Twostepcublog

    Saturday is here, and it's time to run down my top 100 "hit" tunes from the previous week. After her triumphant performance on Saturday Night Live, Billie Eilish holds tight at #1 for a third week, while newcomer Kenya Grace (pictured above) hangs on in the top ten. A former big hit from the Revivalists drops off my chart, while songs from FISHER, Brittany Howard, and Dua Lipa 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. This is the first "chart week" for 2024, and hopefully I've have my 2023 year-end countdown ready to go. Thanks for being patient and Happy Holidays to all who celebrate!   This Week                Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

    Happy New Year everyone, and it's time to run down my top 100 "hit" tunes from the previous week. Adele remains at #1 for a fifth week, while the War On Drugs (pictured above) climb into the top ten. Songs from twenty-one pilots, Gayle, and Volbeat make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while former big hits from twenty-one pilots, the Weeknd, Dua Lipa, and Cole Swindell drop off my chart. And under the list everything is Spotify playlisted for over five and a half hours of the biggest in pop, rock, R&B, country, and dance music. Also you can check out my 2021 recap of the biggest of the year by clicking here . 2022 can't be worse, can it?  This Week         Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Easy On Me - Adele (1) 2. Shivers - Ed Sheeran (2) 3. Cold Heart (PNAU Remix) - ...

    " This Gift " - 98 Degrees from the album This Christmas (1999) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #49   This week's "robbed hit" comes from the pop vocal "boy-band" 98 Degrees , whose second album 98 Degrees and Rising scored three top-40 pop hits with " Because Of You ", " The Hardest Thing ", and " I Do (Cherish You) ".  Just about the year after the release of that album, the group put out a holiday set, This Christmas , as their third studio album. A new song from the set, "This Gift", was promoted to radio as a single, and became a rare pop "holiday" hit of that era. Written by Anders Bagge, Anthor Biggisson, Dane Deviller, and Sean Hosein, The track follows the boy-band template, slipping in Christmas words to make it relevant to the season... While "This Gift" did pretty well on the radio, getting to #14 on Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio c...

    " The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) " - Christina Aguilera from the album My Kind Of Christmas (2000) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #18 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 2   Today's song comes from former "new" Mouseketeer turned pop star Christina Aguilera , whose debut single " Genie In A Bottle " went all the way to #1 in the summer of 1999.  Later that year Christina released a single for the holiday season before she even put out her second release from her debut. It was a remake of the classic "The Christmas Song". Subtitled by its opening line "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire", the song was written by Mel Torme and Robert Wells, and was first made famous by legendary crooner Nat King Cole in 1946. It made the top ten on both the Disc Jockey (#3) and Best Sellers (#7) charts in the pre-rock Billboard magazine, and eventually made the pop Hot 100 in the trade bible on re-release, peaking at #65 in 1962. ...

    Friday is here, and it's time to run down my top 100 "hit" tunes from the previous week. Ava Max remains at #1 for a sixth week, while Dave Grohl (pictured above) and his Foo Fighters leap into the top ten. Former big hits from twenty-one pilots, Ne-Yo/Jeremih, and Queen Naija drop out, while songs from Luke Combs, Harry Styles, and Miley Cyrus/Dua Lipa make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ). And at the end everything is Spotify-playlisted for your listening pleasure. Don't forget to check out my year-end recap of 2020 going on, I'm already up to the halfway point. To those that celebrate, Merry Christmas!   This Week         Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. King & Queens - Ava Max (1) 2. Mood - 24KGoldn f/iann dior (2) 3. Diamonds - Sam Smith (5) 4. Levitating - Dua Lipa f/DaBaby (6) 5. Dynamite - BTS (...

" Let It Snow " - Boyz II Men with Brian McKnight from the album Christmas Interpretations (1993) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32 (one week) weeks in the Top-40: 1 (Confession: I plugged this one into the timeline here instead of having it back in Christimastime because I completely forget it wasn't just about snow. My bad.) Today's song of the day comes from the soul vocal group Boyz II Men , who had landed their fourth top ten pop hit in the beginning of January of 1993 with their cover of " In The Still Of The Nite (I Remember) " from the film about the Jackson family, The Jacksons: An American Dream . But that year was an especially thin year for the foursome, as they parted professional ways with mentor Michael Bivins, and with most of the year without any new music until the Christmas season, where they released a holiday album (usually a stopgap when no new releases are expected), Christmas Interpretations. For the radio single the original so...

I'm taking a short break for the holidays, but every year instead of cards I give out CD Mixes (yeah, primitive, I know). Here's mine for this year in YouTube videos (sorry, Katy Perry shorted us out on hers). You can check it out by clicking here or you can listen to most of it on Spotify (sadly, had to subsitute three songs including Katy Perry) by clicking here ...

" First Winter " is the new single from pop singer/songwriter (Stephen) Wrabel . A holiday song that doesn't quite sound like a holiday song, it's accompanied by a oh-so-sweet music video "date". Back in 2014, he reached the pop Hot 100 in Billboard magazine right at #100 with " Ten Feet Tall " with DJ Afrojack....

" This One's For The Children " - New Kids On The Block from the album Merry, Merry Christmas (1989) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 10 Today's song of the day comes from the vocal group from Boston, New Kids On The Block , who were so insanely popular by the end of the 1980's that even after sending five songs from their breakthrough album Hangin' Tough into the American pop top ten, they were able to go back to their originally-ignored debut set to score another top ten hit with a cover of " Didn't I (Blow Your Mind) " in the fall of 1989. Capitalizing on this momentum, the boys recorded and released a holiday album, Merry, Merry Christmas , that closed out the decade. Along with a few standards, most of the record were originals written by their producer/svengali, Maurice Starr, including the first single, "This One's For The Children". Promoted as a charity event to benefit the United Cerebr...

Let's travel Down Under yet again to check out the singles and albums from local artists in Australia making the charts... On the Australian Artists Singles chart, Peking Duk rises to #1 with " Stranger " featuring Elliphant... Electronica artist Flume's Skin Companion EP 1 , an addition to his #1 album from this year, lands at #5 on the singles chart (where EPs end up in this country)... (Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's the top ten hits in France this week, according to their official singles chart , as Adele's "Hello" spends a ninth week at #1... 1. " Hello " - Adele (1) 2. " Adventure Of A Lifetime " - Coldplay (4) 3. "Bang My Head" - David Guetta featuring Sia and Fetty Wap (8) 4. " Don't Worry " - Madcon featuring Ray Dalton (3) 5. " Catch & Release (Deepend Remix) " - Matt Simons (2) 6. " Sapes Comme Jamais " - Maitre Gims (5) 7. " All I Want For Christmas Is You " - Mariah Carey (RE-ENTRY) 8. " Sorry " - Justin Bieber (7) 9. " La C'est Die " - Ridsa (6) 10. " Summer 2015 " - L.E.J. (10) During the holiday break David Guetta has leaped into the top ten, now making it to #3 with "Bang My Head" featuring Sia. It matches the peak of their previous collaboration "Titanium"...

Part four of this week's 'music sweeps' of the Billboard charts is up with the latest hits on country radio... On their Country Airplay chart, Thomas Rhett's " Die A Happy Man " spends a second week at #1... Radio proves it's late to the Christmas party, as the two entries on the chart this week are holiday selections. First off at #57 is Mickey Guyton with her rendition of the Frozen soundtrack nugget "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?". (At least in a big chunk of the U.S., this is more timely, with the first flakes just flitting down here in the east.) (Click below to see the rest of the post)

Hey folks, I'm ready to roll out the first of this week's "music sweeps", checking out the songs making their way on to the various charts in Billboard magazine this week. As usual, I'll start out on the pop side of things, then move on to the latest in rock, R&B, country, and dance. And away we gooooo... On the "big" chart, Billboard's Hot 100 , which combines tallies of sales (like iTunes and Amazon MP3) along with internet streaming (like YouTube and Spotify) and radio airplay from all formats, Adele's "Hello" reigns supreme for a seventh week, tying her run with "Rolling In The Deep"... In a quiet pre-holiday week, the top debut comes from the singing competition spectacle The Voice , whose (SPOILER) winner, chunky bespectacled pastor singer Jordan Smith, lands all the way at #21 with his performance of the Queen single "Somebody To Love" from the semifinals. Mind you, nobody is going to even remembe...

It's time to roll out the first of today's "music sweeps", checking out the songs making their way on to the charts in Billboard magazine. As usual, I'll start off on the pop side of things, then later in the day move on to the newest in rock, R&B, country, and dance... On the "big" chart, Billboard 's Hot 100 , which combines tallies of radio airplay from all formats, sales (like iTunes and Amazon MP3), and internet streaming (like Spotify and YouTube), Adele's " Hello " is on top for a sixth straight week.... (Extra bonus points to Mariah Carey, who ushers in the holiday seasons with her classic "All I Want For Christmas Is You" re-entering the chart at #26. When she first released her Merry Christmas album in 1994, the song wasn't available as a single (and at that time unable to chart), so it's only in its 11th week total on the Hot 100 and close to its #21 peak so far. Can it beat it this time?) In ...

The official singles chart in the UK was released today, and here's a look at the songs making their debut on the top-100 in Britain, as Adele's " Hello " and Justin Bieber's " Sorry " have a lock on the #1 and #2 positions for a third week... The highest debut of the week at #3 is from the runner-up on the previous season of the X Factor UK , Fleur East, who's "Sax" is her first original song to reach the chart... (Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's the top-10 hits in France this week, according to their official singles chart, as Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars spend a second week at #1 with " Uptown Funk "... 1. " Uptown Funk " - Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars (1) 2. " Dangerous " - David Guetta featuring Sam Martin (2) 3. " Andalouse " - Kendji Girac (4) 4. " Chandelier " - Sia (8) 5. " Jungle " - Emma Louise (3) 6. " Je Vole " - Louane (7) 7. " Fade Out Lines " - The Avener (RE-ENTRY) 8. "All I Want For Christmas Is You" - Mariah Carey (DEBUT) 9. " Prayer In C " - Lilly Wood & The Prick (5) 10. " Cosmo " - Soprano (RE-ENTRY)  The "sole" entry on the top ten this week is an oldie but goodie, as the twenty-year-old holiday classic "All I Want For Christmas Is You" from Mariah Carey finally reaches the highest tier in this country at #8...

Part fout of this week's "chart sweeps" has the latest songs on country radio as monitored by Billboard magazine. On their Country Airplay chart, Tm McGraw spends a third week at #1 with " Shotgun Rider "... As country stations added their holiday music much later than pop/easy listening stations, there are a couple new Christmas songs on the chart this week. First at #56 is country bear Tyler Farr with his version of "Blue Christmas". His current radio single " A Guy Walks Into A Bar " hold at #26... (Click below to see the rest of the post)

It's time to kick off the first of today's five "chart sweeps", sampling the song making their way on to the various charts in Billboard magazine this week. As usual, I'll start out on the pop side of things, and then later in the day move on to the latest on rock, R&B, country, and dance music... On the "big" chart, Billboard 's Hot 10 0 , which combines tallies of radio airplays of all formats, internet streaming (like Spotify and YouTube), and sales (like Amazon and iTunes), Taylor Swift spends a seventh week at #1 with " Blank Space "... The top new entry of the week at #49 is "Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey)" from alt-R&B singer The Weeknd from the upcoming 50 Shades Of Grey movie. It's his third hit as a lead artist (and highest rank of those three), while his featured spot on Ariana Grande's " Love Me Harder " drops from its peak of #7 to #11 this week... (Click below to see the res...

Hey gang, the weekend's at a close, so it's time to check out the songs making their debut on the top-100 official singles chart in Britain this week, as Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars climb back up to #1 for a second non-consecutive week with " Uptown Funk "... The post-Christmas week (the UK considers the week before the 25th its coveted "Christmas week") is expectedly slow, with only one song making its debut in the top half of the chart. And the song, "Heroes (We Could Be)" from Swedish DJ Alesso with singer Tove Lo, is an established hit around the world already (it's top-40 in the U.S.). The single enters at #6, making Alessandro Lindlad's third top-10 hit; he went to #1 with Calvin Harris with " Under Control " in 2013... (Click below to see the rest of the post)

Part four of today's "chart sweeps" is up with the latest songs on country radio as monitored by Billboard magazine... On their Country Airplay chart, Tim McGraw spends a second week at #1 with " Shotgun Rider "... All three newbies on the chart at Christmas selections. First up at #55 is Kenny Chesney with "Christmas In Blue Chair Bay", my " Country Pick of the Week ". His current radio single " Til It's Gone " holds at #3... (Click below to see the rest of the post)