Twostepcub's Biggest Hits of 2020: Part Five & 1/2 - the "bubbling unders"...
Hey everyone, I've come to the halfway mark on my countdown of the top 100 "hit" songs on my weekly music chart for the year 2020. As I take a breather for the holiday, as always I'll do a quick run of the 25 songs "bubbling under" the list, the ones that almost made the cut. Out of the 508 songs that were on my list in the 52 weeks I tracked, these are definitely worth some mention. If you need to catch up with the countdown so far, you can click here to check it out...
#125 - "The Other Girl" by Kelsea Ballerini with Halsey
from the album kelsea (2020)
Highest rank: #25 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 13
Country singer Ballerini goes for the big pop crossover with this "The Boy Is Mine" for the emo crowd with Jersey Girl Halsey.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
#124 - "Only Human" by the Jonas Brothers
from the album Happiness Begins (2019)
Highest rank (in 2020): #11 (one week) (went to #3 in 2019)
Weeks on the chart (in 2020): 18 (was on for 18 weeks in 2019)
Year-end rank in 2019: #53
This odd new wave/reggae throwback peaked last year, but stuck around long enough to make this sublist. Such was the soft start of 2020. Still interesting choice of single that didn't get old.
from the album Nothing Happens (2019)
Highest rank (in 2020): #5 (one week) (still climbing)
Weeks on the chart: 12 (still charting)
Another futuristic throwback to the 80s from a California-based trio, Wallows is just hitting my top five at writing with this song featuring the wispy Clairo as a muse for this plaintive night-ender.
#122 - "The Other Side" by SZA and Justin Timberlake
from the album Trolls World Tour (Original Soundtrack) (2020)
Highest rank: #8 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 10
A definite casualty of the pandemic, the second Trolls movie was originally set for March release, then pushed out, then pulled back to April, right at the time everything was going to shit and everything was shutting down in a good chunk of the country. I'm sure the powers that be expected this to be as big as Timberlake's song from the first Trolls movie, "Can't Stop The Feeling!", which dominated the charts a few years back and made my year-end tops ten of 2016 at #6. While this jam wasn't as immediate as "Feeling", it was a more funkier laid back groove that I quite appreciated.
#121 - "Got What I Got" by Jason Aldean
from the album 9 (2019)
Highest rank: #36 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 17 (still charting)
By far not Jason's best, but not his worst (a definite benefactor of a soft chart at the end of this year), Aldean's ode to his wife (who I'd rather not talk further about). But I am a sucker for a country waltz, if not a rock-inflected one.
#120 - "Loneliness For Love" by lovelytheband
from the album Conversations With Myself About You (2020)
Highest rank: #19 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 13
Another 80s-hued number from a California number, this one came at the right time, as everyone's romantic prospects were in limbo (hell, they still are).
#119 - "Can I Call You Tonight?" by Dayglow
from the album Fuzzybrain (2019)
Highest rank: #10 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 13 (still charting)
This bouncy yet haunting number from indie-pop act Dayglow has him navigating a relationship through the telephone, yes another nod to the quarantine love rules we had to live by this year.
#118 - "What She Wants Tonight" by Luke Bryan
from the album Born Here Live Here Die Here (2020)
Highest rank: #27 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 18
Ostensibly a better song than the one from Luke that did make the list (those quirky numbers), this has less autotune and more attention to a woman's wants with the insistent phrasing that makes his best singles hit.
#117 - "Uneventful Days" by Beck
from the album Hyperspace (2019)
Highest rank: #18 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2020): 11
Beck turned 50 this year, but you'd never guess it especially considering he consistently churns out such great and current-themed work such as this Brian Wilson-esque wall of harmony. He never ceases to fill me with awe.
#116 - "Everywhere But On" by Matt Stell
from the EP Everywhere But On (2019)
Highest rank: #20 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 14 (still charting)
Okay, Arista, he's had two #1 country radio hits, give him an album already! This "list" song of places sits better than most because it doesn't try to smack you across the face, but rather Matt delivers a rather resigned reaction to his breakup woes.
#115 - "Fire" by Black Pumas
from the album Black Pumas (2019)
Highest rank: #27 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 16
So technically the Texan alternative rock/soul duo's album sort of cheating into the Grammys this year, getting nominated for Album of the Year for the "Deluxe" version of their debut from 2019, but I can't be mad about it (considering the other inclusions on that list). A worthy breakthrough for a group that you should definitely check out.
from the EP Euphoric Sad Songs (2020)
Highest rank: #20 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 16
Kosovar DJ Regard, who made a name for himself with his Jay Sean tweak dance meme "Ride It", outdid that by miles with this bouncer featuring a better singer, Raye, who makes this dark yet booty-shaking track.
#113 - "6 Months" by John K
from the album Love + Everything Else (2020)
Highest rank: #38 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 18
John Poulson, who followed up his breakthrough hit "If We Never Met" (which did make the main list) with this, takes what Bieber is trying to do and make it actually competent.
#112 - "Bloody Valentine" by Machine Gun Kelly
from the album Tickets To My Downfall (2020)
Highest rank (in 2020): #8 (one week) (still climbing)
Weeks on the chart: 15 (still charting)
As he turns 30, Machine Gun Kelly (aka Richard Baker) does a Kid Rock and reinvents himself as a rock star, albeit in this case the pop-punk of Blink 182, to positive results. And hopefully he won't evolve into the fuckup Kid Rock has. "I don't do fake love, but I'll take some from you tonight" is a killer line.
#111 - "Ridin' Roads" by Dustin Lynch
from the album Tullahoma (2020)
Highest rank: #37 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2020): 23
Radio has been really good to Lynch, with his songs lingering on station playlists for months. That was the case with this passable but not exactly stunning entry. Trying to straddle the rocker/boyfriend country line, he produces a respectable performance.
#110 - "Love Me Anyway" by Pink featuring Chris Stapleton
from the album Hurts 2B Human (2019)
Highest rank: #19 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 12
Out of Pink's two country collaborations in 2020, this one is miles ahead or her try with Keith Urban, and that's no surprise, as she gets with the most authentic male voice in popular country, Chris Stapleton. The lyrical twists of this song are heartwrenching, and the pair both give showstopping yet reservedly emotional vocals. The whole Hard 2B Human album remains an awesome piece of work.
from the album El Dorado (2021)
Highest rank (in 2020): #2 (one week so far) (still peaking)
Weeks on the chart: 12 (still charting)
Yes, the song that has dominated the current radio landscape finds itself here, and its telling that it runs at an extremely lean 2 minutes 20 seconds. But that's apprently the attention span of TikTok-loving kids these days. Still, it's an earworm that I can't get out of my head, and efficiently lands its emo credit with the "we play games of love to avoid the depression" hook. Makes the "trap" music of the year sound just puerile.
#108 - "Graveyard" by Halsey
from the album Manic (2020)
Highest rank: #25 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2020): 13
The second single from Halsey's Manic album is a charming little quirky affair, and the lesbian fantasy video is a huge plus.
#107 - "Don't Let Me Down" by Milky Chance and Jack Johnson
from the album TBA
Highest rank: #36 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 19
German indie-folk duo Milky Chance join up with surfer-rock star Jack Johnson, and the result is much more Johnson's wheelhouse of reflective bro-folk with a more electronic backdrop from the pair, which makes a pleasant drive listen.
#106 - "A Little Bit Off" by Five Finger Death Punch
from the album F8 (2020)
Highest rank: #19 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 13
My favorite hard rock track of the year, FFDP describe the angst and uneasiness of the early weeks of the pandemic with such vivid colors (along with the music video shot in Vegas). I would say their best yet, in the way it builds in intensity as Ivan Moody explains how he had to make a romantic decision in the midst of the madness. If there's one hard rock song you hear this year, let this be it.
#105 - "Nice To Meet Ya" by Niall Horan
from the album Heartbreak Weather (2020)
Highest rank: #10 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2020): 10
The former One Direction member proves he's not a one-off fluke with this entertaining lead single from his sophomore record. This seems like he's been listening to a lot of Robbie Williams records.
#104 - "Trampoline" by SHAED
from the album Melt (2018)
Highest rank (in 2020): #17 (two weeks) (peaked at #8 in 2019)
Weeks on the chart (in 2020): 12 (was on for 41 weeks in 2019)
Year-end rank in 2019: #5
Another holdout from last year, though a much bigger hit then, this former Apple ad theme got a second life on Adult top-40 radio, and this rode into my top-20 for another time, cementing a year's worth of weeks on my list.
#103 - "Lie To Me" by Kem
from the album Love Always Wins (2020)
Highest rank: #18 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 14
Singer/songwriter Kim Owens, or KEM, proved you don't have to have a showing music video, or a standard one at all, to succeed on Adult R&B radio, with this ultra-smooth jam that shows straight soul doesn't have to be stodgy or esoteric.
#102 - "I Called Mama" by Tim McGraw
from the album Here On Earth (2020)
Highest rank: #20 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 17
Tim rebooted his wayward Nashville career by going straight for the older crowd with this Mother's Day commercial that hit harder when thousands of real mothers were casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic.
#101 - "Outnumbered" by Dermot Kennedy
from the album Without Fear (2019)
Highest rank: #2 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2020): 14
Irish singer/songwriter captures the zeitgeist of the world with his outreach to the overwhelmed. It took a small-time folkie to keep from being pretentious (as it would be if it came out of the mouth of like a Sheeran).
Well that's it for the also-rans. On Saturday I'll roll out my last weekly list for the calendar year, and then pick up where we left off here. Cheers, and happy holidays.
Comments