Twostepcub's Best Hits of 2018: Part Five - #60 to #51...
#60 - "Like I Loved You" by Brett Young
from the album Brett Young (2017)
Highest rank: #10 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 18
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #46
Songwriters: Brett Young, Jesse Lee
Young's first hit single, "Sleep Without You", reached #9 on my chart, but right in the time between "chart years", so missed the year-end recap in both 2016 and 2017. This year, Brett already has "Mercy" down at #94, and now the midtempo heartbreak song places here at #60. I'm surprised his new album Ticket To L.A. is off to a very slow start, with lead single "Here Tonight" at #26 so far, but maybe after the holidays his fortunes will change. In the meantime, this was the best of the four released from Brett Young, with just enough pain coming across in his distinctive voice to sell the song.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
#59 - "Ahead Of Myself" by X Ambassadors
from the album Joyful (TBA)
Highest rank: #20 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 23
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Songwriters: Sam Harris (X Ambassadors), Casey Harris (X Ambassadors), Adam Levin (X Ambassadors), Scott Harris
Amongst mainstream pop/rock bands this year, Maroon 5 veered off to electronica, Imagine Dragons dominated radio with their work, while the likes of OneRepublic and X Ambassadors fell a little behind. The latter, led by Sam Harris, were riding high last year with "Renegades", a single that lasted 29 weeks on my chart in 2017 and climbed to #2. This year, their only band-only bonafide hit was this plodding number, which stayed for a while but only reached the top 20. In fact, their third album Joyful is still awaiting a release date now, not a good omen in these times.
#58 - "Too Good At Goodbyes" by Sam Smith
from the album The Thrill Of It All (2017)
Highest rank (in 2018): #1 (three weeks) (was #1 for a fourth week in December of 2017.)
Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 11 (was on for 12 more weeks in 2017)
Songwriters: Sam Smith, James Napier, Tor Hermanssen, Mikkel Eriksen
This was the final #1 song of my "chart year" of 2017 in December, and placed at #61 on that year-end recap. It stayed another three weeks at the top, placing a little higher on this list as it joins "Promises" which Smith sang on this year at #71. This classic break-up song overpowered almost everything else on the album, but nevertheless his tour sold like hotcakes.
#57 - "Wolves" by Marshmello and Selena Gomez
from the single Wolves (2017)
Highest rank: #23 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 19
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #20
Songwriters: Marshmello, Selena Gomez, Watt, Ali Tampost, Brian Lee (Hairy Gamer), Louis Bell, Carl Rosen
Helmeted DJ and producer Marshmello got together with siren Selena Gomez for this EDM midtempo nugget which scored the anonymous artist his first year-end chart hit.
#56 - "All On Me" by Devin Dawson
from the album Dark House (2018)
Highest rank: #10 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 18
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #52
Songwriters: Devin Dawson, Jacob Durrett, Austin Smith
The "Charlie Puth" of country music, Dawson came in with this love song that flows like a river through the promises to be true and worthy of "all bets". Unassuming and earnest, "All On Me" has the classic groove bands like Fleetwood Mac that radio clung to. For a debut single from him, not, not bad at all!
#55 - "Let You Be Right" by Meghan Trainor
from the album Treat Myself (TBA 2019)
Highest rank: #9 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 17
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Songwriters: Meghan Trainor, Andrew Wells, Jacob Kasher Hindlin
Like X Ambassadors, Trainor's third album Treat Myself has been continuously delayed all year, as she tries to capitalize on her spot on the music competition The Four, but without the numbers of The Voice that will be next to impossible. But in the meantime, two of her songs have reached the year-end list this time out, including this ultra-smooth number on placating her man. Her second album didn't have any singles reach the year-end chart in 2016, while in 2015 she appeared on four entries, "Like I'm Gonna Love You" with John Legend at #28, "Lips Are Movin'" at #29, "Marvin Gaye" with Charlie Puth at #43, and "Dear Future Husband" at #90. But like this album's lead, "No Excuses", this single deserved a wider recognition.
#54 - "Dancing" by Kylie Minogue
from the album Golden (2018)
Highest rank: #5 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 15
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Songwriters: Kylie Minogue, Steve McEwan, Nathan Chapman
Like this blogger, Australian pop queen Kylie Minogue turned 50 this past year, and suffered through a breakup that was plastered all over the press, something a rather jarring experience for a woman who holds her romantic cards to her chest. But among the ashes of that grew the Nashville experiment Golden, her biggest-selling and best-reviewed album in ages. It was a surprise to her fanbase, some of whom expressed their unhappiness that this wasn't a bubbly disco affair they craved, but this was the album Kylie needed to make, and "Dancing" was the triumphant anthem that ties the set together. With a chunky EDM beat grounding the delicate acoustic guitar picking, the single's core message was subtle - I took it as "if I'm gonna go out of this business/world/life I'm gonna go out dancing", which was quite personal for me this year. And through it all it really seemed like Kylie was having the most fun she'd have had in years. Wherever she may go from this, Golden and "Dancing" will persevere as a pivotal moment in her career.
#53 - "Hotel Key" from Old Dominion
from the album Happy Endings (2017)
Highest rank: #8 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 19 (still charting)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #48
Songwriters: Matthew Ramsey (Old Dominion), Trevor Rosen (Old Dominion), Josh Osborne
Old Dominion is one of the rare country bands still remaining, and their crossover appeal has carried them well over the last couple of years. Last year the first single from their second album Happy Endings, "No Such Thing As A Broken Heart", was at #35 on my 2017 year-end recap, and now the third release from the set, the jangle-pop of "Hotel Key", arrives here this year. A story-song that's interesting as well as light, it's California-style attitude was a good counterpoint to the "bros".
#52 - "Thought Contagion" by Muse
from the album Simulation Theory (2018)
Highest rank: #4 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 18
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Songwriter: Matt Bellamy (Muse)
Progressive rock heroes Muse were last on my year-end list back in 2015 with "Dead Inside" (#64). But they return with this electro-vampire nugget that casts them into the paranoid future that could as easily been today. With the bombast of bands like Queen with a focused worldview like My Chemical Romance, Bellamy and the boys proved they can rock like the best of them on this wailer.
#51 - "Shotgun" by George Ezra
from the album Staying At Tamara's (2018)
Highest rank: #30 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 25 (still charting)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Songwriters: George Ezra, Joel Pott
Also back in 2015, English singer-songwriter Ezra came in at #13 with "Budapest" and #83 with "Blame It On Me". His "Shotgun" stayed under the radar but stayed on my chart for 30 weeks, guaranteeing a spot here. A bouncier and more electric production for indie-folk, this is folk music for the new age.
We're smack dab at the middle of my list! I'll return tomorrow with a trio of Balkan babes, as well as a Canadian soulster and a bearded country rebounder.
Comments