April 15, 2017 - Ed Sheeran (1)

This has to be one of my favorite countdowns of the year so far. Our Top 10 is all-around looking quite respectable, and we had a pretty good set of debuts, including an early frontrunner for my top songs of the year. We'll get to that later, but I definitely liked this week, even if there were some things I could do without. There might not have been all too much activity, and I am getting a little tired of searching for good Ed Sheeran pictures, but I'm pleased with this. So without further ado, here are the songs leaving us this week.

• Hymn For The Weekend by Coldplay (#42)
• I Got You by Bebe Rexha (#43)
• Scars To Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara (#32)
• Everyday by Ariana Grande featuring Future (#30)
  

The Countdown!
Last Week’s #1 Song: Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran
45. Love On The Brain by Rihanna (#45)
44. Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco (#44)
43. Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj (#41)
42. This Town by Niall Horan (#38)
41. Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (#39)
40. Now Or Never by Halsey (debut)
39. Miss You by James Hersey (#27)
38. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots (#31) (two weeks at #1)
37. Lights Down Low by MAX featuring gnash (#40)
36. Don't Leave by Snakehips featuring MO (#37)
35. Sign Of The Times by Harry Styles (debut)
34. Slide by Calvin Harris featuring Frank Ocean and Migos (debut)
33. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5 (#36) (three weeks at #1)
32. I Don't Wanna Live Forever by Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift (#21)
31. Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers and Coldplay (debut)
30. Water Under The Bridge by Adele (#28)
29. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars (#35)
28. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes (#29) (two weeks at #1) (Stop jumping and leave!!!)
27. L.A. Devotee by Panic! At The Disco (#33)
26. Just Hold On by Steve Aoki featuring Louis Tomlinson (#25)
25. Million Reasons by Lady Gaga (#19)
24. Weak by AJR (#23)
23. Chained To The Rhythm by Katy Perry featuring Skip Marley (#22)
22. All Night by The Vamps featuring Matoma (#34)
21. All Time Low by Jon Bellion (#22)
20. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd (#12) (four weeks at #1)
19. Play That Song by Train (#16)
18. Issues by Julia Michaels (#17)
17. HandClap by Fitz And The Tantrums (#3)
16. Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello (#24) (?!?!?!?!)
15. Believer by Imagine Dragons (#11)
14. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (#6) (eight weeks at #1) (Not a color-coding error.)
13. Cold by Maroon 5 (#9)
12. Rockabye by Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie (#10)
11. Heavydirtysoul by Twenty-one Pilots (#18)
10. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (#16)
9. Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran (#1) (nine weeks at #1) (Oh my...)
8. That's What I Like by Bruno Mars (#2) (Nooooooo :()
7. Mercy by Shawn Mendes (#7)
6. Paris by The Chainsmokers (#14)
5. Heavy by Linkin Park featuring Kiiara (#26)
4. It Ain't Me by Kygo featuring Selena Gomez (#8)
3. Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur (#5)
2. Stay by Zedd featuring Alessia Cara (#4)
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Cake By The Ocean by DNCE (second of four weeks at #1)
1. Castle On The Hill by Ed Sheeran (#1) (first week at #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: HandClap by Fitz And The Tantrums (-14)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Heavy by Linkin Park featuring Kiiara (+21)

New Entrants
- Let's get the least interesting debut out of the way first. I've never been much for Halsey, as my thoughts on New Americana I'm sure I've made no secret. I actually kinda liked Not Afraid Anymore from the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack, and Closer is actually growing on me (more on that later), but Now Or Never isn't doing much for me right about now. I don't really have that much to say about it, but that chorus feels too reminiscent of that of Needed Me by Rihanna, which had her stretching out that titular line and was rather cheesy. But I guess the lyrical content is alright enough, something about a relationship that feels destined to fail while she wants in. But I guess it's alright for now. Eh.

- Then we have the fourth member of One Direction to create a solo work, with Harry Styles. It's no surprise that he'd get his time eventually, seeing as he's usually given the lead when they were doing their thing. His first solo release, Sign Of The Times, has entered. And I have to say that I'm liking this. It feels like it tries to mash together many sounds from the old days, and it does succeed on that front for me. As for the lyrical content, it's about how he wants to not be in despair during difficult times. We've had that plenty of times, but I think he sells it. Although I will say, the original version of this song is really long, almost six minutes, but the radio edit does cut quite a bit of that down. And here's a bit of fun trivia for you: one of the people behind this song, Jeff Bhasker, has done quite a bit of work for other artists such as Rihanna, Kanye West, Ed Sheeran, and Bruno Mars (guess which songs for the latter he worked on). He played quite a bit of work on this one. So yeah, I am liking this right now. But that could change in time. We'll see.

- Following that we've got Calvin Harris, who's back after his two representations from last year, one of which didn't do much at all and one of which I may have liked at first but did not stick with me in the long run (or any of us I think, except Graham). This time, he grabbed an unusual set of partners with Frank Ocean and Migos for a new song named Slide. And this is definitely better than either of his two 2016 releases. His production here does feel smooth and upbeat, and even though the lyrics don't equate out to much beyond basic luxury rap, it's still a fun song for me. So it's surely welcomed here by me, and we'll see if it lasts.

- So, you know how sometimes you expect one thing, but what you get is totally different? When I first heard that The Chainsmokers would be working with Coldplay, I was not exactly looking forward to it, and I knew others weren't, either. Then the song dropped, name of Something Just Like This. First listen I was like, "Ah, this is okay. People are gonna call this another Roses, though." A couple listens later I thought, "Okay, I'm starting to like this more." Soon after, I think I had a frontrunner for my top songs of the year. I've listened to this so much throughout March and it's just been a shining spectacle for me. And as one Coldplay song exits, another enters, and here it is now on the countdown. The lyrical content, described by the duo as "about a love that doesn't need to be superhumanly perfect", is quite sweet, I'd say. And yes, I do understand the drop is virtually identical to that in Roses, as mentioned, but this feels like there's more of a build to it and without the annoying echos that were in it. And really, acts take what's worked best for them and use it all the time. I did talk a little bit about why I'm not opposed to acts ripping themselves off back when 24K Magic debuted, and yeah, that still stands. So while this duo has made some stuff that's worked for me to a degree, none of it just shines as beautifully as this does. And the icing on the cake has to be the final minute of the song where the guitar comes in over the drop. I don't even know what else to say here. Honestly guys, I feel bad even talking about this. I know I'm probably overrating this a bit, but do I care? Not at all. The point I'm trying to get across is, as much as The Chainsmokers have tested my patience in the past, and I wasn't a fan of their album, for me this song is just beautiful in every sense of the word, and is easily my new favorite song on the countdown. With it being in the Top 5 of the Hot 100 and iTunes right now, let's hope that Hits 1 gives it the proper treatment.

I Want Something Just Like Blurbs
- As far as our exits go, I won't exactly be missing Scars To Your Beautiful much, at least not right now. Same with Everyday. Not surprising that one tanked. I Got You was a grower, but I'm not heartbroken to see it flop. Hymn For The Weekend, on the other hand, will be missed by me. I also liked it every week it was here, and no I'm not saying that just because of Adrian. Many YouTubers seem to agree that this was a quality track, too. I considered both the original and the Seeb remix to have their advantages, even if Hits 1 went with the less preferred one. It managed to scrape its way onto the final Top 45, which was pretty pleasing. So yeah, as Adrian said, you will certainly be missed.

- Before introducing Starboy, Spyder talked about how word on the street was that you can buy the house that was used in the music video for the song, which he believed to be a load of blasphemy, unless you have $6.3 million or so. I mean, dude even has a hard time paying taxes at the beginning of the week! Something like that, I don't remember what he said. Anyway, while I do prefer its successor, the song has stuck around alright.

- Of our debuts last week, only one did anything substantial, that being All Night getting right near the Top 20. I do wish Don't Leave had done better than a flimsy jump though.

- Seems like I Don't Wanna Live Forever is falling quickly. This was in the Top 10 two weeks ago and now it's in the bottom third of the countdown.

- So, on the note of 24K Magic, I saw a tweet that if you take the intro and play it backwards, you get something that was sampled on one of the songs on Kendrick Lamar's new album, DAMN., which just released this past Friday. And then I looked up the song on Genius and found out that is indeed the sample. Here's the proof. Honestly, when I first heard the song that intro did come to mind, so that is a clever discovery. Also, it jumping out of the bottom third of the countdown is rather unexpected. Definitely not complaining though.

- How the heck is Treat You Better still in the Top 30, let alone jumping?! Granted it's only one spot but still! Who the heck is still supporting this?! I am sick of still hearing this every day when I'm driving in my car - and god help me, hearing it inside at work, too (where they play a lot of adult contemporary). Just leave and stop polluting my radio.

- One other song making a completely unwelcome return to the Top 20 is Bad Things. This song is just about to leave the Hot 100, so I guess we'll find out how long Hits 1 clings to it even after that.

- Yes, you are reading that right. #14 is not a color-coding error. I have indeed grown into Closer once again. I don't know if it's me feeling obligated, or if it's how my family consider this "a song that speaks to millennials", or what. But it's certainly getting better for me. Maybe it's the fact that it's dying out. It's still not something I would pay money to listen to whenever, or something I'll ever call a better song than Uptown Funk, and I definitely consider their newest release better, but you get the idea.

- Speaking of I Feel It Coming, it's definitely nice to finally see that in the Top 10! But the song has been dying down elsewhere. I mean, I'm not complaining at all while it's here, but I don't think this is going to be long-lived. But I'll take what I can get! Maybe it'll have enough in it to make the final Top 45.

- Before introducing Heavy, Spyder talked about how Chester Bennington of Linkin Park said that music saved his life, in that "if it weren't for music, he'd be dead". Spyder said that while he wouldn't be the same, his life would be pretty crappy if not for that. Same with a lot of us, friends. But my god, this is the third time that this song has had the biggest jump of the week, and two of them have been over 20 spots. Once again, I'm more ambivalent to this song than anything else really, but this is pretty weird, especially for a song that many Linkin Park fans have called a big time sellout. But it'll be pretty funny if it plummets again next week.

- Before introducing It Ain't Me, Spyder mentioned that he's been getting a lot of crap for not watching the new Netflix series, 13 Reasons Why, which Selena  Gomez was one of the executive producers of. I've heard some pretty terrible things about it, though. Anyway, it's no surprise that this is in the Top 5 with how much I heard it throughout the week.

- Finally, our #1. This is quite the unusual thing to see. I'm not complaining at all to see Castle On The Hill at the top, as I still like the song, but it is unusual, especially with how it's been faltering, but it has officially been released as a proper single, so it might stick around. I was surprised to see Shape Of You take that hard of a drop after spending as long at #1 straight as it did. It could end up rebounding back hard there like Hello by Adele did in early 2016, so it could have a shot at making 12 weeks at #1 like that did.

Hit-Bound
Wicked by Mansionz featuring G-Eazy
Kissing Strangers by DNCE (debut)
I Feel So Bad by Kungs featuring Ephemerals
Good Time, Good Life by Erin Bowman
Cake by Flo Rida featuring 99 Percent
Good News by Ocean Park Standoff
Overwhelming by Jon Bellion
Talk Too Much by Coin
Break My Heart by Hey Violet (debut)
Good Life by Kehlani featuring G-Eazy (debut)
American Girls by One Ok Rock
Still Got Time by Zayn featuring PARTYNEXTDOOR (debut)
Sooner Or Later by Aaron Carter
Swalla by Jason Derulo featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj

- Sounds like we've lost Green Light by Lorde, but hopefully it ends up doing what Slide just did and eventually make its way in anyway. Anyway, we had quite a few debuts, some of which have interesting quality to them in some way or another and some of which aren't much.

Top 20 Breakdown:
0 — Shit:
20. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd
19. Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello
18. Play That Song by Train

1 — Bad:
17. Cold by Maroon 5

2 — Meh:
None!

3 — Decent:
16. Issues by Julia Michaels
15. Heavy by Linkin Park featuring Kiiara

4 — Good:
14. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
13. Mercy by Shawn Mendes

5 — Great:
12. HandClap by Fitz And The Tantrums
11. Paris by The Chainsmokers
10. Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran
9. Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur
8. It Ain't Me by Kygo featuring Selena Gomez
7. Stay by Zedd featuring Alessia Cara
6. Believer by Imagine Dragons
5. Heavydirtysoul by Twenty-one Pilots
4. Rockabye by Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie
3. That's What I Like by Bruno Mars
2. Castle On The Hill by Ed Sheeran
1. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk

Overall score: 75/100

Countdown Bottom 5
1. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes
2. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd
3. Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello
4. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5
5. Play That Song by Train

Countdown Top 5 (can I has five more slots please?)
1. Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers and Coldplay
2. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
3. Castle On The Hill by Ed Sheeran
4. That's What I Like by Bruno Mars
5. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars

Hit-Bound Top 5
1. I Feel So Bad by Kungs featuring Ephemerals
2. Swalla by Jason Derulo featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj
3. Sooner Or Later by Aaron Carter
4. Good Life by Kehlani featuring G-Eazy
5. Good Time, Good Life by Erin Bowman

Most Missed Song: Bruises by Train featuring Ashley Monroe - One I actually kind of like, unlike their representation here, and a certain other one I won't name.


Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: 7 Years by Lukas Graham

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Unsteady by X Ambassadors — I pretty much said all that I needed to in the obituary when this departed two weeks ago. Now it's looking like Say You Won't Let Go wants to be to this year what this was to 2016 in having the weirdest tenure humanly possible.

QOTD: Have you listened to Kendrick Lamar's new album DAMN. yet? If so, what are your thoughts? I have, and I've only given it one proper listen but I can say that Kendrick does have some raw firepower. And it's been interesting seeing the responses to it.

Thanks for reading, everybody!