What’s up, guys? The next set of reveals should be coming later today. I’ve updated my schedule on my page. I plan on finishing up the rankdown by Friday. After that, my focus will shift towards the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Review for 2018. Then, there’s the Grammy Awards which is coming up soon. I do want to give a review on the performances of the show. That’s something I’ll be looking forward to. Before we get to this week’s fresh 45, here are the songs we’re saying goodbye to this week:

• Zedd featuring Maren Morris and Grey – The Middle (#44) [Spent 9 Weeks At #1]

The Countdown:
Last Week’s #1 Song: Halsey – Without Me
45. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (#45) [=] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
44. Little Mix featuring Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me (#35) [–9]
43. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am (#41) [–2]
42. Jennifer Lopez – Limitless (#42) [=]
41. Steve Aoki featuring BTS – Waste It On Me (#38) [–3]
40. Lauv featuring Julia Michaels – There’s No Way (#39) [–1]
39. Bebe Rexha – I’m A Mess (#37) [–2]
38. George Ezra – Shotgun (#43) [+5]
37. Silk City featuring Dua Lipa – Electricity (#40) [+3]
36. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#36) [=] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
35. Benny Blanco featuring Calvin Harris – I Found You (DEBUT)
34. Backstreet Boys – Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (#34) [=]
33. Selena Gomez – Back To You (#33) [=]
32. Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B – Girls Like You (#32) [=]
31. Mark Ronson featuring Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like A Heart (#27) [–4]
30. lovelytheband – Broken (#30) [=]
29. Alessia Cara – Trust My Lonely (#31) [+2]
28. James Arthur – Empty Space (#26) [–2]
27. Ariana Grande – Breathin’ (#20) [–7]
26. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones (#24) [–2]
25. Camila Cabello – Consequences (#29) [+4]
24. The Struts featuring Kesha – Body Talks (#28) [+4]
23. Lauren Jauregui – Expectations (#23) [=]
22. Khalid – Better (#21) [–1]
21. Imagine Dragons – Natural (#18) [–3] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
20. Zara Larsson – Ruin My Life (#25) [+5]
19. Dan + Shay – Speechless (#22) [+3]
18. David Guetta featuring Anne-Marie – Don’t Leave Me Alone (#15) [–3]
17. TWENTY ØNE PILØTS – Chlorine (#16) [–1]
16. Post Malone featuring Swae Lee – Sunflower (#19) [+3]
15. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho (#17) [+2]
14. Khalid featuirng Normani – Love Lies (#5) [–9]
13. Imagine Dragons – Machine (#14) [+1]
12. Ellie Goulding featuring Diplo – Close To Me (#11) [–1]
11. Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly (#8) [–3]
10. Anne-Marie – 2002 (#7) [–3]
9. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#10) [+1]
8. Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next (#9) [+1]
7. Dan + Shay – Tequila (#12) [+5]
6. Benny Blanco featuring Halsey and Khalid – Eastside (#13) [+7]
5. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood (#6) [+1] [Spent 5 Weeks At #1]
4. Marshmello featuring BΔSTILLE – Happier (#4) [=] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
3. The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#2) [–1] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
2. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#3) [+1] [Spent 8 Weeks At #1]
1. Halsey – Without Me (#1) [=] [3^rd Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Imagine Dragons – Thunder (5^th And Final Week At #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Tie between Little Mix featuring Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me and Khalid featuring Normani – Love Lies (–9)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Benny Blanco featuring Halsey and Khalid – Eastside (+7)

New Entrants:
– As we say goodbye to one EDM artist (more on that in a little bit), we say hello to another as Calvin Harris makes his return this week. He is collaborating with Benny Blanco in their latest single titled I Found You. This was trending on the YouTube 15 a while ago. I gave a review of the song and I found it to be pretty mediocre. I’m not necessarily a big fan of the instrumentation. With two EDM artists collaborating together, I expected a little more out of the production. But they didn’t quite impress me in that department. It’s a little too basic for my tastes. Calvin sounds okay with his voice, but he can be underwhelming at times. I do love Eastside, but this one…not so much.

I Found Blurbs
– Alright. So, we say goodbye The Middle. It’s departure is one I’m sure will make many people happy now after it tested their patience. Having spent a long time on the countdown and becoming a huge hit during its tenure, many were begging for it to leave. But not me, as I’m one of the few people to actually enjoy that song even though it wasn’t Zedd’s best. I’d like to point out that it was around this time that Stay left the countdown one year ago. Had that song stayed for a little while longer, it would meant that Zedd would’ve had a countdown tenure of two years. And Spyder Harrison said, “finally”, when he talked about its exit. It was this close to lasting a year on the countdown, and had it done just that it would’ve been described as the song that never goes away, like with My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light ‘Em Up) and Closer. Goodbye The Middle. It’s been a fun and crazy ride!

– So Shawn Mendes confirms that he has a collaboration with Niall Horan coming soon. I’m interested to see how it’ll turn out. Hopefully, they’ll craft up something special.

– Woman Like Me doesn’t look like it’ll be longer with us after dropping into the Bottom 5. It’s a damn shame that the song is underrated.

– Can I’m A Mess leave, please?!?!? It’s getting annoying have to hear it over and over again. That song still blows. Good thing it went out on my rankdown.

– The Backstreet Boys dropped their new album, DNA this week. As a fan of these guys, I can’t wait to hear what these guys have to offer. I’m sure they have some good music from their latest album.

– What’s the deal with Nothing Breaks Like Heart dropping like this? The song deserves better than what it is getting at this moment. I’m not sure what’s going on, but this needs a spark soon.

– Before introducing Body Talks, Spyder Harrison mentioned that Kesha went make-up free and when she showed her freckles, people went crazy. Wow, I didn’t know Kesha had freckles. She still has a good voice, though. That’s all that matters.

– Remember when I reviewed Speechless, and I said it was a good song for a wedding? Turns out, I was proven to be right, because Spyder Harrison mentioned during the introduction that the song was indeed used in a wedding for a couple last weekend. I do hope that when I get married someday, this will be one of our songs.

– So, Love Lies finally dropped out after it spent a seemingly long time in the Top 10. Talk about a run. Though, I’m pretty sure that one will stick around for a little while longer.

– Speaking of Dan + Shay, Tequila makes a nice jump back into the Top 10 and reaching a new peak of lucky #7! Although we’re still very early in the year, something tells me it could end up making the Hits 1 Year-End List for 2019 given that it’s run is still going pretty strong. That would be pleasing. Hopefully, Speechless follows suit.

Hit-Bound:

• Lauren Daigle – You Say
• Jake Miller – Wait For You
• Post Malone – Wow.
• Dean Lewis – Be Alright
• Sabrina Carpenter – Sue Me
• Seeb featuring BΔSTILLE – Grip
• lovelytheband – Maybe, I’m Afraid
• Pitbull featuring Rhea – Ocean To Ocean
• Avril Lavigne – Tell Me It’s Over
• Gesaffelstein featuring The Weeknd – Lost In The Fire
• Kelsea Ballerini – Miss Me More
• Sam Smith featuring Normani – Dancing With A Stranger (DEBUT)
• Stephen Puth – Sexual Vibe
• Travis Scott featuring Drake – Sicko Mode
• Charli XCX featuring Troye Sivan – 1999

Entrant Reviews:
– Our only entrant on Hit-Bound this week comes from Sam Smith with probably my new favorite song of his. He collaborates with Normani in Dancing With A Stranger. I’ve been enjoying this one since the very first listen, which pretty much explains how I feel about the song. I absolutely love the beat and their vocals blend together very nicely.I’m glad the collaboration between Sam Smith and Normani worked out well. I’ll have more on this when it hopefully debuts.

My Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
1. Sam Smith featuring Normani – Dancing With A Stranger
2. Lauren Daigle – You Say
3. Gesaffelstein featuring The Weeknd – Lost In The Fire
4. Kelsea Ballerini – Miss Me More
5. Avril Lavigne – Tell Me It’s Over

YouTube 15:

• Post Malone featuring Swae Lee – Sunflower
• The Chainsmokers featuring Winona Oak – Hope
• LSD featuring Lil’ Wayne – Genius (Remix)
• Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B – Girls Like You
• Calvin Harris featuring Rag’N’Bone Man – Giant
• Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next
• Maren Morris – Girl
• Halsey – Without Me
• Clean Bandit featuring Marina And The Diamonds and Luis Fonsi – Baby
• Marshmello featuring BΔSTILLE – Happier
• Why Don’t We – Big Plans
• Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
• Alan Walker featuring Au/Ra and Tomine Harket – Darkside
• Benny Blanco featuring Halsey and Khalid – Eastside
• Becky G – LBD

Song Reviews:
– I’ve not been impressed with what LSD had to offer, especially after hearing Thunderclouds. Now, we get the remix to one of their earlier singles that I don’t like either, by the name of Genius. Right off the bad, the song is bad on its own. I’ll admit the production is a little bit better. The problem is that Sia’s voice is annoying and Labrinth doesn’t help either. But in the remix with Lil’ Wayne, he sounds obnoxious in the verses, making the song already worse than the original. Honestly, their music is just a mess all over. Whatever they’re doing is not working for me at all. Let’s move on.

– Up next, Maren Morris has her brand new single titled Girl! I’ll try to make this as simple as possible: the song is just amazing. And no, I don’t say that because I absolutely adore Maren Morris either. Actually, yes I did. I’ll just leave it at that. The point I’m trying to get across is, is that I love everything about the song. Maren sounds great throughout the song. She shines in the chorus and I love the divine instrumentation. Yeah, I definitely love the comeback single from Maren Morris! I hope to see it on the countdown soon.

– Why Don’t We have yet another new single following 8 Letters, this time with Big Plans. I think the instrumentation sounds good and their vocals are nice. The song may not be memorable in the long run, but it’s something worthwhile.

– I’m sure not a lot of people here remember Becky G. She gave us Shower back in 2014, which I thought was good overall. Today, she brings us her new single LBD. Not a whole lot I can say about this one. I’m not a big fan of her voice. I don’t think she sounds good here. The production is basic and pretty underwhelming at times. While it’s in blue, it’s slightly closer to red than it is green.

My Top 5 YouTube 15 Picks
1. Maren Morris – Girl
2. Alan Walker featuring Au/Ra and Tomine Harket – Darkside
3. Post Malone featuring Swae Lee – Sunflower
4. Benny Blanco featuring Halsey and Khalid – Eastside
5. Clean Bandit featuring Marina And The Diamonds and Luis Fonsi – Baby

Top 20 Review:
0 – Horrific:
20. Imagine Dragons – Machine

1 – Bad:
19. Marshmello featuring BΔSTILLE – Happier
18. Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly

2 – Mediocre:
17. TWENTY ØNE PILØTS – Chlorine
16. Anne-Marie – 2002

3 – Decent:
15. Halsey – Without Me

4 – Good:
14. Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next
13. David Guetta featuring Anne-Marie – Don’t Leave Me Alone

5 – Great:
12. Zara Larsson – Ruin My Life
11. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood
10. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
9. Khalid featuring Normani – Love Lies
8. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma I Made It
7. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho
6. Benny Blanco featuring Halsey and Khalid – Eastside
5. Post Malone featuring Swae Lee – Sunflower
4. Dan + Shay – Tequila
3. The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling
2. Dan + Shay – Speechless

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Ellie Goulding featuring Diplo – Close To Me

Overall Grade: 78/100 = 78% (C+)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Rick Astley – Together Forever (1988)

Most Missed Countdown Song: Kelly Clarkson – Heartbeat Song

Most Missed Hit-Bound Dropout: Ellie Goulding – Still Falling For You

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Maren Morris – Girl

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie between Kesha –Praying (#39) and Bruno Mars featuring Cardi B – Finesse (Remix) (#21)

My Top 5 Picks
1. Ellie Goulding featuring Diplo – Close To Me
2. The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling
3. Dan + Shay – Speechless
4. Dan + Shay – Tequila
5. Ariana Grande – Breathin’

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Bebe Rexha – I’m A Mess
2. Imagine Dragons – Machine
3. Lauv featuring Julia Michaels – There’s No Way
4. James Arthur – Empty Space
5. Alessia Cara – Trust My Lonely

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
WØLVES – Animal: I don’t know much about these guys, but they wowed with this debut single of theirs. I like the production and the drop here, and their vocals are good.
NF – Let You Down: I do see the appeal towards this one. But I don’t like his delivery and the chipmunk vocals in the background are annoying. Yeah, I’m not a fan. Sorry.
P!NK – Beautiful Trauma: The intro is pretty cute, and then we get to hear P!NK’s beautiful voice. It’s definitely something enjoyable. And then there’s the music video, which features her and Channing Tatum. Cool stuff.
Camila Cabello – Never Be The Same: Blech. Everything about the song is a mess, especially from a vocal standpoint. The pre-chorus is absolutely awful and the lyrics leave something to be desired. This song is one of many reasons why I was mixed on Camila’s music overall.