I don't know why, but I have been in a Kim Petras mood lately. As a child, she wanted to be a fashion designer. It's kind of interesting where she ended up.
This was her first single on a major label, in 2021, and was a hit in US clubs and, weirdly, in Japan.
Of course she performs it live. Here's the first time she did that, from Lollapalooza 2021.
I can't say when I went from absolutely despising this song to liking it, but it happened in the last few months. And it's the chorus that gets me - absolutely gives me chills. Adele has always had a huge voice, and when she hits the chorus, it just hits for me.
Critics love the song, too. It was the 2017 Song and Record of the Year winner at the Grammys.
But what I think got it for me was the version she did with Jimmy Fallon, the Roots, and classroom instruments.
Spotify now has an AI DJ, who they call X. Usually, X nails my musical tastes pretty closely. but sometimes, he goes off the reservation.
This song started off like that. I like Megan Thee Stallion, but I wouldn't say she's a go to.
But X kept serving this song up a lot.
Over and over.
And it grew on me.
A clear diss track that does not name its target, who is, in my opinion, clearly Nicki Minaj, this song very quickly hit #1 on the US pop charts - the first time she's been there as a solo artist and her third trip overall - and was a worldwide hit.
And before anyone starts with me. Yes, I see the video is billed to Megan Thee Stallion and Tina Snow. I hope it's clear they are the same person.
By the way, those rhymes that she's spittin' so fast?
This song from a movie soundtrack was BY FAR Dan Hartman's biggest solo hit. BY FAR. It reached #6 on the US charts and was a big hit elsewhere.
Written by Hartman and co-produced by him alongside Jimmy Iovine, the song in this version did not actually appear in the movie.It was a stipulation in Hartman's contract that his version be released as a single if any single was released. That worked out well for him.
Notice how I have not mentioned the movie? That's because it's hardly worth mentioning. It was not a great movie. It was a HUGE flop at the box office. History has forgotten what this movie was about.
Two videos were made for this song. In this one, Hartman is hitting on actress Joyce Hyser.
In this one, the fictional band from the movie is "performing" with Hartman's vocal.
Streets of Fire. Are you happy? Do you even remember this was a movie?
Gee, Happy Valentine's Day. Why are we featuring such a bummer-titled song?
Because this song - the one you see below - is a cover of a song that came in 4th in the 1967 Eurovision competition. This cover by Paul Mauriat - an orchestral easy-listening version of a song that no one in the United States really knew - ended up topping the US Pop Charts for two weeks.
This remains the most popular Eurovision song to ever appear on the US Pop Charts.
I kind of love how the kids try to dance to this on American Bandstand. It's really not a song that fits that show, but it was a huge, HUGE hit.
The original was performed by an artist named Vicky (Leandros) at the 1967 Eurovision competition. This Greek singer - 17 at the time - represented Luxenbourg. How that works is beyond me - but I don't make the Eurovision rules.
Anyway, the song came in 4th.
She would go on to record the song in several languages, including English. In my opinion, not as good as the French, it is still a beautiful song.
She also recorded it in Dutch.
Luxembourg still loves her song, by the way. Here she is performing a multilingual version on their annual song competition in 2024!
Riding the wave of "Love Is Blue" fever, A/C superstar, Franco-American singer, wife of Andy Williams, and later convicted killer Claudine Longet (it was negligent homicide) recorded a version that did, indeed, hit the US Pop Charts. It would be her highest charting pop hit in the United States.
It's a pretty version.
The song hit the charts a couple of additional times. In 1968, Manny Kellem, His Orchestra and Chorus, brought it all the way to #96 on the US Pop Charts, although it was a huge adult contemporary radio hit.
Again, it's pretty. Again, it was Manny's only Hot 100 appearance.
Al Martino's version hit #57 in 1968.
It was by no means his biggest hit on the Hot 100, but it was a hit, and despite its different feel than the others, included the classic harpsichord riff.
Weirdly, so did Jeff Beck's version, which was more guitar-driven but didn't forget the most famous harpichord riff in music history.
This was not a US hit, but it was a hit in the UK and Ireland.
This version by Kim Kwang Suk is definitely a first for this blog.
First North Korean version.
Seriously. NORTH Korean. And French.
But we come back to that big hit - the one that made it a worldwide sensation.... the second biggest instrumental hit song of all time ("Theme From 'A Summer Place'" to answer your inevitable question).
It is a work of absolute art. Paul Mauriat took a great song and made it so much better.
This falls firmly in the category of songs you have heard, but you didn't know the title of.... or the artist.
Edward Maya is Romanian, and he enlisted Moldovan-Romanian artist Vika Jigulina to provide the vocals for what ended up being a slow burn of a worldwide hit. The song was a huge hit worldwide starting with its release in 2009, culminating with its peak on the US pop charts (#16) in 2011.... so yes, it was a three year build.
But there's more. It's 2025, and this song is STILL on the Moldovan and Polish pop charts - and has remained a huge Eastern European hit.
It is also the rare hit to include significant accordion.
Oh, you know they've performed this song live, and you know there was a signficant amount of accordion involved.
Yes, this is the song that Kendrick used to close his Superb Owl halftime performance, and it was a brilliant choice.
You might notice that there's a significant tempo change at about the 1:55 mark of this song - and that's because the song was recorded at two different times... and that means a little Mustard on the beat was needed for the transition.
And no. This isn't an official video. C'mon, it's mostly footage from the "Not Like Us" video. I used it anyway.
Yeah, of all the surprises from 2024, this one might have blindsided me the most.
Punjabi rock.
And yet this Juno-nominated artist brings us just that.
And that fact that he brings it so excellently is why we're posting about him on a Tuesday and not on a Sunday.
Orignally from India, former Best Buy employee Dhillon now calls British Columbia his home base. His 2024 album, The Brownprint, was released to wide critical acclaim, and it was deserved. Not an exageration to call it one of my five favorite albums of 2024.
You don't have to understand Punjabi to understand this song and its fantastic accompanying video.
It's rare that we get to post a song that came in EIGHTH in the Eurovision song competition.
Especially when it's a song by a non-European singer.
Gina G is very much from Australia.
But she did represent the UK, and it is there that this song hit #1. In the United States, it hit #12 on the pop charts in 1996, and would be the last Eurovision song to hit the US charts for more than 20 years. The upbeat song also garnered a Grammy nomination - the ONLY Eurovision song to ever get that.
So Mr. Worldwide and Xtina performed a song together that ended up being a big hit but has the biggest songwriting team I've ever seen on a song, and that's even before you include all the members of a-ha, whose big hit song was DEFINTELY lifted for this song.
Well, the song was special and a worldwide HUGE hit. You're gonna feel every one of those 136 beats per minutes. Seriously, we counted.
Despite being obviously not together in this video, they have performed this song together several times. My personal favorite was at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, where Morten Harket - who you might recognize from a-ha - took his song back at Mr. Worldwide's urging.
