Best Hip Hop Artist of All Time Bracket - Championship

 

And then there were two.  Two of America's most wanted... rappers.  See what I did there? Because the two rappers left had a song called, ok, well, IYKYK.  But peace out to Eminem and Jay-Z.  Both had great runs to make it this far.  Now we left with Snoop and 2Pac to battle it out for hip hop supremacy. They were both top seeds coming into the tournament so it should be no surprise that they are here now fighting for the championship.  Either would be a deserving winner.  I could go on and on about their accolades, but I won't.  I'll just stop here and say time to vote!

Best Hip Hop Artist of All Time Bracket - Final Four

 

The Final Four is set! There's not much to say about the matchups as the top seeds have dominated this bracket and this last round was more of the same.  In fact, none of the results were even that close.  I thought Biggie and Snoop would be more of a toss up, but Snoop advanced quite easily.  So now we are left with Jay-Z vs Snoop Dogg and 2Pac vs Eminem, all four heavyweights in their own right.  Even though Dr. Dre is not in the Final Four, his presence is all over this round as he brought Snoop and Eminem to the mainstream and produced one of 2Pac's biggest albums.  It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.  And now it is time to vote!

Best Hip Hop Artist of All Time Bracket - Elite Eight

 

Well, this has been a bracket devoid of upsets, until now.  The first number 1 seed has fallen as Outkast loses by one vote to Missy Elliott.  And this is how you know that these brackets are not rigged because Outkast is my all time favorite and I can't even fathom how they would lose to anyone, let alone Missy Elliott.  That's not a knock on Missy, but rather a testament to how great how think Outkast is that I didn't think there was any question that they would easily win this bracket.  But, alas, here we are.  And with Outkast losing along with Public Enemy, Wu Tang Clan, Beastie Boys, Run DMC, and A Tribe Called Quest, we are left with all solo artists in the Elite Eight.  That's pretty surprising and sets up some fun rap battles.  With that, it's time to blast your favorite jams and cast your votes!

Best Hip Hop Artist Bracket - Sweet Sixteen

 

There were very nearly some huge upsets in the second round as Nas, LL Cool J, and Wu Tang Clan all snuck through by one vote.  But alas, there are no cinderellas as all four brackets feature the top four seeds.  This is the first time that has happened in any bracket I’ve made.  I don’t know if that’s a testament to my seeding or just a reflection of the greatness of those artists.  Either way, we have some heavyweight matchups moving forward and it’s a shame that some of these acts will have to lose in the next round.  So let’s take a look at the bracket and cast your votes.

Best Hip Hop Artist of All Time - Second Round

 

Round 1 is in the books and there were, surprisingly, very few close results.  Only two matchups were decided by two votes or less, with Cypress Hill edging by Kendrick Lamar and Beastie Boys coming back to sneak by DMX.  Also, there weren’t that many upsets as the higher seeds mostly held their own.  Warren G and MC Hammer advanced as 11 seeds, but they were the lowest seeds to move on.  The matchups get a little tougher in this round so we’ll see who comes out on top!

Best Hip Hop Artist of All Time - First Round

Fifty years ago, the genre of hip hop music was born.  You may have been seeing lots of tributes on various awards shows and news programs throughout the year.  And seeing as hip hop is one of my favorite music genres, I felt it was only fitting to do a tribute in my own way.  I know I usually reserve my brackets for March, but I felt this momentous anniversary deserved its own special bracket.  So I decided to create a bracket to find the greatest hip hop artist of all time.  I’ll admit, though, that this bracket is slightly skewed to my favorites from the 80s and 90s.  I did put in some of my usual data crunching, looking at top 100 hits and placement on other greatest artist lists, but I also made sure that some of my favorites made the cut.  

And now I’m giving you all the chance to vote for your favorites. From Sugarhill Gang to Run DMC to Jay-Z to Drake, I tried to at least represent all eras and both groups and solo artists.  I hope you all enjoy this special fall bracket madness and keep voting through to the end.  Without further adieu, here is the bracket and your chance to vote.

Best One Hit Wonder - Champion

In another close battle, decided by only two votes, the winner of the Best One Hit Wonder Bracket is (drumroll please) Baby Got Back!

Congrats to Sir Mix-a-Lot and all the Baby Got Back fans out there.  It is a worthy winner and a classic song.  I will admit, though, that despite it being a 1-seed I’m surprised that it won.  But that’s why I do these brackets, because there’s always a surprise.  

And speaking of surprises, the race to decide next year’s theme was even closer than the championship match.  Every option got at least one vote, but in the end TV Couples edged out Holiday Movies and Chain Restaurants by one vote.  So check back in next year for the Best TV Couple Bracket!  And just because I love hearing from all of you, drop your favorite TV couple in the box below and maybe they will make the list.

Thank you again to everyone who voted over the past month.  I hope you all have as much fun participating in these brackets as I do making them!

Best One Hit Wonder - Championship

This is what a Final Four is supposed to look like!  Both matchups were decided by fewer than 5 votes, and if you could have seen the voting progression throughout the week you would have seen lots of ties and lead changes.  All four songs held a lead in their matchup at one point throughout the week.  It was two classic back and forth battles.  But, alas, only two are left to fight it out for the title of Best One Hit Wonder!  

So now we are left with Baby Got Back vs Come On Eileen.  80s vs 90s.  Which song will get their one shining moment?  It all comes down to this.  Ok, enough with the dramatic cliches.  Time to vote!  And as I’ve done in the past, I’ve included a bonus question if you want to help determine next year’s theme.  Thank you to all who participated in the voting this year.  I really appreciate it.

Best One Hit Wonder - Final Four

We made it to the Final Four!  And despite the many upsets, two 1-seeds survived and will square off for a chance at the championship.  Take On Me has been one of the most dominant songs in the bracket and ended the Cinderella run of 15-seed Stacy’s Mom.  Baby Got Back has been the other dominant song and took out Tubthumping with relative ease to make it here.  It will be interesting to see where the votes go in this matchup.  

In the other matchup, there is one song that was probably a good sleeper pick from the beginning and one song that I think is a bit of a surprise to see in the Final Four.  Come On Eileen has been a popular song for going on 40 years now, and despite being a 5-seed, I think it’s safe to say that it was a favorite heading into the bracket.  It even took out some other heavyweights in Ice, Ice, Baby and the Macarena to make it here.  I am shocked, however, that I’m Gonna Be is here.  Every week I thought it would lose, and it just kept winning, culminating with a narrow two vote victory over Jump Around to make it to the Final Four.  Does it have what it takes to knock out Come On Eileen?  We’ll find out.

I included the music videos this week in case you need a refresher on these songs before voting.  Enjoy and keep the votes coming!

Best One Hit Wonder Bracket - Elite Eight

This was probably the least suspenseful round of voting, as most matchups were decided by 15 votes or more.  But the results left two 1-seeds out and a 15 seed with a chance to reach the Final Four.  I’m pretty sure this year’s bracket has had the most upsets of any other bracket I’ve done.  Only 2 of the top eight seeds remain and 5 of the remaining 6 songs are a 4-seed or lower.  And in the battle for decade superiority, the 90s have clearly taken the lead with 5 of the remaining songs.  But despite all of this, there are some classics battling for the chance to go to the Final Four.  I’m curious to see how things play out (Get it? Play, because it’s music.  Ok, enough with the bad puns.)

We’ll see if this round has any closer results than the last round, so be sure to cast your votes and share with friends!

Best One Hit Wonder Bracket - Sweet Sixteen

Well, my personal favorite has been eliminated, so if there were ever a question that the bracket was rigged, you should know now that it is not.  I really thought Return of the Mack would go a lot deeper, but I guess most of you don’t revere 90s R&B quite like I do.  I'm also sad to see What is Love get eliminated. The Roxbury guys are one of my favorite SNL skits and I just can't help dance when that song comes on. In any case, the upsets continued in this round as two 15 seeds, a 13 seed, and a 10 seed all advanced.  And once again there were very few close results, with only three matchups decided by 5 votes or less.  This round's biggest blowout belonged to Tubthumping, which knocked down Do You Love Me by 30 votes.

And, now, here we are with 16 songs left.  While the 90s hold the majority of the songs left, I’m excited to see what happens next.  Keep voting for your favorites, and keep rocking out!

Best One Hit Wonder Bracket - Second Round

Just like that the second round is upon us, with 9 double digit seeds advancing, including THREE 15 seeds!  I expected some upsets, but this is wild.  And we are guaranteed at least three double digit seeds to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.  That’s what I call some fun chaos.  

Despite the many upsets, there weren’t really that many close matchups.  Only 5 matchups were decided by 5 votes or less, although three were decided by just one vote.  Everything else was pretty much a runaway, with Baby Got Back having the largest margin of victory.  And some upsets that I expected, or maybe just hoped for, like Just a Friend taking out Tainted Love and Rapper’s Delight besting Mambo No. 5, didn’t materialize.  But that sets up some interesting matchups in the second round as there are lots of songs that won blowouts in the first round facing off against one another.  After this round, I think we’ll get a much clearer picture of who the favorites are.  

So cast your votes, share with friends, and blast those jams!

Best One Hit Wonder March Madness Bracket Reveal and First Round

We’re back with another fun pop culture March Madness bracket!  This year we take our first venture into the world of music and try to determine the best one hit wonder of all time.  I’m already expecting lots of differing opinions on this one as I know musical tastes are wide and varied.  Nevertheless, I did my best to narrow down the large list of all time one hit wonders to a top 64 for purposes of this bracket.  I started with a list of over 200 songs, which made data collection quite painstaking.  I thought about expanding the bracket to 128 this year, but thought that might set a bad precedent that I wouldn’t be able to replicate in future years.  

In order to narrow the list I compiled data on Billboard chart performance, music magazine lists on one hit wonders, and YouTube views.  From there, I ranked each song based on its performance on the various data sets and came up with an average rank which I used to start the seeding process.  Once I had initial seeds, I wanted to make sure the final list had songs that were still culturally relevant and that a majority of people would recognize.  And while the 80s and 90s are heavily represented on the list, I tried to make sure all eras of music were represented.  Therefore, I made some executive decisions to move some songs in and some songs out of the final bracket.  I can’t wait to hear which songs you all think are missing from the list.

I hope you all have fun with this year’s bracket and dance along with the music as you cast your votes.  You can vote below as well as see the entire bracket.  I have also included a Spotify playlist so you can listen to the songs in the bracket.

Best One Hit Wonder Bracket Preview and Honorable Mentions

As March approaches it is almost time for the reveal of this year’s March Madness bracket.  I know you’ve all been waiting with baited breath for a whole year so I thought I would give a little preview of this year’s bracket.  The theme this year is one hit wonders, which I’m sure is polarizing on many levels.  As you might imagine, there have been A LOT of one hit wonders over the years, so narrowing it down to 64 was quite the challenge. The result is that many deserving songs were left on the wrong side of the cut line.  So I’m here today to share some of the honorable mentions that just missed out on making the final bracket.  And if these songs didn’t make it, which songs did?  Come back next week for the full bracket reveal and the chance to vote for your favorites!

Honorable Mentions

Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant

Bitter Sweet Symphony - The Verve

Ring My Bell - Anita Ward

Sex and Candy - Marcy Playground

96 Tears - ? and the Mysterians