Tag: Top Songs October 2024

Top 30 Songs for October 20-26, 2024

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Weekly Top 30's7 Comments
Photo by David James Swanson

Guitarist extraordinaire Jack White remains on top for a second week with his bombastic rocker “That’s How I’m Feeling”, while silky-voiced Leon Bridges moves into second place with his mellifluous single “Peaceful Place”. Entering the top 10 are “The Door” by powerhouse singer-songwriter Teddy Swims, at #8, and “Death Valley High” by the enigmatic and sexy country singer-songwriter Orville Peck and singer-songwriter-producer Beck, at #10. Two songs share the biggest upward mover title this week – “Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars and “The Lighthouse” by Stevie Nicks, each jumping eight spots to #15 and #17, respectively.

The sole debut is “Neverender”, a wonderful collaboration by French electronic music duo Justice and Australian band Tame Impala. Consisting of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, Justice is completely new to me, despite the fact they’ve been making music for nearly 20 years. They’re quite popular, with over 5.7 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 1.5 million followers on Facebook. Tame Impala, fronted by insanely talented singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker, ranks high among my favorite music acts. As far as I’m concerned, any song involving Tame Impala is a winner, and their collaboration “New Gold” with Gorillaz and Bootie Brown is my #2 song of 2023. “Neverender” is from Justice’s fourth studio album Hyperdrama, released this past April.

  1. THAT’S HOW I’M FEELING – Jack White (1)
  2. PEACEFUL PLACE – Leon Bridges (4)
  3. MESSY – Lola Young (2)
  4. BIRDS OF A FEATHER – Billie Eilish (6)
  5. STARGAZING – Myles Smith (5)
  6. GOOD LUCK, BABE! – Chappell Roan (7)
  7. RAINBOW – Cage the Elephant (3)
  8. THE DOOR – Teddy Swims (12)
  9. INTO GOLD – London Grammar (10)
  10. DEATH VALLEY HIGH – Orville Peck & Beck (11)
  11. FAVOURITE – Fontaines D.C. (15)
  12. ESPRESSO – Sabrina Carpenter (8)
  13. YOU JUST PLAYED MY MIND – Oli Barton (9)
  14. UP ALL NIGHT – James Bay, The Lumineers & Noah Kahan (18)
  15. DIE WITH A SMILE – Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars (23)
  16. BIG CAT TATTOOS – Hamish Hawk (17)
  17. THE LIGHTHOUSE – Stevie Nicks (25)
  18. GARMONBOZIA – Flying Lotus (21)
  19. CAN’T SLOW DOWN – almost monday (22)
  20. HOLOGRAM – Raker (20)
  21. LIKE YOU DO – Talk in Waves (13) 20th week on chart
  22. WAR – Healer (14)
  23. HONEY – Mr Bewlay (16)
  24. HARDCORE ROMANCE – Beach Weather (26)
  25. BOTHERING ME – Sarah Blasko (27)
  26. THE EMPTINESS MACHINE – Linkin Park (29)
  27. NOBODY’S SOLDIER – Hozier (30)
  28. LOST IN SPACE – Foster the People (19)
  29. THE CRAVING – twenty one pilots (24)
  30. NEVERENDER – Justice & Tame Impala (N)

Top 30 Songs for October 13-19, 2024

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Weekly Top 30's15 Comments
Photo of Jack White by David James Swanson

As I curate my Top 30 chart each week – which essentially reflects my favorite songs at that moment in time – I cannot deny that my choices are influenced to some degree by what’s happening on other “official” music charts. Sometimes a song comes along that’s either so good or has such strong crossover appeal that it tops nearly every major chart. But more often than not, totally different songs top each of the various charts, with virtually no overlap. Case in point is this week, where the mediocre “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey has inexplicably spent 13 weeks and counting at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, while “The Emptiness Machine” by the reconstituted rock band Linkin Park is #1 on the Mainstream Rock and Alternative Airplay charts, and “Up All Night”, a collaboration between James Bay, The Lumineers and Noah Kahan, is #1 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart. None of these three songs appears on the other mentioned charts.

I’m not quite sure what the point of that discussion is, other than to provide a bit of context, but my new favorite song this week is “That’s How I’m Feeling” by Jack White, which does currently occupy a spot in the top 10 of most alternative and rock charts. The boisterous rocker was the lead single from his sixth studio album released as a solo artist, No Name, which dropped this past July. Many music critics and fans have praised the album and song, calling it a return to his blues and garage roots and favorably comparing it to his music with the White Stripes. It’s probably my favorite song by White as a solo artist.

In other chart highlights, “Peaceful Place” by Leon Bridges climbs six spots to #4, and the ethereal and dreamy “Into Gold” by London Grammar moves up four spots to enter the top 10 at #10. The aforementioned “Up All Night” jumps seven spots to #18, making it the biggest upward mover this week. Three songs make their debut, the first of which, entering at #25, is “The Lighthouse”, a powerful song of both anger and hope by legendary singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks, who’s still going strong at 76. (I saw her in concert last December, which you can read about here.) She performed the song last night on Saturday Night Live, her first appearance on the long-running show in 41 years.

Inspired by the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022, Nicks co-wrote the song with Magnus Birgersson and Vincent Villuis. The track was co-produced by Nicks, Sheryl Crow (who plays electric guitar and bass and sings backing vocals), and famed producer Chris Cobb (who’s worked with Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Lady Gaga, John Prine, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, The Highwomen, Take That, Rival Sons, and many more), who also played guitar. The song begins rather tentatively, and Nicks’ vocals sound quite different in the verses; at first listen I thought they might be by another singer, but she sounds like her usual self in the anthemic choruses.

The second debut, entering at #29, is “The Emptiness Machine” by Linkin Park. I was resistant to the song at first, as I had mixed feelings about the legendary band taking on a new female co-lead singer, resulting in a major change to their style and sound. But after reading through scores of comments on the YouTube video for the song, I came to realize I was the one who was being closed-minded. The song, which quickly shot to #1 on the Rock and Alternative charts, has since grown on me. Coming in at #30 is “Nobody’s Soldier” by Irish singer-songwriter Hozier, whose previous single “Too Sweet” has become one of the biggest hits of the year. His latest single is more fast-paced and harder-driven than his usual style. I like it!

  1. THAT’S HOW I’M FEELING – Jack White (4)
  2. MESSY – Lola Young (1)
  3. RAINBOW – Cage the Elephant (2)
  4. PEACEFUL PLACE – Leon Bridges (10)
  5. STARGAZING – Myles Smith (6)
  6. BIRDS OF A FEATHER – Billie Eilish (7)
  7. GOOD LUCK, BABE! – Chappell Roan (8)
  8. ESPRESSO – Sabrina Carpenter (3)
  9. YOU JUST PLAYED MY MIND – Oli Barton (9)
  10. INTO GOLD – London Grammar (14)
  11. DEATH VALLEY HIGH – Orville Peck & Beck (15)
  12. THE DOOR – Teddy Swims (16)
  13. LIKE YOU DO – Talk in Waves (5) 19th week on chart
  14. WAR – Healer (12)
  15. FAVOURITE – Fontaines D.C. (18)
  16. HONEY – Mr Bewlay (13)
  17. BIG CAT TATTOOS – Hamish Hawk (19)
  18. UP ALL NIGHT – James Bay, The Lumineers & Noah Kahan (25)
  19. LOST IN SPACE – Foster the People (11)
  20. HOLOGRAM – Raker (22)
  21. GARMONBOZIA – Flying Lotus (23)
  22. CAN’T SLOW DOWN – almost monday (24)
  23. DIE WITH A SMILE – Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars (28)
  24. THE CRAVING – twenty one pilots (17)
  25. THE LIGHTHOUSE – Stevie Nicks (N)
  26. HARDCORE ROMANCE – Beach Weather (29)
  27. BOTHERING ME – Sarah Blasko (30)
  28. PERMANENT RECORD – GG Fearn (20)
  29. THE EMPTINESS MACHINE – Linkin Park (N)
  30. NOBODY’S SOLDIER – Hozier (N)

Top 30 Songs for October 6-12, 2024

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Weekly Top 30's11 Comments
Photo by Sophie Jones

Though it’s now Autumn, the weather here in the Southern California desert is still quite summer-like, with temperatures over the past week ranging from 107-117 (41-47C). This unrelenting heat, combined with the sorry state of our impending election, in which a vile, incoherent and corrupt serial liar has a good chance of being elected President for a second time, has made it difficult for me to stay positive. Thankfully, there’s lots of great music to help brighten my mood a bit.

English singer-songwriter and musician Lola Young‘s “Messy”, a scathing rant against a romantic partner who can never be satisfied, remains at #1 for a second week, while Cage the Elephant‘s “Rainbow” moves into second place. Jack White‘s boisterous “That’s How I’m Feeling” climbs four spots to #4, and the appropriately titled “Peaceful Place” by Leon Bridges jumps seven spots to enter the top 10 at #10. The gorgeous song is from his fourth studio album Leon, which dropped this past Friday, October 4th. “Favourite” by Fontaines D.C. is this week’s biggest upward mover, leaping eight spots to #18. (Their song “Starburster” falls eight spots to #26, its 19th week on this chart, three of which were spent at #1 and another three at #2.)

Two songs enter my chart this week, the first of which is “Hardcore Romance”, a steamy and sultry number by one of my favorite bands Beach Weather, whose equally sultry “High In Low Places” has spent the past 18 weeks on my chart, three of them at #1. Both songs will be included on their forthcoming second album Melt, scheduled for release on October 25th.

Entering at #30 is the darkly beautiful “Bothering Me”, by Australian singer-songwriter, musician and producer Sarah Blasko, which I learned about in a recent post by fellow blogger Robert Horvat, who writes a terrific blog Rearview Mirror. About the meaning behind the song, Sarah told Australian webzine Noise11: “Dreams seem to be a way of processing things that happen during the day and so I embraced dreaming as a way of getting over things. Getting older is TOUGH. Sometimes I don’t know who I am anymore and that I’ve lost touch with the person I used to be and the dreams I held. I try to let go but not let go at the same time because dreams are important.” “Bothering Me” is the second single from her forthcoming seventh studio album I Just Need to Conquer This Mountain, to be released in November.

  1. MESSY – Lola Young (1)
  2. RAINBOW – Cage the Elephant (3)
  3. ESPRESSO – Sabrina Carpenter (4)
  4. THAT’S HOW I’M FEELING – Jack White (8)
  5. LIKE YOU DO – Talk in Waves (2)
  6. STARGAZING – Myles Smith (6)
  7. BIRDS OF A FEATHER – Billie Eilish (7)
  8. GOOD LUCK, BABE! – Chappell Roan (9)
  9. YOU JUST PLAYED MY MIND – Oli Barton (10)
  10. PEACEFUL PLACE – Leon Bridges (17)
  11. LOST IN SPACE – Foster the People (5)
  12. WAR – Healer (13)
  13. HONEY – Mr Bewlay (14)
  14. INTO GOLD – London Grammar (15)
  15. DEATH VALLEY HIGH – Orville Peck & Beck (16)
  16. THE DOOR – Teddy Swims (20)
  17. THE CRAVING – twenty one pilots (11)
  18. FAVOURITE – Fontaines D.C. (26)
  19. BIG CAT TATTOOS – Hamish Hawk (21)
  20. PERMANENT RECORD – GG Fearn (22)
  21. OH NO! – The Decemberists (12)
  22. HOLOGRAM – Raker (23)
  23. GARMONBOZIA – Flying Lotus (24)
  24. CAN’T SLOW DOWN – almost monday (25)
  25. UP ALL NIGHT – James Bay, The Lumineers & Noah Kahan (28)
  26. STARBURSTER – Fontaines D.C. (18) 19th week on chart)
  27. HIGH IN LOW PLACES – Beach Weather (19)
  28. DIE WITH A SMILE – Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars (29)
  29. HARDCORE ROMANCE – Beach Weather (N)
  30. BOTHERING ME – Sarah Blasko (N)