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Fire's Chill Pick - May 2026

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  Hey everyone, it’s Fire back with the monthly Chill Pick article!! And I don’t know about you, but I’m loving the May weather. The sunshine is finally poking through the clouds and illuminating the beautiful fields and flowers—perfect late spring/early summer weather! So what I’m saying is that...it’s butterfly season, and I got the perfect song for it!! Ella Langley f/Miranda Lambert - Butterfly Season Release: April 10, 2026 Genres: Country Pop, Contemporary Country, Soft Rock, Urban Cowboy, Singer-Songwriter Ella Langley’s ascendancy in 2026 has been insane. As I’m writing this, her big hit “Choosin’ Texas” is on track to be the biggest song of the year (at least on the January-December YE aka the only YE I have any faith in anymore). She also dropped her album Dandelion back in April. The album is absolutely great, and this was easily my favorite song on it on first listen. And It’s only gotten better for me over time. This song sounds fantastic, from the bells to the shuffl...
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The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1991

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  The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1991 Hey guys, it’s Fire here and yup—it’s time to count down the top 10 best hit songs of 1991!! So in my worst list, I made it no secret that 1991 was one of the worst years for pop music I’ve ever looked at. But that begs the question: was there ANYTHING that redeemed it? Well, New Jack Swing may have curdled a bit, but we still had great dance-pop hits that were influenced by the New Jack Swing sound. 1991 also saw the breakthroughs of now established mainstream icons and critical darlings—hi Mariah and R.E.M.. Additionally, Paula Abdul was notably huge in the early 90s, inspiring a shit load of ripoffs who generally ranged from good if not spectacular to tolerably forgettable, and I had to imagine that this pushed Paula Abdul herself to remind people of why she was so big in the first place. But honestly looking at the list I managed to compile here, I’m struggling to nail down any particular pattern in my favorite hits of 1991. I mean, there are...
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The Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1991

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  The Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1991 Hey everyone, it’s Fire here and yup, it’s that time again—we’re counting down the top 10 worst hit songs of 1991!! So in my lists for 1990, I made my point that 1990 was one of the worst years for pop music I’ve ever looked at. To directly quote from my worst list for that year, “1990 wound up genuinely being among the worst years of pop music I’ve ever looked at. Literally only 2019 and 2014 have worse averages in my big spreadsheet.” With that, I have two questions: How was 1991 somehow worse ? And once you answer that, my second question is what the fuck were you guys even doing in the early 90s for you to go through back to back awful years for music? Well, I can try answering that myself: the charts were still in transition—rock hadn’t been reshaped by grunge and still was the backwash of 80s hair metal, and there were TONS of sedate, bland, and boring AC ballads. Hip hop may have finally been out of its novelty era, but most of that scen...
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Fire's Chill Pick - April 2026

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  Hi guys!! It’s Fire, back with the monthly Chill Pick article!! Last month we covered the lead single to one of my most anticipated albums of 2026, so let’s continue that pattern! Olivia Rodrigo - drop dead Release: April 17, 2026 Genres: Pop Rock, Synthpop, New Wave, Big Music, Indie Pop, Power Pop Olivia Rodrigo has been one of my favorite artists since she broke through in 2021 as a very honest songwriter who can sound vulnerable and hurt on songs like “drivers license” and then make an angry rock banger like “good 4 u” or “brutal”. Since her breakthrough, her two modes have essentially been ballads or rock. Rodrigo’s rock side tends to get more critical acclaim (and honestly fair, “bad idea, right?” is still my favorite song from her) but at the same time, it feels like it’s been a while since she dropped a ballad. GUTS was very heavily rock with the closest to a ballad being “vampire” or maybe “lacy”. But Rodrigo is set to drop her 3rd album, you seem pretty sad for a girl ...
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The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1990

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  The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1990 Hey guys, it’s Fire here and y’all know what time it is!! Today we’re counting down the top 10 BEST hit songs of 1990!! So as I expressed in my worst list, 1990 turned out to be one of the worst years for pop music I’ve ever looked at. Everything was in transition, meaning that the stuff that filled in the gap in the mainstream was sedate AC ballads and bizarre novelties. Rock was dominated by the backwash of 80s hair metal and glam rock while hip hop was only just starting to take hold in the mainstream, and the first hip hop song to hit #1 was...fucking Vanilla Ice. Both of those genres did have gems, but they were the exception, not the rule. That said, I’d also say 1990 had a signature sound—New Jack Swing. There was forceful New Jack Swing all over the 1990 Hot 100 YE, almost to an overwhelming degree. Thankfully, most of them were pretty good. And there were iconic artists and hits from this year that are still remembered today from the lik...
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