Jmunney's Blog

Each week, I check out VH1’s Top 20 countdown, and then I rearrange the songs based on my estimation of their quality. Then at the end of the year, when VH1 unveils their annual top 20 (or 40), I do the same thing with the year-end list.

Original Version
1. John Legend – “All of Me”
2. Pharrell Williams – “Happy”
3. Paramore – “Ain’t It Fun”
4. Sam Smith – “Stay With Me”
5. Tove Lo – “Habits”
6. Nico & Vinz – “Am I Wrong”
7. Pitbull ft. Ke$ha – “Timber”
8. Jason Derulo – “Talk Dirty”
9. Magic! – “Rude”
10. Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX – “Fancy”
11. Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”
12. Meghan Trainor – “All About That Bass”
13. Katy Perry ft. Juicy J – “Dark Horse”
14. Lorde – “Team”
15. Eminem ft. Rihanna – “The Monster”
16. Maroon 5 – “Maps”
17. Disclosure ft. Sam Smith – “Latch”
18. Ed Sheeran – “Don’t”
19. Charli XCX – “Boom Clap”
20. One Direction – “Story Of My Life”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Dark Horse
2. Fancy
3. Happy
4. Boom Clap
5. Latch
6. Ain’t It Fun
7. Habits
8. Shake It Off
9. Stay With Me
10. Team
11. The Monster
12. Don’t
13. Timber
14. Am I Wrong
15. Maps
16. All About That Bass
17. Rude
18. Talk Dirty
19. All of Me
20. Story of My Life

(P.S. Where was “Chandelier”?)

VH1 cut its yearly countdown down to 20 after doing 40 for the past several years. I must say, I miss the mix-up to the regular format that the Top 40 provided, but this here Top 20 was a nice change of pace, and I appreciate the stringency inherent in cutting down the list total. I figured that with a smaller list there might be a chance I wouldn’t have to yell at VH1 for inaccurately gauging the bigness of the hits of 2012, and Jim Shearer’s explanation that all the charts were pored over to determine the countdown bolstered my confidence. For the most part, this list makes sense, with a few questionable choices and one egregiously wrong one. Did I miss something or was “Call Me Maybe” not the biggest song of 2012? You could perhaps make the argument that “Somebody That I Used to Know” should be Number 1 (it was my favorite song of 2012 that was actually released in 2011), as it was the first song to ever hit Number One on the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, Adult Pop, Alternative, Hot Dance Club, Pop, and Rock charts.  “We Are Young” also deserves to be up top, having been the anthem of 2012.  But “Call Me Maybe” anywhere lower than 3?  That’s just not in touch with reality.  Elsewhere, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” looks a little low to me at 17th, while “I Will Wait” looks a bit high at 10th (although, maybe not, seeing as Babel had the second highest debut week of any album).

As per usual, my estimation of the quality of the songs follows the original version.

Original Version
1. Gotye ft. Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know”
2. fun. ft. Janelle Monae – “We Are Young”
3. Maroon 5 ft. Burj Khalifa – “Payhpone”
4. Kelly Clarkson – “What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)”
5. The Lumineers – “Ho Hey”
6. Rihanna – “Where Have You Been”
7. Train – “Drive By”
8. Ellie Goulding – “Lights”
9. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
10. Mumford & Sons – “I Will Wait”
11. Adele – “Set Fire to the Rain”
12. Neon Trees – “Everybody Talks”
13. P!nk – “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)”
14. Flo Rida – “Whistle”
15. Demi Lovato – “Give Your Heart a Break”
16. Ed Sheeran – “The A-Team”
17. Taylor Swift – “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
18. Bruno Mars – “Locked Out of Heaven”
19. Katy Perry – “Wide Awake”
20. Ne-Yo – “Let Me Love You”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Somebody That I Used to Know
2. Lights
3. Where Have You Been
4. Locked Out of Heaven
5. Wide Awake
6. We Are Young
7. Call Me Maybe
8. Give Your Heart a Break
9. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
10. Ho Hey
11. Set Fire to the Rain
12. Blow Me (One Last Kiss)
13. I Will Wait
14. What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)
15. Everybody Talks
16. The A-Team
17. Drive By
18. Let Me Love You
19. Payphone
20. Whistle