Taylor Swift (1) – Week Of February 3, 2018

Hello, fam! It’s good to get up early in the mornings, isn’t it? Here I am, playing video games while I scroll through my playlist looking for my favorite songs I want to play while having tea and oatmeal for breakfast. Ah, some good times. Okay, I’m going way off-topic. Let’s talk about the Hits 1 Weekend Countdown, shall we? I’m not sure if some of you know this as of yet, but this would be my birthday weekend. I’m sure the question some of you will be asking is, how did things go this week? I thought this was a very good week (for me at least). Let’s get on with it! Before we get to this week’s fresh 45, here are the songs leaving us this week:

  • Liam Payne – Strip That Down (#33) [Spent 2 Weeks At #1] (Good riddance)
  • ZAYN featuring Sia – Dusk Till Dawn (#40)

The Countdown:

Last Week’s #1 Song: Imagine Dragons – Thunder
45. Charlie Puth – Attention (#43) [–2] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
44. Demi Lovato – Sorry Not Sorry (#37) [–7] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
43. Sam Smith – Too Good At Goodbyes (#42) [–1]
42. Taylor Swift – …Ready For It? (#41) [–1]
41. P!NK – What About Us (#44) [+3] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
40. The Shadowboxers – Hot Damn (#45) [+5]
39. Symon – Lonely Girl (#31) [–8]
38. WØLVES – Animal (#38) [=]
37. Kesha – Praying (#39) [+2]
36. Niall Horan – Slow Hands (#36) [=] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
35. All Time Low – Last Young Renegade (DEBUT)
34. Louis Tomlinson – Miss You (#25) [–9]
33. Maroon 5 featuring SZA – What Lovers Do (#30) [–3]
32. Zedd featuring Maren Morris and Grey – The Middle (DEBUT)
31. Ed Sheeran – Galway Girl (#32) [+1] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
30. Justin Timberlake – Filthy (#26) [–4]
29. Shawn Mendes – There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back (#29) [=] [Spent 5 Weeks At #1]
28. Camila Cabello – Havana (#11) [–17] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
27. Niall Horan – Too Much To Ask (#22) [–5]
26. Post Malone featuring 21 Savage – Rockstar (#15) [–11]
25. Maroon 5 – Wait (#20) [–5]
24. NF – Let You Down (#35) [+11]
23. Portugal. The Man – Feel It Still (#24) [+1]
22. Bruno Mars featuring Cardi B. – Finesse (Remix) (#21) [–1]
21. Fall Out Boy – Hold Me Tight Or Don’t (#18) [–3]
20. G-Eazy featuring Halsey – Him & I (#19) [–1]
19. Imagine Dragons – Believer (#16) [–3] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
18. Dua Lipa – New Rules (#13) [–5]
17. MAX featuring Gnash – Lights Down Low (#27) [+10]
16. Camila Cabello – Never Be The Same (#28) [+12]
15. P!NK – Beautiful Trauma (#34) [+19]
14. Lauv – I Like Me Better (#17) [+3]
13. Kelly Clarkson – Love So Soft (#14) [+1]
12. Eminem featuring Ed Sheeran – River (#23) [+11]
11. Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be (#6) [–5]
10. Halsey – Bad At Love (#2) [–8] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
9. Charlie Puth – How Long (#8) [–1]
8. X Ambassadors – Ahead Of Myself (#12) [+4]
7. Macklemore featuring Kesha – Good Old Days (#4) [–3]
6. Walk The Moon – One Foot (#10) [+4]
5. Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso featuring Florida Georgia Line and Watt – Let Me Go (#9) [+4]
4. Ed Sheeran – Perfect (#3) [–1] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
3. Selena Gomez featuring Marshmello – Wolves (#7) [+4]
2. Imagine Dragons – Thunder (#1) [–1] [Spent 5 Weeks At #1]
1. Taylor Swift featuring Ed Sheeran and Future – End Game (#5) [+4] [1st Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Maroon 5 featuring Kendrick Lamar – Don’t Wanna Know (3rd and Final Week At #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Camila Cabello – Havana (–17)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: P!NK – Beautiful Trauma (+19)

New Entrants

– Hits 1 is the type of station that seems to be very fond of All Time Low, given that they pick up some of their singles despite the band not being very popular elsewhere. That’s a good thing, because most of the songs that chart only on this countdown aren’t really heard elsewhere. It gives me more music that I can listen to. So, what do these guys have cooking up this time around? Well, the answer is at #35, as they make their return with the single titled Last Young Renegade. Believe it or not, I love listening to rock. I like it a lot more than some of the other genres in music. This song is no different. It’s a step up from Good Times, which was on this countdown not too long ago. The rock vibe definitely gets me going. I love the lyrics, the production, and everything else about it. This pretty much reminds of some of the pop-punk music back in the 2000’s, when I enjoyed the genre a lot back then. So yeah, this is easily the best debut of the week in my opinion. Hopefully, it does well.

– Okay, so this next debut is one that many here are not looking forward to. Me personally, I’m going to be honest here for a second and just say I was actually looking forward to hearing more of Zedd. As far as my relationship with his recent music went, I did like Starving at first, but I realized it wasn’t all that good and even I’ll admit it was pretty overrated. I very much enjoyed Stay, and Get Low I found to be a bit of a disappointment. This week, he brings us his new single called The Middle, which features Maren Morris and Grey. This is basically Stay 2.0. in terms of the production, which apparently seems to be part of the reason why people think negatively of the song in general. Most people think Zedd has sold out, and I can see where they’re getting at. But as for me, I seem to be all alone in this opinion, but I just don’t care because I really, really like this song. In fact, I like it way more than I should. Well, let me just explain. I love Maren’s voice and I think she shines all throughout the song. While the drop may not be the best, I pretty much like everything else about the song. Now, let’s be real here: this doesn’t quite live up to Zedd’s best work. Songs like Clarity and Stay The Night are his best singles. They’re hard to top. Even the singles from True Colors can’t top those two, but they’re still really good on its own. Still, that doesn’t mean I can’t support this.

Blurbs Are A Battlefield

– Let’s start with our exits, in which we have two members of One Direction with their respective songs taking their departures this week. Dusk Till Dawn was pretty underrated and it deserved better. But it just wasn’t meant to be (Not a Bebe Rexha reference). However, the one exit that I’m pleased about is the departure of Strip That Down. I’ll just simply say that it’s about damn time! Let’s just leave it at that.

– So, I watched Kesha and other artists come together and perform her single, Praying at the Grammy Music Awards. I’ll just simply say that it was a beautiful performance of that song. Probably one of the best performances of the night. It’s too bad that it lost to Shape Of You for “Best Pop Solo Performance”. It would’ve been really nice if Praying won, but oh well.

– One would assume that Filthy would jump big this week in the wake of Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl performance, but it doesn’t appear to be the case, seeing as this one is faltering elsewhere big time. Luckily for him, he does have another single in its stead, and I’ll talk more about it later on.

– So, Spyder Harrison mentioned upon introducing There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back that rumors are swirling yet again for Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello. I wonder will they finally become a couple, or will they just remain friends? People want answers, so Shawn better decide soon.

– Speaking of Camila, her song, Havana, had the Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week this week. With that, I have a feeling that this is pretty much it for Havana. It had quite a run and became Camila’s biggest hit as a solo artist. Now we’ll see how long Hits 1 holds on to it.

– I’ll admit that it was pretty entertaining to hear the way Spyder Harrison introduced Rockstar. I laughed all the way through when he tried to sing that song. My goodness! That being said, let me just say how pleasing it was to see it FINALLY drop out of the Top 20, and on my birthday weekend too! I’ve been waiting a long time for this to happen! Now here’s to hoping we get this off the countdown for good!

– Fail alert: Spyder Harrison mentioned that Wait jumped 5 spots, when it actually when down this week. Spyder, you really need to step up you game a bit. Just saying. 😛

– On that note, all of our debuts from last week (with the exception of Animal) jumped big this week. I’m not too thrilled about Let You Down, but I’m happy to see Beautiful Trauma being honored the Biggest Jump Of The Week this week. Now the question is, will this be another What About Us and hit #1 at some point? That would be nice, but only time will tell on that. We’ll see what happens.

River made a nice recovery this week jumping back into the Top 20. It’s as if that big drop from two weeks ago never happened.

– Our Top 5 consists of two new entrants. The re-entry from Let Me Go was nice. I’m very pleased to see Wolves not only entering that region, but also the Top 3 as well. I’m hoping this can be #1 soon!

– On that note, our new #1 this week is greatly appreciated by me! Taylor Swift dethrones Thunder for the top spot with her single End Game! After her two previous representations from Reputation failed to get there, the third time was the charm for her. Definitely refreshing to see it at #1 for my birthday weekend!

Hit-Bound:

  • AJR featuring Rivers Cuomo – Sober Up (Why is this still here?!)
  • Portugal. The Man – Live In The Moment
  • Alan Walker featuring Noah Cyrus and Digital Farm Animals – All Falls Down
  • Spencer – Whatever
  • Kesha featuring The Dap-Kings Horns – Woman
  • Justin Timberlake featuring Chris Stapleton – Say Something (DEBUT)
  • Post Malone – I Fall Apart
  • Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes
  • The Chainsmokers – Sick Boy
  • Troye Sivan – My My My!
  • Clean Bandit featuring Julia Michaels – I Miss You
  • Welshly Arms – Legendary (DEBUT)
  • Wild Things – Don’t Wanna Feel It
  • Sofi Tukker featuring NERVO, Alisa Ueno, and The Knocks – Best Friend

– So, we have two debuts this week, as well as two other debuts from last week that I didn’t cover. We’ll start with Portugal. The Man with their follow-up single to Feel It Still, titled Live In The Moment. This one is a step up in terms of the production. It’s has more going on, and I like the chorus. More on this when it debuts.

– Next, we have newcomer Wild Things making their debut with Don’t Wanna Feel It. It’s a pretty sweet song in terms of the lyrics, but it’s also upbeat while being acoustic. Not much else I can say beyond that.

– Now this week, we have Welshy Arms with the song called Legendary. Despite what the title say, I’m not going to go to far and say this is legenday (see what I did there). It’s a pretty cool song in terms of the production, and I like the chorus. That’s all I’ve got for this one right now.

– Finally, Justin Timberlake has released another single. Enter Say Something, which features country star Chris Stapleton. Now this one I’m sure most people can enjoy, because the production is not as weird and there’s more singing going on. I’m sure it’ll make its debut soon, and by then I’ll talk more about it.

– So, I’ve been enjoying My My My! a lot recently, hence why it’s now my favorite song on Hit-Bound so far. The chorus is amazing in this one, and I love his voice. Hopefully, it makes its debut soon.

My Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Troye Sivan – My My My!
2. Kesha featuring The Dap-Kings Horns – Woman
3. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes
4. Justin Timberlake featuring Chris Stapleton – Say Something
5. Portugal. The Man – Live In The Moment

YouTube 15:

  • Halsey – Bad At Love
  • Logic featuring Rag’n’Bone Man – Broken People
  • Marcus & Martinus – Remind Me
  • Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be
  • Steve Aoki featuring Lauren Jauregui – All Night
  • Sam Smith – Too Good At Goodbyes
  • Jax Jones featuring Ina Wroldsen – Breathe
  • Ed Sheeran – Perfect
  • HRVY – Personal
  • Imagine Dragons – Thunder
  • Jillian Jacqueline – Reasons
  • Bruno Mars featuring Cardi B. – Finesse (Remix)
  • James Arthur – Naked
  • Camila Cabello – Havana
  • Betty Who – Ignore Me

– Who remembers Rag’n’Bone Man, the guy who sings Human? No? Well, he teams up with Logic in their song titled Broken People, taken from Bright: The Album. The production here is very good, and Logic definitely showcases his rapping skills for the most part. The lyrics are also good. Not much else about this one.
– Next up, we have Marcus & Martinus with the song titled Remind Me. While I like the production in this one, the vocals seem a little too childish for my tastes. They sound a little bit like The Vamps, especially when I hear the chorus. That’s just me. It’s pretty decent, but not something I’ll remember in the long run.
Jax Jones is trending yet again with another song in its stead. Enter Breathe, which features Ina Wroldsen. This is a step up from Instruction, in which we don’t have super fast vocals that I couldn’t understand. I love her voice in this one, and the production is nice. That’s all I’ve got for this song right now.
Jillian Jacqueline – Reasons is a very enjoyable song for the most part. I love her voice, and the lyrics are nice. The production is pretty well done for the most part.

My Top 5 YouTube 15 Picks
1. Steve Aoki featuring Lauren Jauregui – All Night
2. Bruno Mars featuring Cardi B. – Finesse (Remix)
3. Logic featuring Rag’n’Bone Man – Broken People
4. Jillian Jacqueline – Reasons
5. Ed Sheeran – Perfect

Top 20 Review:

0 – Putrid:
20. Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be

1 – Bad:
19. Lauv – I Like Me Better
18. MAX featuring Gnash – Lights Down Low

2 – Mediocre:
None!

3 – Decent:
17. Camila Cabello – Never Be The Same
16. Imagine Dragons – Believer

4 – Good:
15. Charlie Puth – How Long
14. Kelly Clarkson – Love So Soft

5 – Great:
13. Eminem featuring Ed Sheeran – River
12. X Ambassadors – Ahead Of Myself
11. Imagine Dragons – Thunder
10. P!NK – Beautiful Trauma
9. Dua Lipa – New Rules
8. Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso featuring Florida Georgia Line and Watt – Let Me Go
7. Halsey – Bad At Love
6. Taylor Swift featuring Ed Sheeran and Future – End Game
5. Ed Sheeran – Perfect
4. G-Eazy featuring Halsey – Him & I
3. Walk The Moon – One Foot
2. Macklemore featuring Kesha – Good Old Days

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
TIE: 1. Selena Gomez featuring Marshmello – Wolves

Overall Grade: 82/100 = 82% (B–)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Pat Benatar – Love Is A Battlefield (1983)
Most Missed Countdown Songs: Jon Bellion – All Time Low and Coldplay featuring Beyoncé – Hymn For The Weekend

Most Missed Hit-Bound Drop-Out: PRETTYMUCH – Would You Mind

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Liam Payne featuring Rita Ora – For You
Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: The Chainsmokers – Paris
My Top 5 Picks
TIE: 1. Kesha – Praying
TIE: 1. Bruno Mars featuring Cardi B. – Finesse (Remix)
TIE: 1. Selena Gomez featuring Marshmello – Wolves
4. All Time Low – Last Young Renegade
5. Macklemore featuring Kesha – Good Old Days

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Post Malone featuring 21 Savage – Rockstar
2. Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be
3. Lauv – I Like Me Better
4. Maroon 5 – Wait
5. NF – Let You Down

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Hey Violet – Guys My Age: A song that talks about guys being too immature for her age is actually false, especially when their are plenty of guys who are mature enough to treat a girl. I’m sure Adrian can explain more about this in detail better than I can. But yeah, it’s not that hard for me to figure out why this was his #5 least favorite song of 2017.
Rihanna – Love On The Brain: I’m a sucker for slow ballads, but Rihanna doesn’t quite impress me with her vocals. At least it’s better than Work, so I’ll give her that.
Julia Michaels – Issues: For a songwriter who write songs for many big artists, I can’t say this was a good first impression, especially with weak production and weak vocals. But the songwriting makes up for it.
Daya – Words: At least it’s not as bad as her two previous singles (Hide Away and Sit Still, Look Pretty), but there’s still no excuse that this was poorly written, not to mention the drop is annoying.
TWENTY ØNE PILØTS – Heavydirtysoul: Their last stand, which unfortunately didn’t take off unlike their previous singles from Blurryface. There’s a lot to like about it, especially the rapping we get from Tyler Joseph.
The Chainsmokers – Paris: Andrew Taggart definitely shows what he is capable of when it comes to singing. Not only that, but the production is more lively, and it was cool to hear un-credited vocals from Emily Warren.

Questions Of The Week:
Who are you rooting for in this year’s Super Bowl and why?

Also, The Weeknd is back with his new single, Pray For Me. What are your thoughts on it?

37 thoughts on “Taylor Swift (1) – Week Of February 3, 2018

  1. You know, I bet you must have been pretty damn salty last year after the Falcons choked in Super Bowl 51. And while you may not have been wild to see the Eagles narrowly scrape out a win against them in the playoffs, I bet it was worth it if it meant them beating the Patriots and making them proud. A part of me believes that maybe now the Falcons are alright with losing to the Eagles if that came out of it.

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  2. Yeah, I pretty much felt that way. As much as I wanted them to win, I was hoping for someone to defeat the Pats (Sorry, RedDog) and sure enough, they did. I'm still hoping we get a championship someday.

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  3. I don't think joining is a good idea, because some of the people on Pulse are really fucking psycho. I mean they fucking banned me over something as stupid as a comment about Mariah being a 4th-rate Beyonce.

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  4. If you don’t want that, just stay away from a lot of the veterans, and mostly stay in the games forum where the rankdowns are. And I searched the name and found you, so I think you’re approved.

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  5. There’s not really a Hits 1 forum, but there is a thread that Montavis updates sometimes. I mainly post in the games forum, The Lounge (which is non music related stuff), and occasionally Chart Discussion and Your Opinion Please. There’s also boards for each genre, like pop, rock, country, urban, etc.

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  6. Oh yeah. People do all the time, but if you want to make a new rankdown or if you want to make the month’s RT (random thoughts) thread, you have to reserve it. In fact, when you first get on your account, I recommend making a thread in the introductions forum introducing yourself, as many posters do so and have an easier time there.

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