Getting back to the top singles of 2024, we’re up to #26 on the Billboard year-end Hot 100. That slot goes to Ariana Grande’s ‘We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love),’ a great single from the singer’s Eternal Sunshine album. A nice showing for Grande, who is having an even bigger year as an actress in Wicked.
Singer-songwriter Dasha owns the #27 spot with ‘Austin,’ a boot-stomping country pop song that became a viral hit thanks to the performer’s line dancing videos on TikTok.
The week of January 12, 1965, saw The Supremes and The Beatles atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Come See About Me‘ and ‘I Feel Fine,’ respectively.
At #3 was The Searchers with ‘Love Potion No. 9,’ their take on a song first released by The Clovers in 1959. This is an example, one of many, of a white group finding more success than a Black group with the same song.
Throwing back to the week of Jan. 11, 1955, we find three repeats atop the Billboard singles chart: ‘Mister Sandman‘ by The Chordettes, ‘Let Me Go, Lover‘ by Joan Weber, and ‘The Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane‘ by the Ames Brothers.
I’m sure there’s a good reason for the sticking power of hit songs in the 50s (payola? not as many new songs as later decades?). It certainly seems like the same dozen or so tunes kicked around the top 10 for the better part of a year. I suspect things might be shaken up a bit as we enter the rock-n-roll era.
Sabrina Carpenter has released six albums since 2015, a fact that makes her Best New Artist Grammy nomination a bit of a head-scratcher.
The song at #25 on last year’s Billboard year-end Hot 100 is from her fifth album, 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send. ‘Feather’ was released as a single from the deluxe edition of that album, and became her first song to reach the Top 40 (it peaked at #21). Of course, her next three singles all reached the top three, so I guess it’s that “overnight” success the Grammys are acknowledging.
The top-selling album of 2024 was Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, but none of its songs made the year-end top 20. For all of its phenomenal success (juiced by frequent special edition re-releases), Tortured Poets didn’t really break through to the wider culture. If it had, lead single ‘Fortnight’ would be higher than #22 on this list.
At #23 is Luke Combs’ ‘Fast Car,’ the Tracy Chapman cover that reached #8 on the prior year’s list.
Meet Me In Montauk 