Twostepcublog

  Saturday's here, and it's time to run down my top "hit" tunes from the previous week. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars remain parked at #1 for an eighth week, while Hozier (pictured above) climbs two places in the top ten. Songs from FONTAINES DC, George Birge, and Muni Long make some of the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while former big hits in Eminem and Good Neighbors 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. Let the Christmas season go full force...   This Week              Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Die With A Smile - Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars (1) 2. Birds Of A Feather - Billie Eilish (2) 3. Taste - Sabrina Carpenter (5) 4. I Am Not Okay - Jelly Roll (3) 5. Stargazing - M...

    " Let's Be Us Again " - Lonestar from the album Let's Be Us Again (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #38 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 2   Today's song comes from the country crossover band Lonestar, who had topped their greatest hits compilation with a new song, " My Front Porch Looking In ", which went to #1 on Billboard magazine's Country Songs chart and reached the top-40 on the all-genre Hot 100 in the early summer of 2003. In the spring of the following year, the group returned with their fifth studio album on BNA Records, Let's Be Us Again , with the title track as the lead single. Written by lead singer Richie McDonald along with Tommy Lee James and Maribeth Derry, the lyrics have McDonald pleading with his other half to make up after a fight. The production from Dann Huff is gentle and giving to Richie's apologies... "Let's Be Us Again" returned Lonestar to the top-40 on the Hot 100 in June of 2004, while reaching ...

    " U Should've Known Better " - Monica from the album After The Storm (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #19 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 14   Today's song comes from R&B singer Monica, who had returned to the top ten on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in the summer of 2003 with " So Gone ". That came from Monica's third album After The Storm , which came after a tumultuous time when her planned set All Eyez On Me was scuttled after leaks, and her ex-boyfriend took his life in front of her, leaving a child that wasn't hers that she took in. The second single from the record, a newer track " Knock Knock ", peaked at #24 on Billboard 's R&B Singles chart and stopped at #75 on the Hot 100.  Meanwhile, another track from the record, " Get It Off " was remixed by That Kid Chris and promoted to clubs, and rose to #13 on Billboard 's Dance Club Play chart.  The fourth and final single from the record was like...

    " Ocean Avenue " - Yellowcard from the album Ocean Avenue (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #37 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 5   Today's song comes from the band Yellowcard , who originally came together as a punk band by Florida college students in the late 1990s. Lead singer Ben Dobson, guitarist Ben Harper, guitarist/vocalist Todd Clary, drummer Longineau Parsons, violinist Sean Mackin, and bass player Warren Cooke released an indie album Midget Tossing in 1997, followed by Where We Stand two years later. However, shortly thereafter Dobson and Clary were booted as the group veered towards the pop-punk radio-friendly sound that was gaining traction at the time, adding Ryan Key as his replacement for their third disc on California indie Lobster Records, One For The Kids, in 2001. After an EP on the pop-punk giant Fueled By Ramen label (who would eventually break Fall Out Boy) a year later, Cooke also departed, but with gaining fan buzz Yellowcard were signed to Ca...

    " 99 Problems " - Jay-Z from the album The Black Album (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 2   Today's song comes from rapper Jay-Z , whose first purported "retirement" release The Black Album had scored a pair of top ten hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " Change Clothes " and " Dirt On Your Shoulder ", a big feat for a hip-hop artist with "street" appeal since the days of G-funk.  Between those two hits the album track "What More Can I Say" got enough airplay to make Billboard 's R&B Singles chart, and after the latter at the start of 2004 the Kanye West-assisted song " Encore " made the R&B top-40 at #30, while "bubbling under" the Hot 100 at #106. ("Encore" will be in this series by way of its revamped "mash-up" with Linkin Park).  The third and final promoted single from The Black Album was "99 Problems"....

    " Cold Hard Bitch " - Jet from the album Get Born (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #55 (three weeks)   This week's "robbed hit" comes from the Australian rock band Jet , who took their throwback garage rock banger "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" into the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in the spring of 2004. The second single in the U.S. from their debut album went even harder, with the profane guitar power of "Cold Hard Bitch". Written by the band's lead singer Nic Cester, drummer brother Chris, and lead guitarist Cameron Muncey and revamped from their original indie EP (extended play single) Dirty Sweet from 2002, the song glorifies a tough woman who is even more sexy because of it. The production is taken directly out of fellow countrymen AC/DC's playbook, but Nic's vocals are much more melodic and less abrasive. The music video brings a jukebox to life... While "Cold Hard Bitch" became Jet's big...

    " Dip It Low " - Christina Milian from the album It's About Time (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 20   Today's song comes from R&B singer Christina Milian , who after guesting on rapper Ja Rule's nearly top ten hit " Between Me And You " in 2000, scored her first lead top-40 hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the autumn of the following year with " AM to PM ". However in the turn of the millennium merger chaos, her label Def Soul had shifted and would eventually be put in with its "parent" imprint Def Jam. Milian was moved over to another Universal label, Island, for her sophomore effort It's About Time , which came out four years after her debut. The lead single from the set was the club track "Dip It Low". Written by the singer with producer Polli Paul along with Teedra Moses, the production casts Christina in an Southern Asian backdrop, as she coos about treating her...

Saturday's here, and it's time to run down my top hits of the previous week. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars hold tight at #1 for a seventh week, while Linkin Park (pictured above) stay put in the top ten. Former big hits from Kendrick Lamar, Coldplay, Charli XCX, Bring Me The Horizon, Tommy Richman, Josh X, and Michael Kiwanuka drop off my chart, while songs from Eric Benet/Tamar Braxton, Charli XCX, and Muni Long 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. Friendsgiving time! This Week              Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Die With A Smile - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars (1) 2. Birds Of A Feather - Billie Eilish (2) 3. I Am Not Oka...

    " Turn Me On " - Kevin Lyttle featuring Spragga Benz from the album Kevin Lyttle (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 20   Today's song comes from Kevin Lyttle , who grew up as Lescott Coombs in the Caribbean island nation of St Vincent and The Grenadines (which became fully independent when he was three). Using his own nest egg and also using his two middle names, Kevin recorded his first music single, "Turn Me On", which became a regional hit in the islands. With that buzz, and a sound, in the reggae-adjacent genre of soca , that stood apart from the rest, he was signed to Atlantic Records, who released "Turn Me On" with a "remix" for radio featuring Jamaican dancehall DJ Carlton "Spragga Benz" Grant.  The track, newly produced by Adrian Bailey and Jeremy Wheatley, reworks the lyrics to R&B vocal group 112's 1998 album cut " All My Love ", giving its seven composers writing cr...

    " Welcome Back " - Ma$e from the album Welcome Back (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 4   Today's song comes from rapper Mason Betha, who performs under the nickname Ma$e , who was one of Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs' most successful protege's on his Bad Boy Records label, topping the Billboard 200 sales tally with his debut album Harlem World , which also spun off three top ten hit singles on the Hot 100 chart with " Feel So Good ", " What You Want ", and " Lookin' At Me " in 1997 through 1998. However when he quickly returned the next year with the harder-hitting sophomore effort Double Up , Ma$e had a change of heart renouncing this path, and announcing his retirement from music to pursue college studies, tanking the promotion of the album, which started at #11 on the Billboard 200 but only sold a half million, a fraction of his first set. The lead single from the record, the Shalam...

    " If You Ever Stop Loving Me " - Montgomery Gentry from the album You Do Your Thing (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 5   Today's song comes from the country-rock duo Montgomery Gentry , whose third album My Town had landed them a second hit that crossed over to the Top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with its title track in the late fall of 2002. Two years later, Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry returned with their fourth release on Columbia Nashville Records You Do Your Thing . The lead single from the record was "If You Ever Stop Loving Me", written by Bob DiPiero, Rivers Rutherford, and Tom Shapiro. The lyrics start out with some nostalgic child abuse, and goes on to have them sing about how everyone is against them except for their partner, which they proclaim is the only thing getting them through. The production from Rutherford is square in the southern rock vein, with a melodic hook that seems vaguely famil...

    " Talk About Our Love " - Brandy featuring Kanye West from the album Aphrodisiac (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #36 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 2   Today's song comes from R&B singer and actress Brandy , whose third album Full Moon had spun off a pair of hit singles that made the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " What About Us? " and " Full Moon ".  In 2004 she returned with her fourth release on Atlantic Records, Aphrodisiac , after a turbulent period where she was romantically involved with a producer from Full Moon , had a child, and broke up to just start dating a basketball player. Her original work with that producer baby daddy was tossed, and Atlantic set her up with a bevy of producers for the new set. Two songs with Tim "Timbaland" Mosley were set to be released, but after leaks were scuttled in lieu of another song, "Talk About Our Love", which featured the producer on the track, Kanye West....

    " You Raise Me Up " - Josh Groban from the album Closer (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #73    This week's "robbed hit" comes from singer and actor Josh Groban , who grew up in Los Angeles and started music and acting and a very young age. Although he had started college to study music, he left quickly after being taken under the wing of uber-producer David Foster. Josh got his first big break when he covered for an absent Andrea Bocelli at the Grammy Awards rehearsals in 1999, singing "The Prayer" with Celine Dion that got him to appear on the Rosie O'Donnell Show . With that exposure, he was discovered by TV producer David Kelley, who wrote Groban into the hit TV show Ally McBeal .  Signed to Warner Brothers Records, Josh released his eponymous debut album in 2001. A song from the record, " To Where You Are ", was also featured on Ally McBeal , and helped it top Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary chart for two weeks in ...