Category Archives: song of the day

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Song of the Day #5,518: ‘Fast Car’ – Luke Combs

It’s been four months since my last installment of ‘What the Kids are Listening To,’ so I figured it was a good time for a summer check-in on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the #1 spot, where it has spent a record-tying 15 weeks, is Morgan Wallen’s ‘Last Night.’ The song now shares the record for longest time at #1 by a solo artist (no features) with Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was.’ One more week at #1 and it will own that title outright and join Mariah Carey’s ‘One Sweet Day’ and Luis Fonsi’s ‘Despacito’ as the songs with the second-longest tenure at #1. After that, Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ record of 19 weeks at #1 could be in its sights.

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Song of the Day #5,517: ‘Whoomp! (There It Is)’ – Tag Team

After a run of great Throwback Weekend songs from the 60s through the 80s, we hit the brick wall of the 90s. Fortunately, I’ve already posted the #1 song from the week of August 7, 1993, the awful but inexplicably popular cover of ‘(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love with You‘ by UB40.

In the #2 spot is a song I was ready to dismiss as hot garbage, but my increasing nostalgic fondness for early 90s hip-hop keeps me from going too negative. ‘Whoomp! (There It Is),’ by hip-hop duo Tag Team, isn’t great art, but its verses have the playfulness and buoyancy that make much of this era’s rap music a delight.

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Song of the Day #5,516: ‘She Works Hard for the Money’ – Donna Summer

Throwing back to the week of August 6, 1983, we find that it was great to be a music fan that summer. In the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 is The Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take,’ which ultimately spent eight weeks atop the chart (and gave the band its only #1 hit on the Hot 100).

I’ve featured that one before, so we move to #2, where the Eurythmics classic ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ spent one month before overtaking The Police for the #1 spot. I’ve written about that one, too.

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Song of the Day #5,515: ‘8 Good Reasons’ – Sinéad O’Connor

Sinéad O’Connor’s 10th and final album was released in 2014 with the great title I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss. The title was a nod to the Ban Bossy campaign, which launched the same year and aimed to remove negative associations with women in positions of power.

This album picks up where its predecessor left off, serving up another batch of solid, confessional songs that make great use of O’Connor’s vocals. Musically, the tracks have a muscularity that at times hearkens back to her debut.

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Song of the Day #5,514: ‘Back Where You Belong’ – Sinéad O’Connor

I was hoping Sinéad O’Connor’s final two albums would be worthy successors to her great early work, and I’m happy to say that her penultimate album, How About I Be Me (and You Be You)?, definitely meets the challenge. I’ll have to wait for tomorrow to see if the final one does.

This one was released in 2012, a full five years after Theology. She kept a pretty low profile between the releases, but suffered a nervous breakdown right as this album was coming out. It’s touching and bittersweet to read old YouTube comments on the songs wishing her well and hoping she recovers.

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