Perhaps you believe today’s music could never match the “good old days” — but in fact there’s still lots of great rock ‘n’ roll being produced for grownups. All you have to do is find it.
The Phoenix 50 is the weekly potential playlist of current hits for a mass-appeal, rock-leaning Triple A (Adult Album Alternative) radio station — if Phoenix had one. The Top 100 of 2016 is compiled from those weekly charts. It’s a good place to start for discovering cool new music.
It was another banner year with new releases from across the rock spectrum. Hits came from a wide variety of artists from 1960s veterans through today’s brand new bands. A few highlights…
Three acts had back-to-back #1 songs during 2016:
- The Red Hot Chili Peppers with “Dark Necessities” (#1) and “Go Robot” (#14);
- The Head and the Heart with “All We Ever Knew” (#2) and “Rhythm & Blues” (#19);
- The Lumineers with “Cleopatra” (#8) and “Ophelia” (#11).
Other artists with two hits on the Top 100 of 2016:
- The Record Company with “Off The Ground” (#6) and “Rita Mae Young” (#36);
- Ray LaMontagne with “Hey, No Pressure” (#7) and “The Changing Man/While It Still Beats” (#92);
- The City and Color with “Wasted Love” (#16) and “Lover Come Back” (#83);
- Beck with “Wow” (#22) and as guest vocalist on the Chemical Brothers’ “Wide Open” (#93);
- Alabama Shakes with “Shoegaze” (#31) and “Sound & Color” (#38);
- Barns Courtney with “Fire” (#4) and “Glitter & Gold” (#49);
- Mumford & Sons with “There Will Be Time (Live) (#42) and “Ditmas” (#89);
- X Ambassadors with “Unsteady” (#44) and “Low Life” (#66);
- David Bowie with “Lazarus” (#58) and “I Can’t Give Everything Away” (#94);
- Jayhawks with “Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces” (#60) and “Comeback Kids” (#97).
Two Arizona acts that had national hits appear on the year-end chart: Mesa’s Jimmy Eat World with “Sure And Certain” (#26) and Kongos from Paradise Valley with “Take It From Me” (#51).
Several artists whose careers began in the 1960s and 1970s placed hits on the year-end chart, including the Pretenders (#15), Bonnie Raitt (#17), Rolling Stones (#50), Paul Simon (#55), Van Morrison (#73) and Santana (#78).
Other veteran acts included the Foo Fighters (#3), Green Day (#20), Norah Jones (#23), Big Head Todd & The Monsters (#34), Phish (#39), Radiohead (#45), Stone Roses (#52), Sting (#61), Cheap Trick (#72) and the Pixies (#90).
Established artists from recent years continued to have hits, including Kings of Leon (#5), Avett Brothers (#10), Cage The Elephant (#32), Hozier (#54), Florence + The Machine (#63), Pete Yorn (#68), Decemberists (#75), Ziggy Marley (#76), Lake Street Dive (#79) and Adele (#81).
Acts scoring their first hits included Sturgill Simpson (#35), Miraculous Mule (#41), Coastgaard (#43), Son Little (#47), Carl Broemel (#56), the DMA’s (#59), Twin Peaks (#74) and Holy Sons (#99), among others.
Sometimes the songs you like best may not be the biggest hits. That’s why we’ve added an extra 50 tunes that didn’t make the top 100 cut. They include gems by such diverse artists as Leon Bridges, Shovels & Rope, Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Shearwater, Dinosaur Jr, PJ Harvey, Graham Nash, Boy & Bear and more.
If you’re unfamiliar with today’s adult rock music, here’s an opportunity to discover new favorites.
To listen to the Top 100 (+50), simply click on the View Chart link below to open a .pdf file viewable with Adobe Acrobat Reader. Then just click on each title to play that song. Enjoy the music!