While I’m grateful for the bounty of music brought to us by Sombr, Lady Gaga, Conan Gray, and Alexander Stewart and several others, 2025 is not going to go down in the history books as one of the best years in music. Things have to change for the better. Never has it been more apparent that dollars are the bottom line when releasing music. A&R and promotion by major labels has gotten more visibly lazy than ever, and promotion is only notable when a superstar artist drops a release. The industry basically shuts down during December, a huge money grab allowing old Christmas songs to bring in the dollars that would otherwise require work. The music world and its fans are being conditioned to revolve around streaming services, Instagram and Tik Tok. Artists are being encouraged to use every opportunity for fans to pay them for something; free meet-and-greets, even for new or rising indie artists, now seem to be out of the question. Social media engagement is way down. Bring me back to the early 2010’s when artists and even their managers were interested in talking to their fans. Now even indie artists turn off their notifications. A positive step by Billboard to put limits on the duration of songs on the Hot 100 was implemented but was long overdue. But then Billboard severed its ties with You Tube, which to me was just a dumb move. Here’s a toast to all that was positive in 2025 and I look forward to more of that in 2026. The BILLCS Top 30 begins its 28th year online next week.
Check out information about my ONLINE RADIO SHOWS after the chart commentary below as they are directly tied in with this blog. As most of you know, I host 3 online radio shows – The Big 20 and two iterations of Your Weekend New Music Mix – and produce 2 online radio segments – my new music and retro picks of the week – that are all pre-recorded. The Big 20 and the picks of the week are happily being syndicated and you can find the current schedule for all at the bottom of the home page of this blog.
Reminder: Click on the photos to listen to the songs on Spotify.
Never did I think when it first appeared on this chart that “Eleven Eleven” by Conan Gray would stick around and top the chart. But over the past few months, the song has grown on me immensely, and, along with fellow #1 “Vodka Cranberry”, is the second of my two favourites on Conan’s Wishbone album. “Eleven Eleven” is Conan’s fourth #1, following “Yours” (which sadly he won’t play in concert because he hates it), “Never Ending Song”, and “Vodka Cranberry”.
Will Swinton gets his third Top 10 entry as the lovely “Find a Way” bounds into the Top 10, rising 11-6.
“Find a Way” by MK and Clementine Douglas continues to move up the chart, climbing 10-7.
“Elevate” is a song that fans of pop/dance music need to discover, as brought to you by UK singer/songwriter Kelli-Leigh from her album Legacy. It motors into the Top 10, up 13-8.
The last new entry in the Top 10 is by Greyson Chance, no stranger to this part of the chart, with “Flip the Record” becoming his 8th Top 10 release by rising 16-10.
The Fastest Riser on the chart could be a huge festival anthem in 2026. It’s “Guardian Angel” by Dimension and Karen Harding, which soars 24-11.
A smooth, atmospheric deep house track that gets under my skin tends to do well on the chart. That means good things for “Holding On” by MashBit, Luke Alexander and sunsett., which climbs 18-12.
Another song making quick work of the chart is Alexander Stewart’s “The Boy I Almost Was”, which vaults 25-14. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself in a puddle the first few times you hear this one.
Tiësto’s return to form with his trance track “Bring Me to Life” with Swedish singer FORS is going down well with fans, and it climbs 26-17.
An earworm out of the gate, and only the artist’s third single, is “Gemini” by Stoke-on-Trent, England-based pop/rock singer Jorge Wilson, which rises 28-19.
Making her debut on the chart is Grammy-nominated electronic alternative artist FKA twigs with “Perfectly” at #27. The song has been added to the digital version of her fourth album Eusexua.
Also making their debut is a rock duo of women from Argentina called Pacifica, with the infectious “Indie Boyz” at #28 from their third album In Your Face!
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