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.
Music Reviews + More 
No comments on either of our posts
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I know. Sad.
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Allow me to fix that, shall we?Definitely happy with both the throwback and most missed. Even if I may like the title track from Thriller more, Billie Jean is definitely a good classic.
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Same.
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Well, Thriller was actually my first pick to be throwback, but I decided to choose a random track from him.
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That, and Billie Jean was actually his most successful single, being the only song off of Thriller to be on Billboard's GOAT chart.
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So I guess I'll post this here since Adrian still hasn't posted this week's update or even approved the comments since like Sunday. Here are some Hot 100 observations:- Despacito is #1 on the Hot 100 again, unsurprisingly. But it's peaked in sales and streaming, so we'll see if something manages to take it in due time. Some think Wild Thoughts from DJ Khaled's new album might have a shot.- Mercifully, this is Look At Me!'s final week, unless it gains a massive boost somehow. And if our luck holds out, it'll miss the Year-End list, which would be nothing but good news.- Although Melodrama may have debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, nothing from the album charted. Only one song made the Bubbling Under, and that's it.- Symphony still desperately struggles to chart. Maybe this song wasn't meant to be big here in the states, sadly.- Kodak Black makes two representations, one with Piles of all people, who was on a song with T-Pain back in the later part of the 2000's called Shawty (I think). Very odd.- And Feels debuts at #51. It's predicted to not drop too much next week, hopefully they're right.- A couple big drops, like 2U after its debut last week, Sign of The Times (sadly), To The Max (although it'll rebound next week with the album), and Swish Swish.Sorry if this felt random or if you don't care about the Hot 100 as much as say Miles or Graham, but again, Adrian hasn't gotten back to us in a while so yeah.
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My thoughts on this:- I'm perfectly fine with Desapcito hitting #1 again, since it's definitely one of my favorites at the moment. The Latin-based production is what help pulls me in.- I'm afraid you might be right, Scott. It looks likes Symphony won't become a hit in the US, unfortunately. I was hoping that it would happen since people are coming off of Rockabye, but that's not the case. Oh well.- Do you think Feels is better than Slide or do you like Slide better?- With the big drop from Sign Of The Times, it doesn't look like Harry Styles is gonna have a hit. In fact, it's not playing on Hits 1 as much which means this will be the first time a member of 1D won't be having a hit there either.
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And one other thing: I'm afraid it looks like Lorde's big comeback may turn out to be a big flop. I guess people weren't really fond of her lead single, Green Light, after all.
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Just to update everyone, we have two new songs on the Hits 1 Voting poll on the Sirius website:Childish Gambino – RedboneThe Chainsmokers – Honest
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Hm. I'm surprised that Young wasn't picked instead of Honest, because the former just had a lyric video drop and they performed it at the BBMAs back in May.
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The big thing with Despacito is that any day now, people are gonna worry that it'll be the same case with every fricken song that spends 10 or more weeks at #1 in that they think it'll threaten One Sweet Day's record, unless something pulls a See You Again/Black Beatles and hijacks the top spot from it.Yeah, I was hoping for Symphony to catch on as well. I may have overhyped it a little when I first brought it up on the YouTube15, but it's still definitely worthwhile and hoped it'd catch on between both Never Forget You and Rockabye.I honestly think I'd take Feels, if only because Pharrell > Migos. And Big Sean is fun too. That and the vibe doesn't feel as fuzzy.Well, Sign of the Times I would say is all but certain to make the Year-End list, unless it has an utterly cataclysmic collapse.
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I'll just say it here since Adrian probably won't accept for a while, my WC post is out!
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How do you think I felt with Uptown Funk at 14 weeks. Sure It's possibly my favorite song of the decade, but One Sweet Day will always be the best song ever, nothing can top it. Also, no song in 21 years has even made it to 15 weeks, whereas the record is 16.I wanted SOTT to be a big hit, we needed some type of 80s glam rock after the disaster that was 2016 with David Bowie, Prince and George Michael's deaths.
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Miles, I had high hopes for SOTT as well, especially considering that the others members of 1D had big hits (Niall Horan's This Town, Louis Tomlinson's Just Hold On (w/ Steve Aoki) and Zayn's IDWLF). But I guess people aren't buying into 80's glam rock.And Scott, earlier this year, people also had to worry about Shape Of You trying to break One Sweet Day's record. But of course, a new song comes along and stops that from happening. I'm sure it'll likely be the same with Despacito. It won't last very long at #1, so y'all don't have to worry about it breaking the record.
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Yeah, I too am surprised they picked Honest as their next single, though I'll probably get around to liking it after a few listens. But I can't say the same for Redbone.
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Unless it somehow pulls a Macarena and some dance craze along with it is born.
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I think Despacito will spend 9/10 weeks at the top and be overthrown by Wild Thoughts.
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I'm gonna start posting the countdown on my comments section since . (or whatever his name is) doesn't seem to want to do it lately. Here are the exits:Kissing StrangersBreak My Heart
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Here's the first set:45. Machine Gun Kelly featuring Camila Cabello – Bad Things (#43)44. Maroon 5 – Don't Wanna Know (#44) [3 Weeks At #1]43. Niall Horan – This Town (#45)42. Fitz & The Tantrums – HandClap (#40)41. Steve Aoki featuring Louis Tomlinson – Just Hold On (#41)40. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey featuring Zedd – Starving (#42) [4 Weeks At #1]39. Zayn featuring Taylor Swift – I Don't Wanna Live Forever (#38)38. Aaron Carter – Sooner Or Later (#34)37. Erin Bowman – Good Time Good Life (#37)36. Luis Fonsi featuring Justin Bieber and Daddy Yankee – Despacito (#36)35. Noah Cyrus – Stay Together (#33)34. Jon Bellion – Overwhelming (#39)33. Maroon 5 – Cold (#35)32. Camila Cabello – Crying In The Club (DEBUT)31. Harry Styles – Sign Of The Times (#23)
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Second set:30. Jason Derulo featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj – Swalla (#19)29. MAX featuring Gnash – Lights Down Low (#30)28. Calvin Harris featuring Pharrell and Katy Perry – Feels (DEBUT)27. Shawn Mendes – Mercy (#26)26. DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber and Chance The Rapper – I'm The One (#28)25. Train – Play That Song (#21)24. The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey – Closer (#25)23. AJR – Weak (#22)22. Miley Cyrus – Malibu (#17)21. Hailee Steinfeld – Most Girls (#24)20. Liam Payne – Strip That Down (#32)19. Linkin Park featuring Kiiara – Heavy (#9)18. Bruno Mars – That's What I Like (#16) [1 Week At #1]17. Selena Gomez – Bad Liar (#20)16. Panic! At The Disco – L.A. Devotee (#13)
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Bad news guys: Body Like A Back Road had the Biggest Jump Of The Week.
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Oooooh, Adrian will be insanely happy over the latter. Even if I did kind of like it.
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Top 10 Entry:Issues (Re-Entry)
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And here are the bonus summer hits they've played that I can recall from DogStarRadio:Last Friday Night by Katy Perry (played after This Town)Can't Hold Us by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton (played after Just Hold On)Boom Clap by Charli XCX (played after Starving)Ride by Twenty-one Pilots (played after Good Time Good Life)Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke featuring Pharrell Williams and T.I. (played after Crying In The Club)Send My Love (To Your New Lover) by Adele (played after Sign Of The Times)Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen (played after Feels)Payphone by Maroon 5 (played after Play That Song)Cruise by Florida Georgia Line (played after Heavy)What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction (played after That's What I Like)Problem by Ariana Grande (played after L.A. Devotee)Cheerleader by OMI (played after Body Like A Back Road)I'd think there are three more to go.
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And then #13:Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding (played after Issues)This wasn't a \”summer\” hit, but I know that one of its weeks at #1 was in April and then three weeks later it had its second.
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I love all those songs except for Blurred Lines.
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No new Top 5 Entrants for the second week in a row.
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You can add New Romantics to the list.
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And probably this one, too:New Romantics by Taylor Swift (played after It Ain't Me)I wouldn't suppose you've grown back into that one yet.
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Finally…Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul (played after Stay)I think Jack is the only one with us who's still a huge fan of this one.
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Next throwback song is…..(brace yourselves)Cheap Thrills.
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It's either Castle On The Hill or Something Just Like This for #1.
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I like Cheap Thrills too.
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Oh wait, there's one more:Stay With Me by Sam Smith (played after Believer)
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One more summer throwback:Sam Smith – Stay With Me
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\”Deadmau's least favorite group\” haha.
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It's Castle On The Hill at #1!
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Heh, I'll take it. I would've been perfectly fine with either.But before that…#1 song this week one year ago: Can't Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake (3rd of ten weeks at #1)
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What is the top 15 and Hitbound?
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I'll post it soon.
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The throwbacks were good. Can't Hold Us is my 4th favorite song of all-time so I'm glad to see it still remembered. Also, I grew into Cheerleader a lot.
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Hang on, guys. They just played E.T. right after This Town. Not a joke
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Not only that, but now they're playing Airplanes after Just Hold On.
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Guys, they just played B.O.B. and Hayley Williams – Airplanes.
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And then Blurred Lines after Starving. GTFO.
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Yuck.
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Then they played Radioactive after Good Time, Good Life.I won't have time to list every throwback pick as I'll have to be out around noon, but you can check Dogstar Radio to find them all when they appear.
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Next up……Demi Lovato – Cool For The Summer! Yay!
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Next summer throwback: Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman
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