Tag / Brenda Lee

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Fifty Years Of Music – 2023

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We conclude our look back at the music of my lifetime with 2023, the 50th incarnation of the chart during my lifetime.  Being an old, I have little knowledge of nearly all of the songs, as I am not really the target demographic, of pop music today, with only Taylor Swift and the handful of Christmas classics which have made the list breaking through.  Only 17 of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with only seven of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#84: Wham! – Last Christmas
iTunes stats: N/A

Originally released in the UK in 1984, the duo’s Christmas classic was finally released in the US in 2014 and has charted regularly every December since.

#71: Burl Ives – A Holly Jolly Christmas
iTunes stats: 0 plays

The holiday classic, featured in the 1964 Rankin-Bass special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, makes the year end chart for the second consecutive year.

#68: Bobby Helms – Jingle Bell Rock
iTunes stats: 0 plays

Arguably the best-known version of the song, it has now charted in twelve different years since 1958

#60: Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
iTunes stats: 0 plays

The song was first recorded by Lee when she was 13 years old.

#55: Mariah Carey – All I Want for Christmas Is You
iTunes stats: 0 plays

One of the few modern additions to the holiday canon, it has placed on the year-end chart for five years running.

#32: Taylor Swift – Lavendar Haze
iTunes stats: 4 plays

The second single from Swift’s tenth studio album, it debuted and peaked at #2, giving Swift sole possession of the top ten

#27: Taylor Swift – Karma
iTunes stats: 2 plays

It reached #2 on the Hot 100 and became Swift’s record-tying 10th and 11th number-one singles on the Adult Top 40 and Pop Airplay charts, respectively.

#18: Taylor Swift – Cruel Summer
iTunes stats: 6 plays

Despite being from Swift’s seventh studio album, released in 2019, it was first released as a single in 2023 after going viral in conjunction with the Era’s Tour.  It spent four non-consecutive weeks at #1, becoming her tenth chart-topping single.

#4: Taylor Swift – Anti-Hero
iTunes stats: 14 plays

Spending eight weeks at the top of the Hot 100, it helped push Swift past Madonna for the most top ten hits by a female artist.

#2: Miley Cyrus – Flowers
iTunes stats: N/A

The second #1 hit for Cyrus, it spent eight non-consecutive weeks atop the Hot 100.

 

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Fifty Years Of Music – 2022

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We have reached our penultimate entry, looking back at the music of my lifetime with 2022, the year I turned 48.  Only seven of the Hot 100 are familiar to me, with five of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#89: Burl Ives – A Holly Jolly Christmas
iTunes stats: 0 plays

Released in 1964, it charted for the first time in 2017 and continues to appear every December.

#86: Bobby Helms – Jingle Bell Rock
iTunes stats: 0 plays

Peaking at #3 in 2022, it was first released in 1957 and charted for the first time in 1958.

#80: Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
iTunes stats: 0 plays

Originally released in 1958, it reached #2 in late November of 2022.

#76: Taylor Swift – All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)
iTunes stats: 2 plays

The longest #1 song in Hot 100 history, it was her 30th top ten hit, making her just the sixth artist to achieve that feat.

#65: Mariah Carey – All I Want for Christmas Is You
iTunes stats: 0 plays

Reached the top of the charts for the fourth consecutive year.

#23: Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill
iTunes stats: N/A

Originally released in 1985, its use in the fourth season of Stranger Things returned it to the charts where it reached #3, bettering its earlier chart position of #30.

#17: Gayle – ABCDEFU
iTunes stats: N/A

The singer’s major label debut, it peaked at #3 and was nominated for a Grammy.

 

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Fifty Years Of Music – 2021

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 2021, the year the world started to recover from the effects of the novel corona virus and I celebrated my 47th birthday.  Only three of these songs are familiar to me today, but all of them appear in my collection in one way or another.

#92: Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
iTunes stats: 0 plays

Originally released in 1958, peaking at #2 in 2021.

#78: Mariah Carey – All I Want for Christmas Is You
iTunes stats: 0 plays

Originally released in 1995, it returned to the #1 spot in December for the second consecutive year.

#55: Taylor Swift – Willow
iTunes stats: 4 plays

The lead single from Swift’s ninth studio album, it debuted at #1, giving Swift her seventh chart topper and third #1 debut.

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Fifty Years Of Music – 1982

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 1982, the year I moved from second to third grade and turned 8.  Given my late-October birthday.  Songs from movies would be the only ones I knew from their original release.  Only 29 of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with 20 of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#96: Loverboy – Working for the Weekend
iTunes stats: N/A

The first single from the group’s second album, it topped out at #29 but was eventually ranked #100 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s.

#91: Kim Wilde – Kids in America
iTunes stats: 15 plays

Released a year earlier in the UK, this first single from Wilde peaked at #25 on the Hot 100 despite heavy radio play and acclaim on MTV.

#88: Van Halen – Oh, Pretty Woman
iTunes stats: 12 plays

Intended as a non-album single before the band went on a planned hiatus, it became their second Top 20 hit, reaching #12.

#87: The Go-Go’s – Vacation
iTunes stats: 17 plays

Peaking at #8, the song was the group’s second, and final, top ten hit.

#79: The Police – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
iTunes stats: 21 plays

Originally written for a 1976 demo, the tune topped out at #3 on the Hot 100.

#78: Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – Crimson and Clover
iTunes stats: 10 plays

This cover of the Tommy James and the Shondells hit from 1968 reached #7 on the chart, the band’s second-highest charting single.

#75: Laura Branigan – Gloria
iTunes stats: 13 plays

Originally written and recorded as an Italian love song in 1979, Branigan’s reworking of the tune spent three weeks at #2 late in 1982.

#73: Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
iTunes stats: 143 plays

Peaking at #8 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #9 on the Hot 100, the song gained a second life in the 21st century thanks to, among others, the final episode of The Sopranos and, locally, its use by the 2005 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox.

#68: Jackson Browne – Somebody’s Baby
iTunes stats: 17 plays

Recorded for the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack, the song reached #7, becoming Browne’s highest charting hit and his final top ten.

#63: The Go-Go’s – Our Lips Are Sealed
iTunes stats: 17 plays

The band’s debut single, it peaked at #20, but spent 30 weeks on the Hot 100.

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