Hits 1's Top 30 of 2020 - Harry Styles

Hey guys and welcome to Hits 1's Top 30 of 2020 list! The list this year is super whack. I'm not entirely sure if it was because they shortened it to 30 songs or if it was just Hits 1 being weird, but there were so many songs that deserved to be on this list, but didn't make it. In fact, Kings & Queens was the only song that debuted in the Top 30 to be on this list, which is ridiculous. Yeah, that means that songs like Come & Go, Savage Love, Bang!, Heather, Harry's Falling and Mood. I mean, come ON! All of those songs deserved to be on there (even if I don't like Heather). But whatever, it's still fun to review this every year.

Here's my format for this year.

#POS: Song Title - Artist Name [Countdown Peak in 2020] {Weeks on the Countdown in 2020)

Review.

Here's a brief refresher on my colour-coding. (With a couple added changes)

Purple: Best Song in the Top 30

Light Purple: One of My Top 5 Picks

Green: Great

Blue: Good

Pink: Decent

Yellow: Mediocre

Light Blue: Bad

Red: Crap

Dark Red: One of My Bottom 5 Picks

Orange: Worst Song in the Top 30

Alright, let's go!

#30: 10,000 Hours - Dan + Shay/Justin Bieber [#9] {15 weeks}

Wow, it's been a while since I've listened to this song. I honestly kind of forgot that it existed. That being said, it's definitely still a good song. I think Dan + Shay work pretty well with Justin Bieber and the writing's great too. Although, I definitely wouldn't say that this is one of the biggest songs of the year. Whatever, I guess I'm still glad that it's here.

#29: Intentions - Justin Bieber/Quavo [#11] {20 weeks}

Hunh. Back-to-back Justin Bieber. These are the only two Justin Bieber songs on the list too, but I'm definitely really glad that this song snuck in. It's my favourite Justin Bieber song of 2020, mostly just because of the production. There's so much to it and it's honestly just really interesting to listen to. Plus, Justin sounds good here and the song's pretty catchy too. Quavo's verse is a little unnecessary, but that being said, he doesn't bring the song down at all either.

#28: How Do You Sleep? - Sam Smith [#12] {15 weeks}

This is the most confusing song on the list out of all of them. How did this song do better on the Countdown than Come & Go, Falling and Monsters, which all hit #1 in 2020? I'm pretty sure in my Ultimate Rank, there's something like 50 songs that outperformed it. But whatever, this is still definitely a good song. Sam Smith sounds pretty good here and this is probably one of my favourite songs from them from the past couple of years. They work pretty well with the beat and the drop is decent. That last chorus especially is pretty good. Overall, this is just a really good song and I'm glad it's here, even if it makes no sense.

#27: Supalonely - BENEE/Gus Dapperton [#8] {23 weeks}

This was one of my least favourite hits of the year. I kind of get the appeal of this, the production's pretty groovy, but I just find this song super annoying. BENEE doesn't sound great, here voice has some pretty heavy autotune and don't even get me started on Gus Dapperton. He just sounds absolutely terrible on this song. Plus, I don't really like the "LALALALA" part in the chorus. Other than that, it's fine and I understand why people would like this, but I don't think it should've been as big of a hit as it was.

#26: hot girl bummer - blackbear [#4] {19 weeks}

This was one of the best songs of the year (as seen on my best songs of the year post). This was the start of Hits 1's stanning of blackbear and I'm honestly not sad about that. He's a pretty good artist and I like pretty much everything Hits 1's picked up of his so far. This is probably the best though, even if Monsters is pretty close to this. This song's honestly just lots and lots of fun. blackbear works super well with the song and although the pitch-shifting thing is weird, it somehow works really well with this song. I wish that this was released while Hits 1 was really in love with blackbear and I wish that it hit #1 for a few weeks. Still a great song though. But it should've been higher than his other song on the list.

#25: Level of Concern - Twenty One Pilots [#7] {13 weeks}

Gonna be honest here, this is one of the most forgettable songs of the year. I definitely forgot that this existed before they played it on this list. All that being said, this is still a really great song. Tyler Joseph sounds pretty good here and the production's honestly pretty solid. It's definitely not TOP's best, Heathens, The Hype and Stressed Out are all better, but this is good. This was definitely enjoyable while it was here even if I won't remember it in a couple years, or maybe even a couple months.

#24: What A Man Gotta Do - Jonas Brothers [#2] {17 weeks}

I totally forgot that this song peaked at #2. It really doesn't feel like it was that big this year, but whatever, like How Do You Sleep?, I'm still glad that it's here. All of the Jonas Brothers sound great here and this song is just a ton of fun. The chorus is very catchy and the production's really fun too. I'm really glad that this song did well on the Countdown and I'm happy that it's here.

#23: ROXANNE - Arizona Zervas [#9] {21 weeks}

Hits 1's still playing this somewhat regularly today and I'm definitely glad that Hits 1 let this onto the Countdown, let alone let it get to the top 10. I've already explained why I love this song in my Top 45 Songs of 2020 post and all of the reasons remain the same. Arizona Zervas sounds pretty great and the autotune doesn't take away from the song at all. On top of that, the song's super catchy and a lot of fun. The production also fits really well here. Overall, everything about this song just came together pretty well and it ultimately made just a really great and fun song.

#22: Kings & Queens - Ava Max [#2] {20 weeks}

Yeah, so this was the only song to debut when the Countdown was Top 30 to make this list. While I'm sad that it wasn't Bang! or Come & Go, this definitely isn't the worst song it could've been (Silently glares at Heather). This song was lots of fun while it was still new and although it's definitely faded on me mostly due to overplay as it started to get popular elsewhere in the world, I still find this song enjoyable. Ava sounds great, the writing's awesome and the layering in the chorus sounds pretty good too. I'm glad that this was a big hit.

#21: If the World Was Ending - JP Saxe/Julia Michaels [#10] {17 weeks}

Yeah, so this song did alright on the Countdown, but left kind of early just a couple of weeks into the shortening of the Countdown, then randomly re-entered one week in September then left the very next week. Not sure why, it was kind of weird. But anyways, I still enjoyed this song, even if my first impression of it doesn't necessarily hold up. I still think that JP Saxe and Julia Michaels sound pretty good and have some really great chemistry here and the writing in this song is good (even though it became popular at an awkward time). However, the reason I don't love it anymore is because it admittedly gets kind of boring when you've heard it a lot. This definitely isn't a song I'm going to remember for a long time, but it was definitely still good and overly hated, in my opinion.

#20: Maniac - Conan Gray [#2] {16 weeks}

Boy, am I glad that this was our first impression of Conan Gray and not Heather. This song was actually incredibly enjoyable and was overlooked by many mainstream radio stations for no apparent reason. It had kind of a funny run on Hits 1, as it was switching between being at #2 and #10 for weeks on end. Not sure why, but it was definitely amusing. Anyways, Conan Gray sounds pretty great here and although there's not too much to the melody, it's still enjoyable. This was a lot of fun while it was here. Good song.

#19: Midnight - Alesso/Liam Payne [1 week at #1] {20 weeks}

Welcome to another episode of "Hits 1 lets a One Direction member get a #1 song for no other reason than the fact that they were a One Direction member". Yeah, unfortunately there's five more episodes of this (Four, if you're not counting Watermelon Sugar, because that was actually a pretty big hit). This song was good, but it definitely shouldn't have done as well as it did on here. I think Alesso's production was good and Liam Payne also sounded good, but it was way too generic to actually be too interesting.

#18: me & ur ghost - blackbear [#2] {22 weeks}

This should not have re-entered. They gave it pretty much exactly the right amount of success after it left the first time. But then, for some reason, a couple of months after it had lost all of its traction, it re-entered the Countdown all the way up at #5. Then proceeded to hit #2 and was only blocked by... Watermelon Sugar, I think? Nope. Moral of the Story. Never mind, this should've hit #1. Haha but in all seriousness, this was still an enjoyable song even if it wasn't as good as hot girl bummer, queen of broken hearts, my ex's best friend or Monsters. blackbear always sounds good and that's definitely no exception here. The only issue is that it's not all too interesting and kind of fades into the background a lot. Other than that, good song though.

#17: Graveyard - Halsey [#6] {21 weeks}

I'm honestly pretty sad that You should be sad wasn't the Halsey song to make this list. I would've also been fine with Be Kind. Anyways, this song definitely isn't bad by any means, it's just honestly not that interesting or memorable. Halsey sounds good here and the production's... fine, I guess. There's honestly not much to talk about this one. (Oh yeah, also fun fact: After On-Demand Hit-Bound, this was always the song to play after it finished, which got really annoying).

#16: Old Me - 5 Seconds of Summer [1 week at #1] {22 weeks}

Oh yeah haha CALM exists. This is probably the most forgettable single from that album although none of them were too memorable. Wildflower is pretty forgettable and Easier isn't too memorable either. The only one that's kind of memorable is Teeth. Anyways, this is also the worst single from CALM. It was overplayed to death on Hits 1 and definitely shouldn't have hit #1 on Hits 1. It got really annoying really quickly and I still find it pretty annoying.

#15: Good as Hell - Lizzo [#7] {18 weeks}

So this song is spending its second year on the Year-End list and is the first of two songs to do this this year. I'm honestly quite surprised that this made it, but I'm also really happy that it's here, as it's really good. This is easily the best Lizzo song I've heard. She sounds great here and it's not in the least bit annoying, especially compared to songs like Truth Hurts and Cuz I Love You. I'm glad that this is here.

#14: My Oh My - Camila Cabello [#5] {19 weeks}

Ayyy, this was a fun song. Camila sounds really good here and the hook is honestly just pretty inventive and fun. Especially the background vocals that go "My oh myyyyyy". I'm really sad that this didn't come out after Hits 1 warmed to rap music though, because then we would've gotten DaBaby's verse on here and that makes it infinitely better. But whatever, it's still a good song without him even though he adds a lot to the song.

#13: Break My Heart - Dua Lipa [#2] {17 weeks}

Yeah, this song was pretty fun when it was here too. I already talked about this song on my best list, so there's not much that I have to say here that I haven't said already. Cool, groovy bassline and Dua sounds great. Even though I got a little tired of it, I still like it and I have a feeling I'm going to really love it again in a few more months.

#12: Moral of the Story - Ashe/Niall Horan [6 weeks at #1] {24 weeks}

Oh thank goodness, this is much lower than I expected it to be. I feel like I've explained why I really hate this song so much too many times, but this is probably one of the last times that I'll have to, so I'll do it. The original version of this song was alright although a bit boring, but then Niall Horan decided to remix it and he made it worse while also making it do terrifically on the Weekend Countdown and hitting #1 for six weeks in a row. It was just kind of ridiculous and really didn't need to happen.

#11: No Judgement - Niall Horan [1 week at #1] {21 weeks}

Even though this is so much better than Moral of the Story, it's still not a very interesting song. It's not bad, there's just little to no substance to it. The production's kind of boring and although Niall sounds pretty good here, he doesn't sound good enough to move it up to further than a pink. Oh yeah and again, this shouldn't have hit #1, even though it was only for a week. There's absolutely no way I'm going to remember that this song exists in a year or two.

#10: Teeth - 5 Seconds of Summer [#2] {21 weeks}

Haha I mentioned earlier that this was the most memorable song from CALM, yet I forgot that it was higher on this list. That being said, this is a great song and it definitely deserved to be here after missing out on the list last year, despite hitting #1 for a couple weeks. I liked the more rock-sounding vibe on this song and I think it fit really well with 5SOS. Both of the guys here sound pretty good and I really like the instrumentation here. I'm glad that this is here.

#9: Only Human - Jonas Brothers [#2] {20 weeks}

I completely forgot that this song stayed for as long as it did on the Countdown this year. In fact, it was actually one of the last songs to drop out of the Countdown before they shortened it. I'm pretty sure this and everything i wanted might have been the last two. This song's alright. It's fun to revisit sometimes, but it's not really something that I find myself constantly coming back to. It was much better than Cool, which already made it a pretty good song, but it's still not as good as Sucker. This song definitely isn't bad though, the guys sound good here and the production's cool. This song's also really catchy. I'm happy that this was a hit, even if I'm gonna forget about it in a couple more years.

#8: Blinding Lights - The Weeknd [6 weeks at #1] {20 weeks}

Yeah, okay, I'm satisfied with where this ended up on the list. It's not quite as high as I would've liked, there's definitely songs above it that shouldn't be above it, but for my favourite song of the year, #8 is a really good ranking. This actually surprisingly managed to hit #1 for six weeks on the Weekend Countdown, which just proves how big of a hit this was, because Hits 1 are by no means The Weeknd stans. I've explained countless times why I love this song and here we go again I guess. Abel sounds fantastic here, the song is catchy beyond belief and the 80s-synth vibe is executed to perfection. Great song, I'm so happy with its amount of success.

#7: Watermelon Sugar - Harry Styles [7 weeks at #1] {26 weeks}

Wow, I expected this song to be much higher on this list, especially considering how much Hits 1 loves Harry Styles. This was easily the best Harry Styles single of this year and it definitely deserved to actually be a pretty big hit here and everywhere else. It had a pretty weird run here, as it debuted back in November of 2019, then stayed in Hit-Bound for a really long time before re-entering and finally staying. The production here is great and Harry sounds pretty good too. I like this song and I'm glad that it exists.

#6: Say So - Doja Cat [#3] {23 weeks}

Yeah, so this one grew on me a little bit. I definitely don't hate it nearly as much as I did when it was big. I can definitely see the appeal now, it's extremely groovy and Doja Cat actually doesn't sound that bad, but it's still extremely annoying. I just get kind of annoyed whenever it comes on the radio, because for one, it was overplayed and I never really liked it anyways. The Nicki Minaj remix is still terrible though.

#5: Don't Start Now - Dua Lipa [#2] {21 weeks}

This ended up ranking pretty well on this list and I'd say that that makes up for it not hitting #1 (or maybe I'm just saying that because she's finally gotten a #1 with Levitating). This was a great song, but it definitely wasn't the best single from Future Nostalgia. It's still super fun though and I don't think overplay really killed it that much, even though it was played a ton when it was super popular. Dua sounds good here, the production is fun and the song's super catchy too. Great song, I'm happy that it ended up this high.

#4: Before You Go - Lewis Capaldi [1 week at #1] {37 weeks}

Wow, I honestly thought that this would be #1 of the year considering how long it stayed on the Countdown for. I'm honestly pretty disappointed that it wasn't, especially considering which song took the #1 spot. Anyways, I definitely like this song less than I did at the very start, but that's not saying that I don't still like it a lot. I think LewCap sounds good here and the production's more interesting than in Someone You Loved and it keeps it interesting and fresh. Good song, I'm glad that it was a hit.

#3: Nice To Meet Ya - Niall Horan [4 weeks at #1] {21 weeks}

I explained in my Top 45 Songs of 2020 post why I love this song so much. The instrumentation here is great, Niall sounds pretty great too and there's just so much energy in this song that it's practically impossible to not like it. I'm very satisfied with the amount of success that it got here and I wish it got more success outside of Hits 1.

#2: Circles - Post Malone [2 weeks at #1] {21 weeks}

Man, if I could put this higher up on my best list of 2019, I definitely would. It deserved to be much higher than I put it. I really love this song; everything about it just works super well. Post Malone sounds fantastic, as he normally does, and the instrumentation here also works really well with his voice. The main part that's really good though is the chorus. It's so catchy that I feel like it'll still get stuck in my head from time to time in a few years from now. I love this song and I'm so glad that it managed to snag a couple of weeks at #1 here.

#1: Adore You - Harry Styles [10 weeks at #1] {21 weeks}

Hunh. Four out of the top 5 songs spent exactly 21 weeks on the Countdown in 2020. Interesting. Anyways, yeah, I'm really disappointed that this song's the #1 of the year and I hoped that with its quick exit from the Countdown it wouldn't have racked up enough points to be the #1, but alas. I really can't stand this song. Harry honestly doesn't sound very good here, the production's extremely uninteresting and the song as a whole is just very very boring. I really wish that this wasn't such a big hit here.

Alright, that's all for this post! Sorry again for it being so late and you guys should do my rankdown, because you don't have that much time left to submit. (Oh yeah, also, if you want to do Callout Scores, the link is here.)

Kwaheri, everybody! See you in the next one.