Twostepcub's Biggest Hits of 2022: Part Nine - #20 to #11....
We're almost to the end of my year-end countdown of the biggest hit songs on my weekly music chart for 2022. You can catch up on the rest of the series so far by clicking here.
#20 - "Love's Train" - Silk Sonic
from the album An Evening With Silk Sonic (2021)
Highest rank" #14 (one week)
Weeks on the chart: 30
Billboard Hot 100 peak: did not chart, "bubbled under" at #111
Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay peak: #9
Billboard Adult R&B Airplay peak: #1 (13 weeks)
Songwriters: Michael Cooper, Felton Pilate II
After releasing three successful singles from their Silk Sonic collaborative album (one of them, "Smoking Out The Window", is at #49), Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak slipped in an extra gem for Valentine's Day that got tacked on to the streaming and vinyl version. It's a smooth slow jam from 1982 from the band Con Funk Shun which never hit the charts, but was a late night radio favorite as an album cut. The duo and their band definitely do the song justice, as they get philosophical about the fleetingness of romance.
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#19 - "Do It To It" - Acraze featuring Cherish
from the single (2021)
Highest rank: #13 (six weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2022): 29 (was on for five weeks in 2021)
Hot 100 peak: #65
Billboard Pop Airplay peak: #20
Billboard Rhythmic Airplay peak: #22
Billboard Dance Airplay peak: #2
Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs peak: #3
Official British Singles Chart peak: #9
Songwriters: Cherish (Fallon, Farrah, Felicia, & Neosha King), Sean Paul Joseph (Youngbloodz), Rodney "Don Vito" Richard, John Williams
Florida DJ Acraze, aka Charles Duncker, took a mid-level pop/R&B hit from 2006 from sister vocal group Cherish, punched up the club production, and brought this simple but infectious jam to a whole new generation.
#18 - "Wild Child" - The Black Keys
from the album Dropout Boogie (2022)
Highest rank: #1 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 22
Billboard Rock & Alternative Airplay peak: #1 (nine weeks)
Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay peak: #3
Billboard Alternative Rock Airplay peak: #1 (two weeks)
Billboard Adult Album Alternative (Triple-A) Rock Airplay peak: #1 (four weeks)
Songwriters: Black Keys (Dan Auerbach & Patrick Carney), Angelo Petraglia (Face To Face), Greg Cartwright
The kings of indie blues-rock returned with their best jam yet, complete with a guitar crunch that transfixed me this year, supplemented by a hilarious music video in high school hell. Carney and Auerbach had last been on a year end list in 2019, where they placed at #31 with "Go" and at #48 with "Lo/Hi".
#17 - "Ghost" - Justin Bieber
from the album Justice (2021)
Highest rank: #22 (one week)
Weeks on the chart (in 2022): 40 (was on for eight weeks in 2021)
Hot 100 peak: #5
Pop Airplay peak: #1 (one week)
Billboard Adult Contemporary Airplay peak: #5
Billboard Adult Top-40 Airplay peak: #1 (two weeks)
Rhythmic Airplay peak: #39
Dance Airplay peak: #5
British Singles Chart peak: #19
Songwriters: Justin Bieber, Jon Bellion, Monsters & Strangerz (Jordan & Stefan Johnson), Michael Pollack
In the words of Desi Arnaz, Lucy, you've got some 'splainin' to do.
Yeah. well teen idol supreme Justin Bieber had been on my list before multiple times, all in a featured stint, like in 2020 when Dan + Shay's country hit "10,000 Years" came in at #45. But yes, this year he's here all on his own. Of course mostly through tenacity, as "Ghost" lasted almost a year on my list as it lingered in the upper regions of various radio formats. But even so, it was able to climb because for real, it was a very well-put-together record, and Justin gave his most adult pop performance yet, while the bevy of songwriters cloaked him with a production that soared at just the right places. It barely made it past the top quarter of my list, but if there has to be a song of his on a list, this isn't too embarrassing.
from the EP A Study Of The Human Experience Volume One (2022)
Highest rank: #2 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 26
Hot 100 peak: #3
Pop Airplay peak: #1 (two weeks)
Adult Contemporary Airplay peak: #15
Adult Top-40 Airplay peak: #1 (four weeks)
Rock & Alternative Airplay peak: #23
Rhythmic Airplay peak: #36
British Singles Chart peak: #1 (one weeks)
Songwriters: Gayle (Taylor Gayle Rutherford), Sara Davis, David Pittenger
In the wake of Olivia Rodrigo, newcomer Gayle may have had her breakthrough hit through dubious means (on her TikTok she asked for ideas, and a shill from her record company "put the answer" there), but the finished product without that knowledge conquered radio as Rodrigo was winding down the promotion of her album, and there was a need there. Hell, again, the test is my nephew adores this song. The implied cursing in the pun-adjacent title is quaint.
#15 - "'Til You Can't" - Cody Johnson
from the album Human - The Double Album (2021)
Highest rank: #20 (three weeks)
Weeks on the chart: 41
Hot 100 peak: #18
Country Airplay peak: #1 (two weeks)
Songwriters: Matthew Rogers, Ben Stennis
Texan "Red Dirt" country music got a big boost when veteran indie-country artist Johnson finally got the national attention he deserves with this epic life lesson on not procrastinating. Perfectly performed and played, and for good reason this is the top country song on my year-end.
#14 - "Unstoppable" - Sia
from the album This Is Acting (2016)
Highest rank: #4 (one week)
Weeks on the chart (in 2022): 28 (still charting)
Hot 100 peak: #28
Pop Airplay peak: #12
Adult Contemporary Airplay peak: #1 (one week)
Adult Top-40 Airplay peak: #1 (three weeks)
Dance Airplay peak: #20
Songwriters: Sia (Sia Furler), Christopher Braide
For better or worse, the TikTok app has made the mainstream music scene quite random, with older songs given new life, like this song from singer/songwriter Sia's album from six years ago that never got an American push, but has become a fixture on pop radio, and her defiant self-empowering anthem is needed more than ever. Sia was last on the year-end list in 2020 with "Together" at #95.
from the album Drive (2023)
Highest rank: #8 (five weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2022): 27 (was on for three weeks in 2021)
Hot 100 peak: #42
Pop Airplay peak: #16
Dance Airplay peak: #1 (two weeks)
Dance/Electronic Song peak: #2
British Singles Chart peak: #12
Songwriters: Tiesto, Ava Max, Lostboy (Peter Rycroft), Claudia Valentina, Pablo Bowman, Sarah Blanchard
Dutch DJ/producer Tiesto was all the way up at #5 on my countdown last year with his delve into "Lithuanian house music", "The Business", and comes close this time out with this bop featuring dance-pop single Ava Max, who was at #10 for 2021 with "Kings & Queens" and #54 with "My Head and My Heart". Accessible for the radio yet dark enough to be played in the club, this jam was a great add to the car playlist.
#12 - "Sunroof" - Nicky Youre & dazy
from the single (2021)
Highest rank: #2 (six weeks)
Weeks on the chart (in 2022): 26 (still charting)
Hot 100 peak: #4
Pop Airplay peak: #1 (five weeks)
Adult Contemporary Airplay peak: #6
Adult Top-40 Airplay peak: #1 (seven weeks)
British Singles Chart peak: #29
Songwriter: Nicky Youre (Nicholas Ure)
The undisputed "sunniest" pop hit of the year belongs to newcomer Nicky Youre, who pairs with dazy (producer Nick Minutaglio) for this breezy ditty that lasted well past the summer months.
#11 - "Shivers" - Ed Sheeran
from the album Equals (=) (2021)
Highest rank (in 2022): #2 (three weeks) (was #2 for eight weeks in 2021)
Weeks on the chart (in 2022): 27 (was on for 12 weeks in 2021)
Hot 100 peak: #4
Pop Airplay peak: #4
Adult Contemporary Airplay peak: #2
Adult Top-40 Airplay peak: #1 (two weeks)
Dance Airplay peak: #20
British Singles Chart peak: #1 (four weeks)
Songwriters: Ed Sheeran, Steve Mac (Steve McCutcheon), Kal Lavelle, Johnny McDaid
"Shivers" was on my 2021 list at #79, when it only had 12 weeks of points, but spent 8 of them at #2; this year saw it stay for another three, and take its damn time descending. Its dance-provoking beat didn't get old for me.
That's it for now - I'll be back tomorrow for the finale, the top ten, with funk-rock veterans with the longest stay on the chart during the year, a newcomer talks about drugs, the return of the adult-pop reigning queen, and the cathartic release 2022 needed.
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