Twostepcublog

" Slow Jams " - Twista featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx from the albums Kamikaze (Twista) and College Dropout (West) (both 2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 19   Today's song comes from rapper Carl Mitchell, who records under the alias Twista, who grew up and got his musical start in Chicago, where he originally went by "Tung Twista" to allude to his rapid-fire rap delivery. He initially signed with the Loud Records label, an offshoot of BMG's Zoo imprint that housed the Wu-Tang Clan. It was there he released his debut album Runnin' Off at da Mouth in 1992, with the single " Mr. Tung Twista " getting some TV buzz but neither made any of the charts on Billboard magazine. From there he moved to Atlantic, where Mitchell dropped the "Tung" from his moniker for what was supposed to be his sophomore effort Resurrection , but troubles with the label caused the set had it see only a limited local releas

    " Cowboys Like Us " - George Strait from the album Honkytonkville (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #38 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 2   Today's song comes from country music icon George Strait , who had regained his momentum at the beginning of the 2000s with his twenty-first studio album The Road Less Travelled , which sent three singles to the top of the country radio charts and which also crossed over to the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " Run ", " Living And Living Well ", and " She'll Leave You With A Smile ".  In the early summer of 2003, George returned with his next release on MCA Nashville, Honkytonkville . The lead single was uncharacteristically a cover song, albeit of a lesser known track recorded by Merle Haggard in 1986 as an album cut. Eleven years later, his son Noel released a version of "Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa", and scraped the bottom rung of Billboard 's Country Singles

    " (I Hate) Everything About You " - Three Days Grace from the album Three Days Grace (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #55 (three weeks)   This week's "robbed hits" comes from the Canadian hard rock band Three Days Grace , who came together originally with three members of the former group Groundswell in the southern Ontario outskirts of Toronto in the late 1990's. Lead singer/guitarist Adam Gontier, bassist Brad Walst, and drummer Neil Sanderson moved to the United States, recording their self-titled debut album for Jive Records in central Massachussetts. Three Days Grace was released in the summer of 2003, preceded by the lead single that helped the band land their record deal, "(I Hate) Everything About You". Written by Gontier, the song starts out vague about the state of the relationship Adam finds himself in, coming to the realization that it's no fun anymore. The lyrics are pretty crude with " Every roommate kept awake by every

    " There Goes My Life " - Kenny Chesney from the album When The Sun Goes Down (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #29 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 10   Today's song comes from country music A-lister Kenny Chesney , whose sixth studio album No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem had spun off five hit singles between 2002 and 2003, four of which crossed over to reach the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart with " Young ", " The Good Stuff ", " Big Star ", and " No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problems ".  Later that year, he put out a holiday album, All I Want For Christmas Is A Real Good Tan , which just missed the top-40 on the Billboard 200 sales tally at #42, and went on to sell over a million copies. Seven of its eleven tracks got enough airplay to place on the Country Songs radio chart, with the title track reaching #30. Chesney returned with the lead single from his next regular studio release on BNA Records When The Sun Goe

  Saturday's here, and it's time to run down my top 100 "hit" tunes from the previous week. Hozier stays put at #1 for a ninth week, while Pearl Jam (pictured above) climbs a pair of notches in the top ten. Songs from Coldplay, Sabrina Carpenter, and Kendrick Lamar make some of the biggest jumps this week (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ) while former big hits from Foo Fighters, Muni Long, and Jordan Davis drop 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. Shamala Hamala Kamala let's effing go! This Week              Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Too Sweet - Hozier (1) 2. A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozey (4) 3. Espresso - Sabrina Carpenter (3) 4. Million Dollar Baby - Tommy Richman (2) 5. The Door - Teddy Swims (5) 6.

    " Breathe " - Michelle Branch from the album Hotel Paper (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #36 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 2   Today's song comes from singer/songwriter Michelle Branch , who had returned to the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in the summer of 2003 with " Are You Happy Now? ".  The second single from her sophomore effort Hotel Paper was "Breathe", which Branch wrote with producer John Shanks. The lyrics seems to have Michelle at the crossroads of a relationship, She doesn't want to break up, but she needs some reassurance from her partner, and she's telling herself to calm down (and "breathe") to give them space to do so. The production is pleasant if a little generic jangle-pop, with layered vocals on the chorus doing some heavy lifting. With a music video that has Branch and her band transitioning to a sunnier place, and VH1 came on board to help her get another pop hit... "Breathe"

    " Numb " - Linkin Park from the album Meteora (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #11 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 25   Today's song comes from the nu-metal rock band Linkin Park , whose returned to the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the spring of 2003 with the lead single from their second studio album Meteora , " Somewhere I Belong ".  The follow-up single, " Faint ", spent six weeks at #1 on the Alternative Rock radio chart, but stalled right above the halfway mark on the Hot 100 early that autumn.  The third release from Meteora was "Numb", written by the group who also co-produced with Don Gilmore. The lyrics have lead singer Chester Bennington confronting a person vaguely close to themselves (in fact, it could be a counterpart to Simple Plan's dad-hating "Perfect" from yesterday). Throwing in words like "smothering" and "undertow" along with the soul-deadening repetition of "nu

    " Perfect " - Simple Plan from the album No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls (2002) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #24 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 11   Today's song comes from the Canadian pop-punk band Simple Plan , who came together in Montreal at the end of the 1990's, with high school friends Chuck Comeau, Jeff Stinco, and Sebastien Lefebvre along with lead singer Pierre Bouvier soon joined by David Desrosiers. Signed to Atlantic Records' imprint Lava (who also hosted Matchbox Twenty), the group released their debut album No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls at the start of 2002. The first single from the record, " I'm Just A Kid ", got play on music television but never made any of the radio charts in Canada or the U.S., though it recently got tagged as a meme on the TikTok app and has since become their most streamed song (deservedly so).    For the second release from the debut, "I'd Do Anything", came out that fall. Wri

    " The First Cut Is The Deepest " - Sheryl Crow from the album The Very Best Of Sheryl Crow (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #14 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 27   Today's song comes from singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow , who had returned to the top-20 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in the summer of 2002 with the breezy acoustic pop of " Soak Up The Sun ".  The following year, Crow guested on rapper turned rock singer (and eventual cult member) Kid Rock's song " Picture " from his Cocky album. However since her label, A&M, didn't want to cut into promotion of her C'mon C'mon album, her duet wasn't approved for a single release, causing Kid Rock to re-record the song (which Crow co-wrote) with alt-country singer Alison Moorer. Nevertheless, since radio was playing the Sheryl/Kid version predominantly, the song was listed on the charts with both female counterparts as it made the top five in the spring of 2003. M

    " More & More " - Joe from the album And Then (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #48   This week's "robbed hit" comes from R&B singer Joe (Thomas), who had climbed all the way to #1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in the beginning of 2001 with " Stutter " from his third album My Name Is Joe . Later that year, Joe returned with his next album Better Days . Despite the momentum from the two huge hits from My Name Is Joe , the album stalled at #32 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, selling just over a half million copies (as compared to My Name Is Joe 's three million). Lead single " Let's Stay Home Tonight " was a modest R&B hit at #18, while stopping at #68 on the pop Hot 100 (even a try at a remix with rapper Petey Pablo didn't help) though it did decently on the Adult R&B format at #5, and made the British top-40 at #29. Follow-up " What If A Woman " topped the Adult R&B radio char

    " Me, Myself and I " - Beyonce from the album Dangerously In Love (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 19   Welcome back to song of the day - thanks for hanging in whilst I was in my happy place for a week.   Today's song is from Beyonce , whose debut solo album apart from Destiny's Child, Dangerously In Love , had already scored a pair of #1 pop and R&B hits with " Crazy In Love " (with Jay-Z) and " Baby Boy " (with Sean Paul). As the latter was climbing the charts, one of her contributions to her starring movie The Fighting Temptations , " Summertime " with Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, went to #35 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart and "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #108.  For the third single from the album, Bey went with the self-empowering "Me Myself And I". Written and produced by the singer with Scott Storch, the lyrics put her in the position of a woma

  I'm back from my happy place (P-Town) and like last week's day early, I'm a day late with my top hits of the week. Hozier holds on at #1 for an eighth week, while Shaboozey (pictured above) leaps into the top five. A former big hit from Doja Cat drops off the chart, while songs from Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Post Malone make some of 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. Back to life, back to reality...   This Week                Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.  Too Sweet - Hozier (1) 2. Million Dollar Baby - Tommy Richman (3) 3. Espresso - Sabrina Carpenter (2) 4. A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozey (10) 5. The Door - Teddy Swims (5) 6. Saturn - SZA (4) 7. Lose Control - Te

It's a day early, but it's time to run down my top "hit" tunes from the week. Hozier spends a seventh week at #1, while Teddy Swims (pictured above) leaps into the top five.  Songs from Sabrina Carpenter, beabadoobee, and Luke Combs make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while former big hits from Metallica, the Decemberists, Shinedown, and Galantis/David Guetta/5 Seconds of Summer drop off the 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. Next stop, P-Town! This Week           Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Too Sweet - Hozier (1) 2. Espresso - Sabrina Carpenter (2) 3. Million Dollar Baby - Tommy Richman (3) 4. Saturn - SZA (5) 5. The Door - Teddy Swims (9) 6. Fortnight - Taylor Swift f/Post Malone (6) 7. Lose Cont