November 26, 2016 - The Chainsmokers + Halsey (7)

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! In countdown land, this was basically your typical slow Thanksgiving weekend. But that being said, there was definitely stuff for me to like about this week. Our Top 10 got a good shake-up, and the aftermath of the American Music Awards did allow me to like a handful of old songs more. There was definitely some change going on, particularly in our Top 20. And even if the growing back into things probably won't last for me, I can say that overall this week was progress in the right direction. So without further ado, here are the songs leaving us this week.

• New Romantics by Taylor Swift (#36) (spent two weeks at #1) (!!!!!!!)

The Countdown!
Last Week’s #1 Song: Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
45. Bacon by Nick Jonas (#44)
44. Perfect Illusion by Lady Gaga (#43)
43. We Don't Talk Anymore by Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez (#38)
42. My Way by Calvin Harris (#45)
41. Body Say by Demi Lovato (#39)
40. Girls Talk Boys by 5 Seconds of Summer (#40)
39. Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande (#42)
38. Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul (#32)
37. Stressed Out by Twenty-one Pilots (#35) (five weeks at #1) (Hang in there!!!)
36. This Is What You Came For by Calvin Harris with Rihanna (#37)
35. Send My Love (To Your New Lover) by Adele (#33) (one week at #1)
34. I Took a Pill In Ibiza by Mike Posner (#41) (two weeks at #1)
33. Can't Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake (#31) (ten weeks at #1)
32. Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya (#30) (three weeks at #1)
31. Play That Song by Train (debut)
30. Cold Water by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ (#14)
29. Setting The World On Fire by Kenny Chesney featuring P!nk (#27)
28. Chase You Down by Runaground (#28)
27. I Hate U, I Love U by gnash featuring Olivia O'Brien (#23)
26. The Greatest by Sia featuring Kendrick Lamar (#16)
25. Body Moves by DNCE (#21)
24. That's My Girl by Fifth Harmony (#22)
23. Ride by Twenty-one Pilots (#19)
22. Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj (#18)
21. Hymn For The Weekend by Coldplay (#6) (Ouch!)
20. In The Name Of Love by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha (#34)
19. Unsteady by X Ambassadors (#29) (...)
18. All Time Low by Jon Bellion (#26)
17. This Town by Niall Horan (#13)
16. Greenlight by Pitbull featuring LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida (#24)
15. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5 (#10)
14. Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (#20)
13. Good Grief by Bastille (#17)
12. Into You by Ariana Grande (#9)
11. Kids by OneRepublic (#8)
10. Scars To Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara (#11)
9. Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco (#25)
8. Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya (#7)
7. Fresh Eyes by Andy Grammer (#15)
6. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars (#12)
5. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes (#3) (one week at #1)
4. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd (#2)
3. Let Me Love You by DJ Snake with Justin Bieber (#5)
2. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots (#4) (one week at #1)
Top 5 This Week One Year Ago: 5. Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon
4. Black Magic by Little Mix
3. Ex's and Oh's by Elle King
2. Drag Me Down by One Direction
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Hello by Adele (third of 12 weeks at #1)
1. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (#1) (seventh week at #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Cold Water by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ (-16)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco (+16)

New Entrants
- So, did you know that Train is still making music? Better question: did you care? I sure don't, but they're back after another album from earlier this year, one I haven't heard a lot of big buzz about at all. They are best known for being stiff, whitebread safety adult alternative, most notably the absolutely rotten Hey, Soul Sister from 2010, which I absolutely detest. I'm not gonna go into that right here, but their newest track, Play That Song, is another prime example of such. That guitar just loops for a majority of the song and Pat Monahan's vocals aren't any help. The lyrics are him trying to encourage a DJ to play a song that he and his girl like, apparently. Overall, it's not much and just stiff. It's in blue right now, but that was me being nice. It's not very far from red, so don't be surprised if it turns to red eventually.

Play That Blurb
Alright, everyone. I have a lot to say here, so this may be a long list of blurbs. Get ready.

- As always, we begin with our exit. With New Romantics by Taylor Swift being no more, we have officially bid farewell to the 1989 representations. I thought that Perfect Illusion would leave first, guess not. But it really feels like a long time ago since Shake It Off first debuted in 2014. That song was the first of three so far to spend 12 weeks at #1 here and is one of the biggest songs of the decade. Then you had Blank Space, which was pretty big in late 2014 and then 2015. After that was Style, which remains a big favorite of mine from 2015, then Bad Blood which I didn't enjoy in the long run, Wildest Dreams which I liked a lot (and also debuted the same week that Blank Space left), Out Of The Woods which was decent but not quite as good, and finally, New Romantics here, which flopped everywhere except here. (Oh yeah, and there was Welcome To New York and it lasting one week.) RIP 1989, 8/23/14 - 11/26/16. It's not as insane as Fall Out Boy's three and a half year tenure, but it's still very impressive for one album. While many are probably rejoicing and attending the Taylor Swift be-gone party, I'm not one of them.

- Before introducing We Don't Talk Anymore, Spyder talked about Selena's beautiful speech at the American Music Awards about how she "doesn't need validation", which was considered by many as one of the best moments of the night. It was infuriating seeing comments saying that she's an attention whore for that.

- Our bottom 5 is nothing new, as most of them have been hanging there a while and just waiting for the boot. I was a little surprised that Lady Gaga didn't perform Perfect Illusion at the AMAs, but she did play its successor - more on that later. The other three songs I didn't mention have not done a lot.

- Before introducing Stressed Out, Spyder shared an interview with Twenty-one Pilots from the AMAs where they were asked about what their first big purchase was after they got big. It was a car, and they talked about how when going through the drive-thru at McDonald's, they would have to inch closer to the window to be able to grab the food because of how the car was designed. Something like that. Anyway, as for the song itself, it's four weeks away from lasting a year on the countdown, which I'm still rooting for.

- I do like that I Took a Pill In Ibiza by Mike Posner jumped out of the Bottom 5 and likewise Bottom 10. In a year like this, he's aware of how this year has been, well, sad songs. I seriously won't care if this lasts to the beginning of 2016.

- Well, the biggest drop for Cold Water by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ kinda came out of nowhere if you ask me. It has been there for a while and it may have enough points to make the final Top 45. But we'll see.

- And on that note, this is the first week that Hymn For The Weekend by Coldplay has not been in the Top 20. Adrian is gonna be disappointed there. But it's held up pretty good and should still definitely make the final Top 45.

- There go both The Greatest and Side To Side out of the Top 20. While the former hasn't quite caught up to steam yet, I would like to question why the latter has been having such a floppy run here while it's done so well on other charts.

- While Ride may have left the Top 20 again, it was once again a Most Wutchuwanted stop during Hit-Bound. Do they just decide to spin that and Don't Let Me Down there just because?

- Spyder made a mistake saying that Unsteady went down 10 to #19. It's up 10 to #19. Silly Spyder! But that aside, I get a weird feeling that this song is going to be like My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up) from 2013, and we all remember that nightmare. I HIGHLY doubt this'll have a tenure as long, but this has definitely had by far the weirdest tenure of the year.

- That aside, we have three new entrants to the Top 20, In The Name Of Love by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha, Greenlight by Pitbull featuring LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida and All Time Low by Jon Bellion. The former two are completely welcomed there, and the latter I'm still not totally on board with but I do see the appeal.

- Before introducing Starboy, Spyder talked about how he felt like it'd be fun to be on Dancing With The Stars, even if as just a host. That aside, while this rivaled 24K Magic for my favorite performance at the American Music Awards the past weekend, I've heard mixed things about the album, which just dropped yesterday. But False Alarm is one that should get here soon, because that song just bangs.

- You may have seen that I did grow into Kids by OneRepublic. I'm still not totally a fan of the falsetto in the chorus, but the song's meaning is nice at least. Someone once described it as the "perfect anti-90's kids song".

- Speaking of 24K Magic, that song has finally entered the Top 10 like it deserves to. I know that some will be irritated with this, but I don't care. ;D Before introducing it, Spyder talked about the album and Bruno's upcoming tour and how he mentioned that Perm along with the title track were among his favorites from the album. I think mine would have to be the title track, Chunky and Finesse.

- Oh, and Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco also entered the Top 10, so that's cool too. And while I wasn't expecting Fresh Eyes by Andy Grammer to enter the Top 10, I'll take it. I managed to catch his halftime show performance on Thanksgiving, that was fun.

- I came quite close to putting This Is What You Came For in orange instead of Sit Still, Look Pretty, but the latter has less of a right to be this high up at this point, especially seeing as it just left the Billboard Hot 100 this past week, while the former at least has name recognition going for it. If we can get that and Starving out of the Top 10, things would be looking pretty nice right about now.

- And on that note, American Music Awards, those performances did allow me to grow back into a handful of songs, like Treat You Better, This Town, and yes, even Closer. Even though my reviews may not have been as nice, it did allow me to like them more to some degree. Don't expect these to last too long, though. Also, on that page Adrian said he was shocked that I didn't give any of the performances a 10/10. I was initially going to do my usual 5 point scale, but decided against it for some reason I don't really know. Let this be a note as to why I prefer the 5 point scale nowadays.

- As much as I would've liked for Heathens to be #1 again, I guess I'm alright with Closer holding at the top, because as I did just say, the AMAs performance admittedly did breathe some life into it. But at least it looks like some are starting to dull on it, hehehe.

Hit-Bound
Dancing On My Own by Calum Scott
Million Reasons by Lady Gaga
Love Like We Used To by Captain Cuts
Love Me Now by John Legend
You're Not There by Lukas Graham
Love On The Brain by Rihanna
Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur
Words by Daya
Blow Your Mind (Mwah) by Dua Lipa
She Sets The City On Fire by Gavin DeGraw
Mercy by Shawn Mendes
Water Under The Bridge by Adele
The Night Is Young by The Summer Set
HandClap by Fitz and The Tantrums (debut)

- We've got one new entry into Hit-Bound this week: HandClap by Fitz and The Tantrums. Although this song is ridiculous and loud, I seriously can't help but enjoy it a lot.

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

1 — Bad:
19. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd
18. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5

2 — Meh:
17. Unsteady by X Ambassadors

3 — Decent:
16. All Time Low by Jon Bellion

4 — Good:
15. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes
14. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
13. Kids by OneRepublic
12. Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco

5 — Great:
11. Let Me Love You by DJ Snake with Justin Bieber
10. This Town by Niall Horan
9. Fresh Eyes by Andy Grammer
8. Into You by Ariana Grande
7. Scars To Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara
6. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots
5. Good Grief by Bastille
4. Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
3. Greenlight by Pitbull featuring LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida
2. In The Name Of Love by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha
1. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars

Overall score: 78/100

Countdown Bottom 5
1. Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya
2. This Is What You Came For by Calvin Harris with Rihanna
3. That's My Girl by Fifth Harmony
4. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd
5. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5

Countdown Top 5
1. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars
2. In The Name Of Love by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha
3. Greenlight by Pitbull featuring LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida
4. Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
5. Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj

Hit-Bound Top 5
1. Water Under The Bridge by Adele
2. HandClap by Fitz and The Tantrums
3. The Night Is Young by The Summer Set
4. Love Like We Used To by Captain Cuts
5. Love Me Now by John Legend

Most Missed Song: Here by Alessia Cara

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1 And The Countdown: Chunky by Bruno Mars (Heh, I feel like I could choose half a dozen Bruno Mars songs for this one)

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Stand By You by Rachel Platten — The song's cute, I'll give it that. Even if Rachel Platten still comes off as little more than someone who would fit on your average adult contemporary station, I do like this to some degree.

Thanks for reading, everybody!