DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up album and song reviews, best-of lists, music history snapshots, and music-related essays.
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 | UK Official Charts:Songs of the Year, 1952-2024 |
The UK Official Charts Company is a company which tracks sales of albums and singles in the United Kingdom. The company formed in 1969, but have integrated New Musical Express (NME) charts which date back to 1952. There are year-end charts posted on the official site, but they are easier to access here. Check out other “songs of the year” lists here.
Resources/Related Links:
First posted 4/14/2019; last updated 12/28/2024. |
 | Billboard:Songs of the Year, 1958-2024 |
Each year since the inception of the Billboard Hot 100, the magazine has named a “song of the year” determined by chart performance. Here are those songs from 1958 to present. Check out other “songs of the year” lists here.
Resources/Related Links:
First posted 12/29/2014; last updated 12/23/2024. |
 | TSORT Songs of the Year:1900-2023 |
TSORT offers an aggregate of as many as 138 charts, although the number of charts becomes more sparse the farther back they stretch. Nonetheless, the site offers a page indicating songs of the year from 1900 to present. Check out other “songs of the year” lists here.
Resources/Related Links:
First posted 4/13/2019; last updated 1/16/2024. |
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-11286650-1582824973-4763.jpeg.jpg) | HavanaCamila Cabello with Young Thug |
Writer(s): Camila Cabello, Young Thug, Pharrell Williams (see lyrics here) Released: August 3, 2017 First Charted: August 26, 2017 Peak: 11 US, 17 RR, 14 BA, 12 DG, 11 ST, 5 AC, 11 A40, 15 UK, 16 CN, 13 AU, 16 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 1.2 UK, 19.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2902.0 video, 1915.48 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:Camila Cabello made a name for herself as a member of Fifth Harmony, best known for hit “Work from Home.” “Havana” was initially released as a promo single to support her first solo album, Camila, but became the proper lead single when it took off. WK She told BBC Radio 1 that “Everybody kept telling me it shouldn’t be a single and that it would never work for radio.” SF It ended up doing okay – it went to #1 in a dozen countries, including the U.S., UK, Australia, and Canada. WK In the U.S., the song took 23 weeks to hit the top, spending seven non-consecutive weeks at #2 behind Post Malone’s “Rockstar” and Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect.” WK In June 2018, it became Spotify’s most-streamed song ever by a female artist. WK As a child, Camila moved back and forth between Havana and Mexico City before settling in Miami. In “Havana,” she sings about “a mysterious suitor from East Atlanta, though she has left her heart in her hometown.” WK She described it as a song with a “very wind-your-waist tempo.” SF The song emerged from an instrumental with a prominent salsa piano riff created by producer Frank Dukes. When he played it for Camila, it reminded her of her birthplace and she wrote the chorus on the spot. SF Time.com’s Raise Bruner said the song “hits a freshly sultry note” WK which Allison Browsher of Much said “arrives just in time to keep the summer heat going on the radio.” WK The video was directed by Dave Meyers, who also did Missy Elliott’s “Work It,” Janet Jackson’s “All for You,” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble.” Camila plays two characters in the telenovela-style video – “the bespectacled homebody Karla and the sexy, outgoing Camila.” SF She explained that her family always called her by her middle name (Camila), but when she came to the United States, teachers called her by her first name (Karla). SF At the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, the clip took the prize for Video of the Year. SF Resources:
Last updated 7/19/2023. |
 | Dave’s Music Database:Top 50 Songs of 2014 |
These are the top 50 songs of the year based on their overall performance in Dave’s Music Database, which is determined by combining chart data, sales figures, streaming, video views, and aggregates from year-end lists. Check out “Top Songs and Albums of the Year” lists here.
DMDB Top 1%:
Resources/Related Links:
First posted 12/31/2014; last updated 1/18/2023. |
 | HappyPharrell Williams |
Writer(s): Pharrell Williams (see lyrics here) Released: November 21, 2013 First Charted: January 18, 2014 Peak: 110 US, 18 BA, 111 DG, 14 ST, 13 RR, 16 AC, 16 A40, 14 AA, 112 RB, 14 UK, 110 CN, 112 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 11.0 US, 2.63 UK, 15.12 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2446.02 video, 1219.47 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details.
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About the Song:2013 was a remarkable year for Pharrell Williams. He aided Robin Thicke in landing at #1 for 12 weeks atop the pop charts with “Blurred Lines” and gave Daft Punk an assist on their #2 hit “Get Lucky,” which took home a Grammy for Record of the Year. Thanks to Pharrell’s work on the latter, ecstatic record label managers encouraged him to record a solo album, something he hadn’t done since 2006’s In My Mind. Things kicked off with “Happy,” a song which Pharrell contributed to the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack and served as the first single for his 2014 album G I R L. The single was launched with a website, 24hoursofhappy.com which was billed as the world’s first 24-hour music video. The song is played repeatedly with people in Los Angeles dancing and miming along with the song. Pharrell appeared in the first segement of each hour. The song, which Williams had originally written for Cee-Lo Green, became the year’s most inescapable hit, spending 10 weeks atop the U.S. pop charts and hitting #1 in 23 other countries. With 12 million in worldwide sales, “Happy” ranks as one of the 100 best-selling songs of all time. The song also garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. The standard four-minute video has garnered more than 500 million views on YouTube, making it one of the top 100 most-watched music videos in history. His falsetto on the song earned favorable comparisons from critics to Curtis Mayfield. Music journalist Paul Tingen called “Happy” a “mid-tempo soul song in a faux-Motown style” WK while Rolling Stone critic Jody Rosen called it a “standout” with a “sprightly neo-soul funk groove.” WK Huw Woodward, critic from Renowned for Sound, described the song as a “happy affair with a cheerful beat and exuberant vocal that would indicate that the…singer is finding a lot of lightheared fun…in both music and life.” WK Contactmusic.com’s Holly Williams described the “unbelievably catchy” song as “the kind…that makes you want to dance and sing along.” WK Resources:
Last updated 7/24/2023. |
