)
weeks on the chart: 34 (so far in 2013)

The Los Angeles modern rock band led by a French-born man with Irish/American heritage sounded like they were plucked from London in this retro throwback nugget that led different rock radio formats before taking over on pop radio at the end of the year...

I've only got ten of the biggest hits left to go tomorrow, with three acts with their first-ever hits, two from the band that didn't rely on headlines to rule the musical world, this year's big pep talk, and more...