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The Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2014 (Pt. 2)

Todd in the Shadows | August 24, 2025



aka: The good half of the best list

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Written by Todd in the Shadows

Comments

This post currently has 32 comments.

  1. @BlitzTD

    August 24, 2025 at 5:22 am

    0:05 “This was the hardest rock song that became a hit this year”

    Come With Me Now was a top 40 hit, and Do I Wanna Know had to be kicked off the charts after 20 weeks.

  2. @cee_ves

    August 24, 2025 at 5:22 am

    clean bandit have the best schtick of techno pop producers and that is that gorgeous violin, probably one of the least technopop instruments there could ever be

  3. @johnd5931

    August 24, 2025 at 5:22 am

    It's too bad Ms Mr, and Sonic Highways by the Foo Fighters weren't pop hits, because they're some of the best of 2014. Although, the best album, maybe of the whole decade, came out in 2014 by The Colourist. It's a shame they only had one album and a follow up EP and then split, because that album was so freakin' good!

  4. @sonicjrjr14

    August 24, 2025 at 5:22 am

    Looking back it's kind of weird how he went the whole year without talking about Beyoncé's self-titled album. Like it was the biggest album that year.

  5. @Dank_Engine

    August 24, 2025 at 5:22 am

    It's so wild watching these in 2024. I can definitely see the precipitous drop, or maybe the point where pop music lost me. To me everything sounds the same now and most music feels disposable. It's a wild ride to go back a decade and realize that pop music used to sound way more interesting.

  6. @DKdrop

    August 24, 2025 at 5:22 am

    Uptown Funk is one of those songs that got overplayed so much that it’s only in retrospect that I can appreciate how amazing it is.

  7. @peccator4050

    August 24, 2025 at 5:22 am

    ngl i thought back then that rather be by clean bandit was released in like,, the 80s or something then i found out that it was released in 2014. damn, this song is so perfect it's timeless.

  8. @hillcat7685

    August 24, 2025 at 5:22 am

    Todd, I love your content, from all the images and pop references and explanations you make in your reviews and your year-end countdown videos! There is one feedback I'd like to make, though. At 7:20, you say that the lyrics of "Rather Be" mean literally nothing, but actually, the lyrics do have meaning. Genius (the lyrics website) does a great job explaining the line you pointed out. "We're different and the same, gave you another name" means the narrator and her lover are so intertwined that they are effectively two in one. "Switch up the batteries" has two meanings. On the surface, it can refer to the relationship between her and her lover: as long as they switch up their batteries, they can keep their relationship going. "Switch up the batteries" can also apply to you, the listener, and refer to the song itself. Songs can be interpreted in more than one way, and part of the fun of music is to decide what YOUR interpretation of it is. Genius further explains: as long as you switch up the performers you can continue to paraphrase the same message and story. The lyrics of "Rather Be" tell quite an interesting story, actually. Despite the difficulties she encounters in her relationship, the relationship was built on a strong foundation of faith and love and is a healthy one, so she is willing to overcome those difficulties to keep it going. Maren Morris' "The Bones" is also about the same theme: a strong foundation allows you to overcome struggles that will inevitably pop up and allow you to stick together with your lover through thick and thin.

    Todd, for future reference, Genius is a great tool to help you decipher the lyrics of a song in case you get confused. I noticed that in your "best of 2012" video, you were confused by "what's up with that Prince song inside my head" in Owl City's "Good Time." Well, Adam Young, the vocalist of Owl City, revealed in an interview that the Prince song that was in his head was "Purple Rain." Adam Young said: "It’s “Purple Rain”. It’s kind of cliché because it’s one of the ones, but you can’t really go wrong."

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