Twostepcub's Best Hits of 2018: Part Three - #80 to #71...

I'm back with the third installment of my year-end countdown of the biggest hits on my weekly music countdown for 2018. You can catch up by clicking on part one or part two, but now let's head on...

#80 - "Leave It Smokin'" by Tamia
          from the album Passion Like Fire (2018)
          Highest rank: #19 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart: 18
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
          Songwriters: Tamia, Salaam Remi, Alicia Renee

Yesterday's countdown post featured Toni Braxton, who had been absent from my year-end since 2014; now we have another neo-soul singer with a longer drought. Tamia, who was last on my chart with "Beautiful Surprise" in 2012 (it didn't make the year-end) and last on the final way back in 2003 with "Officially Missing You", returned with this smooth bit of soul that climbed to #2 on Billboard magazine's Adult R&B radio chart. This Canadian didn't compromise her sound or anything, and with Remi's timeless yet in the moment production, gave Tamia the basis to mount her proper comeback. Pop radio should've got on board, but you know, ageism and all that. Still, making the top 20 on the R&B chart proved she's still in the game.

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#79 - "Gold Rush" by Death Cab For Cutie
          from the album Thank You For Today (2018)
          Highest rank: #2 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart: 15
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
          Songwriter: Ben Gibbard

The veteran indie-pop act Death Cab For Cutie, who last were on the year-end recap back in 2015 when "Black Sun" placed at #37, land here with their hypnotic look at how the world is swallowing himself and his loved ones up. The clip demonstrates the unstoppable passage of time and technology quite nicely as well.

#78 - "Burn The House Down" by AJR
          from the album The Click Deluxe (2018)
          Highest rank: #11 (one week)
          Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 19 (still charting)
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #100
          Songwriters: Adam, Jack, and Ryan Met

New York City transplants from Cali who started out a squeaky-clean boy-band out reinvented themselves with The Click, which again got revamped with a "deluxe" release including this number which casts them somewhere between twenty-one pilots and fun. Considering the dirge of mainstream pop-rock these days (see: Maroon 5), this won by matter of lack of competition. Not to say this quirky song with the horns doesn't have charms, but it does explain its longevity, as well as their other entry, coming up at lot later.

#77 - "Walk On Water" by 30 Seconds To Mars
          from the album America (2018)
          Highest rank: #5 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 12 (was on for 11 more weeks in 2017)
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart, "bubbled under the Hot 100" at #106
          Songwriters: Jared and Shannon Leto

Sure, on the surface, this is the Leto brothers aping Imagine Dragons' tribal thumping, but Jared had biggest aspirations (member Tomo Miličević left after the recording of the album), with a "day in the life" that seemed to be a preachier version of Van Halen's "Right Now", throwing up "all sides" vignettes amidst the stated "facts".  But I give them a grade for effort, something most of the rock machines weren't trying to do as they were courting both sides of the musical aisle without thought. And considering the band have been off the year-end since 2010's "This Is War", they needed this.

#76 - "Life To Fix" by the Record Company
          from the album All Of This Life (2018)
          Highest rank: #20 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart: 16
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
          Songwriters: Chris Vos, Alex Stiff, Marc Cazorla

This lo-fi blues-rock trio from Los Angeles landed at #70 on my 2016 recap with their breakout debut "Off The Ground". Now the lead single from their second album, All of This Life, displayed just the same addictive hooks and simple structure that won me over a couple years ago. Lead singer Vos' pipes (and his cuteness) don't hurt either.

#75 - "Losing Sleep" by Chris Young
          from the album Losing Sleep (2017)
          Highest rank: #7 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 13 (was on for 5 more weeks in 2017)
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #60
          Songwriters: Chris Young, Chris DiStefano, Josh Hoge

Country singer Young, who was on last year's list with "Sober Saturday Night" with Vince Gill at #63, is a real slow-burning artist, with his singles taking months to reach their peak, and this one is no exception, almost getting his one-a-year average (another is coming up soon). His lower range vocals are put to good use here, tickling your ears as he guides you into the bedroom without the bluster of the bro-country crowd. This (and himself) would work on me nicely.

#74 - "Alone" from Halsey featuring Big Sean and Stefflon Don
          from the album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom (2017)
          Highest rank: #10 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart: 16
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #66
          Songwriters: Halsey, Ricky Reed, Dan Wilson, Tony Hester, Big Sean, Stefflon Don

Halsey, aka "P!nk Meth", has been chasing the pop crown for the past couple years. In 2016, her collab with the Chainsmokers, "Closer", placed at #50, and stayed on enough to make #80 on 2017's countdown (along with her own "Now Or Never" as an also-ran at #115). This is one of two of hers from Hopeless Fountain Kingdom that made the list this year, and for me it was the more satisfying listen (although for content the other will prevail). With a dramatic turn on the chorus of missed romance paired with the bisexually-colored video, coasting on a sample of Billy Davis and Marilyn McCoo, and also introducing British rapper Stefflon Don to the charts, it was quite worth the ride.

#73 - "Broken Halos" by Chris Stapleton
          from the album From A Room: Volume 1 (2017)
          Highest rank: #5 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart: 16
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #45
          Songwriters: Chris Stapleton, Mike Henderson

Country-rock singer/songwriter Chris Stapleton claimed his first #1 hit on the format genre chart with this song, that won all of the awards and put him square enough in the mainstream that he ended up on a Justin Timberlake record (ugh). Anyway, this Allman-esque track of losing those that help you was miles above anything the bro-boys could muster, so radio was initially scared off, but his sales numbers couldn't be denied.

#72 - "A Little Honey" by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
          from the album Tearing At The Seams (2018)
          Highest rank: #8 (one week)
          Weeks on the chart: 16
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
          Songwriter: Nathaniel Rateliff

For me veteran blues-rocker Nathaniel Rateliff and his current band the Night Sweats are just as essential and deserving of all the awards as Stapleton, with the kicker of probably being the band I'd most want to travel on tour with. Back in 2015, their breakout hit "S.O.B." went all the way to #2 on my chart, but was caught "in between years" as to be #102 in 2015 and #146 in 2016 (to put in perspective, if you combined the points from both years it would've placed at #33 this year). Their follow-up, "I Need Never Get Old", did managed to make the year-end in 2016 at #78. Now the band returns with Tearing At The Seams, one of my personal favorite albums of the year, and two songs from the set make this countdown. This one rolls just so damn easy and was a frequent go-to on drives by myself in the country. It peaked at #2 on the Adult Alternative Rock format, but should've crossed over to adult top-40 in a better world.

#71 - "Promises" by Calvin Harris and Sam Smith
          from the single Promises (2018) 
          Highest rank: #3 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart (in 2018): 14 (still charting)
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #65
          Songwriters: Sam Smith, Calvin Harris, Jessie Reyes

Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Smith has been all over the map over the last few years, either releasing albums that spin off single after single, or stealth one-off tracks that end up stand-alone nuggets, and this one is one of the latter, and is one of the best from either him or singer Sam Smith, who released his inner queen in this house music flashback that is simply transfixing. For the video, they travel back in time to when the ballrooms reigned, with veteran voguers like Kevin Stea (one of Madonna's dancers back in the day) still having the life. Last year Smith was on the list at #61 with the somber "Too Good At Goodbyes", while Harris was joining up with Katy Perry and Migos at #83 for the trippy "Feels", so this is quite a release for the both of them.

Coming up tomorrow is the return of emo-rockers with aspirations, a pair from a country singer with a colorful car, and a Disney Girl we needed to worry about.