The Music Scalpel

                                             It's that time of year again. I have another list of the worst-hit songs to chart on Billboard's Hot 100. This year was tough on the charts. There were many good songs coming out, like every year, but the charts were stagnant as hell. The top hits of 2024 were also the top hits of 2025. To show this, let's compare some hit songs' 2024 year-end spot with their projected 2025 year-end spot. "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozey: #2 on the 2024 year-end list, #3 in 2025 "Lose Control" by Teddy Swims: #1 in 2024,  #4 in 2025 "Beautiful Things" by Benson Boone: #3 in 2024, #6 in 2025 "I Halp Some Help" by Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen: #4 in 2024,  #8 in 2025 I like some of these songs, but this is insane. Last year, the charts were stagnant to a fault. The Teddy Swims song list above was on the Hot 100 for over 100 weeks, wit...

         A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting at home and had a question: Why do I only cover Billboard's year-end pop chart? I do not spend the majority of my time listening to pop. I have been into alternative music since high school, so I ranked my favorites on those charts.     For this list, I went to Billboard's top 50 Alternative Airplay and Adult Alternative Airplay. I decided to forgo the Top 50 Hot Alternative Songs list because the other two lists had more variety. However, a good number of songs made both the Alternative Airplay and the Adult Alternative Airplay. To fix this, YouTuber and chart watcher AAA Charts keep track of these charts, allowing me to have a pool of 100 songs. I also eliminated songs that made a previous year-end list, so "The Door," "Too Sweet,"  and "End of Beginning" will not appear on this list. Key: Alt.=Alternative Airplay AAA= Adult Alternative Airplay . Honorable Mentions: Impressively Average by Brigette ...

          Well, thank God the worst list is done. They are the hardest to write. It is tough to be critically negative about music a majority of people like. Most of the songs have a minimal quality bar, leading to few easy targets. Especially this year. Pop music has been the best for a while. We found many great breakthrough artists that I hope can stick around. Many favorites also came back with quality material. Now let's rank the best. Honorable Mentions: Million Dollar Baby by Tommy Richman (#8): I returned to this song more than I am proud of.  Something about the old-school synthesizers and his falsetto makes it a super fun listen.  Wanna Be by GloRilla feat. Megan Thee Stallion (#40): These MCs run this song with clever lyrics and interesting flows.  Pretty Little Poison by Warren Zeiders (#60): Warren Zeiders did not need to go this hard. He really sells this toxic relationship with all of his might.  Too Sweet by Hozier (#10): I am...

       2024: the year pop music came back to life. This was a solid year for the genre, so this list was hard to make. There are more "dislikes" than true "hates." Yet there are still some "hates" and I found a new list this year. As I write this, Billboard has not released its year-end list, so I paid a couple bucks to a chart predictor on Twitter, Talk of the Charts, to use their list. With this list, I actually get 100 new songs. Billboard's year-end is 25% Christmas songs and music from last year that stayed on the chart for a long time. So this list goes up to 118. Now that that's settled. let's start with the dishonorable mentions. FE!N by Travis Scott feat. Playboi Carti (#97): This unessential song has an obnoxious repetition of "fiend," a synth line that sounds offkey, and a pair of boring verses from Travis and Carti, where the latter sounds awful. act ii: date @8 (Remix) by 4Batz feat. Drake (#80): I hate everything that 4B...

     Here is the next post for the important years in my music-listening life. Before 2010, I did not have a music taste. I liked some of the old music my parents loved, and I had some knowledge of modern music from my older sister. Then, in 2010, I paid more attention. I stole my parents' satellite radio receiver and enjoyed AltNation. I read some music blogs, such as Stereogum and Spin Magazine. I bought CDs from bands like The National, the Black Keys, and Vampire Weekend. By the end of the year, I was into the alternative/ indie-rock scene.     To celebrate this year, I will look back at the best critically acclaimed tracks of 2010. I will use the site acclaimedmusic.net again. Here is the list . This time I listened to all 120 tracks instead of the top 100 like I did with the 1992 list. Without much further ado, here are the honorable mentions: Nightcall by Kavinsky feat.Lovefoxxx (#43): Here is a charming synthwave track co-produced and co-written by a mem...

 This year had good music too. Let's talk about it.  Here's the chart I used: Link Honorable Mentions: Princess Diana (Remix) by Ice Spice & Nicki Minaj (Year-end rank:#69): I like how these two rappers contrast. Neither girl says anything special, but I can't get that plucky beat out of my mind. I've listened to this song many times just because of that beat. wait in the truck by HARDY feat. Lainey Wilson (#54): I am not a fan of country music, but I like the storytelling in the song about a man getting revenge for a domestic violence victim by killing the abuser (Don't try this at home.). The gospel choir is also a nice touch. Chemical by Post Malone (#57): Post Malone may be a mediocre rapper, but he is a decent pop star. Here, Posty sings about his tumultuous relationship with his partner with the happiest-sounding tune behind him.  Cupid by FIFTY FIFTY (#44): A cute love song made by cute Korean girls. At least, I think it is. It's mostly in Korean. Tom...