20: The Countdown Magazine - 1/1/05
Jan 1, 2005 10:39:46 GMT -5
Post by Hervard on Jan 1, 2005 10:39:46 GMT -5
Happy New Year, everyone! This is my first post of 2005 and, coincidentally enough, it's a thread concerning my favorite part of New Year's: Year-end countdowns! I just got done listening to 20: The Countdown Magazine's Top 20 of 2004 and here is the list, along with important stats:
TY SONG/ARTIST - peak pos (#1 weeks)/weeks on chart
01 Here With Me/MercyMe - 1(8)/36
02 Blessed Be Your Name/Tree63 - 2/37
03 Who Am I/Casting Crowns - 1(6)/29
04 Glory Defined/Building 429 - 1(10)/28
05 Walk By Faith/Jeremy Camp - 1(7)/29
06 More/Matthew West - 1(6)/30
07 I Believe/Third Day - 2/24
08 You Raise Me Up/Selah - 6/21
09 Here I Am To Worship/Phillips Craig & Dean - 3/25*
10 Beautiful One/By The Tree - 1(4)/18
11 Right Here/Jeremy Camp - 3/19
12 Open Skies/David Crowder Band - 6/20
13 Sea Of Faces/Kutless - 4/19
14 Indescribable/Chris Tomlin
15 Sing A Song/Third Day - 2/16
16 All I Need/Bethany Dillon - 3/19
17 Whatever It Takes/Nate Sallie - 7/26
18 Grace Like Rain/Todd Agnew - 9/15
19 All Things New/Steven Curtis Chapman - 5/18
20 Healing Rain/Michael W. Smith - 4/16
A pretty cool show. The #1 song was sort of a surprise, for I figured that either Building 429 or Matthew West would top the chart but, in fact, neither were even in the Top Three. But, since MercyMe spent eight weeks on top and 36 weeks on the chart, I guess it seems fitting that they rule for the year. And, they are on top for the second year in a row. As we all know, they were number one for twenty weeks as of July, 2003 with "Word Of God Speak. Will they be #1 for 2005? It's entirely possible, as their song "Homesick" is currently doing very well on the chart. Plus, they could release a new song during the course of the year that wins for all of 2005. We'll find out, well, later on this year.
Note the asterisk by the "weeks on chart" figure of "Here I Am To Worship". This is because I'm not sure which week the song debuted. If it debuted before the beginning of 2004, then I would count the weeks of January 3 and 10 even though there was no chart for those weeks (counted down by 20: The Countdown Magazine, anyway). If it wasn't on the chart before the start of 2004, then it would only be given credit for the weeks January 17 on. It would be sort of hard to tell anyway, since the song had a very erratic chart run. It was at #18 on January 17, 2004 and then disappeared for two weeks. It came back at the beginning of February, dogpaddled in the lower reaches of the chart for about a month and then suddenly shot ahead to number six in mid-March. It was one of many songs that had weird chart movement in 2004.
Another one of these songs is "Whatever It Takes" by Nate Sallie, a song that looked like it was never going to fall off the chart. It didn't spend long in the Top Ten, but it was spending many weeks bouncing around in the lower reaches of the chart. Its tenacity paid off, since it was good enough to place the song at number 17 for the year - one of only four non-top-five songs to make the chart.
One of those non-Top five songs actually made the Top Ten of the year. "You Raise Me Up" by Selah peaked at number six back in late June and spent 21 weeks on the chart but must have gotten significant recurrent airplay, such is the case with the David Crowder Band's "Open Skies", which also peaked at number six and came close to making the Top Ten.
I was surprised that Todd Agnew made the list, seeing that his song "Grace Like Rain" only peaked at number nine. Like the two songs mentioned above, the song must have gotten a lot of recurrent airplay. I do know that it was number one on WFRN's Weekly Top 20 several weeks after the song was gone from the 20: Countdown chart, so recurrent airplay is likely. If I had missed song #18, I would have probably guessed that it was one of several songs from this year that hit the Top Five but missed making the countdown.
Two of these songs were the first two number one songs in 2004. In December, 2003, the Newsboys finally grabbed the number one spot away from MercyMe with "You Are My King (Amazing Love)" and it spent the first four weeks of 2004 on top (I'm counting the first two weeks of January, even though 20: Countdown ran special shows on those two weeks). However, since it fell fast (the week of February 29, it fell from 3 to 19 and left the chart soon after), it didn't gain enough airplay points to register on the Top 20 of 2004. Nor did Mark Schultz's one-week chart topper from February, "You Are A Child Of Mine". That song was also a victim of early termination, disappearing from the chart from number five back in March. If these songs had stuck around much longer, they probably would have made it. Steven Curtis Chapman's song from early in the year, "Moment Made For Worshipping" also left the chart from number five and guess what? It's not here.
Avalon got cheated twice in 2004 with their song "All". First of all, back in March, it looked like a shoo-in for number one, but Building 429 beat them to it and it seems like the waves they made by jumping 6-1 (the fastest climb to #1 in the history of the CCM chart, by the way) sent the song falling all the way down to #14 the following week. The song ended up spending seventeen weeks on the chart, but they didn't make the chart. That's the song I probably would have thought would occupy the number 18 spot had I missed the song. Then again, the song didn't spend all that long in the top ten, so...
Other songs that made the Top Five during the year but missed the chart include "Rain Down" by Delirious, another song that must have just missed the Top 20 of 2004 since it was on for quite awhile and did make it up to number four. Also not quite making it was "Beautiful" by Bethany Dillon, which peaked at number five but left the Top Ten rather abruptly and spent several more weeks in the lower half of the 20: Countdown chart
There were slew of songs that charted too late in the year to gain enough points to make the chart. These songs include the number one "Voice Of Truth" by Casting Crowns, two number three peakers "Presence" by the Newsboys and "Heaven" by Salvador and "You Are God Alone" by Phillips Craig & Dean, which got as high as number five at the end of 2004. These songs probably won't be on the Top 20 of 2005 since they've already spent much of their chart life in 2004. That's why I think they should take two weeks out of the year and count down the Top 40 songs of 2004. That way, we'd get to hear a lot of the songs that fell victim to CRW's weird figuring system, like the ones I mentioned above (as well as others - "Leaving 99" by Audio Adrenaline comes to mind) and songs that didn't quite make the Top Ten but made an impressive effort ("Letters From War", anyone?). Oh well, at least we didn't have to hear Matthew West's annoying bit near the fade of "The End". That song probably wouldn't have made it anyway, seeing that it only got as high as #19 and spent but two weeks on the chart.
Jon did play a Future Favorite on the show this week. The Newsboys are out with a song called "Devotion" (even though "Presence" seems to still have a lot of life left in it) and I have a feeling that song is going to become one of the most played songs for 2005. Who knows, it may even become the #1 song of that year. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
TY SONG/ARTIST - peak pos (#1 weeks)/weeks on chart
01 Here With Me/MercyMe - 1(8)/36
02 Blessed Be Your Name/Tree63 - 2/37
03 Who Am I/Casting Crowns - 1(6)/29
04 Glory Defined/Building 429 - 1(10)/28
05 Walk By Faith/Jeremy Camp - 1(7)/29
06 More/Matthew West - 1(6)/30
07 I Believe/Third Day - 2/24
08 You Raise Me Up/Selah - 6/21
09 Here I Am To Worship/Phillips Craig & Dean - 3/25*
10 Beautiful One/By The Tree - 1(4)/18
11 Right Here/Jeremy Camp - 3/19
12 Open Skies/David Crowder Band - 6/20
13 Sea Of Faces/Kutless - 4/19
14 Indescribable/Chris Tomlin
15 Sing A Song/Third Day - 2/16
16 All I Need/Bethany Dillon - 3/19
17 Whatever It Takes/Nate Sallie - 7/26
18 Grace Like Rain/Todd Agnew - 9/15
19 All Things New/Steven Curtis Chapman - 5/18
20 Healing Rain/Michael W. Smith - 4/16
A pretty cool show. The #1 song was sort of a surprise, for I figured that either Building 429 or Matthew West would top the chart but, in fact, neither were even in the Top Three. But, since MercyMe spent eight weeks on top and 36 weeks on the chart, I guess it seems fitting that they rule for the year. And, they are on top for the second year in a row. As we all know, they were number one for twenty weeks as of July, 2003 with "Word Of God Speak. Will they be #1 for 2005? It's entirely possible, as their song "Homesick" is currently doing very well on the chart. Plus, they could release a new song during the course of the year that wins for all of 2005. We'll find out, well, later on this year.
Note the asterisk by the "weeks on chart" figure of "Here I Am To Worship". This is because I'm not sure which week the song debuted. If it debuted before the beginning of 2004, then I would count the weeks of January 3 and 10 even though there was no chart for those weeks (counted down by 20: The Countdown Magazine, anyway). If it wasn't on the chart before the start of 2004, then it would only be given credit for the weeks January 17 on. It would be sort of hard to tell anyway, since the song had a very erratic chart run. It was at #18 on January 17, 2004 and then disappeared for two weeks. It came back at the beginning of February, dogpaddled in the lower reaches of the chart for about a month and then suddenly shot ahead to number six in mid-March. It was one of many songs that had weird chart movement in 2004.
Another one of these songs is "Whatever It Takes" by Nate Sallie, a song that looked like it was never going to fall off the chart. It didn't spend long in the Top Ten, but it was spending many weeks bouncing around in the lower reaches of the chart. Its tenacity paid off, since it was good enough to place the song at number 17 for the year - one of only four non-top-five songs to make the chart.
One of those non-Top five songs actually made the Top Ten of the year. "You Raise Me Up" by Selah peaked at number six back in late June and spent 21 weeks on the chart but must have gotten significant recurrent airplay, such is the case with the David Crowder Band's "Open Skies", which also peaked at number six and came close to making the Top Ten.
I was surprised that Todd Agnew made the list, seeing that his song "Grace Like Rain" only peaked at number nine. Like the two songs mentioned above, the song must have gotten a lot of recurrent airplay. I do know that it was number one on WFRN's Weekly Top 20 several weeks after the song was gone from the 20: Countdown chart, so recurrent airplay is likely. If I had missed song #18, I would have probably guessed that it was one of several songs from this year that hit the Top Five but missed making the countdown.
Two of these songs were the first two number one songs in 2004. In December, 2003, the Newsboys finally grabbed the number one spot away from MercyMe with "You Are My King (Amazing Love)" and it spent the first four weeks of 2004 on top (I'm counting the first two weeks of January, even though 20: Countdown ran special shows on those two weeks). However, since it fell fast (the week of February 29, it fell from 3 to 19 and left the chart soon after), it didn't gain enough airplay points to register on the Top 20 of 2004. Nor did Mark Schultz's one-week chart topper from February, "You Are A Child Of Mine". That song was also a victim of early termination, disappearing from the chart from number five back in March. If these songs had stuck around much longer, they probably would have made it. Steven Curtis Chapman's song from early in the year, "Moment Made For Worshipping" also left the chart from number five and guess what? It's not here.
Avalon got cheated twice in 2004 with their song "All". First of all, back in March, it looked like a shoo-in for number one, but Building 429 beat them to it and it seems like the waves they made by jumping 6-1 (the fastest climb to #1 in the history of the CCM chart, by the way) sent the song falling all the way down to #14 the following week. The song ended up spending seventeen weeks on the chart, but they didn't make the chart. That's the song I probably would have thought would occupy the number 18 spot had I missed the song. Then again, the song didn't spend all that long in the top ten, so...
Other songs that made the Top Five during the year but missed the chart include "Rain Down" by Delirious, another song that must have just missed the Top 20 of 2004 since it was on for quite awhile and did make it up to number four. Also not quite making it was "Beautiful" by Bethany Dillon, which peaked at number five but left the Top Ten rather abruptly and spent several more weeks in the lower half of the 20: Countdown chart
There were slew of songs that charted too late in the year to gain enough points to make the chart. These songs include the number one "Voice Of Truth" by Casting Crowns, two number three peakers "Presence" by the Newsboys and "Heaven" by Salvador and "You Are God Alone" by Phillips Craig & Dean, which got as high as number five at the end of 2004. These songs probably won't be on the Top 20 of 2005 since they've already spent much of their chart life in 2004. That's why I think they should take two weeks out of the year and count down the Top 40 songs of 2004. That way, we'd get to hear a lot of the songs that fell victim to CRW's weird figuring system, like the ones I mentioned above (as well as others - "Leaving 99" by Audio Adrenaline comes to mind) and songs that didn't quite make the Top Ten but made an impressive effort ("Letters From War", anyone?). Oh well, at least we didn't have to hear Matthew West's annoying bit near the fade of "The End". That song probably wouldn't have made it anyway, seeing that it only got as high as #19 and spent but two weeks on the chart.
Jon did play a Future Favorite on the show this week. The Newsboys are out with a song called "Devotion" (even though "Presence" seems to still have a lot of life left in it) and I have a feeling that song is going to become one of the most played songs for 2005. Who knows, it may even become the #1 song of that year. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
