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 1998, the year I turned 24. The chart formula for the Hot 100 changed again in December, allowing songs to chart based on airplay alone if there was no commercial single released. Thanks to my newly acquired hour plus commute, you’d think I’d have picked up more of the music of the day, but the numbers keep going down. A mere 21 songs remain familiar to me today, with just twelve of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.
#87: Jewel – You Were Meant for Me
iTunes stats: 37 plays
Jewel hits the year-end chart for the second straight year thanks to a total of 65 weeks in the Hot 100.
#81: Spice Girls – Spice Up Your Life
iTunes stats: 9 plays
The lead single from the group’s sophomore album, it peaked at #18 on the Hot 100 in just its fourth week on the chart.
#79: The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony
iTunes stats: N/A
Considered one of the defining songs of the Britpop era, it reached #12.
#74: Edwin McCain – I’ll Be
iTunes stats: 16 plays
McCain’s second charting single, it went to #5, becoming his first and only top ten hit.
#58: Lisa Loeb – I Do
iTunes stats: 16 plays
Peaking at #17, it became Loeb’s second-highest charting single, following her debut single.
#57: Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life
iTunes stats: 18 plays
The highest charting single about a crystal meth addiction, it reached #4 and spent a total of 43 weeks on the chart.
#51: Barenaked Ladies – One Week
iTunes stats: 17 plays
True to its name, it spent a single week atop the Hot 100 in October.