Twostepcub's Biggest Hits of 2021: Part Four - #70 to #61...
My countdown for 2021 continues, with the "hit" songs that went the highest and/or stayed the longest on my weekly music chart. You can catch up with the series so far by clicking here. Let's get rolling...
#70 - "Nobody" - Dylan Scott
from the EP Nothing To Do Town (2019)
Highest rank: #17 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 20
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #50
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #2
Songwriters: Dylan Scott, Matt Alderman, Dallas Wilson
Yeah, more "boyfriend country". With Nashville the way it is, it's hard to avoid. And this could just as easily be a Justin Bieber record, but at least Scott's gruff vocal gives a more pleasant listen to the by-the-book love ballad.
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#69 - "The Bandit" - Kings Of Leon
from the album When You See Yourself (2021)
Highest rank: #5 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 15
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Billboard Rock Airplay peak: #6
Billboard Alternative Rock peak: #5
Billboard Adult Alternative (Triple-A) Rock peak: #1
Songwriters: Kings of Leon (Caleb Followhill, Jared Followhill, Matthew Followhill, Nathan Followhill)
Alternative Southern Rock family band Kings Of Leon returned in 2021 with their eighth album When You See Yourself, which included this wall of sound that had post-punk nuances.
#68 - "Hole In The Bottle" - Kelsea Ballerini
from the album Kelsea (2020)
Highest rank: #2 (one week)
Weeks on the chart (in 2021): 15 (was on for three weeks in 2020)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #39
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #2
Songwriters: Kelsea Ballerini, Jesse Frasure, Ashley Gorley, Steph Jones, Hillary Lindsey
One of the many fun "drinking songs" that came around this year, no doubt aided by the ennui of the pandemilovato, this stomper of a track from Kelsea sure made the case that she and Miranda Lambert "Freaky Friday'd" themselves this year. Between this comic tune, her polar opposite track "I Quit Drinking" with LANY, and "Half Of My Hometown" with Kenny Chesney, Ballerini truly showed her versatility in 2021.
#67 - "Waves" - Luke Bryan
from the album Born Here Live Here Die Here (2020)
Highest rank: #13 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 20
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #24
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1
Songwriters: Zach Crowell, Ryan Hurd, Chase McGill
Although the title and lyrics make "Waves" another one of those "summer beach songs" in country music, the record had the propulsive rhythm of rock-country instead as Bryan sings his heart out equating the ocean phenomena to his feelings in love. By the way, let me admit this was the year I really soured on buying albums, especially country albums, except for artists I truly love and want to support, due to the blatant abuse of the fanbase with the deluge of "deluxe editions". It's like every album ended up being re-released as an expanded set with new singles, and damn it I'm not buying albums over and over to get them. Done. Get your act in gear, people.
#66 - "Heartbreak Anthem" - Galantis, David Guetta, & Little Mix
from the single (2021)
Highest rank: 5 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 19
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Billboard Dance Airplay peak: #1
Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs peak: #6
UK Singles chart peak: #3
Songwriters: Christian Karlsson (Galantis), David Guetta, Little Mix (Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall), Jenna Andrews, Thom Bridges, Lorenzo Cozi, David St. Fleur, Jonny Goldstein, Henrik Jonback, YK Koi, Sorana Pacurar, Christopher Tempest
This one-off collaboration between Swedish electrohouse duo Galantis, French EDM star David Guetta, and former X Factor UK winners Little Mix, who lost Jesy Nelson from the foursome who went solo (and nuts), this dancefloor filler was built to relieve the millions of jilted lovers of the world with this cathartic release of energy I could definitely relate with.
#65 - "We're Good" - Dua Lipa
from the album Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition (2021)
Highest rank: #4 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 18
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #31
Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #12
Billboard Adult Contemporary peak: #29
Billboard Dance Airplay peak: #20
Billboard Dance Airplay peak: #20
Songwriters: Dua Lipa, Sly (Sylvester Sivertsen), Emily Warren, Scott Harris
Lipa, who had two songs in 2020's best of top ten, with "Don't Start Now" at #3 and "Break My Heart" at #8, was still churning out singles from her Future Nostalgia album (thanks to that crummy "deluxe edition" thing - YES I bought it it's Dua), and while this was one of the three that were overshadowed by the unstoppable "Levitating", it at least got into the American top-40. The Titanic-themed music video is quite entertaining, and this groove was totally different that most of the pop of the year.
#64 - "Industry Baby" - Lil Nas X featuring Jack Harlow
from the album Montero (2021)
Highest rank: #3 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 18 (still on the chart 12/17)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1
Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #26
Billboard Dance Airplay peak: #5
Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Airplay peak; #16
UK Singles chart peak: #3
Songwriters: Montero Hill (Lil Nas X), Jack Harlow, Take A Daytrip (Denzel Baptiste, David Biral), Kanye West, Mark Williams, Raul Cubina, Roy Lenzo, Nick Lee
You can't call Lil Nas X a "one-hit wonder" anymore, with no small part due to this triumphant self-brag from Montero that addresses his success, sexuality, and his past stanning of Nicki Minaj over the synth trumpets that herald his very presence. I had to forget continuously that cretin Kanye West was involved in this, but I can't deny that the "break is over". Even Harlow does his due for the breeders on this track. and the video. DAMN. This was needed.
#63 - "Almost Maybes" - Jordan Davis
from the EP Jordan Davis (2020)
Highest rank: #10 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 19
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #43
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #5
Songwriters: Jordan Davis, Jesse Frasure, Hillary Lindsey
Sporting the best beard in the biz, country music singer Davis was on my list last year at #53 with "Slow Dancing In A Parking Lot", and this time out he celebrates the one that got away and paved the way for finding his soulmate. It's a cool concept for a song, and Davis delivers is in earnest. One thing, as much as I loathe the "deluxe editions", the outcrop of the EP instead of full albums are just as annoying as f**k.
from the EP Chosen (2017)
Highest rank: #5 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 22 (still on the chart 12/17)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #13
Billboard Adult Top-40 peak: #5
Billboard Adult Contemporary peak: #20
Billboard Rock Airplay peak: #1
Billboard Alternative Rock peak: #1
Billboard Adult Alternative (Triple-A) Rock peak: #22
UK Singles Chart peak: #6
Songwriters: Bob Gaudio, Peggy Farina
In the most left-field of events, after Italian rock band Maneskin won the Eurovision Song Contest with their raucous "Zitti e Buoni", they got more international exposure then most of the past winners. But instead of having that foreign-language hit conquer the world, a cover of a song from Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons from 1967, then reinvented by Norwegian hip-hop duo Madcon in 2007, then covered by Maneskin in 2017 for that country's version of The X Factor, which THEY DIDN'T EVEN WIN. Somehow "Beggin'", even for the Four Seasons a "lesser" known hit, became a TikTok meme, and this was the one that ended up breaking them in America. With another Eurovision winner coming up on the list later, and the return of ABBA, the contest has certainly regained a grain of respectability. It's a shame that as cool as this is, their superior (and self-penned) "I Wanna Be Your Slave" should've been massive.
#61 - "Skin & Bones" - Cage The Elephant
from the album Social Cues (2019)
Highest rank: #8 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 20
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart
Billboard Rock Airplay peak: #1
Billboard Alternative Rock peak: #1
Billboard Adult Alternative (Triple-A) Rock peak: #3
Songwriters: Cage The Elephant (Nick Bockrath, Jared Champion, Matthan Minster, Brad Schulz, Matt Schulz, Daniel Tichenor)
After placing at #38 on my recap of 2020 with "Black Madonna", the Kentucky alternative rock band is back with another song from their 2019 opus Social Cues. Reworked to make it dreamier and more serene, the track puts my mind on a different plane, which was much needed this year.
I'll be back tomorrow with the oddest band name of the year, a powerful rock twosome, and a singer asks about his genre.
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