What's up, guys? I was a little busier than normal this week. So, I was unable to look up the performances from the American Music Awards so I could post a review. I'm hoping to get the post out sooner, but I'm not going to make any promises. You'll just have to be patient with me. As far as this week's countdown went, we had a lot of action. And I mean a WHOLE lot of action going on including some big moves and a round of new songs entering this week. Let's get into reviewing the whole thing! Before we get to this week's fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying good-bye to this week:
- Brown & Gray – Top Down (#40)
- Niall Horan – On The Loose (#42)
- Foster The People – Sit Next To Me (#44)
- DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, and Chance The Rapper – No Brainer (#45)
The Countdown:
Last Week's #1 Song: Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
45. Marshmello featuring Anne-Marie – Friends (#43) [–2]
44. Post Malone – Better Now (#32) [–12]
43. Sabrina Carpenter – Almost Love (#39) [–4]
42. Weezer – Africa (#18) [–24]
41. Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry (#41) [=]
40. NF – Lie (#9) [–31]
39. Calvin Harris featuring Dua Lipa – One Kiss (#36) [–3]
38. Taylor Swift – Delicate (#37) [–1] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
37. Loud Luxury featuring brando – Body (DEBUT)
36. AJR – Burn The House Down (#35) [–1]
35. Bazzi featuring Camila Cabello – Beautiful (Remix) (#35) [=]
34. Zedd featuring Maren Morris and Grey – The Middle (#33) [–1] [Spent 9 Weeks At #1]
33. Walk The Moon – Kamikaze (DEBUT)
32. LSD – Thunderclouds (#26) [–6]
31. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#25) [–6]
30. Kim Petras – Heart To Break (#28) [–2]
29. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (#31) [+2] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
28. Calvin Harris featuring Sam Smith – Promises (DEBUT)
27. Lady Gaga featuring Bradley Cooper – Shallow (DEBUT)
26. Bryce Vine – Drew Barrymore (#24) [–2]
25. The Vamps – Just My Type (#27) [+2]
24. NOTD featuring Bea Miller – I Wanna Know (#30) [+6]
23. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#38) [+15]
22. Silk City featuring Dua Lipa – Electricity (#19) [–3]
21. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes (#22) [+1] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
20. Shawn Mendes – Lost In Japan (#23) [+3]
19. Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B. – Girls Like You (#20) [+1]
18. The Chainsmokers featuring Emily Warren – Side Effects (#11) [–7]
17. George Ezra – Shotgun (#12) [–5]
16. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am (#6) [–10]
15. Ariana Grande – God Is A Woman (#15) [=]
14. Dan + Shay – Tequila (#29) [+15]
13. Selena Gomez – Back To You (#3) [–10]
12. lovelytheband – Broken (#16) [+4]
11. Anne-Marie – 2002 (#17) [+6]
10. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones (#14) [+4] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
9. The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#21) [+12]
8. Imagine Dragons – Natural (#11) [+3]
7. Zedd featuring Elley Duhé – Happy Now (#7) [=]
6. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#8) [+2]
5. Bebe Rexha – I'm A Mess (#13) [+8]
4. Marshemello featuring Bastille – Happier (#4) [=]
3. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#1) [–2] [Spent 6 Weeks At #1]
2. Khalid featuring Normani – Love Lies (#5) [+3]
1. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood (#2) [+1] [3rd Week At #1]
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago:
Ed Sheeran – Galway Girl (2nd of 4 Weeks At #1)
Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week:
NF – Lie (–31)
Biggest Jump Of The Week: Tie between
Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It and
Dan + Shay – Tequila (+15)
New Entrants
- We have a new round of arrivals this week. To start things off, we have
Loud Luxury and
brando with the song titled
Body, which I heard on Venus quite a few times. There are quite a few things that I do like, such as the production. However I do find
brando's voice to be a little underwhelming. But for some reason when we get to the chorus, I can't help but pull myself in. While I have a mixed opinion about the song, there's just something about it that makes me kinda-sorta like it. Yeah, this is probably one of the few guilty pleasures of mine at this moment.
- After
One Foot, we get the next single from
Walk The Moon titled
Kamikaze, from their album
What If Nothing. The intro to the songs basically resembles
Happy Now. When I first heard it, I knew it would turn out to be a good song. Sure, it's not as good as its predecessor, but it's still enjoyable to some degree. The vocals and the chorus here is on point for most of the song. I love the production. These guys have proven that they don't disappoint when it comes to their music. I first heard
Shut Up And Dance back when it was huge and it was phenomenal. I'm glad
Walk The Moon are still around to make good music. Overall, it's enjoyable.
- With
One Kiss likely on its last legs, we have
Calvin Harris with his new single titled
Promises, which features
Sam Smith. Personally, I think
One Kiss is the better song of the two he's released this year. Though if I'm being honest,
Promises is still a good song in and of itself.
Sam Smith is mostly the type of artists who often does ballads such as
Stay With Me and
Too Good At Goodbyes. But he has been featured in some songs done by EDM artists, such as
Disclosure who collaborated with him in
Latch. That one I thought was pretty good. I can say the same for
Promises. I do like
Sam's voice in the song. He doesn't particularly shine, but he does a nice job with the chorus.
Calvin does well with the production. I like that he's trying something new and I'm glad it's working for him so far. Overall, it's an enjoyable song.
- Finally, we get a single from
A Star Is Born movie soundtrack.
Lady Gaga collaborates with the star of the movie
Bradley Cooper in
Shallow. Although I haven't really listened to the soundtrack in its entirety, it does have some good songs, including this one and the one made a re-entry to Hit-Bound. But we'll get to that later. Now, I'll say that
Lady Gaga is the one who mostly impresses me with her music. I like how her voice sounds in this one, which is a slow ballad.
Bradley doesn't sound bad for an actor. He's proven to have a good voice in the song. I like the lyrics, and the production is nicely done. So yeah, I definitely love this collaboration and I would like to see it do well.
Best Debut Of The Week:
Lady Gaga featuring Bradley Cooper – Shallow
Un-Break My Blurbs
- We'll start with our exits. To begin,
No Brainer was getting less interesting. Thus I don't have any complains about it leaving. I kinda grew out of
Sit Next To Me a while ago.
Top Down I thought was good, but it was underrated. Finally, we lost
On The Loose. And because of that, this is the first countdown in two years that we don't have a solo song from any
One Direction member. Talk about a good run for these guys.
- So earlier this week,
Ariana Grande and Pete Davison decided to break up. I guess that means that we won't be able to see
Ariana in her wedding dress anytime soon.
-
NF – Lie had probably the biggest drop of the year so far tanking from the Top 10 all the way down to near the bottom 5. Wow. I definitely did not see it coming. I guess the voters decided that two weeks in the Top 10 was too much.
- After a few weeks of dropping,
Hey Look Ma, I Made It finally makes a big move up in the Top 30. It's nice to see the song finally gain momentum on this countdown. I knew Hits 1 wasn't going to let this song leave us so soon.
- And then, we get a big jump from
Tequila as well. It almost seemed like the song's decline was short-lived. Now the real question is, I wonder how long will that resurgence last?
-
This Feeling entered the Top 10 much faster than
Side Effects did. Definitely thrilled about this. Though I'm not exactly sure how long it'll stay in that region, but I'm grateful for its early run so far.
- Blech.
I'm A Mess has entered the Top 5 just to annoy me. Just great. I have a bad feeling that the song is going to be here to stay for a long while much like its predecessor. I never thought it would come to this, but songs like
High Hopes need to stay higher for as long as possible.
-On that note,
Youngblood is back at #1 this week. A part of me is relieved to see a song from
Panic! At The Disco not hold the #1 spot this week. But at the same time, I hoping
High Hopes and
Youngblood can stay at the top 3 for as long as possible to keeps songs like
Happier and
I'm A Mess from hitting #1 until we get some better songs in the Top 5.
Hit-Bound:
- Halsey – Without Me
- Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly (DEBUT)
- Pitbull featuring Theron Theron – Free Free Free
- David Guetta featuring Anne-Marie – Don't Leave Me Alone (DEBUT)
- Shawn Mendes – Nervous
- Camila Cabello – Consequences (DEBUT)
- Benny Blanco featuring Halsey and Khalid – Eastside
- Lauv featuring Julia Michaels – There's No Way (DEBUT)
- Ariana Grande – Breathin'
- TWENTY ØNE PILØTS – My Blood
- Tiesto & Dzeko featuring Preme and Post Malone – Jackie Chan
- Alex Aiono – Big Mistake
- The Struts featuring Kesha – Body Talks
- Jason Derulo & David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj and Willy William – Goodbye
- Lady Gaga – I'll Never Love Again (RE–ENTRY)
Entrant Reviews:
- It's nice to see that
I'll Never Love Again has re-entered Hit-Bound. Hopefully, we'll see it debut on the countdown soon.
- We have four new songs entering Hit-Bound this week. First, there's
Alec Benjamin with
Let Me Down Slowly. I don't really have too much to say about this one. I'll say that the song is nothing special. Although the production is pretty decent, I find his voice to be underwhelming and a little childish. So yeah, I'm not much of a fan of the song.
- Next, we have
David Guetta who is collaborating with
Anne-Marie in
Don't Leave Me Alone. Much like with
Body, it was on Venus when I first heard it and I've listened to it quite a few times. It's a lot better than
Friends. But I'll also say that this is better than
2002, though I still find the song to be interesting.
Anne-Marie really shines with her voice, and I like how
David Guetaa handles his work as a DJ. Hopefully, we'll see it make its debut.
- We get the next single from
Camila Cabello, titled
Consequences. Vocally, it's a step up from
Never Be The Same. It's a slow ballad and
Camila has a nice voice, as opposed to her predecessor where she tries too hard and sounded bad. I'm sure it'll end up graduating to the Weekend Countdown.
- Last and definitely least, we have the return of
Lauv who is collaborating with
Julia Michaels in
There's No Way. It's really not a good song for the most part. The production isn't as awful as in
I Like Me Better, but I find their vocals to be underwhelming. I'll have more on this when it debuts.
Best Debut On Hit-Bound:
David Guetta featuring Anne-Marie – Don't Leave Me Alone
My Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
TIE: 1. Ariana Grande – Breathin'
TIE: 1. Lady Gaga – I'll Never Love Again
3. David Guetta featuring Anne-Marie – Don't Leave Me Alone
4. TWENTY ØNE PILØTS – My Blood
5. The Struts featuring Kesha – Body Talks
Top 20 Review:
0 – Putrid:
20. Bebe Rexha – I'm A Mess
1 – Bad:
None!
2 – Mediocre:
19. Marshmello featuring Bastille – Happier
3 – Decent:
18. Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B. – Girls Like You
4 – Good:
17. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am
16. lovelytheband – Broken
15. Anne-Marie – 2002
5 – Great:
14. Selena Gomez – Back To You
13. Khalid featuring Normani – Love Lies
12. George Ezra – Shotgun
11. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
10. Dan + Shay – Tequila
9. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood
8. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones
7. Imagine Dragons – Natural
6. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart
5. The Chainsmokers featuring Emily Warren – Side Effects
4. Ariana Grande – God Is A Woman
3. Shawn Mendes – Lost In Japan
BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
TIE: 1. The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling
TIE: 1. Zedd featuring Elley Duhé – Happy Now
Overall Grade: 89/100 = 89% (B+)
Throwback Pick Of The Week:
Toni Braxton – Un-Break My Heart (1996) (Believe it or not, it's been 22 years since it came out)
Most Missed Countdown Song:
Rachel Platten – Stand By You
Most Missed Hit-Bound Dropout:
Little Mix – Touch
#1 Recommendation For Hits 1:
Gryffin featuring Elley Duhé – Tie Me Down
Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie between
Kesha – Praying (#17) and
Ed Sheeran – Galway Girl (#1)
My Top 5 Picks
TIE: 1. Zedd featuring Elley Duhé – Happy Now
TIE: 1. The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling
3. Zedd featuring Maren Morris and Grey – The Middle
4. Shawn Mendes – Lost In Japan
5. Silk City featuring Dua Lipa – Electricity
My Bottom 5 Picks
1. AJR – Burn The House Down
2. LSD – Thunderclouds
3. Bebe Rexha – I'm A Mess
4. Marshmello featuring Anne-Marie – Friends
5. Weezer – Africa
Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Ed Sheeran – Perfect: The title of the song speaks for itself. It's easily the perfect song to dance to in a wedding. I'll have more on this when I do my Year-End posts.
Fergie featuring Nicki Minaj – You Already Know: Don't get me wrong. I like
Fergie, but this song is just not very good. I find her voice to be annoying, and I don't like
Nicki's verses. Both artists have done much better in the past.
Evaride – Heartless: I like how Hits 1 picked this song up from a new band I haven't even heard of. The rock vibes in the song are just divine. I'll just leave it at that.
QOTW: Who do you guys think will win the World Series this year and why?
