Twostepcub's Biggest Hits of 2020: Part Seven - #40 to #31...

 

 

We're up to the "top-40" of my year-end countdown of the biggest "hit" songs from my weekly music chart for 2020. You can catch up with everything so far by clicking here... 

#40 - "The Hype" by twenty-one pilots

          from the album Trench (2018)

          Highest rank (in 2020): #3 (one week) (was #3 for one week in 2019)

          Weeks on the chart (in 2020): 19

          Billboard Hot 100 peak: DNC

          Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #27

          Billboard Rock Airplay peak: #1

          Billboard Alternative Rock peak: #1

          Songwriter: Tyler Joseph (twenty-one pilots)

The alt-rock duo's sixth single from their Trench album almost made the main list last year, coming in at #104, and it stuck around enough to land in the top-40 of 2020. The song has Joseph ruminating on overcoming adversity, something they would take even farther as the year progressed. A loose and almost joyful (for them) track, and continued their sonic evolution that's given them such mainstream success. 

 

(Click below to see the rest of the post) 

 

#39 - "Stupid Love" by Lady Gaga

          from the album Chromatica (2020)

          Highest rank: #3 (one week)

          Weeks on the chart: 21

          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5

          Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #8

          Billboard Dance Club Play peak: #14

          Billboard Dance Airplay peak: #8

          Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs peak: #1

          UK Official Singles peak: #5

          Songwriters: Lady Gaga, Michael Tucker (BloodPop), Martin Bresso (Tchami), Max Martin, Ely Weisfeld

Thank Goddess Lady Gaga didn't delay the release of her sixth studio album Chromatica; her return to dance pop was what the world needed during the early days of the craziness. And "Stupid Love" goes all out with no stops - it's a whirling wall of synth sound from beginning to end, and her fans and radio were ready to welcome her back from her more artistic forays. The music video is just camp behind camp, like if Dune was a gay porno, but that's what we love about her. Last year Gaga was at #19 with her Star Is Born ballad with Bradley Cooper, "Shallow".

#38 - "Black Madonna" by Cage The Elephant

          from the album Social Cues (2019)

          Highest rank: #7 (one week)

          Weeks on the chart: 20

          Billboard Hot 100 peak: DNC

          Billboard Rock Airplay peak: #3

          Billboard Alternative Rock peak: #2

          Billboard Adult Album Alternative (Triple-A) Rock peak: #1

          Songwriters: Cage The Elephant (Brad and Matt Schulz, Daniel Tichenor, Jared Champion, Nick Bockrath, Matthan Minster)

The Kentucky indie-rock band pulled a hat trick by scoring a third #1 Triple-A Rock radio hit from their Social Cues album with this midtempo nugget, as lead singer Matt Schulz tells his girl that he needs to let her go until she's ready to reveal her true self to him. All within a late 60's retro pastiche that still sounds current enough to throw on at a party.

#37 - "death bed (coffee for your head)" by Powfu featuring Beabadoobee

          from the EP Poems of the Past (2020)

          Highest rank: #12 (two weeks)

          Weeks on the chart: 25

          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #23

          Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #19

          Billboard Rock Airplay peak: #3

          Billboard Alternative Rock peak: #2

          UK Official Singles peak: #4

          Songwriters: Isaiah Faber (Powfu), Beatrice Laus (Beabadoobee), Oscar Lang

It's very weird that this emo-rap track from an unknown white kid about dying young got huge on TikTok, but such is the power of the thirty-second clip, where context is meaningless. At least America got introduced properly to Beabadoobee, whose album Fake It Flowers was a highlight of bedroom rock this year. 

#36 - "Homesick" by Kane Brown

          from the album Experiment (2018)

          Highest rank: #15 (one week)

          Weeks on the chart: 24

          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35

          Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1

          Songwriters: Kane Brown, Brock Berryhill, Matt McGinn, Taylor Phillips

Kane takes his loneliness from being out on the road and extrapolates it to soldiers in the field for the music video for this simple and sweet ballad that topped the country chart. A slow dance to do with your own self while pining for the one you love. Last year Brown was at #77 with "Good As You".

#35 - "Running Up That Hill" by Meg Myers

          from the stand-alone single

          Highest rank: #4 (five weeks)

          Weeks on the chart (in 2020): 18

          Billboard Hot 100 peak: DNC

          Billboard Rock Airplay peak: #1

          Billboard Alternative Rock peak: #1

          Songwriter: Kate Bush

Singer/songwriter Myers, who had released her last album Take Me To The Disco in 2018, eschews the disco that ruled pop in 2020 and had her biggest success with this faithful cover of Kate Bush's 1985 alternative rock classic. While by no means does Myers' take replace the original, it did serve the greater good in giving a new generation a taste of Bush's wonder.

#34 - "Dance Monkey" by Tones and I

          from the EP The Kids Are Coming (2019)

          Highest rank: #2 (two weeks)

          Weeks on the chart (in 2020): 17

          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4

          Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #11

          Billboard Rock Airplay peak: #14

          Billboard Alternative Rock peak: #12

          Billboard Dance Club Play peak: #24

          Billboard Dance Airplay peak: #4

          Songwriter: Toni Watson (Tones & I)

 

It's telling that this little song from Down Under is still one of the biggest streaming songs on Spotify now; the do-it-yourself indie-pop gem combined Watson's vocals that growled with wonder in spots and cooing in another. And the music video is simply glorious. The best busker since Sheeran.

#33 - "More Hearts Than Mine" by Ingrid Andress

          from the album Lady Like (2020)

          Highest rank: #7 (four weeks)

          Weeks on the chart: 22

          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30

          Billboard Country Airplay peak: #3

          Songwriters: Ingrid Andress, Sam Ellis, Derrick Southerland

Newcomer Andress fuses her "bedroom rock" vocals with the resurgence of women on country radio to bring this warning to a lover near the top of the charts. A very real and heartfelt song that luckily found a home on the still-male dominated landscape in Nashville. 

#32 - "Bad Decisions" by The Strokes

          from the album The New Abnormal (2020)

          Highest rank: #15 (two weeks)

          Weeks on the chart: 29

          Billboard Hot 100 peak: DNC

          Billboard Rock Airplay peak: #5

          Billboard Alternative Rock peak: #5

          Billboard Triple-A Rock peak: #1

          Songwriters: The Strokes (Julian Casablancas, Albert Hammond Jr., Nikolai Fraiture, Fabrizio Moretti, Nick Valensi), Generation X (Billy Idol and Tony James) (for the interpolation of "Dancing With Myself)

Alternative rock veterans the Strokes return by cribbing Billy Idol's "Dancing With Myself" and producing a track the older folk want to shimmy to. It's been fifteen years since the band was on my chart at all, with their song "Juicebox" in 2005. In this one, Julian Casablancas lets out a wail like Bono in his nerdy frustration.

#31 - "Die From A Broken Heart" by Maddie & Tae

          from the album The Way It Feels (2020)

          Highest rank: #10 (three weeks)

          Weeks on the chart: 24

          Billboard Hot 100 peak: #22

          Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1

          Songwriters: Maddie & Tae (Maddie Marlow and Taylor Dye), Deric Ruttan, Jonathan Singleton

Part of the reason female voices were missed on country radio in the past few years is that women artists in the genre are experts in telling stories in their music, which is one of country's biggest assets. And this one is a perfect example of painting a picture in your mind, while the duo's voices blend seamlessly. Again, a very real and touching song that deserved to top the charts.

That's it for tonight. I'll be back tomorrow with a song with the title of another act on the list, the king of TikTok memes, old-time country gets scratched, and more.