Hi there, folks.
Just wanted to pass around a few updates to the website that mostly have to do with matienance and easier accessibility. First of all, we’ve now added specific pages for the Favorite Hit Songs of … and Fifteen Favorites features, just to provide readers easier access to specific editions of each feature. You can find them in the accompanying links attached to the names, and also from the top menu that has everything else. They’re nothing fancy (yet), but they’re there for now!
Second, a small update to the Favorite Hit Songs feature. My original plan, as stated in the post announcing its relaunch, was to examine every year from 2009-1950 in reverse order (and more information on what this feature even is, for those who don’t know, you can find it in that relaunch post). I had a reader reach out and ask why I skipped over the 2010s, and while my original answer was because I had already explored certain years in the latter half of the decade and thought it might be too soon for a revisit, after rethinking it, I realize I’ve never examined any years from the decade in the way I’ve always examined other ones (different rules from different times). So there’s no reason why I can’t. Since they’re so recent and because I don’t want to sidetrack my original plan, I’m going to blow through those pretty quickly and continue to work on the 2000s with Andy. I’m fairly certain the 2010s are no one’s favorite decade as far as the radio hits are concerned, but after having mapped out every respective year and a top 50 for the entire decade, it’s actually very doable. So that’s that.
To coincide with that, I’m kinda-sorta relaunching the Boom-or-Bust Jukebox … though in a much different fashion from before. I’ve realized this year that I’m more out of touch with mainstream country music than ever before, and while that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, given how the charts look on any given day, I still want to have some sort of handle on what’s popular within the genre. The basic gist of the new feature will be to feature song reviews each week for every single that cracks the top 20 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (thus qualifying it for present and future features of Favorite Hit Songs). Unlike before, I probably won’t include outside songs and instead reserve them for special standalone reviews, though I may incorporate throwback reviews like I did before. These will also be much shorter and to the point than before, given that I want this to be more manageable for a weekly basis.
Thanks for reading. I’m looking forward to continuing on with the Best Hit Songs feature (along with every other feature here) and relaunching the Boom-or-Bust Jukebox next week!
– Zack
The Musical Divide 