Adult Contemporary is a chart published by Billboard ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the adult contemporary music (AC) market. In 2004, ten different songs topped the chart in 52 issues of the magazine, based on weekly airplay data from radio stations compiled by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.
In the first issue of Billboard of the new year, the number one song was "Sending You a Little Christmas" by pianist Jim Brickman with vocals by Kristy Starling, which moved into the top spot that week. [1] It spent a single week at number one before being displaced by "Drift Away" by Uncle Kracker featuring Dobie Gray. Having already spent a lengthy run at number one in 2003, the song ultimately achieved a total of 28 weeks in the top spot, a new record for the AC chart. [2] The longest run at number one in 2004 was achieved by "Heaven" by Chicano rock group Los Lonely Boys, [3] which spent ten consecutive weeks atop the chart. The song with the highest total number of weeks at number one, however, was "100 Years" by John Ondrasik, known under the stage name Five for Fighting, [4] which spent twelve non-consecutive weeks in the top spot.
The only act to have more than one number one in 2004 was singer Josh Groban. He first topped the chart for four weeks in March and April with his version of the Secret Garden song "You Raise Me Up", [5] which he had performed at Super Bowl XXXVIII in February, in a special NASA commemoration for the previous year's Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, [6] [7] as well as on a special edition of Oprah Winfrey's TV show. [8] He returned to number one in December with "Believe", taken from the soundtrack of the animated film The Polar Express , [9] which was the final chart-topper of the year. Although "Believe" received a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, [10] was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, [11] and topped the Adult Contemporary chart, it did not enter Billboard's all-genre chart, the Hot 100, at all. [12] None of 2004's AC number ones topped the Hot 100; the top of the all-genre chart was dominated during the year by R&B and hip hop acts such as Usher and Outkast. [13]
Billboard ranked "White Flag" by Dido as the best-performing AC song of 2004, though it never reached the top position. [14] |
Josh Groban is the debut studio album by singer Josh Groban. The track "You're Still You" charted at #10 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, and "To Where You Are" charted at #1 on the same chart. As of October 2015, the album has sold 5.2 million in the U.S.
Closer is the second studio album by vocalist Josh Groban, released in November 2003. Much like his first studio album, half of this album's songs are sung in English, with the remainder sung in various other languages. Closer was the top selling classical album of the 2000s in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
"Angel" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan. The song first appeared on McLachlan's fourth studio album, Surfacing, in 1997. The lyrics are about the death of Jonathan Melvoin (1961–1996), the Smashing Pumpkins' touring keyboard player, from a heroin overdose, as McLachlan explained on VH1 Storytellers. It is sometimes mistitled as "In the Arms of an Angel" or "Arms of the Angel".
"You Raise Me Up" is a song originally composed by the Norwegian-Irish duo Secret Garden. The music was written by Secret Garden's Rolf Løvland, and the lyrics by Brendan Graham. After the song was performed early in 2002 by the Secret Garden and their invited lead singer, Brian Kennedy, the song only became a minor UK hit. The song has been recorded by more than a hundred other artists including American songwriter Josh Groban in 2003 and Irish boy band Westlife in 2005 whose versions were hits in their countries. Welsh singer Aled Jones and all-female Irish ensemble Celtic Woman have also recorded successful covers.
"The Prayer" is a song performed by Canadian singer Celine Dion and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. It was written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager, Alberto Testa and Tony Renis. "The Prayer" was originally recorded in two solo versions for the 1998 film Quest for Camelot, in English by Dion and in Italian by Bocelli. A duet between Dion and Bocelli later appeared on their respective studio albums, These Are Special Times (1998) and Sogno (1999), and was released as a promotional single on 1 March 1999. "The Prayer" won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1999 and a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2000. It received highly positive reviews from music critics and entered adult contemporary charts in Canada and the United States in 1999. In 2008, Dion released a live version of "The Prayer" as a duet with Josh Groban. This music download entered the Canadian Hot 100 at number 37 and the Billboard Hot 100 at number 70.
Noël is a Christmas album and the fourth studio album by Josh Groban that was released on October 9, 2007. In the United States, the album is available as a single CD release in most retail stores. However, Target stores released a limited edition version of the album with a bonus DVD that features a "making of" documentary entitled The Making of Noël.
"The World We Knew " is a popular song recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1967. It is based on a composition by Bert Kaempfert, a German musician and composer.
"Hidden Away" is singer-songwriter Josh Groban's first single for his fifth studio album Illuminations.
Stages is the seventh studio album by American singer Josh Groban. Consisting of songs from Broadway musicals, it was released on April 28, 2015. The album has sold 502,000 copies in the US as of October 2015. Stages received a nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. Stages Live received a nomination in the same category a year later.