Dave’s Faves: Songs of the Year

Dave’s Faves: Songs of the Year, 1900-2024

These are my personal favorite songs for each year from 1900 to present. Click here to see other Dave’s Faves song lists. 2024: Shaboozey “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” 2023: Noah Kahan & Post Malone “Dial Drunk” 2022: Lyle Lovett “12th of June” 2021: John Mellencamp with Bruce Springsteen “Wasted Days” 2020: Fish “This Party’s Over” 2019: Sheryl Crow with Johnny Cash “Redemption Day” 2018: Lady Gaga with Bradley Cooper “Shallow” 2017: Keala Settle with the Greatest Show Ensemble “This Is Me” 2016: Sturgill Simpson “In Bloom” 2015: Michael Franti & Spearhead with Sonna Rele “Once a Day” 2014: The War on Drugs “Under the Pressure” 2013: Charles Bradley “Changes” 2012: Willie Nelson with Lukas Nelson “Just Breathe” 2011: Gotye with Kimbra “Somebody That I Used to Know” 2010: Michael Franti & Spearhead “The Sound of Sunshine” 2009: Pearl Jam “Just Breathe” 2008: John Mellencamp “If I Die Sudden” 2007: Crowded House “Silent House” 2006: Dresden Dolls “Sing” 2005: Sandi Thom “I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker with Flowers in My Hair” 2004: Beck “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime” 2003: Michael Franti & Spearhead “Everyone Deserves Music” 2002: Michael Andrews & Gary Jules “Mad World” 2001: Alan Jackson “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” 2000: Eminem with Dido “Stan” 1999: Bruce Springsteen “American Skin (41 Shots)” 1998: Lyle Lovett “Step Inside This House” 1997: Marillion “Estonia” 1996: K’s Choice “Not an Addict” 1995: Melissa Etheridge with Bruce Springsteen “Thunder Road (live)” 1994: Frente! “Bizarre Love Triangle” 1993: Israel Kamakawiwo’ole “Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” 1992: Shawn Colvin “I Don’t Know Why” 1991: Tori Amos “Me and a Gun” 1990: Toy Matinee “There Was a Little Boy” 1989: Indigo Girls “Closer to Fine” 1988: Kate Bush “This Woman’s Work” 1987: R.E.M. “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” 1986: David + David “Welcome to the Boomtown” 1985: Marillion “Kayleigh” 1984: U2 “Bad” 1983: Marillion “Script for a Jester’s Tear” 1982: The Alan Parsons Project “Old and Wise” 1981: Squeeze “Tempted” 1980: Peter Gabriel “Biko” 1979: The Police “Message in a Bottle” 1978: Styx “Renegade” 1977: Styx “Come Sail Away” 1976: Eagles “Hotel California” 1975: Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody” 1974: Harry Chapin “Cat’s in the Cradle” 1973: Eagles “Desperado” 1972: Lou Reed “Walk on the Wild Side” 1971: Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven” 1970: Derek & the Dominos “Layla” 1969: The Rolling Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” 1968: Otis Redding “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” 1967: The Beatles “A Day in the Life” 1966: Four Tops “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” 1965: The Rolling Stones “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” 1964: Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come 1963: The Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand” 1962: The Contours “Do You Love Me” 1961: Ben E. King “Stand by Me” 1960: Chubby Checker “The Twist” 1959: Wilbert Harrison “Kansas City” 1958: Harry Simeone Chorale “The Little Drummer Boy” 1957: Buddy Holly & the Crickets “That’ll Be the Day” 1956: Elvis Presley “Hound Dog” 1955: Little Richard “Tutti Frutti” 1954: Bill Haley & His Comets “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock” 1953: Hank Williams “Your Cheatin’ Heart” 1952: Gene Kelly “Singin’ in the Rain” 1951: Bing Crosby “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” 1950: Nat “King” Cole “Mona Lisa” 1949: Gene Autry & the Pinafores “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” 1948: Art Mooney “I’m Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover” 1947: Hank Williams “Move It on Over” 1946: Nat “King” Cole “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” 1945: Vaughn Monroe “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” 1944: Woody Guthrie “This Land Is Your Land” 1943: Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters “Jingle Bells” 1942: Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers & the John Scott Trotter Orchestra “White Christmas” 1941: Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke & the Four Modernaires “Chattanooga Choo Choo” 1940: Cliff Edwards “When You Wish Upon a Star” 1939: Billie Holiday “Strange Fruit” 1938: Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb & His Orchestra “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” 1937: Seven Dwarfs “Whistle While You Work” 1936: Robert Johnson “Cross Road Blues (aka ‘Crossroads’)” 1935: Bing Crosby “Silent Night” 1934: Guy Lombardo “Winter Wonderland” 1933: Ethel Waters “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)” 1932: Fred Astaire “Night and Day” 1931: Rudy Vallee “As Time Goes By” 1930: Ben Selvin “Happy Days Are Here Again” 1929: Nick Lucas “Tip Toe Through the Tulips” 1928: Helen Kane “I Wanna Be Loved by You” 1927: Gene Austin “My Blue Heaven” 1926: Gene Austin “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue” 1925: Louise Homer “America the Beautiful” 1924: Isham Jones “It Had to Be You” 1923: Isham Jones “Who’s Sorry Now” 1922: Ben Selvin “Chicago (That Toddlin’ Town)” 1921: Marion Harris “I Ain’t Got Nobody” 1920: Al Jolson “Swanee” 1919: Orpheus Quartet “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” (as “Bring Back My Bonnie to Me”) 1918: Ernestine Schumann-Heink “Danny Boy” 1917: American Quartet “Over There” 1916: Prince’s Orchestra “The Star Spangled Banner” 1915: John McCormack “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary” 1914: Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “The Aba Daba Honeymoon” 1913: Walter Van Brunt “And the Green Grass Grew All Around” 1912: American Quartet “Moonlight Bay” 1911: Arthur Clough & the Brunswick Quartet “Down by the Old Mill Stream” 1910: Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” 1909: Arthur Pryor’s Band “1812 Overture” 1908: Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” 1907: Frank Stanley “Auld Lang Syne” 1906: Billy Murray “You’re a Grand Old Flag (aka “The Grand Old Rag”)” 1905: Billy Murray “Yankee Doodle Boy” 1904: Billy Murray “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” 1903: Haydn Quartet “In the Good Old Summertime” 1902: Arthur Collins “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home” 1901: Harry MacDonough & Grace Spencer “Tell Me, Pretty Maiden” 1900: Vess Ossman “The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)” Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “Dave’s Faves: Song Lists” Dave’s Music Database: “Dave’s Faves: Albums/Works” Dave’s Music Database: “Dave’s Faves: Top 100 Acts” Dave’s Music Database: Other Best-of Song Lists Last updated 1/1/2025.

Dave’s Faves: #1 Songs in the 2020s

Dave’s Faves: #1’s: 2020-2029

September 18, 1982. I can peg my fascination with music charts to that date. After listening to a local radio station’s countdown of the hits of the summer, I decided to make my own list of favorites (see original list here). I ended up revising it every few days, eventually developing my own charts which I maintained into the ‘90s. I’ve also projected before and after those lists to create speculative lists of #1 songs for eras not covered by those original charts. You can check out those links here, but this page is focused on the #1 songs that might have been for me in the 2010s. Click here to see other Dave’s Faves song lists. 2020: Feb. 1: Alanis Morissette “Reasons I Drink” (4) Feb. 29: Indigo Girls “Shit Kickin’” (2) March 14: Sting “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” (4) April 11: Fish “Weltschmerz” (3) May 2: Eric Bazilian “Help!” (5) June 6: Indigo Girls “Country Radio” (4) July 4: Glass Animals “Heat Waves” (3) July 25: Chris Cornell “Patience” (3) Aug. 15: Fish “Garden of Remembrance” (5) Sept. 12: Fish “This Party’s Over” (5) Oct. 17: Bruce Springsteen “Letter to You” (1) Oct. 24: John Mitchell “A Gentleman’s Excuse Me” (3) Nov. 14: Crowded House “Whatever You Want” (3) Dec. 5: Del Amitri “Close Your Eyes and Think of England” (4) 2021: Jan. 8: Olivia Rodrigo “Drivers License” (7) Feb. 27: Post Malone “Only Wanna Be with You” (6) April 10: Dennis DeYoung “Isle of Misanthrope” (3) May 1: Eric Bazilian “Back in the 80s” (5) June 5: Styx “Crash of the Crown” (4) July 3: Jon Batiste “Freedom” (3) July 24: Walker Hayes “Fancy Like” (4) Aug. 21: Angel Olsen “Safety Dance” (3) Sept. 11: Chris Stapleton “Nothing Else Matters” (4) Oct. 2: John Mellencamp & Bruce Springsteen “Wasted Days” (5) Nov. 6: Tears for Fears “The Tipping Point” (4) Dec. 4: Kacey Musgraves “Fix You” (3) Dec. 25: Tears for Fears “No Small Thing” (4) 2022: Jan. 22: Tears for Fears “Break the Man” (3) Feb. 22: Keb’ Mo’ “Lean on Me” (4) Mar. 12: Tears for Fears “Long Long Long Time” (3) Mar. 31: Lyle Lovett “12th of June” (5) May 7: Bonnie Raitt “Just Like That” (5) June 11: Alan Parsons with Tommy Shaw “Uroboros” (3) July 2: Michael Franti & Spearhead “Life Is Amazing” (3) July 23: Weezer “Records” (3) Aug. 13: Noah Kahan “Stick Season” (3) Sept. 3: Michael Franti & Spearhead “No Makeup” (1) Sept. 10: Hardy with Lainey Wilson “Wait in the Truck” (1) Sept. 17: Death Cab for Cutie “Pepper” (2) Oct. 1: Beck “Old Man” (4) Oct. 29: Simple Minds “The Walls Came Down” (2) Nov. 12: Willie Nelson with Lucinda Williams “Live Forever” (6) Dec. 24: Jelly Roll “Need a Favor” (4) 2023: Jan. 14: The New Pornographers “Really Really Light” (3) Feb. 24: The National “Tropic Morning News” (4) Mar. 4: Beck “Thinking About You” (3) Mar. 25: The Revivalists “Kid” (2) Apr. 8: Joy Oladokun & Noah Kahan “We’re All Gonna Die” (3) Apr. 29: Jenny Lewis “Psychos” (2) May 13: Ben Folds “Exhausting Lover” (2) May 27: John Mellencamp “Hey God” (1) June 3: Joy Oladokun “Taking Things for Granted” (1) June 10: The National & Taylor Swift “The Alcott” (1) June 17: John Mellencamp “The Eyes of Portland” (2) July 1: Hozier “Francesca” (2) July 15: Noah Kahan “Dial Drunk” (2) July 29: Fall Out Boy “We Didn’t Start the Fire” (2) Aug. 12: Foo Fighters with Alanis Morissette “Mandinka” (2) Aug. 26: The Gaslight Anthem with Bruce Springsteen “History Books” (3) Sept. 16: Zach Bryan & Kacey Musgraves “I Remember Everything” (2) Sept. 30: Blink-182 “One More Time” (3) Oct. 21: Bruce Springsteen “Addicted to Romance” (2) Nov. 4: The Beatles “Now and Then” (4) Dec. 2: Trevor Horn & Steve Hogarth “Drive” (4) Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “Dave’s Faves: Song Lists” Dave’s Music Database: “Dave’s Faves: Albums/Works” Dave’s Music Database: “Dave’s Faves: Top 100 Acts” Dave’s Music Database: Other Best-of Song Lists First posted 12/30/2023.

Lyle Lovett released 12th of June, his first album in ten years

12th of June Lyle Lovett

Released: May 13, 2022 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- Genre: alt-country/Americana

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Cookin’ at the Continental [4:14] Pants Is Overrated [4:07] (4/22/22, --) Straighten Up and Fly Right [2:58] Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You [3:36] Peel Me a Grape [3:39] Her Loving Man [5:22] 12th of June [4:54] (3/21/22, --) Pig Meat Man [4:43] The Mocking Ones [3:42] Are We Dancing [2:36] On a Winter’s Morning [6:21]

Rating: 3.884 out of 5.00 (average of 5 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: For 35 years, Lyle Lovett “has been flummoxing genre purists” with “playfully engaging jazz, big band swing, western swing, folk, gospel, and blues.” PM “If he were coming up today, he’d likely be considered Americana.” WP His “musical menagerie” PM has been accompanied by “the absurdist and transgressive humor of lyrics” PM that “hewed close to the…[country] tradition or offered a playful dissonance, often doing both in the same song.” PM Add in “his oft-inscrutable deadpan and prematurely weathered visage” PM and it is quite the success story that he turned his “anti-Nashville sensibility into a viable business model,” PM “carving out a loyal niche following.” PM 12th of June, his first studio effort in a decade, offers “a little of everything in the singer-songwriter’s back catalog.” PM His previous album, 2012’s Release Me, was a contractually-obligated work for Curb Records. Since then, “he was more than happy to bide his time, stockpiling songs and waiting for the right deal to come along.” WP That deal came from Verve Records, home of jazz legends such as Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and Billie Holiday. Much of the album was recorded in Nashville in the fall of 2019, but the release was delayed because of the pandemic. For the first time in more than 35 years, he found himself home for a solid two years instead of regularly touring with his 15-piece Large Band. It allowed for “uninterrupted time with his children, taking on parenting duties with April with virtually no outside help.” WP The ten-year gap between releases “didn’t apply any rust to Lyle Lovett and his merry band of collaborators…Lovett has polished this amalgamation of styles to a near-flawless sheen.” PM “This record will remind listeners why Lyle is a national musical treasure.” AZ He “approached the album as a vehicle to reintroduce himself and his Large Band” AMG by mirroring earlier albums like Lyle Lovett and His Large Band. “It follows its blueprint to a tee” AMG but “it works, possibly because absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder: it’s simply a pleasure to hear a new Lyle Lovett album after ten years.” AMG Like that album, June kicks off with “a hopping instrumental jump blues opener” AMG before moving into a rollicking, fun song with “a bit of mischief -- in this case,” AMG “the gospel=flecked wry humor of Pants Is Overrated,” PM “an observation he gleaned from watching his two toddlers cavort in their diapers.” AMG The “call-and-response song structure…has echoes of ‘Church’ from 1992’s Joshua Judges Ruth and seems to be a playful parable against conforming to conventions.” PM He then settles “into astutely chosen jazz and blues standards” AMG which he’d released before. He first released Straighten Up and Fly Right in 1996 on the Dear God soundtrack. Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Been Good to You was recorded with Matt Rollings initially and released on the soundtrack for Kissing Jessica Stein in 2001. Peel Me a Grape was first released in 1999. The latter two have been recorded here as “sublime duets with longtime vocal sparring partner Francine Reed.” AMG “Their mesh of vocal styles is kinetic, playful, and essential the body of work here and before.” PM She decided to retire in 2022 so these recordings serve as “a tribute to a vocalist who has been an integral part of Lovett’s music through the decades.” AMG These songs are “punctuated by plaintive Texan balladeering and the occasional clever original.” AMG “Her Loving Man embodies the deadpan seriousness with which Lovett has performed songs in the ‘traditional’ country music style of the late 1960s, but often with an unexpected twist. He sings that she (the subject of the narrator’s affection) is the ‘queen of know / K-N-O-W, I mean,’ thus upending our assumption of this being an ode to a recalcitrant lover until he spells it out for us.” PM That song and Are We Dancing “are touching portraits of lived-in devotion that echo the bond he shares with April. (They've been together for 25 years, and married for the past five.) The Mocking Ones is a rumination on friendships and the ways that people grow apart over time.” WP There’s even “a love song to the simple pleasures of bacon (Pig Meat Man)” PM inspired by how much his son loves eating it. WP Overall, the album “reveals…subtle nods to shifting times, which is enough to make this a nourishing experience in addition to an outright good time.” AMG “The emotional heart of this new album is” PM “the nakedly sincere title track,” AMG 12th of June, which “explores notions of fatherhood and tradition.” WP It refers to the day in 2017 when, just shy of the age of 60, Lovett became a first-time father. He says, “I’m so grateful to have had this experience at all…I always imagined having children…But I had absolutely no idea how much I would enjoy it.” WP He says of his kids, “These are the two most interesting people I’ve ever met.” WP “This tender ballad opens with a gentle acoustic guitar in conversation with a rippling brook of piano notes.” PM “The song accounts for the beautiful fragility of this life,” PM reflecting on fatherhood and serving up images of “covered dish reunions where a Texas creek runs through a family cemetery, and the invoked voices of the departed who watch over us.” PM

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Lyle Lovett AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine AZ Amazon PM Pop Matters (5/16/2022) review by Rick Quinn WP Washington Post (5/13/2022) review by Jeff Gage Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 5/17/2022; last updated 5/20/2022.

Lyle Lovett “12th of June” released

12th of June Lyle Lovett

Writer(s): -- (see lyrics here) Released: March 31, 2022 First Charted: -- Peak: 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.31 video, 0.50 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: In 1986, when Lyle Lovett released his self-titled debut album, he was marketed mostly as an alt-country singer/songwriter, but over the next quarter century he established himself as a beacon for “a creative stew of genres – playfully engaging jazz, big band swing, western swing, folk, gospel, and blues.” PM While he never stopped touring, he took a long hiatus from the studio after the release of his 2012 album Release Me. In 2022, he finally returned with 12th of June, his twelfth studio album. “The album is an eclectic collection of new originals and beloved interpretations that will please existing fans while inviting new ones. It highlights the dynamics of Lyle and his Large Band and their singular ability to shift from one genre to the next with uncanny grace. From beautiful acoustic ballads to swinging big band numbers, this record will remind listeners why Lyle is a national musical treasure.” AZ The most significant life even in that decade was the birth of his twin children born in 2017 on – you guessed it – the 12th of June. His amusing and poignant meditations on fatherhood are reflected in songs like the celebratory toddlers-may-have-it-figured-out anthem “Pants Is Overrated” and, of course, the title track – “the tender ballad” PM which serves as “the emotional heart of this new album.” PM “The song accounts for the beautiful fragility of this life” PM encompassing “images of generations crossed in covered dish reunions where a Texas creek runs through a family cemetery, and the invoked voices of the departed who watch over us.” PM Of course, it mostly is a reflection on fatherhood. Lovett was 59 years old when he became a father and started reflecting on his hope to be around for as much of his kids’ lives as possible. That’s where the song, which he wrote shortly before their first birthday, came from. NPR He said, “I’m not the first person to have children in the world. But, you know, when it happens to you, you kind of feel like you are…I had absolutely no idea how much I’d enjoy it. You know, it’s brought wonders and blessings and thoughts and songs to me that I…never imagined before.” NPR He added, “The thing that I want most to last of me is for my children to realize their dad loves them.” NPR Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Lyle Lovett AZ Amazon (album review) NPR NPR.org (5/14/2022). “Lyle Lovett feels all of fatherhood on first album in a decade, ‘12th of June’” by Scott Simon PM PopMatters.com (5/16/2022). “After Ten Year Hiatus, Lyle Lovett Returns to Form with ‘12th of June’” by Rick Quinn Related Links: First posted 2/15/2024.