The Biggest Hits Of 2013 That Never Made The Blog...Until Now

As frequent (or even casual) readers of this blog can attest, I have done a heckuva lot of music posts this year. Maybe I'm just on a music kick (okay, definitely I am) or maybe I just don't have much time to compile many other kinds of posts (that's true, too). Throughout the course of the year, I've posted a fair number of current hit songs – that's both coincidental and by design – but I did miss a few big ones here and there. Having thought of no better way to include the songs before year's end, I've gathered them all together here for your listening (and viewing) pleasure. Enjoy!   ~  JH

1)  AWOLNATION  ~  "Sail"  (Yes, technically, I did post an a cappella cover of this song a couple weeks ago, but in my book that doesn't count.)

2)  Katy Perry  ~  "Unconditionally"  (She has her faults, topically and lyrically speaking, but I have to give Katy Perry props for crafting some really good pop songs.)

3)  Maroon 5  ~  "Love Somebody"  (I've heard this song I don't know how many times, but I'd never seen the video till now – it's weird. Good song, though!)

4)  P!nk  ~  "Try"  (P!nk never ceases to amaze me – she's consistently awesome!)

5)  The Band Perry  ~  "DONE."  (Good song by a good modern country band – but I really wish those brothers would get new hairdos – Ughsville!)

6)  Lady Gaga  ~  "Applause"  (Somewhat questionable video, but a catchy song – annoyingly so!)

7)  One Direction  ~  "Story Of My Life"  (I must grudgingly admit that this is a surprisingly good song!)

8)  Taylor Swift  ~  "I Knew You Were Trouble"  (I know I should be embarrassed to admit it, but I really like [and own most of] Taylor Swift's music – this song is no exception!)

9)  Baauer  ~  "Harlem Shake"  (Don't worry, there's no booty shaking in this video – it's audio only.)

10)  Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Ray Dalton  ~  "Can't Hold Us"  (I wish this guy didn't pepper the majority of his songs – this one mostly excluded – with foul language, because if so I would probably buy and listen to his music. Oh, well...)

11)  Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams  ~  "Get Lucky"  (It's an undeniably good tune, but I can't in good conscience recommend the lyrics. Big hit, though.)

12)  Eminem ft. Rihanna  ~  "The Monster"  (Sorry, music purists, I couldn't post the official music video for this one. It contained a couple of un-family-friendly words that weren't bleeped, and I prefer to keep it PG here.)

13)  Lady Antebellum  ~  "Downtown"  (This one's obviously meant to be tongue-in-cheek, and that's a good thing. 'Cuz if not…)

14)  Carrie Underwood  ~  "Two Black Cadillacs"  (A darker song for Carrie, but no less enjoyable than her cheerier hits. Sorry that Sound Of Music Live! thing didn't work out so well for you, chica…)

15)  Icona Pop ft. Charli XCX  ~  "I Love It"  (Again with this song, I couldn't post the original music video because of some uncensored lyrics, but the clean version is just as good – no, better! – to me, even if it's not actually a video.)

Video wouldn't load properly – click link to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TETp3OFNa3U

BONUS TRACK:  Ylvis  ~  "The Fox (What Does The Fox Say?)"  (Would you believe I never even heard this song till last week? I didn't say "heard of" – I first heard of it a few months ago, but had somehow managed to avoid it till recently. I'm sorry it took me so long to experience it, because the song is hilarious – not epic, but hilarious – as it was obviously intended to be.)

Songs About Princes, Princesses, Kings, & Queens

This is another one of those I-heard-a-song-on-the-radio-that-I-really-liked-and-wanted-to-find-a-way-to-fit-it-into-a-music-post kind of posts. It turned out to be a good idea, as I was able to find a good number of songs about not only princes (the first song in this list inspired the post), but princesses, kings, and queens as well. One of these was actually the theme song of a TV show, and two of them are from Disney animated movies. The rest are from...wherever. Enjoy?  ~  JH

1)  Spin Doctors  ~  "Two Princes"

2)  Queen  ~  "Princes Of The Universe"  (If I were including artists with "royalty" names, this would be a two-for-one!)

3)  DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince  ~  "Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air"

4)  Aladdin Cast  ~  "Prince Ali"

5)  Adriana Caselotti (as Snow White)  ~  "Someday My Prince Will Come"

Video wouldn't load properly – click link to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0niwn2pOEno

6)  Amy MacDonald  ~  "Poison Prince"

7)  Coldplay ft. Rihanna  ~  "Princess Of China"

8)  Megan And Liz  ~  "Princess Charming"

9)  Something Corporate  ~  "Punk Rock Princess"

10)  RUN-DMC  ~  "King Of Rock"

11)  Matisyahu  ~  "King Without A Crown"

12)  Sade  ~  "King Of Sorrow"

13)  Letta  ~  "King Of Wishful Thinking"

14)  Sara Bareilles  ~  "King Of Anything"

15)  Steve Martin  ~  "King Tut"  (LOL!)

16)  Westlife  ~  "Queen Of My Heart"

17)  ABBA  ~  "Dancing Queen"

18)  April Wine  ~  "Sign Of The Gypsy Queen"

19)  John Mayer  ~  "Queen Of California"

20)  Billy Ocean  ~  "Caribbean Queen"

"Leave" & "Stay" Songs

A new "Opposites" music post to start your week! It was hard to limit these to just ten songs for each, but I managed somehow. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  JoJo  ~  "Leave (Get Out)"

2)  Rihanna  ~  "Stay"

3)  Regina Spektor  ~  "Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)"

4)  Sugarland  ~  "Stay"

5)  Michael Jackson  ~  "Leave Me Alone"

6)  blink-182  ~  "Stay Together For The Kids"

7)  Linkin Park  ~  "Leave Out All The Rest"

8)  Mariah Carey  ~  "I Stay In Love"

9)  O.M.D. (Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark)  ~  "If You Leave"

10)  iCarly Cast ft. Miranda Cosgrove  ~  "Stay My Baby"

11)  Dido  ~  "Don't Leave Home"

12)  Al Green  ~  "Let's Stay Together"

13)  Kerli  ~  "Love Me Or Leave Me"

14)  Shakespears Sister  ~  "Stay"

15)  The Wreckers  ~  "Leave The Pieces"

16)  Mary J. Blige  ~  "Stay Down"

17)  David Lee Murphy  ~  "The Road You Leave Behind"

18)  Alice In Chains  ~  "I Stay Away"

19)  Chicago  ~  "If You Leave Me Now"

20)  Jewel  ~  "Stay Here Forever (Valentine's Day)"

Songs With "Take" In The Title

I'd love to be able to say – "You asked for it, and here it is!" – but who am I kidding? I'm probably more excited about these random collections of songs connected only by a common word in the titles than any of you, dear readers, are. That being said, I'm even fonder of this collection of songs than I was of the "Give" songs I posted last time around. There are songs for pretty much all musical tastes here. Unless you like reggae. There's no reggae. No rap, either, for that matter. Come to think of, there's also no blues music here. Well, let's just say there are songs for almost all musical tastes. Enjoy?  ~  JH

1)  A-ha  ~  "Take On Me"

2)  Rihanna  ~  "Take A Bow"

3)  The Police  ~  "Every Breath You Take"

4)  Carrie Underwood  ~  "Jesus, Take The Wheel"

5)  ABBA  ~  "Take A Chance On Me"

6)  MIKA  ~  "Relax, Take It Easy"

7)  Mary J. Blige  ~  "Take Me As I Am"

8)  Passion Pit  ~  "Take A Walk"

9)  Twisted Sister  ~  "We're Not Gonna Take It"

10)  JLS  ~  "Take A Chance On Me"  (Not the same as the ABBA song!)

11)  Amy Winehouse  ~  "Take The Box"

12)  Berlin  ~  "Take My Breath Away"

13)  Filter  ~  "Take A Picture"

14)  Phil Collins  ~  "Take Me Home"

15)  Fefe Dobson  ~  "Take Me Away"

16)  Karmin Music  ~  "Take It Away"