September 24, 2016 - The Chainsmokers + Daya (3)

Well that escalated quickly! Things are definitely brewing up here, some for better, some for worse. But it's nice to see that we might actually get things going and up to speed, and it helps that we got rid of three pieces of trash this week. I can only hope next year will show some progression, but for now let's not worry about that. So without further ado, here are the songs leaving us this week.

• Rise by Katy Perry (#27)
• Hands To Myself by Selena Gomez (#35)
• Kill 'Em With Kindness by Selena Gomez (#45)

The Countdown!
Last Week’s #1 Song: Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya
45. 7 Years by Lukas Graham (#44)
44. No by Meghan Trainor (#43)
43. Victorious by Panic! At The Disco (#38) (one week at #1)
42. Work From Home by Fifth Harmony (#41)
41. Toothbrush by DNCE (#42)
40. Just Like Fire by P!nk (#36)
39. Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande (#33)
38. I Took a Pill In Ibiza by Mike Posner (#31) (two weeks at #1)
37. New Romantics by Taylor Swift (#40) (two weeks at #1)
36. My Way by Calvin Harris (debut)
35. Missing You by All Time Low (#24)
34. Me Too by Meghan Trainor (#29)
33. Mama Said by Lukas Graham (#26)
32. Cake By The Ocean by DNCE (#32) (four weeks at #1)
31. Say by Symon (#25)
30. Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco (debut)
29. Lovesick by Jacob Whitesides (#21)
28. Setting The World On Fire by Kenny Chesney featuring P!nk (#20)
27. Body Say by Demi Lovato (#16)
26. Spirits by The Strumbellas (#17)
25. Let Me Love You by DJ Snake with Justin Bieber (debut)
24. The Sound by The 1975 (#15)
23. Gold by Kiiara (#39)
22. Stressed Out by Twenty-one Pilots (#22) (five weeks at #1) (Not a color-coding error.)
21. I'm Not Famous by AJR (#19)
20. Perfect Illusion by Lady Gaga (#34)
19. Kids by OneRepublic (#30)
18. Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya (#14)
17. Send My Love (To Your New Lover) by Adele (#4) (one week at #1)
16. Never Be Like You by Flume featuring Kai (#23)
15. We Don't Talk Anymore by Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez (#11)
14. Cold Water by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ (#18)
13. Hymn For The Weekend by Coldplay (#10)
12. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd (#37)
11. Girls Talk Boys by 5 Seconds of Summer (#13)
10. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (#12)
9. Unsteady by X Ambassadors (#28) (In before the haters...)
8. Into You by Ariana Grande (#7)
7. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots (#6)
6. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes (#5)
5. This Is What You Came For by Calvin Harris with Rihanna (#8)
4. Can't Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake (#9) (ten weeks at #1)
3. Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul (#3)
2. Ride by Twenty-one Pilots (#2)
#1 Song This Week 1 Year Ago: Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon
1. Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya (#1) (third, NOT FOURTH, week at #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Send My Love (To Your New Lover) by Adele (-13)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd (+25)

New Entrants
- Our first new entry comes from Calvin Harris, with My Way, which from the looks of it sounds like a diss track to Taylor Swift. It's about time someone told her off for a change!!!* But even that aside, this does have some nice tropical production, and while Calvin may not have a diverse set of lyrics, it's nice to see him singing when we rarely get that, like in songs like Feel So Close and Summer. I'll enjoy this while it lasts, but it probably won't stick with me for all that long. Not a bad track for the time being.

- Then we've got more Panic! At The Disco. Death Of A Bachelor isn't new per se, as it briefly charted on the Billboard Hot 100 very early in the year in the wake of the eponymous album, but there's surely stuff to like here. Brendon Urie sells it nicely. But that said, there are things I don't like about it (they're a rock band, do they really need drum machines?). I'll take it for now, though.

- And we have more DJ Snake. As you should know, he was behind my #1 favorite song of last year, with You Know You Like It with AlunaGeorge. Here he grabbed Justin Bieber for a new track with Let Me Love You. Putting aside the fact that we've had a handful of songs with that same name, Bieber himself sings pretty well here, and the production is definitely respectable...and yet I can't quite put my finger on what doesn't quite make it great. At least not yet. I could definitely see this growing on me, but for now I do think it's decent at the least.

* Do not get me wrong, I still fully respect Taylor Swift and her music. I just think it's nice that someone is actually trying to take a stand against her.

You Were The One Blurb In My Way
- Very happy about all three of our exits. Hands To Myself had been here for way longer than it deserved to, and thank god Kill 'Em With Kindness finally left. Spyder acknowledged that it was a bad week for Selena Gomez. :P And Rise... Yeah, no complaints there. I'm still looking forward to more from Katy Perry, but that song was a huge disappointment. Good thing it wasn't with us long at all. Thanks, Hits 1!

- I'm honestly wondering how much longer Victorious by Panic! At The Disco will last. It may not last a full year on the countdown (given the six weeks between when it left and re-entered), but hey.

- Missing You by All Time Low did take a noticeable drop after not doing much for so long. It may not be much longer for us. Not that I'll really care.

- Cake By The Ocean by DNCE has held at #32 for three weeks in a row now.

- All five of the songs in the fourth set of five, except for our new debut, took some big drops into that region. I didn't think Spirits by The Strumbellas would drop out of there so soon, but Body Say by Demi Lovato I've been growing out of.

- I'm not very pleased to see The Sound by The 1975 drop out of the Top 20. Not to mention it left the American Top 40 so suddenly, and that's not good.

- Of course that mash-up of itself would take a big jump. 

- #22 is not a color-coding error. I don't even find Stressed Out by Twenty-one Pilots old anymore. It may be the fact that it's about to leave the Billboard Hot 100 after spending a year there, but it really isn't a song that I can see myself hating. While it's not as good as the two biggest songs from last year, I have no qualms with still liking it at all.

- Cold Water by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ has done nothing but jump since it debuted. It'll probably be Top 10 soon, and I'll be cool with that. I also only just found out yesterday that Major Lazer are American acts, which surprises me because a lot of commonplace EDM acts (i.e. David Guetta, Zedd, DJ Snake, Avicii, Calvin Harris) tend to be foreigners...and that is not helped by the fact that most of the acts that Major Lazer work with are foreigners as well.

- I was not expecting Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd to take such a huge jump on its second week. We'll see if this lasts.

- That big jump for Unsteady by X Ambassadors back into the Top 10 came out of literally nowhere, because I have not heard that song at all this past week. Also, the guest DJ who announced it was from Philadelphia, which I live right near. Go PA representatives! :D

- On that note, this is also the first week that Into You by Ariana Grande has dropped at all since it debuted.

- Before introducing Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots, Spyder Harrison went on a ramble about being a fan of the Miami Dolphins and hating the Denver Broncos because his girlfriend had been a fan of them while she lived there. Something like that. Although it had nothing to do with the song, it was pretty funny. xP

- This Is What You Came For by Calvin Harris with Rihanna is officially annoying. Please start making your way down soon.

- Can Ride by Twenty-one Pilots quit getting blocked at #2 and hit #1 already? :P Yes I know that last week I said it may not be in green much longer, but the song does have meaning behind it.

- Looks like we're finally getting some activity here! Let's hope this momentum keeps up after the very slow summer.

Hit-Bound
Still Falling For You by Ellie Goulding
Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (debut)
Good Grief by Bastille (debut)
The Little Things by Big Gigantic featuring Angela McCluskey
The Greatest by Sia featuring Kendrick Lamar
Red Dress by MAGIC!
I Hate U, I Love U by gnash featuring Olivia O'Brien
Green Light by Pitbull featuring LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida
Kiss The Sky by Jason Derulo
Bacon by Nick Jonas
This Girl by Kungs vs Cookin' On 3 Burners
Fresh Eyes by Andy Grammer
Be As You Are by Mike Posner
Chase You Down by RUNAGROUND (debut)

- It's been quite a while since we've heard from Daft Punk, and here they are with our good friend The Weeknd, with Starboy. It's definitely not as good as Get Lucky, Can't Feel My Face or The Hills, but I have a feeling this song is gonna get huge.

- I doubt many remember Bastille aside from Pompeii, their huge 2014 hit. Good Grief, well, kinda speaks for itself, because I forgot the song almost right after hearing it the first time earlier this week, and I still don't remember it after hearing it today.

- Chase You Down by RUNAGROUND is another one that I actually recognize, as I've heard it on Venus a couple times. When I first heard it, I thought it sounded like something by Robin Schulz, making that one of two songs on Hit-Bound that seem to be taking off his style.

- Red Dress by MAGIC! has been with us for what feels like 3,000 years. I do like the song, but I won't be devastated if it doesn't debut.

Top 20 Breakdown:
0 — Shit:
20. Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya

1 — Bad:
19. This Is What You Came For by Calvin Harris with Rihanna

2 — Meh:
18. Unsteady by X Ambassadors
17. Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya


3 - Decent:
16. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd
15. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes
14. Kids by OneRepublic
13. We Don't Talk Anymore by Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez

4 — Good:
12. Girls Talk Boys by 5 Seconds of Summer
11. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
10. Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul
9. Ride by Twenty-one Pilots
8. Send My Love (To Your New Lover) by Adele
7. Never Be Like You by Flume featuring Kai

5 — Great:
6. Perfect Illusion by Lady Gaga5. Can't Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake
4. Hymn For The Weekend by Coldplay
3. Into You by Ariana Grande
2. Cold Water by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ
1. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots

Overall score: 71/100

Countdown Bottom 5
1. Me Too by Meghan Trainor
2. No by Meghan Trainor
3. Work From Home by Fifth Harmony
4. Toothbrush by DNCE
5. Gold by Kiiara

(Three of my Bottom 5 are in the Bottom 5 of the countdown. How appropriate.)

Countdown Top 5
1. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots
2. The Sound by The 1975
3. Cold Water by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ
4. Into You by Ariana Grande
5. Spirits by The Strumbellas

Hit-Bound Top 5
1. Green Light by Pitbull featuring LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida
2. Kiss The Sky by Jason Derulo
3. This Girl by Kungs vs Cookin' On 3 Burners
4. Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
5. Chase You Down by RUNAGROUND

Most Missed Song: Get Lucky by Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1 And The Countdown: Mercy by Shawn Mendes

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
That's How You Know by Nico and Vinz featuring Bebe Rexha and Kid Ink — Doesn't really feel like there's much going on in this one. Video's funny though, with Nico and Vinz at a psychologist describing a drunken night out.
The Hills by The Weeknd — One of my favorite Billboard Hot 100 #1 songs of the decade. It's too bad that Hits 1 wasn't nicer to it. If I were to remake my 2015 Year-End Hot 100 piece, this would definitely be Top 10.
Let's Love by Echosmith — There's not much to this song, but it's at least fun to some capacity.
On My Mind by Ellie Goulding — Yay for Ellie and Ed writing songs about each other!

Thanks for reading, everybody!