Twostepcub's Biggest Hits of 2020: Part Five - #60 to #51...
We're down to part five of my year-end countdown of the biggest "hit" tunes on my weekly music chart for this past god-awful 2020. You can catch up by clicking here on parts one, two, three, and four. We're almost to the halfway mark...
#60 - "Cardigan" by Taylor Swift
from the album folklore (2020)
Highest rank: #11 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 18 (still charting)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1
Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #8
UK Official Singles peak: #6
Songwriters: Taylor Swift, Aaron Dressner
If there was a gift among the dreadful decimation of the music touring industry because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it allowed Taylor Swift to look inward and pull a "Beyonce'" this year. Releasing this album by surprise in July, Swift collaborated with Aaron Dressner from the indie-rock band the National for folklore, a collection of intimately-sung if deliberately fictional imagery in the indie-folk style that fit perfectly for this isolating season. "Cardigan", the lead single, was a part of a story arc on the record that followed a lover that's holding on to her relationship by a string (well, a literal string here), and that's something I definitely can relate to. The oscillation between hope and uncertainty flows through the electronic synth tones, making the song organic yet futuristic at the same time. She just did it a second time a week ago with Evermore, and the critical accolades are well deserved. This is the third of her songs on my countdown this week, and by far the most important.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
#59 - "God Whispered Your Name" by Keith Urban
from the album The Speed Of Now, Part 1 (2020)
Highest rank: #23 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 19
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #60
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #8
Songwriters: Chris August, Shy Carter, James Slater, Micah Carter
The father of modern country crossover, Urban has been finding it hard to adjust in the new decade, with two disjointed albums full of attempts to ingrain current pop sounds into his country. His previous set, Graffiti U, was really a mess, and while The Speed Of Now, Part 1 (do we really expect a part two?) isn't much better, at least it contains moments like this, where Keith goes back to his soft-rock wheelhouse courtesy of Christian songwriter August. More of this and Urban can regain his past glory.
#58 - "After A Few" by Travis Denning
from the EP Beer's Better Cold (2020)
Highest rank: #10 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 17
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #31
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
Songwriters: Travis Denning, Kelly Archer, Justin Weaver
This is really one of my favorite country singles of this year, telling a story in the tradition of the 90s and 00s (pre-"bro"). The driving beat behind a vignette of a lucky night really paints a picture in my mind without trying to go grand. And Denning's voice really deserves a full album, not just the EP treatment. At the time it broke the record for longest climb to the top of Billboard magazine's Country Airplay chart at 60 weeks.
#57 - "Kings and Queens" by Ava Max
from the album Heaven & Hell (2020)
Highest rank (in 2020): #1 (four weeks so far, still peaking)
Weeks on the chart: 13 (still charting)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #13
Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #1
Billboard Dance Airplay peak: #4
Songwriters: Amanda Ava Koci (Ava Max), Henry Walter (Cirkut), Nadir Khayat (RedOne), Madison Love, Brett McLaughlin (Leland), Desmond Child, Mimoza Blinson, Hillary Bernstein, Jakke Erixon
The current #1 on my weekly chart makes it onto the year-end here after a month on top. The living reincarnation of early Lady Gaga's Bad Romance days triumphs with his anthem for the downtrodden who know they're a diamond inside. Hey, it may be marketing (nine writers? including Child for its inadvertent "interpolation" of his Bonnie Tyler song "If You Were A Woman"), but it works. Neo-disco is all the rage again, and this punch in the air track came at the right time. And her Heaven & Hell album is a banger that doesn't get enough credit (hell, there's nine charting singles from it already). Reign on. Ava's American breakthrough "Sweet But Psycho" came in at #4 on last year's list.
#56 - "Why We Drink" by Justin Moore
from the album Late Nights & Longnecks (2019)
Highest rank: #4 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 18
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #50
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
Songwriters: Justin Moore, Jeremy Stover, Casey Beathard, David Lee Murphy
This is Moore's eighth #1 country radio hit, and his first to make my year-end in quite a few years. It's the standard list song, giving reasons for hitting the bottle, but Moore's easy-going delivery and comic timing sell this quite well. He's always been kind of a poseur in the bro-country game, but he is at least attempting to leave it behind to more twangy fare. And the guitar hooks are like heroin.
#55 - "Catch" by Brett Young
from the album Ticket To L.A. (2018)
Highest rank: #12 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 21
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #29
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
Songwriters: Brett Young, Russ Copperman, Ashley Gorley
Brett scored his fifth consecutive #1 country radio hit with this song, the second single from his 2018 album Ticket To L.A. (the first, "Here Tonight", was #84 on my 2019 countdown). "Catch", a midtempo love song in the "boyfriend country" vein, is a bit more engaging the most of his previous single, as he uses the title as a pun for a bunch of romantic scenarios.
#54 - "Heartache Medication" by Jon Pardi
from the album Heartache Medication (2019)
Highest rank: #4 (one week)
Weeks on the chart (in 2020): 14
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
Songwriters: Jon Pardi, Barry Dean, Natalie Hemby
The flagbearer of the traditionalist country scene right now returned better than ever with this honky tonk treasure extolling the therapeutic properties of alcohol and dancing. Flawless delivery in the style of the late Joe Diffie, who passed from COVID19 this year.
#53 - "Slow Dance In A Parking Lot" by Jordan Davis
from the album Home State (2018)
Highest rank: #13 (four weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 20
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #37
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
Songwriters: Jordan Davis, Lonnie Fowler
The man with that beard cracked the Hot 100 top-40 for the first time with the third try from his debut album Home State. A slice of boyfriend country that has some sweet vocal effects in it as he romanticizes a slate of asphalt with aplomb. Last year Jordan placed at #71 with "Take It From Me", the second from the set, while his debut "Singles You Up" was #45 for 2018. Not a bad track record.
#52 - "I Should Probably Go To Bed" by Dan + Shay
from the album TBA (2021)
Highest rank: #2 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 16 (still charting)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #7
Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #11
Songwriters: Dan + Shay (Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney), Sean Douglas, Jason Evigan
The kings of "boyfriend country" go a bit somber for their latest single, as they debate whether to run away from a past love in public. With some sweet Beatles-esque harmonies and understated production (until the "money shot" moment) the duo deliver their most nuanced single to date. Rascal Flatts would kill for a song like this again. Dan + Shay were at #15 last year with "Speechless" and #54 with "All To Myself", while in 2018 they landed all they way up at #6 with "Tequila".
#51 - "Beer Can't Fix" by Thomas Rhett featuring Jon Pardi
from the album Center Point Road (2019)
Highest rank: #8 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 21
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #36
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
Songwriters: Thomas Rhett, Julian Bunetta, Ryan Tedder, Zach Skelton
If this wasn't a pandemic summer, this beachy optimism PSA would've been even more massive. Luckily, Pardi pulls Rhett more into the traditionalist groove in this song, as they both deliver the line of the year: "It could be raining' on your perfect vacation, you could be stressed about your work situation" fits 2020 like nothing else. Last year Rhett found himself at #81 on the countdown with "Sixteen", and #90 with "Look What God Gave Her".
Well we've made it to the halfway mark on my year-end recap. Tomorrow I'm taking a breather and serving up the 25 songs that almost made the cut in 2020. See you then.
Comments