Saturday, January 11, 2020

Top 125 of 2010s (75-51)

The fun continues with 3/5 of my decade-end list now in the books.

Here are the next 25 selections. Click on the links to listen. Enjoy...


75. Counting Stars - One Republic
Although they haven't had a major hit in a while, this is easily one of the most publicly recognizable artists on my list. For a while, One Republic was all over the radio, and singer, Ryan Tedder, quickly became one of the most prolific songwriters and producers in the industry. This single alone moved 10 million units, making it far and away the most commercially successful song on this countdown.

74. Academic - New Order
73. Shameless - Lissie
This is the gritty, rock-laden single that introduced me to the singer-songwriter known as Lissie. Although the Stevie Nicks sound-alike went in a somewhat softer direction with her subsequent material, she's still been one of my faves in recent years, with four entries on my list.

72. No More Darkness, No More Light - Amos Lee
71. Never Enough - Brittany J. Smith
70. Fuckin' Perfect - P!nk
69. Stand - Ed Kowalczyk
68. Are You Ready - Disturbed
67. Such a Simple Thing - Ray LaMontagne
66. Always Remember Us This Way - Brittany J. Smith
Having built a solid social media following, with more than 76,000 subscribers on Youtube alone, and having made it through to the group rounds on the New American Idol, I'd say it's been a good decade for Brittany. With her towering vocals, keen sense of image and personal style, and high fan engagement, it's not hard to imagine the 2020s being even better. This blistering rendition of "Always Remember Us This Way" from A Star is Born, is one of her best performances to date. A couple other appearances on this list for this future superstar, including one above, and another that's among the best covers I've ever heard.

65. Hardwired - Hailey Knox
64. Blue on Black - Five Finger Death Punch
63. Museum of Broken Relationships - Veruca Salt
A long-anticipated (by me, at least) reunion of Nina Gordon and Louise Post, as this 90's band finally "got back together." The results were mixed as far as the totality of their comeback album, Ghost Notes, goes. But this lead single did not disappoint.

62. I'm the Proof - Ed Kowalczyk
61. I Want it That Way - Gin Blossoms
Actually just a live-acoustic performance by lead singer, Robin Wilson, I had the good fortune to catch this surprise rendition of the Backstreet Boys hit when I saw Gin Blossoms for the 11th time a couple years back. Wilson came out by himself to start the encore and went in a slightly different direction by choosing to do his best  boy-band impression. Shockingly, it really worked - light year better than the original, in fact.

60. Love is a Country - The Wallflowers
59. Love Bites (So Do I) - Halestorm
Easily my artist of the decade, with eight entries on this list, including FIVE within the top 25 songs, and my favorite album of the 2010s - The Strange Case of... from 2013. This track was the lead single from that album, and, in a stunning turn of events, actually scored the band the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance. A rare win for Grammy voters in recent years.

58. Stars - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
57. Another Life - Any Given Sin
56. Werewolves - The Damnwells
55. Save Today - Seether
54. Walk - Foo Fighters
53. Hero - Family of the Year
This was a minor radio hit and was featured in one of my favorite films of the decade - 2014's Ethan Hawke vehicle, Boyhood. They've apparently released two subsequent albums, but I've yet to sample them.

52. Because We Can - Bon Jovi
51. I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz (video feat. Daryl Hall)

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