Twostepcub's Biggest Hits of 2021: Part One - #100 to #91...
Well here we are. 2021 turned out to be the sequel to 2020 that we didn't want, with the pandemilovato back to full force at no small part due to a portion of Americans being cultist dillweeds, one that started with an attempted coup on our democracy, and pretty much a state of suspension for our lives for yet another year. But as opposed to last year, the music business was able to get relatively back on its feet, and while the dominance of streaming has stunted a lot of returns for artists, in some ways it gave some an outlet they never had before, reaching an audience previously unreachable by traditional "record stores" and what's in stock and such. The mainstream pop landscape is still a mess though, with steamroller campaign promotions for an elite set of acts along with such obvious payola shenanigans in the streaming world, as well as the even more so fragmentation of the musical genre market that often left markers of success to the stan fanbase and the bot armies, but there were much more glimmers of light than usual.
And now it's time to kick off my countdown of the 100 biggest "hit" tunes of the year on my little corner of the interwebs. Each week I list my top 100 songs, culled from what made the top of the charts in pop, rock, R&B, country, and dance music, along with what's big in Britain, and I took each week's rank, did some Excel magic, and with the power of math came up with this list. Now in no way is this my FAVORITE songs of the year, since a lot of what I really dug weren't big hits in any sense of the word. In fact, I'm a little embarrassed about a few of the choices on this, songs that may not have gone high on my list but stuck around like forever, but it's a good synopsis on what impacted the music world this year. I'll be doing 10 a day till New Year's Eve, along with an intermission with the 25 songs that almost made the grade. And with no further ado, we begin with...
#100 - "Minimum Wage" - Blake Shelton
from the album Body Language (2021)
Highest rank: #8 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 14
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #67
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #9
Songwriters: Corey Crowder, Jesse Frasure, Nicolle Galyon
After leading with the hokey swarm of a duet with wife Gwen Stefani on "Happy Anywhere", country veteran (!) and fixture on The Voice singing competition goes back to his roots on this powerfully-delivered common-man love song. Basically taking "The Night That The Lights Went Out In Georgia" into another key, this multi-millionaire spitting verses about how his woman makes him feel like a king (courtesy of writer Jesse "DJ Telemitry" Frasure) is a little hard to grasp if you pay attention, but Blake does have a knack for delivering a wall of sound that keeps you bopping in the background. Blake was on last year's list at #62 with "Nobody With You" with Stefani.
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#99 - "Memory I Don't Mess With" - Lee Brice
from the album Hey World (2020)
Highest rank: #15 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 18 (still on the chart as of 12/17)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #33
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
Songwriters: Lee Brice, Billy Montana, Brian Davis
Singer/songwriter Brice may skirt the fringes of "boyfriend country" but with his gruffer and warmer voice and better lyrical chops put him in another category where the story is more important than the mood. Last year his duet with newly-divorced (not from him) Carly Pearce, "I Hope You're Happy Now", also explored the real hurt in a failed relationship, and that one was at #73 for the year. He also made #96 in 2020 with "One Of Them Girls". All three topped Billboard's Country Airplay chart, and deservedly so.
#98 - "Hell Of A View" - Eric Church
from the album Soul (2021)
Highest rank: #8 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 17
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #28
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
Songwriters: Eric Church, Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell
Another of country music's mainstream "troubadours", Eric Church ambitiously released a 2 1/2 multi-disc opus Heart, And, and Soul (I still am a little miffed about the And EP being a "fanclub only" release). This song, co-written by Church, was the most successful thing from them, and understandably so, since its the most "soft-rockish" of the singles (more so than "Stick That In Your Country Song"). It made the top of the country radio chart, which is a feat since Church's main draw these days is touring as an event almost Springsteen-like. But the straightforward love song that is plain but doesn't rely on cliche (other than the title) was definitely easier to swallow. Last year Eric on on the list at #30 with his featured bit on Luke Combs' "Does To Me".
#97 - "Chasing After You" - Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris
from the album Pelago (2021)
Highest rank: #8 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 15 (still on the chart 12/17)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #23
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #2
Songwriters: Brinley Addington, Jerry Flowers
Real-life married couple Hurd and Morris join the long line of country music couples that paired up for a big hit. But instead of smarmy cuteness like Shelton/Stefani, Ryan and Maren bring adult nuance to the party, where a couple assesses their risk in love that's been rocky for awhile. Last year Morris was at #10 with "The Bones", which also was at #25 in 2019. This is Ryan's first big hit, but I don't really consider it a nepotistic push, but a refreshingly sober slice of what the next generation of Nashville country can be.
#96 - "Overwhelmed" - Royal & The Serpent
from the EP Get A Grip (2020)
Highest rank: #14 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2021): 13 (was on for five weeks in 2020)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Billboard Alternative Airplay peak: #6
Songwriters: Ryan Santiago (Royal & The Serpent), Mark Gozman, William Jay
Behlendorf, Jeoff Harris
Indie-rock singer/songwriter Ryan Santiago, who records under the moniker Royal & The Serpent, rode the TikTok app to fame with this quirky song about insecurity that sounds like a modern take on swing before the heavy EDM "drop". An anthem for the big portion of us struggling with the events over the past couple years.
#95 - "I Was On A Boat That Day" - Old Dominion
from the album Time, Tequila, & Therapy (2021)
Highest rank: #17 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 17
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #37
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #9
Songwriters: Old Dominion (Matthew Ramsey, Brad Tursi, Trevor Rosen, Whit
Sellers, Geoff Sprung), Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
One of the dying few country music "bands" Old Dominion head to the beach and steal the vibe that Kenny Chesney stole from Jimmy Buffett for this breezy break-up light swing ditty. Using the premise of being "off the grid" to avoid dealing with losing their girl in a comical way that obviously gives the impression they don't really care. Oopsies. Last year the group was at #66 with "One Man Band"
#94 - "Cold As You" - Luke Combs
from the album What You See Is What You Get (Deluxe Edition) (2019)
Highest rank: #4 (three weeks so far in 2021)
Weeks on the chart: 13 (still on the chart 12/17)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
Songwriters: Luke Combs, Randy Montana, Jonathan Singleton, Shane Minor
Luke Combs, the "everyman" of Nashville, has definitely become the man to beat in the business, which his second album What You See Is What You Get (and the expanded reissue) sending all seven singles to #1 on Billboard magazine's country radio chart, as well as the crossover Hot 100 top-40. This barnburner of a break-up power-ballad definitely delivers the goods so heartbroken men can scream-sing at the top of their lungs in the car (I should know). Last year Luke was on the list with "Even When You're Leaving" at #18, "Does To Me" at #30, and "Lovin' On You" at #50, and it won't be his last time this time around...
#93 - "Somebody Like That" - Tenille Arts
from the album Love, Heartbreak, & Everything In Between (2020)
Highest rank: #3 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 14
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #50
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #3
Songwriters: Tenille Arts, Alex Kline, Allison Veltz
The music media has been heralding the "return of women" to country radio, but in my mind it really isn't enough, as the genre is still dominated by a swarm of homoerotic pin-up boys, but it was an improvement. The biggest example was this song that continues the two-stepping anthem tradition of Martina McBride and Patty Loveless by this Canadian newcomer which was the first big country hit that was written, produced and sung exclusively by women. Still, the fact that it didn't make it to #1 proves there's a ways to go to get back to the glory days of the 90's.
from the single Butter (2020)
Highest rank: #17 (four weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 16
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1
Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #14
Songwriters: RM (BTS), Jenna Andrews, Rob Grimaldi, Stephen Kirk, Ron Perry,
Alex Bilowitz, Sebastian Garcia
Last year the kings of K-pop, BTS, were at #91 for 2020 for their breakthrough English-language hit "Dynamite". Hoping to top themselves, the group released this slick dance-pop track only as a "single", in what seems like a million different configurations, which their "army" fanbase diligently grabbed up (even if it was the same version but with a different color digital "cover"), which led to (rightful) accusations of gaming the system to inflate the charts and keep them at #1 for ten weeks. They and their management got defensive, equating this to the fans of the Beatles buying up copies to keep them high on the charts. Either way you look at it though, this is an inferior retread of "Dynamite", but with a lack of good pop music from men (along with a tsunami of Justin Beiber), at least this was carving their own lane, and it doesn't outright offend.
#91 - "Someone To You" - BANNERS
from the album Where The Shadow Ends (2019)
Highest rank: #38 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2021): 19 (was on for 12 weeks in 2020)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart, "bubbled under" at #118
Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #11
Songwriters: Michael Nelson (BANNERS), Grant Michaels, Sam Hollander
A story of perserverance, this song was originally released in 2017, but with a little help (again, from TikTok) one-man band Michael Nelson found himself with a leftfield hit that sonically brings the drama that the high school youth could attach to, as well as some of us old farts. It doesn't break any new ground lyrically, but it's put across so earnestly that one can't help but identify.
Well that does it for my first installment. I'll be back tomorrow with the British version of DJ Pauly D, we learn what "Tribal guarachero" is, and the return of rock's saving grace.
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