July 30, 2016 - Justin Timberlake (6), plus GUEST DJ spot!

It looks like we're getting stuff going on here for a change. While it wasn't quite as active as I was prepared for it to be, there was one thing about this week that definitely stood out to me. I'll get to that in a bit (actually, the title of this post spoils it), but at least we're getting a lot of good stuff that has potential to succeed on the countdown. And as much as I should complain about our #1 song... Ah, what the heck. Overall, this had good activity and leaves me with a good feeling about what's to come. With that being said, here are the songs leaving us this week.

• Wild Things by Alessia Cara (#37)
• My House by Flo Rida (#38) (spent one week at #1)
• Work by Rihanna featuring Drake (#45) (Good riddance!!!)

The Countdown!
Last Week’s #1 Song: I Took a Pill In Ibiza by Mike Posner
45. Me, Myself and I by G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha (#43)
44. Pillowtalk by Zayn Malik (#35)
43. Hands to Myself by Selena Gomez (#41)
42. Lost Boy by Ruth B. (#44)
41. You Don't Own Me by Grace (#40)
40. 7 Years by Lukas Graham (#39)
39. All About Us by Jordan Fisher (debut)
38. No by Meghan Trainor (#33)
37. Unsteady by X Ambassadors (#42)
36. Lovesick by Jacob Whitesides (debut)
35. Work From Home by Fifth Harmony (#34)
34. Youth by Troye Sivan (#30)
33. Kill 'Em With Kindness by Selena Gomez (#27)
32. Let It Go by James Bay (#36)
31. Body Say by Demi Lovato (debut)
30. Cake By The Ocean by DNCE (#30) (four weeks at #1)
29. History by One Direction (#25)
28. Wherever I Go by OneRepublic (#21)
27. Close by Nick Jonas and Tove Lo (#9)
26. The Sound by The 1975 (I was the guest DJ to introduce this one!)
25. Say by Symon (#29)
24. Missing You by All Time Low (#32)
23. New Romantics by Taylor Swift (#10) (two weeks at #1)
22. Toothbrush by DNCE (#15)
21. One Dance by Drake featuring WizKid and Kyla (#20)
20. Girls Talk Boys by 5 Seconds of Summer (#28)
19. Mama Said by Lukas Graham (#23)
18. Stressed Out by Twenty-one Pilots (#17) (five weeks at #1)
17. Me Too by Meghan Trainor (#22)
16. Figure Me Out by The Summer Set (#24)
15. Don't Mind by Kent Jones (#16)
14. Send My Love (To Your New Lover) by Adele (#19)
13. Once In A While by Timeflies (#14)
12. Victorious by Panic! At The Disco (#11) (one week at #1)
11. This Is What You Came For by Calvin Harris with Rihanna (#8)
10. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes (#18)
9. I Took a Pill In Ibiza by Mike Posner (#1) (two weeks at #1)
8. We Don't Talk Anymore by Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez (#13)
7. Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya (#5)
6. Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande (#7) (Still?)
5. Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul (#3)
4. Just Like Fire by P!nk (#6)
3. Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya (#12) (...)
2. Ride by Twenty-one Pilots (#4) (#1 maybe?)
#1 Song This Week 1 Year Ago: Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon
1. Can't Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake (#2) (six weeks at #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Close by Nick Jonas and Tove Lo (-18)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya (+9) (Really?)

New Entrants
- First up, we've got All About Us by Jordan Fisher. Giving this some more thorough listens, I'm seeing that this guy has some charisma and energy, and the production is alright. I don't see myself remembering this after the year's out, but for now, I'm liking it.

- Then we've got Lovesick by Jacob Whitesides. I laughed at Spyder Harrison's introduction to this song when he found out that Whitesides has ended a relationship of his last June. Guess the song fits his situation appropriately! xD That aside, there are some nice funk elements to the song and we'll see if it fares well here.

- Lastly, we have a returning face in the form of Body Say by Demi Lovato. I'll say right now that this is no Cool For The Summer or Confident, but it's definitely interesting for what it is. I might get sick of it, but it's solid right now.

This Is Not About Us, This Is All About Blurbs
- First up, our exits. Wild Things I didn't think would last, but dropping it does nothing to get rid of the garbage. My House had been here for a while, and thank the high heavens above for Work leaving. It had been doing absolutely nothing for a while and really should've left months ago. About time you left, Work!!! Now I never have to hear you again!! Well, maybe not until December for my year-end retrospectives.

- You know, one of the most common complaints I've heard about Selena Gomez is that she never cares about her music and has no personality or never sounds like she's having any fun. Well, earlier this week, I found out on the news that she posted an Instagram about how the day after her birthday last week (July 22), she felt "extremely unauthentic, unconnected to both herself and her music" and that she "needed to rethink some areas of her life creatively and personally". She claims she was still grateful for what she's gotten to do, but I guess that explains some of the things people always say about her. Heh. That said, I still can't wait for her two solo songs here to leave already.

- At least most of our red songs are taking some drops. And as for the biggest DRRRRRRROP!!!... Yeah, I still don't outright hate that one right now, but I won't be sad to see it off.

- Yes, one of the guest DJs this time around was indeed me. :) Gave the shout out to the head of these bloggers himself, Adrian. Feel like I could've said a little more, but it was still cool. And I got to introduce one of my favorites, The Sound by The 1975, which is pretty exciting. Spyder Harrison, thanks for having me! And to those who want the chance at it, tune in to his Thursday block from 12 to 5. And for those that didn't catch it or couldn't hear it very well, here's a clip that I recorded of it.

- Ever have those moments where a song hypnotizes you into liking it again? Because that's what New Romantics by Taylor Swift did here. This probably won't last long, though. But it's been dominant for the past two months, so that drop was to be expected eventually. Will it spend three more weeks here and last have the 1989 representations as a whole spend a full two year tenure on the countdown? We'll see. Also, I'm really not that surprised she didn't get any VMA nominations.

- I thought that Girls Talk Boys by 5 Seconds of Summer would have jumped more than it did, as I heard it quite a bit over the week.

- Despite being ambivalent to the song at first, after more listens, I've been finding myself unable to hate Mama Said by Lukas Graham. It'll probably get insufferable if it sticks around, but right now it's too funny to hate. That song also had a guest DJ who dedicated that introduction to her mother, how fitting.

- Of course, Me Too by Meghan Trainor had to jump into the Top 20 again. Thought it would jump higher, but mercifully not.

- Something tells me that Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes will make Top 5 and could potentially hit #1. While its sound is cool, its lyrics...eh.

- Dang! I Took a Pill In Ibiza by Mike Posner took a rather big hit from its #1 position last week. And my folks still don't get the whole meaning behind the guy being a "reminder of a pop song people forgot". Guess I know more about stupid music today than they do, haha.

- On a kinda different note, I am SO GRATEFUL that Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul is now #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Part of me wants to put it in purple for that reason alone, although I'm not rejoicing at this very second, because it's not leading in any of the component charts and One Dance supposedly still has that video that Drake would have released long ago if he actually cared. But provided Cheap Thrills continues to hold well, then hopefully Uptown Funk, along with One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey featuring Boyz II Men, won't be in danger of losing their records.

- I knew that Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya was going to jump into the Top 5 because I heard it as "most Wutchuwanted" several times this week. Heaven knows why... Pretty underwhelming biggest jump of the week. Hopefully it won't be in the Top 10 long.

- I'm starting to think that Can't Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake may never get old to me. But of course, now that I just jinxed it, watch me beg it to start dropping next week. In all seriousness, again, I don't mind it still being #1, but a little variety would be nice *cough Ride cough*. Also, four of its six weeks at #1 have been preceded by Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon being the #1 from one year ago. Could it be the spiritual successor to that one? Heh.

Hit-Bound

• All In My Head (Flex) by Fifth Harmony (debut)
• Fresh Eyes by Andy Grammer (debut)
• Wild by Troye Sivan and Alessia Cara
• Spirits by The Strumbellas
• Into You by Ariana Grande (debut)
• Never Be Like You by Flume featuring Kai (debut)
• Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots (debut)
• I'm Not Famous by AJR
• Hymn For The Weekend (Seeb Remix) by Coldplay
• Superstitious by MKTO (debut)
• Rise by Katy Perry
• Back 2 U by Steve Aoki & Boehm featuring Walk The Moon
• Red Dress by MAGIC!
• Brand New by Ben Rector

- So we say goodbye to I Wanna Know by Alesso featuring Nico and Vinz, which I didn't like as much as certain others but still would've been nice to have. But I'm not disappointed at all over losing No Broken Hearts by Bebe Rexha featuring Nicki Minaj or Hello Friday by Flo Rida featuring Jason Derulo, however.

- To start with our debuts, we have All In My Head (Flex) by Fifth Harmony. I'm annoyed that Hits 1 cut Fetty Wap out of the song because I think it's a lot better with him in it. Still, this is infinitely better than the trash that is Work From Home. I'd certainly welcome it on the countdown.

- We also have Fresh Eyes by Andy Grammer, which Nicole from the Mash-Up took literally every opportunity she could to promote the song by playing a clip of the chorus when she came up. It's not that great right now, but hey.

- Then we have the long-awaited arrival of Into You by Ariana Grande. This song is epic in every sense of the word. This is the song this year has needed to deliver some real punch and oomph. Heh... I bet some of you expected me to rave about this one, but I figured I may as well try to keep it short. Still, it's easily the new best song on Hit-Bound. Let's get it on the countdown soon!

- There's also Never Be Like You by Flume featuring Kai. It's another one of those songs with lyrics about trying to show emotional depth (like Sorry by Justin Bieber). And is it just me, or does the beat totally rip off of My Love by Justin Timberlake? Still respectable.

- We also have Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots. To me it's a pretty cool song, but it's not quite as good as Ride, or Stressed Out in the long run. Still, I like its theme.

- MKTO are back with a new track called Superstitious. Even though its name steals from a classic 70's song, it's funky indeed.

Top 20 Breakdown:
0 - Garbage:
20. Me Too by Meghan Trainor

1 - Bad:
19. Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya

2 - Meh:
18. Victorious by Panic! At The Disco

3 - Decent:
17. Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande
16. Don't Mind by Kent Jones
15. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes
14. This Is What You Came For by Calvin Harris with Rihanna
13. Stressed Out by Twenty-one Pilots

4 - Good:
12. Figure Me Out by The Summer Set
11. Mama Said by Lukas Graham

5 - Great:
10. We Don't Talk Anymore by Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez
9. Send My Love (To Your New Lover) by Adele
8. Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya
7. Just Like Fire by P!nk
6. Girls Talk Boys by 5 Seconds of Summer
5. Once In A While by Timeflies
4. Can't Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake
3. Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul
2. I Took a Pill In Ibiza by Mike Posner
1. Ride by Twenty-one Pilots

Overall score: 76/100 - Solid

Countdown Bottom 5
1. Me Too by Meghan Trainor
2. Kill 'Em With Kindness by Selena Gomez
3. No by Meghan Trainor
4. Work From Home by Fifth Harmony
5. Cake By The Ocean by DNCE

Countdown Top 5
1. Ride by Twenty-one Pilots
2. I Took a Pill In Ibiza by Mike Posner
3. The Sound by The 1975 (that guest DJ position upped it a bit, haha)
4. Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul
5. Can't Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake

Hit-Bound Top 5
1. Into You by Ariana Grande
2. Back 2 U by Steve Aoki & Boehm featuring Walk The Moon
3. Spirits by The Strumbellas
4. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots
5. Hymn For The Weekend (Seeb Remix) by Coldplay

Most Missed Song: Don't by Ed Sheeran - Heard it on the mash-up a few days ago JUST before Spyder Harrison's block; still solid.

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Bacon by Nick Jonas featuring Ty Dolla $ign

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Manana by Los 5 - Not a lot I can really say about this song. What is Manana, anyway?
Like I Can by Sam Smith - Here's a song by Sam Smith that definitely deserved to do better than it did. But the fact that it flopped shows that people preferred his slower songs.

So...this wasn't quite as good as I thought it would be, but it was still an interesting week. Not only did we get some decent activity, but one of my favorite songs of the year so far arrived, AND I got to be a guest DJ! Fun stuff. We're not among the golden age yet, but this definitely looks like a step in the right track.

Two more things I want to say before I close this out:
First, I made myself a Twitter that I can use to discuss matters related to Hits 1 and the like. I'm not sure how often I'll use it, but you can follow me at @sctheotter491. I'm not new to Twitter, and I'm not sure how much I'll use this one, but if it's necessary for anything, it's a thing.
Secondly, since my 1,000 pageview special, I have since thought of other ways that I can allow this to expand beyond just talking about the countdown. A handful of these bloggers do things like post their 10 favorite songs by certain acts, album reviews on rare occasions, among other things. And I do want to try to get more variety in my activity. So maybe at least once a month, I'll try to do something that isn't a Weekend Countdown post. It could be my Top 10 songs by a certain act, another retro Year-End Hot 100 post, something like that. And with that, thanks for reading, everybody!