Magnus's Top 50 Songs of 2020 [Finished]

[Magnus]

Help me decide if I should post my YEC or not.

Edit: It is now January and the result of the poll was quite clear (see final results below). The Top 50 countdown has begun.

Top 50 starts here.
Top 10 here.



Hm, I can't seem to figure out how to completely remove the poll. (Was only able to remove one option and make it expired.)

[heppolo]

I think you should. It is definitely going to be interesting (esp. knowing you have acts in languages other than English)

[JSparksFan]

Post it.

[Tansike]

Yes, post it!

[king_oxymoron]

Why not eh!

[Magnus]

Thanks for the comments guys! It looks like I should start making some preparations for this.

[Blondini]

Only a Grinch would vote options 2 and 3. Come back to us!

[Magnus]

This post is intentionally left blank.

Wow, editing is so buggy... Will have to make sure everything is perfect so no editing will be necessary.

[Magnus]

Languages, Countries and Artist Categories

Some statistics for the upcoming Top 50:

50 songs by 30 artists from 11 countries, singing in 6 different languages.

Languages:
Russian: 26 songs
English: 11
Polish: 7
German: 3
French: 2
Swedish: 1

For the first time ever, English is no longer the biggest language! Russian was already very strong in the top 10 last year but did not yet have a majority in the overall chart (then 100 positions).

Artist Categories:
28 female solo artists
1 male solo artist
1 male group

Pretty much as usual, especially given the lower number of positions.

Artist Countries:
Russia: 11 artists
USA: 5
Australia: 2
Canada: 2
Germany: 2
Moldova: 2
Sweden: 2
Belarus: 1
France: 1
Norway: 1
Poland: 1

(Countries with the same number of artists are listed alphabetically.) A similar situation here as for the languages: Russia was coming strong last year and now becomes number one for the first time. And spoiler alert: Only one artist from Poland despite Polish being the third biggest language with seven songs!

[Magnus]

The top 10 will be amazing, but breadth in 2020 was extremely weak compared to the earlier years, not only since I started measuring plays in 2000 but even including the 1990s and earlier. I'm sure there are good songs that I missed, but finding them has become too hard. This is the real reason the chart is limited to 50 positions, although doing a full top 100 or even 200 (as I did in 2015 and 2016) would have been too much work I think.

It's easier to find songs in Russian than in English because it's actually possible to look through the entire list of new songs added to Spotify each week. (I have a way to filter for songs with titles in cyrillic; will improve this in the future to try and detect the actual language of the song title). This was never possible for songs in English because there are just (way way) too many. So the songs in English that I did find tend to be by artists I had already discovered before, while many of the Russian ones I had never heard of before the year started.

The first batch of the top 50 (#50-#41) will be posted tomorrow. I won't be doing any "bubbling under" or similar because the songs lower than #50 are so random that I can't really decide which songs would be included.

[king_oxymoron]

The male stat is killing me lol!

[Magnus]

The male stat is killing me lol!

Thanks for commenting! It's actually quite normal for my charts, especially for just top 50. The absence of girl groups or even duos is more surprising I think. I have absolutely no strategy nowadays for finding songs by male artists I don't already know.

[heppolo]

Thanks for commenting! It's actually quite normal for my charts, especially for just top 50. The absence of girl groups or even duos is more surprising I think. I have absolutely no strategy nowadays for finding songs by male artists I don't already know.

This year was not the best season for girlbands, I have some girl rock groups in my year-end chart, but the number is lower than usual.

[LastDreamer]

I really miss you and wish to see much more your posts in 2021.

My favourite album of year is a comeback LP of legendary Lithuanian girl group Mango - 2020.
https://open.spotify.com/album/3K1aXGnlZIBto1yccEgXMr

Also I posted personal all-time top 100 favourite girl groups songs countdown : http://www.ukmix.org/forum/chart-dis...happy-new-year

[Magnus]

Thanks for commenting, heppolo and LastDreamer!

Yeah, I should get back to using your charts and other stuff posted here on UKMix for finding songs and albums! Should be easier now that I have (kinda sorta) gotten used to the technical changes here. (I also need to study more Lithuanian; was still stuck on Russian and a tiny bit of Polish in 2020.)

[Magnus]

Time to start the countdown! The play counts are unusually low in the beginning. A typical number for #50 in 2013-2019 was around 150 plays. The previous record low was 29 plays (in 2010). For many songs there is also poor correlation between the month they were released and the month I listened the most.

The weekly chart data for this first batch does not include the 53rd week of the year, because that week has not finished yet. It will be included for those batches posted on Monday or later.

The number of monthly listeners in Spotify for the artists appearing here (in the top 50, not just this first batch) range from one to several million. Not one million, just one! (the last time I checked).

#50. Vanessa Mai – Blue S A


(Album cover, slightly modified to fit this song better)

Plays: 12
Best Month: February (72%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 7
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #25 / 5

#49. Maryana Ro – В прошлом S A



Plays: 20
Best Month: September (65%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 14
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: (didn't chart)

Maryana had a very weak 2020 compared to her awesome 2019, but still managed to sneak into this top 50 with a few songs.

#48. Ева Тимуш – Baby Stop S A



Plays: 20
Best Month: September (74%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 13
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #29 / 1

Do not be fooled by the title! I have still not heard this Moldovan princess sing (a whole song) in another language than Russian. We will meet her again much later.

#47. Maryana Ro – Малой S A



Plays: 25
Best Month: September (79%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 15
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #23 / 2

#46. Luba Hilman – До встречи S A



Plays: 31
Best Month: December (97%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 19
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #15 / 1

#45. Анастасия Некрасова – Ищу тебя S A



Plays: 31
Best Month: December (97%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 19
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #16 / 1

#44. Анастасия Бубнова – Любовь моя S A



Plays: 31
Best Month: December (97%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 18
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #18 / 1

The title of this song might be worth remembering. Maybe switch it around a little.

#43. Dotter – Bulletproof S L



Plays: 38
Best Month: December (97%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 33
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #12 / 1

#42. Maryana Ro – Рука в рукаве S A



Plays: 39
Best Month: September (81%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 24
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #13 / 3

#41. Елизавета Якушева – Лети S A



Plays: 48
Best Month: December (98%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 44
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #11 / 1

[heppolo]

Dotter's song is nice. I have to say, Marynna has improved the quality of production.

[king_oxymoron]

My friends are really big on the Dotter one so I've heard it alot, I like it!

[Blondini]

No Brits.

Dotter is quite good, there. Nice performance vid.

[Magnus]

Thanks for commenting, guys!

I almost forgot to listen to "Bulletproof" although I liked it when I first heard it early in the year. I was reminded in the second half of December. It's really only the part of the chorus that starts with "shoot me in the middle ..." that is great though, the rest of the song is quite average.

[Magnus]

#40. Надежда Гуськова – Не будет лета S A



Plays: 63
Best Month: October (70%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 15
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #24 / 5

#39. Aubrie Sellers – Under the Sun S A


(Album cover)

Plays: 67
Best Month: December (99%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 49
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #9 / 1

#38. Екатерина Чернышева – Думай обо мне S A



Plays: 71
Best Month: December (99%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 62
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #7 / 1

Spotify says "1 monthly listener".

#37. Richard Marx featuring Jana Kramer – Strong Enough S A


(Album cover)

Plays: 75
Best Month: September (56%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 17
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #15 / 8

Richard Marx actually charted on his own as recently as 2014 (at #147 with "Turn Off the Night") and I used to really like him in the late '80s and '90s. But yeah, it's because of Jana that I checked out this song.

#36. Tone Damli – Hurts Sometimes S V



Plays: 77
Best Month: September (53%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 13
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #17 / 8



#35. Celeste Kellogg – Carolina S A


(EP cover)

Plays: 92
Best Month: December (99%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 69
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #6 / 1

#34. Анфиса Ибадова – Одна S A



Plays: 113
Best Month: December (99%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 61
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #5 / 2

#33. Natasha St-Pier – Viens sois ma lumière S V



Plays: 114
Best Month: October (39%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 14
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #24 / 11



#32. Надежда Гуськова – Мегаполис S A



Plays: 114
Best Month: October (36%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 17
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #22 / 9

#31. Samantha Jade – Back 2 Back S V



Plays: 115
Best Month: December (64%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 35
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #5 / 5

Only once before did Samantha Jade reach the top 40 (or top 50) on my YEC. That was 13 years ago with her debut single "Turn Around" which was #3 that year. Didn't she look better with dark hair? (Or did something else change?)


(2007 flashback image)

[Magnus]

(I finally figured out how to make the images appear smaller without using smaller source images!)

#30. Надежда Гуськова – Много шума S A



Plays: 117
Best Month: October (38%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 13
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #22 / 11

#29. Tone Damli – If I Can't Have You S A



Plays: 117
Best Month: October (64%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 32
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #10 / 7

#28. Маша Вебер – Знаки и огни S A



Plays: 135
Best Month: October (35%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 33
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #12 / 12

#27. Delta Goodrem – Paralyzed S V



Plays: 139
Best Month: October (54%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 25
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #10 / 9

She stole the title of one of my 2010's decade top 10 songs, and it worked! This is Delta's first YEC top 30 hit since 2012 (when "Dancing with a Broken Heart" was #28).



#26. Анастасия Сотникова – Мало S A



Plays: 140
Best Month: December (71%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 34
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #6 / 6

#25. Louane – Désolée S V


(Album cover)

Plays: 157
Best Month: October (44%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 39
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #11 / 11



#24. Vanessa Mai – Sommerwind S V



Plays: 159
Best Month: October (44%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 46
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #4 / 11



#23. Tenille Arts – Butterfly Effect S A


(Album cover)

Plays: 171
Best Month: December (99%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 114
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #2 / 2

#22. Sonja Aldén – Sluta aldrig gå S L



Plays: 172
Best Month: October (41%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 26
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #6 / 16

The first song in Swedish on my YEC since 2016 (when Anette Olzon – Vintersjäl was #85). Sonja was the YEC #1 in 2008 with the song "Nån som du".

#21. Анастасия Некрасова – Я тебя не знаю S A



Plays: 173
Best Month: November (36%)
Highest Weekly Plays: 21
Peak Position / Weeks on Weekly Chart: #14 / 13

[heppolo]

Natasha St.-Pier song is solid. I really like Louane's song.

[Carbon]

Louane – Désolée - this is not bad

[king_oxymoron]

Really great to see Delta!