This week... I'd hesitate to call it a great week. We did have more things going on, some decent, some not quite as much. On one hand, we have some good stuff leave the higher ranks for some not as good stuff. On the other hand, at least we had some pretty solid stuff coming in, and other stuff took drops down to where they belong. Even though our #1 is nothing new at this point, but it's still gaining it seems. But let's just get to it! So without further ado, here are the songs leaving us this week.
- You're Not There by Lukas Graham (#45)
- Greenlight by Pitbull featuring LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida (#44)
- Kids by OneRepublic (#43)
The Countdown!
Last Week’s #1 Song: Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran
45. Words by Daya (#31)
44. Unsteady by X Ambassadors (#28)
43. Let Me Love You by DJ Snake with Justin Bieber (#29)
42. After The Afterparty by Charli XCX (#40)
41. Love Me Now by John Legend (#39)
40. Weak by AJR (debut)
39. Guys My Age by Hey Violet (#30)
38. Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (#42)
37. Hymn For The Weekend by Coldplay (#41)
36. Stay by Zedd featuring Alessia Cara (debut)
35. Castle On The Hill by Ed Sheeran (re-entry)
34. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars (#38)
33. Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco (#24)
32. This Town by Niall Horan (#35)
31. The Greatest by Sia featuring Kendrick Lamar (#36)
30. Scars To Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara (#27)
29. Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur (#19)
28. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes (#32)
27. All Time Low by Jon Bellion (#7)
26. Make Me (Cry) by Noah Cyrus featuring Labrinth (#37)
25. Just Hold on by Steve Aoki featuring Louis Tomlinson (#16)
24. Heavydirtysoul by Twenty-one Pilots (#21)
23. Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj (#10)
22. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5 (#26)
21. Love On The Brain by Rihanna (#33)
20. Play That Song by Train (#17)
19. It Ain't Me by Kygo featuring Selena Gomez (#20)
18. Heavy by Linkin Park featuring Kiiara (#34)
17. Issues by Julia Michaels (#23)
16. I Got You by Bebe Rexha (#25)
15. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots (#9)
14. Paris by The Chainsmokers (#14)
13. Cold by Maroon 5 (#15)
12. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (#18)
11. Million Reasons by Lady Gaga (#11)
10. That's What I Like by Bruno Mars (#22)
9. Chained To The Rhythm by Katy Perry featuring Skip Marley (#12)
8. Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello (#5)
7. HandClap by Fitz And The Tantrums (#2)
6. I Don't Wanna Live Forever by Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift (#4)
5. Water Under The Bridge by Adele (#13)
4. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd (#8)
3. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (#3)
2. Mercy by Shawn Mendes (#6)
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Perfect by One Direction (second and final week at #1)
1. Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran (#1) (fourth week at #1)
Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: All Time Low by Jon Bellion (-20)
Biggest Jump Of The Week: Heavy by Linkin Park featuring Kiiara (+16)
New Entrants
- So, AJR are an act who get a lot of hate from certain people in this community whom I won't name for no reason other than what feels like their songs are considered annoying. But at least they're actually trying to be something! Enter Weak. That being said, the synths in the choruses feel like they're literally copy/pasted from Never Be Like You from last year, a song that I ultimately didn't care for in the final picture. As for the lyrical content, it's about how people can only give into peer pressure and not stand up for themselves, from what I'm getting. It's a premise I can certainly relate to. Overall, I don't mind this, but we'll see how long I end up enjoying it.
- So if you can't stand Alessia Cara, too bad, because she has yet another single going for her as she teams up with one Zedd for a new song called Stay. I don't really have a lot to say about this one, the lyrical content is basically what Alessia Cara is known best for. I do like the vocal effects on the chorus as well as the drum hits in the pre-chorus. If I can pick anything I don't exactly like at all, it'd be that humming in the verses and the bridge. That can get annoying. But overall, I like this for right now.
- Then we have a returning entry from Castle On The Hill by Ed Sheeran. Fun fact, this is actually the first re-entry that the countdown has had since In The Night by The Weeknd back in May. Just goes to show that being cut short quick can mean a resurgence. Anyway, song's still as solid as it was from the beginning. I don't know if it's been released as an official single yet, but I'm sure it will eventually. Since his new album Divide just released yesterday, he's about to get more going for him, I'm sure. I haven't given the entire album a listen just yet, but I will eventually. The point is, please stick around for real this time!
All You Have To Do Is Blurb
- So our entire bottom three from last week were purged out. All three of them were songs I enjoyed to a degree and I think deserved better than they got, especially Greenlight.
- We had four bad songs fall right into the bottom five, three of them taking drops that were over ten spots. Poor Love Me Now must not enjoy being thrown in with them. It'd be great if this was actually the end for Unsteady. Maybe it'll just take a gigantic jump back into the Top 10 next week, maybe not. Hopefully we can get another purge down on these four.
- Before introducing 24K Magic, Spyder talked about how Thomas Rhett did a cover of the song at a concert of his recently. For you who don't know who Thomas Rhett is, he's a country star who's gotten some big flack, and his last album, Tangled Up, was pretty terribly received. The thought of that guy trying to say some of the things that Bruno says in the song just makes me laugh at how sterile it'd sound coming from him. To be fair, Spyder also said that Rhett did say the man was a favorite of his. That being said, nice to see it jump out of the Bottom 10. Stay as long as you want to!
- Of course that piece of crap that debuted last week had to take a 10+ spot jump. It hasn't been doing that much elsewhere, so hopefully it'll flop.
- Before introducing Say You Won't Let Go, Spyder talked about how James Arthur recently got back together with his former girlfriend, who was the inspiration for this song. How about that? But that makes this drop out of the Top 20 even worse. I knew that jump from last week was too good to be true.
- When Mikey Piff first discussed Heavy when it debuted on Hit-Bound, he said that there were no guitars at all in it. But is it just me or do I hear guitars there near the end? Anyway, it had the biggest jump of the week, which was odd because I did not hear it much while out over the past few days. As I said last week, it's an unusual collaboration, but right now I don't care if it just sticks around.
- Before introducing Million Reasons, Spyder talked about how Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Mohamed Sanu blames Lady Gaga for their Super Bowl loss because of how long her halftime show went. After supposedly looking some things up, Spyder said that he could lose his man-card for that.
- On the good side, we had three Top 10 entrants, two new ones that I completely welcome there, and one being a re-entrant into the Top 5 that I'm glad is still hanging on despite it flopping elsewhere, which for an Adele song is pretty sad.
- As for Starving jumping back into the Top 5... Why?! I was softening on this a little bit, but now it's virtually impossible for me to not throw it back into the bottom tier.
Hit-Bound
Cake by Flo Rida featuring 99 Percent
Touch by Little Mix
Miss You by James Hersey
L.A. Devotee by Panic! At The Disco
Slide by Calvin Harris with Frank Ocean and Migos (debut)
Believer by Imagine Dragons
Everyday by Ariana Grande featuring Future
All Night by The Vamps featuring Matoma
Talk Too Much by Coin (debut)
Don't Leave by Snakehips featuring MØ
Lights Down Low by MAX featuring gnash
Rockabye by Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anna-Marie
American Girls by One Ok Rock (debut)
Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers and Coldplay
- The Vamps hosted Hit-Bound this week. I only just found out during this round that they're British.
- While Migos aren't the first thing I'd imagine teaming up with Calvin Harris, I'll say that Slide is actually kind of fun, but it's not completely solid. I'll discuss it more if it debuts.
- Since I didn't talk about Everyday last week, I may as well do that now. This song is overall rather messy, and not just because of Future's verse, which Hits 1 actually kept. I genuinely wonder why Future is getting this much overexposure given the last two albums that he surprise dropped. Ariana Grande herself does okay though.
- Talk Too Much sounds kinda like 90's alternative. But hey, I'll take that. It's not something I think I'll remember after this year, though.
- American Girls, on the other hand, feels a bit loud for my liking. It could potentially be a grower, but I don't know.
- I briefly said last week that I liked Something Just Like This, but listening to it in my own time... For an act who has been seriously testing my patience recently, I'm liking this more than I let on with that small blurb. Let's just say I can't wait for this to get big. I'll save my words for this when it debuts.
- We're actually looking pretty good, I'll say. Aside from Lights Down Low (wow I am not making friends with Adrian on that), every song here is at least decent, though of all the blue songs I'd say Cake is the closest to red.
Also, sorry to say that I won't be doing a Top 20 review, because that takes a lot of time and this is already seriously late as is. Sorry.
Countdown Bottom 5
1. Make Me (Cry) by Noah Cyrus featuring Labrinth
2. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5
3. Play That Song by Train
4. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes
5. Unsteady by X Ambassadors
Countdown Top 5
1. Castle On The Hill by Ed Sheeran
2. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
3. Heavydirtysoul by Twenty-one Pilots
4. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars
5. Love Me Now by John Legend
Hit-Bound Top 5
1. Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers and Coldplay
2. Rockabye by Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anna-Marie
3. Don't Leave by Snakehips featuring MØ
4. Touch by Little Mix
5. Believer by Imagine Dragons
Most Missed Song: Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon - It departed from the countdown this week one year ago, exactly right after crossing the milestone of making a full year here.
Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: When We Were Young by Adele
Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
7 Years by Lukas Graham — The way I see it, you're one of two minds with this one: you either think it's a beautiful tribute to Lukas' late father, or a totally conceited ego trip. You can clearly see which side I'm on. I was mad when this failed to hit #1 by the skin of its teeth.
Work by Rihanna featuring Drake — Not helping that was that THIS was one of the songs that blocked it. Yes, I understand that this is apparently supposed to have a deeper meaning to it, but would it have killed her to actually enunciate properly?
New Romantics by Taylor Swift — Honestly, I feel obligated to like Taylor Swift and her 1989 style at this point.
El Taxi by Pitbull featuring Osmani Garcia and Lil Jon — Kinda interesting that Mr. Worldwide scooped up the guy who was on his first proper single in the mid-2000s - which also had a Spanish name - for another song that sadly got nowhere.
QOTD: Are there any songs from Ed Sheeran's Divide that you are hoping become singles? I haven't listened to the full album yet, but I'm sure there are some that will get big.
Thanks for reading, everybody!
Now this was an interesting week. We had a mix of good and bad happening, some of which was very beneficial (at least for me) and some that was disappointing. At least our #1 is good, so I'll make do with that. And our Top 20 had quite a bit of good activity, which is always a plus! So without further ado, here are the songs leaving us this week.
- Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya (#39) (spent three weeks at #1)
- Chase You Down by Runaground (#41)
- In The Name Of Love by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha (#43)
The Countdown!
Last Week’s #1 Song: Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran
45. You're Not There by Lukas Graham (#42)
44. Greenlight by Pitbull featuring LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida (#45)
43. Kids by OneRepublic (#44)
42. Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (#37)
41. Hymn For the Weekend by Coldplay (#38)
40. After the Afterparty by Charli XCX (#15)
39. Love Me Now by John Legend (#29)
38. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars (#27)
37. Make Me (Cry) by Noah Cyrus featuring Labrinth (debut)
36. The Greatest by Sia featuring Kendrick Lamar (#35)
35. This Town by Niall Horan (#36)
34. Heavy by Linkin Park featuring Kiiara (debut)
33. Love On The Brain by Rihanna (#33)
32. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes (#32)
31. Words by Daya (#25)
30. Guys My Age by Hey Violet (#28)
29. Let Me Love You by DJ Snake with Justin Bieber (#31)
28. Unsteady by X Ambassadors (#24)
27. Scars to Your Beautiful (#30)
26. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5 (#17)
25. I Got You by Bebe Rexha (#23)
24. Death of a Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco (#22)
23. Issues by Julia Michaels (#19)
22. That's What I Like by Bruno Mars (#18)
21. Heavydirtysoul by Twenty-one Pilots (#26)
20. It Ain't Me by Kygo featuring Selena Gomez (debut)
19. Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur (+21)
18. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (#14)
17. Play That Song by Train (#20)
16. Just Hold On by Steve Aoki featuring Louis Tomlinson (#13)
15. Cold by Maroon 5 (#34)
14. Paris by The Chainsmokers (#16)
13. Water Under the Bridge by Adele (#7)
12. Chained to the Rhythm by Katy Perry featuring Skip Marley (#21)
11. Million Reasons by Lady Gaga (#10)
10. Side to Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj (#11)
9. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots (#12) (two weeks at #1)
8. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd (#9) (four weeks at #1)
7. All Time Low by Jon Bellion (#5)
6. Mercy by Shawn Mendes (#4)
5. Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello (#8)
4. I Don't Wanna Live Forever by Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift (#6)
3. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (#2) (eight weeks at #1)
2. HandClap by Fitz and The Tantrums (#3)
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Stressed Out by Twenty-one Pilots (second of five weeks at #1)
1. Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran (#1) (third week at #1)
Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: After The Afterparty by Charli XCX (-25) (:D)
Biggest Jump Of The Week: Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur (+21) (Huh...)
New Entrants
- So, what have we heard from Miley Cyrus since 2015 when she hosted the VMAs? Aside from that terribly received album she dropped right after that? How about the fact that she has a younger sister named Noah? And she is not making a good first impression, as we come to Make Me (Cry), which features Labrinth. Not a lot to say about the lyrical content, it's another one about a toxic relationship and we've seen a lot of those. But this production is just crap and feels scrambled more times than one, and let's not forget that dripping noise that replaces the word "cry". Yeah. Everything about this song just blows. It makes me desperately want to apologize to Words, which as I said before I did get a bit exaggerative to early on. (And now I've pissed off a certain user I won't name.) I could go on, but Twitter user T3chJ3t made a page on his blog where he absolutely obliterated the song. Point is, I really hope it leaves soon.
- I bet a lot of you believed we would never hear from Kiiara again after Gold, did you? Well, she's back, with Linkin Park no less, in Heavy. Now, I'm no stranger to Linkin Park, as I've heard plenty of their songs. But they've since ditched the approach to guitars and being metal...or rock, or...whatever they're classified as, I don't know what you call them! (I think that when Rock Band was a thing, that game classified them as Nu-Metal.) But I'm getting ahead of myself. Point is, they rule with synth now. And the lead singer sounds alright here, but he's best off in their older songs where they were more angsty and extreme. Kiiara, on the other hand, actually sounds quite good, better than in Gold at least. But this is definitely an unusual collaboration, and I'm rather torn on this. It might grow on me fully, but we'll see.
- Finally, debuting right in the Top 20, we have more Selena Gomez. She hasn't had much of substance since the singles from Revival, and then We Don't Talk Anymore with Charlie Puth, the latter which I didn't mind as much as quite a few others. But I digress! Enter It Ain't Me featuring Kygo. So, the guitars in the verses are a bit repetitive, and the choppy stuff in the post-chorus is weird, but Selena is pretty emotive here and the lyrics are about a guy who she's left out on his own because she's had enough of his shenanigans, hence "it ain't me". The chorus can feel like a bit much, but overall, this is a track that I am enjoying.
It Ain't Blurbs
- First, we begin with our exits. To start, Don't Let Me Down ended its long-winded run, and In The Name Of Love I'll definitely miss. I really wish the latter had been more of a hit, and sadly it's gonna miss the Year-End Hot 100 for 2017. Lastly, there's Chase You Down, which while I didn't seriously care for it in the final picture, took a brutal exit after being #15 two weeks ago. Dang!
- Before introducing Greenlight, not only did Spyder have mariachi music playing, but he spoke of how Pitbull was filming a video for one of the songs that'll be on his coming album, and he recalls being stuck in traffic because of it. Well, he's Mr. Worldwide, of course he's gonna have them clustered. Dalé!
- Things have gone on in the bottom 10. On one hand, After The Afterparty took a massive drop right down there. Let's hope this rotten mess of a song leaves soon. Also, this is the second week in a row where the biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! has been a song that was at #15. Looks like we're in for an actually active year for a change!
- On the other hand, two of my favorites, Love Me Now and 24K Magic, took drops into the region. In case you can't tell, I'm not thrilled that North America hasn't been as kind to these two as I feel like they should. The former because we hadn't heard much from John Legend for a while and I wished it had done better. As for the latter? While I know that quite a few here are eagerly awaiting its departure, not to mention Bruno Mars does have a follow-up that's doing pretty good for right now, I'm hoping that this isn't the end for it just yet.
- Very pleasing to see Don't Wanna Know fall out of the Top 20. Let's please get it off the countdown!
- Before introducing I Got You, Spyder mentioned that the artist Bebe Rexha wants to collaborate with most is Kanye West. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
- Two of our Top 20 entrants from last week clearly didn't last long there. They're right next to each other, one I don't care about and the other I'm disappointed to see leave the region. You can probably guess them.
- Before introducing Heavydirtysoul, Spyder went through the list of winners for the Hits 1 contest to see Twenty-one Pilots, and he mentioned that Charleston, South Carolina (where one of the winners was from), is his favorite state. Huh. Well it's about midway from where I live to Florida, at least to my recollection. That being said, it's nice to see this jump, but can it do something more?
- So last week, Say You Won't Let Go fell into the bottom 10...then, out of absolutely nowhere, it takes the biggest jump of the week right into the Top 20. I'm not necessarily complaining, but it is pretty odd.
- Before introducing Just Hold On, Spyder talked about how Louis Tomlinson's old girlfriend, Briana Jungwirth, the one who gave birth to his son in early 2016, was apparently part of the cause for his recent girlfriend, Danielle Campbell, splitting. I then Googled some stuff and saw some pics of Louis and his son with Briana, so I guess they're living happily ever after? Okay, maybe not "ever after", but more like "for the time being until more drama ensues and she takes Freddie from him again". That aside, for the song's short time being around it's had some alright staying power.
- Of course Chained To The Rhythm was destined to jump after it debuted last week. Too bad the same didn't ring true on Billboard.
- Before introducing Bad Things, Spyder talked about how Camila Cabello was on the cover of some magazine that I didn't catch the name of, where she spoke of asking Taylor Swift for guy advice. Camila, I hate to break it to you, but I don't think you could've picked a worse person to ask about that. Anyway, I'm not thrilled that it kicked Mercy out of the Top 5...
- ...However, I am totally fine with I Don't Wanna Live Forever making an entrance to the highest part of the region. But could it be on the verge of peaking so soon after Fifty Shades Darker hype is gone?
Okay, just as a warning, this next blurb might get rant-ish. Closer fans, please read at your own risk!
- So... Closer has officially broken the record for weeks in the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, passing How Do I Live by LeAnn Rimes and Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, which had 25. I can't say I'm thrilled about this. And I don't say that entirely because I'm not as huge for the song as most others, I say it because I was never all that much for it and many never liked it at all. What I am saying is that I feel for the people that have loathed Closer since day one and think that every single week it was at #1 was completely undeserved. And now I'm gonna have the Closer fans who still haven't grown back into Uptown Funk saying, "Well, now you know how we felt in 2015 when we were getting Giga Impacted into the ground by Uptown Funk and it was on the verge of breaking the record!" True... To those people, I'll say right now: I hope you got your wish. But you can ask your average YouTube music reviewer, and it's likely that they'll choose the first one. I'm not just saying all of this because Uptown Funk came first, I say it because Closer has been received much worse by a majority of well-known names. Yeah, not all of us are Spectrum Pulse or TheDoubleAgent, and I don't want to piss off the Closer fans any more than I most likely already have, so I'll stop there. At this point, I know it's destined to break the record for weeks in the Top 10. Well, there's not really anything I can do about that, but I'm still not thrilled.
End blurb. Now back to our normal program.
- It would've been pretty ironic to see HandClap hit #1 here the very week that it left the Billboard Hot 100. But I wasn't counting on that, as it's definitely died out elsewhere.
However, because this is so late, I won't be doing Hit-Bound. I will say though, Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers and Coldplay is some pretty cool stuff.
Top 20 Breakdown:
0 — Shit:
20. Play That Song by Train
1 — Bad:
19. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd
18. Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello
2 — Meh:
17. Cold by Maroon 5
16. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
3 — Decent:
None!
4 — Good:
15. Million Reasons by Lady Gaga
14. Mercy by Shawn Mendes
5 — Great:
13. Paris by The Chainsmokers
12. Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj
11. Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur
10. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots
9. HandClap by Fitz And The Tantrums
8. All Time Low by Jon Bellion
7. It Ain't Me by Kygo featuring Selena Gomez
6. I Don't Wanna Live Forever by Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift
5. Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran
4. Water Under The Bridge by Adele
3. Just Hold On by Steve Aoki featuring Louis Tomlinson
2. Chained To The Rhythm by Katy Perry
1. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (Favorite Song Bonus: +1)
Overall score: 80/100
Countdown Bottom 5
1. Make Me (Cry) by Noah Cyrus featuring Labrinth
2. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5
3. After the Afterparty by Charli XCX
4. Play That Song by Train
5. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes
Countdown Top 5
1. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
2. Love Me Now by John Legend
3. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars
4. Heavydirtysoul by Twenty-one Pilots
5. Chained To The Rhythm by Katy Perry featuring Skip Marley
Most Missed Song: Suit And Tie by Justin Timberlake - Seeing him perform at the Oscars actually takes me back to when I watched him first perform this song and how I was caught off-guard big time by his sudden return in 2013.
Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: When We Were Young by Adele
Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago: While there were no debuts, Victorious by Panic! At The Disco did re-enter, and its second tenure was more than twice as long as its first, including one week at #1.
QOTD: Did you have any favorite moments from the Oscars? Or anything that came off as major disappointments? I didn't watch the whole thing (about 2/3 of the way through, I was tired and just wanted to go to bed), but of what I saw, I liked Justin Timberlake's performance, and I saw that of John Legend too. It was also funny seeing the reactions to the mess-up, too.
Also, one last thing I want to talk about: I don't think I'll be doing a Top 30 or 45 countdown songs of the year, unfortunately, unless you guys really want to see it still. But I do still want to do the Year-End Hot 100 piece, that I WILL get out if it's the last thing I do. That said, thanks for reading, everybody!
Well after the disappointment that was last week, things actually got active this time around. I don't know if it was post-Grammys hype that got people voting here, or if they got bored of streaming and decided to jump back onto the bandwagon. Yeah, who needs streaming when you can vote for songs and declare them the real deal, huh?! But I digress. Anyway, we had some surprises, some of which were good, but others not to my welcoming. So without further ado, here are the songs leaving us this week.
- Send My Love (To Your New Lover) by Adele (#44) (spent one week at #1)
- I Hate U, I Love U by gnash featuring Olivia O'Brien (#42)
The Countdown!
Last Week’s #1 Song: Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran
45. Greenlight by Pitbull featuring LunchMoney Lewis and Flo Rida (#43)
44. Kids by OneRepublic (#40)
43. In the Name of Love by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha (#41)
42. You're Not There by Lukas Graham (#36)
41. Chase You Down by Runaground (#15)
40. Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur (#32)
39. Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya (#45) (three weeks at #1)
38. Hymn For the Weekend by Coldplay (#38)
37. Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (#31)
36. This Town by Niall Horan (#14)
35. The Greatest by Sia featuring Kendrick Lamar (#37)
34. Cold by Maroon 5 (debut)
33. Love on the Brain by Rihanna (#39)
32. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes (#28) (two weeks at #1)
31. Let Me Love You by DJ Snake with Justin Bieber (#33)
30. Scars to Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara (#24)
29. Love Me Now by John Legend (#8)
28. Guys My Age by Hey Violet (#30)
27. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars (#25)
26. Heavydirtysoul by Twenty-one Pilots (#26)
25. Words by Daya (#21)
24. Unsteady by X Ambassadors (#20)
23. I Got You by Bebe Rexha (#29)
22. Death of a Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco (#22)
21. Chained to the Rhythm by Katy Perry (debut)
20. Play That Song by Train (#10)
19. Issues by Julia Michaels (#34)
18. That's What I Like by Bruno Mars (#35)
17. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5 (#8) (three weeks at #1)
16. Paris by The Chainsmokers (#13)
15. After The Afterparty by Charli XCX (#19)
14. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (#23)
13. Just Hold On by Steve Aoki featuring Louis Tomlinson (#18)
12. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots (#16) (two weeks at #1)
11. Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj (#27)
10. Million Reasons by Lady Gaga (#17)
9. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd (#12) (four weeks at #1)
8. Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly and Camilla Cabello (#11)
7. Water Under The Bridge by Adele (#5)
6. I Don't Wanna Live Forever by Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift (#7)
5. All Time Low by Jon Bellion (#6)
4. Mercy by Shawn Mendes (#4)
3. HandClap by Fitz And The Tantrums (#3)
2. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (#2) (eight weeks at #1)
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Stressed Out by Twenty-one Pilots (first of 5 weeks at #1)
1. Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran (#1) (second week at #1)
Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Chase You Down by Runaground (-26)
Biggest Jump Of The Week: That's What I Like by Bruno Mars (+17)
New Entrants
- Yay, more Maroon 5, woo-hoo. As Don't Wanna Know continues to test my patience (although it does look like it's dropping quick and I'll get to that later), they're getting to the follow-up, and it isn't much better. To put it short, Cold does not sound like these guys' original sound at all. As for the song itself, the guitar sounds alright, and the verses are your basic Maroon 5 content, I guess it's not terrible in the big picture. But since 2012, many have said that Maroon 5 have started to sound less like a band and now Adam Levine is the only one who does anything anymore. And I definitely see why. And the studio version features Future of all people, and my first thought upon seeing that was "why?". Because if you were to ask me who I could see joining Maroon 5 for a song, Future is one of the LAST names I would picture myself answering that question with. But Hits 1 cut his verse out, unsurprisingly. The bottom line is, the song is nothing special. I do not see myself growing into it and it could very well become red soon.
- So, I'm sure many of you are sick of me talking about Rise by Katy Perry, but I'm just as sick of having to defend my opinion that it was a waste that alternated between very boring verses and one of the most grating choruses of the year. Heck, I even left a page and a half of a follow-up to my A Year In Review page to do that alone. And yet, I was still hoping that she would be able to give us more of the fun, tasteless tracks that were from her first two albums and not more of that. With her return track this year, I got my wish. Enter Chained To The Rhythm. In this, you can clearly hear some disco influences, and Katy Perry sounds quite good. But more importantly, when that chorus kicks in, it's something I can actually get down to and have fun with. The song really has a cool sounding 80's vibe backing it up. And there's a guest verse from Skip Marley, which Hits 1 did not cut out, and I am fine with that because while it's a short verse, it does give more to the song. There's plenty to like here, but although some have flacked the song for being political, I do not see it. And I am not going to get into that here. Point is, this is definitely a step in the right direction for Katy Perry and I hope for more of this. Definitely curious for that album when it comes.
Chained To The Blurbs
- So, two exits. One of which has been loathed by YouTubers but adored by quite a few of the fam, and the other of which I can safely say nobody here likes anymore except me and Miles. It should be easy to see which one is which.
- The entire bottom 5 consists of songs that really weren't big in areas besides here, one of which is new to this region that I'll get to in a bit, one of which I had hopes for, and one of which showed quite a bit of promise only to be squandered.
- Before introducing Say You Won’t Let Go, Spyder talked about how James Arthur had a picture of him wrapped in bandages and that scared his viewers…until he informed them that his nose needed fixing. Ouch! But then Spyder’s British sidekick (whatever you refer to his “funny voice” as) went on about what the picture’s commentary would read. Funny. Anyway, this may be the end for this song. I do still kinda like it, even if it does sound like it takes off of Ed Sheeran’s success.
- The Greatest is starting to fade on me. Sia songs are known for what they are, but this one was not what Chandelier was.
- Before introducing Let Me Love You, Spyder talked about how Justin Bieber, despite being nominated for four Grammys, skipped the show and instead got sushi. Dude, you had the most important song of the year and you skip the biggest music awards show that there is? How uncouth.
- Dang, we had not one or even two, but three drops over 20 spots. First was Chase You Down, which I'm fine with, and This Town, which came sooner than I thought it would. But the third was Love Me Now, which, if you can't tell, I'm not thrilled about. I was really hoping the very latter would become a real hit, and whether it'll be that or not is really in limbo at this point.
- Anyone else notice that that sound during the pre-choruses and bridge of Heavydirtysoul sounds like it's straight-up ripped from Pac-Man? If you've ever played Pac-Man, which I'm sure you have at least once in your life, you'll know what I'm talking about.
- Then we have That's What I Like taking a big jump into the Top 20 off of its debut last week. This one looks like it's gonna become a hit in no time.
- Good thing Don't Wanna Know dropped out of the Top 10. To think that it was #1 two weeks ago. God bless.
- Before introducing I Feel It Coming, Spyder talked about how during the performance of that song at the Grammys, Daft Punk were on stage, but it looked like they didn't do anything besides stand there and look cool. But hey, I enjoyed the performance so I'm not complaining. Nice to see this enter the Top 20, that's a definite plus. And as you can see, it's only getting more enjoyable for me, so great timing.
- Meanwhile, out of absolutely nowhere, Side To Side re-entered the Top 20 and came just short of the Top 10. But I'm not complaining, I'm totally cool with that. brb flexing.
- And on that note, our Top 10 is a mixed bag. We have a new entrant in Million Reasons, which is surely welcomed, but neither of our re-entries into the region are anything for me to get thrilled about, particularly Starving. In fact, the entire Top 5 held their spots save the #5, which is pretty interesting.
- Before introducing Closer, Spyder talked about how it feels like The Chainsmokers always have drama going on and that some were upset that during the Grammys, David Bowie's posthumous award was presented by them. He said, "Don't blame them, blame the producers." Yeah, these guys can't catch a break. But they have this song that nobody thought would be that big a deal, but is now on the verge of passing Uptown Funk and Party Rock Anthem as being declared the most important song of the decade. My goodness this song.
- And of course, we have our #1, which should not come as a surprise to anybody right about now. I think it's safe to say that we have a long-term #1 on our hands.
Hit-Bound
Weak by AJR
Make Me (Cry) by Noah Cyrus featuring Labrinth
Miss You by James Hersey
L.A. Devotee by Panic! At The Disco
Dancing On My Own by Calum Scott
All Night by The Vamps featuring Matoma
Rockabye by Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anna-Marie (debut)
Castle On The Hill by Ed Sheeran
Lights Down Low by MAX featuring gnash
Don't Leave by Snakehips featuring MØ
Heavy by Linkin Park featuring Kiiara (debut)
Cake by Flo Rida featuring 99 Percent
Touch by Little Mix
Believer by Imagine Dragons
- To start, we lost both Versace On The Floor by Bruno Mars and Shout Out To My Ex by Little Mix, the latter for good this time it looks like. I'm sad about both of them departing, but the latter was exchanged with Touch, which I also kinda like. It's not quite as fun, but I'm content with it being here. Sure.
- But then we come to another track that's been building up on other fronts, Rockabye by Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anna-Marie. It did take me a bit to come around to this song, but it's one that's easy to appreciate. I'll talk more about it if it debuts, which I'm sure it will.
- Then we have an unusual duet in the name of Heavy by Linkin Park featuring Kiiara. Who would think we'd hear from her again after that lousy mish-mash that was Gold? But we did, and I'm not really sure what I think of Linkin Park abandoning the rock to them for nothing but synth. I don't really have much of an opinion on it yet, but if I had to say, I'll admit it's closer to green than it is red, at least for the time being.
And while I'm here, let's do a YouTube15 piece, why don't we?
Paris by The Chainsmokers
Now & Later by Sage The Gemini
Work The Middle by Alex Aiono
24K Magic by Bruno Mars
Quit You by Lost Kings featuring Tinashe
Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran
So Good by Zara Larsson featuring Ty Dolla $ign
I Don't Wanna Live Forever by Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift
You Don't Know Me by Jack Jones featuring Raye
Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
Where Would I Bet Without You by Kendall K
Black Beatles by Rae Sremmurd featuring Gucci Mane
Scared To Be Lonely by Martin Garrix and Dua Lipa
Starboy by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
Make Me Move by Culture Code featuring Karra
- Although Sage The Gemini basically comes off as your basic luxury rapper, Now & Later I find to be a lot of fun. Its candy references are silly, but there's a nice flow to it and unlike this guy's lousy first single known as Gas Pedal from 2013 or so, there's some nice energy.
- I'm not really in for Work The Middle. While the verses are okay, what is with that sound in the post-chorus parts? Sounds like the sound of car tires coming to a halt fused with a cat's bad meowing.
- Quit You, on the other hand, I do find to be enjoyable. Even if those thumping drums can get a little annoying at times, the drop is nice enough. And while the song is essentially another song about trying to get past the temptation of a break-up, Tinashe definitely has talent in her capability.
- Although I adored Never Forget You, So Good I found to be a disappointment. What is with her repeating the titular phrase in the chorus ad nauseum? And in the verses she doesn't sound as good either. This sounds like something that would've been bigger in the 2000's. Ty Dolla $ign does alright, however. But it's quite a bit closer to red than it is green.
- Apparently, Kendall K was from Lifetime's Dance Moms, something like that. But Where Would I Be Without You I kinda like, it's sweet and fun.
- And we have more Martin Garrix. While Scared To Be Lonely has different lyrical content than In The Name Of Love, the drop is very similar, but Dua Lipa sounds good here, at least for me.
Top 20 Breakdown:
0 — Shit:
20. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5
19. After The Afterparty by Charli XCX
18. Play That Song by Train
1 — Bad:
17. Starving by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey featuring Zedd
16. Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly and Camilla Cabello
2 — Meh:
15. Issues by Julia Michaels
3 — Decent:
14. Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
4 — Good:
None!
5 — Great:
13. Million Reasons by Lady Gaga
12. Paris by The Chainsmokers
11. Heathens by Twenty-one Pilots
10. HandClap by Fitz And The Tantrums
9. All Time Low by Jon Bellion
8. Mercy by Shawn Mendes
7. Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj
6. Just Hold On by Steve Aoki featuring Louis Tomlinson
5. Water Under The Bridge by Adele
4. I Don't Wanna Live Forever by Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift
3. Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran
2. That's What I Like by Bruno Mars
1. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (Favorite Song Bonus: +1)
Total score: 73/100
Countdown Bottom 5
1. Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5
2. After The Afterparty by Charli XCX
3. Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes
4. Play That Song by Train
5. Unsteady by X Ambassadors
Countdown Top 5
1. I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
2. Love Me Now by John Legend
3. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars
4. Heavydirtysoul by Twenty-one Pilots
5. That's What I Like by Bruno Mars
Hit-Bound Top 5
1. Castle On The Hill by Ed Sheeran
2. Rockabye by Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anna-Marie
3. Don't Leave by MØ
4. Touch by Little Mix
5. Weak by AJR
YouTube15 Top 5
1. Tie: 24K Magic by Bruno Mars
1. Tie: Now & Later by Sage The Gemini (I couldn't choose the above one without picking a tie)
3. Make Me Move by Culture Code featuring Karra
4. Scared To Be Lonely by Martin Garrix and Dua Lipa
5. Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran
Most Missed Song: Lights by Ellie Goulding
#1 Recommendation For Hits 1 And The Countdown: The Fighter by Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood
Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: In The Night by The Weeknd
Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Youth by Troye Sivan — While the video's kinda cute and colorful, you can only hear the words "what if" and "my youth" so many times, not to mention that drop in the chorus, before it gets a little annoying.
QOTD: Touch or Shout Out To My Ex by Little Mix? As I said, I like the latter more right now, but that could change in time.
Thanks for reading, everybody!
