January 7, 2017 - Maroon 5 (1)

So here's the first countdown of 2017. To say the least, this may not have been the best week overall, but I guess it works for a starting ground. Let's hope that the year can give us some better music, though. We did get a return from a certain act, but more on that later. So without further ado, here are the songs leaving us this week.

• I Took a Pill In Ibiza (#40) (spent two weeks at #1)
• Girls Talk Boys by 5 Seconds of Summer (#45)
• My Way by Calvin Harris (#44)

The Countdown!
Last Week’s #1 Song: Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd
45. Setting The World On Fire by Kenny Chesney featuring P!nk (#41)
44. Green Light by Pitbull featuring LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida (#21)
43. Fresh Eyes by Andy Grammer (#39)
42. Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya (#42)
41. Body Moves by DNCE (#43)
40. Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul (#38)
39. HandClap by Fitz and The Tantrums (debut)
38. Cold Water by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ (#36)
37. I Hate U, I Love U by gnash featuring Olivia O'Brien (#37)
36. Can't Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake (#35) (ten weeks at #1)
35. You're Not There by Lukas Graham (debut)
34. After the Afterparty by Charli XCX (#22)
33. Good Grief by Bastille (#34)
32. Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya (#33)
31. Send My Love (To Your New Lover) by Adele (#32) (one week at #1)
30. Ride by Twenty-one Pilots (#31) (Not a color-coding error.)
29. Just Hold On by Steve Aoki featuring Louis Tomlinson (#29)
28. Hymn For The Weekend by Coldplay (#24)
27. That's My Girl by Fifth Harmony (#19)
26. Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur (#26)
25. Let Me Love You by DJ Snake with Justin Bieber (#27)
24. Play That Song by Train (#28)
23. I Don't Wanna Live Forever by Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift (#17)
22. Love Me Now by John Legend (#30)
21. Mercy by Shawn Mendes (debut)
20. Into You by Ariana Grande (#25)
19. Kids by OneRepublic (#18)
18. Chase You Down by Runaground (#23)
17. Unsteady by X Ambassadors (#15)
16. All Time Low by Jon Bellion (#16)
15. Million Reasons by Lady Gaga (#20)
14. Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (#5)
13. Water Under The Bridge by Adele (#12)
12. The Greatest by Sia featuring Kendrick Lamar (#7)
11. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes (#10) (two weeks at #1)
10. Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj (#11)
9. Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco (#8)
8. In The Name Of Love by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha (#9)
7. Scars To Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara (#13)
6. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars (#14)
5. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd (#1) (three weeks at #1)
4. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (#2) (eight weeks at #1)
3. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots (#3) (one week at #1)
2. This Town by Niall Horan (#4)
Top 5 This Week One Year Ago: 5. Stitches by Shawn Mendes
4. Ex's and Oh's by Elle King
3. Drag Me Down by One Direction
2. On My Mind by Ellie Goulding
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Hello by Adele (9th of 12 weeks at #1)
1. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5 (#6) (first week at #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Green Light by Pitbull featuring LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida (-23)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Tie between Love Me Now by John Legend and 24K Magic by Bruno Mars (+8)

New Entrants
- First up, we have a song that's been kind of a sleeper hit in recent memory, HandClap by Fitz And The Tantrums. As goofy and loud as this song is all-around, it's a hysterical listen, at least for me. Some may hate it, but I do enjoy it, as silly as it is for a guy in his 40s to be fronting a song that's about, well, trying to make your hands clap. The bass and the trumpets do give the song some energy to it. Yeah, it's dumb, but I do like it right now.

- Then we've got more Lukas Graham. After 7 Years was huge and Mama Said failed to become a real hit, we have You're Not There. This one...from what I'm getting at is another song about how Lukas Forchammer is sad about his father's death and how he wishes he could be there to celebrate his success. Even if the band became big in Denmark before they made a name for themselves here in America (which 7 Years is about), it makes sense what this is about. This one I'm starting to hear elsewhere so we'll see if it becomes a real hit or not.

- Finally, we come to Mercy by Shawn Mendes. After Stitches was at least passable to a degree and Treat You Better got annoying, this is here. This one takes on the matter of trying to have his girl treat him right and not make things hard for him, at least it's what I see. The production is nice, but all in all we'll see how long this sticks with me in the long run.

I Can Make Your Hands Blurb
- Well, to start, our exits begin My Way, which wasn't something worth seriously caring about. Then there was Girls Talk Boys, which many here hated for some reason, yet I actually liked and I didn't really know why. But the most important song to drop out here would be none other than I Took a Pill In Ibiza, which, after so long, has finally departed. A song that has been widely regarded as one of the best songs of 2016 by many, and after everything, it is no more. It was nice to see it at #1 on the countdown, too.

- Before introducing Green Light, Spyder talked about how Pitbull was being paid $1,000,000 by the state of Florida to promote tourism in the state, which said that it made him (not?) feel bad about him having the biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! of the week. As I've said many times, Hits 1 hasn't been kind to Pitbull so I won't be surprised if this leaves. I'm just disappointed it didn't become a real hit, but it'll easily make my top countdown songs of the year.

- Before introducing Fresh Eyes, Spyder mentioned how Andy Grammer said his New Year's Resolution was to cut back on pizza. Spyder was devastated by this. "That's ridiculous. Cutting back on pizza, please..." That being said, I prefer to get my pizza from select places.

- If I liked I Hate U, I Love U, that's over now. And Don't Let Me Down I'm done with too but I will give credit on the YE Hot 100 post. 

- The guest DJ who introduced After The Afterparty I think talked about how she was moving from Florida to Seattle. Spyder commented on how it's colder up there, and he said something else too. Good thing the song dropped. Hopefully it'll leave soon (for my sake and Adrian's).

- #30 is not a color-coding error. Remember how I mentioned being hypnotized into liking New Romantics a while back? Yep, the same thing happened here. I can safely say that Ride will be in my top songs of the year.

- Before introducing Just Hold On, Spyder got teary while talking about how Louis Tomlinson and girlfriend Danielle Campbell had broken up. Poor guy, as if getting restricted from the son that his past girlfriend gave birth to wasn't bad enough, now he's been dumped again. That being said, I do wish this song was doing better than it is.

- I'm not exactly thrilled that Hymn For The Weekend and Play That Song switched spots.

- With I Don't Wanna Live Forever dropping out of the Top 20, it looks like that one won't be gaining until the Fifty Shades Darker hype starts to enter.

- Before introducing Into You, Spyder mentioned how Ariana Grande is going to play a character in the Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius. I don't play Final Fantasy, but that is kinda cool. That aside, don't pay any mind to that bitchy Graham. Jack and I are happy to have you in the Top 20 for as long as you like.

- America, please do not underrate Water Under The Bridge, okay? That song completely deserves to be a hit.

- We did get three pretty welcome re-entries into the Top 10, even if that means Starboy got knocked out of that region.

- At least we got Treat You Better out of the Top 10. Let's get it down and eventually out of here, shall we?

- Then we have our new #1. To say the least, while I can't stand this song, it doesn't surprise me that it's here. It makes more sense as #1 than Starving, I'll say that, but it's still pretty crappy. Seriously, keep Closer at #1 for all I care.

Hit-Bound
Words by Daya
Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran (debut)
Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly and Camilla Cabello
In My Mind by Maty Noyes
Blow Your Mind (Mwah) by Dua Lipa
She Sets The City On Fire by Gavin DeGraw
Lights Down Low by MAX and Gnash (debut)
Love Like We Used To by Captain Cuts
I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (debut)
Dancing On My Own by Calum Scott
Shout Out To My Ex by Little Mix
Love On The Brain by Rihanna
Versace On The Floor by Bruno Mars
Guys My Age by Hey Violet

- So Ed Sheeran is back, and the first of his return singles consists of Shape Of You. To say the least, I do think that Ed Sheeran has a good direction going for him trying something different from just the acoustic guitar. But some of the lyrics are pretty questionable. I'll talk more about it when it debuts next week.

- We also have Lights Down Low by MAX and Gnash, which I'm really not wild about. I can hardly even remember anything from that song, honestly.

- Lastly, we have yet another track with The Weeknd and Daft Punk, name of I Feel It Coming. While I like Starboy, I think this has more going on. Here's to hoping it can be successful.

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

1 — Bad:
None!

2 — Meh:
None!

3 — Decent:
16. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
15. This Town by Niall Horan

4 — Good:
14. Chase You Down by Runaground
13. Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco
12. Million Reasons by Lady Gaga

5 — Great:
11. All Time Low by Jon Bellion
10. Scars To Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara
9. The Greatest by Sia featuring Kendrick Lamar
8. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots
7. Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj
6. Kids by OneRepublic
5. Into You by Ariana Grande
4. Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
3. Water Under The Bridge by Adele
1. Tie: In The Name Of Love by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha
1. Tie: 24K Magic by Bruno Mars

Overall score: 73/100

My Bottom 5 Countdown Picks
1. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes
2. Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya
3. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5
4. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd
5. After The Afterparty by Charli XCX

My Top 5 Countdown Picks
1. Tie: 24K Magic by Bruno Mars
1. Tie: In The Name Of Love by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha
3. Water Under The Bridge by Adele
4. Just Hold On by Steve Aoki featuring Louis Tomlinson
5. Love Me Now by John Legend

My Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
1. Shout Out To My Ex by Little Mix
2. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
3. Love Like We Used To by Captain Cuts
4. In My Mind by Maty Noyes
5. Versace On The Floor by Bruno Mars

Most Missed Song: Hold My Hand by Jess Glynne - A song that this countdown community criminally underrated for what I can only assume was its hanging in the bottom range and refusing to leave. It's pristine, soaring fun and I may be slightly biased coming off of Rather Be, but I still love it today. Shame on you people.

Favorite Countdown Song From This Week One Year Ago: Tie between Black Magic by Little Mix and Something Better by Audien featuring Lady Antebellum

Also, I won't be including recommendations for Hits 1 in every update, just when I think there's something worth talking about that deserves a mention.

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Roses by The Chainsmokers featuring ROZES — Indeed, the bane of Graham's existence. I'll have more words for this soon, but I think the composure here is what I like the most.
Moments by Tove Lo — There's a part of me that wishes this had became a hit, but what's even more unfortunate is that nothing from Lady Wood has caught on at all.

So I'll try to have my top countdown songs of 2016 out soon, as I mentioned. Thanks for reading, everybody!