Image courtesy the music snobs at NPR
In the immortal words of Post Malone, “Wow.”
We made it through an entire decade of Billboard Hot 100 hits. To answer your most burning question, yes, there will be a list of the 50 best hits of the entire decade coming later this month. For now, though, let’s turn our attention to the year we’ve just completed, 2019. It was a big year for Ed Sheeran, newcomer Lizzo, and many others, but you won’t find them on this year’s list. Instead, here are the 20 best songs from this year’s Billboard Year-End Hot 100, released this year on December 5. Definitely a top-heavy group of songs this year, in my opinion. Let’s get into it:
*Programming Note: YouTube/Vevo have gone back to not allowing official-video embeds, so the link to each music video can be found in the title of that song, if you want to watch before reading. If you want to skip all my writing, you can find a Spotify playlist of the whole list embedded at the bottom of the blog. *
20. Pinkfong- “Baby Shark”: Nahhh, just kidding. But can you imagine if I actually thought this was one of the 20 best songs of the year? It did somehow qualify for the year-end Hot 100, though, coming in at #75. Uncharted, uh, waters for a song intended for the 3-and-under set. And not a good sign for the music biz. Let’s give it our first-ever “Honorable Mention.”
20. Post Malone- “Wow.”: Now time for the actual 20th best song of 2019. Look, this isn’t Post Malone’s best work, nor will it be his most memorable song when it’s all said and done. The accompanying video is also mostly just tour footage, plus one random bearded dude who can absolutely break it down. But overall, it’s unobjectionable enough, and did well enough on the charts, for me to give it #20, mostly just because nothing else leapt out at me enough. Moving on!
19. Blueface- “Thotiana”: Let’s get this out of the way early. This song is objectively, aggressively terrible. Blueface appears entirely disinterested in flowing along with the beat, preferring to basically just talk over it instead. But at the end of the day, the word “Thotiana” is hilariously genius. Who knows how he came up with it, but he eternally cursed any girl named Tatiana to schoolyard taunts, which I guess isn’t that funny but when you consider the randomness of it all, well, it kind of is funny to me. I guess I’m just a terrible person…
18. Sheck Wes- “Mo Bamba”: Next on our list of viral rap sensations, we have “Mo Bamba.” Not the still-developing Orlando Magic prospect, oh no- the simplistic ode to him written by his old Harlem friends. This was the hit of the year on college campuses, it seems- watching any football or basketball game, it was prominently featured on the PA system to fire up the fans, and even graduated to being played by student bands. I can only imagine how it was received every time it played at the college bars I used to go to. I hope Sheck Wes was able to bank some of that viral fame, because I’m sure he’ll need it a lot more than the actual Mo Bamba ever will.
17. Lil Nas X Featuring Billy Ray Cyrus- “Old Town Road”: This was the #1 song of the year on the actual Billboard chart. Surely you’re not surprised, right? Since it stayed at #1 for NINETEEN straight weeks this year? And sparked a nationwide discussion about what, exactly, counts as country music? Here’s my (extremely-delayed) take: of course this isn’t a true country song. Many experts have opined that Lil Nas X only classified it as Country on Soundcloud because it would have gotten lost on the overstuffed Rap category. That being said, it’s still a jam and it is a delightful crossover of the two different genres (particularly the more high-effort remix with Billy Ray Cyrus). And, inadvertently, it may finally be leading to the final breakdown of the barriers between these two genres, which I’ve pointed out many times are more similar than they are different. We’ll see what happens in 2020.
16. Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper- “Shallow”: Man, remember when “A Star Is Born” came out? If it feels like forever ago, that’s because it was back in 2018, which is, like, over 365 24-hour news cycles ago. I might be among the only people who went into the theater having no idea that this was a modern take on an old film, with a basic plot structure that most people already knew. Suffice it to say, when the big TWIST happened at the end, I was completely unprepared. A great film overall, though, and this song certainly deserves a spot on the list.
15. Bazzi Featuring Camila Cabello- “Beautiful”: Bazzi made an appearance on last year’s list in a similar spot as this one, with “Mine.” I guess the bottom half of the top 20 is a spot where he feels comfortable being. This continues the ongoing run on slow, downtempo songs in this part of the list. Funny how these things work out. This duet is a slight improvement on the original version with just Bazzi, but both are genuinely enjoyable love songs.
14. Dan + Shay- “Tequila”: Wanna talk old songs? The official music video for this one came out last February. Talk about a slow burner! That describes this song in more ways than one. It’s been a few years since what I would classify as a country song made it onto my list, but this one rose above. For a country song to rise above, it takes a superior concept, superior composition, and superior execution, and this song had all three. The emotional music video only helped its case, although country has always done those better than other genres.
13. Khalid & Normani- “Love Lies”: Wow, another slow jam released last February. This trend is getting a little silly now. Khalid has probably released, or been featured on, more above-average hits than anyone in the past year or two. Both he and Normani will be heard from again on this list. Here, they team up to question each other about a troubled but torrid relationship. After watching the video, I have to say, their relationship seems a little inefficient, but if that’s what works for them, who am I to judge?
12. Ava Max- “Sweet But Psycho”: Ah yes, torturing and murdering your date! Then burning the house down! So fun! Ava Max is doing her best to set a good example for all of her adoring fans who are drawn to her because of her unique haircut and catchy debut single. We’ll see how popular she remains after their parents get a load of this (I hope) revenge-fantasy video. My bet- she will not break out in the same way as her pop diva predecessors Bebe Rexha and Dua Lipa. But we’ll see!
11. Taylor Swift Featuring Brendon Urie- “ME!”: Yes, this song is super silly and relentlessly cheerful, and more than a little corny. But it’s Taylor Swift (and Brendon Urie). What did you expect? It’s not one of her best-ever efforts, but it’s still more than good enough to clear most of the trash that cluttered the charts this year. If it doesn’t put a smile on your face, you ought to take yourself a little less seriously. That’s an order!
10. Post Malone & Swae Lee- “Sunflower”: Here’s Post Malone (and Swae Lee) doing their best to keep it PG-rated for the theme song to the Spiderman movie. This may have been one of the most overplayed songs of 2019, but if you can dial it back to the first several times you heard it, you probably actually have fairly fond memories of it, don’t you?
9. Khalid- “Better”: Do you like Vocoders? I hope so, ‘cause this song throws it back to the days before Auto-Tune, when you could actually really tell when someone was using vocal effects. The video being set in LA really brings back vibes of Roger Troutman Vocoding his heart out on “California Love.” I’m OK with this being a trend that comes back in 2020.
8. Post Malone- “Circles”: Post Malone, seen here apparently dressed as the Bud Light knight, has called this song his best effort to sound like...Fleetwood Mac? Wait, what? This is the same guy rapping about his legendary tour exploits back at #20? It’s as confusing to me as it is to you, I promise. It’s hard for me to take him seriously at any style of music where he isn’t bragging about how drunk/high he is. I think it’s the face tats. Yes, it’s definitely the face tats. Nonetheless, this is actually a pretty great song. Posty has plenty of talent hiding behind that “Always Tired” script scrawled across his cheekbones.
7. Billie Eilish- “Bad Guy”: This is the hottest beat of 2019. I didn’t even know it was a Billie Eilish song for an embarrassingly long time, but once I realized, my appreciation of her went way up. I had only heard songs from her that left me cold, because I’m not an angsty 17 year old girl, but “Bad Guy” smashed all that away. She’s still weird as the day is long, but now I see it in a fun way instead of in a “Kids today” way. And all it took was a hot beat and a quick “Duh!”
6. 5 Seconds Of Summer- “Youngblood”: Australia’s hottest boy band makes a shocking appearance here, with a song that (I’m sensing a theme here) is good if you can just ignore where it’s coming from. I guess pop music in 2019 was about accepting that good things can come in strange, or nontraditional, packages, and that it’s what the music sounds like the counts the most. Look at me, being so accepting! Particularly about heartthrob boy bands, one of the world’s most historically marginalized peoples…
5. Jonas Brothers- “Only Human”: The Jonas Brothers went reggae-ish, and it worked well enough to get them into the Top 5 best songs of the year. I still can’t believe we have back-to-back boy bands this high up on the list, but like I said before, good music is good music, regardless of the package it comes in. And in the case of this video, the package appears to be a vintage one from the...late ‘70s? Early ‘90s? Your guess is as good as mine, all I know is they tried really hard to make it look old-school, and mostly succeeded.
4. Khalid & Disclosure- “Talk”: This is not just one of 2019’s better songs, it’s miles ahead of the songs below it on this list, and one of the best Slow JamZ (always with a Z) of the decade. In fact, the top tier of music in 2019 stacks up pretty well against that from any other year this decade. This one is helped tremendously by the icy-cool smooth beat from Disclosure, and Khalid’s always-wondrous vocals made it one of the songs of the summer. I’m not sure he can make a song better than this, but I welcome the chance to find out in 2020.
3. Ariana Grande- “Breathin”: Some people loved the more controversial Ariana Grande songs in 2019. You know, the ones where ex-lovers get called out by name. Me? I like to keep it simple- lush, midtempo electropop is where Ariana shines most, and it’s where she’ll always find a happy home towards the top of my list. The video being set in a train station didn’t hurt its spot, either.
2. Lewis Capaldi- “Someone You Loved”: No doubt about it, Lewis Capaldi was the breakout star of the year for me. If you only ever heard him speak, or only ever heard him sing, you wouldn’t think the two personas could belong to the same person. His soulful music and golden pipes don’t seem like they could come from the humble, goofy Scottish rogue who always shows up in interviews, but somehow, it all adds up to one of the most exciting new singers to come around in several years. Capaldi has chafed at being called the “male Adele,” but honestly, that’s what his ceiling could be if he continues to make songs as moving as this one.
1. Sam Smith & Normani- “Dancing With A Stranger”: We made it folks, all the way to the #1 best song in the last year of the 2010s. No pop song got more heavy rotation for me this year, and in fact, it was my most-played song of the year overall, so it’s about as worthy a #1 as you could possibly get. The beat is somehow sad, beautiful, and uptempo all at the same time, and Sam Smith and Normani skillfully bring us into the story of a couple driving each other to new partners- it’s harder than you think to make dancepop with a soul, but they manage to do it. It was an easy choice for #1 in the end.
And that’s how the decade ended! Here’s the Spotify playlist for you to jam with for the first few months of 2020. Keep a lookout for that best 50 songs of the decade list coming soon, and find out which songs from this year made the list, and where! Enjoy!
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