Twenty One Pilots was coming and going on the new Alt18 Countdown on Sirius XM.
The duo’s “Saturday” fell off the Alt18 but their “The Outside” took its place, debuting at No. 8. This is the third song off their new album “Scaled and Icy” to make the countdown. “Shy Away” had a run earlier this year.
It’s also good days if you’re a Killers fan. The band dropped a second album, “Pressure Machine,” in less than a year and “Sleepwalker” joined the Alt18 this week. Brandon Flowers and co. lived on the countdown last year and appear ready to take up residency for the rest of 2021.
Dayglow brings the third new new song this week with “Medicine.” Another great song off “Harmony House,” Sloan Struble continues to build on his 2020 success of “Can I See You Tonight.” He had “Close to You” on the countdown earlier this year.
Returning this week are SEB’s “seaside_demo,” along with “Wrecked” by Imagine Dragons and “Stop Making this Hurt” by Bleachers. Of the three, SEB was least likely to jump back in, but also the nicest surprise.
Those six songs knocked off a mix of old and new. We mentioned “Saturday,” and “Welcomes the Pressure” by Sir Sly continues to yo-yo on and off the Alt18. The biggest surprise is Holly Humberstone’s “The Walls are Way to Thin,” which was flirting with No. 1 a couple of weeks ago. Lorde’s run with “Solar Power” may be over, Cannons and “Bad Dream” had been hanging around, and you could easily see Cold War Kids back next week with “What You Say.”
Bastille is back at No. 1 with “Distorted Light Beam,” while Milky Chance jumped to No. 2 with “Colorado.” I like Måneskin’s chances at No. 4, and Saint Motel reached No. 3 with “It’s All Happening.” Arrested Youth’s “Find My Way,” featuring Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, is at No. 11. In some industry synergy, they’re touring with Twenty One Pilots this year.
I’m starting a new thing on the Discord channel where members can vote for their favorite song of the week. This week’s “People’s Champ” is the earworm “I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE.” Vote this week over in the Finding Alt18 Discord (and check out some incredibly cool data on the history of pop music).
Here’s the AltCharts countdown on Spotify.
Alt18 Countdown, 8/28/21
18. Dayglow, Medicine | (new)
17. CHVRCHES, He Said, She Said
16. The Killers, Sleepwalker | (new)
15. SEB, seaside_demo
14. Bleachers, Stop Making This Hurt
13. Glass Animals, Space Ghost Coast to Coast
12. Manchester Orchestra, Telepath
11. Arrested Youth, Find My Own Way
10. Billie Eilish, NDA
9. Vance Joy, Missing Piece
8. Twenty One Pilots, The Outside | (new)
7. Modest Mouse, We Are Between
6. Imagine Dragons, Wrecked
5. Walk the Moon, Can You Handle My Love??
4. Måneskin, I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE
3. Saint Motel, It’s All Happening
1. Bastille, Distorted Light Beam
You can find many of these songs, and other alt-pop hits and classics, on my new Spotify playlist, AltCharts.
See last week’s countdown here.
Weekly Links
I love hearing from you all. Drop a comment or email me at: finding.alt18@gmail.com
Along with this blog, here’s a few channels I update:
- Finding Alt’s weekly playlist on Spotify
- WORK IN PROGRESS: Google Sheet of 2020-21 Alt18 Songs
- SoundCloud
- Follow the updated Pandora playlist.
- Here’s the Alt18 YouTube playlist
- Sign up for the Finding Alt18 newsletter
- Join the Finding Alt18 Discord. We’re just getting started, but I hope it’s a place to talk and share music — and make this site a little better. Open to all. Come share your thoughts on the countdown or anything alt-music related.
- Twitter: @findingalt18
Cheers!
Feedback? Spot a mistake? Get in touch any time at: finding.alt18@gmail.com
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