Twostepcub's "best hits" of 2019: Part Four - #70 to #61...
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 stuff from the boy band.
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#69 - "Can We Pretend" by Pink featuring Cash Cash
from the album Hurts 2B Human (2019)
Highest Rank: #5 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 16
Billboard Hot 100 peak: DNC
Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #9
Billboard Dance Club Play peak: #1
Songwriters: Pink, Ryan Tedder, Cash Cash (Alex & Jean Paul Makhlouf, Samuel Frisch)
Pink's Hurts 2B Human was the most underappreciated pop album this year, and this song ranks near the top of the best songs of the year. The direct and heartfelt lyrics of wishing something different for yourself cut to the bone for me in these times.
#68 - "Power Over Me" by Dermot Kennedy
from the album Without Fear (2019)
Highest rank: #32 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 25
Billboard Hot 100 peak: DNC
Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #23
Billboard Triple-A Rock peak: #5
Irish singer-songwriter Kennedy's breakthrough hit does remind me of his fellow countryman Hozier, in its quieter piano-driven and humming moments, but he worked in a more uptempo milieu. Powerful video about the strength of a woman helps as well.
#67 - "Bad Liar" by Imagine Dragons
from the album Origins (2019)
Highest rank: #8 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 16
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #56
Billboard Alternative Songs peak: #8
Billboard Rock Airplay peak: #9
Songwriters: Imagine Dragons, Aja Volkman, Jorgen Odegard
The second of the modern rock band from Las Vegas' Origins album to make the year end list. Similar yet different enough from their other hits to almost fit into Coldplay's repertoire.
#66 - "GIRL" by Maren Morris
from the album GIRL (2019)
Highest rank: #10 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 16
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #44
Billboard Country Airplay chart: #1
Songwriters: Maren Morris, Sarah Aarons, Greg Kurstin
It speaks volumes about the state of country radio that this is the only solo female #1 on the Country Airplay chart in the entire year of 2019. If you use Billboard's sales and streaming-inclusive "Country Songs" chart, she only made #8 so it's a sausage factory there. And it's fucking artificial, and they know it. I pray for the day the pseudo homoerotic branding shit that dominates Nashville will go away.
#65 - "Don't Give Up On Me" by Andy Grammer
from the album Naive (2019)
Highest Rank: #17 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 18
Billboard Hot 100 peak: "bubbled under" the chart at #101
Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #12
Songwriters: Andy Grammer, Bram Inscore, Jake Torry, Sam Farrar (Maroon 5)
Pop singer/songwriter Grammer, who placed at #95 last year with "Smoke Clears", has had a productive but unassuming career so far, highlighted with "Honey I'm Good" which was my #2 song of 2015. He's back this year with a song heard in the teen drama Five Feet Apart, and the inspirational lyrics on "Don't Give Up On Me" are positive without being heavy-handed.
#64 - "This Is It" by Scotty McCreery
from the album Seasons Change (2018)
Highest rank: #32 (one week)
Weeks on the chart (in 2019): 27 (was on for one week in 2018)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
Songwriters: Scotty McCreery, Frank Rogers, Aaron Eshuis
Surprisingly, it took until now that 2011's American Idol winner lands on my year-end list, and it's with this understated love song which sports a music video that commemorates McCreery's wedding day. One question though; when does he stop being "Scotty"?
#63 - "Whiskey Glasses" by Morgan Wallen
from the album If I Know Me (2018)
Highest rank: #39 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 27
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #17
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
Songwriters: Ben Burgess, Kevin Kadish
The Tennessee native who had appeared on The Voice for a hot minute ended up with Billboard's biggest country single of 2019. On my list he ends up here, with the distinction of the lowest-charting song in my top 100. Yes, it's pure bro-country fodder, but I could identify with the single aspect of liquor choices, and he wasn't over the top on the branding, so I quite didn't mind, and his longevity on the chart is what guarantee him a spot here.
#62 - "Light On" by Maggie Rogers
from the album Heard It In A Past Life (2019)
Highest rank: #7 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2019): 15 (was on for three weeks in 2018)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: DNC
Billboard Alternative Songs peak: #1
Songwriters: Maggie Rogers, Thomas Hull
Another of the Best New Artist nominees at new years' Grammys, indie-folk artist Rogers took this beautiful number to the top ten on my chart. A remixed version even made the dance music club play list as well.
#61 - "7 Rings" by Ariana Grande
from the album thank u, next (2019)
Highest rank: #14 (four weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 20
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1
Billboard Dance Club Play chart: #1
UK Singles Chart peak: #1
Grande was riding the crest of her career at the start of 2019, and this fluffy take-off of The Sound Of Music was a part of it. How this is nominated for Grammy's Record of the Year is beyond me, but it's a bouncy and fun respite from it all, and its longevity won it a spot here.
As we approach the halfway mark on my 2019 countdown, we come to an emancipated woman, Hannah Montana driving erratically, and more.
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