Twostepcubchart's Best of 2014: Part Ten - #10 to #1 and the whole she-bang...

We've finally come to the end of my year-end recap of the biggest songs on my weekly personal music chart in 2014. You can catch up with all the other installments by clicking here...

#10. "Am I Wrong" - Nico & Vinz
        from the album Black Star Elephant (2014)
        twostepcubchart peak: #2 (two weeks)
        weeks on the chart: 34 (so far in 2014 - still charting)

If you needed something totally unexpected in music in 2014, here's two black soul singers from Norway with an international pop hit that was originally released under a different name. Formerly known as Envy, Nico Sereba and Vincent Dery cruised into my top-ten with this Afrobeat song that urged you to follow your dreams.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


#9. "Take Me To Church" - Hozier
      from the album Hozier (2014)
      twostepcubchart peak: #1 (two weeks so far in 2014 - still charting)
      weeks on the chart: 30 (so far in 2014 - still charting)

Irish singer-songwriter Andrew Hozier-Byrne released this brooding reflection on love as a spiritual entity in itself in 2013, and with it a black-and-white video graphically depicting the gaybashing of a young man (presumably in Russia) that was more powerful than a thousand PSAs. I hyped this video back at the start, not believing it would become the hit in American that it finally has, proving that people's assumption that music artistry is dead is unfounded.

#8 - "Pompeii" - Bastille
       from the album Bad Blood (2013)
       twostepcubchart peak (in 2014): #2 (three weeks) (went to #1 in 2013)
       weeks on the chart (in 2014): 27

The last of the five songs on this year's top 100 that appeared on the list in 2013, when "Pompeii" was at #44 (when it had climbed to #1). The song spent another six months and change winding down the chart, as it crossed over to pop, dance, and adult stations.

#7 - "Best Day Of My Life" - American Authors
       from the album Oh What A Life (2014)
       twostepcubchart peak: #1 (six weeks)
       weeks on the chart (in 2014): 26

The first #1 hit of the year, this indie-pop gem brought a needed sunniness to the dreary winter months, cleansing pop radio from its electrodance obsession. (This "bubbled under" last year's chart as well)...

#6 - "All Of Me" - John Legend
       from the album Love In The Future (2013)
       twostepcubchart peak: #2 (six weeks)
       weeks on the chart (in 2014): 35

The singer/songwriter and his piano with a personal love song to his wife, supermodel and Twitter awesomeness Chrissy Teigen ended up with the biggest ballad of the year, as less is definitely more (though the remix kept the clubs banging).

#5 - "Come With Me Now" - KONGOS
       from the album Lunatic (2013)
       twostepcubchart peak: #1 (three weeks)
       weeks on the chart: 34

The four brothers from Johannesburg, South Africa are sons of John Kongos, who had a minor hit single in America in 1971 with "He's Gonna Step On You Again". They do their pop proud with this multi-genre hit that rocked and swung differently than most of the same-same post-grunge on rock radio.

#4 - "Do I Wanna Know?" - Arctic Monkeys
       from the album AM (2013)
       twostepcubchart peak: #1 (two weeks)
       weeks on the chart (in 2014): 44

Meanwhile, this British alt-rock band rode an addictive bassline riff to their biggest hit in their decade of albums. The angry biting vocal delivery of Alex Turner over his romantic uncertainty was the theme of my year.

#3 - "Rather Be" - Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne
       from the album New Eyes (2014)
       twostepcubchart peak: #1 (two weeks)
       weeks on the chart: 46 (so far in 2014 - still charting)

The pinnacle of the neo-house music that brought needed soul back to dance music, this classical-leaning act's organic groove ruled Europe then conquered America, spending two trips on my top ten (topping my list on its second trip) and spending more weeks on the chart than any other record in 2014.

#2 - "Happy" - Pharrell Williams
       from the album G.I.R.L. (2014)
       twostepcubchart peak: #1 (ten weeks)
       weeks on the chart (in 2014): 37

Looking back, it's easy to forget how much this song was inescapable during the beginning of the year, months after its appearance in the Despicable Me 2 movie last year. But like "Good Times" from Chic took peoples' minds off of the economically poor late seventies, so this slice of positivity was the cure for this year's nastiness.

#1 - "Stay With Me" - Sam Smith
       from the album In The Lonely Hour (2014)
       twostepcubchart peak: #1 (fourteen weeks)
       weeks on the chart: 32 (in 2014 - still charting)

If "Happy" dominated the first part of 2014, it was this singer/songwriter than ruled the last, releasing the Grammy odds on favorite In The Lonely Hour, and with it this reincarnation of Adele with a work documenting an unrequited love obsession. And coming out as gay right at the beginning with no repercussion from radio or the public shows how far we've come. With a gospel-like cadence and and comforting repetitive pleading chorus, "Stay With Me" is the type of song that sounds like it existed for decades, and of all of the songs on the list, will be sung decades from now, making "Stay With Me" deserving of my top spot of the year.

Well there we go, thanks for taking this little journey back through the last 12 months. I really appreciate you all for stopping by my little corner of the internet. So here is the full top 100 for 2014...

1. Stay With Me - Sam Smith
2. Happy - Pharrell Williams
3. Rather Be - Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne
4. Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys
5. Come With Me Now - KONGOS
6. All Of Me - John Legend
7. Best Day Of My Life - American Authors
8. Pompeii - Bastille (#44 in 2013)
9. Take Me To Church - Hozier
10. Am I Wrong - Nico & Vinz
11. Rude - Magic!
12. Dangerous - Big Data featuring Joywave
13. Girls Chase Boys - Ingrid Michaelson
14. Fever - Black Keys
15. Team - Lorde
16. Come A Little Closer - Cage The Elephant
17. Hey Brother - Avicii
18. Say Something - A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera
19. All About That Bass - Meghan Trainor
20. The Walker - Fitz & The Tantrums
21. Chandelier - Sia
22. Riptide - Vance Joy
23. A Sky Full Of Stars - Coldplay
24. Stolen Dance - Milky Chance
25. Hideaway - Kiesza
26. Ain't It Fun - Paramore
27. Burn - Ellie Goulding (#76 in 2013)
28. Summer - Calvin Harris
29. Dark Horse - Katy Perry featuring Juicy J
30. Story Of My Life - One Direction
31. Love Runs Out - OneRepublic
32. Maps - Maroon 5
33. Waves (Robin Schulz Mix) - Mr. Probz
34. Problem - Ariana Grande featuring Iggy Azalea
35. Sleeping With A Friend - Neon Trees
36. Counting Stars - OneRepublic (#41 in 2013)
37. Cool Kids - Echosmith
38. Don't - Ed Sheeran
39. Bad Blood - Bastille
40. Play It Again - Luke Bryan
41. Sing - Ed Sheeran
42. Secrets - OneRepublic
43. Human - Christina Perri
44. Let It Go - Idina Menzel
45. Latch - Disclosure featuring Sam Smith
46. Prayer In C (Robin Schulz Mix) - Lilly Wood & The Prick
47. Stay The Night - Zedd featuring Hayley Williams
48. Timber - Pitbull featuring Kesha
49. Love Never Felt So Good - Michael Jackson & Justin Timberlake
50. Talk Dirty - Jason Derulo featuring 2 Chainz
51. Roller Coaster - Luke Bryan
52. Red Lights - Tiesto
53. Fancy - Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX
54. I Choose You - Sara Bareilles
55. Ghost - Ella Henderson
56. The Man - Aloe Blacc
57. Shake It Off - Taylor Swift
58. Demons - Imagine Dragons (#4 in 2013)
59. Not A Bad Thing - Justin Timberlake
60. Superheroes - The Script
61. I Wanna Get Better - Bleachers
62. Let Her Go - Passenger (#18 in 2013)
63. Hurt You - Toni Braxton and Babyface
64. For The Rest Of My Life - Robin Thicke
65. Beat Of The Music - Brett Eldredge
66. Bang Bang - Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj
67. Me And My Broken Heart - Rixton
68. Good Kisser - Usher
69. Drink To That All Night - Jerrod Niemann
70. It's About Time - Young The Giant
71. I'm Not The Only One - Sam Smith
72. Do You - Spoon
73. Love Me Again - John Newman
74. When She Says Baby - Jason Aldean
75. Raging Fire - Phillip Phillips
76. Left Hand Free - alt-J
77. Compass - Lady Antebellum
78. Try - Colbie Caillat
79. Coming Of Age - Foster The People
80. Into The Blue - Kylie Minogue
81. Love Don't Die - The Fray
82. Boom Clap - Charli XCX
83. Bartender - Lady Antebellum
84. Rewind - Rascal Flatts
85. Automatic - Miranda Lambert
86. Afraid - The Neighbourhood
87. She Keeps Me Warm - Mary Lambert
88. Chocolate - The 1975
89. Birthday - Katy Perry
90. We Are Tonight - Billy Currington
91. Break Free - Ariana Grande
92. Waiting For Superman - Daughtry
93. Everything I Shouldn't Be Thinking About - Thompson Square
94. Sirens - Pearl Jam
95. Do It Again - Royksopp and Robyn
96. Goodnight Kiss - Randy Houser
97. Whatever She's Got - David Nail
98. Angel In Blue Jeans - Train
99. Who I Am With You - Chris Young
100. I Got U - Duke Dumont featuring Jax Jones

And here's the 40 biggest artists of the year, adding up all the singles they've appeared on in the year.

1. Sam Smith
2. Bastille
3. Pharrell Williams
4. Katy Perry
5. Arctic Monkeys
6. Luke Bryan
7. Avicii
8. Ariana Grande
9. Jess Glynne
10. Iggy Azalea
11. OneRepublic
12. Clean Bandit
13. Lorde
14. Ed Sheeran
15. Calvin Harris
16. American Authors
17. Black Keys
18. Zedd
19. John Legend
20. Nico & Vinz
21. KONGOS
22. Hozier
23. Coldplay
24. Justin Timberlake
25. Mary Lambert
26. Maroon 5
27. Fitz & The Tantrums
28. Jason Derulo
29. Magic!
30. Ingrid Michaelson
31. Charli XCX
32. Big Data
33. Joywave
34. Imagine Dragons
35. A Great Big World
36. Cage The Elephant
37. Meghan Trainor
38. Christina Aguilera
39. Lady Antebellum
40. Tiesto

....I'll return soon with my post on the forgotten nuggets from last year that were my personal faves (even though they didn't score enough to make the list)..