Hello, fam!  Just like that, we’re in the month of September.  We’re basically in the homestretch of 2019, which means that I need to work on my Year-End posts.  In fact, I started on mine during the summer.  I hope to have it ready within the next couple of months or so.  Also, yes, football is back!  I’m sure some people here know how much I love to watch football, though I don’t really talk about it since this is primarily a music blog.  I’ll stop now and just get into the countdown.  Before we get into this week’s fresh 40, here are the songs we’re saying goodbye to this week:

• Just Us by DJ Khaled featuring SZA (#24)
• Never Really Over by Katy Perry (#26)

The Countdown:
Last Week’s #1 Song: Bad Guy by Billie Eilish
40. Better by Khalid (#39) [–1]
39. No Guidance by Chris Brown featuring Drake (DEBUT)
38. High Hopes by Panic! At The Disco (#37) [–1] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
37. With You by Kaskade featuring Meghan Trainor (DEBUT)
36. Eastside by Benny Blanco featuring Halsey and Khalid (#35) [–1] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
35. Rescue Me by OneRepublic (#40) [+5]
34. Panini by Lil Nas X (#38) [+4]
33. Without Me by Halsey (#32) [–1] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
32. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown (#32) [+4]
31. Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored by Ariana Grande (#29) [–2]
30. All The Time by Zara Larsson (#34) [+4]
29. 7 Rings by Ariana Grande (#27) [–2] [Spent 5 Weeks At #1]
28. Mother’s Daughter by Miley Cyrus (#30) [+2]
27. Sweet But Psycho by Ava Max (#25) [–2]
26. Time by NF (#33) [+7]
25. Hate Me by Ellie Goulding featuring Juice WRLD (#28) [+3]
24. Old Town Road (Remix) by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (#19) [–5]
23. Love Me Less by MAX featuring Quinn XCII (#23) [=]
22. Call You Mine by The Chainsmokers featuring Bebe Rexha (#20) [–2]
21. The Git Up by Blanco Brown (#22) [+1]
20. Trampoline by SHAED (#31) [+11]
19. Wow. by Post Malone (#16) [–3] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
18. How Do You Sleep? by Sam Smith (#21) [+3]
17. Dan + Shay – Speechless (#18) [+1]
16. Dancing With A Stranger by Sam Smith featuring Normani (#14) [–2] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
15. Only Human by Jonas Brothers (#15) [=]
14. Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House (#17) [+3]
13. Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi (#12) [–1]
12. Easier by 5 Seconds Of Summer (#11) [–1]
11. Hey Look Ma, I Made It by Panic! At The Disco (#8) [–3]
10. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid (#13) [+3]
9. You Need To Calm Down by Taylor Swift (#10) [+1]
8. Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug (#9) [+1]
7. Sucker by Jonas Brothers (#7) [=] [Spent 8 Weeks At #1]
6. Talk by Khalid (#6) [=] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
5. If I Can’t Have You by Shawn Mendes (#4) [–1]
4. Truth Hurts by Lizzo (#5) [+1]
3. I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber (#2) [–1] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
2. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish (#1) [–1] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
1. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello (#3) [+2] [1^st Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Girls Like You by Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B (5^th And Final Week At #1)

Biggest Fall Of The Week: Old Town Road (Remix) by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (–5)

Biggest Rise Of The Week: Trampoline by SHAED (+11)

New Entrants:
– Yeah, not a good pair of debuts this week.  First up is the collaboration between Chris Brown and Drake in their single titled No Guidance.  Last year, Chris Brown collaborated with Lil’ Dicky in Freaky Friday, which was an incoherent mess.  As far as this one goes, I can’t say it’s any better.  I remember first hearing this one and thinking, “This isn’t good.”.  But here it is because of course and now it’s a huge hit elsewhere despite it being a bad song.  The beat is no good.  Chris Brown sounds pretty bad with his vocals.  I’m not fond of the lyrics.  The only reason I don’t loathe is that much is because of Drake himself.  I like his contribution here.  But he’s really the only saving grace in a not very good song.  Yeah, I’m not feeling this.

– Following that, we have EDM producer Kaskade making his first appearance on the countdown.  He collaborates with Meghan Trainor in With You.  Unlike most music critics, I do like a handful of songs from Meghan Trainor.  But I don’t like With You for the most part.  Here, she does not put on a good vocal performance.  As for the rest of the song, the beat is not interesting and I don’t like the drop.  It reminds me too much of I Wanna Know by NOTD featuring Bea Miller.  Kaskade has some songs that I like, such as Cold As Stone.  But here, he does not put forth the effort.  Simply put, this is underwhelming all around.

Best Debut Of The Week: With You by Kaskade featuring Meghan Trainor (But that’s not saying much)

Blurb It Right
– We say goodbye to two great songs, both of which deserved better than what it ultimately had.  Just Us was a nice collaboration between DJ Khaled and SZA and I enjoyed that one quite a bit.  Never Really Over was a awesome comeback single for Katy Perry, and it’s a shame this wasn’t a massive hit like I wanted it to be.  I guess people really have moved on from her.  Oh well.

– Before introducing One Thing Right, Ryan Seacrest mentioned that Kane Brown will be protective of his daughter and hopes she gets into basketball.  My family got me into basketball and I enjoyed playing it a lot back in the day.  I wonder will he train her to become a good player?

– So, I just listened to the remix of Love Me Less which was released this week, and it features Kim Petras.  I’ll say it’s a little bit of a step up from the original version with Quinn XCII.  But even then, that’s not saying much because the song is still shit.  Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be doing much at the moment, so I’m not too concerned.

– And then we have Trampoline jumping into the Top 20 this week.  I’m starting to really love this song.  Her voice is so unique and that mysterious vibe pulls me in. Yeah, I can safely say this is my new favorite song on the countdown right now.  Ever better is the fact that it kicked Old Town Road out of that region, so that’s good.

– Beautiful People entering the Top 10 is good to see.  It doesn’t top BLOW, which is the best off of No. 6 Collaborations Project, but it’s superior to I Don’t Care in pretty much every way.  We’ll see if it ends up going any farther.

– And of course, Señorita is our new #1 this week!  It was only a matter of time, but I’m glad.  It’s not as good as If I Can’t Have You objectively.  But I love it quite a lot.  It’s definitely superior compared to I Know What You Did Last Summer, which didn’t have much to offer.  It’s nice to see it being their highest peaking single together.

Breakouts/On The Verge:

• Spicy by Herve Pagez & Diplo featuring Charli XCX
• Motivation by Normani
• Who Do You Love by Monsta X featuring French Montana
• Post Malone by Sam Feldt featuring Rani

Extras/Optional Extras:

• Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes
• Earned It by The Weeknd
• Here by Alessia Cara
• Cool by Jonas Brothers
• Mi Gente by J Balvin featuring Willy William and Beyoncé
• Me, Myself, & I by G-Eazy featuring Bebe Rexha
• Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
• La La Land by Bryce Vine featuring YG
• Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding

Top 20 Breakdown:
0 – Garbage:
20. Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House

1 – Bad:
19. Wow. by Post Malone
18. Easier by 5 Seconds Of Summer
17. How Do You Sleep? by Sam Smith
16. You Need To Calm Down by Taylor Swift

2 – Mediocre:
15. Talk by Khalid

3 – Decent:
14. I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber
13. Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi

4 – Good:
12. Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug
11. Hey Look Ma, I Made It by Panic! At The Disco
10. Sucker by Jonas Brothers

5 – Great:
9. Truth Hurts by Lizzo
8. Only Human by Jonas Brothers
7. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid
6. Speechless by Dan + Shay
5. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello
4. If I Can’t Have You by Shawn Mendes
3. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish
2. Dancing With A Stranger by Sam Smith featuring Normani

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Trampoline by SHAED

Total Score: 70/100 = 70% (C–)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Say It Right by Nelly Furtado (2006)

Most Missed Song: Blank Space by Taylor Swift

#1 Recommendation For The American Top 40: Lover by Taylor Swift

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie between Side Effects by The Chainsmokers featuring Emily Warren (#20) and The Middle by Zedd featuring Maren Morris and Grey (#19)

My Top 5 Picks
1. Trampoline by SHAED
2. Dancing With A Stranger by Sam Smith featuring Normani
3. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish
4. If I Can’t Have You by Shawn Mendes
5. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown
2. 7 Rings by Ariana Grande
3. Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored by Ariana Grande
4. Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House
5. Love Me Less by MAX featuring Quinn XCII

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Broken by lovelytheband: This song had a little more success than I thought it would.  I didn’t quite love it when it was new.  But it got better with time.  I like the instrumentation and their vocals are nice.

Almost Love by Sabrina Carpenter: I was juggling between blue and green for this one, and I decided to stick with the former for now.  This is probably one of her only good songs I enjoyed from her and I don’t know if there’s really any competition at the moment.  She shows what she is capable of vocally and I like the beat here.

Natural by Imagine Dragons: The lead single for Origins came out of nowhere around this time.  I like how Dan can be able to hit those high notes, and there is some solid instrumentation here.  Yeah, I say this, along with Bad Liar, are the only good songs off of the mess that is of Origins.  I heard it a lot since this was the official theme used for college football last year.