Twostepcub's Biggest Hits of 2022: Part Six - #50 to #41...
Hey everyone, I hope you had a great weekend, and it's time to start back in with my countdown of the biggest "hit" songs of 2022 on my weekly music chart. You can check out the rest of the series (including my "bubbling under" 25) by clicking here.
Just a little background - each week I take the songs making certain levels on the Hot 100 and various airplay charts in pop, rock, country, R&B, and dance music, along with the biggest hits in the UK, and come up with a top 100 chart on Friday. I took every song that made the list from December 21, 2021 to December 13, 2022 (506 in total for this year) and gave points for each week they were on the list in inverted order (1 point for #100, 99 points for #2) with extra points for multiple weeks at #1. After that, I simply ranked the scores, breaking ties with peak position, weeks at that peak, and weeks on the chart. Hence some surprises, with both long chart runs and long stays at #1 getting an edge. So there are songs that made the top ten but didn't make enough points to reach the top 100 (mostly due to being caught "between years") while others that stayed longer that will go higher (the lowest a song in the top 100 peaked was "Take My Name" at #69 which stopped at #37 but stayed on for 31 weeks).
So let's get back into it all...
#50 - "Buy Dirt" - Jordan Davis featuring Luke Bryan
from the EP Buy Dirt (2021) and album Bluebird Days (2023)
Highest rank: #14 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2022): 21 (was on for six weeks in 2021)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #22
Billboard Country Airplay peak: #1 (two weeks)
Songwriters: Jordan Davis, Jacob Davis, Josh Jenkins, Matt Jenkins
Pogonophile's dreamboy Jordan Davis teamed up with Nashville A-lister Luke Bryan for this simple but effective ballad about settling down. Last year Jordan won on the list with "Almost Maybes" at #63, while Luke was on with "Waves" at #67 and "Down To One" at #89. This was one of those rare singles that did better with sales and streaming than the radio that wasn't tied to a YouTube or TikTok newcomer.
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#49 - "Smoking Out The Window" - Silk Sonic
from the album An Evening With Silk Sonic (2021)
Highest rank: #1 (one week)
Weeks on the chart (in 2022): 15 (was on for three weeks in 2021)
Hot 100 peak: #5
Billboard Pop Airplay peak: #15
Billboard Adult Top-40 Airplay peak: #14
Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay peak: #2
Billboard Adult R&B Airplay peak: #1 (one week)
Billboard Rhythmic Airplay peak: #1 (one week)
Official British Singles Chart peak: #12
Songwriters: Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak (Brandon Anderson), Dernst "D'mile" Emile II
And now we have the first of the 10 songs out of the eleven that went to #1 on my chart in that 2022 chart year to make the countdown (Sam Smith and Kim Petras' "Unholy" was the odd person out, on the "bubbling under" list at #118 since it was the last in and didn't get enough "points"). And man, "Smoking..." deserved that top spot. Building on the first collab single from the retro soul project of Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak, "Leave The Door Open", which spent more weeks at #1 than any other in 2021, but placed in the runner up spot on the year-end list to Dua Lipa's unending "Levitating", this third single from An Evening With was a perfect melding of vocals from the pair, over a production that rivals every single male vocal soul group of the 70's while keeping it current. Flawless. (They were also on the 2021 list with "Skate" at #75.)
from the album 30 (2021)
Highest rank: #2 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2022): 16 (was on for one week in 2021)
Hot 100 peak: #5
Pop Airplay peak: #11
Billboard Adult Contemporary Airplay peak: #10
Adult Top-40 Airplay peak: #8
Billboard Rock & Alternative Airplay peak: #37
Billboard Adult Album Alternative (Triple-A) Rock Airplay peak: #1 (one week)
Billboard Dance Airplay peak: #40
British Singles Chart peak: #2
Songwriters: Adele (Adele Adkins), Greg Kurstin
I believe that this second single from Adele's 30 album was eclipsed by the success of the first, "Easy On Me", but maybe people thought it to much an attempt to remake "Rolling In The Deep". I'm not in that camp; this stands out on its own and has Adele at her most "loose". The iconic pop vocalist was last on my year end in 2017 with "Water Under The Bridge" at #18, but she'll be back on this list eventually.
#47 - "To Be Loved By You" - Parker McCollum
from the album Gold Chain Cowboy (2021)
Highest rank: #2 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 18
Hot 100 peak: #41
Country Airplay peak: #1 (one week)
Songwriters: Parker McCollum, Rhett Akins
The Texan country singer/songwriter had his second single to spend a year or more on Billboard magazine's Country Airplay chart, and this is his first to make the year-end list. He delivered a mainstream country version of Tom Petty in delivery and chord progression, cleaner but still biting a bit on the chorus.
#46 - "Taking Me Back" - Jack White
from the album Fear Of The Dawn (2022)
Highest rank: #3 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2022): 17 (was on for three weeks in 2021)
Rock & Alternative Airplay peak: #1 (two weeks)
Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay peak: #2
Billboard Alternative Rock Airplay peak: #2
Triple-A Rock Airplay peak: #18
Songwriter: Jack White
Jack White, veteran alternative rock legend from the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and Dead Weather, returned in 2022 with two new studio albums, and this force of nature introduced the first, with its buzzy guitar noise and White's frantic vocals about his desperation of reconnecting with an ex.
#45 - "Never Say Never" - Cole Swindell and Lainey Wilson
from the album Stereotype (2022)
Highest rank: #13 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 22
Hot 100 peak: #27
Country Airplay peak: #1 (two weeks)
Songwriters: Cole Swindell, Jessi Alexander, Chase McGill
This minor-chord mid-tempo country power-ballad paired Swindell, who was at #72 on last year's list with "Single Saturday Night", with newcomer Wilson, who made it to #55 on that countdown with "Things A Man Oughta Know", and the pair have a great chemistry together, playing a flammable couple that can't control their desires despite the consequences.
#44 - "Bam Bam" - Camila Cabello featuring Ed Sheeran
from the album Familia (2022)
Highest rank: #6 (four weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 19
Hot 100 peak: #21
Pop Airplay peak: #10
Adult Contemporary Airplay peak: #21
Adult Top-40 Airplay peak: #12
Rhythmic Airplay peak: #36
Dance Airplay peak: #30
British Singles Chart peak: #7
Songwriters: Camila Cabello, Ed Sheeran, Ricky Reed (Eric Frederic), Edge (Edgar Barrera), Cheche (Ezequiel Alara), Scott Harris
After her much-publicized breakup with pop singer Shawn Mendes, former Fifth Harmony member Cabello returns to pair with Ed Sheeran, who was at #48 with her on the 2020 year-end chart for "South Of The Border", and she returns to the Latin-fueled roots that made her solo career a success in the first place, with this fun and cathartic salsa number. She was also on the 2020 list with "My Oh My" at #42, while Sheeran was on last year with two songs that will appear on this year's list.
#43 - "Numb" - Marshmello and Khalid
from the single (2022)
Highest rank: #15 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2022): 24 (still charting)
Hot 100 peak: #40
Pop Airplay peak: #10
Adult Top-40 Airplay peak: #19
Dance Airplay peak: #14
Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs peak: #3
Songwriters: Marshmello (Christopher Comstock), Khalid (Khalid Robinson), Digital Farm Animals (Nicholas Gale), Richard Boardman (Delphic), Pablo Bowman, Aldae (Gregory Hein)
DJ Marshmello, who was on 2021's countdown at #37 with his collab with the Jonas Brothers, "Leave Before You Love Me", comes together with pop/R&B singer Khalid, who was last on a year end list in 2019, when he did it with three songs - "Talk" at #16, "Eastside" with Benny Blanco and Halsey at #17, and "Beautiful People" with Ed Sheeran at #37. It's a bouncy track with high whistle factor, more apt for driving music than the club, but it scored a top-40 hit nonetheless.
#42 - "Truth About You" - Mitchell Tenpenny
from the album This Is The Heavy (2022)
Highest rank: #10 (two weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 20
Hot 100 peak: #54
Country Airplay peak: #2
Songwriters: Mitchell Tenpenny, Matt Alderman, Thomas Archer
Tenpenny, who was down at #98 with Chris Young on "At The End Of A Bar", land in the top half on his own with this angry breakup truth serum that does his gruff vocals well with some great melodic backup vocal layering.
#41 - "I Ain't Worried" - OneRepublic
from the album Top Gun: Maverick (Music From The Motion Picture) (2022)
Highest rank: #10 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2022): 19 (still charting)
Hot 100 peak: #6
Pop Airplay peak: #6
Adult Contemporary Airplay peak: #13
Adult Top-40 Airplay peak: #1 (two weeks)
Dance Airplay peak: #10
British Singles Chart peak: #3
Songwriters: Ryan Tedder & Brent Kutzle (OneRepublic), Tyler Spry, Peter Bjorn & John (Peter Moren, Bjorn Yttlinh, John Eriksson)
The release of the much-awaited sequel to the 80's film fodder classic Top Gun was a natural to spin off a hit single, but Lady Gaga's bloated power-ballad "Hold My Hand" was a dud, not even making the top 40. It was surprisingly overshadowed by the pop band that won't go away OneRepublic, whose bouncy track from the movie brought them back into the Hot 100 top ten. They were last on the list in 2020 with their collaboration with DJ Kygo, "Lose Somebody" at #24, and on their own the year before at #80 with "Rescue Me".
We'll be entering the year-end top-40 tomorrow with an American Idol heartbroken over a country legend, a country crossover singer reminisces over his youth, and an artist we have to talk about, good or bad.
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