NMW's Top Movies of The Two-Thousand Tweens!

It's that time of the decade again. This blog was in its infancy in 2009 when we first wrapped up the 2000s as a decade, and now, in its old decrepit age we take a look back at the years 2010-2019. It has been a very odd decade, mostly terrible, but there were at least ten good movies. Maybe stretching seven or eight, but we'll list ten here for you. We took some time and looked back at every single Top Ten List we had, as well as the Top Ten re-do list we had, and then the Top Ten Movies We've Seen that Didn't Come out in This Year lists. It's a lot. Here's what we got:

The first thing I wanted to do was break this down by year. Just on instinct looking through all the movies I've watched in the past ten years, it looks something like this:

2010:

Black Swan
The Social Network
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Hot Tub Time Machine

2011:

Moneyball
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Take Shelter
Melancholia

2012:

Django Unchained
The Master
The Cabin in the Woods
Lincoln
The Campaign

2013:

The Wolf of Wall Street
Inside Llewyn Davis
Pain & Gain
The World's End
The Lone Ranger
Pacific Rim
Stoker

2014:

What We Do in the Shadows
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
The Interview
Inherent Vice
Gone Girl

2015:

Bone Tomahawk
The Duke of Burgundy
Mad Max: Fury Road
Under the Skin

2016:

The Witch
American Honey
The Lobster
Silence

2017:

Good Time
mother!
Blade Runner 2049
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 

2018:

The Death of Stalin
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Sorry to Bother You

2019:

Godzilla: King of the Monsters
The Beach Bum
Jojo Rabbit
Uncut Gems
Booksmart
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
Us

It's actually pretty liberating to not worry about what's Top Ten or Top 11 or whatever. This is the cream of the crop of what I am into. I certainly have a taste. Okay, I'll stop trolling you with that Lone Ranger nod, but I do actually love that movie.

2019 is tricky. I'm not really sure which of these films will resonate down the line, or even next month. It's all a little too recent for my judgment. Is Us better than Black Swan? Standing here right now it certainly feels like it, but who knows. Still, I think we can match these up and probably reevaluate years on down the line. Actually, we should definitely do a 2000-2009 reevaluation. You know we're doing this, now. Yes, I also love Godzilla: King of the Monsters and should probably name that #1 of the deacde.

From here I think we can sift through this mess and form a Decade Top Ten by just going through our no-brainers. Let's list them here and throw in a blurb about why this stuff resonated with me:

#10: American Honey (2016)

Dir: Andrea Arnold

I discovered this from some other "Best of 2016" list and started exploring it based on its premise. It's a mystifying three hours long and somehow holds your attention the entire way, despite being kind of about nothing. It centers on a young mother who runs away from home (abandoning her child on the way) and joining a troupe of young magazine salespeople led by Shia LaBeouf and Riley Keough. It's a raw movie, filmed with mostly real people and only a handful of actors. On a larger scale it's also about the state of youth in America - lost, soulless, aching for connection and chasing dreams fueled by con artists and snake oil. I watched it on Netflix DVD on a weekday morning in December and remember it exactly. It's that kind of movie - it's always stuck with me in part because of how terrifyingly close to reality it could be for me and many people around me.

#09: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Dir: George Miller

This is a movie where ever single element is perfect. Everything works. It was breathtaking to witness. It's as if George Miller looked at every modern action movie and thought, "I can do this better." His resume is as varied as Babe: Pig in the City (1998), Happy Feet (2006), and uh...all three original Mad Max films, but somehow had in him still the perfect action movie. You can break this down endlessly in film class. I actually literally taught a film class in 2017 and whenever I wanted to demonstrate a point I just kept coming back to this movie. The establishment of premise, world-building, irony, every action as a reaction to a previous action, iconic characters, motifs, music, and costuming. All in service of an actually entertaining, memorable, enjoyable film. The casting is perfect. Each extended action scene is gripping in more importantly, in service to a story that could be told completely visually. It's such a simple idea executed to absolute perfection. Every action movie ever needs to strive to be Mad Max: Fury Road. It ends up not even being fair. This movie is the Patriots and George Miller is the Bill Belichick of action movies. I should note here that this movie IS actually just a straight re-make of The Road Warrior (1981). I also remember seeing this - in theaters, with friends and a big crowd, including someone's dad. The best way to watch this film.

#08: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Dir: David Fincher

The story of this movie is long and laboured, from forgotten lost manuscript by deceased author Stieg Larsson to a competent Swedish adaptation (only the first one is good), to this landing and flopping in Fincher's hands. Rooney Mara is fearless here and it's a damn shame she hasn't really had the chance to flex her acting like this again. As with many Fincher movies, the true star is the cinematography, staging, and unflinching treatment of the unsavory context. There are side roads and layers here that build towards the two characters of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist coming together to solve a long dead cold case. It's not much more than a classic mystery story, but it actually has a memorable payoff, and I'll never listen to Enya the same way again. Supporting cast Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, and Robin Wright are all superstars here. I watched this in theaters, I remember my seat - I was near the aisle. Sometime around Christmas. More than that, though, I remember watching this during a snow day, wrapped in a blanket in my apartment on a stark TV sitting on a chair in the middle of the room. I think my room didn't have heat and I was trying to watch it on a big TV from the living room. More than anything, that's how this movie should be watched.

#07: Melancholia (2011)

Dir. Lars von Trier

This is an extremely long disposition on the nature of depression, and pretty much the best that we're ever going to get. The premise on its face is that an alternate Earth, named Melancholia is headed for us and we're all doomed. The movie doesn't entirely concern itself with this small matter, though, and mostly acts as a means for Kirsten Dunst to prove that she's a legit actress (she does). I watched this years after it came out because it drew a lot of chatter on the Internet and I wanted to up my Lars von Trier knowledge. This is somehow one of his more accessible flicks? It's also totally a movie that's just two movies, the first half being Kirsten Dunst's wedding and the second half being mostly her moping around and unable to get out of the tub. It's got one of the best ending shots ever and is really a landmark bit of filmmaking.

#06: Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Dir: Boots Riley

I saw this in a small arthouse theater in Cleveland and remember sitting there thinking, "How did someone reach into my brain and put a movie exactly made for me on the screen?" This film is incredibly engaging and has layers extremely beyond its premise of "black guy using David Cross' voice to become a good telemarketer." Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun, Jermaine Fowler, Armie Hammer and of course, LaKeith Stanfield are all at the top of their game. This film has a lot to say about unions, capitalism, modern-day slavery, the extent that people will sell out, the hypocrisy of doing so (and not doing so), and also, magic horses. I simply cannot give away more if you haven't seen it, but you really need to see it. I have never encountered a movie that goes so absurdly off the rails but manages to hold on to itself. I could watch it over and over - it's currently on Hulu, I might just do that.

05: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Dir: Martin Scorsese

As I was compiling this I found it amazing that Scorsese put out Silence three years after this. Maybe that long meditative thought about faith and Christianity was in response to the sheer depravity of this movie? I watched this on Christmas Day sitting next to my 14-year old cousin. It was awesome. I think those were his first boobs. Every award Leo has gotten after this has been in response to his performance here, which is the most unhinged and ridiculous in movie history. I said it. It may glamorize the stock-trader lifestyle (this is debatable. I'm not sure how many reasonable people are jealous of losing all feeling in their arms and legs, losing their families, and being arrested by the FBI), but it's also a loving tribute to the 90s and the terrible atrocities of greed and hubris. The cast is top notch. This movie gave us Margot Robbie, the beginning of the McConaughissance, Jon Bernthal on the cinematic stage, and serious Jonah Hill. Okay, "serious" should be taken with a grain of salt, but when I think of modern classics, this always comes to mind. Like Fury Road, it's as if an old master saw what all these young kids were doing and vowed he could do it better. I always go back to this movie. It never ages for me.

#04: The Master (2012)

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

PTA's MASTERpiece, this is his thinly veiled opus to Scientology that's more of a mental duel between two of our greatest actors, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. I watch this about every two years or so, and it never gets old. There is always some other layer I uncover as I myself meditate on who is the "master" and who is the "student" in the relationship. It's also notable as one of the few movies where the lead character doesn't change at all from start to finish. But it's actually good and that's sort of the point. By this point you can see what tends to attract me most - sleezy con artists masquerading as legitimate sources of hope and salvation. It's a dangerous game, toying with others' feelings, money, and souls. I abhor it. This is all the surface-level stuff in The Master. The core relationship between these two dudes battling for control over their surroundings, each other, and themselves is what makes this film interesting and stays with me. That, and "PIG FUCK!"

#03: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

Dir. Ana Lily Amirpour

I watched this I think on DVD, maybe streaming, in my apartment in Fall of 2015. I immediately fell in love with it and eagerly devoured anything else Amirpour could churn out. I think that's largely why I still loved The Bad Batch (2016). This self-described Iranian Vampire Western sucks you in like the vampires it depicts, with equal parts danger and seduction that's befitting its genre, but escapes most imitators. It's fiercely its own genre and emblematic of a voice that is not often heard. My mind wanders to the cinematography, including the car scene which gets me every time. I think this is on Kanopy. It's time for another visit. Every frame a painting holds very true here, where literally very single shot could be printed and put on a wall. Regarding the actual context, the table-turning nature of typical gender roles and how lost our purported protagonist becomes is why this resonates. That's actually similar to another film coming up. I like these films.

#02: Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Dir: Denis Villeneuve

I also watched this in Cleveland - alone in a major movie theater on a Sunday afternoon in October. I was one of two people in the theater. I instantly came home and wrote 4200 words on it. So, just go read that. This was a huge bomb, but really, what were the thinking? I can't believe this film was allowed to be made. Seriously, why give Villeneuve $185 million to do whatever he wanted? He chose to make a 3-hour meditation on reality, the nature of being human, our right to control our creations, and a 30-year mystery follow-up to a movie notoriously opaque, so much so that Ridley Scott and Harrison Ford don't even agree on what happened. Also, no one outside of cinephiles have seen Blade Runner (1982). Hey - it could still happen! This is the rare 30+ year follow-up sequel that actually advances, even improves on its original. Remember that sweet 80s Vangelis soundtrack? Hans Zimmer is here to make it better! Remember Harrison Ford? Well, he's still here, although he totally should not be, but Ryan Gosling is even better. It's such a good, natural advancement of that world, that acknowledges its predecessor while making its own coherent world-building that STILL resonates with modern life. Ana de Armas, Robin Wright, Dave Bautista and especially Sylvia Hoeks are all fantastic here. Jared Leto sucks, but...does he kind of always suck now? Hey - second Robin Wright appearance on this list!

#01: Under the Skin (2014)

Dir. Jonathan Glazer

As I thought about this list, these three were the first I thought of when putting together an actual legit number of truly great movies. This one of the only movies I've ever seen that completes its story almost in totality through the visual medium it exists in. It's truly brilliant. You're forced to engage and tune in with a high attention to detail to decipher what the hell is going on. In the end we don't really have answers, but maybe understand a little bit more about what it means to be human. In the end, isn't that what we're all looking for? Scarlett Johansson plays a hot alien who eats dudes in a big black empty space, but damn this movie makes literally looking at grass growing contemplative and satisfying. That bus scene was a little long, I will admit. But this movie is endlessly fascinating as it forces you to try to figure out what the hell is going on, then you take a step back and learn to actual absorb all the visual information it's conveying and take it at face value. It's a cycle that works back in on itself and I have never found a movie that is better suited to the constraints and advantages of its medium.

As you may tell, I am really into super-long, contemplative movies that play with gender roles, feature deep soul-crushing cons, and are generally weird as hell. That all tracks. In 2029, if we are still alive and not all replaced by replicants I'll be curious how this list shifts around. I'm especially curious how 2019 fits in. 2010 didn't make it, either. I wonder if I have recency bias as well as just not remembering how good The Social Network was. You know, Hot Tub Time Machine should really be at the top of this list. We will definitely put out a "Best of 2000s" List soon. Stay tuned for more hot action, folks!!

First Impressions: Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Once upon a time we wrote these impressions the week we actually saw the movie in question. That's okay. We're here today to talk about Quentin Tarantino's 9th film, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019), hereafter referred to as the incredibly awkward, OUATIH. Happy Halloween!

I didn't really like this movie. That's all the review you need. Unless you'd like to stay around for an excessive amount of additional analysis. Okay, fine.

Bros 4 Life

So, there has been a lot of hot takes on this one. Here is one I like the best. We are getting to a point where shit is starting to add up. I am a Tarantino fan as much as any cinephile should be - he makes well-thought out and well-crafted movies that are staggeringly unique and original in an age where that is a very rare sight. OUATIH on the year is second only to Us (2019) in original ideas at the box office, and 16th on the year. This belies the fact that that's where our standards are. Just because it's pure cinema doesn't mean it's good or responsible cinema.

When I say things add up, it's more than Tarantino's trademark penchant for violence (for the record, this is his most subdued movie ever until the last fifteen minutes). It's how cozy he was with Weinstein, his willingness to hire actors he shouldn't (or is it just a meta commentary on Cliff Booth being hired where he shouldn't?), and willingness to showcase brutal, unheralded violence against women in not one, but his last two films. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Surely this isn't a gut reaction to controversial filmmaking - it's more that it feels unmotivated. There isn't necessarily a strong coherent message here about the irony of violence like in Inglourious Basterds (2009), not does it play with time and narrative in an interesting or charismatic way like Pulp Fiction (1994). It's difficult to suss out what he's trying to do, which leaves his particular brand of violence flat. Even a scene that deliciously builds tension like Cliff Booth wandering through the Manson camp doesn't really have a strong final outcome. It all seems like the master craftsman is at work, but without a really good story to work out.

This of course blends the film into the realm of bad taste. In reaction to this I rewatched The Hateful Eight (2015) because I felt much of the same way after that film. I actually liked it quite a bit more on the re-watch, which also made me realize that that's the most Tarantino-esque scripted film ever, while OUATIH is assuredly the least. I'm not sure if that little bit changed my viewing experience, but I also thought that the film's mode of telling us Daisy Domergue is a terrible person who deserved the brutality she received, instead of showing us her retribution was a fatal misstep. Likewise, the final moments of OUATIH are truly brutal, and yeah, in real life the monsters who carried out the Sharon Tate murders deserved that brutality in kind. The film, however, fails to show us that. All we see are young women getting their faces pounded in. They didn't actually do anything in the movie to deserve their fate.

Tarantino used the kind of Evil Shorthand to better extent in Basterds and Django Unchained (2012), but both of those films also effectively showed us why the cruel horrible people of the past deserved the ret-conned fate Tarantino supplied them. It's harder here because the murderers-turned-victims are really nothing more than weird creepy hippies.

Booth is a tough character to decipher as well. He seems at times to be the ultimate good guy with a strong, loyal code of morality, but also holds on to some incredibly shady characteristics. The parallels to Natalie Wood's death are also uncomfortable, especially as the film seems to deify Booth rather than chastise him and provide a commentary or satire. There are a few key scenes that establish Booth as the ultimate badass, mainly him besting (or at least tying) Bruce Lee, which as a big fan of a lot of his work, I also took some issue with. This all leads to him pretty much in character defending himself, although again it should be noted that within the context of the film's world, he's doing all this horror to random strangers, not would-be murderers.

All this adds up to just bring me out of the movie. When Brad Pitt throws Bruce Lee aside my stomach churns. That just wouldn't happen. In a cinematic sense, it's distracting along with many other little things that make for a movie where I'd have rather been on my phone for most of the runtime. Tarantino's longtime editor, Sally Menke passed away in 2010, and you can't help but wonder if it was Menke that really gave his films such zip and spice for so long. His efforts since her passing have noticeably been long and insane. There's no reason for this film to be 161 minutes (with a 171 minute re-release coming soon!). I'm not against long movies, but there isn't enough here to remain interesting.

I should note that despite at the inherent problematic issues with Pitt's character, he by far does the best acting of anyone on screen and is incredibly watchable whenever he's on screen. He doesn't even do things out of character, but that's also exactly why the film ends up being a bit queasy. Needless to say, this film would fall apart with anyone else in this role.

Moving on to other characters, Leo does fine work, and the story of his fading actor is the most interesting plotline here. It does all feel very "inside" and although it's certainly relatable, part of it feels too much like a personal love letter to this era rather than something of universal value. Leo doesn't quite go big and insane here, but he's able to act out his acting, which is pretty fun to watch and actually an underrated skill.

Rounding out the other top-billed actor is Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate, who is the most bizarre role of all. She literally just walks around starstruck for the first forty minutes and exists as an object to watch with wonder. Sure, they're pounding it through our head that she was an innocent victim lost to a brutal murder, but Tarantino could have made an effort into making her into a real person for us to understand. Instead, she pretty much just exists until she is not murdered.

There were some good parts of sitting through this thing. It looks gorgeous of course, and the period recreation is impressive, if not wholly necessary. The costumes pop and there are plenty of cameos, eventually to the film's detriment when you see actors billed upfront who appear for two seconds of screen time about halfway through. It's also loaded with small bits of easter eggs and details that are pretty entertaining. Strangely, it's also Tarantino's most straightforward film, and I mean that literally. There are no chapter breaks, interlocking narratives, or other weird games. Just the film! Tarantino's gotten to the point where the weirdest thing he can do is just play things straight.

It's not an entirely coherent look at the Manson Family or its ideology or anything, but certainly an interesting take on the entertainment industry's transitions to the New Hollywood of the 1970s. If that's your bag, this is a cool film. If not, it feels too specific, too thoughtless, and too scattered to be really worth our time.

What did you think of Tarantino's latest output? Will his 10th and supposedly final film be any good? Is it going to be a Star Trek movie for some reason? Leave your take below!

Summer Jam 2019...A Champion Once Again Crowned!

Ladies and Gentleman, another Season of Summer has come and gone. As we've done for the past nine years for some reason, we've tracked, tallied, and ranked every Hot Jam that blasted across our eardrums for seventeen glorious weeks. Now, here at the end of all things, comes the time to assess what we have wrought. It's time to see who will join this illustrious list of SUMMER JAM ROYALTY!

Past Winners:

2007: "Umbrella" by Rihanna
2008: "Bleeding in Love" by Leona Lewis
2009: "I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas
2010: "California Gurls" by Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg
2011: "Park Rock Anthem" by LMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock
2012: "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen
2013: "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke ft. T.I. & Pharrell
2014: "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea ft. Charle XCX
2015: "Shut Up and Dance" by Walk the Moon
2016: "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Justin Timberlake
2017: "Despacito" by Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi ft. Justin Bieber
2018: "Never Be the Same" by Camila Cabello

I hate so many of these songs. But that's not for us to decide. We charted a total of 57 Jams this summer. Most are pretty good. Here's #9 - 16, the near cream-of-the-crop that just made the cut in this, our FINAL Summer Jam List:

"The London" by Young Thug ft. J. Cole & Travis Scott
"Money in the Grave" by Drake ft. Rick Ross
"Never Really Over" by Katy Perry
"Cool" by Jonas Bros
"WOW" by Post Malone
"ME!" by Taylor Swift ft. Brendan Urie
"Glad He's Gone" by Toe Lo
"Talk" by Khalid

Alright. Now let's dive in to the real hot stuff:

#8: "Sweet But Psycho" by Ava Max



Weeks on List: 5
First Week: 05/20 (#1)
Last Week: 08/05 (#7)
Peak Position: #1 (05/20)
Average Position: 4.60

This is the official Underrated Song of Summer. It's so listenable and hummable and got in my head so damn easy all summer. It didn't necessarily destroy the charts, but stuck around for two and a half months and hit #1 early on. It will always remind me of a few moments this summer and that's what it's all about. Ava Max is pretty new to the scene, and this kind of dance-pop is decently derivative, but she's got some pipes to rise above the nonsense.

#7: "Dancing with a Stranger" by Sam Smith & Normani



Weeks on List: 4
First Week: 05/27 (#4)
Last Week: 06/17 (#2)
Peak Position: #2 (06/03, 06/17)
Average Position: 3.25

This song was surprisingly only present for four consecutive weeks in May and June, but earned enough points to gain the #7 spot overall. It came in second place twice and never dipped that low. Still, this felt like a consistent song this summer, and narrowly missed out on hopping back into relevancy. It was a consistent depth player this summer and this feels like a natural spot for it. It's seductive, fun, sexy, and salacious. It also was a great leap forward for Normani's career.

#6: "You Need to Calm Down" by Taylor Swift



Weeks on List: 7
First Week: 06/24 (#7)
Last Week: 09/02 (#2)
Peak Position: #2 (0708, 07/22, 08/12, 09/02)
Average Position: 3.17

I sense that I'll always be torn by this song. Its pro-tolerance message ostensibly shields it from any criticism, but it's also definitely a co-option of the LBGT rights movement to fuel both Taylor Swift's personal hater issues and general trolling of female pop queens on the Internet. It's a lot at once but also pretty catchy, but also with a good message at heart. It's just harder and harder to see through Tay Tay's ego these days, even if she's still a master lyricist. This relatively late-breaking jam never hit the #1 spot, but surprisingly had four separate instances at #2, the most of any song this summer.

#5: "I Don't Care" by Bieber and Sheeran



Weeks on List: 8
First Week: 05/20 (#7)
Last Week: 07/29 (#4)
Peak Position: #1 (07/22)
Average Position: 3.63

This was an early contender and held pretty strong through sheer longevity. It did crack the #1 spot in late July, but mostly hung around the middle of the countdown, at one point for five consecutive weeks. At eight total weeks it is actually the fourth most of any song here. Again, I really hated this song. It grated on me after a while. I also think there's something somehow even more shallow when mega-stars team up for a really cheap meme video. It's people just not understand what makes memes funny, and also just seems unfair compared to the folks out there struggling to put out the same quality work. Whatever, it was a jam.

#4: "Señorita" by Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes



Weeks on List: 7
First Week: 07/08 (#3)
Last Week: 09/02 (#3)
Peak Position: #1 (07/29, 08/19)
Average Position: 2.83

Some songs get credit for longevity, this one was all about potency. It is the latest breaking song that still made the Top 8, and had the second-highest average position of any track. If it had debuted a few weeks earlier it would have made a legit run at the Top Three. It's still a fun song to listen to. Camila follows up her 2018 Queen Status with a still impressive showing here. It's also notable that it bowed out at the exact position it came in at, but that's more a cause of running out of weeks rather than anything else.

#3: "Bad Guy" by Billie Eilish



Weeks on List: 10
First Week: 05/20 (#4)
Last Week: 09/02 (#6)
Peak Position: #2 (05/27, 06/10, 08/26)
Average Position: 3.89

I was surprised that this ended up in the #3 spot after seemingly spending this entire summer in the #2 spot, but it did have a big break about mid-way through. After six straight weeks during May and June it fell off for a while, but like "Dancing with a Stranger", always seemed on the periphery. Billie Eilish is the freshest new voice in a while and this is an extremely dynamic, unique song. It came back strong in a post "Old Town Road" world at the end of summer that clinched its #3 slot, but also notable for being ranked so high while never hitting #1. This will definitely always be known as the Summer Billie Eilish debuted, though.

#2: "Truth Hurts" by Lizzo



Weeks on List: 10
First Week: 07/01 (#4)
Last Week: 09/02 (#1)
Peak Position: #1 (07/15, 08/26, 09/02)
Average Position: 3.00

What can I say about this? All 10 weeks on the List were back to back. It exploded on the Fourth of July and stayed strong through Labor Day. This song was a little old so I hesitated with it at first, which means it could have racked up even more points. It's still an amazing song to listen to - I'm getting jacked up right now cranking out her jams. Lizzo had a string of hits last year, and even charted, but 2019 is DEFINITELY the year of mainstream Lizzo. It's awesome. She closed out the year with the #1 spot in the last two weeks of summer and earned the second-most #1 spots of any song on this list.

#1: "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus



Weeks on List: 13
First Week: 05/13 (#4)
Last Week: 08/12 (#6)
Peak Position: #1 (05/27, 06/03, 06/10, 07/01, 07/08, 08/05)
Average Position: 2.54

Yep. You could have seen this coming. Not only was this the top song of this summer, this was the top song of ANY summer. We haven't had a jam track for 13 weeks since Iggy Azalea and Robin Thicke both pulled off the feat in 2014 and 2013 respectively. Neither hit six weeks at #1. Under our modern points system we've also NEVER seen a victory by this much. "Old Town Road" beat "Truth Hurts" by 22. Prior to this we had had "Shut Up and Dance" by 16 and "Blurred Lines" by 14, but that's about it. In 2011 "Party Rock Anthem" had 14 weeks on the charts, but only four at #1. The only historical jam that can beat it is the absolute dominance of's 2010 "California Gurls", which had 15 weeks on the Winner's List, including six #1 spots IN A ROW. 2010 was nuts. Lol, remember Taio Cruz?

We have seen a tremendous amount of parity lately, though. It wasn't crazy for a lot of previous Summer Jams to skirt by with only a slight edge above their competitor. 2018 and 2016 were particularly close without a real definitive summer jam. I even still question "Shut Up and Dance" because I feel like no one cares about that anymore, but not in a "Call Me Maybe" no one cares anymore kind of way.

"Old Town Road" is for sure a special song. Not only is it a meld of hip-hop and country on the border of creating its own genre, but its distribution, promotion, and success completely fueled by social media is not so much unprecedented, but its mainstream recognition is. There are plenty of songs on Tik Tok. What made this stand out will surely lead to imitators for years. Constant remakes gave it continued life all summer, even if its peak freshness was probably in the Spring.

Its stats speak for itself. It appeared for nine straight weeks to start off summer, including three at #1 in the peak of early July. After taking one week off, it returned for four straight weeks before finally running out of gas in mid-August. Its run was near perfect. It ate up the meaty heart of summer and never looked back. 2019 will surely always be the Summer, nay the year of "Old Town Road." Congrats.

Next year...

If you're someone who actually follows this weekly column, it's no surprise that it wore on me this year. I was usually late or busy or half-assed. I still really do love doing this, though. Even though we have unofficially tracked since 2007, I first really got into thinking this way in 2008. Since this blog started in June 2009, we didn't actually officially start tracking week by week until Summer 2010. While that technically makes this the 10th iteration, I think Summer 2020 will be a nice final year for this madness. Ten solid years of Summer Jam. That's more than any individual has done ever. So, stay tuned next year, folks! It'll be our last!