It's now time to flip the script and talk about the top ten best songs of the year and while there were some good songs this year they don't really beat out the best of 2017's hits, my 2018 number one best hit doesn't hold a candle to 2017's number one which was "Castle on the Hill" by Ed Sheeran (a pick that I still stand by for the record)
So without further adieu is here my list of the top ten best hit songs of 2018 and we begin with a song that spent eight weeks at number one because hey, this band actually had a good song after all.
10. "Youngblood" by 5 Seconds of Summer
Look, I have never liked a lot of 5 Seconds of Summer's music so when this song came along I was pleasantly surprised. Yeah the song could have had more roaring guitars through the chorus but come on the content is downright catchy and its hard not to find yourself singing along due to the propulsive momentum from the bridge and chorus. Put it this way, this song won song of the year at the ARIAs for damn good reason.
In 2018, rock was pretty much dead on the charts unless you consider "High Hopes" by Panic! At the Disco rock music and this was the closest to a rock song we got on the ARIA charts and for once, it was pretty darn good.
9. "In My Blood" by Shawn Mendes
I so badly wanted to put "Youth" with Khalid as my pick here but as it wasn't a hit like it SHOULD have been I have gone for "In My Blood" a song that could be mistaken for a Kings of Leon "Use Somebody" especially in the production but hell, it suits the almost raw nature of the song where Shawn Mendes is desperate for help as he experiences feelings of anxiety and how it's cause him to want to give up, it shows with the tension in Shawn's voice, that tension matching in the production and finally causing the explosive yell of "It's in my blood" which releases the tension a little and then is allowed to build up again, its a good song and deserves its place here.
Calvin Harris had a good 2018 with two pretty good to excellent songs being top ten hits this year, the excellent making this list.
8. "Promises" by Calvin Harris and Sam Smith
Now look, like with the previous two other songs, this one has it's flaws. Jessie Reyez saying "Tonight" is pretty damn annoying and that giggle is obnoxious but there are elements within this song that work so well and a lot of it is down to Sam Smith's vocals where he uses a lot of his lower register which prove incredibly effective against the melody Calvin Harris supplies that is just infectious and while I am disappointed Harris went away from his funk sound that was fantastic in 2017, he did provide an awesome song that I just couldn't leave off this list because of it's unfiltered awesome.
Speaking of awesome, this woman had quite the 2018...
7. "I Said Hi" by Amy Shark
It's the second time Amy Shark has made my best list two years in a row and this song is probably better than "Adore". "Adore" has suffered a bit for me in recent months due to overplay but "I Said Hi" hit all the right buttons for me in terms of its 'fuck you' to the record label executives who thought Amy wasn't good enough over guitars and percussion that really amplify Amy's vocals and her success in the last two years is also a good middle finger to the record companies that wanted nothing of her, reckon most of them should be eating humble pie right now.
If you were wondering what happened George Ezra when he kind of disappeared for a couple of years following his last smash hit "Budapest"...well in 2018, he was back with a new album and his first number one single and welll....
6. "Shotgun" by George Ezra
I just couldn't deny this slice of infectious pop that just got stuck iny head most days especially after listening to his album 'Staying at Tamara's", :a song about slowing down and figuring out where you are at wbich is what Ezra did while on holidays, he went to Barcelona and sat in this garden and sorted out how he was feeling which is sometimes what we all to do is find a quiet place to sit down and reflect for awhile. I adore this song and it deserves to be on this list.
2018 was the year I understood this guy's appeal and hell, I even came to like what he was doing with his more moody R 'n' B so when he teamed up with a former member of a girl band who I consider to have released some of the worst songs from a girl group this decade, we got...this....
5. "Love Lies" by Khalid and Normani
So it's the second of the collaborations to make this list and honestly, it's actually surprising how much I fell in love with it as 2018 went on even despite an apparent lack of chemistry between Khalid and Normani as both ask their partners to choose who they want to be with over a kind of sleazy and a little creepy in a good way guitar line (heck, I wish guitar was used more in modern pop music). This song really became my jam during 2018.
4. "IDGAF" by Dua Lipa
So this is another of those "fuck you" songs that made this list (hmmm) and yeah it does sound like a top tier Pink song and much like most great Pink song, Dua Lipa knows how to restrain the swearing so that her point is made loud and clear, this guy isn't apart of her life anymore and she doesn't care about or need him anymore no matter how hard he tries to worm his way back into her heart and while "New Rules" was okay, "IDGAF" was soo much better.
So this year, this young lady got big, she even had her first and second number one singles in Australia, she even got her very first US number one but its her first Australian number one that's landing on this list and for good reason...
3. "No Tears Left to Cry" by Ariana Grande
2018 was a pretty awful year in Ariana Grande's personal life but for a couple of sweet months this song was something of a catharsis not only for her but for me as well off the back of dealing a lot of issues in recent years, this song came along and really made me smile reminiscent of Janet Jackson's early nineties work, "No Tears Left to cry" sees Grande declaring she hasn't got any more tears left to cry so instead she is going to pick her life up and move on as best she can without letting those internal or external problems bother her. It's a fantastic pop R 'n' B song that deserved more than just a week at number one.
So we're down to the final two songs on this list and for the longest time, I couldn't decide between two songs, one song that had made me cry and the other that made me smile. I re-listened to both songs and well.
2. "Healing Hands" by Conrad Sewell
It's been a couple of lean years for Conrad Sewell given he had been battling health issues in recent years but "Healing Hands" was a way to return to form with it's organ and piano as Conrad Sewell sings about those that were there for him when he was at his lowest/worst and vowing he will never try to push those who love him away again. "Healing Hands" was the song that broke my heart and brought me to tears quite often in 2018 such as how much it connected for me and deserves to be this high on this list.
So 2018 was a year that felt as though music had lost its sense of fun or at least helping people escape their own troubles in attempts to "relate" to the audience.but when Bruno Mars teamed up with the new Queen of Rap for a song that had a old but welcome sound.
1, "Finesse (Remix)" by Bruno Mars feat. Cardi B
Combine the king of retro music stylings, Bruno Mars with the newly crowned Queen of female rap, Cardi B and you get this slice of delicious revisit back to the late 80s, early 90s when New Jack Swing was everywhere in the top 40. Cardi B hops on an old school 80s flow for her verse that while does feel a bit tacked on works and Bruno Mars works the song with so much charisma that it's just a lot of fun that really makes me forget that the lyrics don't make sense. I cannot wait to see what both these two do next.
"Finesse" the best hit song of 2018.
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