Top 100 of 2012 Countdown Part 7

We're in the Top 40 portion of the Top 100 of 2012 Countdown. Let's move ahead until we get to #1.

Numbers 40 to 31

40 - Blown Away by Carrie Underwood - Carrie Underwood is a huge country and pop superstar. She first surfaced and won the 4th year of American Idol way back in 2004. Since then she has hit both the country and pop charts with several, big hit singles including "Jesus Take the Wheel," "Before He Cheats", "Wasted", "Cowboy Casanova", and most recently before this song, "Good Girl". "Blown Away" is the second single and title track from Underwood's latest album. It was her biggest hit of 2012 and here it is kicking off our top 40 at #40.



39 - Amazing by Matt Cardle - I can't figure out why Matt Cardle doesn't get much airplay in the United States. He's had a number of hits in his native UK over the past year. He is right up there with U.S. American Idol winner Phillip Phillips in the type of crooning pop songs he covers. Yet no U.S. hit. What's up with that? I think Matt Cardle can be a success in the U.S.



38 - Higher Than The Clouds by Anuhea - The thing that makes Anuhea a success if breaking away from her Hawaii home and having her music marketed across America and the world. She first broke on the scene back in 2010 when her single "Right Love, Wrong Time" was a featured track on Apple's iTunes service in 2009. From then on she has enjoyed the success of having 2 albums and several singles released. Among her most popular singles are the songs "I Just Want You Around", "Come Over Love" and this one, "Higher Than the Clouds", which reached #4 on the Weekly Top 20 and spent 11 weeks on the chart.



37 - Brokenhearted by Karmin: Bubblegum music seems to score high with me and this song is no exception. I know next to nothing about Karmin except that they are a duo and had this big hit song "Brokenhearted".



36 - Paradise by Coldplay - This is one of the biggest records on the Top 100 Hits of 2012 chart, yet it only places at #36? Well folks, Coldplay's "Paradise" was the biggest hit ever on the Top 100 Hits of 2011 chart, where it is listed as #1 for the year having spent 7 weeks at #1 on the Weekly Top 20 and running up a 15 week chart stay that overlapped for another 7 weeks into 2012. So yes, by the time 2012 rolled around and the Top 100 tabulated, we found that "Paradise" while on the way down, peaked at #4 in 2012 and its seven week stay on the 2012 charts insured its high ranking on this year's Top 100. Got it? From the album Mylo Xyloto, here is last year's #1 song of the year and this year's 36th most popular song of the year, Coldplay and "Paradise".



35 - The Walk by Mayer Hawthorne: This song could have been a big radio hit, but never caught on. Probably something doing with its stylishly violent video and perhaps its lyrics, this "hit" record failed to chart across mainstream radio even though Mayer Hawthorne offers a laid back, soulful, white pop rock singing style. "The Walk" charted on my Weekly Top 20 to the #4 spot for a few weeks and is slotted in at #35 on this year end chart. You may want to also check out the explicit but somewhat tamer rap version of the same song.



34 - Hold On by Alabama Shakes: Alabama Shakes' single "Hold On" was given away at several online music sites including Apple's iTunes and Amazon's MP3 music store. Surely I downloaded both copies of this laid back but catchy single. I did not buy the album, but I certainly have it saved on my Spotify account. Here for you viewing pleasure is "Hold On" at #34 on the Top 100 Hits of 2012 countdown.



33 - What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction - One Direction was probably the most successful "boy band" for 2012. They scored big in 2010 by finishing 3rd in the British version of the X Factor TV talent show. This year the group hit the big time by offering several hit singles to their fans and the masses on mainstream top 40 radio. "What Makes You Beautiful" was a #1 hit in their native UK and managed to go to #4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. On my weekly chart the song also peaked at #4 where it stayed for 3 weeks during its somewhat short 9 week run. Good enough however to be the #33 most popular song of 2012.



32 - Skyfall by Adele: This year Grammy Award winning singer Adele got the honors of singing the theme song to the latest James Bond 007 film Skyfall. "Skyfall" topped the charts in several countries, went to #2 in the UK and to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. On my Weekly Top 20, "Skyfall" peaked at #4 for 4 of its 10 week chart run in late 2012.



31 - Carry On by Fun: As the Top 100 Hits of 2012 was being compiled we note that Fun's latest hit "Carry On" has racked up enough weeks and a peak of #3 so far going into 2013 with the potential of hitting #1. The fact that it has already gone to #3 made it eligible to chart this high at position #31.



And there you have it, the countdown of hit songs that made it to the Top 100 Hits of 2012, positions #40 to #31. Tomorrow, #30 to #21. The hits are getting bigger all the time.