The Top 69 Songs Of 2021(ish) on I-Rock 93.5

Another year of rocking with you in the Quad Cities is coming to a close.  A year in which we got back to concerts and a year in which I-Rock 93.5 is now "monitored" by people in the radio business.  Sounds freaky right.  But it's a good thing!

There is a radio service called "Mediabase" that monitors radio stations across the country to find out what they are playing.  They then take that data and create the Top 40 lists that you see.  When a band says "thank you for making our song number 1!" it's because of this service that creates the list.  The stations that are monitored are big stations that have been around for a long time...and now, for some reason, I-Rock 93.5!  Yeah, this little station that could is actually in the same group as the big boys out there.  This means every song that gets played is being counted in the national charts.  That is cool.

So why is it the Top 69 songs of 2021...ish.

The "ish" is on there because we didn't start to get monitored until April of 2021.  So songs that were getting play in early 2021 might not be on the coveted Top 69 list.

Why is that song so high or that one so low?

If a song started in April and slowly worked itself up, then stayed on or near the top for a while, then slowly worked back down, it will get way more plays throughout the year.  Others could have been bigger in 2020 (or spring 2021 when we were not monitored) leaving them lower in the Top 69.

At the end of the day, here are 69 songs you heard a bunch this year so enjoy the Top 69, and be sure to listen to all 5 hours on I-Rock 93.5 Thursday (12/30) from 10am-3pm and Friday (12/31) 3pm-8pm.

The Top 69 Songs of 2021(ish) on I-Rock 93.5.

• 69 - Korn - Start The Healing
  • Korn barely gets into the Top 69 for 2021, but I'd expect to see this one again in the Top 69 for 2022 as it will be here to stay for quite a while with them coming to town in March.
• 68 - Turnstile - Blackout
• 67 - Black Veil Brides - Crimson Skies

• 66 - Slipknot - The Chapletown Rag
  • When you have new music released in November, it's tough to get enough spins in before the end of the year to really climb year-end charts.  Will we see this song on the Top 69 of 2022?  Maybe, but it's not doing so well.  And they will have more new stuff next year, so I'd expect to have at least something from Slipknot in the Top 69 of 2022.

• 65 - Nita Strauss featuring David Draiman - Dead Inside
• 64 - Ra - Intercorrupted
• 63 - Mastodon - Teardrinker
• 62 - Mushroomhead - Carry On

• 61 - Volbeat - Shotgun Blues
• 60 - Ghost - Hunters Moon
  • Fitting that these two are next to each other.  Many of you played along as we hooked you up with a trip to see Ghost and Volbeat in Dallas.  Scott from East Moline will be seeing them in February and everyone can listen to them here on the Top 69 as they fall back to back.
• 59 - Greta Van Fleet - Built By Nations
• 58 - Avatar - Going Hunting
• 57 - Bring Me The Horizon - Die4U

• 56 - Spiritbox - Secret Garden
  • A newcomer to the scene, "Secret Garden" got up to 34 on the US Main Rock charts.  Then they were supposed to be on the road with Limp Bizkit in one of the stranger concert pairings ever, but that tour was canceled.
• 55 - Wage War - Circle The Drain

• 54 - Alborn - Hindsight
  • Yeah, yeah...playing in front of 10,000 people at the MVF was cool, but being in the Top 69, now that is the 2021 highlight for Alborn.  I should also mention, you can see them live on January 22 at the I-Rock 93.5 Holiday Office Party.  
• 53 - Love and Death - Down
• 52 - Greta Van Fleet - Heat Above
• 51 - Black Stone Cherry - Give Me One Reason
• 50 - Badflower - Don't Hate Me

• 49 - Alborn - Cause to Create
  • This one from Alborn came out in January of 2021.  I would guess if I-Rock was monitored the entire year this song would have been higher on the Top 69.
• 48 - A Day To Remember - Everything We Need

• 47 - Ice Nine Kills - Rainy Day
  • Those guys rocked the Rust Belt in the final show of 2021.  While INK also released "Hip To Be Scared" in 2021, "Rainy Day" was the one that caught on and continues to do well.  Expect to see this one on the Top 69 of 2022 as it shows no signs of slowing down.
• 46 - DED - Kill Beautiful Things
• 45 - Black Stone Cherry - Again

• 44 - Bad Wolves - Lifeline
  • In October I got a chance to talk with Bad Wolves drummer John Boecklin about the new lead singer, new album, and new song.  Now here we are in December, and that new song "Lifeline" has hit number one on the charts and is on the illustrious Top 69.
• 43 - Avatar - Colossus
• 42 - Starset - Infected
• 41 - Royal Blood - Typhoons
• 40 - Dirty Hony - California Dreamin'

• 39 - Trivium - Feast of Fire
  • This was one of those I brought to the station early.  While it is finally reaching the top 20 of the US Main Rock charts, I-Rock 93.5 first started playing this one on September 1, 2021.
• 38 - Foo Fighters - Waiting on a War
• 37 - Architects - Animals

• 36 - Corey Taylor - Samantha's Gone
  • CMFT brought it two nights in a row at the Rust Belt in June and typically if there is a show coming to town you are going to hear more of their stuff on the station. Which is how Corey can now add this to his list of accomplishments, being on the Top 69.
• 35 - Pretty Reckless - And So It Went
• 34 - Papa Roach - Kill The Noise
• 33 - Asking Alexandria - Alone Again

• 32 - Chevelle - Self Destructor
  • My favorite show of 2021.  Chevelle at The Rust Belt.  This isn't the last we'll see of them on the list and this isn't the last we'll see of them in the Quad Cities.  Chevelle will be with Korn on March 25 at the TaxSlayer Center.  You know we got tickets for you right here.
• 31 - Gemini Syndrome - Die With Me
• 30 - Volbeat - Wait A Minute My Girl
• 29 - Ayron Jones - Mercy
• 28 - Pop Evil - Breathe Again

• 27 - Ayron Jones - Supercharged
  • For the record, it's pronounced "A-Ron" Jones.  Not like "Erin".  But like A - Ron.  And you should know cause he's got two in the Top 69!
• 26 - Architects - Dead Butterflies
• 25 - 10 Years - The Unknown
• 24 - Rise Against - Nowhere Generation

• 23 - Bring Me The Horizon - Teardrops
  • One of my favorite songs from 2021, BMTH just has a way of bringing the hard, yet melodic songs that include great drops and vocals along the way.  This is one that will last for sure.
• 22 - Zero 9:36 - Adrenaline
• 21 - Halestorm - Back From The Dead
• 20 - Escape the Fate featuring Lindsey Sterling - Invincible

• 19 - Coheed and Cambria - Shoulders
  • Another one of these songs that slowly crawled up the charts peaking at number 9 recently but we started playing it in early August giving it a high position on the Top 69.
• 18 - All Good Things - For The Glory
• 17 - Deftones - Ceremony
• 16 - L.A. Rats - I've Been Everywhere

• 15 - Badflower - F The World
  • The first time Badflower ever played this song together was May 7th in East Moline at The Rust Belt.  Not just the first time they played it live.  But the first time they played the song together.  This was one of those songs the band recorded during Rona from separate studios and then performed it for us for the first time.  A very cool way to kick off the 2021 concert season.
• 14 - Seether - Wasteland
• 13 - Seether - Bruised and Bloodied
• 12 - Pop Evil - Survivor
• 11 - Five Finger Death Punch - Darkness Settles In

• 10 - Black Veil Brides - Scarlett Cross
  • The top 10 of the Top 69 gets started with one that just kept going all year long staying in the charts for about 6 months.
• 9 - Foo Fighters - Making a Fire

• 8 - Pretty Reckless - Only Love Can Save Me Now
  • There is a radio edit of this song that is like 3:30 long.  I went with the full 4:49 version because I think it's better and normally the radio edits annoy me.  The long version still counted on the national charts and our Top 69.
• 7 - Nonpoint - Ruthless

• 6 - Fozzy - Sane
  • You just made the list...of the Top 69.
• 5 - Offspring - Let The Bad Times Roll
• 4 - Atreyu featuring Travis Barker - Warrior

• 3 - Chevelle - Mars Simula
  • Have I mentioned how this was my favorite show of the year?  I've just always been a fan of these guys and it was great to get them here for an awesome concert.

• 2 - Beartooth - The Past Is Dead
  • The top songs are ones that started early in the year and just kept growing across the country.  But, since I-Rock started on them early and kept pushing them, they end up on the top of the list.

• 1 - Evanescence - Better Without You
  • I've always been a fan of Evanescence and Amy Lee so when this new song from them came out in the spring I jumped on it fast.  Then it kept growing and growing.  So I put it in our top group of songs, and it stayed there for basically all summer giving it the top spot on the Top 69 of 2021(ish).  Another trophy for the mantel of Evanescence.

There you go.  The Top 69 of 2021(ish).  I'm sure you will hear some of these on the Top 69 of 2022 (A full year!) as many will be played hard over the next couple of months.  But what else will be released in 2022 that could jump in and blow us away?  Maybe a band we already know, maybe one that we'll all discover together.  Either way, thank you for another year of rocking with Hard Rock for the Quad Cities.