S5, EP3: ARIA Top 10 of 2016

Aleks
Welcome to Project Engaged, a podcast for fun loving couples planning their non traditional wedding.

Eddy
We’re Eddy and Aleks, wedding DJs and celebrants who run a business in Melbourne called One More Song.

Aleks
On season five of Project Engaged, we decided to do something a bit different and bring it all back to the music.

Eddy
We’ll look at the most popular tunes in Australia by year, randomly choosing a different year for each episode.

Aleks
We’ll share our thoughts on the charts, plus tips for incorporating these songs into your wedding.

Eddy
For more wedding planning tips, please cheque out seasons one to four. For now, let’s get into the episode. Welcome back to Project Engaged. We are on episode three.

Aleks
Welcome back. Exciting.

Eddy
I am excited because we are talking today about the ARIA singles charts for the year of 2016.

Aleks
Oh, it was a good year. We were only a few months in dating into dating.

Eddy
We were. We were fresh.

Aleks
Yes, Very fresh. So I do remember the music from this time and we did do 2012 recently, but the music’s quite different for 2016, so I’m happy we chose this year. Should we talk about a few events that occurred?

Eddy
Yes, and it’s quite a. Quite a lot of sad events, actually. A few deaths. So, unfortunately, David Bowie died after battling cancer. This was in January.

Aleks
Yes.

Eddy
Very, very sad.

Aleks
Yeah.

Eddy
And Prince, in April, he passed away after an alleged accidental opioid overdose.

Aleks
Oh. And also Muhammad Ali, which I didn’t realise. Okay.

Eddy
Yeah. So he passed away from complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Aleks
Oh.

Eddy
So it’s wasn’t a great sort of first half of the year.

Aleks
No. And then. Wow. 2016, Britain voted to leave the EU. Brexit happened.

Eddy
Brexit. Yeah. I can’t believe Brexit was. Was in 20. 2016. I thought it was a lot. I suppose all of the stuff that happened afterwards, you know, happened afterwards. Right. But yeah, 2016, obviously the decision was made.

Aleks
Big aftershock. And this is a funny one. Donald Trump wins the us which presidential election.

Eddy
Extremely timely because he just did it again.

Aleks
Sorry. If you’re listening in 2050, hopefully he’s not still around.

Eddy
I love how confident you are that people will be listening in 2050 to this podcast.

Aleks
How funny. Well, it was quite a year, but.

Eddy
There’S more bad news.

Aleks
Oh.

Eddy
In September, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt announced that they were splitting up.

Aleks
Oh, who cares, really?

Eddy
And we had the Rio de Janeiro. Olympics.

Aleks
Olympics. Big year.

Eddy
Yeah. So there’s a lot that. A lot that happened. Not a lot of great news, unfortunately.

Aleks
No, no. All right, shall we kick things off with number 10.

Eddy
Let’s do it. So you can go first.

Aleks
Oh, dear. Okay, I’m gonna have some opinions and I’m not sure how I feel about some of these. So number 10 on the ARIA charts for 2016 was Love Justin Bieber.

Eddy
Yes. And I did not realise that this was written or co written by Ed Sheeran for his album at the time, but he actually gave it to Bieber.

Aleks
How nice.

Eddy
I can see it, Sharon singing this song.

Aleks
I think we said that about another tune. Anyway, there you go. The song is about a narcissistic ex lover and it topped the charts in 15 countries. So it was really a global hit. Now, obviously it’s an acoustic tune.

Eddy
Yes.

Aleks
Would you play the set of Weddings?

Eddy
I remembered it being requested and obviously it’s an acoustic tune, so you’re going to be playing it on. On background. I don’t know if there were any remixes that came out. I have a feeling someone like Cedric Gervais probably did some sort of remix of it.

Aleks
Remix? Yeah, for sure.

Eddy
Some sort of EDM thing. But yeah, I. I’ve been known to play. I don’t play it anymore. Obviously I don’t look.

Aleks
What about pre ceremony?

Eddy
Yeah, it’s. Yeah, not really.

Aleks
I think even with pre ceremony, because we do sort of say to couples, you know, there are a few different kind of vibes you can select, I guess, for pre ceremony tunes as guests arrive and one of those is kind of like pop acoustic tunes or covers. I prefer more like quirky covers rather than just flat out acoustic tunes.

Eddy
Yes.

Aleks
There was a time when I did play this quite a bit for pre ceremony, but I have stopped now.

Eddy
I think the times.

Aleks
The times.

Eddy
I hate to say it, but the time may have passed for this particular tune. There are other Bieber songs that I will play to this day, but this is certainly not one of them at weddings.

Aleks
Yeah. It’s funny that it was originally written by Ed Sheeran because I feel like Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran are two artists that are quite controversial and do come up on the do not play lists of our couples.

Eddy
Definitely Ed Sheeran. Definitely more Ed Sheeran, not so much Bieber.

Aleks
Yeah. And they have a couple of songs together that are quite good too, recently. So. Yes, but there you go. So wedding playability, what would you rank it out of 10?

Eddy
Wedding playability out of 10?

Aleks
For our couples? For our couples Getting granular?

Eddy
Look, I give it a solid five to six, I think at the right time. If they want those poppy covers or poppy acoustic tunes. Yeah, why not?

Aleks
Yeah. And Obviously, it’s not a romantic tune, but, you know, it’s an acoustic tune. That’s right. And most of our couples don’t care about lyrics, so we’re all good there. Again, we are focusing on wedding playability for our types of couples.

Eddy
That is true.

Aleks
Awesome. Oh, number nine.

Eddy
Number nine. So this is stressed out by 21 pilots. They say it was a bit of a sleeper hit. And if we talk the Billboard, it actually charted or peaked at one stage at number two, so it almost got to number one on the US Billboard World Top 100. And it led Twenty One Pilots to become the first rock act to have a song to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify. Geez, now I wonder today whether that’s still true, whether they’re the highest or whether they’re someone else. Another band that sort of capped that.

Aleks
I don’t really have anything to say about this song. I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t play it at a wedding.

Eddy
So wedding playability is low.

Aleks
Pretty low. Two.

Eddy
Two.

Aleks
Yeah.

Eddy
Okay.

Aleks
What do you reckon? I really don’t have any feelings about this song.

Eddy
No feelings. I don’t think I’ve ever played it. So, no. I don’t even know if I can give it a rating. But let’s just. Let’s just do two across the board, I suppose, for stressed out two.

Aleks
Sorry, 21 pilots.

Eddy
No hard feelings to 21.

Aleks
No hard feelings, but it’s a no. All right. Oh, number eight.

Eddy
Number eight’s one that we do know quite well. It’s Cheap Thrills by Sia.

Aleks
Oh, well, it was apparently originally intended for Rihanna. I can’t see that.

Eddy
Okay.

Aleks
I don’t think. I don’t think it’s edgy enough for Rihanna.

Eddy
Rihanna’s pretty edgy.

Aleks
That’s what I’m saying. I don’t think it’s edgy enough for her. You know what I mean? It’s a bit. Yeah, it’s a bit. It suits. Sia more. It’s. It’s. It’s a bit more of a sugary kind of pop tune. But it did reach number one in the US and many other countries. Oh, we’re ruining it. Because we will go through the Billboard charts later on and also received platinum and diamond certifications. It’s a fun song. It’s a fun song. Have you played it much at weddings?

Eddy
Here and there. I think it’s the type of request that you get that might be some sort of irony. We’ve spoken about ironic song requests before. It usually it’s one of those. I’M I’m drunk and I really want to hear this song. Like Cannonball. Similar.

Aleks
Cannonball.

Eddy
I came in on a Cannonball.

Aleks
Oh, no. Have you played that?

Eddy
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Not of my own accord, but it’s been saying, oh, like my girlfriends and I absolutely love this track. Can you please play it when they’re all on the dance floor?

Aleks
Okay. I think it’s fun. I think it’s fun. I definitely wouldn’t go out of my way to play it. It’s not something that I would think of, but, yeah, I reckon for a younger couple. Younger crowd, definitely.

Eddy
Wait, did I say Cannibal or Wrecking Ball?

Aleks
You said.

Eddy
I said Cannibal, didn’t I? Wrecking Ball.

Aleks
I was like, what the hell? Oh, my God, I’m a terrible dj. I don’t know.

Eddy
Wrecking Ball. I am a terrible DJ right now. Wrecking Ball.

Aleks
Wrecking.

Eddy
Yes, yes, yes. Sorry. Cannonball.

Aleks
Okay. Oh, yeah, Wrecking Ball. I can see that. Yeah.

Eddy
You know, I mean, that. The similarities between them. Yeah, I forget the name. Right.

Aleks
Cheap Thrills is a little bit more fun. I think it’s fun. It’s inoffensive. It’s fun. I would play it, definitely if it was on the couples. It was generally their vibe in their brief. If it was requested on the night. If I had a pretty young crowd in front of me and I had a lot of that kind of like, pop stuff, then, yeah, I’ll give it.

Eddy
A. I mean, there’s certainly a lot of love for it on YouTube, all the comments. Just saying, this song’s amazing. I’m addicted to this song. Like, I love this song. And tune. Same thing. Oh, so many love hearts. So there’s a lot of love. There’s not that much hate for this song at all. Usually you come across a couple of comments about.

Aleks
Do you reckon people go on YouTube and go, I’m gonna look up that song that I hate so I can leave a hateful comment.

Eddy
Do you know the Internet?

Aleks
I don’t spend as much time on YouTube as you do, to be fair.

Eddy
It is my social media of ch.

Aleks
It is.

Eddy
The long form is where it’s at.

Aleks
Long form, yeah. Just like this podcast. Cheap Thrills. I like it. I think it’s fun. I don’t see any problem with it, to be honest.

Eddy
Seven. A solid seven.

Aleks
Yeah. I’ll give it a seven.

Eddy
If requested by a client. Yes. And they know that will go off. It has a very, very good, very good effect at weddings.

Aleks
It would. Yeah. And look, I would, you know, if you’re playing Gaga and that sort of thing, Cheap Thrill is probably not a bad one to spin. Or Cannonball.

Eddy
Or Cannonball. AKA Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus.

Aleks
Yeah. Obviously.

Eddy
You just look Cannibal by Billy Ray Cyrus.

Aleks
Yeah. There’s something really. All right, good. I’m glad it’s not me, guys. If I’m playing your wedding. Don’t. Don’t stress. I know most songs. Right. He’s not cannibal.

Eddy
All right, so number seven.

Aleks
This one is a controversial one.

Eddy
What have we got?

Aleks
We’ve got. Number seven is Can’t Stop the Feeling. Justin Timberlake.

Eddy
It’s a very happy, fun tune. And I know that it had a lot to do with the Trolls movie when it came out, so a huge contingent of kids fell in love with this song. I’ve actually got this song tagged as Kids in my library, so I can bring up that tag and all songs like this and. And Happy by Pharrell. Songs that I don’t play, but I marry those two up.

Aleks
Yeah.

Eddy
Intended because they’re very similar vibes.

Aleks
Yeah. I would. This song does make its way on to do not plays pretty often. I think it’s been played a lot. I feel like it is in the same category as Happy, where it was Maybe. Probably. Maybe. Or probably. Probably overplayed in 2016 and a couple years after.

Eddy
Yes.

Aleks
At weddings.

Eddy
Yep. Definitely.

Aleks
Yeah. Personally, I think it’s a little bit cheesy. You’re right, though. If there are kids. Yeah. I think sometimes maybe, you know, if the couple getting married, have children, they might request it.

Eddy
Yeah. It says. Oh, sorry. It does what it says on the tin. And it’s a very happy, upbeat, fun. Two and a half to three minutes. I don’t have any ill thoughts about it.

Aleks
I wouldn’t really surprises me. Yeah.

Eddy
But I really. But it has the effect. So with the way I look at music for weddings is will this song have the effect that I like to have? So if I see a dance floor and there are kids invited to the wedding and I’m able to play a few songs for the kids or that, you know, the clients would like me to do that, then this is one of my go to’s and it does really, really well. Would I venture and play it myself without any direction? No.

Aleks
No, I didn’t think so. Definitely not my favourite justice song, let’s put it that way.

Eddy
No, definitely not. Definitely.

Aleks
It’s got to be a pretty mainstream, pop kind of brief, I think, to get away with something like this as well, yes.

Eddy
Yeah, yeah, it definitely does. So look, wedding playability. For the types of weddings we. We’re lucky to play at. Look, it’s probably a five.

Aleks
Yeah.

Eddy
If kids are there and, you know, that would like us to play some stuff for the kids, like a little kids set, which I have had at weddings, like 10 to 15 minutes just for the kids, which I think is a cool idea.

Aleks
Really?

Eddy
Yeah. Yeah.

Aleks
I just find, like, a lot of the time kids will just dance to anything that has a good beat.

Eddy
They will.

Aleks
And a good melody.

Eddy
Yeah.

Aleks
Good on your kids. Adults can learn something from them, I think, at weddings. Yeah, I agree. Five or six.

Eddy
Five or six.

Aleks
I’m being generous today.

Eddy
Speaking of six, we’re moving on to number six. And it is. This is what you came for. Calvin Harris, featuring Rihanna.

Aleks
And it was actually the third song that they collaborated on. We had we found Love, which was obviously a massive hit. And where have you been? Which is a little bit lesser known. I actually love that tune.

Eddy
Yeah. I didn’t know that they collaborated on that particular song. Great.

Aleks
I didn’t. It was on Wikipedia, so it must be true. And true. Actually, Taylor Swift wrote the lyrics for.

Eddy
This song because weren’t they dating?

Aleks
They were dating at the time. And also features her uncredited backing vocals. Really fun fact. Yes.

Eddy
Wow. I did not know that. I’m learning stuff today. That’s fantastic. Look, after all the incredible hits that Calvin Harris had and obviously we fell in love with this. This one came along and I just felt like it. It just didn’t really rise anyway. It’s very, like a very linear kind of. Very linear kind of plods along and it did. It was popular at weddings and events when it first came out for me, it rolled off very, very quickly.

Aleks
I can see that. It doesn’t really have a build, like a lot of commercial dance. Like it kind of. It’s very formula climactic kind of chorus. Like it doesn’t really.

Eddy
Yeah, it never really. Yeah, it never really lifts like some of the other Calvin Harris songs.

Aleks
I mean, if I had to compare it to the other songs that we’ve talked about. So far, though, this is definitely my favourite because.

Eddy
Which is a shame. We’ve just done five. Yeah. Yes. Yes.

Aleks
So I don’t know. I mean, I. Again, you know, you could play it late in the night if the couple are really into Rihanna, that commercial dance kind of stuff. You could play a verse and a chorus. I think it does have wedding playability, but, yeah, definitely not. Not her biggest hit or his biggest hit.

Eddy
No, no. And I’m looking at the comments on YouTube and again there’s, there’s a lot of love for this song.

Aleks
Oh, the clip is great.

Eddy
The clip’s cool. This one from Mr. Dan Moss. It’s quite refreshing to see Rihanna in a video with her clothes on. Brilliant video, Calvin.

Aleks
Oh, thanks, mate.

Eddy
Yeah, so that’s. I guess that’s a positive in that person’s eyes. But yeah, look again, I’d say a sick. A solid six. It’s, it’s not, it’s not going to get people rushing onto the dance floor when they hear this song like some of the others in that kind of space, in that poppy EDM space.

Aleks
Especially if you compare it to We Found Love, which is just a stone cold wedding banger. I’ll give it a 6.5.5. No, what did you say? 6.6.5. Sorry.

Eddy
Oh, okay, great. So we’ve got number five.

Aleks
Oh yeah. This song, number five is don’t let Me down the Chain Smokers featuring Dia or Dea and it peaked at number three on the Billboard charts. Apparently Rolling Stone named it one of the 30 best songs of the first half of 2016. I mean, one of the 30 best songs. That’s not a massive no. I don’t love this song. And certainly if I compare it to some other stuff from the Chain Smokers, it’s a no from me.

Eddy
Yeah.

Aleks
It’s a bit of an angry song, isn’t it?

Eddy
It is a bit angry. I will agree with you on everything you’ve just said. It’s not something I will go and play at weddings. This is something like a broken record at the moment in2016.

Aleks
Yeah, no, I wouldn’t play it. It’s. Yeah, it talks about agro big room beats and I think that summarises it pretty well. And I don’t really want to be playing stuff that I grow that isn’t like a really good sing along fun kind of like if that makes sense.

Eddy
It’s not upbeat. It doesn’t have happy vibes. It has angry downtrodden vibes to it. The types of vibes that we tend to avoid at weddings.

Aleks
Yes, so true.

Eddy
It’s not. Yeah, it’s definitely not uplifting. So for that reason I’m just gonna throw a three at go from there.

Aleks
Yeah, I reckon. Three. God, 2016. I thought this would be.

Eddy
I’m sure it’s going to get better and I think it is getting better now. So number four. We have Never Be Like You Flume featuring Kai.

Aleks
I love this song. But anyway, obviously, Flume, Australian musician. And there was also a remix by Disclosure of that same year at the Aria Music Awards. The song won Best Pop Release and was also nominated for Song of the Year and Best Video. I think this. I found this YouTube user who summarised it very well. This song sounds amazing. Driving home at midnight with the windows open Stars in the sky to be honest. Oh, stars in the sky. To be honest. I was like, oh, yeah, nice.

Eddy
It’s a very nice little comment. Yeah, look, it’s a. It’s a powerful tune. It really. It really slaps, I think. I don’t know how much I’ve played it. Oh, but how much have you played this song?

Aleks
If the couple are really into, like, Aussie indie electronic music, what time of.

Eddy
The night would you play it?

Aleks
Pretty late.

Eddy
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Earlier or quite late. Yeah.

Aleks
Yes, exactly. It’s what we were talking about in the last episode, where you have that kind of moment before the dance floor kicks off or really late in the night of this tune, depending on what impact you want. I have had quite a few couples who like that Aussie indie electronica. Yeah. And I think this fits it really, really well. People do like her. Don’t play the whole song because it does go over a lot of people’s heads. Especially if you’ve got quite a lot of oldies on the dance floor. They’re like, what the hell is this? What’s going on crap?

Eddy
I don’t recognise this. Therefore I do not like it.

Aleks
Therefore I will not dance to it. Depending. Depending on the crowd. I really, really like this song. I think this is awesome. If I heard this late at night at a wedding the last half hour, would, you know, lose it. I think it’s awesome. I’m gonna give it, for wedding playability, a solid seven.

Eddy
Right. I’m gonna go in at a six. Just my own opinion. I don’t love it as much as you do, obviously.

Aleks
So what would you. What’s another. What’s a tune in that kind of vein that you would rather.

Eddy
Okay, I could choose another Flume song.

Aleks
Oh, I know what you’re gonna say.

Eddy
Holding on.

Aleks
Oh, okay. I thought you’re gonna say you. You and me.

Eddy
You and me. The Disclosure remix, that is. Yeah. I’ve been known to play that one here, actually.

Aleks
Yeah.

Eddy
I’m gonna change my answer. I would. I’ll say that. Yeah. You, me, Disclosure remix. That’s an absolute banger.

Aleks
Crap. I think I should. That’s. That deserves. No. Okay, cool.

Eddy
But there are other tracks Like Sleepless by Flint. Play early on, which is early on.

Aleks
Sure.

Eddy
So, yeah, I definitely am a fan. More of those songs than never be like you.

Aleks
Okay. Okay. Yes.

Eddy
That’s just me.

Aleks
I think this sound really does make me think of 2016 that time.

Eddy
I feel like it’s quite a nostalgic sound.

Aleks
Yes, for us it is.

Eddy
Yeah.

Aleks
Yeah. I’ll give it a seven. What do you give it out of ten?

Eddy
I gave it a six.

Aleks
Oh, did you?

Eddy
Yeah.

Aleks
Wake up, Aleks. We’re recording a podcast. Oh, we are in the top three.

Eddy
So the top three. And number three is Seven Years by Lucas Graham. Flat out do not like this song.

Aleks
Awful. I’m sorry. Lucas Graham. Lucas Graham’s actually a band, but the front man is Lucas.

Eddy
Oh, there you go.

Aleks
For Tama.

Eddy
Is how much I know Lucas Graham.

Aleks
Yeah, I think it’s. It’s. Look, it’s melancholy. It’s definitely not for a celebration. It’s a song about him. Some summarising his 27 years of life so far. Okay, mate. And what he hopes to achieve in the future. It’s a downer. It’s a downer. I can’t see any reason for playing this song at a wedding, especially not our weddings.

Eddy
So I’m just checking out some of the comments on YouTube and I love the fact that there’s been a comment pinned by Lucas Graham up the top and. Oh, he said, who’s here before 1 billion views. So I kind of like that he’s on. Or the band, rather. Or even Lucas himself is actually on the. The YouTube video commenting so that.

Aleks
Oh, well, that’s a nice. These are the only nice thing you can say about this song and these artists. Yes.

Eddy
Yeah, I can’t see.

Aleks
It’s a bit windy.

Eddy
You’d play it.

Aleks
It’s a bit of a wine.

Eddy
Again, I can’t see how you’d play it unless it was an ironic, you know, request.

Aleks
Yeah. Or there was like a good memory attached to something. I doubt you have a good memory attached to this because it’s not very. It’s not a very happy song at all. No, I give this a one.

Eddy
I’ll give it a. I’m gonna give it a three. No, I’m gonna give it a two.

Aleks
Oh.

Eddy
Do you know why? Because he’s on the YouTube. He’s commenting. So I’ll give him. I’ll give him.

Aleks
That’s not the scale.

Eddy
I mean, when you’re. When you’re below 5, I don’t think it really matters.

Aleks
I can’t. Okay. So I have to say though, I can’t believe this was in the top three.

Eddy
Yeah, it just for me, this song and look, if. If you’re listening to this and you. And you don’t recognise. We don’t know this song. Just pause this, play this, have a quick listen.

Aleks
We can’t play it because of copyright.

Eddy
You can’t play it reasons. But it’s the kind of song that would have been hammered on Fox FM and Nova.

Aleks
Yeah.

Eddy
Nine one nine.

Aleks
Yeah.

Eddy
For us in Melbourne here, on and on and on and on and yeah. Just. Just no.

Aleks
Just. No.

Eddy
Let’s move on to number two.

Aleks
Okay. Number two. Oh, one Dance Drake featuring Whiz Kid and Kyla.

Eddy
So this is probably my favourite song from this top 10 list.

Aleks
Yeah, I agree, I agree. One million percent would play this at a wedding, private party, corporate party.

Eddy
I love this because it’s got that reggaeton feel.

Aleks
Yeah.

Eddy
It’s in the sort of the, the R and B hip hop camp. But it’s also a four to the floor tune which means it’s so versatile in terms of what you’re going to mix in and out of into this. So yeah, really, really fun, fun, fun song.

Aleks
I love that reggaeton sound as well. Or Afrobeats. Well, it actually. The vocals are from Nigerian afrobeats artist Whiz Kid and British singer Kyla. I do love her. I put in the same category as like Magenta.

Eddy
Yep.

Aleks
But this is more fun. Yeah, this is more fun and I think more popular as well.

Eddy
Yeah.

Aleks
If I had to choose one yet. Definitely one of my favourite Drake songs for Dance Floor. The only other one that I think comes close but goes over a lot of people’s heads is nice for what.

Eddy
Yeah, nice. What’s awesome.

Aleks
Which I love. Don’t play for very long. One dance. You can get away playing more of the song because people do recognise it and like it. So I would give this a solid 7.5. I think I’d agree with the 7 and a half.

Eddy
Yeah.

Aleks
I don’t want to give it an 8 because I don’t. I’ve been very frivolous. Yes, I’ve been frivolous. I’ve got to watch myself a bit. So.

Eddy
And a few comments on the YouTube for this song. We have one here from Photowin6019 who just says, I missed 2016, man.

Aleks
Fair enough. Oh dear.

Eddy
Oh, yep.

Aleks
Well, I tell you what, like if you compare number three to number two, geez, what a difference. What is going on?

Eddy
Yeah, yeah. So we’re moving. We don’t have anything more to say about one dance.

Aleks
No, it’s great. So, yeah, definitely would give it a spin at weddings. Chuck it on your requests. You love a bit of 2010, actually.

Eddy
Well, I mean, Drake is often coming up on do not playlist now as well.

Aleks
Really?

Eddy
Yes. At least on mine.

Aleks
Really? I haven’t had that yet.

Eddy
If you’re team Kendrick, you don’t want Drake and vice versa. Yeah, yeah, but that’s a whole.

Aleks
But it’s still not. Not Diddy level. I’m getting Diddy now, which I’m like, oh, so many amazing tunes.

Eddy
But I’ve never really played too many Diddy tunes.

Aleks
Not Diddy tunes, but Diddy produced. Oh, is it go that or just featuring Diddy? You know what I mean? Like all that really cool hip hop stuff that’s good for like build.

Eddy
So if you’re listening in 2050, you may have forgotten about.

Aleks
It’s probably not a genre anymore.

Eddy
So. Yeah, go have a look. Or maybe not.

Aleks
Yeah. Or don’t worry about it.

Eddy
So number one. And I’ve got to get a drum roll happening for this track. So what have we got?

Aleks
We’ve got Closer by the Chain Smokers featuring Halsey.

Eddy
Halsey.

Aleks
Halsey, yeah. Should I know Halsey?

Eddy
Yeah. I mean, yeah.

Aleks
I’ve only ever seen it written down.

Eddy
It.

Aleks
Well, it says currently. It’s. Apparently it’s the currently most, 17th most stream song on Spotify.

Eddy
Wow. I’m gonna look this up right now.

Aleks
Yeah, yeah, Closer. So he had another Chain Smokers song in the top 10 and we didn’t love that one. But I like Closer.

Eddy
Yeah. Well, according to corp.net which comes up first on a Google search, it’s still number 17.

Aleks
There you go.

Eddy
Do you know what number one is? The most streamed Spotify song of all time.

Aleks
Is it the same as the most watched?

Eddy
We’re talking four and a half billion streams.

Aleks
Is it the same song as the most watched?

Eddy
No, it’s not. No, it’s not.

Aleks
Okay, so it’s not Baby Guess.

Eddy
No, just have a guess. It’s a pretty current song by an R B artists. A very awesome, fun R and B artist. Can you tell me the weekend’s blinding lights?

Aleks
Really?

Eddy
Yep.

Aleks
Interesting.

Eddy
Four and a half billion, followed by Ed Sheeran. We’re doing another list here, guys. Followed by Ed Sheeran. Shape of you. Just over 4 billion.

Aleks
Is this current? Well, current figures.

Eddy
Yeah. According. Again, according to kw.net I love K W R O R B Net.

Aleks
Okay.

Eddy
And yeah, unless it’s. Yeah, look it’s I’m verifying it on Wikipedia now and yeah, it seems to be the. The number one Blooding Lights and what we talk about. Closer. Closer is number 17 according to this list.

Aleks
How do you feel about this song?

Eddy
I like this song. I just do. I play it at weddings sometimes. Yes. I feel like people may have forgotten about this song but they. They enjoy it when it comes on. It just makes me feel old for some reason.

Aleks
Yeah, I. I wouldn’t play it as a dance floor banger. I think it’s really great as a key moment song. So I’ve played it and. Or suggested it as a key moment song for cake cutting right before Dance Floor kicks off. I think it’s a really great one and I also think it’s a great final song.

Eddy
Yeah, it is a good.

Aleks
If you’re doing an exit, it’s great for that. Wouldn’t play it for like a full pack dance floor to get people dancing. Definitely not.

Eddy
No.

Aleks
But playability and we haven’t had that many that we were like, oh, you know, this is good for a key moment song. I think it is good for a keyboard song. Even an entrance maybe because it has that nice build.

Eddy
Yeah, it has a good drop to.

Aleks
It has a good drop. So I think wedding playability for our couples. I would give it a 6.5. Do you agree?

Eddy
Yeah, I’d give a 6.5 because it.

Aleks
Doesn’T really have that kind of dance floor and it’s a little bit too hectic to play in background as well. That’s why I think it’s good for that anticipatory time. So like. Yeah, like a cake cutting or five minute warning for speeches or something right before the dance floor kind of kicks off. Perfect for that and perfect for end of the night.

Eddy
Excellent. There you go. So we’ve gone from 10 to one. What did you think about this list? Did you agree or did you dis Agree?

Aleks
I’m just looking at how many songs we would play. It’s actually been a pretty good year overall.

Eddy
Not bad.

Aleks
I reckon we probably liked five or six songs out of ten.

Eddy
So what’s our arbitrary number for this year then? Which has nothing to do with the numbers that we’ve just been throwing out there?

Aleks
No, I reckon it’s a six.

Eddy
A six?

Aleks
Yeah, I think it’s a six out of ten. So pretty good after all that we got there. Yes, not bad. Not bad at all.

Eddy
So it’s. It was just under 1996. So that was a 6.5. Last week’s episode. So we’re in six now. I don’t think we’ve gone over six. I still need to cheque. Episode one.

Aleks
I think it was four.

Eddy
Yeah. So we were yet to break into that top. Top three ourselves. So. Yeah. Anyway, so let’s. Now that we’ve done the ARIA top 10 of 2016, let’s take a look at first and foremost, the Billboard. So what the Americans thought.

Aleks
Interesting. Yes.

Eddy
Okay, so 10 closer by the chain smokers featuring Halsey. Number nine was Can’t Stop the Feeling by JT.

Aleks
Yeah.

Eddy
Number eight was Don’t Let Me down by the Chain Smokers. Number seven was hello by Adele.

Aleks
Oh, yeah. Oh, Adele. Yeah.

Eddy
Number six, Panda by Design. Desi. No, Designer.

Aleks
No idea.

Eddy
I do know that track.

Aleks
Oh, you do?

Eddy
Number five, stressed out by 21 pilots. Number four. Here’s one for you work. Rihanna featuring Drake. That’s a great tune. Number three, One Dance. Drake. Number two was. Sorry, Justin Bieber. Oh, maybe this came to Australia in.

Aleks
The next year because that is a great tune.

Eddy
Not sure.

Aleks
Yeah.

Eddy
And number one is Love Yourself, Justin Bieber. So there are a lot of the same similarities. Tunes.

Aleks
Very, very similar. Similar.

Eddy
Yeah.

Aleks
And shall we go over the Triple J?

Eddy
Yes, if you could do that. What I’m going to do is I’m going to look up the rest of.

Aleks
The Aussie Triple J Hottest 100. Number 10, Star Boy the Weekend featuring Darth Punk. Interesting. Interesting. 9, Stranger Peing Duck. Number 8. Say It Flume. Number 7 was Paper Cuts Illy featuring.

Eddy
Yep.

Aleks
Number 6 was Believe, Like a Version DMAs. Now, I didn’t realise that old.

Eddy
I really like that version. Yeah, that’s great. That’s the type of song I like to play for pre ceremony. If they want covers.

Aleks
Exactly. Something a little bit. Yeah. Like a version generally works well if you want kind of quirky covers. Number five was Red Bone. Childish Gambino. Love that tune. Number four, 1955, Hilltop Hoods. Number three, Jungle Tash Sultana. Number two, Adore Amy Shark. Got quite a lot of couples who are Amy Shark fans. Number one was Never be like you. Flume.

Eddy
There you go. Yeah, that was a big, big track. Big, huge track. And we’re sort of bouncing around here a little bit, but I just wanted to take you through some of honourable mentions from the art back to the ARIA Charts, 2016. So I’m just going to pull these out just when I see them. I’ve only got the top 25 on this page, so let’s just go through.

Aleks
I’ve got the top 100.

Eddy
All right. Maybe you call out some of the ones that. That you liked.

Aleks
All right, we’re going to start from one and. Oh, sorry. From ten and go down. So what do we got? See, I thought this was a big year for that tropical house, tropical pop, top pop sound.

Eddy
It was a. You thought that? That was a big year? Yeah, because that kicked off a little bit earlier, like one or two years earlier. But yeah, I think it was in its maturity. Okay, probably then. Yes.

Aleks
Maybe. Because I was listening to your Sunset radio and mixes from a couple years before that and they had truck pop.

Eddy
Yes.

Aleks
Fast Car, Jonas Blue. That’s what made me kind of think of it is number 12, Charlie Pluth one call away. Number 14. I don’t know why I’m mentioning songs I actually don’t like. Number 19 was Let me love you, DJ Snake featuring Justin Bieber. Pretty cool song. Background. What else have we got? Gold. Yes, I do remember this. Chiara Gold, number 26. That’s a fun tune as well. We’ve got a bit of flowrider.

Eddy
Yep. So these are the ones that jump out at me. It’s number 31. Sorry. Justin Bieber. Yeah, that was a. Obviously a big hit. And we have. We have discussed that before. Work by Rihanna was down at number 40. Yeah. Hello by Adele was number 42. I would imagine this could have been higher, but again, we always have to think about whether it was charting in its first year or was still charting in its second year. I would have assumed hello would have been top 10 in Australia.

Aleks
Very true. Number 52. Be the one. Dua Lipa. Love that shoe. It’s not a bad year, actually. Not a bad year.

Eddy
It’s. It’s not a bad year. Let’s go all the way down to number 100 as we always do. And that was Downtown Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. So Downtown, I reckon, would have been higher. That may have been the first little glimpse of downtown, because I think I. I do remember it being just out in. In 2016 when we started going out. I remember hearing it on my way to see you and thought, wow, this is a great song. Yeah.

Aleks
Let’s go back. 91 was youth. Troy Sivan. Didn’t realise Troy Sivan was around then. He must have been 12. He must have been literally uptown funk number 94.

Eddy
Again. All of these would have charted in each. The year before after Uptown Funk. Uptown Funk. Yeah.

Aleks
We had 24K. Magic was in the top 100 as well at 59. So. Yeah, interesting. Not interesting. Not a bad.

Eddy
Not a bad year. I still think we’ve got better years ahead of us. I think there’s got to be some years that we’ll. We’ll be doing, you know, eights or even nines out of 10. Who knows if we’ll get a 10 out of 10 year? Because that would be awesome if that is the case.

Aleks
Well, it is your turn to pick.

Eddy
It is my turn to pick. So we’ve done 2012. We did 1996, and we’ve done 2016. Oh, all right. Yeah. It’s a tough one, isn’t it? I think we should do. I think we should do 2005. Okay, let’s do 2005 next week. 2005. Yeah. I’m saving all the 90s ones up.

Aleks
Yeah. Because they’re gonna be good, aren’t they? 2005.

Eddy
So 2005 it is. And that’ll be next week. Thank you. If you did get to this last juncture of the podcast. Thank you so much for listening. If you have any comments on these songs, please please either hit us up on our socials or chuck them into your brief.

Aleks
If we are playing your wedding, then, yeah, definitely chuck them. You reap. It’s a good exercise anyway, to go through, to have a look through, listen through the years that, you know, you were going out and partying and particular years that you want to kind of highlight.

Eddy
Yeah, yeah.

Aleks
It’s a really, really good exercise. I’ve definitely found it super fun. So thank you so much for joining us again. Until next week.

Eddy
Until next week. See ya.

Aleks
Thanks for tuning in and we hope you loved this episode.

Eddy
If you did love this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review on Spotify, Apple Music or a podcast service of your choice.

Aleks
See you next time.