twostepcub's Best of 2017: Part Two - #90 to #81...
#90 - "All The Pretty Girls" - Kenny Chesney
from the album Cosmic Hallelujah (2016)
Highest rank: 12 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 15
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #63
Songwriters: Josh Osborne, Tommy Lee James, Nicolle Galyon
After a period of Buffett-ish island fare, Chesney (who was on last year's list at #71 with "Setting The World On Fire" featuring Pink) brings back the guitars for this rockin' ode to the lovely ladies. Not as corny as it could be in more naive hands.
Killer lyric: All the seventeens said I'm getting outta Dodge,
All the big dreams said I'm selling all I got,
All the high rollers busy placing their bets,
Me, I'm heading south 'cause all the pretty girls said...
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#89 - "The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness" - The National
from the album Sleep Well Beast (2017)
Highest rank: #12 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 15
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Songwriters: Aaron Dressner, Bryce Dressner, Matt Berninger (the National)
Emo-art rockers the National found themselves with a #1 hit on Billboard's Adult Album Alternative Rock (or "triple-A" rock) format. It treats the ambiguity of a relationship in clinical precision to the functioning of a machine, but that doesn't ease the pain.
Killer lyric: I thought that this would all work out after a while,
Now you’re saying that I’m asking for too much attention,
Also no other faith is light enough for this place,
We said we’d only die of lonely secrets...
#88 - "Starboy" - The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
from the album Starboy (2016)
Highest rank (in 2017): #3 (four weeks) (spent 3 weeks at #3 in 2016)
Weeks on the chart (in 2017): 11 (spent 9 weeks in 2016)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1
Songwriters: Abel Tesfaye (The Weekend), Daft Punk (Thomas Bangalter & Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo), Martin McKinney (Doc McKinney), Cirkut (Henry Walter), DaHeala (Jason Quenneville)
In 2015, Canadian alt-soul artist The Weekend had two songs in my top-10 with "Earned It" and "Can't Feel My Face". At the end of last year he returned with his electro-soul nugget "Starboy", with Daft Punk providing an ultra-cool backdrop for Tesfaye to leave his past behind and assume this new persona. Last year it was on the "bubbling under" list at #118, and now appears in the big show (one of two songs to do this).
Killer lyric: Star Trek roof in that Wrath of Khan,
Girls get loose when they hear this song,
100 on the dash get me close to God,
We don't pray for love, we just pray for cars...
#87 - "Yeah Boy" - Kelsea Ballerini
from the album The First Time (2015)
Highest rank: #13 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 15
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #65
Songwriters: Kelsea Ballerini, Forest Whitehead, Keesy Timmer
Yes, women did have a hard time on country radio this year, but there were some successes. Newcomer Ballerini had four top-10 singles from her debut album, with "Peter Pan" ending up on my 2016 tally at #95. "Yeah Boy" was her fourth single from the set, and proof she was more than just a flash in the pan. Her fresh and flirty single brightened up the bro-fest on radio this year.
Killer lyric: Your eyes could make the moon jealous,
And if you wanna know if I wanna be your girl tonight,
Yeah, boy...
#86 - "Thick Of It" - Mary J. Blige
from the album Strength Of A Woman (2017)
Highest rank (in 2017): #15 (one week)
Weeks on the chart (in 2017): 12
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart, "bubbled under" at #117
Songwriters: Mary J. Blige, Jazmine Sullivan, John Goodison, Phil Wainman, Darhyl Camper Jr. (DJ Camper)
After some self-reflection on the stellar London Sessions last year, Blige got her groove back with Strength Of A Woman this year. The lead single was this adult jam that had her showing how much she still has to give to a man that clearly didn't deserve it...
Killer lyric: I swear I barely see the light,
Should I stick it out?
Are you worth this fight?
Are we worth this fight?
#85 - "Give Love" - Andy Grammer featuring Lunchmoney Lewis
from the album The Good Parts (2017)
Highest rank: #12 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 15
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
In 2015, good-natured singer-songwriter Andy Grammer had the #2 song on my year-end recap with the song "Honey, I'm Good", which rode it's marriage-equality-conscious viral video into the hearts of millions. He returned this year with the album The Good Parts, anchored by this funky little mantra inspired by his mom, along with a video that he totally "Kylie Minogues" himself a la her clip on "Come Into My World". Another track from the album is in the also-rans...
Killer lyric: My mother was a sunshine soldier,
Every day was a dream come true,
She said that we were blessed by the breath deep inside us,
She could make the colors in the sky turn blue...
#84 - "Kill A Word" - Eric Church featuring Rhiannon Giddens
from the album Mr. Misunderstood (2015)
Highest rank: #23 (one week)
Weeks on the chart (in 2017): 17
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #71
Songwriters: Eric Church, Luke Dick, Jeff Hyde
Country rocker Church dipped his toes into the hate speech that dominated this sad-ass presidential election and the rise of faux populism with this strong and thoughtful creed to tolerance, featuring Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops on the single version. It was a worthy follow-up to "Record Year", which placed at #76 on my 2016 recap.
Killer lyric: Choke lonely out with my bare hands,
I'd hang hate so that it can't be heard,
If I could only kill a word...
#83 - "Feels" - Calvin Harris featuring Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry, and Big Sean
from the album Funk Wav Bounces, Vol. 1 (2017)
Highest rank: #9 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 17
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #20
Songwriters: Adam Wiles (Calvin Harris), Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry, Sean Anderson (Big Sean), Brittany Hazzard (Starrah)
Scottish DJ Harris, who came in at #21 with his collaboration with Rihanna, "This Is What You Came For", last year, returns with another hitmaker (Katy Perry), along with "Happy" producer Pharrell and rapper Big Sean on this breezy charmer that was perfect for the summer without copping out to the trop-house bandwagon.
Killer lyric: No nothing ever lasts forever, no,
One minute you're here and the next you're gone,
So I respect you, wanna take it slow,
I need a mental receipt to know this moment I owe...
#82 - "Dirty Laundry" - Carrie Underwood
from the album Storyteller (2015)
Highest peak (in 2017): #8 (one week)
Weeks on the chart (in 2017): 12
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #48
Songwriters: Zach Crowell, Ashley Gorley, Hillary Lindsey
The fourth single from American Idol sales queen Carrie Underwood's Storyteller album followed her wall of sound template, but man can she ever sell this type of cheating story-song. Last year, her third release from the set "Church Bells" was at #97 on the 2016 recap, while the year before, lead single "Smoke Break" came in at #99..
Killer lyric: That lipstick on your collar, well, it ain't my shade of pink,
And I can tell by the smell of that perfume, it's like forty dollars too cheap, And there's a little wine stain on the pocket of your white cotton thread,
Well, you drink beer and whiskey, boy, and you know I don't drink red...
#81 - "Run" - Foo Fighters
from the album Concrete And Gold (2017)
Highest rank: #5 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 13
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart, "bubbled under" at #106
Songwriters: Foo Fighters (Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett)
The hard rock giants, who had two entries on the 2015 recap with "Something From Nothing" (#61) and "Congregation" (#67) reunite again with blazing barrels on this most pit jam that disrupts all the nursing homes.
Killer lyric: The rats are on parade
Another mad charade
What you gonna do?
Alright, that does it for this second installment of my year-end recap. I'll be back tomorrow with the artist with the biggest album of the year, another 1D alumnus, a few country hunks, and more.
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