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Showing posts from December, 2019

Twostepcub's "Best Hits" of 2019: Part Ten - #10 to #1 and the whole shebang...

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Well folks, it's New Year's Eve, and we're down to the finish of my year-end recap of the biggest hits on my weekly music chart for 2019. You can catch up with parts one , two , three , four , five , six , seven , eight , nine , and the also-rans, as well as the entire series by clicking here. Now let's end this... #10 - " Truth Hurts " by Lizzo           from the album Cuz I Love You (Deluxe Edition) (2019)           Highest rank: #1 (seven weeks)           Weeks on the chart (in 2019): 23 (still charting for 1 week more i 2020)           Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1           Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #9           Billboard Dance Airplay peak: #1           Billboard Dance Club Play peak: #19           Billboard Hot R&B/HipHop Airplay: #8           Songwriters: Lizzo, Ricky Reed, Jesse St. John, Steven Cheung, Mina Lioness Personally, I would've put money that "Juice" would've given this year's soul/hip-hop

Twostepcub's "Best Hits" of 2019: Part Nine and a Half - the "also-rans"...

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Hey peeps, before I get to the top ten of my year-end countdown of the biggest songs of 2019 on my weekly music chart , it's time to check out the songs that almost made the grade. I mean, just confining my choices to chart "hit" placements, there still were 536 songs that were on my lists throughout the year, and some that were quite worthy simply couldn't compete at time with others that had spent much more time (I'm looking at you , Biebs). So here's the 30 that appear right under the top 100, including some jamming club hits, songs trapped by being at the middle of two years' timelines, and a handful that would've been on last year's recap with their points. You can check out the rest of the countdown so far by clicking here . And away we go... #130 - "Good Things Fall Apart" by Illenium and Jon Bellion             from the album Ascend (2019)             Highest rank: #18             Weeks on the chart (in 2019): 13 (still

Twostepcub's music chart for December 27, 2019...

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Hey folks! I hope everyone is having a good holiday season, and getting ready for hopefully a much better year in 2020. Let's take a break from my year-end recap of the biggest hit songs of 2019 to run down the top 100 "hits" from the previous week. Lizzo takes a third turn at the top, while Luke Combs (pictured above) climbs a notch within the top ten. Songs from Dan + Shay, Dua Lipa, and Judy Garland make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while former big hits from Green Day, Lizzo, the Jonas Brothers, and Dierks Bentley drop off my list, with two of them making the top ten of the whole year. Now lets get going, 2019, you've outstayed your welcome! This Week            Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Good As Hell - Lizzo (1) 2. Circles - Post Malone (4) 3. Someone You Loved - Lewis Capaldi (2) 4. Even Thoug

Twostepcub's "Best Hits" of 2019: Part Nine - #20 to #11..

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We're almost to the end of my year-end countdown of the biggest "hit" songs on my weekly music chart . You can catch up with parts one , two , three , four , five , six , seven , and eight , or the whole series so far by clicking here . And away we go... #20 - " Senorita " by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello           from the albums Shawn Mendes (Deluxe Edition) and Romance (2019)           Highest rank: #2 (one week)           Weeks on the chart (in 2019): 22 (still charting)           Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1           Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #1           Billboard Dance Airplay peak: #2           Billboard Dance Club Play peak: #20           UK Singles Chart peak: #1           Songwriters: Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Watt, Benny Blanco, Ali Tamposi, Charli XCX, Cashmere Cat, Jack Patterson (Clean Bandit) The "it" couple of 2019 ("allegedly") comes together with a half-dozen other singers/producers to come

Twostepcub's "Best Hits" of 2019: Part Eight - #30 to #21...

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Here we go with installment number eight of my countdown of the biggest "hit" songs on my weekly music chart for this year. You can catch up with parts one , two , three , four , five , six , and seven , or for the whole series to date you can click here . #30 - " Ready To Let Go " by Cage The Elephant           from the album Social Cues (2019)           Highest rank: #1 (two weeks)           Weeks on the chart: 19           Billboard Hot 100 peak: DNC           Billboard Rock Airplay peak: #1 (six weeks)           Billboard Mainstream Rock peak: #12           Billboard Alternative Rock peak: #1 (six weeks)           Billboard Triple-A Rock peak: #1 (one week)           Songwriters: Cage The Elephant (Matt Schultz, Brad Schultz, Nick Bockrath, Jared Champion, Matthan Minster, Dan Tichenor) The Kentucky-born indie-rock band returned with their Social Cues album, and besides the title track appearing at #58 on this year's list, the lead

Twostepcub's "Best Hits" of 2019: Part Seven - #40 to #31...

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I'm heading into the Top-40 on my recap of the biggest hit songs on my weekly music chart for 2019. You can check out parts one , two , three , four , five , and six , or the whole series by clicking here . #40 - " Heat " by Kelly Clarkson           from the album Meaning Of Life (2017)           Highest Rank: #3 (one week)           Weeks on the chart (in 2019): 19 (was on for three weeks in 2018)           Billboard Hot 100 peak: DNC           Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #14           Billboard Dance Club Play peak: #1           Songwriters: The Monarch (Dre & Sean Davidson), Mick Schultz, HarlÅ“, Michael Pollack The new talk-show contender was still promoting her two-year-old album The Meaning Of Life this year. First single "Love So Soft" ended up at #64 on the year-end for 2017, while "I Don't Think About You" was the 62nd biggest song on my recap last year. This time out the third try "Heat" out did them b

Twostepcub's "Best Hits" of 2019: Part Six - #50 to #41...

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We've passed the halfway mark on this year's recap of the top songs of the year on my weekly music countdown . You can catch up with parts one , two , three , four , and five , or the whole series to date by clicking here . And here we go, on the post-Christmas side... #50 - " Millionaire " by Chris Stapleton           from the album From A Room, Volume 2 (2017)           Highest Rank: #8 (one week)           Weeks on the chart (in 2019): 19 (was on for two weeks in 2018)           Billboard Hot 100 peak: #47           Billboard Country Airplay peak: #2 (three weeks)           Songwriters: Kevin Welch The roots country artist took "Broken Halos", his #1 country hit from From A Room, Volume 1 to #73 on my year-end chart for 2018. This time around his offering from Volume 2 , which stopped at the runner-up spot on the country chart, does a bit better. Chris is truly the light for male country music storytelling , and this is part proof. (C

Twostepcub's "Best Hits" of 2019: Part Five - #60 to #51

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We're coming up to the halfway point on my year-end countdown of the biggest songs of my weekly music chart this past year. You can catch up with parts one , two , three , and four , as well as the whole series by clicking here . And away we go... #60 - " ME! " by Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie           from the album Lover (2019)           Highest Rank: #9 (two weeks)           Weeks on the chart: 20           Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2           Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #6           UK Singles chart peak: #3           Songwriters: Taylor Swift, Brendon Urie, Joel Little Taylor has certainly had an odd year in 2019. First off, her presence in media culture was undeniable, but not as monolithic as it was on the release of Reputation in 2017. Her two big singles which show on my list this year, "ME!" and "You Need To Calm Down", both missed going to #1, stopping at the runner-up spot and both kept from #1 by "Old Tow

Twostepcub's "best hits" of 2019: Part Four - #70 to #61...

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It's time for round four of my ten-plus part recap of the biggest hits on my weekly music chart this year. You can check up with part one , part two , or part three , or even the whole series by clicking here . #70 - " Chances " by Backstreet Boys           from the album DNA (2019)           Highest rank: #19 (three weeks)           Weeks on the chart (in 2019): 17 (was on for one week in 2018)           Billboard Hot 100 peak: "bubbled under" the chart at #107           Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #19           Billboard Dance Club Play peak: #9           Songwriters: Ryan Tedder, Zach Skelton, Shawn Mendes, Geoff Warburton, Scott Harris, Fiona Bevan, Casey Smith, Edei I usually get leary about pop songs that need eight people to write them, but this song from the resurrected Backstreet Boys, who's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" was #21 on my list last year, isn't as disjointed as it could've been. Very mature stuf

twostepcub's music chart for December 20, 2019...

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Friday's here (and gone), and it's past due time to run down my top 100 "hit" tunes from the previous week. Lizzo remains on top for a second week, while Post Malone (pictured above) leaps into the top five. Former big hits from Brantley Gilbert/Lindsay Ell, Crystal Waters, and Ashley O (aka Miley Cyrus) drop off my list, while songs from Meg Myers, Meduza/Becky Hill/Goodboys, and Tom Walker make some of the biggest moves (jumps of 10+ places highlighted in red ). Happy Chanukah, and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate each. Cheers. You can catch up with my year-end recap of the biggest songs of 2019 on this chart by clicking here .   This Week            Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Good As Hell - Lizzo (1) 2. Someone You Loved - Lewis Capaldi (2) 3. The Hype - twenty-one pilots (3) 4. Circles - Post Malone (8)

Songoftheday 12/22/19 - I wrote a song for all those nice little Jewish kids who don't get to hear any Chanukah songs Here we go!

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" The Chanukah Song " - Adam Sandler from the album What The Hell Happened To Me? (1996) Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #10 (one week) Weeks in the Hot 100 Airplay top-40: 2 Today's special song of the day comes from comedian Adam Sandler , who got his big break when he was hired as a writer then quickly became a cast member on the long-running sketch show Saturday Night Live in 1990. His popularity on the show grew exponentially,  to the point that he released his debut comedy album They're All Gonna Laugh At You in 1993, which went on to sell over two million copies and appear on Billboard magazine's Top 200 Albums sales chart. Three years later, Sandler returned with his sophomore effort, What The Hell Happened To Me? , which included an expanded version of a song he originally debuted on the show in 1994. Naming off celebrity Jewish people, the simplistic tune was both hilarious and in a way empowering

Twostepcub's "Best Hits" of 2019 Part Three: #80 to #71...

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I'm back with the third installment of this year's recap of the biggest songs on my weekly music chart . You can catch up with Part One and Part Two by clicking here . #80 - " Rescue Me " by OneRepublic           from the upcoming album Human (2020)           Highest rank: #20 (two weeks)           Weeks on the chart: 17           Billboard Hot 100 peak: "bubbled under" at #105           Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #14           Songwriters: Ryan Tedder, Brent Kutzle (OneRepublic)   Since the turn of the millenium, it seems like it had always been a race between Maroon 5, Imagine Dragons, and OneRepublic as the prevalent pop/rock band, but even though the Denver rockers haven't had the success of Levine tribe or the consistency of the Dragons, they have an ace in the hole with Tedder, one of the best songwriters out there (though he does give a lot of his best away). This layered pop number about asking for help when you really need

Twostepcub's "Best Hits" of 2019: Part Two - #90 to #81...

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Well folks, we're up to round two of my recap of the biggest hits on my weekly music hitlist. You can catch up on part one by clicking here . And away we go.... #90 - " Look What God Gave Her " by Thomas Rhett           from the album Center Point Road (2019)           Highest Rank: #20 (one week)           Weeks on the chart: 19           Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32           Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1           Songwriters: Thomas Rhett, Rhett Akins, Julian Bunetta, Josh Ryan, Jacob Kasher, Ammar Malik You can tell legacy country singer Thomas Rhett wasn't even pretending to be "country" anymore with this lead single from his fourth album. I mean, the song was co-written by the guy behind "Moves Like Jagger" and "Payphone" and "Maps" all from Maroon 5, so it isn't surprising that this song sounds more like a Maroon 5 record than a Maroon 5 record. Also, it took six people to come up with this

Twostepcub's "Best hits" of 2019: Part one - #100 to #91...

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I said 2017 was the "hold my beer" year. Then a year later I said that 2018 was like a roller coaster derailing. On this day where the third president in history gets impeached by the House of Representative for only a miniscule fraction of the amount of crimes that he's done while his cult is proclaiming that he's being treated worse than Jesus is pretty much where we are right now. The only thing is I can confidently say that the mainstream music scene, with all of its faults and dullness, did pull out to be better than last year's nadir of scum. Sure, there's still the shovels full of drug-and guns-induced rap being made and devoured by scores of brain-dead white kids, but in a world where the biggest story out of the genre was the record-breaking success of a "soundcloud rapper" who decided to come out of the closet just as his genre-bending hit was at its peak is nothing short of, well, breathtaking . Especially how matter-of-fact it a

Songoftheday 12/17/19 - Baby, show me what you feel, come to me show me somethin' real...

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" Can I Touch You...There? " - Michael Bolton from the album Greatest Hits 1985-1995 (1995) Billboard Hot 100 peak; #27 (three weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 6 Today's song of the day comes from soft-rock singer/songwriter Michael Bolton , who had dominated mainstream radio in the first half of the 1990s, although his 1993 album The One Thing showing a little slowing down even if it sold over three million copies and scored a top ten pop hit with " Said I Loved You...But I Lied " and two top-40 follow-ups in " Completely " and " Ain't Got Nothin' If You Ain't Got Love " (the latter albeit on the airplay chart only). In 1995 Bolton released his first compilation, Greatest Hits 1985-1995 , which collected twelve of his biggest songs from four huge albums, along with five previously unreleased recordings. For the first single, another Bolton-"Mutt" Lange collaboration was released with the similarly punctuated "

Disco Dessert 12/16/19 - "Let Them Dance" from D.C. LaRue..

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" Let Them Dance " was a club hit for singer/songwriter D.C. LaRue. Appearing on his third album Confessions , the entire album charted as one entry on Billboard 's National Disco Action Top-40 chart, where it peaked at #12 in 1978. LaRue wrote the track, which was produced by Bob Esty.

Robbed hit of the week 12/16/19 - the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Warped"...

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" Warped " - Red Hot Chili Peppers from the album One Hot Minute (1995) Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #41 This week's "robbed hit" comes from the alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers , who had followed up their breakthrough success in the summer of 1992 with the top ten hit " Under The Bridge " with the soundtrack cut " Soul To Squeeze ", which topped the alternative rock radio chart and made the American pop top-40 in the fall of 1993. But this success had its toll, which guitarist John Frusciante leaving the band. After a series of temp hacks on axe, former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro was hired on in time for their stint at Woodstock '94 and the recording of their next studio album One Hot Minute . However, between his and lead singer Anthony Kiedis' respective drug addictions, the recording of the album was a tough go. In fact, that background fueled th

Songoftheday 12/16/19 - I'm young but I'm wise wnough to know that you, don't fall in love over night...

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" Brokenhearted " - Brandy from the album Brandy (1994) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 14 Today's song of the day comes from actress and singer Brandy , whose debut album had already landed three top-40 pop hits with " I Wanna Be Down ", " Baby ", and " Best Friend ", with the latter one slipping into the top-40 in the summer of 1995. The fourth release from the record would be the lost love ballad "Brokenhearted". Written by producer Keith Crouch along with Kipper Jones, the track featured uncredited vocals by Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men, who she dated for a time, though eventually he would break off the relationship when she was 18... "Brokenhearted" did way better than her previous single, landing her back into the pop and R&B top ten (R&B #2) in October of 1995. Internationally, the song went to #6 in New Zealand. (Click below to see the rest of the post)

Disco Dessert 12/15/19 - "Rock The Boat" from the Hues Corporation...

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" Rock The Boat " was one of the first big "pre-disco" anthems that pointed to the evolution of the genre in the early 1970s. Recorded by the group the Hues Corporation, the song first appeared on their debut album Freedom for the Stallion , the song was remixed for the single and subsequently their next studio album Rockin' Soul . The song was released to early to be on Billboard magazine's official disco/dance charts, but topped the Hot 100 chart and got to #2 on the R&B chart.

Songoftheday 12/15/19 - Spent forty-eight dollars last night at the county fair, I threw out my shoulder but I won her that teddy bear...

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" I Like It, I Love It " - Tim McGraw from the album All I Want (1995) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #25 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 6 Today's song of the day comes from country singer Tim McGraw , whose second album Not A Moment Too Soon had scored him a pair of top-20 pop hits thanks to the massive sales (and not radio airplay) of " Indian Outlaw " and " Don't Take The Girl ", the latter in the summer of 1994. The following year, Tim returned with the first single from his next studio record All I Want . "I Like It, I Love It" was a low-brain, high-bootyshaker dancefloor anthem that fit perfectly as the line dancing fad was hitting its peak across America. Written by Jeb Stuart Anderson, Steve Dukes, and Mark Hall (not exactly big writers in the scene at that point) it gave a fresh sound to radio, and released as a CD/cassette single again, fans gobbled it up until the album came in a few months later. Those huge sales numbers g

Disco Dessert 12/14/19 - "Dreamin'" from Loleatta Holloway...

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" Dreamin' " was a club hit for the late singer Loleatta Holloway. Appearing on her album Loleatta , the song was written by producer Norman Harris along with Allan Felder and Ron Tyson. On Billboard magazine's National Disco Action Top-40, the Loleatta album charted as one entry, with "Dreamin" and "Ripped Off" chosen as key tracks. It peaked at #3 in 1977. (Click below to see the rest of the post)

Songoftheday 12/14/19 - An older version of me Is she perverted like me? Would she go down on you in a theater?

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" You Oughta Know " - Alanis Morissette from the album Jagged Little Pill (1995) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (live version as the B-Side of "You Learn") Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak (initial run): #13 (one week) Weeks in the Hot 100 Airplay Top-40: 24 Today's song of the day comes from Canadian child actress turned modern rock singer Alanis Morissette , Born in Ottawa, she first appeared as a cast member on the children's sketch comedy show You Can't Do That On Television in 1986. The show, infamous for pouring "slime" on its cast and guests, didn't spare Alanis during her short stay on the Canadian TV Show (ironically done after the person says "I Don't Know"). After trying to get a music career off the ground since the late 1980s, Alanis finally released her debut dance-pop record in Canada in 1991. From it three singles reached the Canadian Top-40, with lead track " Too Hot " peaking at #14. A year