January 21, 2017 - Hailee Steinfeld + Grey + Zedd (4)

Another week I have mixed feelings about. On one hand, our Top 10 is still pretty messy, including our #1. On the other hand, we got rid of one obnoxious piece of trash and another old song, and replaced them with two very solid debuts. More on that later, but overall this week was definitely a step up from last week. So without further ado, here are the songs leaving us this week.

• Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya (#29) (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
• Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul (#40)

The Countdown!
Last Week’s #1 Song: Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5
45. I Hate U, I Love U by gnash featuring Olivia O'Brien (#41)
44. That's My Girl by Fifth Harmony (#42)
43. Fresh Eyes by Andy Grammer (#45)
42. Greenlight by Pitbull featuring LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida (#44)
41. Body Moves by DNCE (#43)
40. Cold Water by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ (#36)
39. You're Not There by Lukas Graham (#30)
38. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (debut)
37. Send My Love (To Your New Lover) by Adele (#39) (one week at #1)
36. In The Name Of Love by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha (#32)
35. Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur (#28)
34. Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya (#38) (three weeks at #1)
33. Castle On The Hill by Ed Sheeran (debut)
32. Can't Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake (#33) (ten weeks at #1)
31. Ride by Twenty-one Pilots (#35)
30. Let Me Love You by DJ Snake with Justin Bieber (#25)
29. Kids by OneRepublic (#24)
28. Into You by Ariana Grande (#23)
27. Play That Song by Train (#22)
26. After The Afterparty by Charli XCX (#18)
25. Hymn For The Weekend by Coldplay (#26)
24. Just Hold On by Steve Aoki featuring Louis Tomlinson (#27)
23. Unsteady by X Ambassadors (#17)
22. Chase You Down by Runaground (#21)
21. Million Reasons by Lady Gaga (#15)
20. HandClap by Fitz and The Tantrums (#37)
19. Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj (#12)
18. Love Me Now by John Legend (#19)
17. Mercy by Shawn Mendes (#20)
16. Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly and Camilla Cabello (#34)
15. Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran (#32)
14. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars (#6)
13. Water Under The Bridge by Adele (#11)
12. I Don't Wanna Live Forever by Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift (#16)
11. Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco (#13)
10. All Time Low by Jon Bellion (#14)
9. Scars To Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara (#7)
8. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes (#9) (two weeks at #1)
7. Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (#10)
6. This Town by Niall Horan (#5)
5. The Greatest by Sia featuring Kendrick Lamar (#8)
4. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots (#3) (one week at #1)
3. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (#4) (eight weeks at #1)
2. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5 (#1) (two weeks at #1)
Top 5 This Week One Year Ago: 5. Drag Me Down by One Direction
4. Irresistible by Fall Out Boy and Demi Lovato
3. Same Old Love by Selena Gomez
2. Confident by Demi Lovato
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Perfect by One Direction (first of two weeks at #1)
1. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd (#2) (fourth annoying week at #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: You're Not There by Lukas Graham (-9)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly featuring Camilla Cabello (+18) (Why am I not surprised...)

New Entrants
- With Starboy still dominating for as long as it has, you wouldn't think its successor would be dropped so soon, but here it is. Enter I Feel It Coming. This one is not as dark as Starboy was, and is more about The Weeknd wanting to treat a girl nicely after what seems like being scared from a past relationship (if the pre-chorus is any indication). Daft Punk contributes some good vibes to the song, and makes it surprisingly upbeat for a somewhat melancholy premised song. Definitely a new favorite of mine.

- So last week, we had one new song from Ed Sheeran debuting, name of Shape Of You. Alongside it was the song debuting here, Castle On The Hill. I definitely like this more. The guitar that goes throughout the song complements the fast nature well, and then the lyrics are about Ed's experiences and fun times in his days past before nearing the end and seeing what some of those friends are up to now, followed by the line, "But these people raised me". Remember Stressed Out and 7 Years, two songs that were bout growing old and what comes in the future? This is like them, and while I liked them both, I like this more than both of them. If I'm being honest, this is to me the best song I've heard on the radio since 24K Magic, and debuts as my new favorite song on the countdown. Sadly, the song is projected to sink on the Billboard Hot 100 this coming week, so I'm worried that it could potentially flop. Hopefully I'll be wrong.

Castle On The Blurbs
- So we had two exits, but they were both important ones, so let's not waste any time. Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul took its departure, and I enjoyed it for a while but I wasn't quite as infuriated by the overplay as a lot of others here were, and in the end you can say I never outright hated it. But more importantly... As this song came out, rendering the existence of its predecessor to be completely pointless, after being insanely overplayed here on Hits 1 for a song that never even made the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, and so much nonsense with it repeatedly jumping in and out of the Top 10... We can celebrate as Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya has FINALLY left this countdown. Good riddance. You will not be missed in the slightest.

- Our bottom 5 remain the same, but none of them held their spots.

- Before introducing Cold Water, Spyder mentioned how Justin Bieber had went back to the old hairstyle he had when he was first discovered back in 2007, and that he could get away with it because he's Justin Bieber, but warning against us trying it at home.

- I did not think that You're Not There would drop that much. That's too bad though, because I like the song, as well as the stories this band want to tell.

- While I feel like I shouldn't be surprised about the flopping of Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur, now that Ed Sheeran is back, the time for his placeholder might be out. Shame though because I do kind of like the song.

- Play That Song continues to get worse and worse every listen. Good thing it dropped more. Hopefully it can see to its way out soon.

- Before introducing After The Afterparty, Spyder talked about how when Charli XCX was with The Morning Mash-Up, Nicole wanted her to be kicked out after she mentioned how they've done the pancakes, bacon and maple syrup thing. Spyder didn't have a problem with that mention, and neither do I, because bacon makes (almost) everything better. Even though it's still my least favorite song on the countdown (good thing it dropped out of the Top 20), I did think that was pretty funny.

- Unsteady by X Ambassadors has dropped out of the Top 20 once again, hopefully for good this time. It just left the Billboard Hot 100, so let's hope this is the end.

- It was obviously expected that Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran would jump into the Top 20 after its debut last week. And HandClap took a big jump into that region as well.

- We also had Bad Things taking the biggest jump of the week right into the Top 20 also, which I'm not exactly thrilled about. Guess people have really missed Camilla Cabello from Fifth Harmony. Not me.

- I'm not even going to comment on 24K Magic dropping out of the Top 10 once again.

- Or Treat You Better re-entering the Top 10. This better not become the next Sit Still, Look Pretty.

- While I do still like The Greatest, I did not think that it'd be a Top 5 hit. That is pretty strong presence. People must like their Sia.

- Spyder had a funny conversation with the guest DJ who introduced Don't Wanna Know. Dude was from Fort Lauderdale, and Spyder said that maybe he should pick him up from the airport when he returns from New York on Monday night. Then he gave a shout-out to his girlfriend of 5 months, and finding out that he was 31, Spyder suggested him propose on radio because "his biological clock was ticking". He refused, and Spyder said, "Come on, you're being very uncooperative". Although I still loathe Don't Wanna Know, I thought that was funny.

- I will say, I did cry a bit hearing Perfect, the one year ago #1. But in the good way.

Hit-Bound
Dancing On My Own by Calum Scott
That's What I Like by Bruno Mars (debut)
Words by Daya
Guys My Age by Hey Violet
Paris by The Chainsmokers
Heavydirtysoul by Twenty-one Pilots
Don't Leave by Snakehips featuring MØ (debut)
Lights Down Low by MAX featuring gnash
Love On The Brain by Rihanna
Love Like We Used To by Captain Cuts
Versace On The Floor by Bruno Mars
Issues by Julia Michaels
I Got You by Bebe Rexha (debut)

- Twenty-one Pilots hosted Hit-Bound this week.

- More Bruno Mars excites me. Even though That's What I Like isn't a favorite of mine from the 24K Magic album, and it's not as good as Versace On The Floor, it definitely has some fun to me. I still want him to release Chunky or Finesse as real singles, though.

- Then we have another new track, Don't Leave by Snakehips featuring MØ. It's no All My Friends or Final Song, but it's definitely better than Cruel, which debuted Hit-Bound last year but never made the countdown. I guess I like it for now.

- We also have I Got You by Bebe Rexha. This one I'm kinda torn between. Some of it's not bad, but some is annoying. It might grow on me, but right now I'm not totally thrilled here.

- I am seriously so sick of Daya at this point. Words just makes me rage when it comes on here. And no, I don't say that just because of Sit Still, Look Pretty being overplayed. The point I'm trying to get across is, please get off Hit-Bound soon and DO NOT make the countdown.

- Lastly, I only heard 13 songs, and neither In My Mind by Maty Noyes or Shout Out To My Ex by Little Mix was among them, which tells me that at least one of them has left Hit-Bound for good. Hopefully not the latter, because that one is supposed to be officially impacting pop radio very soon.

Top 20 Breakdown:
0 — Shit:
20. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes
19. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd
18. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5

1 — Bad:
17. Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly and Camilla Cabello

2 — Meh:
16. Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco

3 — Decent:
15. Scars To Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara
14. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
13. This Town by Niall Horan

4 — Good:
12. I Don't Wanna Live Forever by Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift
11. Million Reasons by Lady Gaga

5 — Great:
10. Mercy by Shawn Mendes
9. Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
8. HandClap by Fitz And The Tantrums
7. The Greatest by Sia featuring Kendrick Lamar
6. Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj
5. All Time Low by Jon Bellion
4. Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran
3. Water Under The Bridge by Adele
2. Love Me Now by John Legend
1. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars

Overall score: 70/100

Countdown Bottom 5
1. After The Afterparty by Charli XCX
2. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes
3. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd
4. Play That Song by Train
5. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5

Countdown Top 5
1. Castle On The Hill by Ed Sheeran
2. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars
3. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
4. You're Not There by Lukas Graham
5. In The Name Of Love by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha

Hit-Bound Top 5
1. Love Like We Used To by Captain Cuts
2. Heavydirtysoul by Twenty-one Pilots
3. Don't Leave by Snakehips featuring MØ
4. Versace On The Floor by Bruno Mars
5. That's What I Like by Bruno Mars

Most Missed Song: Love Me Again by John Newman

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: When We Were Young by Adele

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Magnets by Disclosure featuring Lorde — While this doesn't quite feel like something Lorde would release on her own, the beat is kinda cool, and the video, while really weird, ends on a rather bizarre but interesting note.
Hold Me Up by Conrad Sewell — It's too bad this song had such a short tenure. This guy really has some vocal presence and the song comes with some fun throwback vibes. Also, fun fact, this guy is the brother of Grace from You Don't Own Me.

Also, I may as well introduce a new feature I'm going to be adding to my blog posts, where I ask a specific question that you guys might be up for answering. It can be music related, or something else but it'll probably be music related. Maybe this'll give a little something to spark some discussion. Anyway...

Question of the Day: Of Ed Sheeran's two new singles, which do you prefer? Given that I have Castle On The Hill in purple, that should give you my answer.

Thanks for reading, everybody!