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

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 all happened. A lot of horribleness from 2018 was disposed of by means of incarceration (6ix9nine), death (XXXTentacion), or mental implosion (Kanye every fucking day), there was less of that and more quirky pop, soul, and rock acts carving a different path, like Billie Eilish, Lizzo, and my own personal favorite Yola. Even when pop stars like Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and Pink were experiencing a downturn in sales in comparison to their highs, they were throwing out consistently quality work.

So now it's time to start out my recap of the 100 biggest songs on my weekly chart last year. Each week I compiled a list of songs based on "hits", meaning they made the top-30 on Billboard magazine's Adult Top-40 chart, top-20 on the Hot 100, Country Airplay, and Dance Club Play lists, top-10 on Rock Airplay, Alternative Songs, Triple-A (Adult Album Alternative Rock) Songs, Dance Airplay, and British Airplay, Top-5 on the Mainstream Rock, Adult R&B, and British Singles charts, and #1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") format tallies. I mix them all up on preferences and roll out a new chart every week. Well after last week's list, my year end, I took the last 52 weeks and added them all up top to bottom, and here is the result, the songs that went the highest, stayed the longest, or both. There's a lot of personal faves that aren't on here simply because they didn't fit the "chart criteria" at all or for a long time. Maybe I get the time to have a "twostep awards" for that. But in the meantime, here's the 100 biggest tunes on the chart this year, all worthy in their own way, and ten at a time, with a "breather" to take a glance at the 25 also-rans. So here we go with #100 and...

#100 - "Harmony Hall" by Vampire Weekend
            from the album Father Of The Bride (2019)
            Highest Rank: #14 (two weeks)
            Weeks on the chart: 14
            Billboard Hot 100 peak: DNC
            Billboard Rock Airplay peak: #7
            Songwriter: Ezra Koenig

Father Of The Bride was the New York indie-rock's fourth album and first on a major label, and not only did they nab a nomination for a Grammy for Album of the Year, but two of the tracks from it appear on my big countdown. This was the first single released, and the first salvo of Koenig taking full control after the departure of original member Rostam Batmanglij (who still nonetheless co-wrote and played on one of the album cuts). This jangly and folksy number pits light instrumentation to lyrics that are big-time emo.

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#99 - "Youngblood" by 5 Seconds Of Summer
          from the album Youngblood (2018)
          Highest Rank (in 2019): #10 (one week)
          Weeks on my chart (in 2019): 11 (was on for 18 weeks in 2018)
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7
          Songwriters: 5 Seconds of Summer (Calum Hood, Ashton Irwin, Luke Hemmings), Ali Tamposi, Watt, Louis Bell

The Australian "boy-band" that presents itself as an actual band almost made the also-ran list last year with this song (it was #128), which is what I figure that someone that watched nothing but Stranger Things would come up with as a 1980s-style number without living in the decade. The steel-cold "heart of the night" atmosphere works better that the cheese they've delivered before, which probably explains their first year-end appearance here.

#98 - "Love You Too Late" by Cole Swindell
          from the album  All Of It (2018)
          Highest Rank: #20 (four weeks)
          Weeks on the chart: 16
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #49
          Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
          Songwriters: Cole Swindell, Michael Carter, Brandon Kinney

Country ginger Swindell did make my also-ran list last year with "Break Up In The End" (#106). While that song made the top ten, this one did better in the long haul, with the uptempo country rock beat recalling some of the fast breakup songs of Tim McGraw of way back when.

#97 - "Hey Mama" by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
          from the album Tearing At The Seams (2018)
          Highest Rank (in 2019): #9 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart (in 2019): 12 (was on for 2 weeks in 2018)
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: DNC
          Billboard Triple-A Rock Airplay peak: #1
          Songwriter: Nathaniel Rateliff

One of my favorite (and underappreciated) blues-rock acts on the road today, Nate and his band made last years year-end twice with two songs from their steller Tearing At The Seams: "You Worry Me" (#28) and "A Little Honey" (#72). The third hit made it on this list, with its laid back world-weary conversation between mother and son that's more real that a thousand Hallmark stores, and doesn't promise a happy ending.

#96 - "All Day and Night" by Jax Jones and Martin Solveig featuring Madison Beer
          from the album Snacks (Supersize) (2019)
          Highest rank: #23 (one week)
          Weeks on the chart: 18
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #DNC
          Billboard Dance Airplay peak: #1
          Songwriters: Jax Jones, Martin Solveig, Becky Hill, Hailee Steinfeld, Kamille, Jin Jin, Mark Ralph

British DJ Jones' expanded album Snacks was my go-to dance album of the year, with no less that eleven of its tracks becoming hits in the UK this year. This one made the top ten, while topping the dance airplay chart in the US, with its sublime house-rave redux such a sweet touch to my ears and to my booty-shaking. I totally recommend giving the whole Snacks a listen, with the diversity of singers adding a good contrast throughout the set. In this one, French DJ Solveig and American singer Madison Beer (a Bieber discovery, but yeah) come up with a club track that neither Solveig or Jones can totally claim is "their sound". More like Club 69 from the old Rauhofer days.

#95 - "There Was This Girl" by Riley Green
          from the album Different 'Round Here (2019)
          Highest Rank: #34 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart: 20
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #70
          Billboard Country Airplay peak: #3
          Songwriters: Riley Green, Erik Dylan

It's telling that this newcomer's debut album wasn't even released on CD, only as a digital download album, on who they were marketing this far. By the books country-rock fare that runs the "picking up a cute girl" story yet again, but Green has enough charm (and looks) to give him a little slack. This might be his only big moment (though his new sappy as hell "I Wish Grandpas Never Died" is nearing the country-top-20), but he can be proud of this one; the drums in particular carry this song.

#94 - "Hold Me While You Wait" by Lewis Capaldi
          from the album Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent (2019)
          Highest Rank: #20 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart: 19
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: DNC
          British Singles Chart: #4
          Songwriters: Lewis Capaldi, Jamie Hartman, Jamie N Commons

The fourth British top ten single from the pudgy Scottish lad that has captured the hearts of the UK with his self-deprecating demeanor and emotive voice and one either loves or hates, this climbed the charts in Britain as they were waiting for America to catch up with falling in love with "Someone You Loved", which will be coming up much later. Same theme of loving a girl so much that he's willing to sub in while she is waiting for "the one". Corny, but this shit happens all the times whether it's a boy or girl or straight or gay. And that's why this one connects.

#93 - "What Happens In A Small Town" by Brantley Gilbert and Lindsay Ell
          from the album Fire & Brimstone (2019)
          Highest Rank: #20 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart: 20
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #53
          Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
          Songwriters: Brantley Gilbert, Rhett Akins, Brock Berryhill, Josh Dunne

The state of women in country radio in 2019 was even more piss-poor than last year, with Maren Morris claiming the only #1 country airplay single credited to just her with "Girl" (coming up later). This single, featuring relative newcomer Ell from Canada, I guess can have an asterisk on that feat as well, though she doesn't have the presence on this record that Brantley commands. In fact, the prominent power-ballad guitars leave it more in common with a Journey record than a country song, but slowly and surely this climbed the charts to find an open opportunity to make #1 in a soft week, making Brantley's fifth chart-topper and Ell's first (in fact, first top ten).

#92 - "God's Country" by Blake Shelton
          from the album Fully Loaded: God's Country (2019)
          Highest Rank: #30 (two weeks)
          Weeks on the chart: 21
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #17
          Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
          Songwriters: Devin Dawson, Jordan Schmidt, Hardy

After coasting for a few years (last year only his "I Lived It" managed to make my also-ran list at #117) and realizing that despite his stint on The Voice he is perilously in danger of being at the point of getting "aged out" by country radio (see also, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney), 43 year old Shelton pulled this "event record" out of his hat produced with enough drama and less hokey taglines to have people take him sort of seriously again. This one was co-written by Devin Dawson, who placed at #56 on my year-end in 2018 for "All On Me". Blake delivered a vocal that deserved his best chart placing since 2013's "Boys 'Round Here" (a far inferior song).

#91 - "Breathin'" by Ariana Grande
          from the album Sweetener (2018)
          Highest Rank (in 2019): #6 (one week)
          Weeks on the chart (in 2019): 11 (was on for 8 weeks in 2018)
          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #12
          Billboard Dance Club Play peak: #1

Ariana rose like a phoenix last year with her triumphant single "No Tears Left To Cry", which was #25 on 2018's year-end tally. The third offering from her Sweetener album may have been eclipsed a bit by the immediate reaction to her "thank u, next" single (coming up later), but this was the more complete production, and a much more powerful vocal performance from Grande their her pair of kitschy hits that came since.

Well that does it for part one of this ride. I'll be back with a pair from a legacy country star, an indie-blues-rock siren flying free, and last year's break-out rap goddess going the straight route.