Twostepcub's Biggest Hits of 2024: Part 6 - #50 to #41...

 

Hey everyone, I'm back with the start of the top half of my (late) year-end countdown of the songs that went the highest and/or stuck around the longest on my weekly personal music chart for 2024. You can catch up with the rest of the series by clicking here. And with no further ado...

 

#50 - Illusion - Dua Lipa

         from the album Radical Optimism (2024)

         2scchart peak: #5 (two weeks)

         Weeks on the chart: 20

         Points: 1407

Dua seemed to have a harder go on the charts this year, but it would be tough to replicate the COVID-era success of her Future Nostalgia set. This was the better of the many bangers on her third release.

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#49 - Lil' Boo Thang - Paul Russell

         from his EP Again Sometime? (2024)

         2scchart peak (in 2024): #1 (four weeks)

         Weeks on the chart (in 2024): 15 (was on for 10 weeks in 2023)

         Points: 1408

 

 Only ten songs reached #1 on my personal chart this year, and here is the first of them, the lowest because it came right in the beginning of the year (it was already top ten at the end of 2023). By the end of this year, though, Paul was mostly forgotten in the "one-hit wonder" abyss, though for a bit this Puffy-style sample of the Emotions' "Best Of My Love" perked up the winter.

#48 - Wreckage - Pearl Jam

         from the album Dark Matter (2024)

         2scchart peak: #6 (two weeks)

         Weeks on the chart: 20

         Points: 1413

America didn't listen to this takedown of Donald Trump's insecurities by rock's elder statesman perhaps because it was wrapped in such a sweet jangle-pop package.

#47 - Tuscon Too Late - Jordan Davis

          from the album Bluebird Days (2023)

         2scchart peak: #5 (one week)

         Weeks on the chart: 20

         Points: 1423

After placing two singles from his sophomore effort on last year's list, the bearded wonder of country music made it a hat trick with this easy-going breakup track that would've been a great two-step dance if I had the chance again.

 

#46 - Loving You - Cannons

         from the album Heartbeat Highway (2023)

         2scchart peak: #3 (one week)

         Weeks on the chart (in 2024): 17 (were on the chart for 8 weeks in 2023)

         Points: 1469

The low-key indie-pop trio returned with this dreamy swayer that set the mood without making a fuss, and in this crazy year, that sometimes is a needed respite. 

#45 - Miles On It - Marshmello and Kane Brown

         from the album The High Road (2025)

         2scchart peak: #18 (three weeks)

         Weeks on the chart (in 2024): 25 (still charting)

         Points: 1484

Yeah it's a little cringe this is so high (but not my biggest regret this time out), but you have to give credit for a man of color and a dance music DJ breaking through enough to top Billboard's country airplay chart. And Kane's easy-going delivery helps quite a bit in the too-forward lyrics.

#44 - Saturn - SZA

         from the album Lana (2024)

         2scchart peak: #4 (one week)

         Weeks on the chart: 23

         Points: 1552

SZA's long awaited follow-up (well, introduction to the expanded album) to her sophomore set SOS, "Saturn" may be a little mid, but in a world of hip-hop music dominated by atonal trash, this was as lush as it gets. 

#43 - Leave A Light On (Talk Away The Dark) - Papa Roach

         from the album Ego Trip (2022)

         2scchart peak (in 2024): #14 (one week) (was still climbing)

         Weeks on the chart (in 2024): 30 (still charting)

         Points: 1559

 

 Ugh.

First of all, FUCK Carrie Underwood.

With her feigned defense that her singing "America The Beautiful" at the fascist coronation this upcoming Monday, her claims of "trying to bring unity to the country" is a flaccid lie. There is no unity when a cultist horde is intent on eradicating the other "side" for their amusement and superiority complex and racism and misogyny, the American Idol singer, who just a few years earlier courted the LBGT community with her "Love Wins" fodder, tosses it aside to show us who she really is. She can take her unvaccinated ass and go away and watch January 6th footage like it's a rom-com.

The maddening thing is it was her inclusion on a re-release of this noble anti-suicide ballad by rockers Papa Roach that brought the song to new audiences, but that is stained right now, and I will henceforth stick with the original version. 

Her husband probably cheats on her. 

Anyhooooo....

 

#42 - Good Good - Usher featuring Summer Walker and 21 Savage

         from the album Coming Home (2024)

         2scchart peak (in 2024): #6 (one week) (was #5 for two weeks in 2023)

         Weeks on the chart (in 2024): 36 (was on for 12 weeks in 2023)

         Points: 1596

This smooth as silk track actually went higher on the chart last year, when it placed on my "runner-up" list at #106, but sticking around on R&B radio for months as well as my affinity for its real-life end of romance sentiment kept it on my list long enough to place this high.

#41 - I Can Do It With A Broken Heart - Taylor Swift

         from the album The Tortured Poets Department (2024)

         2scchart peak: #3 (two weeks)

         Weeks on the chart: 19

         Points: 1603

The artist with the biggest tour and the most high-profile boyfriend lays her past romantic history bare with this percolating electro-pop number that seems inspired by 1983 new wave. 

Tomorrow I'll roll out my top hits of this week, then I'll be back with the next countdown installment, with pop-punk veterans reflecting on their reunion, the downfall of rock's shining knight, and the winner of rap's biggest rumble of 2024.