The Top 100 Hits of 2014

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What if the sound of classic rock and classic hits music was still being produced? Imagine if rock ‘n’ roll radio of the past hadn’t splintered into limiting sub-genres. What would Top 40 radio sound like today if it hadn’t been taken over by rap and auto-tuned dance divas?

The Phoenix 50 helps you find current listenable music by aiming for the sweet spot in today’s rock ‘n’ roll — no head-banging excesses, no wimpy weepers, no whiny juveniles, no way-out eccentrics. Just solid mass appeal tunes for the rest us, like in the old days. In other words, rock ‘n’ roll for grown-ups.

Our Top 100 Hits of 2014 is a good place to start for discovering cool new music. It was another banner year with new releases from a wide variety of artists — from 1960s veterans through today’s brand new bands. Some highlights . . .

U2 placed three songs in the year-end top 10 — all from different sources:

  • Invisible” (#1), a fund-raising single to fight AIDS, was downloaded more than 3 million times in the first 36 hours after its debut as a Super Bowl commercial;
  • The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)” (#7) was the first single from the Songs Of Innocence album;
  • Ordinary Love” (#10) came from the soundtrack of the Nelson Mandela biopic Long Walk To Freedom.

Phoenix-based band Kongos finally achieved their big breakthrough with “Come With Me Now” (#3), a national #1 rock song. They followed it up with another hit, “I’m Only Joking” (#54), whose video begins with a ride on the Phoenix Metro light rail.

Kansas City” (#8) was the first single by New Basement Tapes, a project built around unpublished Bob Dylan lyrics from 1967 when he was writing and recording with the Band on what would later become known as the Basement Tapes. The collaboration consisted of five musicians who wrote melodies and performed the songs — Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford (of Mumford & Sons), Jim James (of My Morning Jacket), Taylor Goldsmith (of Dawes), and Rhiannon Giddens (formerly of Carolina Chocolate Drops) — all under the guidance of famed producer T Bone Burnett.

Other new collaborations of veteran musicians in 2014 included Trigger Hippy (#25), Tired Pony (#73), Hard Working Americans (#75) and Autumn Defense (#85).

Lana Del Rey had an unexpected #1 smash with “West Coast” (#11), produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys — which had two chart-toppers of their own in 2014 with “Fever” (#2) and “Gotta Get Away” (#15).

Paul McCartney keeps broadening his musical palette. “Appreciate” (#14) finds the ex-Beatle experimenting, just like in the old days, and incorporating some of the electronica sounds of his long-time side project The Fireman. Other legends updating their sound were Bruce Springsteen with “High Hopes” (#4) and Tom Petty with “American Dream Plan B” (#5). Led Zepplin’s Robert Plant (#14), David Crosby (#34) and Pink Floyd (#56) — all superstars from the 1960s and 1970s —  also released new material.

This past year also saw new music from alternative artists who first hit it big in the 1980s and 1990s, including Beck (#6, #39), Coldplay (#9, #13), Suzanne Vega (#29), Foo Fighters (#64), Afghan Whigs (#66), Counting Crows (#78), Big Head Todd & The Monsters (#84), Camper Van Beethoven (#88) and Joan Osborne (#93), who is also a member of Trigger Hippy (#25).

Among the established 21st century hitmakers that placed songs on the top 100 were the Decemberists (#17), Ryan Adams (#19), Spoon (#20), Broken Bells (#22), Foster The People (#24),  Arcade Fire (#26), Jack White (#37), Imagine Dragons (#45), Conor Oberst (#50, #72), Kings Of Leon (#79, #90) and Lorde (#97).

And, of course, new artists with their first hits were also well represented. These included Milky Chance (#12), Boy & Bear (#16, #53), Lake Street Dive (#28, #70), George Ezra (#30), Desert Noises (#49, #63), St. Paul & The Broken Bones (#65) and Nick Waterhouse with a retro ’60s boogie sound that anchors the chart at #100.

 

THE PHOENIX 50 | Top 100 Hits of 2014

Compiled from the weekly potential playlists of current hits for a mass appeal, rock-leaning Triple A (Adult Album Alternative) radio station — if Phoenix had one

Click on song title to play video | *former number one song

o1    INVISIBLE — U2*
02   FEVER — BLACK KEYS*
03   COME WITH ME NOW — KONGOS*
04   HIGH HOPES — BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN*
05   AMERICAN DREAM PLAN B / U GET ME HIGH — TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS*
06   BLUE MOON — BECK*
07   THE MIRACLE (OF JOEY RAMONE) — U2*
08   KANSAS CITY — New Basement Tapes featuring Marcus Mumford*
09   MAGIC — COLDPLAY*
10   ORDINARY LOVE — U2*
11    WEST COAST — LANA DEL REY*
12    STOLEN DANCE — MILKY CHANCE*
13    A SKY FULL OF STARS — COLDPLAY*
14    APPRECIATE — PAUL McCARTNEY
15    GOTTA GET AWAY — BLACK KEYS*
16    SOUTHERN SUN — BOY & BEAR
17    MAKE YOU BETTER — DECEMBERISTS*
18   RAINBOW — ROBERT PLANT*
19   GIMME SOMETHING GOOD — RYAN ADAMS*
20  DO YOU — SPOON*
21   LET ME DOWN EASY — PAOLO NUTINI*
22   HOLDING ON FOR LIFE — BROKEN BELLS*
23   SHELTER SONG — TEMPLES
24   COMING OF AGE — FOSTER THE PEOPLE*
25   RISE UP SINGING — TRIGGER HIPPY*
26   AFTERLIFE — ARCADE FIRE*
27   DARK SUNGLASSES — CHRISSIE HYNDE*
28   BAD SELF PORTRAITS — LAKE STREET DIVE
29   I NEVER WEAR WHITE — SUZANNE VEGA
30   BUDAPEST — GEORGE EZRA*
31    RIPTIDE — VANCE JOY
32   SUPERNOVA — RAY LAMONTAGNE
33   LAZY — FATHOM LANE
34   WHAT’S BROKEN — DAVID CROSBY
35   BULLET — FRANZ FERDINAND
36   WALKING BACKWARDS — LEAGUES
37   LAZARETTO / JUST ONE DRINK — JACK WHITE
38   RAINY DAY #1 & 2 — GRIP WEEDS
39   HEART IS A DRUM — BECK
40   THE STRUGGLE — GRIZFOLK
41    GOT IT WRONG — WILD FEATHERS
42   GHOST — JERRY MESSERSMITH
43   SILVER TIMOTHY — DAMIEN JURADO
44   RED EYES — WAR ON DRUGS
45   ON TOP OF THE WORLD — IMAGINE DRAGONS
46   STRONG — LONDON GRAMMAR
47   FORGOTTEN MAN — TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS
48   FEELS LIKE WE ONLY GO BACKWARDS — TAME IMPALA
49   MICE IN THE KITCHEN — DESERT NOISES
50   HUNDREDS OF WAYS — CONOR OBERST
51   LANTERNS — BIRDS OF TOKYO
52   WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER — SAM ROBERTS BAND
53   THREE-HEADED WOMAN — BOY & BEAR
54   I’M ONLY JOKING — KONGOS
55   WHEN WE’RE FIRE — LO-FANG
56   LOUDER THAN WORDS — PINK FLOYD
57   LANDLOCKED — FANFARLO
58   SHOELACES — ELIZABETH & THE CATAPULT
59   THIRSTY MAN — BLITZEN TRAPPER
60   LEFT HAND FREE — ALT-J
61   ANOTHER STORY — THE HEAD & THE HEART
62   THE WALKER — FITZ & THE TANTRUMS
63   FOLLOW YOU OUT — DESERT NOISES
64   SOMETHING FOR NOTHING — FOO FIGHTERS
65   CALL ME — ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES
66   ALGIERS — AFGHAN WHIGS
67   WILDERNESS — MASON JENNINGS
68   LIGHT WILL KEEP YOUR HEART BEATING FOR THE FUTURE — MIKE DOUGHTY
69   INSTANT PUNK — DAFT PUNK FEATURING JULIAN CASABLANCAS
70   YOU GO DOWN SMOOTH — LAKE STREET DIVE
71   LAST LOVE SONG — ZZ WARD
72   ZIGZAGGING TOWARD THE LIGHT — CONOR OBERST
73   I DON’T WANT YOU AS A GHOST — TIRED PONY
74   MY SILVER LINING — FIRST AID KIT
75   DOWN TO THE WELL — HARD WORKING AMERICANS
76   ONLY ONE — JOHN BUTLER TRIO
77   SHAPE SHIFTERS — SAM ROBERTS BAND
78   SCARECROW —  COUNTING CROWS
79   FAMILY TREE —  KINGS OF LEON
80  THE SOUNDMAKER —  RODRIGO Y GABRIELA
81   THE HEART —  NEEDTOBREATHE
82   WASHING DISHES —  JACK JOHNSON
83   TAKING CHANCES —  SHARON VAN ETTEN
84   JOSEPHINA —  BIG HEAD TODD & THE MONSTERS
85   THIS THING THAT I FOUND —  AUTUMN DEFENSE
86   LIVE IT RIGHT —  HIP ABDUCTION
87   YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY —  BENMONT TENCH
88   IT WAS LIKE THAT WHEN WE GOT HERE —  CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN
89   HIGH & WILD —  ANGEL OLSEN
90   WAIT FOR ME —  KINGS OF LEON
91   MORNING SONG —  AVETT BROTHERS
92   SPINNERS —  THE HOLD STEADY
93   WORK ON ME —  JOAN OSBORNE
94   CRUEL CITY —  AUGUSTINES
95   MODERN BLUE —  ROSANNE CASH
96   HEAD FOR THE HILLS —  NIGHT BEDS
97   YELLOW FLICKER BEAT —  LORDE
98   LONG TIME GONE —  BILLY JOE ARMSTRONG & NORAH JONES
99   PAULINE HAWKINS —  DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS
100 THIS IS A GAME —  NICK WATERHOUSE

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