Zazie's Top 64 Songs of 2012 (Read 708 times)

[Zazie]

I’m basing this, as I always do, on a points system using the Billboard chart (now the Airplay chart) as my source of chart positions. It's fairly simple: 1 point for a week at 40, 2 for a week at 39, etc. I give bonuses too: 5 points for every week in the top 40 after the 21st week; 10 points for every week in the top 10 beginning in week 10. Most important bonuses are for weeks at #1 -- 50 points for 1 week at the top, 120 points for 2 weeks, 210 weeks for 3 weeks, 320 for 4 weeks.

The main difference between mine and other lists is that I then decide which year a song belongs to and then I assign all of its points to that year. No splitting a song into two calendar years. I can’t see why Keep Me In Mind shouldn’t be a #1 song for a year just because of its release date. So I assign all of its points to one year.

And I assign the song to 2012 if it peaked within the chart year (Dec '11 through Nov '12) or if it peaked in Dec '12 and went recurrent before the Jan 5 2013 chart. A couple of songs that could have gone either way wound up staying on the chart this past week and therefore being held over until 2013 -- songs by Greg Bates and Eric Church.

Here's my top 64, with each song followed by its total of points.

1. Zac Brown Band, Keep Me In Mind 1006 (4 weeks at #1, 13 top 10 weeks, a clear #1)
2. Josh Turner, Time Is Love 973 (highest-ranked non-#1; many non-#1’s did well)
3. David Nail, Let It Rain 955
4. Dustin Lynch, Cowboys And Angels 952
5. Band Perry, All Your Life 949
6. Jana Kramer, Why Ya Wanna 924
7. Brantley Gilbert, You Don’t Know Her Like I Do 885
8. Gloriana, (Kissed You) Good Night 851
9. Luke Bryan, Drunk On You 836
10. Kip Moore, Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck 820

11. Jake Owen, Alone With You 809 (most years produce 8 to 12 songs with 800+ points)
12. Easton Corbin, Lovin’ You Is Fun 798 (not bad for a #5 peaking song)
13. Chris Young, You 795
14. Eli Young Band, Even If It Breaks Your Heart 789
15. Eric Church, Springsteen 784
16. Luke Bryan, I Don’t Want This Night To End 782
17. Kenny Chesney, Reality 776
18. Lee Brice, Hard To Love 772
19. Tim McGraw, Better Than I Used To Be 761
20. Eric Church, Drink In My Hand 742

21. Lady Antebellum, We Owned The Night 741
22. Dierks Bentley, Home 739
23. Jake Owen, The One That Got Away 737
24. Jason Aldean, Take A Little Ride 715
25. Lee Brice, A Woman Like You 704
26. Love & Theft, Angel Eyes 702
27. Rascal Flatts w/ Bedington, Easy 701 (there are usually about 24 songs with 700+)
28. Keith Urban, You Gonna Fly 698 (can't complain about this ranking but he could easily have finished as high as #24)
29. Miranda Lambert, Fastest Girl In Town 688 (2nd highest ranked song by a solo female artist, if you can believe that)
30. Luke Bryan, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye 685 (3 songs in the top 30, great year for Luke)

31. Jason Aldean, Tattoos On This Town 675
32. Rascal Flatts, Come Wake Me Up 672
33. Hunter Hayes, Wanted 665
34. Miranda Lambert, Over You 659
35. Martina McBride, I’m Gonna Love You Through It 655
36. Blake Shelton, Drink On It 643
37. Carrie Underwood, Blown Away 633
38. Band Perry, Postcard From Paris 629
39. Blake Shelton, Over 624
40. Carrie Underwood, Good Girl 604

41. Montgomery Gentry, Where I Come From 600 (40 songs is typical for 600+ pts)
42. Kenny Chesney, Over You 597
43. Jason Aldean, Fly Over States 590
44. Hunter Hayes, Storm Warning 588 (highest-ranked song to peak below #10)
45. Keith Urban, For You 584 (pretty strong for a soundtrack song)
46. Little Big Town, Pontoon 578
47. Lady Antebellum, Dancin’ Away With My Heart 573
48. Taylor Swift, Ours 571
49. Rascal Flatts, Banjo 561
50. Zac Brown Band, No Hurry 560

51. Craig Morgan, This Ole Boy 538
52. Dierks Bentley 5-1-5-0 532 (lowest-ranking #1 song of 2012)
53. George Strait, Love’s Gonna Make It Alright 528 (highest-ranked song by G Strait)
54. Chris Cagle, Got My Country On 502 (usually about 48 songs score 500 or more pts)
55. Edens Edge, Amen 495
54. Toby Keith, Beers Ago 478
55. Tim McGraw, Truck Yeah 434
56. Toby Keith, Red Solo Cup 419
57. Justin Moore, Bait A Hook 419 (Toby wins tiebreaker with higher peak position)
58. Thompson Square, Glass 409
59. Brad Paisley, Camouflage 391
60. The FARM, Home Sweet Home 371
61. Big & Rich, That’s Why I Pray 370
62. Zac Brown Band, The Wind 355
63. Scotty McCreery, The Trouble With Girls 345
64. Thomas Rhett, Something To Do With My Hands 332

[screbel]

Thanks Zazie. It's always interesting to see your year-end chart and see how all the songs rank.

[urbangirl13]

Thanks, Zazie. Very interesting and to me, some surprising results.

[myeverythingku]

Very cool Zazie!! I loved seeing this list as well. Really happy for Kip at #10, and of course for Keith at 28 & 45 although as always, I think it should be higher! Some were surprising to me too!! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this!!