Twostepcub's Best "Hits" of 2018: Part One - #100 to #91...

Last year I said that 2017 was the "hold my beer" year.

This time out it's almost like a roller coaster derailing.

Yes, 2018 definitely had its ups (the Democratic Party regaining the House Of Representatives) and downs (how in the hell is this orange testicle still in the White House?). And like last year, I had to keep asking myself, where is the music that would lift us up during these times of woe? Well, you generally wouldn't be finding it with what was big on the Billboard charts this year. Sure, there was some good, and dare I say great stuff that came out this year, but by and large that was done by niche artists that cultivated their audience. And that's what making a weekly list of best hits (let alone a yearly one) so difficult. When I started out to make a weekly chart waaaaay back before there was an internet we could access, I knew it was damn near impossible to keep track of all the music available to sift my own favorites out. So while I have my personal faves from week to week (some of which I highlight in my "songs you should know" feature), I made myself rules to guide what could make my weekly 100. It's actually not too difficult - songs that make the top-20 on Billboard's Hot 100 and Dance Club Play charts, the top-30 on the Adult Top-40 list, the top ten on the Rock Airplay, Alternative Rock, Triple-A, and Dance Airplay, and top five on the Adult Contemporary, Mainstream Rock, R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay,  and Adult R&B, as well as the top ten on the British sales and airplay charts.  (I used to also include Germany and France, but since their charts changed to include streaming its been a bin of gangsta rap we're already inundated with in the States just in another language.) A combo of all of these usually gives me more than enough to compile a top 100 chart each week, with a number of "hits" even I don't put on my list (hello, mostly trap music).  But yes, amazing music from the like of people like Brandi Carlile and Kacey Musgraves  aren't here (though they both made the weekly lists for a short while). Last Friday marked the end of my own "chart year", and I've crunched the numbers, and in the next ten segments (plus an extra of "also-rans"), I'll countdown the songs that have gone the highest and/or stayed the longest. So this for me is as close to the "best HITS of 2018" as I can get. So let's get moving and check out the first ten entries...

#100 - "Rich" by Maren Morris
            from the album Hero (2016)
            Highest Rank: #8 (three weeks) 
            Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 13 (still charting)
            Billboard Hot 100 peak: #62
            Songwriters: Maren Morris, Jessie Jo Dillon, Lauren Veltz

Last year I started at #100 with a song from a female country singer (Carly Pearce), lamenting the state of country radio which had grown more and more homogeneous to bro-country and even borderline homoerotic, offering nothing but pretty man-faces with variants of the same neo-country thematic about picking up girls, "country life" branding, and alcohol poisoning that leaves not much room for women voices. In fact on Billboard's Country Airplay year-end chart, the top female-lead entry is down at #26 for freakin' "Meant To Be" from pop singer Bebe Rexha, which was definitely not a country song no matter what Florida Georgia Line tried. On the sales/airplay/streaming "Country Songs" chart, that song set records for being at #1 simply by Billboard combining pop and country airplay, which gave Nashville and radio cover to basically shun almost every other woman singer. If Carrie Underwood could barely score a TOP TEN country airplay hit then there's an issue. On this week's chart, there are no women in the entire top twenty (Carrie is at #21). That's more than just a phase, one I thought would come back around like it cycled in the 1990s when women dominated the charts.

Which brings us to Maren Morris, who happens to be one of the two acts that slip in to the top 100 in the final week, right at #100. Morris, whose Hero album dropped back in 2016, is only working the fourth single from the album now. Of course, in that time, she made a very high-profiled performance on the dance-pop Target-ad single "The Middle" with Zedd and Grey (which will be coming up much later in this series). I supposed the exposure from that huge pop hit kept her from being totally obscured, and this single, which was on the airplay chart since near the beginning of the year, finally reached the top ten on the list, though still kept from rising above #4. The first single from Hero, "My Church", made my also-ran list at #106 in 2016. As for "Rich", which followed her first #1 country airplay hit (and arguably much better song) "I Could Use A Love Song", which sadly got caught between years and won't even make the also-rans, the track at least had the benefit of being co-written by three women (including Maren). A comical rather than emotional song, which seems to be directly cribbed from the Steve Miller's "The Joker" in the hook, gives Maren the toss-off of a bad lover treatment which is kind of common in the genre, but at least Morris has the sass to pull it off. And for the music video, it even further puts Maren in the drivers seat, which was damn near refreshing after all the dick-swinging in the genre. Lord, country music is going to suffocate itself unless it pays attention to the women who are actually selling records and getting buzz like Kacey Musgraves and the Pistol Annies...

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#99 - "In My Feelings" by Drake
          from the album Scorpion (2018)
          Highest rank: #10 (one week)
          Weeks on the chart: 15
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (ten weeks)
          Songwriters: Drake, Noah Shebib, and like 50 other people

Oh, Drake. I have to say that this year my "Drake fatigue" reached new heights. And it was a slow build-up - he actually made my year-end list in 2016 at #38 with "One Dance" - while in 2017 he technically was below the radar with his More Life "mixtape", which I really didn't treat as a proper album and mostly disregarded the singles from it. But this year he was at peak Pitbull levels, where you couldn't avoid a project he was releasing himself or being featured on. Between three singles, "God's Plan", "Nice For What", and "In My Feelings", he was at #1 for 29 weeks this year. Combine that with every one of the album tracks from his Scorpion reaching the chart thanks to him and his label flooding Spotify playlists, and top ten features on records from Bloc Boy JB, Migos, and Bad Bunny, and I just had enough. It was so hard to true up my actual thoughts on his output that I still think I have to wait awhile to truly be impartial. And that's a shame, because since "God's Plan" was such a banal track that I couldn't stand listening to more than once, it soured me early on "Nice For What", which looking honestly back, was truly the best of the three chart-toppers, and probably even the best of his whole output in 2018. But yet it's "In My Feelings", the meme-tastic track from the summer, that makes this year-end list. Maybe because my angst over "God's Plan" was done by then, I was more ready to accept the bounce-lite of this track (though "Nice For What" does do it better, with the original Big Freedia in the mix to boot). Maybe because I was able to avoid all the "dance clips" from self-promoting celebs and wannabe celebs glamming on to this on their instagrams. In the end, the song had a charm to me that let me embrace it, and I'm sure that down the road, this and "Nice For What", the two New Orleans-inflected songs from him, will be only what is truly remembered from him from this year.


#98 - "What About Us" by Pink
          from the album Beautiful Trauma (2017)
          Highest peak (in 2018): #3 (one week) (was #1 for 11 weeks in 2017)
          Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 11 (was on chart for 16 weeks in 2017)
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #13
          Songwriters: Pink, Steve Mac, Johnny McDaid

Here's the first of six songs that were on last year's top-100 countdown that make it on this year's list, and the first of three entries from singer/songwriter Pink. This outcast anthem, which was #8 for 2017 for me, never really got the recognition it should have, and didn't even make the top ten on the American pop chart, stifled out by the glut of trap music and novelty BS around at the time. You could possibly attribute the same misogyny that affected country radio also applied here, but it also could be a product of overcoming ageism, with the almost-40 Pink fighting for airspace with other female pop singers going through news item after scandal after news item (yes, Ariana). But this song, and the symbolism and inclusion in the music video, will live on. But of course, I'll have more to say on Pink much, much, much later...

#97 - "Best Friend" by Sofi Tukker featuring NERVO, The Knocks, and Alisa Ueno
         from the album Treehouse (2018)
         Highest rank: #8 (two weeks)
         Weeks on the chart: 12
         Billboard Hot 100 peak: #81
         Songwriters: Sophie Hawley-Weld (Sofi Tukker), Tucker Halpern (Sofi Tukker), Miriam Nervo (NERVO), Olivia Nervo (NERVO), James Patterson (The Knocks), Alisa Ueno, Hiromi Kawanabe

Back in 2016, when the Grammy nominations were announced, in the dance category was a song I had never even heard at the time "Drinkee" by an act I also never heard from, Sofi Tukker, and I honestly assumed that it was one of those "bribed" noms that plagued the Grammys especially in this category the previous couple of years. But at the end of 2017, a record used for hawking Apple's iPhoneX had grabbed my attention with its addictive groove so much that I sought out what it was, and wouldn't you know it but it was this quirky duo named for its members. It seems like such a basic groove record to have so many artists involved with three duos and a Japanese rapper, but they all seem to have their job to do on the record and nobody gets in the way of each other (though I honestly could've lost Ueno without any trouble). The resulting jam reached the top 20 on the pop, alternative rock, and dance charts in Billboard, so there was a coalition of fans of this song like myself that were introduced to their totally entertaining Treehouse album, one of my faves of the year.

#96 - "Hunger" by Florence + The Machine
          from the album High As Hope (2018)
          Highest rank: #13 (three weeks)
          Weeks on the chart: 13
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart - "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #117
          Songwriters: Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine), Emile Haynie, Doveman, Tobias Jesso Jr.

Alternative rock was one of the few havens for female acts this year, though British songstress Florence Welch returned more modestly with her High As Hope album this year. However that belies the true beauty of "Hunger", probably the most personal song I've heard from her. It was a cathartic primal scream against the demons of her past, and trying to find connections with those who also experienced the same pain. Bringing in self-harm, addiction, and isolation in fame in the mix, the lyrics may not be the Nicks-esque witchy charm that some of her fans craved, but in truth is was even more in spirit with her inspiration, who also had such a troubled life in the spotlight as well. Simply stunning still in its bravery to expose it all, in a song that you can sing along to as well. Back in 2015, she made the year-end list at #39 with "Ship To Wreck" while having an "also-ran" at #119 with "What Kind Of Man".

#95 - "Smoke Clears" by Andy Grammer
         from the album The Good Parts (2017)
         Highest rank (in 2018): #15 (two weeks)
         Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 12
         Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
         Songwriters: Andy Grammer, Nolan Sipe, Jarrad Rogers

Pop troubadour Andy Grammer has been continuously given grief for his squeaky-clean nature and mainstream aspirations, most visible from his stint on Dancing With The Stars, but nevertheless, he is a writer of a bit of nuance, as is shown on this third single from his Good Parts album (last year saw the second release "Give Love" come in at #85 on the year-end and lead single "Fresh Eyes" an also-ran at #124). Singing about the ups and downs in his life and marriage over the last year, its honestly isn't smacking us directly in the face, but rather in hat-tips to medical issues and family losses.

#94 - "Mercy" by Brett Young
          from the album Brett Young (2017)
          Highest rank: #5 (one week)
          Weeks on the chart: 13
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #29
          Songwriters: Brett Young, Sean McConnell

Brett Young, who placed at #38 on last year's list with "In Case You Didn't Know", is here with the first of two songs on this year's countdown with the fourth and final single from his debut. Young is a voice I can pick out of the drone in Nashville, and he neither subscribes to the cowboy hat or baseball cap contingent there, so that's a bit helpful to him, despite his insanely good looks. This song is helped greatly by its simplicity, keeping the instrumentation to swirl around the piano and his voice in his bitter breakup plea.

#93 - "Location" by Khalid
         from the album American Teen (2017)
         Highest rank: #20 (one week)
        Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 18 (was on for 14 more in 2017)
        Billboard Hot 100 peak: #16
        Songwriters: Khalid, Joshua Scruggs, Samuel David Jimenez, Christopher McClenney, Olatunji Ige, Alfredo Gonzalez

It may have taken me longer to get on board with Texan newcomer Khalid, who by this year was already nominated for three Grammys for this song, the American Teen album, and for Best New Artist, but I recognize that he was one of the very few carrying the torch for R&B music without having to copy the old sounds of the 90s and 80s. With a delivery that sounds to me like a hip-hop version of Bill Withers on this song of penance to a love, he established himself as a true lead artist in his own right (he was on last year's list at #57 on Logic's anti-suicide "1-800-273-8255" single).

 
#92 - "Nevermind" by Dennis Lloyd
          from the single Nevermind (2017)
          Highest rank: #5 (one week)
          Weeks on the chart: 14
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #86
          Songwriters: Dennis Lloyd

A few years ago we had a string of left-field alternative pop and rock songs remixed with a tropical house beat that were huge European hits to the point where they eventually carried overseas to be moderate successes here in the States (Lilly Wood, Mr. Probz). This year saw Israeli-born singer/songwriter Dennis Lloyd make his move with the 2016 single "Nevermind", which was revamped with a remix by German DJ Wankelmut, to the point of becoming a top-5 rock radio hit here. Hypnotic record that worked perfectly for the coffeehouse clan.

#91 - "She Got The Best Of Me" by Luke Combs
          from the album This One's For You, Too (2018)
          Highest rank: #5 (three weeks)
          Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 13 (still charting)
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #34
          Songwriters: Luke Combs, Rob Snyder, Channing Wilson

And here we are at the second of the two songs which just made the list on the last chart this past Friday, and one of two songs from country singer Luke Combs. This epic break-up song, from the reissue of Combs' debut album, spotlights his course but sweet vocal which fits the clamor around his production perfectly. His delivery is completely earnest and it's fitting this is his biggest hit to date out of his four country #1 hits (last year he came in on the year-end at #27 with "Hurricane").

Well that's it for round one of this year's rundown. I'll be back tomorrow with a comeback from a country singer in his sixties, and a bearded lady gets her moment.