Because on that last Saturday of 2009, someone was. VH1 was. And that was enough.
Here’s a good story built around the countdown—focusing on the emotional and cultural moment of that specific year in music. Title: The Last Night of the Decade
She cringed now, but in July? She’d danced to this in her room with a hairbrush microphone, pretending she wasn’t terrified of starting high school in the fall. 2009 vh1 top 20
Jim Shearer held up a sparkly disco ball. “Your #1 video of 2009!”
The countdown began.
It was the Saturday after Christmas. Snow fell outside, but inside, 16-year-old Mia sat cross-legged on her carpet, a bowl of popcorn in her lap, watching the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown —the year-end special. Host Jim Shearer was hyped, his signature energy bouncing off the screen.
She labeled it with a sharpie:
And it had been okay. 2009 wasn’t perfect. The economy was a mess, her parents argued more than before, and she’d lost touch with her best friend from elementary school. But the music—the VH1 countdown—was a time capsule. Each video a photograph. Each lyric a bookmark in her memory.
