Tag: Charm School

Top 30 Songs for March 2-8, 2025

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Weekly Top 30's7 Comments

Not a lot of changes on this week’s Top 30, with Twenty One Pilots holding the top spot for a second week with their beautiful and cinematic “The Line”, while Balu Brigada remain at #2 with “So Cold”. Two songs by powerhouse acts make their debut this week, the first of which is “luther” by rapper Kendrick Lamar and alternative R&B/hip hop singer-songwriter SZA (born Solána Imani Rowe). The two previously collaborated on “All The Stars” in 2018, one of my favorite songs of the 2010s. “luther”, which is currently #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, features a sample of “If This World Were Mine”, a 1982 song by the late, great Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn, and I Iove the beautiful strings. The second debut is “The Night Before” by always wonderful blues rock band The Black Keys. The song is the lead single from their forthcoming 13th album No Rain, No Flowers, to be released later in the year.

  1. THE LINE – Twenty One Pilots (1)
  2. SO COLD – Balu Brigada (2)
  3. AUTUMN LEAVES – Secret Postal Society (5)
  4. YOU’RE MY DRUG – Talk in Waves (6)
  5. DETROIT – Badflower (7)
  6. SAILOR SONG – Gigi Perez (8)
  7. BAD DREAMS – Teddy Swims (10)
  8. THE FAITHFUL HEART – Wons Phreely + The Horses (4)
  9. SHE WANTS TO GO DANCING – Mt. Joy (9)
  10. ARROW – The Head and The Heart (3)
  11. DAY & NIGHT – Oli Barton (11)
  12. PEOPLE WATCHING – Sam Fender (13)
  13. IMPOSTER SYNDROME – Fake Empire (15)
  14. AFTERLIFE – Sharon Van Etten (12)
  15. TAKE THIS HEART – Brian Lambert (18)
  16. RUSHMERE – Mumford & Sons (19)
  17. HERE WE GO AGAIN – Set the Tone (17)
  18. WHO’S A FRAUD? – Still Traffico (23)
  19. METAVERSE – Cage the Elephant (24)
  20. SAME OLD SONG – The Lumineers (25)
  21. IN THE LIVING ROOM – Maggie Rogers (14)
  22. SAD IN CAROLINA – Dexter and The Moonrocks (16)
  23. WITHOUT A DOUBT – Charm School (27)
  24. STRAIGHT TO THE GROUND – Unquiet Nights (29)
  25. WALLS – Frank Joshua (30)
  26. GILD THE LILY – Billy Strings (21)
  27. BOBBY SOX – Green Day (20)
  28. NEVERENDER – Justice & Tame Impala (22) 20th week on chart
  29. LUTHER – Kendrick Lamar & SZA (N)
  30. THE NIGHT BEFORE – The Black Keys (N)

Top 30 Songs for February 23-March 1, 2025

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Weekly Top 30's15 Comments

I’ve been a huge fan of American alternative rock/electropop/hip hop duo Twenty One Pilots since learning about them in early 2015, and they’ve remained my favorite musical act for the past 10 years. Still based in their hometown of Columbus, Ohio, the band is comprised of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tyler Joseph and drummer/percussionist Josh Dun. I think they have one of the most unique sounds of any act in existence today, and with a few minor exceptions, virtually all of their musical output has been brilliant. Their 2015 masterpiece Blurryface is one of my all-time favorite albums, and spent 276 consecutive weeks – more than five years! – on the Billboard 200 Album chart. It ultimately racked up over 300 weeks on that chart.

Their beautiful and cinematic song “The Line”, from the Season 2 Soundtrack of the Netflix animated action-adventure series Arcane: League of Legends, ascends to the top of my chart this week. The song is about Viktor, one of the main protagonists of the Arcane series, and plays in the 8th episode of season 2. The song is thought to be about crossing “the line” by disappointing loved ones and turning them into enemies, represented by Viktor’s decision to give up his humanity to save humanity, while others think it’s essentially about crossing from life to death. Whatever it’s about, I love it, and it’s their 12th song to reach #1 on my chart, following “The Craving”, which spent three weeks on top this past August and September. “The Line” is also their second song from a film soundtrack, their previous being “Heathens”, which was included on the motion picture soundtrack to the DC Comics 2016 film Suicide Squad.

In other noteworthy chart news, the marvelous “So Cold” by Balu Brigada moves into second place, while “She Wants To Go Dancing” by Mt. Joy and “Bad Dreams” by Teddy Swims enter the top 10. There are two debuts again this week, the first of which is the powerful “Straight to the Ground” by Northern Ireland-based rock band Unquiet Nights (which I reviewed on January 31st), entering at #29, and “Walls”, a captivating track by English singer-songwriter Frank Joshua (which I featured in a Fresh New Tracks post on February 1st), coming in at #30.

  1. THE LINE – Twenty One Pilots (4)
  2. SO COLD – Balu Brigada (3)
  3. ARROW – The Head and The Heart (1)
  4. THE FAITHFUL HEART – Wons Phreely + The Horses (2)
  5. AUTUMN LEAVES – Secret Postal Society (5)
  6. YOU’RE MY DRUG – Talk in Waves (6)
  7. DETROIT – Badflower (7)
  8. SAILOR SONG – Gigi Perez (8)
  9. SHE WANTS TO GO DANCING – Mt. Joy (11)
  10. BAD DREAMS – Teddy Swims (13)
  11. DAY & NIGHT – Oli Barton (14)
  12. AFTERLIFE – Sharon Van Etten (15)
  13. PEOPLE WATCHING – Sam Fender (17)
  14. IN THE LIVING ROOM – Maggie Rogers (9)
  15. IMPOSTER SYNDROME – Fake Empire (20)
  16. SAD IN CAROLINA – Dexter and The Moonrocks (12)
  17. HERE WE GO AGAIN – Set the Tone (21)
  18. TAKE THIS HEART – Brian Lambert (22)
  19. RUSHMERE – Mumford & Sons (27)
  20. BOBBY SOX – Green Day (10)
  21. GILD THE LILY – Billy Strings (16)
  22. NEVERENDER – Justice & Tame Impala (18)
  23. WHO’S A FRAUD? – Still Traffico (26)
  24. METAVERSE – Cage the Elephant (28)
  25. SAME OLD SONG – The Lumineers (29)
  26. DARKERSIDE – David Kushner (23)
  27. WITHOUT A DOUBT – Charm School (30)
  28. ROUTINES IN THE NIGHT – twenty one pilots (19)
  29. STRAIGHT TO THE GROUND – Unquiet Nights (N)
  30. WALLS – Frank Joshua (N)

Top 30 Songs for February 16-22, 2025

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Weekly Top 30's10 Comments
Photo by Shervin Lainez

The beautiful, uplifting song “Arrow”, by Seattle folk rock band The Head and The Heart, takes over the top spot on my latest Top 30 chart after a five-week-long run by Wons Phreely + The Horses’ “The Faithful Heart”. Formed in 2009 by Josiah Johnson and Jonathan Russell, The Head and The Heart currently consists of Russell (vocals, guitar, percussion), Charity Rose Thielen (violin, guitar, vocals), Chris Zasche (bass), Kenny Hensley (piano), Tyler Williams (drums), and Matt Gervais (guitar, vocals). Since 2011, they’ve released five albums and numerous singles, several of which have appeared on my chart. “Arrow” is their second song to reach #1 on my chart, their first being “All We Ever Knew” in 2016, and has spent the past nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard AAA (Adult Alternative Airplay) chart. The lyrics speak to feelings of restlessness, yet finding reassurance and peace of mind in oneself: “There’s times I need direction, there’s times I need to roam. I move station to station, I showed up here alone. I am my own arrow. I am my own home.”

In other notable chart developments, “So Cold” by Balu Brigada moves up two spots to #3, and “The Line” by twenty one pilots, from the Season 2 Soundtrack of the Netflix animated action-adventure series Arcane: League of Legends, jumps eight spots to #4, making it the biggest upward mover for a third week.

Two songs debut this week, the first of which is “Same Old Song” by Denver-based alternative folk band The Lumineers, which took a while to grow on me. The lead single from their fifth studio album Automatic, which dropped this past Friday, February 14th, “Same Old Song” is already in the top five on the various Alternative charts. The lyrics speak to the downsides of being a musician, struggling to pay rent, feeling insecure, getting your instruments stolen, and questioning the meaning of life while still holding onto dreams of making it big. The second debut, entering at #30, is “Without A Doubt” by Louisville, Kentucky-based post punk band Charm School, which I learned about from fellow blogger Christian in a recent post on his blog Christian’s Music Musings. The wonderful song is from their debut album Debt Forever, which dropped January 24th. I love those dramatic jangly guitars!

  1. ARROW – The Head and The Heart (2)
  2. THE FAITHFUL HEART – Wons Phreely + The Horses (1)
  3. SO COLD – Balu Brigada (5)
  4. THE LINE – twenty one pilots (12)
  5. AUTUMN LEAVES – Secret Postal Society (7)
  6. YOU’RE MY DRUG – Talk in Waves (8)
  7. DETROIT – Badflower (9)
  8. SAILOR SONG – Gigi Perez (10)
  9. IN THE LIVING ROOM – Maggie Rogers (4)
  10. BOBBY SOX – Green Day (3)
  11. SHE WANTS TO GO DANCING – Mt. Joy (14)
  12. SAD IN CAROLINA – Dexter and The Moonrocks (6)
  13. BAD DREAMS – Teddy Swims (19)
  14. DAY & NIGHT – Oli Barton (17)
  15. AFTERLIFE – Sharon Van Etten (18)
  16. GILD THE LILY – Billy Strings (11)
  17. PEOPLE WATCHING – Sam Fender (20)
  18. NEVERENDER – Justice & Tame Impala (16)
  19. ROUTINES IN THE NIGHT – twenty one pilots (13)
  20. IMPOSTER SYNDROME – Fake Empire (23)
  21. HERE WE GO AGAIN – Set the Tone (24)
  22. TAKE THIS HEART – Brian Lambert (26)
  23. DARKERSIDE – David Kushner (22)
  24. A TEAR IN SPACE (AIRLOCK) – Glass Animals (15)
  25. A FRAGILE THING – The Cure (21)
  26. WHO’S A FRAUD? – Still Traffico (28)
  27. RUSHMERE – Mumford & Sons (29)
  28. METAVERSE – Cage the Elephant (30)
  29. SAME OLD SONG – The Lumineers (N)
  30. WITHOUT A DOUBT – Charm School (N)