The Top Twenty Best Hit Songs of 2013 Part 1 (20-11)

20. Catch My Breath - Kelly Clarkson

Most of Kelly Clarkson's 2010s hits are far from her best in my opinion, songs like Stronger and Heartbeat Song. However, she did have one hit in 2013 that I would put among her best. Catch My Breath has a fantastic piano line, guitar riff, and synths creating a fantastic groove. And Kelly sings her ass off putting her all into this performance to sell it out the roof. The lyrics are simple, just about how she's not gonna let the critics and haters get her down, but what makes this work so well is again the production and her performance. Fantastic song 

19. Gone, Gone, Gone - Phillip Phillips

It feels like this song has been overshadowed in cultural memory by this guy's other, bigger, hit Home, and that's a shame in my opinion, because, as much as I still do really like Home, it got an Honorable Mention on my 2012 best list for a reason, I've always preferred this song. I love Phillips's warm voice, the fantastic acoustic guitar and drums with a really warm groove, this song just sounds very warm and comforting which fits the lyrics well. It's a song about all the things Phillips will do to help this girl because he loves her so much and she has always done the same for him. It's really adorable and Phillips sells it very well. Also this song is nostalgic for me because my choir class sang it in middle school. 

18. #Beautiful - Mariah Carey, Miguel

I feel like a lot of people forget that Mariah Carey actually had a Hot 100 hit in the 2010s, even if it was a minor one, but yeah she did, and it's awesome. Both artists are great singers, and they have fantastic chemistry, their voices just fit so well together, Miguel providing the lower, comforting side to the harmonies, where Mariah provides a higher falsetto, and I mean it's a Mariah Carey falsetto! The production fits both of them very well as well. Just a fantastic sex jam!

17. Brave - Sara Bareilles

Wouldn't be one of my best lists without at least one song that I love that most people in this community don't. For round one of that we have this song. Now I mean, I get why people don't like this song. I see why someone would find it cheesy and would find it similar to a song like Fight Song by Rachel Platten lyrically. That said, I love it. Sara Bareilles is a fantastic singer and really puts her all into this song and I really like the production. That said, what really caused this song to click for me was realizing that it's about a friend of hers struggling to come out as queer. This song is her reassuring her friend to come out and combined with her passionate performance she really conveys her pain at seeing her friend not able to come out and be herself because she's too afraid. That really caused me to love and respect this song. 

16. Sweet Nothing - Calvin Harris, Florence Welch (Of Florence + The Machine)

I'm not familiar with much Florence + The Machine, only two songs, Dog Days Are Over, which is solid but nothing special if you ask me, and What Kind Of Man which starts off slow but becomes awesome when it gets going. And on the other side, I've always liked Calvin Harris as a producer and this song takes both of them and fuses them together perfectly! This song is Florence or at least her character in the song letting out all her anger at her abusive partner with a phenomenal vocal performance conveying the anger perfectly and the drop doing so as well with its rhythm, and it just feels so cathartic and awesome! Plus, it just sounds amazing. 

15.  It Goes Like This - Thomas Rhett

And we're at round two of the unpopular opinions, with It Goes Like This, a song where Thomas Rhett sings about how this girl blows him away so much with her beauty that it immediately puts words for a love song into his head. The lyrics do a great job of conveying how lovestruck he is and he sells it very well with a fantastic performance. I also really like the guitar groove and his vocals. Just a really adorable song that gets more hate than it deserves if you ask me. 

14. Clarity - Zedd, Foxes

I've always liked Zedd. I mean outside of that Starving song with Hailee Steinfeld, which still sucks, although I blame the other production group on that song, Grey, for that not Zedd, I enjoy everything I've heard that he's produced, to varying levels. And Clarity is one of my favorites from him. It has a fantastic vocal performance from Foxes, a singer I'm only familiar with outside of this song for her guest performance on Fall Out Boy's album from 2013, on a song that I didn't really like, Just One Yesterday. But here she really delivers a fantastic performance switching from calm in the verses to belting in the chorus powerfully. But the star of the show here is Zedd himself. Zedd at his best has the capability of making some of my favorite EDM drops of all time, and while this isn't on the level as a song like Stay The Night or Beautiful Now which have those, his production work is still incredible. Creating a beautiful atmosphere for Foxes to ride perfectly during the verses, and then having a constantly building up, bombastic drop that just absolutely goes wild! 

13. That's My Kind Of Night - Luke Bryan

I mean at this point I bet none of you are shocked this made the list considering I've made it very clear at this point that I really enjoy most bro country and I've also made my soft spot for Luke Bryan clear at this point. I recently listened to the album this song comes from, Crash My Party, and I really enjoyed it. This wasn't my favorite song on it, although it was one of them, would make my top 3 on it probably. Like most bro country, I kinda get the hate because it's absolutely a stupid song. But also, the stupidity is the charm for me. This song just has so many quotable lines like "I got that real good feel good stuff", "Floatin' down the Flint River, catch us up a little catfish dinner", "Put in my country-rock, hip-hop mixtape, Little Conway, a little T-Pain, might just make it rain" and more. I mean sure, they're stupid and cheesy, but they're also very charming, at least to me. This song isn't meant to be taken seriously, it's just stupid fun, and in my opinion it does it well. Also it just sounds amazing with a fantatsic guitar riff and groove, great drums and Luke Bryan being a great singer with a lot of charisma as usual. 

12. Heart Attack - Demi Lovato

I've always liked Demi Lovato, aside from her biggest hit Sorry Not Sorry which is bad, even if I think it is a bit overhated. But other than that, I really like everything I've heard from her, and Heart Attack is one of my favorites from her. I love the guitar and synth production, I love Demi's fantastic vocals, and I love the lyrics about her falling in love despite being afraid of love. Just a damn great pop song that I really enjoy. 

11. Counting Stars - One Republic

If there's one song from this Year End list that is gonna go down in the history books as a classic universally, my money is on Counting Stars, and while it just barely missed my top 10 of the year, and it isn't even my favorite hit song from One Republic (see my best hit songs of 2010 list), it's still an amazing song. The guitar instrumental has a fantastic and iconic groove, Ryan Tedder's vocals are incredible, and the lyrics are really good. It's basically about taking risks as an artist rather than doing what the label wants you to do and will sell well, and coming from Ryan Tedder who has been a songwriter behind the scenes in the industry for a while now, the message hits hard. This song has already become somewhat of a classic in the cultural memory, it has continued to be incredibly dominant on streaming and has over 3 billion views on YouTube. And for good reason.