Title: Big Dogs Artist: Dinosaur Pile-Up Album: I've Felt Better
I'm not sure what I expected from a band with a name like Dinosaur Pile-Up, but the first time I heard this song I was hooked. That admiration only grew after I've Felt Better was released and I realized just how ridiculous this group can be. It's honestly cliché to write discordant songs about how much you hate the world now, but Dinosaur Pile-Up did a pretty great job with this one. There isn't much to this song, but that's what makes it click for me.
Favorite Line: "Oh yeah, big dogs eat for free... cuz big dogs eat"
Last five #20s:
2024: Courtney From Work - Superfun! 2023: Dreamers - Wallow In It 2022: Halestorm - The Steeple 2021: Grabbitz - Pigs in the Sky 2020: Seether - Dangerous
And so we reach the end of another year of music. Another year of madness. Another year of... I dunno. Monkeys? Certainly not money. For all the good "m" words I can think of, one of the biggest ones that comes to mind is "meh".
Why meh? That's a fantastic question, and I'm glad you asked it. You see, the Top 20 Countdown is almost old enough to vote, and music is easier to find than ever due to streaming. Unfortunately, due to streaming and lack of interest, the simple pleasure of finding new music on the radio has become almost a thing of the past.
When I look back on previous years, I can clearly remember specific times when I first heard a song while either driving somewhere, or sitting in my room, or wherever it might have been. "Here's the newest single from..." has preceded many a classic J1T20 hit. "Bloodbuzz Ohio", "Check My Brain", "Alienation", etc. Locked in my brain is where I was the very first time I heard those songs and how they impacted me. The very first time I watched the video for "heartsigh" by Purity Ring. Staying up until midnight to hear the first new Cold song in almost a decade. The Top 20 Countdown has become an archive of memories, be they good, bad or indifferent.
2025... has been a weird year. Our local alternative station officially went out of business, and even our local hard rock and Christian rock stations have put more focus on previous years as opposed to new releases. The last two years, I had so many choices for the back end of the Top 20, while this year I struggled to even have 20 until the last two months. Literally, I'm barely finishing cobbling it together with two days to spare. Woof.
Let's look back at last year and push through this.
20. Courtney from Work - Superfun! 19. Vampire Weekend - Capricorn 18. Badflower - Teacher Has A Gun 17. Jack Kays - Blow It 16. David Swanson - Pocketknife Heart 15. Flesh Field - Demon 14. Soft Kill - Joy is a Crime 13. Letdown. - Hate Myself 12. Neuroticfish - Bring The Noise 11. Tommy Richman - Million Dollar Baby 10. Walk the Moon - Mono No Aware 9. Knox - Me, Myself & Your Eyes 8. Amira Elkefy - Tonight (demo) 7. Red Wanting Blue - Killer 6. Till Lindemann - Nass 5. Softcult - Shortfest Fuse 4. The Struts - Hands On Me 3. Watershed - Hey Lydia 2. Metric - Days of Oblivion 1. LØLØ - wish i was a robot
Old friends like Metric and Walk the Moon, new discoveries like Lolo and Amira Elkefy... lots of interesting mixes of music came with 2024. Lots of solid jams didn't make the list... much like this year. Let's see who just missed the cut.
Linkin Park - Two Faced Album: From Zero
Linkin Park threw a huge wrench into the world by announcing their new vocalist was Emily Armstrong from Dead Sara. My first thought... do we actually need new LP, sans Chester Bennington? Second thought: I like Emily and Dead Sara, who had just put out a pretty solid record a few years prior. So I gave it a shot, and it's decent. As with any LP record, there are odd experimental things and dull tracks that are super glossy, but there were a few good jams in this one, and I didn't hate that they tried to come back.
A Flock Of Seagulls - Some Dreams Album: Some Dreams
Take an 80s band, break them up for a bit, let them come back together and tour as a novelty artist... and then suddenly drop your first record in 30 years? Sure, go right ahead A Flock of Seagulls. The album feels like the honest progression of a band that scored hits with "I Ran (So Far Away)" and |Space Age Love Song", but released in 2025. The opening synth on "Some Dreams" is outstanding.
Royale Lynn - Greed Album: Black Magic
There isn't a song from 2025 that I have more mixed feelings for than this one. Upon hearing it as a standalone, I was intrigued at the potential that Royale Lynn might have. After listening to the full album, OUCH. Every song is the same copy/paste alt-metal formula that tons of other "solo" artists have embodied in the last 5 years. And her voice... it works for exactly 1 song. Second song? Shrill, screeching, painful. It tainted a song that I thought was certainly destined for the top 10.
Echo Pilot - Above the Skies Album: Above the Skies single
Spotify has this odd fascination with taking random artists that have nothing in common with anything I listen to, and peppering them into my Release Radar every Friday. Sometimes they are decent, but more often than not I never even bat an eye towards anything released in the future from those artists. Echo Pilot ended up capturing my attention with a Foo Fighters-esque hook and feel good riffs on "Above the Skies" that helped it almost reach the Countdown.
Franz Ferdinand - Audacious Album: The Human Fear
When I was in high school, Franz Ferdinand was humongous. Every station, every publication, every alt -anything. They flamed out quickly and disappeared... and suddenly came back. They're just as clever and hooky as they were before, but I could barely make it through this album. Fortunately they put the best track right at the top and let it play through my mind in 2025.
Tomorrow, noon, you know how we do it.
HM: Lord of the Lost - Light Can Only Shine In The Darkness (ft Within Temptation); Dropkick Murphy's - Who'll Stand With us?; Mary Chapin Carpenter - The Saving Things; Mammoth - The End; Evanescence - Fight like a Girl (ft K. Flay); Zetra - So; Buddy Guy - Land Man Standing (ft Switchfoot); Deftones - Cut Hands
Somewhere between January 14th, when I started on the year end lists... aaaaaand............... todayyyy.......... I got caught in a work loop that left me exhausted every day, and unable to write much of anything music related. Yeah, so... yeah. I'm not going to do the usual recap, most played song, etc. etc. Just gonna list the artists and where they finished in 2023.
25. Avril Lavigne (NR)
24. matchbox twenty (NR)
23. Rammstein (17)
22. Finger Eleven (NR)
21. Brave Saint Saturn (20)
20. The Classic Crime (NR)
19. LØLØ (NR)
18. Fuel (16)
17. Switchfoot (15)
16. Alice in Chains (25)
15. Metric (NR)
14. Demon Hunter (9)
13. Sam Cooke (19)
12. Five Iron Frenzy (14)
11. Anberlin (4)
10. Circle of Dust (13)
9. Blindside (18)
8. Goo Goo Dolls (NR)
7. Sevendust (8)
6. Trans-Siberian Orchestra (12)
5. Stavesacre (NR)
4. Korn (NR)
3. Assemblage 23 (5)
2. VNV Nation (2)
1. Cold (1)
And then I'm going to say that I promise I'll keep things rolling in an orderly fashion this December. Big oops right there. Once it hit February and March, I didn't feel right revisiting things and, well, now it's time for the new Top 20 Countdown.
As usual, we start with the raw numbers. This year, there were 30,782 total scrobbles, up 11% from last year. Those scrobbles came from 15,238 individual tracks, making for an average of 2.020 plays per song. There were 4856 songs that were played at least twice, leaving 10,381 that got one single solitary stream. Alas, those poor lonely songs.
Let's take a look at the 30 most played songs, and see if there are any surprises this year.
Key: #TY. Artist - Song (Last year's ranking)
30. Till Lindemann - Nass (new)
29. Sixpence None The Richer - Don't Dream It's Over (NR)
28. Further Seems Forever - The Moon Is Down (NR)
27. Flyleaf - I'm So Sick (NR)
26. Children 18:3 - Search Warrant (NR)
25. Alice in Chains - Them Bones (NR)
24. Watershed - Hey Lydia (new)
23. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - The Dark of the Sun (NR)
22. Stavesacre - An Eclipsing (NR)
21. Staple - Sound of Silence (NR)
20. Demon Hunter - I Have Seen Where It Grows (NR)
19. Burlap to Cashmere - Anybody Out There? (NR)
18. The Struts - Hands On Me (new)
17. Avril Lavigne - Everybody Hurts (NR)
16. Alice in Chains - Would? (24)
15. Whole Damn Mess - Nothing In The World Feels Better (2)
