The Top Twenty Best Hit Songs of 2013 Part 2 (10-1)

10. One Direction

Ah One Direction, the biggest boy band of the 2010s, that most teenage girls had a phase for at some point and that are despised by most others. And while I am not a teenage girl and have never had a full on One Direction phase, I really enjoy most of the songs I have heard from them and like all of their Year End hits (Little Things and Live While We're Young still suck though). They had two hits in 2013,  and I love both so I'm gonna discuss them both separately.  

10a. Best Song Ever - One Direction

First we have Best Song Ever, the lead single from their album Midnight Memories, and the higher peaking of these two songs, although Story Of My Life became a bigger hit overall, being even bigger in 2014 than in 2013. This song is similar to Shut Up And Dance by Walk The Moon a song I love even if it has hardly any replay value for me. But if I'm being honest, I like Best Song Ever even more than that song, because it does have replay value. It's just as epic in describing a perfect night with a dream girl dancing to the best song ever, even more epic sounding, the members all have great performances and harmonize so well, and this song is way more replayable than Shut Up And Dance was, at least for me. 

10b. Story Of My Life - One Direction

As much as I love Best Song Ever, I much prefer Story Of My Life, a song that would have been a bit higher than #10 on this list if I weren't doing an artist tie, but yeah, Story Of My Life is probably my favorite One Direction song I have heard. Similar to their later hit Night Changes, this song sounds very warm and calming, much more downbeat than their usual iconic sound. All five of the members deliver fantastic vocal performances and sound incredibly passionate, like this song means the world to all of them. The song is about them messing up in a relationship and realizing their mistakes and having to come to the conclusion that they will never get this girl back, causing this song to hit me in a similar vein to Save Your Tears by The Weeknd. It doesn't hit as hard as that song for me, but it's still a damn fantastic song and my favorite I've heard from One Direction. 

9. Taylor Swift

I mean at this point you all know how much I love Taylor Swift and she had three eligible songs this year, two of her own, and one she featured on, so let's discuss all three of them from my least favorite to my favorite. 

9a. 22 - Taylor Swift

Red is one of my favorite Taylor Swift albums and while neither of the 2013 Year End hits from it are among my absolute favorites from it, when you have songs like All Too Well, Begin Again, Stay Stay Stay, Starlight and more, a song like 22 kinda pales in comparison, but that doesn't mean it isn't a damn excellent pop song. It's definitely cheesy, it's just a song about celebrating your 22nd birthday by having reckless fun at a party and getting with a guy at the party. But that's the charm and the song just slaps musically. The fantastic guitar produced verses, transitioning to the power pop chorus that just sounds amazing and is catchy as sin,  this song is just a very fun party song and while it's mid tier on Red, that just speaks to how good an album it is. 

9b. I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift

Music critics on YouTube have made some of the dumbest arguments I have ever seen for a song being bad against this song. Their criticism of it is that if she knew this guy was trouble why did she get with him in the first place? That's the point of the song! It's Taylor realizing that she knew this guy was trouble and regretting to herself that she got with him anyway because now she's lying on the cold hard ground! And motivating herself to not make that mistake in the future! Also the song is just damn fantastic as a country dubstep crossover. I love how it switches from country guitars in the verses to the dubstep chorus with all the fantastic vocal hooks like the "trouble, trouble, trouble"s. While again, not one of my absolute favorites on the album, that's a compliment of the album and not a diss of this song. And yet, my favorite song of hers on the 2013 Year End list was the one she featured on, by the artist she wrote her first ever single about. Yep, in 2013 Taylor Swift featured on a Tim McGraw song, and it was amazing and became one of his biggest ever hits on the main hot 100. 

9c. Highway Don't Care - Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban (only on guitar)

Yeah, this is my favorite song Taylor Swift was on on the 2013 Year End list. It's a song where Tim gets left by his girlfriend (played by Taylor) and they break up, and he starts wondering about how she's doing on the drive home. And she's not doing well, she's hurt by it and she turns on the radio to hear a sad song that makes her feel even sadder. And because she's so sad she starts to feel like she's in danger, and starts wondering how she can live without Tim, even though she just left. And now she's wondering if she should face the embarassment of coming right back after leaving him. And combine that with beautiful guitar and piano and a phenomenal guitar solo from Keith Urban (seriously his contributions to this song are far beyond any of his solo music I've heard, maybe I wouldn't dislike him so much if he played guitar like this on his own music), and Tim and Taylor both sounding fantastic and having so much chemistry and you have a forgotten gem from 2013 that's worth digging up!

8. Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood

And now we have the opposite of a forgotten gem, a song that has gotten a big resurgence in the last few years thanks to Tik Tok and this song being considered a bisexual anthem. And it's a song I have always loved. It's just a very comfortable and warm sounding song, like a warm blanket. It's a perfect song for winter time. Which makes sense considering it's called Sweater Weather. I love how the song switches between the more upbeat first half and the slower quieter second half. The lyrics are in the Fall Out Boy territory where I have no idea what the fuck they mean but they sound so badass that I do not care. 

7. Pitbull

Pitbull had two hits this year and I adored both, so let's talk about both of them seperately. 

7a. Feel This Moment - Pitbull, Christina Augilera

And we start off with a song that is widely agreed to be one of the worst hits of 2013, that I have always loved. It's just a fantastic hype building party anthem! With a gorgeous hook from Christina Aguilera who literally sounds angelic on this song! And Pitbull having so much charisma playing the hype man so well with so many iconic lines, from "Ask for money, and get advice, Ask for advice, get money twice" to "She read books, especially about red rooms and tie-ups" to "I see the future but live for the moment, Make sense, don't it? Hah, Now make dollars, I mean billions (Yeah)" and many more. And the production is fantastic with a great uplifting piano line during the verses and then the chorus drop which interpolates the synth melody of Take On Me by Aha which is one of my favorite songs of all time so you know I was bound to enjoy this song. This song is just so effective at building hype and making me feel happy! Fantastic song! 

7b. Timber - Pitbull, Kesha

And we have another party banger, although this one is more in the wild fun type of party vein, with country influences combined with the party elements to make one hell of a party banger. The song opens with the inconic harmonica riff, and then Kesha's wild and fantastic hook. Then Pitbull coming in with his buckets of charisma and iconic, quotable lines like "The bigger they are, the harder they fall, this biggity boy's a diggity dog"  and "Look up in the sky, it's a bird? It's a plane? Nah, it's just me, ain't a damn thing changed" and more. This song is just wild and insane and so much fun! 

 6. Don't You Worry Child - Swedish House Mafia, John Martin

2013 EDM was just phenomenal. I've already talked about Sweet Nothing, and this isn't even the highest EDM song on the list, we'll get it that one soon, but for now we have the signature hit from the EDM trio Swedish House Mafia, their last single before they went on hiatus, only returning in 2021. And oh boy what a sendoff it was because Don't You Worry Child is a song that feels otherworldly, like how are human beings capable of making music this epic, booming, and constantly building higher! It's a song about looking back at your childhood and all the good times and missing when you didn't have problems, but then remembering your father's words of wisdom and using them to deal with your current problems. And John Martin's vocals are phenomenal, selling it perfectly. But the star of this song is the production work. The drops of this song are otherworldy, every single one builds higher and feels more epic until it all clears and we get the 2nd verse. And then it builds up again the same way and goes on for even longer this time, before clearing away slowly as the song comes to a close. This song has a sense of scope and size to it that few songs I have ever heard do, and it blows me away every single time. The only reason it isn't higher is because it's the kind of song that you listen to once in a while and it's phenomenal  but it is absolutely not the kind of song you want to listen to all the time. 

5. Mama's Broken Heart - Miranda Lambert

2013 was also an amazing year for country music if you ask me, although that is a bit of a controversial take, and also my worst hit of the year was country, so there's that I guess. But the best country hits of 2013 make up for the disaster that is Sure Be Cool If You Did, one such being Mama's Broken Heart. This song is the story of a southern upper class woman getting broken up with, but told by her mom not to let her emotions show and just pretend like everything is fine for their reputation, and also that she needs to get over it since it's "just a breakup. But Miranda's character is tired of pretending and is just screaming out how fucking angry she is at the society around her caring more about her looks than her actual emotions and just starts going all out CRAZY! Combine that with the epic crazy sounding guitar that is just AWESOME and Miranda's phenomenal vocal performance and you have one hell of a country song. And yet, it isn't even my favorite country song on the 2013 Year End, because...

4. Wagon Wheel - Darius Rucker

The cover of Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker is one of my favorite country songs of the 2010s I've heard. And that's funny because I don't even care for the original bluegrass song by Old Crow Medicine Show very much. I mean while the song always had excellent writing, I personally really don't like the guy's drawling voice, it doesn't really fit the story of the lyrics very well. But yeah, Darius Rucker's version takes it to a new level making for one hell of a country tune. The guitars and other instruments also sound a lot better on this version, the original version didn't really have a great instrumental if you ask me, but this version just sounds beautiful! And Darius's warm deep voice fits the lyrical story much better than the Old Crow Medicine Show guy ever did. And again the lyrics are still incredible, the only reason the original song isn't flat out bad in my opinion. I mean come on, Wagon Wheel is a classic song that basically everyone knows, even people who don't like country and bluegrass music very much, and for good reason. It's the story of a traveler who hitchhikes to travel from place to place. And Darius sells every single moment and emotion in this song perfectly. And when he says that if he dies in Raleigh at least he will die free, that just hits very hard to me especially with how Darius delivers it. So yeah, Darius Rucker's 2013 cover of Wagon Wheel, is easily my favorite version of the song, and one hell of a country classic. Believe me in a weaker year this would have made my top 2, but in 2013 it couldn't even crack the top 3. What a fantastic year!

Before we get to the top 3 proper, I just need to say that ordering my top 3 on this list is easily the hardest decision I have ever made on one of these lists. All three of these songs are incredibly important to me and have made a large impact on my life that denying any of them the top spot hurt me, but in the end, I had to order them so here goes. 

3. Wake Me Up - Avicii

First of I will of course pay respect to an absolute legend, Avicii by saying rest in peace. But yeah, Wake Me Up by Avicii is one of my favorite songs of all time, and is possibly my favorite EDM song ever, and I'm someone who really enjoys EDM. I've talked before about my love for Paradise by Coldplay (see my 2012 best list part 2 for that) and I adore this song for similar reasons. It just has this sublime atmosphere, sereneness, and epic beauty to it that just transports me to a different world. The guitar on the verses is legendary, the drop is one of the best of all time, and Aloe Blacc's vocals are transcendent. Seriously, I need to listen to an album from him because if he sings this well and conveys emotions this exceptionally well on his solo work then I will absolutely love it (I've heard one of his solo songs, The Man from 2014, which is pretty great btw). But back to the Paradise comparison, the lyrics of this song are incredibly relatable to me. I'm not gonna go into depth about this because it's personal, but as I have said before on this blog, I am right on the verge of adulthood and I am honestly scared about life as an adult. So a song about wishing you could stay young forever and not have to worry about things like paying the bills and just live in the blissful ignorance of childhood really speaks to me. And this absolutely untouchable classic couldn't even crack my top 2, although in a normal year this would probably easily take the #1 spot. 2013 was just something else man. 

2. Demons - Imagine Dragons

If you ask me, Imagine Dragons get so much shit that they don't deserve. Yes Thunder is fucking terrible, and while I just find Believer mid, I totally get why people hate it, and yes Evolve is a pretty bad album, even if it has some good songs like Walking The Wire and Rise Up on it. But the album this song comes from, Night Visions, is a damn great album, like an 8/10 and Demons is one of my favorite songs ever. The instrumental just provides an incredibly bleak atmosphere that is just ear candy to me and causes the vocals and the lyrics to hit hard. Dan Reynolds just unleashes his all into this performance, singing his heart out conveying the emotions of the lyrics absolutely perfectly! And oh boy are these emotions hard hitting for me. This is a song about Dan being very depressed because of his large amount of insecurities and inner flaws, his "demons" if you will. And he feels like he needs to leave his girlfriend because she doesn't have demons like he does. And because he loves her so much, he doesn't want to stay with her and ruin her life with his insecurities, but at the same time he wants to stay with her because she loves him, and also because maybe she can help him get rid of his demons since she doesn't have them. It's a bleak song, and similar to a song like Hard To Love I see why someone would find it a bit too pessimistic, but also this is my list, it's all subjective, and as I have said before, I can be a bit of a pessimist and there's few songs that comfort me better when I am depressed. But also, this song is just perfect on a musical level so I listen to it all the time even when I'm happy. 

1. Carry On - Fun. 

And from an incredibly pessimistic song, we go to one of the most optimistic songs I have ever heard. Not optimistic in a fake way like a song like Sunday Best or AOK, no, genuine optimism, that feels real. And no joke, this might be the most inspiring song I have ever heard. Basically, Nate Ruess sees I assume his partner, although it isn't specified, going through absolute hell and doesn't know how to get through it. He tells her that while he hasn't been through hell like that, he's been through enough problems to know that you just need to carry on in life and get through your problems with optimism. But he's still not totally sure this is doable, because they are just "normal people" and these are massive problems. But then after getting her to get through her problems, he meets up with some people at a bar and have a conversation about death, and he starts thinking that maybe he can cheat out of death to make up for the times he has been cheated in life. And this causes him to just start becoming incredibly optimistic and knowing that even if he can't do that, he can make the most of the life he does have and even if he has problems he has to face, he can just keep going and be proud of his life since it is his!And of course the instrumental is transcendent and the buildup is legendary, how it starts off calm and quiet while he's comforting her but not super confident, but then just exploding when he gets more optimistic! And Nate Ruess conveys every single second of this song like it's his last.  This song is so inspiring and uplifting that it is just the kind of song that I don't know how I would have lived through a year like 2021 which involved me getting somewhat depressed multiple times,  without. If Demons and Driver's License are comforting and/or escapes from my depression, Carry On is the kind of song that actually helps me get out of it, and I am so glad I discovered it from listening to the 2013 Year End list in late 2020, because it has gotten me through so much since then, and will undoubtedly continue to do so in the years to come! Carry On by Fun! The Best Hit Song of 2013!

Before I close this out I am gonna do something I haven't before but will probably do going forward on my lists where I use the Jan-Dec Year End lists. And that is, show what my lists would look like if I just went by the Billboard Year End. 

Worst list:

10. Summertime Sadness 

9. I Want Crazy

8. Harlem Shake

7. Scream And Shout

6. Beauty And A Beat 

5. Berzerk

4. We Can't Stop 

3. Come And Get It

2. Blurred Lines

1. Sure Be Cool If You Did

Best list:

20. Gone, Gone, Gone

19. #Beautiful 

18. Brave

17. Sweet Nothing 

16. It Goes Like This

15. Best Song Ever

14. Clarity 

13. I Cry

12. That's My Kind Of Night 

11. Heart Attack

10. Taylor Swift 

9. Swimming Pools 

8. Feel This Moment 

7. Don't You Worry Child 

6. Little Talks

5. Mama's Broken Heart 

4. Wagon Wheel

3. Wake Me Up

2. Demons

1. Carry On

Thanks for reading! Urtar Reviews signing out! I'll see you next time!