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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 | Juno Award:Single of the Year, 1974-2024 |
The Juno Awards are Canadian’s equivalent of the Grammys. In 1974, they launched their award for Single of the Year. Click here to see other “song of the year” lists.
Resources/Related Links:
First posted 2/3/2021; last updated 3/24/2024. |
 | American Music Awards:Pop/Rock Songs of the Year, 1974-2022 |
The American Music Awards (AMAs) were established in 1973 when ABC lost its contract to air the Grammys. They were created by Dick Clark. The AMAs are determined by public vote. The winners for favorite pop/rock song are listed here. That category existed from 1974-1995, was retired for more than a decade, and then returned in 2016. In the interim, there was also a Single of the Year award from 2013-2015. Check out other “songs of the year” lists here.
Resources/Related Links:
First posted 10/9/2018; last updated 11/20/2022. |
 | SeñoritaShawn Mendes & Camila Cabello |
Writer(s): Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Andrew Wotman, Benjamin Levin, Alexandra Tamposi, Charlotte Aitchison, Jack Patterson, Magnus August Høiberg (see lyrics here) Released: June 21, 2019 First Charted: July 6, 2019 Peak: 11 US, 12 BA, 14 RR, 4 AC, 13 A40, 16 UK, 17 CN, 11 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, 1.8 UK, 16.1 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2010.94 video, 2704.29 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello first collaborated on “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” a song from Mendes’ 2015 debut album Handwritten. They connected and knew they wanted to work together again. SF Their second effort together struck gold – well, multiplatinum in thirteen countries. It also won an American Music Award, two MTV Video Music Awards, and a People’s Choice Award. It also won Best Single of the Year at the Juno Awards. The song was conceived at a Charli XCX session, but she decided not to release it herself, saying the “Latin pop flair just wasn’t right for who I am because I am not a part of that culture.” SF Andrew Watt, the producer, sent a rough chorus to Shawn Mendes, suggesting it as a duet. Mendes agreed, saying Camila would be the only person with whom he could do it. Mendes and Cabello made some changes to the melody and lyrics, using FaceTime to tweak some lyrics together. Then they met up to record in the studio together. Producer Benny Blanco lauded their chemistry together. WK In the “smooth Latin love song” SF the pair “croon about their fictious romance,” SF although they would end up an actual couple for more than two years. The Fader’s Shaad D’Souza praised the single as “effortlessly steamy and wonderfully lightweight.” WK Medium’s TJ Lovell called it “a sexy ode to a vacation rendezvous that allows the pair to flex their undeniable chemistry.” WK The song debuted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually dethroned Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” to ascend to the pole position. It reached the peak in more than 30 countries. WK It was the second chart-topper for each of them in the UK. It was his first trip to #1 in the U.S. and her second, following “Havana.” Resources:
First posted 4/2/2022; last updated 5/4/2024. |
 | AmazedLonestar |
Writer(s): Marv Green, Chris Lindsey, Aimee Mayo (see lyrics here) Released: March 22, 1999 First Charted: April 10, 1999 Peak: 12 US, 6 RR, 2 AC, 7 A40, 18 CW, 21 UK, 7 CN, 19 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.15 US, 0.6 UK, 2.79 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 7.0 radio, 81.90 video, 266.01 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details.
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About the Song:Songwriters Marv Green, Aimee Mayo, and Chris Lindsey met at Mayo’s home in Nashville one night. FB May and Lindsey had just started dating WK and, as Mayo said, “Our feelings for each other just started coming out as we were writing.” SF According to Green, “We wanted to write something emotional, something about communicating with someone you’re really in love with.” FB Lindsey said, “When I heart that song on the radio, that’s the exact feeling I had for her….The song bottle a unique emotion to me, and I can feel that still. I think what people feel is that.” SF Mayo and Lindsey later married. The demo featured Bill Luther on vocals. He wrote “It’s Your Love” for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill so “Amazed” was first pitched to McGraw. After he passed on it, it ended up with Lonestar. FB Richie McDonald, the band’s lead singer, said, “We all thought it was a passionate song people could relate to. But if you asked us then if it was going to do what it did, we wouldn’t have had any idea.” FB What it did was give the band its pop breakthrough hit. The band members all grew up in the Lone Star state of Texas, but came together in Nashville in 1992. FB Their debut album, 1995’s Lonestar gave the band three top-10 hits on the country charts, including the #1 “No News.” Their 1997 sophomore album, Crazy Nights, gave them another country chart-topper. It was their third album, however, which gave the album their major breakthrough on the pop charts. “Amazed” topped the country chart for eight weeks, but also reached the pinnacle of the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. The song originally peaked at #24, but a remix without steel guitar and fiddle propelled it back up the pop charts. It was the first country song to top the chart since Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton ascended to the throne with 1983’s “Islands in the Stream.” FB Resources:
First posted 11/2/2021; last updated 4/17/2024. |
 | Forever and Ever, AmenRandy Travis |
Writer(s): Paul Overstreet, Don Schlitz (see lyrics here) Released: March 25, 1987 First Charted: April 25, 1987 Peak: 13 CW, 55 UK, 7 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.97 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 72.7 video, 121.37 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:Randy Bruce Traywick was born in 1959 and, after dropping out of high school and struggling with juvenile delinquency, launched his singing career in 1978 with Paula Records. He achieved minor success with the #91 hit “She’s My Woman” on the country charts, but struggled to get signed to a major label. He was finally signed to Warner Bros. who packaged him as “a modern cowboy hero.” AC His first album, Storms of Life, produced a #6 hit with “1982” and the chart-topping “On the Other Hand.” The latter was written by Don Schlitz (Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler”) and Paul Overstreet, who teamed up again for “Love Without End, Amen,” which became the biggest hit of Travis’ career. Schlitz said the song grew out of his wife’s son telling her, “Mommy, I love you forever and ever, amen.” TR He shared the idea with Overstreet and they sat on his porch with the lights off (so as to not attract bugs) and scrawled out the words with pencil on a legal pad to candlelight. TR They immediately thought they had a hit on their hands and Overstreet went into the studio the next day to record a voice-and-guitar demo. TR Their instinct was right – it became “one of the finest written in country’s modern age.” AC Travis was reportedly “fond of the song immediately.” WK Its three weeks at #1 made it the biggest country hit since Johnny Lee’s “Lookin’ for Love” in 1980. The song solidified Travis’ image as someone who “appealed equally to grandmothers, mothers, and daughters. Even macho men took a liking to him.” AC He also attracted “a large core of fans outside the normal country crowd.” AC The song became one of the most awarded country songs in music history, having won Single and Song of the Year honors from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association as well as the Grammy for Best Country Song. It was also named Country Song of the Year by Billboard magazine and the American Music Awards. Resources:
First posted 11/2/2021; last updated 8/27/2022. |
