1. Zedd featuring Maren Morris and Grey – The Middle (#2) [+1] [8^th Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill (2^nd of 3 Weeks At #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: The Weeknd featuring Kendrick Lamar – Pray For Me (–15)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Dua Lipa – IDGAF (+16)

New Entrants
– To kick off this week’s debuts, we have Dustin Atlas making his first appearance, I think, with the song called Fake Freinds He is collaborating with Erin Bowman, who makes her return to the countdown. The last time we saw her was last year when she brought us Good Time, Good Life. I thought that was a good song overall. As for this one, I can’t really say I’m loving it too much. I’m not too fond of the production. I think it’s a little too basic for my tastes. The vocals here are somewhat underwhelming. They do sound good in some parts of the song, but I’m not sold on the chorus. It’s not really a bad song, but I can’t see myself remembering this in a year or so.

– For our next debut of the week, we have another single from the Black Panther movie soundtrack that has been around for a while. Kendrick Lamar has his second song making its debut on the countdown, by the name of All The Stars. This song also features SZA, who recently had a countdown song not too long ago when she also collaborated with Maroon 5 with What Lovers Do. One of the things I like about the song is the big contribution we get from SZA, in which she shines in the chorus. I do like the verses from Kendrick Lamar, also. As I said before, I do think he’s one of the best rappers out there and he shows what he’s capable of in this song. Simply put, it’s a great song overall and I want to see it do well here.

– Now that Wolves seems to be finally near the end of the road, we have another single from Selena Gomez entering the countdown this week. Enter Back To You, her brand new single taken from the 13 Reasons Why Season 2 soundtrack. I’m going to simply say that it’s a big step up from what she’s been releasing lately in terms of her solo music. She doesn’t do any whispering or mumbling in any part of the song at all. In fact, she sounds really good singing in this one. I love the chorus leading up to the drop. Not only that, but we also see an improvement in the production as well, in which it has the guitar in some parts of the song and the EDM-like production that pulls me in. This is definitely a step back in the right direction for Selena Gomez. I’m actually looking forward to seeing that one be more successful.

Best Debut Of The Week: Kendrick Lamar featuring SZA – All The Stars

Never Gonna Blurb You Up
– We’ll start with our exits. End Game had a nice countdown run for a Taylor Swift song off of Reputation. We lost two other songs this week. Beautiful Trauma failed to live up to the expectations of its predecessor. I guess that song wasn’t meant to be another hit for P!NK. Oh well. Good Old Days, on the other hand, did well on this countdown and got to spend one week at #1. It’s unfortunate that we won’t see it on the Billboard Year-End as it wasn’t successful there. But at least it’ll be on Hits 1’s Top 45 Of 2018 come December. It was a beautiful song overall and I’m sure many here will be sad over this departure. Good-bye, Good Old Days. You will be missed.

– So, The Middle is now back at #1. Perfectly fine by me as it’s still a huge favorite of mine at this moment. It’s really nice to see back at the top spot on my one-year anniversary of starting this blog. I’m glad this song became successful and helped put Maren Morris on the map. Keep in mind that this song is being performed at the Billboard Music Awards. I’m sure the performance will be good, but I can’t be certain.

– Jumping to #4 this week, we have Say Amen (Saturday Night) reaching the Top 5 for the first time. It’s definitely an enjoyable song, so I’m cool with this. I do think it has a chance at #1 even though it may not be as popular elsewhere. If Victorious was able to do so two years ago, then I’m sure the same will ring true in 2018.

– I’m definitely cool with Tell Me You Love Me entering in the Top 5 as well. I’m quite surprised that it’s doing well on this countdown despite not being big elsewhere. I have no complaints about this as I’ve been enjoying it more and more, hence why I have it as my favorite song, along with our #1. Demi shines all throughout the song and I’m in love with the chorus. I would like to see it take the top spot someday, but I may be asking for too much. I’m just happy about it’s success here so far.

– So, Spyder Harrison mentioned during his introduction for On The Loose that being a musician is demanding for Niall Horan. I know what it’s like. I’m sure some others feel the same way. I guess they just don’t have that much free time on their hands, heh.

– Are you kidding me? Friends has now made its way into the Top 10 this week. Who the hell is voting for this song to be in that region? We have much better songs that are more deserving of it than this.

– However, Meant To Be has dropped out of the Top 10, hopefully for good. Now I’m hoping it continues its downward trajectory, though I’m sure it’ll stick with us for a while.

– IDGAF makes its way into the Top 20 with that big jump this week. That one I’m perfectly fine with and I hope it continues to jump. Dua Lipa deserves to be successful on this countdown.

– How is I Like Me Better jumping like that?! This has no business being on this countdown any longer. Let’s please get this song to drop back down soon.

– The guest DJ that introduced Perfect said that it’s one of her favorite songs. That I can agree with. I think it is indeed perfect (no pun intended).

Hit-Bound:

• The Wrecks – James Dean
• Meghan Trainor – Let You Be Right
• lovelytheband – Broken
• Echosmith – Over My Head
• Dennis Lloyd – Nevermind (DEBUT)
• 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood (DEBUT)
• Sam Smith featuring Logic – Pray
• Calvin Harris featuring Dua Lipa – One Kiss
• In Real Life – Tattoo (How ‘Bout You)
• Liam Payne featuring J. Balvin – Familiar
• Sugarland featuring Taylor Swift – Babe
• Cardi B. – I Like It (DEBUT)
• Maren Morris – Rich
• Hundred Handed – Too Good
• Portugal. The Man – Live In The Moment
• HRVY – Personal

– We have three songs making their arrival on Hit-Bound this week. First, we’ll begin with Dennis Lloyd with the song called Nevermind. I only find this okay for the most part, mainly because he doesn’t do too much with the vocals. The production is nice, so I’ll give him that.

– 5 Seconds Of Summer have a new song entering Hit-Bound this week (mainly because Hits 1 loves these guys so much), by the name of Youngblood. I juggled between putting this in blue or green, and I decided to stick with the latter, at least for now. It’s a bit of a step down from its predecessor. I do like the chorus, but the production isn’t quite as good. While it’s in green for now, it could easily change to blue.

– Cardi B. has her new single from her album Invasion Of Privacy, which is called I Like It. Right off the bat, it’s really not that different when compared to songs such as Bodak Yellow, which I detested. I’ll just say that it’s a step up from that song, but that’s not saying too much. I’ll talk more about this when it debuts. But yeah, I’m not a fan of this.

My Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
1. The Wrecks – James Dean
2. Calvin Harris featuring Dua Lipa – One Kiss
3. Meghan Trainor – Let You Be Right
4. Hundred Handed – Too Good
5. Portugal. The Man – Live In The Moment

Top 20 Review:
0 – Putrid:
20. Marshmello featuring Anne-Marie – Friends
19. Lauv – I Like Me Better
18. Camila Cabello – Never Be The Same
17. Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be

1 – Bad:
16. Maroon 5 – Wait

2 – Mediocre:
None!

3 – Decent:
None!

4 – Good:
15. Meghan Trainor – No Excuses

5 – Great:
14. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood
13. Taylor Swift – Delicate
12. Halsey – Alone
11. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Want You Back
10. Niall Horan – On The Loose
9. Charlie Puth featuring Kehlani – Done For Me
8. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night)
7. Rudimental featuring Jess Glynne, Macklemore, and Dan Caplen – These Days
6. Bad Wolves – Zombie
5. Dua Lipa – IDGAF
4. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes
3. Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
TIE: 1. Demi Lovato – Tell Me You Love Me
TIE: 1. Zedd featuring Maren Morris and Grey – The Middle

Overall Grade: 77/100 = 77% (C+) 

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up (1987)

Most Missed Countdown Song: Lorde – Team

Most Missed Hit-Bound Dropout: Nathan Sykes featuring Ariana Grande – Over And Over Again

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Backstreet Boys – Don’t Go Breaking My Heart

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: The Chainsmokers featuring Coldplay – Something Just Like This (#4)

My Top 5 Picks
TIE: 1. Zedd featuring Maren Morris and Grey – The Middle
TIE: 1. Demi Lovato – Tell Me You Love Me
3. Bruno Mars featuring Cardi B. – Finesse (Remix)
4. Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry
5. The Weeknd featuring Kendrick Lamar – Pray For Me

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla $ign – Psycho
2. AJR featuring Rivers Cuomo – Sober Up
3. Marshmello featuring Anne-Marie – Friends
4. Lauv – I Like Me Better
5. Camila Cabello – Never Be The Same

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
ZAYN featuring PARTYNEXTDOOR – Still Got Time: Those who dislike the song can explain why better than I can. But simply put, the production here is pretty nonexistent, and ZAYN himself doesn’t shine in any part of the song. He’s had much better.
Kehlani featuring G-Eazy – Good Life: Taken from The Fate And The Furious movie soundtrack, this song only spent one week on this countdown. It’s a shame because I thought it was really good. Luckily, the two artists seemed to have made their comeback this year with their respective songs.
Jason Derulo featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj – Swalla: All I can say about this is that it’s a guilty pleasure of mine. There’s just something about it that pulls me in. Fun fact: this was the second year in a row that Jason Derulo has had a song make its debut on the countdown. The first was If It Ain’t Love.
DNCE featuring Nicki Minaj – Kissing Strangers: I’d say this is probably the weakest the group has released after their three singles. Although Hits 1 did edit out Nicki Minaj’s verses, I’m not a fan of what the song brings. I’m sure they can do better.
Machine Gun Kelly featuring Hailee Steinfeld – At My Best: I remember falling in love with this before, but now I realize why this was hated. Not even Hailee Steinfeld could save the song unfortunately.

QOTW: What are your thoughts on Charlie Puth’s new album, Voicenotes?