#billboard 2020

[music-moon]

All my liked songs from the 2020s, organized by the year they were released.

Always updating, discovering and refining. Cover art is my most listened to albums from each year, according to my last.fm.

My favourite songs organized by release year: 2020s

View more decades: 2000s / 2010s / 2020s

Take a deeper dive into my most listened to albums from each year:

Data from last.fm + pythfm.

2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019 / 2020 / 2021 / 2022 / 2023 / 2024

#Spotify #concept playlist #playlist #spotify playlist #lastfm #music #music playlist #playlists #year end list #2020s music #2020s #best of the decade #music recs #2020s core #best of 2020s #favourite albums #20s music #rawring 20s #2020 music #2021 music #2022 music #2023 music #2024 music #new music #favorite albums #tunes #liked songs #hot 100 #billboard 200 #music review

[yangjeongin]

not to be mushy and gross but i feel rly proud of skz tonight and so happy for them...it's not like not winning a vma would discredit anything they've already accomplished but it's so cool to see their hard work acknowledged like that in a whole new way :(( and they keep growing and getting new cool and exciting opportunities i'm just happy for them waaa

#carly.txt #i've only been a stay since 2020 but it'sc razy how far they've come even just since then #i remember thinkinghow insane it was that we hit 1mil album sales for noeasy and now we're winning a vma #with billboard number one albums #and like 5 mil+ album sales for one album #i'm just so!!! AAAAAAAAA

[hit-song-showdown]

Year-End Poll #74: 2023

[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: Morgan Wallen, Miley Cyrus, SZA, Taylor Swift, Metro Boomin and 21 Savage, Rema and Selena Gomez, The Weeknd and Ariana Grande, Luke Combs, SZA, David Guetta and Bebe Rexha. End description]

More information about this blog here

Before getting into the ramble, I'm just going to get ahead of the responses and clarify that when I name a song on these polls, I use the official name of the song as it's listed on the Billboard charts (obviously unless the official title includes an uncensored slur or the song was credited to an artist's deadname, which I haven't had to deal with as of now.) Luke Comb's cover of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car is simply listed as "Fast Car - Luke Combs" on Billboard. Not "Luke Comb's cover of Fast Car" or "Fast Car by Tracy Chapman (Luke Combs version)."

Now that I got that out of the way. Hi. Good to see you all again. Welcome to the end of 2023. We made it.

This is going to be an interesting entry on this blog for me. Because not only is this the first time I posted a poll from the current chart, this is also the first time since 2009 when I have not been closely monitoring the charts all year. So right now, I feel like I'm trying to look back to figure out what happened.

So. What happened?

Ever since the streaming era began, it's been clear that pop success matters less and less, but that feeling was especially strong this year. I'm not saying any of these songs are bad (that's not the point of this blog). But streaming splintered people's listening habits so much that everyone is able to listen to their own thing. Before I got big into chart watching, I was not an avid pop listener. But I was still knew which songs were popular because they were so much harder to avoid.

As I'm writing this, I've been listening to various Top 40/100 stations on the radio. Even ignoring the number of Christmas songs, I have yet to hear a song that came out in 2023. It makes sense to hear songs from 2022, since songs often take a while to build momentum (such as the tracks from SZA's SOS), but I've heard songs from 2014, 2013, 2006, 1995, etc.

And that's not even touching the year-end chart itself which includes 1. songs from 2022 (Kill Bill, Anti-Hero, Snooze, Calm Down), 2. a remix of a song from 2016 (Die for You), 3. a cover/remake of a song from 1996 (Creepin), 4. a cover of a song from 1988 (Fast Car), and 5. a song with an interpolation of a song from 1998 (I'm Good (Blue)). There are only 2 songs on the top 10 that are from 2023.

This year's tendency to look back is emphasized further by the genre which had the largest presence: country music. Not just because country music tends to be more traditional, but country music hasn't had a presence this big on the top 100 since the 90s. The biggest song of the year is a country-pop track by Morgan Wallen, whose 36 track album debuted at number one on the Billboard album chart. Not the country album chart. The Billboard 200. Beyond that, we have Luke Combs, whose cover of Fast Car reached the top 10, but two other singles from his album Growin' Up reached the Billboard Year End 100 without relying on the usual techniques country songs often need to cross over to the pop charts. Additionally, each year as of late tends to have it's pick of "think-piecey songs," whether it's Blurred Lines in 2013, WAP in 2020, or [insert any Taylor Swift song here]. The two most controversial songs of the year also happened to be country, with Oliver Anthony's Rich Men North of Richmond and Jason Aldean's Try That in a Small Town.

Why was country so big this year? One of my theories is that with streaming splintering people's listening habits so much, chart metrics will tend to favor physical media. I don't think it's a coincidence that Taylor Swift tends to dominate the charts while also being one of the top-selling artists on vinyl. If people are willing to pay actual money for your music instead of letting it stream in the background, the charts are going to calculate that differently. Not only are country fans more likely to buy physical music, but the two previously mentioned controversial country songs were also helped by right-leaning listeners boosting their sales, resulting in the two songs receiving a 78 and a 66 position on the year-end chart respectively.

As I'm writing this, I'm worrying that I'm not giving country music its proper credit. "Why was country music so big?" is a question that doesn't need to have a deeper answer. "A lot of people liked it so it had a larger presence" is also a sufficient answer. Country music doesn't have to cheat to reach the charts. The reason I'm delving into this is not the mere fact that country was popular, but the fact that country was so popular and seemed to shape the pop landscape as a whole, while not having the usual staples of a country-pop crossover. Unlike previous crossovers, none of the songs I mentioned needed a pop star or a rap verse to break onto the pop charts.

But speaking of a genre requiring a pop star to find a mainstream chart presence, 2023 marks the year of the first afrobeats song to reach a billion streams on Spotify, with Rema and Selena Gomez's Calm Down. But even without the pop feature, afrobeats also had an explosive year in 2023, and it's possible we'll only see the genre grow more popularity, similar to how reggaeton took over the pop landscape after Despacito crossed over to the mainstream American charts in 2017. If you, like me, aren't that familiar with the history of this genre and you would like to learn more, please know that afrobeat and afrobeats are two distinct genres. This article also does a good rundown of the differences and their respective histories. Also, while the song itself isn't afrobeats, Unavailable by Davido came out this year and it's incredible. The full album is amazing too. It's dreamy and atmospheric with energetic drums and I need to find a slot for it in my favorite releases of the year.

For a year where pop music was widely considered to have a down year, I sure had a lot to talk about. I haven't even touched on the "decline of rap music" (especially sad since it's the 50th anniversary of the genre), Taylor Swift's dominance (I mentioned her twice though; she'll live), or delved deeper into the presence of older songs on the charts. It certainly was an interesting year in music to talk about. But listening to it? Well, I'll let you decide that.

But if you look past the top 10 (or even the top 100), this was an incredible year for music. I haven't had the time to listen to every new release (thanks law school), but I still listened to enough that I came out of this year with some of my favorite musical projects of all time. I plan on sharing my favorite songs/albums of the year in a later post.

Thank you for spending this year in music with me.

#billboard poll #billboard music #tumblr poll #music poll #2020s #morgan wallen #miley cyrus #sza #taylor swift #metro boomin #21 savage #the weeknd #rema #selena gomez #ariana grande #luke combs #david guetta #bebe rexha

[celebratingwomen]

Tate McRae for Billboard, 2023

#billboard #billboard magazine #2023 #2020s #singer #model #photoshoot #fashion #style #famous #celebrity #hair #makeup #magazine #tate mcrae

[forthepleasureofmylife]

New York City

Photo: Dieter Krehbiel

#source:forthepleasureofmylife #nyc #new york city #manhattan #dieter krehbiel #photographers on tumblr #photography #green eyes 55 #black and white #street photography #urban photography #urban #2020s #high contrast #urban architecture #advertising #billboard #source: forthepleasureofmylife #new york

[oscar-nominee-tournament]

Oscar Nominee of All Time Tournament: Round 1, Group A

(info about nominees under the poll)

JOAN ALLEN (1956-)

NOMINATIONS:

Supporting- 1995 for Nixon, 1996 for The Crucible

Lead- 2000 for The Contender

--

FRANCES MCDORMAND (1957-)

NOMINATIONS:

Supporting- 1988 for Mississippi Burning, 2000 for Almost Famous, 2005 for North Country

WINS:

Lead- 1996 for Fargo, 2017 for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, 2020 for Nomadland

#oscars #academy awards #oscar nominees #actors #film #joan allen #frances mcdormand #nixon 1995 #the crucible #the crucible 1996 #the contender 2000 #mississippi burning 1988 #almost famous #north country 2005 #fargo #fargo 1996 #three billboards outside ebbing missouri #nomadland #nomandland 2020 #nominees group a #nominees group a polls

[i-should-be-so-lucky]

Kylie Minogue for Billboard , February 2024

#kylie minogue #the one and only kylie #kylie #princess of pop #photoshoot #2020s #2024 #photography #billboard

[everyoneswoo]

[200510] Seventeen Twitter Update:

[17'S] Billboard Korea Behind📷

#wonwoo #jeon wonwoo #seventeen #photo #twitter #billboard korea #ft. seventeen #200510 #2020

[faetae2014]

Shakira en azúl 2023 💙🩵

#azúl #bleu #blue #Shakira #shakira mebarak #celebrity #celebridad #blue dresses #2023 #2020s #colombiana #latina #billboard #instagram #sporty fashion #celeb #belleza #mujer #hips don’t lie #sale el sol #loca #swag #chic #glamorous

[zot3-flopped]

Harry Styles vs Zayn Malik on the Billboard Hot 100

Harry: 22/37 songs have charted on the Hot 100

Zayn: 8/101 songs have charted on the Hot 100

Source:

https://x.com/Hsavedlove/status/1769268287467053201?s=20

#harry styles #zayn #harry styles billboard hot 100 #zayn billboard hot 100 #and Z isn't adding a ninth song any time soon #he last charted in Oct 2020

[ktz-tl]

August 1, 2020.

#Sofia #Bulgaria #sign #lettering #billboard #typography #writing #business #shop #front #summer #august #2020 #komalantz #urban #habitat

[artfulfashion]

Maluma wearing D&G, photographed by Ruven Afanador for Billboard Magazine Fall 2022

#maluma #dolce & gabanna #ruven afanador #billboard magazine #celebs #mens fashion #2020s

[wiiildflowerrr]

@Ashton5SOS: I’m apprehensive to share this video, I think I’ve censored myself fairly well, I feel fearful to speak up about the albums that went out early for fear or loosing partnership with media outlets... but here’s some thought’s...

8 April 2020

#heartbreaking 💔 #this day in 5sos history #5sos #5 seconds of summer #ashton irwin #calum hood #luke hemmings #michael clifford #ashton 5sos #ashton #video #calm album #music charts #billboard charts #2020 #8 april

[hit-song-showdown]

Year-End Poll #73 (The Finale!): 2022

[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: Glass Animals, Harry Styles, The Kid Laroi, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Jack Harlow, Lotto, Justin Bieber, Kodak Black, Elton John and Dua Lipa. End description]

More information about this blog here

And now we're at the final poll. Much like the previous years, many of the songs featured here are from previous years. This is mostly due to how Billboard calculates their hits and there are other methods of calculating the charts. But since this blog focuses in Billboard, that's the metric we're going with.

It's hard to know for certain which direction pop music is headed at this moment since we're still in it. Depending on how things go, it seems like TikTok is going to continue to be a taste maker when it comes to popular music. This could also account for why pop songs are getting shorter. The "verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus" format is not set in stone. In fact if you followed this blog since the beginning, you've seen the beginning and rise of this pop song format in the late 1950's.

Also from what I can see, it looks like pop music is taking a more meta direction, with overt influences and references to recent pop music history. This can be seen in both stylistic choices, such as the synth-pop influences in Harry Styles' As It Was, to the way samples are used. Jack Harlow's First Class samples previous poll entry, Fergie's Glamorous, and Latto's Big Energy samples Mariah Carey's Fantasy -- which samples The Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love.

The charts are admittedly in an awkward place right now. I'm looking at the Hot 100 right now and I'm having trouble putting together a narrative (other than "wow, people forgave Morgan Wallen fast lol"). Between the lockdown, shifting tastes and listening habits of audiences, economic factors, and the splintering of the streaming industry, "pop music" doesn't mean the same thing it did fifty years ago. Or even twenty years ago. But between influences from the changing political climates, the rise and fall of different genres, developments in music technology, and the question over the cost of music, the one consistent thing about pop music is that it isn't consistent.

Thank you to everyone who took part in these polls. I'll post a follow-up post shortly wrapping things up and discussing the future of this blog.

#billboard poll #billboard music #tumblr poll #2020s #2020s music #2022 #glass animals #harry styles #the kid laroi #justin bieber #adele #ed sheeran #jack harlow #latto #kodak black #elton john #dua lipa

[celebratingwomen]

Tate McRae for Billboard, 2023

#billboard #billboard magazine #singer #model #photoshoot #fashion #style #famous #celebrity #hair #makeup #magazine #tate mcrae #2020s #2023

[forthepleasureofmylife]

Bushwick New York City

Photo: Dieter Krehbiel

#jojo rabbit #high contrast #source:forthepleasureofmylife #dieter krehbiel #photography #black and white #green eyes 55 #photographers on tumblr #street photography #urban #black and white photography #urban life #2020s #advertising #bushwick #billboard #new york city #source: forthepleasureofmylife #urban architecture #urban photography