twostepcub's Best of 2017: Part Three - #80 to #71...
I'm up to part three of my recap of the songs that climbed and highest and stayed the longest on my weekly music chart. You can check out the first two installments by clicking here and here...
#80 - "Closer" - The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
from the EP Collage (2016)
Highest rank (in 2017): #11 (two weeks) (was #2 for two weeks in 2016)
Weeks on the chart (in 2017): 15 (was on for 16 weeks in 2016)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (twelve weeks)
Songwriters: Andrew Taggart (Chainsmokers), Ashley Frangipane (Halsey), Shaun Frank, Frederic Kennett (Louis The Child), Isaac Slade & Joe King (the Fray)
The bro-dance duo's massive hit from last year (it was #50 on 2016's list) carried over to this year as it continued to resonate amongst the kiddies. The song also kick-started Halsey's exposure to middle America. The duo also had last year's #18 ("Don't Let Me Down") and #45 ("Roses") entries on the 2016 year-end recap.
Killer lyric: You look as good as the day I met you,
I forget just why I left you, I was insane,
Stay and play that Blink-182 song,
That we beat to death in Tuscon, okay...
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
#79 - "So I Can Have You Back" - Joe
from the album My Name Is Joe Thomas (2016)
Highest rank (in 2017): #9 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2017): 13
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Songwriters: Gerald Isaac, Derek Allen, Phillip "Taj" Jackson
This sublime piece of heartbreak soul came from Joe Thomas, who has been producing stellar work since his #1 "Stutter" days. You can feel the agony and desperation in his pleading for his ex back. The music video seems to imply a happier ending for him, but I don't buy it from listening to the song.
Killer lyric: I hope he makes the biggest mistake,
The unforgivable that makes your heart break,
I hope you tell him "sorry is just not enough",
And it goes from good to bad, so I can have you back...
#78 - "They Don't Know" - Jason Aldean
from the album They Don't Know (2016)
Highest rank: #9 (one week)
Weeks in the chart: 16
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #67
Songwriters: Kurt Allison, Jaron Boyer, Josh Mirenda
This song, the fourth single from the album from the same name from Aldean, peaked on radio at the worst time in his life - when he was headlining a concert in Las Vegas when a lunatic committed a domestic terroristic act then resulted in the deaths of 58 people and 489 injuries.
Killer lyric (sorry pun unintended): All they see is tractors, barbwire and tall green grass,
They don’t see the years spent working, busting their ass...
#77 - "Lay It On Me" - Vance Joy
from the upcoming album Nation Of Two (2018)
Highest rank (in 2017): #13 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2017): 16 (still charting)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Songwriters: James Keogh (Vance Joy), Dave Richard Bassett
The Australian indie-folk singer-songwriter who placed at #32 on last year's list with "The Fire and The Flood", returns with the preview of his second album with this barnburner that brings back visions of Mumford.
Killer lyric: Write it on a piece of paper, honey,
Put it in my coat before I go,
Hidden in a place you know I'll find it,
Later when I'm sitting all alone...
#76 - "Blame" - Bastille
from the album Wild World (2016)
Highest rank: #5 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 15
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Songwriter: Dan Smith
The first single from the British modern rock act's Wild World album, "Good Grief", came in at #34 on my 2016 recap. Its follow-up, the brooding and marching "Blame", was a worthy piece of nerd angst that sported a video inviting you into a cult.
Killer lyric: You’ve been granted three wishes,
Say goodbye to your mother, your father, your son,
I can hear your pulse racing from here,
Sitting next to this gun beats your heart in your mouth...
#75 - "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" - Zayn & Taylor Swift
from the album Fifty Shades Darker (Original Soundtrack) (2017)
Highest rank: #24 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 23
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2
Songwriters: Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Sam Dew
Yes, Taylor released some sort of lifestyle product marketed as an album this year, but I'm just gonna pass that shit right on over...
Former One Directioner Zayn Malik, who landed at #52 on 2016's chart with his solo debut "Pillowtalk", is back with Ms. Swift on this track from the execrable film Fifty Shades Darker, and the slick but undiscernable result succeeded more for his falsetto sweetness than her faux vulnerability. Its tenacity is mostly why it's here - in a sea of far worse, this did the job to stick around far better than the movie did.
Killer lyric: Been sitting eyes wide open behind these four walls, hoping you'd call,
It's just a cruel existence like there's no point hoping at all...
#74 - "Somebody Else Will" - Justin Moore
from the album Kinda Don't Care (2016)
Highest rank: #10 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 16
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #59
Songwriters: Kelly Archer, Adam Hambrick, Tebey Ottoh (Tebey)
Country singer Justin Moore, whose swinging "You Look Like I Need A Drink" was on last year's recap at #77, followed that up with this ultra-smooth number that definitely felt like could've been a contender on pop radio.
Killer lyric: Been sittin' here tippin' back Crown straight,
Workin' up the nerve and the words to say,
To turn those eyes and that smile my way,
No time to waste...
#73 - "Love Me Now" - John Legend
from the album Darkness & Light (2016)
Highest rank: #10 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2017): 13
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #23
Songwriters: John Stephens (John Legend), Blake Mills, John Ryan
The Grammy darling's anthemic tour de force, which came around the time of the election that dare not speak its name, was the cathartic outcry of those who were truly "the forgotten ones". The video was a palette of all kinds of love, including victims of the Pulse Nightclub massacre and his own wife Chrissy Teigen.
Killer lyric: I don't know who's gonna kiss you when I'm gone,
So I'm gonna love you now, like it's all I have,
I know it'll kill me when it's over,
I don't wanna think about it, I want you to love me now...
#72 - "HUMBLE." - Kendrick Lamar
from the album DAMN. (2017)
Highest rank: #16 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 20
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1
Songwriters: Kendrick Duckworth (Kendrick Lamar), Michael Williams II (Mike Will-Made-It), Asheton Hogan
The man who had this year's biggest album (Taylor be damned), rapper Lamar didn't just come back, he returned with his most intricately formulated and crafted album yet, anchored by this throwdown which deserved a music video as a piece of art. Grammy album of the year, if there's justice.
Killer lyric: I'm so fuckin' sick and tired of the Photoshop,
Show me somethin' natural like afro on Richard Pryor,
Show me somethin' natural like ass with some stretchmarks,
Still will take you down right on your mama's couch in Polo socks, ay...
#71 - "Fast" - Luke Bryan
from the album Kill The Lights (2015)
Highest rank: #16 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 17
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #58
Songwriters: Luke Bryan, Rodney Clawson, Luke Laird
41-year-old Bryan bucked the "putting the old folks out to pasture" trend in country music, scoring a record-breaking six #1 country singles from his Kill The Lights album. This was the sixth, a midtempo number that's not flashy but gets the job done in catching your ear. Last year Luke had two entries on the list, "Move" (#79) and "Home Alone Tonight" (#47)...
Killer lyric: Sand through the glass sure falls in a hurry,
And all you keep trying to do is slow it down, soak it in,
Keep trying to make the good times last as long as you can...
That's it for part three...I'll be back tomorrow with a pop diva who had her redemption through her response to a tragedy, a Palestinian-American DJ who rules the hip-hop world, and the return of a self-proclaimed "dick monster".
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