FragChart Top 200 of 2020

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With the last chart of the year compiled, I've started putting together my top 200 songs of 2020. Fair to say it's been a turbulent year, and a few pandemic-influenced songs make it into this list.

Before launching into the rundown, a few stats:

• 21 number ones (2018: 22, 2019: 22)
• 3866 songs in total on my weekly longlists (average 76 per week)
• 1417 songs made my weekly playlists (average 27 per week) (2018: 1145, 2019: 1240)
• 664 songs reached the top 60 (including 49 from last year) (2018: 683, 2019: 658)
• A further 365 songs were bubblers (placed 61-75 without yet being in the top 60 - 2018: 284, 2019: 325)

Credit to Milliways for many of these numbers being higher than previous years - the chart's definitely higher-quality now that I can peruse his playlists!

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200 - 176

200 Headache - The Reytons (#15, March)
199 Dying To Believe - The Beths (#20, April)
198 Tiptoes - Two Door Cinema Club (#27, June)
197 Massacre, The New American Dream - Palaye Royale (#10, January)
196 Dead to You - Dead to Me - The Other (#20, May)

195 Alastor's Game - The Living Tombstone (#20, July)
Everything Else Has Gone Wrong - Bombay Bicycle Club (excluded as it was in last year's top 100)
194 The End. - Like Optimists (#20, February)
193 Beginning Of The End - Wyld Stallyns Edit - Weezer (#18, August)
192 Where You Gonna Go - Eastbound Buzz (#22, June)
191 Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad - We Are The Union (#17, May)

190 Football in the Sun (Ossie Ardiles) - Spunk Volcano & the Eruptions (#15, August)
189 Beans for Breakfast - Altered by Mom (#19, July)
188 No I in Beer - Brad Paisley (#20, August)
187 15 Years - Vistas (#17, March)
186 Coffee & Cigarettes - The Snuts (#14, March)

185 Archangel - Amaranthe (#19, October)
184 We're All Dead - The Other (#17, April)
183 Bad Decisions - Only Sun (#11, September)
182 Leave Me In Pieces - Camens (#16, April)
Youth - Retro Video Club (excluded as it was in last year's top 100)
181 Breaking and Breaking and Breaking - The Rentals (#11, January)

180 Cheeto in a Speedo Eating a Burrito - The Queers (#13, November)
179 Bruxism - Altered by Mom (#15, September)
178 Headrush - Hands Like Houses (#13, March)
177 Spooky Scary Skeletons - Radio Edit - Aquagen (#10, November)
176 Washed My Hands - Real Sickies (#16, May)

Altered By Mom were easily the most prolific artist this year, reaching my chart with 11 different songs, and bubbling with a further four. Six of these songs are in the top 200, with two in this set. The Living Tombstone was matching them for frequency for a while, with five songs released between June and August; 'Alastor's Game' is the second best-placed of those.

Also in this set are a few artists who have had year-end chart success in the past: Two Door Cinema Club, Weezer, and Only Sun.

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175 - 151

175 Kids in America - Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day (#21, September)
174 A Cure for Wellness - Happy. (#23, August)
173 Take Me Dancing - Juliet Company (#17, January)
172 AWOL - C.C. Potato (#14, May)
I'll Be Happy When You Die - The Roly Mo (excluded as it was in last year's top 100)
171 Puppets - Corella (#13, May)

170 We Are 138 - Senses Fail (#11, November)
169 I Beg To Differ (This Will Get Better) - Billy Talent (#14, April)
168 Lights Out! - Dangerface, Magnus Bokn (#22, October)
167 Hey Mr Shareholder - Narrow Margin (#8, February)
166 Is Everybody Going Crazy? - Nothing But Thieves (#19, March)

165 Dumb - The Fallaways (#14, August)
164 Retro Emporium - The Reytons (#6, January)
163 I Don't Wanna Be (Radio Edit) - Bite Me Bambi (#16, October)
162 DIY - Dream Nails (#18, November)
161 Highway Rats - BRAINCOATS (#10, September)

160 Gotta Find Something - The Two Tens (#14, September)
159 Stomp Them Down - Faintest Idea (#14, April)
158 Lie Out Loud - BLOXX (#11, May)
157 Wash Ya Hands - KT Tunstall, Grace Savage, The Freelance Hellraiser (#8, June)
156 The Disease - Anti-Flag (#19, January)

155 It's About Time - Jefferson Starship (#7, July)
154 Two Time Lover - BlackWaters (#15, February)
153 Tear It Down - Bedside Manners (#8, March)
152 Rum - Storm Seeker (#13, July)
151 Self-Effacing - Sparks (#14, March)

Ironically, The Disease by Anti-Flag is not about the pandemic.

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Happy new year!

150 - 141

150 2020 Holiday - Minority 905 (#11, August)
149 Splish Splash - Slothrust (#9, January)
148 Telephone - Personality Cult (#13, February)
147 Can't Hide From What Hurts - Columbus (#12, January)
146 Handbrake - Camens (#20, February)

145 Looking for You - Hangtime (#18, September)
144 Beargenda - The Terrordactyls, Chris Ballew (#8, March)
143 Want More of It - The 5:55 (#22, February)
142 Bad Times Good Vibes - Single Edit - Frank Turner, Jon Snodgrass (#7, October)
141 I'm Toast - Sparks (#7, March)

A varied set here, featuring another pandemic-themed track at #150, a song at #149 about being interrupted from your bath by a house party going on, and a song about a bear's plans for the day at #144. Also featuring here is Hangtime, who will have several more entries higher up.

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140 - 131

140 We Love to Hate - Himalayas (#19, July)
139 Learn - The Dunts (#8, April)
138 Pragmatic Escape - Altered by Mom (#18, October)
137 The Last Great Sweetheart of the Grand Electric Rodeo - Sarah and the Safe Word (#13, August)
136 Pass the Crown - Altered by Mom (#10, July)

135 This Is the Rapture - Jordan Allen (#12, February)
134 Topanga Sand - Randells (#14, June)
133 Change the Echo - Reclaim Vienna (#8, April)
132 I Wanna Know - FEVA (#7, April)
Accidentally in Love - New Found Glory (excluded as it was in last year's top 100)
131 Wake Up Romeo - Caro Emerald (#9, June)

This part of the rundown is statistical (60 pts for #1, 59 pts for #2, and so on), but as you'll have seen, songs that were in last year's top 100 are not included. Accidentally In Love was actually the first #1 of 2020, but entered the chart in early November 2019, and reached #32 on last year's rundown. If the entirety of its 15-week run was in 2020, it would have been #6 on the statistical chart.

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130 - 111

A double-helping tonight!


130 Disappearing Ink - Starter Jackets (#7, July)
129 Lions of the Sea - Grave Digger (#15, May)
128 Paranoia - Like Optimists (#10, January)
127 Mick Jones Nicked My Pudding - Dropkick Murphys (#3, April)
126 Talk All Night - Oddity Road (#6, March)

125 I Want It Now - Bongloard (#11, January)
124 Tunes, Moves, Tricks and Fun - Altered by Mom (#9, November)
123 My Man - Sick Love (#4, January)
122 End Of - Biffy Clyro (#9, March)
121 Heart Mind Body & Soul - The New Regime (#5, January)

120 When We Were Young - State Line Syndicate (#7, June)
119 Got A Girl - The Grogans (#7, November)
118 Sara - The Von Tramps (#4, July)
117 Baby, Sleep - Maximo Park (#7, October)
116 Love's Demise - She Made Me Do It (#9, February)

115 Household Shame - Kid Kapichi (#8, May)
114 Mr. Motivator - IDLES (#11, May)
113 Smash sh*t Up - Dropkick Murphys (#11, February)
112 I Want You - The Venomous Pinks (#12, January)
111 Sooner or Later - The Buzzing Towers (#6, January)

A few artists here have had past successes but miss out on the top 100 this year, incuding IDLES, Maximo Park, Biffy Clyro and Dropkick Murphys

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110 - 101

110 Sharp Tongues - CRYSTAL (#11, August)
109 Livin' a Lie - Columbia (#5, January)
108 Camaro - The Meeps! (#8, November)
107 Quarantine - blink-182 (#7, August)
106 Back on a Winner - The Velvet Hands (#5, November)
105 Scars and Stripes - The Bare Minimum (#7, August)
104 Something Real - Revolution Eyes (#11, April)
103 A New Brain - I Fight Dragons (#2, January)
102 Here's The Thing - Sports Team (#9, March)
101 What Happened To Me? - WAGER (#8, January)

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Into the top 100 we go...

100 - 91

100 Feel It - The Luka State (#6, May)
99 Not Like the Others - Death By Unga Bunga (#10, May)
98 Wrong Idea - The Estevans (#4, February)
97 Something Ain't Right - Starbenders (#9, August)
96 Cherry Coke - Answering Machine (#2, March)
95 Why Can't We Be Happy? - Bend Sinister (#17, October)
94 Small Town Kid - Cuffed Up (#4, March)
93 Hit & Miss - The Fizzgigs (#6, November)
92 The Red Nightingale - Outernational (#6, May)
91 Kids Don't Dance - Narrow Margin (#3, January)

Every year there are a few slow-burners that take a while to rise up my chart. One of them in 2020 was Starbenders with 'Something Ain't Right', whose chart run started (67)-59-60, but from there rose steadily until reaching #9 in their 8th week on the chart. It's one of three songs in this top 100 to have started FragChart life as a bubbler - one of the other two rose all the way to #1.

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90 - 81

90 Blue Jacket - Riskee & The Ridicule (#3, May)
89 You're No Good to Me Dead - I Am The Avalanche (#9, October)
88 Dark After the Night - Paddy And The Rats (#7, August)
87 Turn It Louder - The Other (#11, June)
86 All She Wants - The Ruptured Ducklings (#7, November)

85 Any Girl - The Maysides (#5, November)
84 Bike thief - BOIDS (#7, February)
83 Everything Changes in the End - Vistas (#7, June)
82 Stupid Is As Stupid Does (feat. K.Flay) - Dune Rats, K.Flay (#3, February)
81 Reality TV - The Vanities (#3, September)

Riskee & The Ridicule bring the only non-covid topical song to the top 100 (well, mainly non-covid - it does feature the line 'no lime in my Corona') - instead, it's about the general stupidity of Brexit and the sort of obnoxious red-faced Brexiteers that you might have met in pubs, in the Before Times when meeting people in pubs was still a thing that happened.

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80 - 71

80 Good For It - MID CITY (#4, November)
79 Lost That Feeling - BRAINCOATS (#7, October)
78 Worries - MxPx (#3, May)
77 Word Of The Day - RAT!hammock (#2, July)
76 Always on the Wrong Side - Vanilla Muffins (#13, September)

75 Trial - Calva Louise (#7, October)
74 Come Alive - Novatines (#2, February)
73 Throne - Djerv (#12, July)
72 Harpurhey Hostility - The C33s (#3, July)
71 Kill You Another Day - The Sensitives (#3, March)

One of the most successful acts of 2019, MID CITY are back with the first of three entries in the 2020 top 100. Into the top 75, we find a cluster of female-fronted artists.

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70 - 61


70 My Sweet Chun-Li - The Sewer Rats (#2, May)
69 Darlin' - The Cloverhearts (#12, September)
68 Hollywood Park - The Airborne Toxic Event (#4, April)
67 Hero - Weezer (#1, May)
66 Danger! Danger! Disco! - The Medicine Dolls (#9, September)

65 Hold Me Down - The Happy Fits (#9, August)
64 Bête Noire - On Video (#8, May)
63 Still Alive - Grumpynators (#21, June)
62 Not Now Not Never - C.C. Potato (#4, March)
61 You're All Scotch, No Soda - Sarah and the Safe Word (#3, January)

The first of 21 #1s makes an appearance, with Weezer at #67.

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60 - 51

60 The Other Side - Super Marine (#9, April)
59 Palace - Bad Nerves (#9, October)
58 1234 Dee Dee Ramone - Helen Love (#1, May)
57 Salt Lake City - MxPx, Bad Cop / Bad Cop (#6, March)
56 Honest - Planet Mercury (#3, September)

55 Goose Goose Revolution - The Living Tombstone (#13, June)
54 Gimme Some Blackout - Hybrid Children (#14, May)
53 A Good Day Is Hard To Find - Paul Heaton, Jacqui Abbott (#1, March)
52 Double Arrows Down - The Bombpops (#2, February)
51 New Shapes - Bad Nerves (#6, November)

East London punk outfit Bad Nerves were consistent performers in my chart this year, regularly reaching the top 10 without getting much further. They have four songs in the top 100, which is the joint-most this year.

Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott deserve a mention for the first song to start off as a bubbler and rise all the way to #1, as my enjoyment of this song (with lyrics sounding like "the pubs will all re-open") depended on my varying mood as a result of the first lockdown. The Living Tombstone also missed the chart initially, but made ground steadily, much like a goose stalking its prey.

[Razzle Dazzle]

Love how Helen Love are still releasing songs about the Ramones 25 years after Punk Boy with Joey Ramone

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Jan 19, 2021 18:59:47 GMT 1 Razzle Dazzle said:

Love how Helen Love are still releasing songs about the Ramones 25 years after Punk Boy with Joey Ramone

There's more to come from Helen Love in this rundown!

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50 - 41

50 Deleter - Grouplove (#3, January)
49 Mommy, How Can We Stay Young? - Vanilla Muffins (#12, October)
48 Something in the Way You Move - Saint Sapphire (#8, May)
47 Happy - The Bottom Line (#3, January)
46 Is This Real? - The Fizzgigs (#4, October)

45 Temporary Secretary - On Video (#2, January)
44 Don't Wanna Be - Sophisticated Dingo (#7, August)
43 Where Ya Been? - The Raging Nathans (#7, July)
42 Talkbaby - Daggerplay (#1, October)
41 Too Many Days - Hangtime (#2, June)

Getting to the good stuff now as we enter the top 50. This set sees On Video and Vanilla Muffins have their highest-placing of two songs each in the top 100.

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40 - 31

40 Issues - Venice on Fire (#9, March)
39 Baby Drummer - Bad Nerves (#6, August)
38 Live Until I Die - Death By Unga Bunga (#2, October)
37 Stranger - Vistas (#3, September)
36 Unperson - Nothing But Thieves (#2, September)

35 Devious - Avenues (#4, October)
34 Nightmare to Deal With - The Queers (#3, November)
33 Gondola Rules - Dollars For Deadbeats (#3, November)
32 Underground - Radkey (#2, November)
31 Radio Violence - Alkaline Trio (#2, April)

Getting really competitive now, with every song from #38 upwards a top 4 hit. Nothing But Thieves were year-end #10 in 2017 with 'Amsterdam', but peak at #36 this year with 'Unperson'.

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30 - 21

30 Electrify - The Capollos (#2, June)
29 Dangerous Kind of Romance - Saint Sapphire (#2, February)
28 Liar Liar - MID CITY (#2, October)
27 Be There - The Voyd (#2, October)
26 Control - Paragon (#2, February)

25 Electric 88 - Bad Nerves (#4, September)
24 She'd Say (She's Going Out On Friday) - Be Quiet. Shout Loud! (#3, August)
23 Another Nail in My Heart - American Hi-Fi (#1, August)
22 Life Is a Video Game - Altered by Mom (#3, June)
21 Everybody Dances (To Digital Music) - Spray (#3, May)

Saint Sapphire were #5 in my 2017 chart with 'Rule the World Tonight', and have two top 50 hits this year. MID CITY still have one more to come this year after a clutch of hits last year.

Bad Nerves peak at #25, here's what they managed this year:
25 Electric 88 (#4, September)
39 Baby Drummer (#6, August)
51 New Shapes (#6, November)
59 Palace (#9, October)

It's a new YEC peak for American Hi-Fi, who were previously year-end #49 with 'Flavor Of The Weak' way back in 2001.

Altered By Mom were extremely prolific this year, as previously mentioned. Here's their best of the year:
189 Beans for Breakfast (#19, July)
179 Bruxism (#15, September)
138 Pragmatic Escape (#18, October)
136 Pass the Crown (#10, July)
124 Tunes, Moves, Tricks and Fun (#9, November)
22 Life Is a Video Game (#3, June)

Meanwhile, I mainly remember Spray from their song 'You Eat One Lousy Foot And You're A Cannibal', and I can't think of them without hearing the end of that song, followed by John Peel saying "I think that's rather wonderful", because I know it from a Milliways mixtape that had that at the end. Looking them up just now, I've discovered that two of Spray had the first FragChart Christmas #1, with 'Cognoscenti vs Intelligentsia' (the Hampster Dance song) in 1999. That was year-end #27 in 2000.

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20 - 16

20 Just A Little Bit - The Jacks (#1, February)
19 House of Noise - Massive Wagons (#1, June)
18 My Only One - Hangtime (#3, August)
17 Black Clouds - Antagonizers Atl (#2, October)
16 Little New Moon - DREAMERS (#1, October)

Into the top 20 we go! Trying to finish off posting the list before the end of January...

LA-based The Jacks were #1 for two weeks at the start of March, in those heady weeks when my work-from-home had started but before lockdown kicked in. 

Massive Wagons reached #8 in the UK album charts in 2020; this was their FragChart debut.

Toronto "melodic punk" band Hangtime win the 'best new artist' award for 2020 hands down - this is their first of three songs in my top 20.

Straight up punk rock next from Antagonizers ATL (the ATL seems to mean "Atlanta", but it took some internet research to figure that out, and even after that I don't know much else about them! They're apparently rather secretive...)

Finishing off this set are Dreamers, who spent three weeks at #1 recently with 'Little New Moon'.

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15 - 11

15 Start All Over - Hangtime (#1, August)
14 VCR - Saytr Play (#1, April)
13 Take Me To Electric Town - Be Quiet. Shout Loud! (#1, May)
12 Songs from My Teens - Helen Love (#1, June)
11 2020 Is Cancelled - The Enthused (#1, July)

All #1s in thie set, starting with Hangtime's first of two #1 hits in 2020. Saytr Play's 'VCR' is very reminiscent of Two Door Cinema club, so well worth a listen if you were into them. Teesside electric rock group Be Quiet. Shout Loud! had a single week at #1 in May with 'Take Me To Electric Town', following that up with three weeks at #3 with 'She'd Say (She's Going Out On Friday)' - as well as long names, they seem to specify in layered instrumentals and singalong choruses.

I promised more from Helen Love, and that's what we find at #12, with a charming bubblegum song about sitting around playing music from your youth. What better way to spend lockdown?!

Speaking of Lockdown, that's obviously the theme of The Enthused's '2020 Is Cancelled'. The Enthused sound very much like Blink-182, despite being Italian. I spent a while mishearing "no more beers, no more cheers" as "no more beans, no more cheese"!

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10 - 6

10 Destiny - The Fizzgigs (#2, March) [34, 32, 24, 17, 15, 6, 4, 2, 3, 4, 10, 22, 58, 66] (Calgary, Canada)
09 Behind the Door - The Ritz (#2, August) [24, 2, 2, 4, 5, 8, 12, 17, 40] (Glasgow, Scotland)
08 My Desperate House - Gaffa Tape Sandy (#2, January) [22, 3, 2, 2, 2, 5, 8, 17, 27, 50] (Brighton/Bury, England)
07 Mixed Tapes - The Go Set (#1, April) [25, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 13, 20, 26, 39, 69] (Melbourne, Australia)
06 SUNNY - Ocean Grove (#1, January) [11, 4, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 7, 14, 24, 31, 59] (Melbourne, Australia)

The Fizzgigs' debut 'Destiny' steadily grew on me during March, April and May, finally peaking at #2 in its 8th week on the chart. Their follow-ups have also been successful, reaching #46 and #93 in this list.

'Behind the Door' by The Ritz is one of those straight-up rock songs that launches straight into a very nice riff, and manages to keep that energy for pretty much the whole three minutes. Only 2000 or so plays on Spotify.

The first of three songs in this year's top 10 from the very start of the year, Gaffa Tape Sandy spent three weeks at #2 with 'My Desperate House', which reminds me very slightly of Ozma.

For a while this year I thought this would be my #1, but The Go Set end up at #7 with 'Mixed Tapes', yep, it's another song about playing your favourite music. "Sad songs, for peace and quiet, rock & roll if you wanna start a riot" - this one is a foot-tapper all the way through.

Two bands from Melbourne in a row, and there's a third in the top 5! Ocean Grove started the year with a bang with 'SUNNY', with a grungy sound that really should have made it a bit hit. Maybe 25 years or so too late...