After a fourteen-week run at the top, Martin Luke Brown slips out of the pole position as Walk The Moon’s “Shut Up And Dance” ascends to #1 in its 21st week on the chart. The rest of the top ten gets a slight shake-up as well, with Walk The Moon’s “Aquaman” also moving into the top three, Ellie Goulding continuing her upward momentum as “Love Me Like You Do” goes from #6 to #4, and Carrie Underwood’s newly-announced single “Little Toy Guns” moving 12-10. Tori Kelly scores the week’s highest debut, with new single “Nobody Love” entering at a lofty #25. Toward the bottom of the chart, XOV, Max Frost, and Sam Smith re-enter the chart, while new songs come in from Train, Coasts, Justin Mauriello, and Lee Ann Womack.
Carrie Underwood
With the top ten completely frozen in the week before Christmas, the most action is further below: big jumps come from Carrie Underwood, Purity Ring, and BØRNS. Eleven new songs make their debuts, but the highest is a lowly #82 entry for Prince Royce and Snoop Dogg’s “Stuck On A Feeling.” Additional debuts include new songs from CAFUNÉ, Brandi Carlile, and Max Frost, as well as newcomers Caitlyn Smith and Jason French charting their first entries.
As “Shut Up And Dance” moves up to a new peak of #2 after five weeks of waiting at #3, Walk The Moon also achieves another top-twenty hit as Talking Is Hard album track “Work This Body” vaults from #64 to #11. Carrie Underwood scores the highest of only seven debuts this week, with “Little Toy Guns” coming in at #57. Purity Ring debuts at #66 with “push pull,” the lead track from their upcoming album, while Tourist makes his second chart entry ahead of his upcoming debut album as “Illuminate,” featuring Years & Years, makes it into the chart at #95 after several weeks in waiting below the top 100. Two covers also make debuts: Nikki Yanofsky’s SoundCloud-exclusive cover of Raury’s “Cigarette Song” debuts at #78, while A Great Big World marks the year’s third holiday entry with their cover of Gayla Peevey’s “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas,” part of Epic Records’s holiday compilation EP I’ll Be Home For Christmas.
The top four hold steady for another week, though Walk The Moon could challenge for a spot in the top two soon. Below, One Direction leapfrogs Carrie Underwood to enter the top five, while Nick Jonas’s “Jealous” joins the top ten in a fifth consecutive week of upward movement. Labrinth scores the week’s biggest jump with another song called “Jealous,” jumping 55–13 in its second week; Mary J. Blige and I Know Leopard also move into the top twenty. Of the week’s nine debuts, six belong to Walk The Moon and their new album Talking Is Hard; Sam Smith, Brayton Bowman, and Rixton also chart new entries.
While Martin Luke Brown holds down the top spot for a third week, Walk The Moon slides back into the top three with “Shut Up And Dance” as “Something In The Water” by Carrie Underwood enters the top five. Fifth Harmony scores their first top twenty hit with “Sledgehammer;” Calvin Harris and HAIM score the highest debut as “Pray To God” debuts at #58, beating new One Direction cut “Ready To Run” (#62).
Carrie Underwood makes a top-twenty entry in an otherwise fairly quiet week.
These are one hundred songs that stayed in my heavy rotation throughout 2013. In a year that saw personal advancements including eight weeks studying abroad in France and graduation from college, these songs soundtracked my year, each song appealing to me through instrumentation, lyrics, or just its overall mood. Read on for descriptions of each track, access the whole playlist on SoundCloud to listen, and judge away.
Continue reading “Kurt’s 100 Favorite Songs of 2013”