American Top 40 - Top 40 of 2015

[jdelachjr2002]

The biggest songs of 2015...

#40: Ariana Grande - One Last Time (peak: #6)
#39: Andy Grammer - Honey, I'm Good (peak: #8)
#38: Tove Lo - Habits (Stay High) (peak: #1)*

#37: The Weeknd - The Hills (peak: #2)
#36: DJ Snake & AlunaGeorge - You Know You Like It (peak: #7)
#35: Demi Lovato - Cool For The Summer (peak: #3)
Extra: Echosmith - Bright
#34: Ed Sheeran - Don't (peak: #2)

#33: Shawn Mendes - Stitches (peak: #1)
Extra: Taylor Swift - Wildest Dreams
#32: Nick Jonas - Chains (peak: #6)
#31: R. City featuring Adam Levine - Locked Away (Love Me The Same) (peak: #1)
Optional Extra: James Newton Howard featuring Jennifer Lawrence - The Hanging Tree
#30: Calvin Harris featuring John Newman - Blame (peak: #3)
#29: Meghan Trainor - Lips Are Movin' (peak: #4)
#28: Mr. Probz - Waves (peak: #5)
Extra: One Direction - Night Changes

#27: Ed Sheeran - Photograph (peak: #4)
#26: Ariana Grande featuring The Weeknd - Love Me Harder (peak: #3)
#25: Sam Smith - I'm Not The Only One (peak: #4)
Extra: Tori Kelly - Should've Been Us
#24: Skrillex & Diplo featuring Justin Bieber - Where Are U Now (peak: #5)

#23: The Weeknd - Earned It (peak: #1)
#22: Maroon 5 - Animals (peak: #1)
#21: Hozier - Take Me To Church (peak: #2)
Optional Extra: Sheppard - Geronimo
#20: Selena Gomez - Good For You (peak: #1)
#19: Natalie La Rose featuring Jeremih - Somebody (peak: #3)
Extra: Alessia Cara - Here
#18: Fifth Harmony featuring Kid Ink - Worth It (peak: #3)

#17: Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo - Time Of Our Lives (peak: #4)
#16: Tove Lo - Talking Body (peak: #4)
Extra: Rachel Platten - Fight Song
#15: David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha & Afrojack - Hey Mama (peak: #2)
#14: OMI - Cheerleader (peak: #1)

#13: Major Lazer featuring DJ Snake & MO - Lean On (peak: #1)
#12: Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar - Bad Blood (peak: #1)
#11: The Weeknd - Can't Feel My Face (peak: #1)
Optional Extra: Charlie Puth featuring Meghan Trainor - Marvin Gaye
#10: Nick Jonas - Jealous (peak: #1)
#09: Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth - See You Again (peak: #1)
#08: Taylor Swift - Style (peak: #1)

Extra: Madonna - Living For Love
#07: Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do (peak: #1)
#06: Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud (peak: #1)

#05: Jason Derülo - Want To Want Me (peak: #1)
#04: Maroon 5 - Sugar (peak: #1)
#03: Walk The Moon - Shut Up + Dance (peak: #2)
Optional Extra: Adele - Hello
#02: Taylor Swift - Blank Space (peak: #1)
#01: Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk! (peak: #1)

* = was #40 on last year's ranking

[Cerebro]

And, just like last year, they used the Mediabase published year-end chart. Looks like this is a "thing", now.

[matteeeb]

Geronimo and Bright as extras? I'm totally tuning in! Anyone know how to listen to it in Canada? My station is playing their top 40 of the year in the AT40 slot, and I heart radio doesn't work in Canada so does anyone know?

[Cerebro]

Dec 22, 2015 15:45:33 GMT -5 matteeeb said:

Geronimo and Bright as extras? I'm totally tuning in! Anyone know how to listen to it in Canada? My station is playing their top 40 of the year in the AT40 slot, and I heart radio doesn't work in Canada so does anyone know?

iHeartRadio doesn't work in Canada? You might try one of the streams on this site -- radio.nenad.net/index.php. There are several Canadian affiliates, here. I don't know how up-to-date this list is.

[friday]

Sorry if I'm gonna come off as a wet blanket, but this countdown just demonstrates to me what a generally shitty year it's been for pop music. :(

[Mr. Thonk Eyes]

Dec 22, 2015 13:11:51 GMT -5 Cerebro said:

And, just like last year, they used the Mediabase published year-end chart. Looks like this is a "thing", now.

Just curious, do you (or anyone really) have the published year-end chart for 2010-2013? I'm pretty sure AT40 didn't use the actual thing for any of those years so I'd really like to see what the actual year-end chart for those years ended up looking like.

[musiciscool]

I miss the days AT40 would do the Top 100 songs of the year. Oh well, a Top 40 of the year is better than nothing at all.

Is it just me, or is it random playing Madonna's "Living For Love" as an extra. I had totally forgotten about it. Actually, did it even debut on the chart? I don't remember.

[thatchos]

Dec 23, 2015 0:20:08 GMT -5 musiciscool said:

I miss the days AT40 would do the Top 100 songs of the year. Oh well, a Top 40 of the year is better than nothing at all.

Is it just me, or is it random playing Madonna's "Living For Love" as an extra. I had totally forgotten about it. Actually, did it even debut on the chart? I don't remember.

Living For Love spent a week on the chart at #40. Hands-down the least successful run of the year, with Years & Years - King coming at a close second. It spent two weeks at #40.

[Cerebro]

Dec 22, 2015 23:49:05 GMT -5 Mr. Thonk Eyes said:

Dec 22, 2015 13:11:51 GMT -5 Cerebro said:

And, just like last year, they used the Mediabase published year-end chart. Looks like this is a "thing", now.

Just curious, do you (or anyone really) have the published year-end chart for 2010-2013? I'm pretty sure AT40 didn't use the actual thing for any of those years so I'd really like to see what the actual year-end chart for those years ended up looking like.

All of Mediabase's year-end charts going back to 2006 are available online. Just use this URL format -- pdf.mediabase.com/YearEndXX/YearEndXX.pdf -- where "XX" are the last two digits of the year. i.e. this year's charts are pdf.mediabase.com/YearEnd15/YearEnd15.pdf.

This is only the second year, since the Seacrest era started, that they've used the published Mediabase chart. Prior to last year, they compiled their own chart.

[johnnywest]

Dec 23, 2015 0:20:08 GMT -5 musiciscool said:

Is it just me, or is it random playing Madonna's "Living For Love" as an extra. I had totally forgotten about it. Actually, did it even debut on the chart? I don't remember.

I don't think playing Madonna is random at all considering the impact she's had on the charts. That's probably why they played Michael Jackson on last year's year end show as well.

[cookie111]

• Well, no surprise. Uptown Funk is the #1 song of the year!
• The Weeknd has the most songs on the list with four, while Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran both have three.
• Shut Up + Dance is the only song in the Top 10 that didn't make it to #1 at any point this year. It spent three weeks at #2, all behind Bad Blood, which is actually ranked at #12. The fact that Bad Blood lasted 22 weeks, which is kinda short for a #1 song, is a good reason.
• Demi Lovato ends up at #35, which is where she was on last year's list with Neon Lights.
• I can't believe we made it through 2015 without a song from Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus and Pink. At least we had one from Britney, who's made the chart every year except 2005 and 2006.
• In response to friday, I think my best guess why you think 2015 was a sh**ty year in pop music was my previous blurb.

[richie]

At the beginning of the show, Ryan played short clips of last year's top 3 songs.
Uptown Funk! had massively more spins than Blank Space. (422446 to 324192)
By a quick count, 8 of the top 40 this year are still charting. Too bad it's
only 40 songs in the year end countdown. But at least iHeart had a top 100. I thought the AT40 show was well produced
and good as far as it went. Very impressive that Taylor had 3 songs in the top 12. 
This is my 1000th post.

[at40forever]

Dec 23, 2015 15:05:30 GMT -5 johnnywest said:

Dec 23, 2015 0:20:08 GMT -5 musiciscool said:

Is it just me, or is it random playing Madonna's "Living For Love" as an extra. I had totally forgotten about it. Actually, did it even debut on the chart? I don't remember.

I don't think playing Madonna is random at all considering the impact she's had on the charts. That's probably why they played Michael Jackson on last year's year end show as well.

Yeah what made AT40 use the exact chart from Mediabase?

[jdelachjr2002]

Bumping this back up to reflect this weekend's playlist.

#40: Ariana Grande - One Last Time (peak: #6)
#39: Andy Grammer - Honey, I'm Good (peak: #8)
#38: Tove Lo - Habits (Stay High) (peak: #1)*

#37: The Weeknd - The Hills (peak: #2)
#36: DJ Snake & AlunaGeorge - You Know You Like It (peak: #7)
#35: Demi Lovato - Cool For The Summer (peak: #3)
Extra: Shaggy featuring Mohombi, Faydee & Costi - I Need Your Love
#34: Ed Sheeran - Don't (peak: #2)

#33: Shawn Mendes - Stitches (peak: #1)
#32: Nick Jonas - Chains (peak: #6)
#31: R. City featuring Adam Levine - Locked Away (Love Me The Same) (peak: #1)
Extra: Justin Bieber - What Do You Mean?
Optional Extra: Sia featuring the Weeknd & Diplo - Elastic Heart
#30: Calvin Harris featuring John Newman - Blame (peak: #3)
#29: Meghan Trainor - Lips Are Movin' (peak: #4)
#28: Mr. Probz - Waves (peak: #5)
Extra: Adam Lambert - Ghost Town

#27: Ed Sheeran - Photograph (peak: #4)
#26: Ariana Grande featuring The Weeknd - Love Me Harder (peak: #3)
#25: Sam Smith - I'm Not The Only One (peak: #4)
#24: Skrillex & Diplo featuring Justin Bieber - Where Are U Now (peak: #5)

#23: The Weeknd - Earned It (peak: #1)
#22: Maroon 5 - Animals (peak: #1)
Extra: 5 Seconds Of Summer - What I Like About You
#21: Hozier - Take Me To Church (peak: #2)
Optional Extra: Lilly Wood & Robin Schulz - Prayer In C
#20: Selena Gomez - Good For You (peak: #1)
#19: Natalie La Rose featuring Jeremih - Somebody (peak: #3)
Extra: Gwen Stefani - Used To Love You
#18: Fifth Harmony featuring Kid Ink - Worth It (peak: #3)

#17: Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo - Time Of Our Lives (peak: #4)
#16: Tove Lo - Talking Body (peak: #4)
#15: David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha & Afrojack - Hey Mama (peak: #2)
Extra: Hailee Steinfeld - Love Myself
#14: OMI - Cheerleader (peak: #1)

#13: Major Lazer featuring DJ Snake & MO - Lean On (peak: #1)
#12: Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar - Bad Blood (peak: #1)
#11: The Weeknd - Can't Feel My Face (peak: #1)
Optional Extra: Rihanna featuring Kanye West & Paul McCartney - FourFiveSeconds
#10: Nick Jonas - Jealous (peak: #1)
#09: Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth - See You Again (peak: #1)
#08: Taylor Swift - Style (peak: #1)
Extra: Sam Smith - Lay Me Down

#07: Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do (peak: #1)
#06: Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud (peak: #1)

#05: Jason Derülo - Want To Want Me (peak: #1)
#04: Maroon 5 - Sugar (peak: #1)
#03: Walk The Moon - Shut Up + Dance (peak: #2)
Optional Extra: Adele - Hello
#02: Taylor Swift - Blank Space (peak: #1)
#01: Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk! (peak: #1)

* = was #40 on last year's ranking

- No, it's not another copy-and-paste error. "Hello" is once again the Hour #4 op extra. Anyway, back to the regular countdown next week.

[richie]

The new extras seem to be conversing: I need your love. What do you mean?
and Used to love you, but now I love myself.
Adele gets played for both of her frozen weeks at #1!
I finally got my latest reply from iHeart Radio concerning the online version of the show:


"DEC 30, 2015 | 03:30PM EST
Kenneth replied:

Hello again Richard,

I just wanted to touch base to let you know we’re working on some trouble with the AT 40 station and as soon as this has been resolved, I’ll be back out right away. I apologize again, Richard, and I hope you have a wonderful new year as well!"

And happy new year to everyone at Pulse! :)

[somebodyrandom1]

My review on this countdown:

Green-Great song
Blue-Good/okay song
Red-Bad song
Purple-Best song
Orange-Worst Song

Here we go:
40. Green
39. Blue
38. Green
37. Green
36. Green
35. Blue
34. Green
33. Red
32. Green
31. Red
30. Green
29. Blue
28. Blue
27. Red
26. Green
25. Green
24. Red
23. Green
22. Green
21. Blue
20. Red
19. Green
18. Green
17. Green
16. Red
15. Green
14. Orange
13. Green
12. Blue
11. Green
10. Green
9. Purple
8. Green
7. Green
6. Green
5. Green
4. Green
3. Red
2. Green
1. Green