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- [00:00]
Actor/Character Voice
You're listening ad free on Amazon Music.
- [00:04]
Chris Melanfi
Hey there Hit Parade listeners. What you're about to hear is Part one of this episode. Part two will arrive in your podcast feed at the end of the month. Would you like to hear this episode all at once the day it drops? Sign up for Slate Plus. It supports not only this show, but all of Slate's acclaimed journalism and podcasts. Just go to slate.com hitparadeplus you'll get to hear every Hit Parade episode in full the day it arrives. Plus Hit Parade, the Bridge, our bonus episodes with guest interviews, deeper dives on our episode topics, and pop chart trivia. Once again to join, that's slate.com hitparadeplus thanks. And now please enjoy part one of this hit Parade episode.
- [01:00]
Actor/Character Voice
People dream high in the quiet of the night. You know that I caught it welcome.
- [01:05]
Chris Melanfi
To Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfi, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number one Series on today's show? For most of the last two months, the this has been the most played song in America. The song is called Cruel Summer. Despite the fact that we've been deep into the fall. Unsurprisingly, because this is 2023, this smash hit is by imperial pop deity and Time Magazine's Person of the Year, Taylor Swift. Taylor can make anything a hit these days.
- [01:48]
Actor/Character Voice
Hang your head low in the glow of a vending machine. I'm not D.
- [01:54]
Chris Melanfi
But the most surprising thing about Cruel Summer is that it isn't a 2023 recording. It isn't from her 2022 album Midnights either. Cruel Summer was recorded and first released way back in 2019, before the COVID pandemic and four Taylor Swift albums ago. And yet it topped Billboard's Hot 100 in October 2023. What in the Travis Kelce is going on here? In some ways, Swift's latest number one is all about her story. But speaking as a chart analyst, I see Cruel Summer as part of a long hot 100 traditional the second chance hit. You may be shocked to learn how many now legendary hit songs needed two or more tries to reach their chart destiny.
- [03:04]
Actor/Character Voice
This is major time to ground control. I'm stepping through the door.
- [03:12]
Chris Melanfi
Sometimes an act gets the opportunity to try again on the charts with a failed single after they become more famous. Sometimes a song gets a boost from a movie or some other kind of media exposure, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world. Sometimes A DJ hears something in a failed single that even the artist didn't hear.
- [03:54]
Actor/Character Voice
I've been to paradise, but I've never been to me.
- [04:04]
Chris Melanfi
And sometimes the public takes matters into their own hands. Whatever the catalyst, these returning records, which radio programmers call bring back hits, take on a life of their own. Sometimes they become more associated with the year when they returned than the moment they were recorded. O.
- [04:39]
Actor/Character Voice
My Love, My Daughter.
- [04:48]
Chris Melanfi
Today on Hit Parade, we will do a deep dive on hits that got more than one bite at the apple. They came and went, maybe even flopped, or didn't get promoted or didn't cross over. And then after hanging around for a few months, a few years, or even, even a decade, the charts brought them back to life. In case you're wondering, there's a reason we're covering this topic on Hit Parade. In the month of December, Christmas hits are the most persistent perennial returning hits, festive songs that have had a second chance, third, fourth, multiple chances. And in the streaming era, many of these holiday singles are having their most wonderful chart runs, bringing good cheer.
- [06:02]
Actor/Character Voice
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the.
- [06:06]
Chris Melanfi
Year with the King. And that's where your hit parade marches today, the week ending December 29, 2018, when it's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Andy Williams finally cracked the top 10 on Billboard's Hot 150. Five years after it was recorded and six years after Williams passed away. It was one of the first first signs that the 2000 and 20s was going to be a good decade for bring back hits. But we'll tell you about many more holiday and non holiday hits alike throughout the Hot 100's long history. I'll also count down a list of the most remarkable bring back hits of all time, including one classic that just reached number one. And as we were preparing this episode, and by the way, we at Hit Parade called it so pour a cup of cheer as we ponder the question, what makes a song a second chance hit? Stick around. If you recognize this song. I'll bet you watched a lot of Netflix in 2023. It's not a radio or chart hit. It's called Greenback Boogie. It's by the band I'm a Robot and it is better known as the opening theme to the TV show Suits. Suits was a television phenomenon this year. This pulpy legal drama which first aired in the 2000 and tens and co stars future abdicated Princess Meghan Markle set a record in the Nielsen ratings. Suits was the number one most watched show on streaming TV in 2023 for a dozen consecutive weeks.
- [08:24]
Actor/Character Voice
I'm Rachel Zane. I'll be giving you your orientation.
- [08:26]
Chris Melanfi
Wow, you're pretty good.
- [08:28]
Actor/Character Voice
You've hit on me. We can get it out of the way that I am not interested.
- [08:31]
Chris Melanfi
No, I'm sorry. I wasn't hitting on you.
- [08:33]
Actor/Character Voice
Trust me, I've given dozens of these. And without fail, whatever new hotshot it is thinks that because I'm just a paralegal that I will somehow be blown away by his dazzling degree. Let me assure you, I won't.
- [08:44]
Chris Melanfi
No Hit Parade did not suddenly turn into a TV recap podcast. The reason I mention Suits is in the world of television, Suits is a second Chance hit. From 2011 through 2019, it was a modest success on the USA cable network, drawing solid if unspectacular ratings that were good enough by the standards of basic cable to get the show renewed for multiple seasons.
- [09:17]
Actor/Character Voice
This isn't elementary school. This is hard work. Long hours, high pressure.
- [09:22]
Chris Melanfi
I will work as hard as it takes to become the best lawyer you have ever seen. Suits, a new original series. Then in 2023, four years after it went off the air, Suits got picked up by the streamers, Netflix and Peacock. And like a Taylor Swift song made new again, it exploded.
- [09:42]
Actor/Character Voice
Lock the doors. Are you serious?
- [09:45]
Chris Melanfi
Yes.
- [09:45]
Actor/Character Voice
For an answer, I'm Open the door.
- [09:48]
Chris Melanfi
And here's the thing. Nobody really knows why Suits did this. Well, in 2023, sure, there's the Meghan Markle factor, but she dated and married Prince Harry years ago. The show was still on the air back then, and ratings at the time didn't hugely improve. This year, the summer writers and actors strikes dried up content creation in Hollywood, which did make Suits on Netflix Fresh. But there was still plenty on tv. Most of the impact of the strikes will be felt next year. Basically, the chart topping success of Suits is happenstance, a delightful mystery. A new audience tried it and it just caught on. Now hold that thought while I turn back to music and the charts. Let's ponder this kitschy novelty hit which came back more than once. Monster Mash. The creepy comedy classic by Bobby Boris Pickett and the Crypt Kickers first topped the Hot 100 in October of 1962, just in time for Halloween. But then the song came back from the dead. A decade later, it caught on in a flag.
- [11:22]
Actor/Character Voice
He did the mash he did the monster Mash from my laboratory in the car.
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Chris Melanfi
In 1970, a new record label acquired the rights to Monster Mash. They reissued it in the late summer of 1970, a few months ahead of Halloween and it re entered the hot one hundreds, but for just three weeks, peaking at number 91. So nice try, right? Hang on, the story doesn't end there.
- [11:56]
Actor/Character Voice
The party had just begun.
- [12:02]
Chris Melanfi
Three years later, in 1973, Monster Mash reappeared one more time on the Hot 100 in May. Yes, May. The record label wasn't doing anything special to promote it. Monster Mash just caught on at a couple of Milwaukee radio stations and then started spreading nationwide. By June, it had climbed back into the top 40. Casey Kasem counted it down. Bobby Pickett and his Crypt Kickers took.
- [12:34]
Actor/Character Voice
This one all the way to number.
- [12:35]
Chris Melanfi
One in the year 1962.
- [12:37]
Actor/Character Voice
Had a minor hit with it in.
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Chris Melanfi
1970, got into the low 90s once again.
- [12:42]
Actor/Character Voice
It's a hit at number 16.
- [12:44]
Chris Melanfi
The Monster Mash.
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Actor/Character Voice
I was working in the lab late one night when my eyes beheld an eerie sight.
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Chris Melanfi
That year, Monster Mash wound up cracking the top 10 for a second time, peaking at number 10 in August 1973, nearly a decade after it hit number one. And by the way, it was out of the top 40 by mid September, nowhere near Halloween. You may be asking what the. And honestly, I've got nothing. Research in Billboard magazine from the period reveals where the song broke, but not why. Among chart fans think theories abound. Some say Bobby Pickett's record was benefiting from the coattails of Edgar Winter's early 1973 number one hit Frankenstein, which we discussed in our instrumental hits episode of Hit Parade. That's certainly plausible, but it's only a theory. Others say the revival of early rock and roll on the charts in 1973 was benefiting 50s and early 60s records. Kitschy Hits like Monster Mash sounded natural coming after, say, Elton John's throwback smash Crocodile Roc. Again, this is logical but not provable. Perhaps there just is no one reason why Monster Mash became the big second chance hit that it did in 1973. Any more than the second wave success of Suits on TV in 2023 is explicable. Honestly. Sometimes the public just collectively decides they want to hear an old record again, as we discussed in our Legacy Hits episode of Hit Parade, about songs that never had success on the charts but are now well known anyway. There may be a specific reason these songs come back, or there may be multiple reasons. For example, Billy Idol's White Wedding. It's both a legacy hit because it never went very high on the charts. And it's a second chance hit because Billy Idol's label tried multiple times to get it up the charts. The first try in 1982, it bubbled under the hot 100 at number 108. The second try in 1983, it barely cracked the top 40 at number 36. I can think of several plausible reasons why Idol's legacy hit did better the second time. This is the nature of Second Chance hits. You can sort them into some broad categories, but there are almost as many reasons why hits come back as there are Second Chance hits. So let's run down about a half dozen such categories and see if we can find some patterns. And then later in this episode, I'll count down some bring back hits that that check multiple boxes. Category 1 the post stardom level up many second chance hits are ones that benefit from a budding hitmaker's higher profile. So an early single flops, the act becomes a bigger star thanks to another single that captures the public's fancy, and then that earlier single. Often the exact same recording is suddenly able to scale the charts. Here are some examples of the post stardom level up.
- [17:37]
Actor/Character Voice
Pretty Baby, Please Don't Go.
- [17:41]
Chris Melanfi
Your familiarity with this song probably depends on whether you're a baby boomer or just a deep Cher fan. This is Sonny and cher with a 1964 single called Baby Don't Go. When it was first released, Baby Don't Go was a regional hit on the west coast, but it did nothing nationally or on the Hot 100. Then in 1965, this happened to Sonny Bono and the erstwhile Sherilyn Sarkeesian.
- [18:17]
Actor/Character Voice
I got you babe I got you babe they say I love won't pay the rent.
- [18:27]
Chris Melanfi
That of course is I Got yout Babe, the number one hit that made Sonny and Cher famous across the country. Now Sonny and Cher had switched record labels before I got you Babe, but but their old label, Reprise Records, could now benefit from the duo's stardom. So Reprise reissued Baby Don't Go, Baby don't go. Pretty baby, please don't go and this time it became a big hit, reaching number eight on the Hot 100 just two months after I Got yout Babe peaked. This is a classic bring back hit technique. In the 70s, the pop duo Captain and Tenille thought that this would be the hit that broke them. They released the Way I Want to touch you three times in 1974. First the captain and Tenille self released it, then on two different labels. It did get them signed to the major label A and M Records. But for all the buzz, the Way I want to Touch you generated no chart action. Then in the summer of 1975, they recorded this proto yacht rock jam.
- [20:04]
Actor/Character Voice
I've been thinking of you. Look in my heart and let love keep us together.
- [20:13]
Chris Melanfi
Love Will keep Us Together was a number one smash and the top song of 1975. Within weeks of it peaking on the Hot 100. A&M went right back to that earlier single.
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Actor/Character Voice
You are sunshine, you are shadow, you are morning, you are night.
- [20:37]
Chris Melanfi
And the way I want to touch you finally became a smash, reaching number four in the fall of 75 and going gold in the case of both Sunny and Cher and the Captain and Tenille. Each duo was at the very, very beginning of their career. But the leveling up hit can happen to an artist deeper into a career. Say this legend, who was on his fifth album. When Prince dropped his 1999 album in the fall of 1982. The first single was naturally the immortal title track, an arena size bop about dancing away nuclear holocaust. But Prince was in the process of crossing over from R and B to pop and rock audiences in 1982 and 1999. The single stiffed on the Hot 100 in late 82, peaking at number 44. Picture it, this party classic missed the top 40 entirely at first. But then the album's second single proved irresistible to listeners across the spectrum. Little Red Corvette became Prince's first ever top 10 pop hit, reaching number six in May of 83. So just weeks later, Warner Brothers, Prince's label, went right back to the single that had flopped just six months earlier. Re debuting on the Hot 100 in June 1999, climbed all the way to number 12. The second time Prince would not miss the top 40 with the lead single to an album for another decade. Mind you, not all level up second chance hits succeed, for example, also in 1982, punk legends the Clash chose this classic as the first single from their album Combat Rock Darling, you got to let me know.
- [23:28]
Actor/Character Voice
Should I stay or should I go.
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Chris Melanfi
Should I Stay or should I go only reached number 45 in the summer of 82. So next they went with something even more danceable, The new wave banger rock the Kasbah. It reached number eight in the winter of 83, the Clash's only top 10 hit. Suddenly, the Clash were platinum sellers for the first time in their careers. So wouldn't you try that first single again?
- [24:12]
Actor/Character Voice
Should I Stay or should I go if you say that you are mine.
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Chris Melanfi
Epic Records actually reissued Should I Stay or Should I go? The new 45 even had a different catalog number, as if the first release never happened. And the second time, Should I Stay or Should I go reached number 50. The consolation prize should I Stay or Should I Go is now the Clash's legacy hit with nearly a billion Spotify plays three times the streams of rock, the Kasbah. But should I stay or should I go? Way back in 1982 and 83 was not a second chance hit.
- [24:59]
Actor/Character Voice
Should I stay or should I go now? Should I stay or should I go now?
- [25:08]
Chris Melanfi
The level up can also happen even when a song's artist doesn't become a superstar himself. Speaking of superstars, The title track from Jesus Christ Superstar, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock musical took three tries to become a hit. Murray Head's superstar single only reached number 74 in early 1970. Then later in 1970, the musical's concept album became a word of mouth hit and the LP finally topped the album chart. In early 71, the single came back a second time, peaking at number 60. And finally, after a third try, Jesus.
- [26:07]
Actor/Character Voice
Christ, Jesus Christ who are you, what have you sacrificed?
- [26:15]
Chris Melanfi
Jesus Christ Superstar. The song finally cracked the top 40, reaching number 14 in May 1971. Murray Head didn't become a household name. He would go a decade and a half before scoring another hit with One Night in Bangkok. But by mid-71, the album Jesus Christ Superstar was a household name. That was the leveling up. Second chance hits can also happen late in an album cycle. Paula Abdul's it's just the Way that you love Me was both the second single and the sixth single from her blockbuster Forever your Girl album. In 1988 it only made the R B chart and missed the Hot 100 entirely. Then after Abdul scored three straight number one hits in 1989, straight up, Abdul, forever your girl and Cold Hearted the way that you love Me was re promoted given a new music video and a slight remix. And on that go around, the way that you love me became a number three hit. Post stardom level ups have continued right into the 21st century. Consider the case of Lizzo, whose 2017 single Truth Hurts took two years and placement in a Netflix movie before it became a number one smash in 2019.
- [28:18]
Actor/Character Voice
Straight to my face, best friends let.
- [28:20]
Chris Melanfi
Me down in the salon chair. Suddenly in late 2019, radio programmers were hungry for all things Lizzo. So Atlantic Records went back to an Even older single, 2016's Sassy Good as.
- [28:36]
Actor/Character Voice
Hell, I do my hair tall.
- [28:44]
Chris Melanfi
Check my nails and it became a number three hit at the end of 2019, affirming Lizzo's stardom. So yeah, the post stardom level up still works. But speaking of Lizzo's Netflix placement, let's consider another type of second chance hit more in a moment category 2. Media exposure movies, TV shows, even adverts and trailers all can take a previously underperforming hit and give it another shot. For example, as we discussed in our R and B Queens episode of Hit Parade, the First Time. Ever I Saw your Face, Roberta Flack's hypnotic take on the folk standard the First Time Ever I Saw youw Face was transformed by the Clint Eastwood movie Play Misty for Me from an obscure deep cut to a smash single that spent six weeks at number one on the Hot 100 in 1972. To be fair, the first time only became a single because of the movie. By contrast, a decade later, this fiery duet between Patty Austin and James Ingram was issued as a single, Baby come.
- [30:19]
Actor/Character Voice
To Me Let me put my arms around you. This was meant to be.
- [30:26]
Chris Melanfi
And it had flopped in early 1982 before it was revived by the soap opera General Hospital. In its first run, Baby Come to Me peaked at number 73. When GH brought the song back later that year, Austin and Ingram climbed all the way to number one. A quintessential second chance hit, Baby Come to Me was off the Hot 100 only about five months between each its two chart runs, whereas this single was off the chart for about five years. As we discussed in our TV Tunes episode of Hit Parade, Billy Vera and the beater had a three week run on the chart in 1981 with at this moment peaking at number 79. Then in 1986, the TV sitcom Family Ties revived the song as a love theme for Michael J. Fox's character Alex P. Keaton, and at this Moment climbed all the way to number one. In general, 1986 was a good year for revived hits as movies brought back two early 60s singles, albeit in lower chart positions. The Beatles Twist and shout, a number two hit in 1964, was immortalized by Ferris Bueller's Day off and made a chart return at number 23 in 1986. And Ben E. King's soulful standard Stand by Me, a number four hit in 1961, was revived by the 1986 movie of the same name and made its own chart comeback at number nine. Nine. These were pre existing hits that had done well in the first place. For a more modern example of multimedia rebooting a song, consider the early Tens electro rock track Sail by AWOL Nation, which turned out to be one of the longest running hits in Hot 100 history. After a 20 week chart run in 2011 and early 2012, peaking at number 82, this haunting oddball song fell off the chart for a full year while getting picked up for numerous media sinks, a History Channel trailer, a BMW ad, a Brad Pitt movie, even a TV dance performance. All of these brought Sail back to the Hot 100 a year later in 2013. During its second run, Sale got all the way to number 17 and rode the chart for another 59 weeks, proving that even the weirdest song can sound like a hit when paired with shiny imagery. Sale also crossed over from the alternative rock format to the pop charts, which brings up another category of Second Chance hit. Category three Format Evolution with rock songs in particular, the recording industry tends to try pushing them on rock fans first before attempting to cross them over with pop fans. One example from half a century ago is this stalwart guitar jam. Eric Clapton's side project supergroup Derek and the Dominoes confounded the charts at first. Layla, Clapton's seven minute screamer about coveting another man's wife, was promoted to album oriented rock or AOR radio, but it was also issued as a three minute 1971 single with the song divided in half for pop radio airplay. Apparently this is not the way folks want to hear Layla, which famously shifts tempos and turns into a piano elegy halfway through its seven minute running time. The subdivided Layla single could only manage a number 51 peak on the Hot 100 in 1971. A year later, to promote a Clapton Anthology LP, the single was reissued at its full seven minute length, squeezing all those minutes onto one side of a 45, and that version scaled the Hot 100, peaking at number 10 in the summer of 72, finally turning Layla from a rock staple into a pop hit. Something similar happened to the first major hit by flute inflected progressive rock band Jethro Tull. In 1969. Living in the Past was a number three hit in the band's native UK, but in the United States it was only pushed to AOR stations as a promotional single. It was not until late 1972 that this Jethro Tull song was commercially promoted in the US as the lead single and title track of a compilation album also titled Living in the Past. This finally got Living in the Past the song onto the Hot 100 where it peaked at number 11. A decade and a half later, the metal band Guns N Roses launched with a similar shift from AOR to pop radio, and this Second Chance hit was both a format evolver and a post stardom level up.
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Actor/Character Voice
Welcome to The Jungle we got fun and games. We got everything you want.
- [38:14]
Chris Melanfi
Geffen Records spent almost a year, from mid-1987 through early 1988, trying to break GnR's demonic welcome to the jungle on the radio and MTV. After they finally nudged jungle to number 37 on Billboard's album rock chart in the spring of 88, the label switched gears and tried promoting this other song to both AOR and pop radio. Sweet child of mine, GnR's version of a screaming love ballad went all the way to number one on the Hot 100 in the fall of 1988. At this point, guns were now pop hit makers, so it no longer seemed crazy to try to break that earlier demonic hit at top four 40 stations. Reissued as a Single in late 88, welcome to the Jungle rose all the way to number seven on the Hot 100. How ironic. An aggressive rocker that could only reach number 37 at Rock Radio became a top 10 pop hit. When it comes to second chance hits, timing and image really do matter. You see how record label decisions affect how hits are brought back. Here's another category of second chance hit that has less to do with radio formats and more to do with selling albums. Category 4 the Promotional Reboot Quick pop quiz. What was the Beatles last US top 10 hit while all four members were still alive? No, it wasn't Let It Be or the Long and Winding Road, the singles issued in 1970 as the Band was breaking up. Nor was it Free as a Bird or now and Then singles put together decades after John Lennon's death from song fragments he left behind. No, the last Beatles top ten while all four Fabs still roamed the earth was this 1966 jam turned 1976 smash.
- [41:02]
Actor/Character Voice
I was alone, I took a I didn't know what I would find there.
- [41:08]
Chris Melanfi
In 1966, Paul McCartney's Motown homage got to get you into My Life was a track on the Beatles Revolver lp. Ten years later, Capitol Records reissued the song as a single to promote the dubious, kitschy and mostly forgotten Beatles compilation called Rock and Roll Music. The LP may now be a footnote, but Got to get you into my Life sounded as fresh on the radio in 76 as it did on vinyl in 66, and the track peaked at number seven on the Hot 100. Day. Another mid-70s promotional reboot came from Daryl hall and John Oates. Let's remember them as a harmonious duo, shall we?
- [42:15]
Actor/Character Voice
Everybody's high on consolation Everybody's trying to tell me.
- [42:24]
Chris Melanfi
As we discussed in our hall and Oats episode of Hit Parade the soulful She's Gone was first issued as a single on Atlantic Records in 1973. By early 74 it had only reached number 60 on the Hot 100. Three years later, after hall and Oates had switched to RCA Records and started scoring hits, their former label Atlantic, looking to earn back their Holland Oats investment, reissued both the abandoned Luncheonette LP and the She's Gone 45. This Time She's Gone reached number seven on the Hot 100, and by the fall of 76 the album re entered the LP chart, cracked the top 40 and went gold. We've also seen failed singles rebooted as live hits. In 1977, Cheap Trick's I Want yout To Want Me was the lead single from their studio album In Color, and it went nowhere. However, when recorded live at Japan's Budokan arena in 1978, I Want you to Want Me became a smash, reaching number number seven in 1979, giving Cheap Trick their first major American hit and turning their Cheap Trick at Budokan Live album platinum. Or how about a rebooted single from a greatest hits album? For the Cars 1985 Greatest Hits LP, the band remixed a track from their 1981 album Shake It up called I'm not the One. The second Go Round made I'm not the One a hit, peaking on the Hot 100 at number 32 and then moving into the 21st century. There's this lady who has become legendary for rebooting her own material. When Taylor Swift issued All Too well on her 2012 album Red, it only reached number 80 on the Hot 100 as an unpromoted album album cut. In 2021, Swift Re recorded the Red album as part of her Taylor's Version project to reclaim copyright control of her early material. Supersized from 5 minutes to 10 and hyped with a cinematic music video all too well, Taylor's version soared into the Hot 100 at number one.
- [45:47]
Actor/Character Voice
There we are again in the middle of the night, dancing around the kitchen in the refrigerator.
- [46:05]
Chris Melanfi
So that's what happens when a label or an artist actively reboots a single to promote an album. What about when the second chance activist is the marketplace, either a DJ or the fans category 5 marketplace activism. In 1967, when get together by New York folk rockers the Youngbloods was first released, it peaked at number 62. Two years later, WABC DJ Dan Ingram used Get Together as background music in a promo for a Brotherhood program. It was subsequently picked up for a public service announcement by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. As a result, Get Together was reissued as a single and hit number five in 1990. 1969 Groovy Man. DJ's are famous for this sort of proactive hit, picking in 1978 after Gloria Gaynor's single substitute had bubbled under the Hot 100 and fallen off, DJs rescued the single by playing its B side, I Will Survive and making it a 1979 number one hit. But as powerful as DJs are, nothing is more powerful than the wisdom of crowds. As we have seen in the streaming and social era of the last decade, numerous hits have been rebooted by viral memes in the Internet age, including, famously, Fleetwood Mac's Dreams, a 1977 number one hit revived in 2020 by a TikTok video of Nathan Apodaca skateboard surfing the back of a truck while drinking a bottle of Ocean Spray. Dreams, a hit originally during the Carter administration, re entered the Hot 100 in the the last year of the Trump administration and peaked the second time at number 12. Lady Gaga's song Bloody Mary, originally released in 2011, was revived on TikTok a decade later by TikTok users mashing up the song with a dance sequence from the Netflix series Wednesday. The reanimated Bloody Mary re entered the Hot 100 in 2022 and hit number 41. And Tyler the Creator's song See youe Again featuring Kali Uchis, originally released in 2017, took off on TikTok in 2023. Tyler was so inspired by the Social reboot in he joined Uchis on stage at Coachella in April 2023. So earlier this year, see you Again hit the hot 100 at number 44.
- [49:59]
Actor/Character Voice
Can I get a kiss and can you make it last forever? I said I'm about to go to war.
- [50:08]
Chris Melanfi
Last but most certainly not least among our categories, there's one more kind of second chance hit that, in the streaming era, has become the biggest bring back chart trend of all. And again, it's why we're covering this topic in December. Category 6 seasonal perennials it's the most.
- [50:33]
Actor/Character Voice
Wonderful time of the year.
- [50:39]
Chris Melanfi
With the kids Jingle Bell As I explained in two prior holiday episodes of Hit Parade, only in the streaming era have we fully grasped just how big Christmas music is. We knew these songs were perennials, but only when we had data on just how many times Americans play these songs every December did we realize Christmas songs come back at Drake and Taylor swift levels. Every 12 months.
- [51:14]
Actor/Character Voice
There'll be parties for hosting marshmallows for toasting.
- [51:18]
Chris Melanfi
Later in the show, I'll cover the two holiday bops by women we'll just call Mariah and Brenda for now that have done the best in the annual Christmas chart Tsunami me. But for now, I'm highlighting Andy Williams it's the most wonderful time of the year because its arrival in the top 10 in 2018 for the first time ever was arguably the moment we realized holiday hits that do not sound like contemporary pop could compete on the Hot 100 of today. The only charts Andy Williams seasonal standards touched back in their day were Billboard's special Christmas music Surveys. But in the last five years, not only has Most Wonderful Time cracked the Hot 100, it has risen as high as number five, powered by Spotify data as I speak. In 2023, most wonderful time is back on the chart at number eight again. These days, Andy Williams charts better than Pharrell Williams. These holiday songs aren't just second chance hits, they're multi chance hits coming back each December from Bobby Helms. Jingle Bell Rock, which has gone as high as number three in the 2000s, three spots higher than it went in 1950s. Two Warning to Wamageddon players, turn off your podcast player now. Wham's Last Christmas, which by the way, didn't chart at all in 1984 and has achieved a new 2020th chart peak of of number four. Even modern Christmas hits are doing better on the charts in the 2000s. Kelly Clarkson's Underneath the Tree, a 2013 recording, reached a new chart peak in 2021 of number 12, you're here where.
- [53:51]
Actor/Character Voice
You should be.
- [53:59]
Chris Melanfi
And Ariana Grande's Santa Tell Me, which first charted back in 2014, reached its own Hot 100 peak of number 12 in 2022.
- [54:11]
Actor/Character Voice
Santa Tell Me if you're really there.
- [54:20]
Chris Melanfi
So to place all these bring back hits in their proper context, I'm going to do one of our classic Hit Parade countdowns covering songs I haven't even mentioned so far. I'll touch on all of these Second Chance hit categories, the post stardom level ups, Movie glow ups, promotional reboots, and of course the biggest holiday hits, including the chestnut that's topping the charts this very year. When we come back, a totally subjective, thoroughly unscientific list of my favorite bring back hits. From Barbara to Bowie, Miracles to Moody Blues, Melody chainers to Christmas tree rockers, let's give ourselves more than one chance. How about a dozen non Slate plus listeners will hear the rest of this episode in two weeks. For now, I hope you've been enjoying this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited, and narrated by Chris Melanfy. That's me. My producer is Kevin Bendis. Derek John is executive producer of Narrative Podcasts, and we had help from Joel Meyer. Alicia Montgomery is VP of Audio for Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of shows@slate.com podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening, and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. We'll see you for part two in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris Melanfi.