1. Gary Clark Jr., "Ain't Messin' Round

Gary Clark Jr. is a guitarist and singer based in Austin who is typically described as "the future of Texas blues." At his best he resembles his heroes Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. At his worst he sounds more like Lenny Kravitz and John Mayer. The dude has range, that's for damn sure. He starred in the John Sayles movie Honeydripper, guested live with Alicia Keys and Dave Matthews, and has performed at virtually every major music festival. While his vocals are often kind of bland, his guitar playing can be scorching. His latest album, Blak and Blu, is Clark's first major label release, and he has ramped up the soul, rock, and adult-contemporary influences to broaden his audience and appeal. There are those of us who would rather just hear him kill blues solos all day, but you can't blame Clark for wanting to show off his eclectic skills or trying to edge into the audiences for John Mayer and John Legend. He has genuine talent and ambition to burn.

Grade: B

Best YouTube Comment: "saw him play with the rolling stones live on television. dude is killer." — TheSnowMiser111

1. Loreen, "Euphoria"

Swedish singer Loreen is the Eurovision champ forever until the end of time (or at least until next year's competition).
Grade: A
Best YouTube Comment: "Brilliant, brilliant song. The best in years! Single handedly drags Eurovision into the 21st century." — enfermera1971

1. Usher, "Climax"

Usher works his falsetto as he teams up with Diplo, who outfits this post-grown and sexy jam with sad electronic growls. Taking cues from minimal techno and The Weeknd's dark down-tempo R&B, "Climax" is a quiet storm that is less about climaxing, more about edgeplay on a late-night express train to nowhere.
Grade: A
Best YouTube Comment: "whenever I hear this song I look to the nearest person to me and look them in the eyes and whisper 'body roll,' then I body roll like nobody's business." — jmkeo44

When last we hit the country charts it was still summer. Now it's winter, and a whole new crop of country hits have sprung up for us to stew over. The top 10 songs from this week's Billboard Country Chart: