Twostepcublog

    Saturday's here, and it's time to run down my top "hits" from the week. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars stay firmly planted at #1 for an eleventh week, while Sum-41 (pictured above) climb into the top ten. Former big hits from Chappell Roan, Luke Combs, Tim McGraw, Leon Bridges, and the Funeral Project drop off my chart, while songs from Teddy Swims, ROSE & Bruno Mars, and Maggie Rogers make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ). And under the list everything is Spotify playlisted for 5- 1/2 hours of the biggest in pop, rock, R&B, country, and dance music. This Christmas is really dichotomous... This Week          Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Die With A Smile - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars (1) 2. Taste - Sabrina Carpenter (2) 3. Stargazing - Myles Smith (4) 4. Birds Of A...

  Saturday's here, and it's time to run down my top "hits" from the previous week. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars remain at #1 for a tenth week, while Ella Langley and Riley Green (pictured above) leap into the top ten. Songs from Teddy Swims, Koe Wetzel/Jessie Murph, and Nathaniel Rateliff make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while a former big hit from Cage The Elephant drops off my chart. And under the list everything is Spotify playlisted for 5 1/2 hours of the biggest in pop, rock, R&B, country, and dance music.  This happens to be the last week of my "chart year" for 2024 (next week will start 2025's season), so I'm in the middle of crunching the numbers to tally up my top hits of this year which (goddess willing) will be here before New Years... This Week             Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ---------------------------------------------------------------------...

    " Loco " - David Lee Murphy from the album Tryin' To Get Home (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #44    This week's "robbed hit" comes from singer/songwriter David Lee Murphy . who grew up in southern Illinois, and moved to Nashville to start a country music career in his early twenties. Initially spending a long time writing for others, Murphy would eventually be signed to MCA Records. In 1994, he landed a song on the soundtrack to the rodeo cowboy movie 8 Seconds , which made the top-40 on the Billboard 200 sales tally at #33, selling over a million copies. His song,  the mid-tempo two-step number " Just Once ", was promoted as a single, and rose to #36 on Billboard magazine's Country Songs chart. David's debut album, Out With A Bang , arrived in August of that year and included that song, but the follow-up, the slow swing of " Fish Ain't Bitin' ", faltered at #52 on the country chart.  But in those days, labels had ...

    " Scandalous " - Mis-Teeq from the album Eye Candy (2003 UK) and Mis-Teeq (2004 US) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 3   Today's song comes from the female R&B vocal group Mis-Teeq, who came together in London at the end of the 1990s originally calling themselves Face2Face. After a couple of personnel charges and being signed by British major label Telstar, lead singer Sabrina Washington along with Alesha Dixon, Zena McNally, and Su-Elise Nash released their debut single " Why " in 2001, which climbed to #8 on the British Singles chart.  Despite that success, McNally left the group feeling put in the backdrop (the "Destiny's Child" effect). She would go on to have two minor hits in the UK, with " Been Around The World " almost making the top-40 at #44 in 2004. The remaining trio released their first album Lickin' On Both Sides which went to #3 on the British Albums chart, and spun off an incredib...

  Saturday's here, and it's time to run down my top "hit" tunes from the previous week. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars stay put at #1 for a ninth week, while the weeknd (pictured above) climbed into the top ten. Former big hits from Mary J. Blige, Green Day, James Bay, Dustin Lynch, Two Friends, and Dasha drop off my chart, while songs from Gigi Perez, Meghan Trainor, and ROSE & Bruno Mars make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ). And under the list everything is Spotify playlisted for 5 1/2 hours of the biggest in pop, rock, R&B, country, and dance music. Mourning is not as easy as just being sad...   This Week           Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Die With A Smile - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars (1) 2. Taste - Sabrina Carpenter (3) 3. Birds Of A Feather - Billie Eilish (2) 4. That's How I'm F...

    " I Like That " - Houston featuring Chingy, Nate Dogg, and I-20 from the album It's Already Written (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #11 (three weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 16   Today's song comes from R&B singer Houston (Summers IV), who grew up in Los Angeles, and went to a music-centric high school before eventually being signed by Capitol Records. In the spring of 2004, Houston (recording just under his first name) released his first single from his upcoming debut album It's Already Written . "I Like That", written by Summers with producers Alonzo Lee and Shamar Daugherty, aka the Trak Stars, as well as hired hand Mischke Butler (who co-wrote songs for the Spice Girls and Britney Spears), as well as the two featured rappers and one featured singer on the track. Chingy was red hot at the time for his trio of top ten pop hits (" Right Thurr ", " Holidae In ", and " One Call Away "), while Nate Dogg had sang on a sl...

    " Southside " - Lloyd featuring Ashanti from the album Southside (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #24 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 11   Today's song comes from R&B singer Lloyd Polite Jr., who performs under just his first name (confusing I know, since at the same time rapper Lloyd Banks was on the scene). Lloyd who grew up in Georgia, had been singing from a very young age, and was initially part of a boy-band put together by a member of the R&B group Klymaxx, Joyce Irby. However that act never got much notice, and evenutally Lloyd moved to New York City and got signed as a solo singer for rapper Ja Rule and producer Irv Gotti's label Murder Inc, which had morph to just "the Inc." by the 2000s.    Lloyd released his debut album Southside in the summer of 2004, with the title track put out as a single a few months before. "Southside", written by Irby, Traci Hale, producer Wirlie Morris, and Tab Nkhereanye, had Lloyd conversing with...

    " Diary " - Alicia Keys featuring Tony! Toni! Tone'! from the album The Diary Of Alicia Keys (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 25   Today's song comes from singer/songwriter/producer Alicia Keys , whose sophomore album Diary Of Alicia Keys had already spun off a pair of quality top ten hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " You Don't Know My Name " and " If I Ain't Got You ".  The third single from the record was the de facto title track "Diary". Produced by Alicia, who wrote the song with her then-partner Kerry "Krucial" Brothers Jr., the lyrics have Keys comparing herself to the titular journal, where her partner can confide in his deepest secrets. Backing her up on the choruses was the "reunion" of R&B group Tony! Toni! Tone'! , who were last seen in the series on their double-sided top-40 hit "Let's Get Down" and "Thinking Of You...

    " Live Like You Were Dying " - Tim McGraw from the album Live Like You Were Dying (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 14   Today's song comes from country music artist Tim McGraw , who took control of his career and recorded an album with his tour band, eschewing the studio vets usually forced on him. That set, Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors , spun off four singles that went top ten on Billboard magazine's Country Songs airplay chart and crossed over to the top 40 on the Hot 100 with " Red Rag Top ", " She's My Kind Of Rain ", " Real Good Man ", and " Watch The Wind Blow By ".  Though they didn't get a label bill on his next studio release, Live Like You Were Dying , Tim brought back the Dancehall Doctors for the record as well. The title track, written by Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman, was released as the lead single. The lyrics have Tim having a conversation with a man who h...

    " Slither " - Velvet Revolver from the album Contraband (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #56 (three weeks)   This week's "robbed hit" comes from the rock "supergroup" Velvet Revolver, who originally came about after the implosion of Guns N' Roses in the mid 1990's. After triumphing with their top ten epic " November Rain ",  the band took a complete left turn with the unpromoted covers album The Spaghetti Incident? . After another cover for the Interview With A Vampire movie broke the relationship between singer Axl Rose and guitarist Slash , the latter finally leaving them in 1996. Slash initially formed Slash's Snakepit with Eric Dover singing lead, releasing two albums in 1995 and 2000, with the former ( It's Five O'Clock Somewhere ) going to #70 on Billboard magazine's Billboard 200 sales tally (a surprisingly low showing for such a high-profile act). A song from the set, "Beggars & Hangers On"...

    " Lean Back " - Terror Squad from the album True Story (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (three weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 27   Today's song comes from the Terror Squad, a hip-hop collective put together by rappers Jose " Fat Joe " Cartagena and Christopher "Big Punisher" Rios in New York City in the mid-1990s. with a backup of rappers they released a collaborative album Terror Squad: The Album on Atlantic Records in 1995, which came out in 1999, a year after Big Pun had a top-40 hit with " Still Not A Player ". The self-titled set went to #22 on the Billboard 200 sales tally and #4 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, but it was more from the names involved - radio gave it a pass. Joe and Pun went back to their solo careers, but while Big Pun was readying his next set, he passed away in 2000. Joe, though, went on to see his own career break, with his fourth album  Jealous Ones Still Envy a year later spinning of two top-40 hits on  ...