It was eight years ago today when we learned that Michael Jackson had passed away at age 50. He was arguably the biggest celebrity the world has ever known. He made a profound impact in the music industry, with his career spanning about 45 years. We continue to celebrate his legacy and we still listen to his music, even to this day. Before we get to this week’s countdown, let’s take a moment of silence to honor Michael Jackson.
Now, with that being said, here are the songs leaving us this week.
- Calvin Harris featuring Frank Ocean and Migos – Slide (#36)
- The Vamps featuring Matoma - All Night (#35)
- ONE OK ROCK - American Girls (#41)
- Ocean Park Standoff - Good News (#27)
The Countdown
Last Week’s #1 Song: The Chainsmokers featuring Coldplay - Something Just Like This
45. Niall Horan - This Town (#42)
44. Maroon 5 - Don't Wanna Know (#45) [3 Weeks At #1]
43. Machine Gun Kelly featuring Camila Cabello - Bad Things (#44)
42. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey featuring Zedd - Starving (#43) [4 Weeks At #1]
41. Steve Aoki featuring Louis Tomlinson - Just Hold On (#40)
40. Fitz & The Tantrums - HandClap (#39)
39. Jon Bellion - Overwhelming (DEBUT)
38. Zayn featuring Taylor Swift - I Don't Wanna Live Forever (#37)
37. Erin Bowman - Good Time Good Life (DEBUT)
36. Luis Fonsi featuring Justin Bieber and Daddy Yankee - Despacito (DEBUT)
35. Maroon 5 - Cold (#34)
34. Aaron Carter - Sooner Or Later (#38)
33. Noah Cyrus - Stay Together (DEBUT)
32. Liam Payne - Strip That Down (#26)
31. DNCE - Kissing Strangers (#29)
30. MAX featuring Gnash - Lights Down Low (#30)
29. Hey Violet - Break My Heart (#22)
28. DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber and Chance The Rapper - I'm The One (#33)
27. Sam Hunt - Body Like A Back Road (#32)
26. Shawn Mendes - Mercy (#21)
25. The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey - Closer (#24)
24. Hailee Steinfeld - Most Girls (#28)
23. Harry Styles - Sign Of The Times (#23)
22. AJR - Weak (#15)
21. Train - Play That Song (#25)
20. Selena Gomez - Bad Liar (#20)
19. Jason Derulo featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj - Swalla (#31)
18. Niall Horan - Slow Hands (#18)
17. Miley Cyrus - Malibu (#20)
16. Bruno Mars - That's What I Like (#17) [1 Week At #1]
15. Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You (#14)
14. Halsey - Now Or Never (#16)
13. Panic! At The Disco - L.A. Devotee (#12)
12. The Chainsmokers - Paris (#11) [1 Week At #1]
11. Julia Michaels - Issues (#13)
10. Lady Gaga - The Cure (#8)
9. Linkin Park featuring Kiiara - Heavy (#7)
8. Kygo featuring Selena Gomez - It Ain't Me (#6)
7. James Arthur - Say You Won't Let Go (#9)
6. Charlie Puth - Attention (#10)
5. Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill (#2) [2 Weeks At #1]
4. Zedd featuring Alessia Cara - Stay (#3) [3 Weeks At #1]
3. Imagine Dragons - Believer (#5)
2. Shawn Mendes - There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back (#4) [1 Week At #1]
1. The Chainsmokers featuring Coldplay - Something Just Like This (#1) [3rd Week At #1]
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Mike Posner - I Took A Pill In Ibiza
Biggest DRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Tie between Hey Violet - Break My Heart and AJR - Weak (-7)
Biggest Jump Of The Week: Jason Derulo featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj - Swalla (+12)
New Entrants
- To start off our debuts, we have Jon Bellion who returned not long after All Time Low left the countdown five weeks ago. He has a new single titled Overwhelmeing. I can't really say it's better than the former, but it's still a good listen nonetheless. What this song bascially talks about is that he wants a girl to come and overwhelm him. Now, I don't really think it's the best expression if he wants to try and impress a girl. There have been plenty of songs with worse expressions. Overall, I think it's solid, but I don't see it sticking with me in the long run.
- Our next debut comes from Erin Bowman with Good Time Good Life. I heard this song quite a bit recently on Venus. At first, I wasn't really head over heels on this song, in part because it has some of the rapping. But with time, I've grown to actually like it. Also, part of the song kinda reminds of Right Here, Right Now from Fatboy Slim, especially before she gets to the chorus. Overall, I enjoy this debut more than I should.
- Last year, Hits 1 was late to the party when they debuted One Dance, which was one of the biggest hits of 2016. This year, we have a single that has potential to be the biggest hit of the summer, in the form of Despacito. I definitely like the Latin-based production on this track. The verses from both Bieber & Daddy Yankee are really good. Here's to hoping Hits 1 can be nice to it and have a good tenure.
- Noah Cyrus makes a return on the countdown with her new single Stay Together. Earlier this year, she debuted with Make Me (Cry), which was slammed by many critics and pretty much everyone in the blogging community. Now to say the least, Stay Together is a huge step up from her predecessor. It’s basically about her wanting to be together with her friends for the night. However, I’m not really a fan of her vocals, which keeps me from putting this song in green. Still, I'll take it over it's predecessor any day.
- Our next debut comes from Erin Bowman with Good Time Good Life. I heard this song quite a bit recently on Venus. At first, I wasn't really head over heels on this song, in part because it has some of the rapping. But with time, I've grown to actually like it. Also, part of the song kinda reminds of Right Here, Right Now from Fatboy Slim, especially before she gets to the chorus. Overall, I enjoy this debut more than I should.
- Last year, Hits 1 was late to the party when they debuted One Dance, which was one of the biggest hits of 2016. This year, we have a single that has potential to be the biggest hit of the summer, in the form of Despacito. I definitely like the Latin-based production on this track. The verses from both Bieber & Daddy Yankee are really good. Here's to hoping Hits 1 can be nice to it and have a good tenure.
- Noah Cyrus makes a return on the countdown with her new single Stay Together. Earlier this year, she debuted with Make Me (Cry), which was slammed by many critics and pretty much everyone in the blogging community. Now to say the least, Stay Together is a huge step up from her predecessor. It’s basically about her wanting to be together with her friends for the night. However, I’m not really a fan of her vocals, which keeps me from putting this song in green. Still, I'll take it over it's predecessor any day.
Wouldn’t It Be Nice To Blurb Together For The Night
- First up, let's begin with the exits. I didn't really care that much for All Night. Then, there's American Girls which I did like to some degree, but didn't really stick with me in the big picture. As for the other two exits, I'm shocked that Good News left from a relatively high spot. Slide was starting to lose it steam elsewhere, but it was a huge favorite in the blogging community and I'm sure everyone (including myself) is sad about it's departure.
- Yes, you're reading that right. Hits 1 now plays Strip That Down without Quavo. Apparently since Hits 1 doesn't really like hip-hop in general, they decided to edit out Quavo's verse entirely. Also, before introducing that song, Spyder Harrison mentioned that Liam Payne's new album will be Jedi-inspired. I wonder will it be based on the Star Wars franchise? That would be interesting.
- If I'm correct, this is the smallest Biggest DRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week that we've ever had on the countdown.
- If I'm correct, this is the smallest Biggest DRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week that we've ever had on the countdown.
- So, I read an article on Billboard saying that Bad Liar was Selena Gomez's most acclaimed song yet. But when I read everyone else's reviews on the song, it's actually the exact opposite. Let's be honest here, folks (well, except for a select few who are reading this). There's nothing I like about Bad Liar that is worth listening to.
- Swalla made the well-deserved jump into the Top 20 after doing virtually nothing for the past few weeks. I was almost afraid that it would eventually leave soon, but somehow it managed to gain more airplay this past week. I'm thrilled to see it make a comeback.
- The guest DJ that introduced Paris mentioned that she and her husband have been married for 25 years and not once did they ever got into a fight. How nice!
- While not much has changed in terms of the Top 10, I'm thrilled to see that Something Just Like This is spending its second week in a row at #1, and for the third time overall. This song is a definite contender for My Top 45 songs of 2017 and it's very pleasing to see a song from Coldplay continue to do well, when compared to his previous singles. Here's to hoping it stays that way.
Hit-Bound
- Swalla made the well-deserved jump into the Top 20 after doing virtually nothing for the past few weeks. I was almost afraid that it would eventually leave soon, but somehow it managed to gain more airplay this past week. I'm thrilled to see it make a comeback.
- The guest DJ that introduced Paris mentioned that she and her husband have been married for 25 years and not once did they ever got into a fight. How nice!
- While not much has changed in terms of the Top 10, I'm thrilled to see that Something Just Like This is spending its second week in a row at #1, and for the third time overall. This song is a definite contender for My Top 45 songs of 2017 and it's very pleasing to see a song from Coldplay continue to do well, when compared to his previous singles. Here's to hoping it stays that way.
Hit-Bound
Shawn Hook featuring Vanessa Hudgens - Reminding Me
Fall Out Boy - Champion (DEBUT)
Camila Cabello - Crying In The Club
Calvin Harris featuring Pharrell and Katy Perry - Feels (DEBUT)
Julia Michaels - Uh Huh
Imagine Dragons - Thunder
Ed Sheeran - Galway Girl
Bruno Mars - Versace On The Floor
Paramore - Hard Times
Andy Grammer - Give Love
All Time Low - Good Times
Macklemore featuring Skylar Grey - Glorious
Katy Perry featuring Nicki Minaj - Swish Swish
Carly Rae Jepsen - Cut To The Feeling
- We have two debuts on Hit-Bound this week. The first is Fall Out Boy with their second single titled Champion. This song is a huge step up from the mess that was Young & Menace, which thankfully flopped everywhere. I'll have more words for this when it debuts.
- Second, we have more Calvin Harris, this time he's collaborating with Pharrell and Katy Perry in his new single Feels. We haven't seen much of Pharrell since he released Happy, which was one of the biggest hits of 2014. As for the new single, whether I think this is better than Slide, I don't know yet. But both songs are similar in terms of how they sound. We'll see if this one becomes a hit.
My Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
TIE: 1. Carly Rae Jepsen - Cut To The Feeling
TIE: 1. Ed Sheeran - Galway Girl
3. Katy Perry featuring Nicki Minaj - Swish Swish
4. Calvin Harris featuring Pharrell and Katy Perry - Feels
5. Paramore - Hard Times
Top 20 Review
0 - Awful:
None!
1 - Bad:
20. Selena Gomez - Bad Liar
2 - Mediocre:
19. Julia Michaels - Issues
3 - Decent:
18. James Arthur - Say You Won't Let Go
4 - Good:
17. Halsey - Now Or Never
16. Miley Cyrus - Malibu
15. Linkin Park featuring Kiiara - Heavy
5 - Great:
14. Charlie Puth - Attention
13. Niall Horan - Slow Hands
12. Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You
11. The Chainsmokers - Paris
10. Panic! At The Disco - L.A. Devotee
9. Imagine Dragons - Believer
8. Zedd featuring Alessia Cara - Stay
7. Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill
6. Kygo featuring Selena Gomez - It Ain’t Me
5. Bruno Mars - That’s What I Like
4. Jason Derulo featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj - Swalla
3. Lady Gaga - The Cure
2. Shawn Mendes - There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back
BONUS: 6 - Best Song On The Countdown:
1. The Chainsmokers featuring Coldplay - Something Just Like This
Overall Grade: 89/100 (B+)
Throwback Pick Of The Week: Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Throwback Pick Of The Week: Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Most Missed Countdown Song: Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk
#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Lorde - Perfect Places
Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Mike Posner - I Took A Pill In Ibiza
My Top 5 Picks
1. The Chainsmokers featuring Coldplay - Something Just Like This
2. Luis Fonsi featuring Justin Bieber and Daddy Yankee - Despacito
3. Shawn Mendes - There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back
4. Lady Gaga - The Cure
5. Jason Derulo featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj - Swalla
My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Sam Hunt - Body Like A Back Road
2. Train - Play That Song
3. Maroon 5 - Don’t Wanna Know
4. MAX featuring Gnash - Lights Down Low
5. Maroon 5 - Cold
Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Shawn Mendes - Treat You Better: Even though he uses his instruments well, it was still basically a failed attempt at trying too hard to get a girl. It’s not that hard for me to see why critics were not very fond of this song. It's a good thing he released two better singles after this.
