Adam’s Top 100 of 2014: #80-61

The cream of the pop for 2014.

Another year is in the books and it’s time for the annual listing of the 100 biggest songs that ranked among my weekly top 40 chart from December 2013 to November 2014. It was magical year full of MAGIC! and “Magic” and a lovely twelve months of lovable hits from James Blunt and The Fray. We went “home” with A Great Big World and Andy Grammer, spun around in a “dance” with Milky Chance and Walk The Moon and ended up here with all that was awesome in the year we called 2014.

Peak positions listed are as of the last chart included in the year dated November 30, 2014. Those entries marked with a plus sign (+) had not yet reached their peak position as of the date. Ties in points were broken based on peak, number of weeks at peak and number of weeks in the top 40.

With all that in mind, I think it’s time to rejoin the countdown at #80…

080. FOSTER THE PEOPLE, “Are You What You Want To Be?” (#16 for three weeks)
Writers: Mark Foster, Greg Kurstin / Producer: Foster
Label: Columbia

079. ROYAL WOOD, “Forever And Ever” (#15)
Writers/Producers: Bill Lefler, John Royal Wood Nicholson, Simon Wilcox
Label: MapleMusic

078. COLBIE CAILLAT, “Hold On” (#15 for three weeks)
Writers: Colbie Caillat, Ryan Tedder / Producer: Tedder
Label: Republic

077. ONE DIRECTION, “Steal My Girl” (#7)
Writer: Wayne Hector, John Ryan, Julian Bunetta, Ed Drewett, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne / Producer: Bunetta, Pär Westerlund, Ryan
Label: Columbia

076. NEW POLITICS, “Harlem” (#2 – 2013)
Writers: David Boyd, Søren Hansen, Louis Vecchio, Jake Sinclair, Mike Viola, Jack Ploch, Nelson Ploch, Roger Ploch, Sam Ploch and Sadler Vaden / Producers: Hansen, Sinclair
Label: RCA

075. ONE DIRECTION, “Midnight Memories” (#14)
Writers: Julian Bunetta, Liam Payne, Jamie Scott, Louis Tomlinson / Producer: Bunetta
Label: Columbia

074. KIESZA, “Hideaway” (#15)
Writers: Kiesza Ellestad, Rami Samir Afuni / Producer: Afuni
Label: 4th & B’way/Island/Lokal Legend

073. O.A.R., “Favorite Song” (#11 for two weeks)
Writers: Marc Roberge, Nathan Chapman, Kevin Kadish / Producers: Roberge, Chapman
Label: Vanguard

072. CHROMEO, “Jealous (I Ain’t With It)” (#16)
Writers/Producers: David Macklovitch, Patrick Gemayel, Oliver Goldstein
Label: Big Beat/Atlantic

071. JESSE MCCARTNEY, “Superbad” (#13 for two weeks)
Writers: Jesse McCartney, James G. Morales, Matt Morales, Julio Rodriguez, Shane Stevens, Autumn Rowe, Nikola Bedingfield / Producers: The Elev3n
Label: Eight0Eight

070. HAIM, “The Wire” (#11)
Writers: Alana Haim, Danielle Haim, Este Haim / Producers: Ariel Rechtshaid, A. Haim, D. Haim, E. Haim
Label: Columbia

069. DAUGHTRY, “Waiting For Superman” (#6 – 2013)
Writers: Chris Daughtry, Martin Johnson, Sam Hollander / Producer: Johnson
Label: RCA

068. JOHN NEWMAN, “Losing Sleep” (#14)
Writers: John Newman, Steve Booker, Benjamin Levin / Producers: Ant Whiting, Mike Spencer, Newman
Label: Republic

067. BETTER THAN EZRA, “Crazy Lucky” (#14)
Writers: Kevin Griffin, Ryan Peterson, Nolan Sipe / Producer: Tony Hoffer
Label: The End/ADA

066. SHIFT K3Y, “Touch” (#13)
Writer/Producer: Lewis Jankel
Label: Columbia

065. KATY PERRY, “Birthday” (#12 for two weeks)
Writers: Katy Perry, Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin, Bonnie McKee, Henry Walter / Producers: Gottwald, Martin, Walter
Label: Capitol

064. BOY & BEAR, “Three Headed Woman” (#12 for three weeks)
Writers: Dave Hosking, Killian Gavin, Tim Hart, Jon Hart, Dave Symes / Producer: Wayne Connolly
Label: Nettwerk

063. MAX FROST, “White Lies” (#11)
Writer/Producer: Max Frost
Label: Atlantic

062. MAROON 5, “Animals” (#5 for two weeks +)
Writers: Adam Levine, Karl Schuster, Benjamin Levin / Producer: Schuster
Label: 222/Interscope

061. MAYER HAWTHORNE, “Reach Out Richard” (#11)
Writers: Andrew Cohen, Pharrell Williams / Producer: Williams
Label: Republic

Check back tomorrow for 60-41 on the year-end chart and let me know what you’re liking so far below!

PROFILE: Royal Wood Finds “Forever” On Latest Single

We’ll never be royals… but he will.

Audio:

He’s been kicking it in the music industry for more than a decade and, knock on Wood, a major breakthrough is in the cards for Canadian singer and multi-instrumentalist Royal Wood. The former business major and graduate of McGill University in Montreal put out his first EP in 2003, but it’s just now that Wood is bursting onto the Canadian airwaves with a sweet and catchy love song just in time for Valentine’s Day, “Forever And Ever”. Already top 40 at the Hot AC format and top 30 on AC, it’s catching on and is on course to keep building in the next few months. I think he’s destined for even more than that.

Born into a musical family, the Petersborough, Ontario born performer was already playing the piano at a young age, and through practice and time acquired the skill to play the bass, clarinet, drums, guitar and trumpet. That’s quite a selection. In college, Wood found himself playing at jazz clubs and then self-releasing his own material before being picked up by the independently-owned MapleMusic. That led to his first full-length album, the well-praised Tall Tales in 2004. He continued creating music over the next few years, began licensing his catalogue to television, and all’s been going up since that point.

With a total of seven EPs and full-length albums to date behind him now, he’s no newcomer to the scene. In fact, in 2011, he was nominated for a Juno Award for Songwriter Of The Year based off of songs from his 2010 album The Waiting. National Canadian radio network CBC Radio 2 has championed his material and video channel MuchMusic has also featured clips from him in the past. This time around, however, it’s been Bell Media and their chain of radio stations that are helping to back “Forever”. Since the beginning of this year, 10 of the 19 stations from the group across those two radio panels have added the song into light and moderate rotation, including larger markets like Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. It’s a hit!

Should the performer make it to the U.S. later this year, “Forever” would find a nice home at the same Stateside AC and Hot AC formats, as well as the more independent AAA airwaves. Taken only at its surface level, it’s a song with a simple message backed with a sonically pleasing folk-pop arrangement, a perfect fit given the musical atmosphere at the moment, but it also has a lot of heart. There’s something so deeply pure about it that you can’t help but be content and clap along to the beat. Promotion company DMD Entertainment is staying on top of the record up there; we’ll have to see just how far this can go.

Wood’s forthcoming album, The Burning Bright, will be released on March 18 in his native Canada and the singer has tour dates planned up north through mid-February and then again in the late spring and early summer. Be sure to check his official website for specific locations and ticket purchasing information. He also recently announced a deal with the small Toy Town Records for his latest releases in the United Kingdom. However, Canada will remain the focus market for now.

Just one song can change a career and this could be the moment. “Forever” lives up to that timeless feel of falling in love and rush of finding the perfect someone; now, finding the right opportunities will seal the deal for this song’s future.

(Download “Forever And Ever” on iTunes) — (Discover other releases from Royal Wood on iTunes)