Hello, fam!  I’m still working on doing my rankings for the 2012 Billboard Year-End Rankdown.  I hope to have it ready by this week.  I plan on doing reveals starting sometime next month.  I’ll let you guys know when it’s coming.  Let’s jump right into the countdown on this spooky weekend.  This wasn’t really a good week if I’m being honest.  Before we get to this week’s fresh 45, here are the songs we’re saying goodbye to this week.

• Katy Perry – Small Talk (#39)
• MAX featuring Quinn XCII – Love Me Less (#43)
• Khalid – Talk (#45)

The Countdown:
Last Week’s #1 Song: Jonas Brothers – Only Human
45. Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie – ME! (#44) [–1]
44. Dominic Fike – 3 Nights (#43) [–1]
43. Halsey – Nightmare (#42) [–1]
42. NF – Time (DEBUT)
41. Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber – I Don’t Care (#38) [–3]
40. SHAED – Trampoline (#40) [=]
39. Liam Payne featuring A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie – Stack It Up (DEBUT)
38. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy (#37) [–1]
37. PUBLIC – Make You Mine (#33) [–4]
36. Lauv featuring Anne-Marie – I’m Lonely (#36) [=]
35. Waterparks – Dream Boy (#35) [=]
34. Alec Benjamin – Jesus In LA (#30) [–4]
33. Panic! At The Disco – Roaring 20s (#31) [–2]
32. Why Don’t We – What Am I (#28) [–4]
31. Sam Smith – How Do You Sleep? (#34) [+3]
30. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Teeth (DEBUT)
29. Kygo featuring Whitney Houston – Higher Love (#32) [+3]
28. Charlie Puth – Mother (#24) [–4]
27. Post Malone featuring Young Thug – Goodbyes (#17) [–10]
26. Dan + Shay featuring Justin Bieber – 10,000 Hours (#22) [–4]
25. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#12) [–13] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
24. Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya (#20) [–4]
23. Maroon 5 – Memories (#26) [+3]
22. Camila Cabello – Liar (#23) [+1]
21. Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other (#11) [–10]
20. The Chainsmokers featuring Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine (#19) [–1]
19. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita (#9) [–10]
18. Fall Out Boy featuring Wyclef Jean – Dear Future Self (Hands Up) (#29) [+11]
17. Thomas Rhett – Look What God Gave Her (#16) [–1]
16. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People (#3) [–13]
15. TWENTY ØNE PILØTS – The Hype (#27) [+12]
14. Taylor Swift – Lover (#21) [+7]
13. Post Malone – Circles (#25) [+12]
12. OneRepublic – Rescue Me (#14) [+2]
11. Shawn Mendes – If I Can’t Have You (#18) [+7] [Spent 9 Weeks At #1]
10. Lizzo – Good As Hell (#15) [+5]
9. Jonas Brothers – Cool (#13) [+4] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
8. Halsey – Graveyard (#10) [+2]
7. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier (#2) [–5] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
6. Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down (#4) [–2] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
5. Jonas Brothers – Only Human (#1) [–4] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
4. Lizzo – Truth Hurts (#7) [+3]
3. The Chainsmokers featuring 5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love (#8) [+5][Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
2. Jonas Brothers – Sucker (#6) [+4] [Spent 13 Weeks At #1]
1. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved (#5) [+4] [1^st Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (7^th of 8 Weeks At #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Tie between Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It and Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People (–13)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Tie between TWENTY ØNE PILØTS – The Hype and Post Malone – Circles (+12)

New Entrants:
– Not a very exciting class of debuts.  We’ll start with NF who has the lowest debut of the week.  He gives us some Time to talk about the song.  I kinda like this and I think it’s one of NF’s better songs.  He’s a decent rapper and he shows his potential here.  The production is good in a way and the lyrics are nice.  I don’t really have much else to say about it.

– Up next is the return of Liam Payne with his new single, in the form of Stack It Up.  Now, I haven’t been wild on Liam’s solo work aside from For You, Familiar, and even Bedroom Floor.  How does his new single stack up?  Well, let’s get into it.  First off, it’s eerily similar to Selena Gomez’s song Same Old Love in terms of the way it sounds.  And on that note, she did make a comeback this week which I’ll talk about later on.  As far as Liam’s new single goes, it’s pretty mediocre.  The production isn’t too interesting for me and I’m not too fond of the beat here.  Liam doesn’t really sound his best.  Hits 1 did edit out a verse from A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, whom he is collaborating with.  But even that aside, I’m not wowed by the song.  I have it in blue, but it could change.

– Finally, we get more of 5 Seconds Of Summer with the single taken from Season 3 of 13 Reasons Why, titled Teeth.  As far as their latest music goes, I very much liked Want You Back and Youngblood, while Easier was a huge disappointment from their discography.  Teeth lands somewhere in the middle when it comes to my opinion.  It goes without saying that this is better than Easier in the sense that there’s resemblance of a band.  I like the rock production.  But I can’t really get on board with their vocals.  Thus, I can’t say it’s as good as what they had before.  It’s pretty decent and it could grow on me with time.

Best Debut Of The Week: NF – Time

Blurb It Up
– First off, it’s about damn time Love Me Less made its way out.  We must celebrate as that song is no longer with us on the countdown.  Hallelujah!  Talk I’m pleased about leaving as well, so that’s good.  Small Talk I was pretty mixed on, but it’s better than Katy Perry’s newer song.  I’m still looking forward to whatever Katy brings us next year.

– Alright.  Now with those exits out of the way, it’s time for me to go off on this countdown.  Someone You Loved has risen to #1 this week because of course.  I went back and forth on my relationship towards the song, but now I’ve had it.  This guy’s voice is not good.  Yet for some reason this is becoming a #1 hit.  I may be a sucker for ballads, but this is not it.  I can’t with this.  Sad thing is this looks headed for #1 on Billboard.  It’s another good reason as to why the quality of music has gone to shit.  This is seriously not okay.

– Why in the nine hells are we letting Who Do You Love back in the Top 5?!?!  This is really pushing it.  I didn’t think I could ever dislike it, but now it’s nearly impossible for me not to hate it.  Hits 1’s love for this song is just out of control right now.  It’s time to move on from this song seriously.

– Don’t even get me started on Cool somehow making it back in the Top 10.  This is one of the reasons why this week’s countdown was so bad.  I was over with this song a long time ago and now Hits 1 is holding on to it for too long.  I’ve come to realize how stupid the lyrics are overall, and Nick’s putrid vocal performance is not helping. I cannot stand that song anymore.  It also needs to move down now.

– One of the few bright spots this week is Good As Hell entering the Top 10.  I’m pleased with this.  I’m glad that song is catching on and it’s nice to see Lizzo gaining more recognition.

– The Hype and Circles both made some big jumps into the Top 20 this week.  I’m cool with those being here, especially the former.  I’m glad The Hype is living up to the hype, while Circles is…well, running around in circles (see what I did there).

– But then we have Beautiful People and Señorita both dropping big out of the Top 10.  That’s not a good thing.  I’m glad they’ve had some success.  But I think they deserved at least one week at #1 here, especially Señorita.  Yet, they’re not being treated as such because of course.

– Hey Look Ma, I Made It finally dropped out of the Top 20 after being in that region what feels like forever.  The end may finally be near for the song (and maybe Panic! At The Disco in general).

Hit-Bound:

• Tones And I – Dance Monkey
• Louis Tomlinson – We Made It (DEBUT)
• Normani – Motivation
• Selena Gomez – Lose You To Love Me (DEBUT)
• AJR – Dear Winter
• Kesha featuring Big Freedia – Raising Hell (DEBUT)
• Meghan Trainor featuring Mike Sabath – Wave (DEBUT)
• Lewis Capaldi – Hold Me While You Wait
• Marshmello featuring Kane Brown – One Thing Right
• Diplo featuring Jonas Brothers – Lonely
• Billie Eilish – All The Good Girls Go To Hell
• The Chainsmokers & ILLENIUM featuring Lennon Stella – Takeaway
• Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel
• Harry Styles – Lights Up
• Monsta X featuring French Montana – Who Do U Love
• Selena Gomez – Look At Her Now (DEBUT)

Entrant Reviews:
– Congratulations to Meghan Trainor for giving music critics another good reason to slowly step away from her music.  Sigh.  I have an unpopular opinion on Meghan’s music despite what other people think.  She has some catchy songs in my opinion.  Heck, I’ve never even hated her latest singles after No Excuses.  But Wave is pure fucking garbage.  I honestly don’t know what she is going for here because this sounds terrible.  She doesn’t sound good at all, and Mike Sabath didn’t do anything to even contribute.  His voice is terrible.  I do not like the guitar and everything else from a production standpoint is just mediocre all around.  This is just a mess and is Meghan Trainor’s worst release since Me Too.

– Luckily though, we get some good debuts to make up for Meghan Trainor’s nonsense.  We have two certain acts making their comeback this week.  I’ll start with the big return of Selena Gomez with the first of her two singles, titled Lose You To Love Me.  Like I just mentioned, I’m a sucker for ballads.  I definitely wasn’t expecting Selena to go that route, but I’m glad it turned out really well.  She’s is a talented singer and she showed her potential here.  Her voice gets better as the song goes along.  The production is very nice and I love the lyrics here.  I’m intrigued by whatever Selena has to offer (aside from her other song) because this kicks ass.  I’m here for it becoming a potential big hit.  It’s nice to have Selena back. 🙂

– Then, there’s the return of Kesha.  She brings us her new single titled Raising Hell.  It took me a few listens, but I’ve come around to it.  I’m not necessarily wild about the drop. Everything else is solid, however.  Kesha showcases her great voice here, and I like what it was going for lyrically.  It’s a fun tune that reminds me of her older singles prior to Rainbow.  I’m glad Kesha is back.

– Louis Tomlinson replaces himself this week with his new single titled We Made It, from his upcoming album.  This is no Kill My Mind, but it’s still good.  I like Louis’s voice and the instrumentation is pretty damn solid.  The lyrics are well written.  Overall, it’s a nice tune.

– Finally, we have Selena with her second song, in the form of Look At Her Now.  I’m not sure what Selena is going for here.  I don’t think this is her style.  Her voice sounds pretty underwhelming and at times, irritating.  The beat isn’t really interesting nor is the rest of the production.  I’m not feeling this one.  I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt since she gave me a superior song this week to go along with it.

Best Hit-Bound Entrant Of The Week: Selena Gomez – Lose You To Love Me

Hit-Bound Breakdown:
0 – Crap:
15. Meghan Trainor featuring Mike Sabath – Wave
14. Marshmello featuring Kane Brown – One Thing Right

1 – Bad:
13. Diplo featuring Jonas Brothers – Lonely
12. AJR – Dear Winter
11. Tones And I – Dance Monkey
10. Selena Gomez – Look At Her Now

2 – Mediocre:
None!

3 – Decent:
9. Lewis Capaldi – Hold Me While You Wait
8. Billie Eilish – All The Good Girls Go To Hell
7. Harry Styles – Light Up

4 – Good:
None!

5 – Great:
6. Louis Tomlinson – We Made It
5. Normani – Motivation
4. Kesha featuring Big Freedia – Raising Hell
3. Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel
2. The Chainsmokers & ILLENIUM featuring Lennon Stella – Takeaway

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On Hit-Bound:
1. Selena Gomez – Lose You To Love Me

Overall Grade: 44/75 = 59% (D+)

Most Missed Hit-Bound Dropout: Little Mix – Shout Out To My Ex

My Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
1. Selena Gomez – Lose You To Love Me
2. The Chainsmokers & ILLENIUM featuring Lennon Stella – Takeaway
3. Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel
4. Kesha featuring Big Freedia – Raising Hell
5. Normani – Motivation

Hits 1 Weekend Countdown Top 20 Breakdown:
0 – Crap:
20. Jonas Brothers – Cool
19. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier

1 – Bad:
18. The Chaisnmokers featuring 5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love
17. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
16. Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down

2 – Mediocre:
None!

3 – Decent:
None!

4 – Good:
15. Jonas Brothers – Sucker
14. Thomas Rhett – Look What God Gave Her

5 – Great:
13. Post Malone – Circles
12. Jonas Brothers – Only Human
11. Halsey – Graveyard
10. OneRepublic – Rescue Me
9. Fall Out Boy featuirng Wyclef Jean – Dear Future Self (Hands Up)
8. The Chainsmokers featuring Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine
7. Lizzo – Truth Hurts
6. TWENTY ØNE PILØTS – The Hype
5. Lizzo – Good As Hell
4. Shawn Mendes – If I Can’t Have You
3. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People
2. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Taylor Swift – Lover

Overall Grade: 77/100 = 77% (B)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Michael Jackson – Thriller (1983)

Most Missed Countdown Song: Katy Perry – Teenage Dream (since her birthday was last Friday)

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Ally Brooke featuring Matoma – Higher

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie between Zedd featuring Elley Duhé – Happy Now (#10) and The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#7)

My Top 5 Picks
1. Taylor Swift – Lover
2. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita
3. SHAED – Trampoline
4. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People
5. Kygo featuring Whitney Houston – Higher Love

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Halsey – Nightmare
2. Jonas Brothers – Cool
3. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier
4. Lauv featuring Anne-Marie – I’m Lonely
5. Maroon 5 – Memories

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Juice WRLD – Lucid Dreams: I don’t get the appeal to this.  This is just terrible in almost every way.  I like the guitar, but everything else is not good at all.  Juice WRLD sounds like crap and the lyrics are asinine.  Why did we let this become a hit, honestly?

Lady Gaga – I’ll Never Love Again: Taken from A Star Is Born movie soundtrack, it’s a nice ballad for Lady Gaga.  Quite a shame this spent only one week on the countdown before dropping out.  But at least her other single from the soundtrack was a huge hit after winning the Oscars.

Halsey – Without Me: I’ll admit that I didn’t exactly liked this at first.  I’m still mixed on it, but it’s a lot better than Halsey’s current representation.  I’ll probably have more to say about it within the next two months or so.

Hello, fam!  With the end of October comes one of the spookiest times of the year: Halloween!  There’s something spooky going on around this time, so prepare yourselves.  Anyway, I plan on doing reveals for myn 2012 Billboard Year-End Rankdown starting next month.  I’m still working on sending my own submission.  I should have it ready by this weekend.  As for the rest of you, you have until then to submit your rankings.  If you haven’t, now is the time to do it.  Before we get to this week’s fresh 40, here are the songs we’re saying goodbye to this week:

• Hate Me by Ellie Goulding featuring Juice WRLD (#39)
• Without Me by Halsey (#40) [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]

The Countdown:
Last Week’s #1 Song: Truth Hurts by Lizzo
40. Slow Dance by AJ Mitchell featuring Ava Max (DEBUT)
39. 7 Rings by Ariana Grande (#37) [–2] [Spent 5 Weeks At #1]
38. Rooting For You by Alessia Cara (DEBUT)
37. Good Things Fall Apart by ILLENIUM featuring Jon Bellion (#38) [+1]
36. Sweet But Psycho by Ava Max (#35) [–1]
35. Higher Love by Kygo featuring Whitney Houston (#36) [+1]
34. Old Town Road (Remix) by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (#33) [–1]
33. What Am I by Why Don’t We (#34) [+1]
32. Ran$om by Lil Tecca (#32) [=]
31. Wow. by Post Malone (#30) [–1] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
30. Who Do U Love? by Monsta X featuring French Montana (#29) [–1]
29. Shameless by Camila Cabello (#28) [–1]
28. Hey Look Ma, I Made It by Panic! At The Disco (#26) [–2]
27. No Guidance by Chris Brown featuring Drake (#27) [=]
26. Don’t Call Me Angel by Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey (#31) [+5]
25. Sucker by Jonas Brothers (#23) [–2] [Spent 8 Weeks At #1]
24. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown (#21) [–3]
23. Dancing With A Stranger by Sam Smith featuring Normani (#20) [–3] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
22. Panini by Lil Nas X (#22) [=]
21. If I Can’t Have You by Shawn Mendes (#16) [–5]
20. Graveyard by Halsey (#19) [–1]
19. Lover by Taylor Swift (#18) [–1]
18. Memories by Maroon 5 (#25) [+7]
17. Liar by Camila Cabello (#17) [=]
16. Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House (#10) [–6]
15. Good As Hell by Lizzo (#24) [+9]
14. Talk by Khalid (#12) [–2] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
13. Time by NF (#15) [+2]
12. Motivation by Normani (#14) [+2]
11. How Do You Sleep? by Sam Smith (#13) [+2]
10. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish (#7) [–3] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
9. Trampoline by SHAED (#9) [=]
8. Circles by Post Malone (#11) [+3]
7. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid (#6) [–1]
6. Only Human by Jonas Brothers (#8) [+2]
5. I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber (#5) [=] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
4. Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug (#4) [=]
3. Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi (#3) [=]
2. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello (#2) [=] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
1. Truth Hurts by Lizzo (#1) [=] [4^th Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Youngblood by 5 Seconds Of Summer (2^nd of 3 Weeks At #1)

Biggest Fall Of The Week: Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House (–6)

Biggest Rise Of The Week: Good As Hell by Lizzo (+9)

New Entrants:
– Two rising acts in the world of music band together in this debut.  Ava Max became a name throughout 2019 when Sweet But Psycho was a sleeper hit.  Then, there’s AJ Mitchell who made a name for himself by bringing us All My Friends from earlier this year.  So, does their new song Slow Dance live up to the billing?  Well, it’s not bad by any means.  But I feel like it could’ve been better.  There’s really not much in terms of the production and the beat.  It feels kinda empty to me.  These guys sound pretty good here, but they don’t quite hit hard in the chorus.  When it comes to the lyrical depth, it’s pretty thin in some areas of the song.  To put it short, it’s a decent collaboration.  But I’m not exactly wowed by it.

– Alessia Cara makes her return with Rooting For You.  I’ve not been wild on Alessia’s latest deep cuts aside from Growing Pains and some other stuff.  I was rooting for her a few years back when she broke out with Know It All.  That album had plenty of cuts that I liked such as Here and Scars To Your Beautiful.  Even her work with Zedd in Stay was pretty damn solid.  Rooting For You doesn’t live up to those and it’s not even close.  She’s much better than this.  I like some aspects of the production, such as the beat and the decent guitar even though it’s a little watered down.  But my concern is Alessia herself.  She doesn’t really stand out in any part of the song.  I think she sounds unenthusiatic here.  That’s not the kind of vocal performance I’m looking for.  Then, you have the lyrics.  She didn’t put forth the effort in that aspect, either.  So yeah, it’s pretty underwhelming overall.  Like I said, I want something from Know It All and some of The Pains Of Growing, not whatever she’s currently trying to do.

Best Debut Of The Week: Slow Dance by AJ Mitchell featuring Ava Max

Rooting For Blurbs
– So, we have two exits.  First off, I’m sure everyone here is happy about the departure of Without Me by Halsey.  It was getting close to lasting a year on the countdown.  I’m sure that one will be ranked high come December.  Then, there’s Hate Me by Ellie Goulding featuring Juice WRLD.  I kinda soured on that one after a while.  Ellie can do much better.  I much preferred Flux and Close To Me.

– It was really only a matter of time until Good As Hell made its way into the Top 20 with a big jump.  It’s already certain to do much more now that the remix with Ariana has been released.  I’m here for Lizzo getting another huge hit because it’s a good song through and through.

– So, the other good news is that Boyfriend thankfully didn’t last very long in the Top 10.  Taking its place this week is Circles, which isn’t a shock.  I prefer that song over Goodbyes at this point.  I think that song should start moving down while Circles needs to keep rising.

– Before introducing Beautiful People, Ryan Seacrest mentioned that when Ed Sheeran talks about his contract, he adds in some bizarre clauses.  Looks like his manager will have to follow some of his rules to meet the conditions.  Heh.

– Before introducing Only Human, Ryan Seacrest mentioned that Joe resisted on reuniting with Nick and Kevin to make music again, in part because he was afraid of his emotions.  I’m glad he was able to overcome such emotions.

Breakouts/On The Verge
10,000 Hours by Dan + Shay featuring Justin Bieber
Teeth by 5 Seconds Of Summer
Lonely by Diplo featuring Jonas Brothers
Nice To Meet Ya by Niall Horan
My Type by Saweetie

Extras/Optional Extras:
Cold Water by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ
The Hills by The Weeknd
The Monster by Eminem featuring Rihanna
Only Girl (In The World) by Rihanna
Rockstar by Post Malone featuring 21 Savage
Demons by Imagine Dragons
Him & I by G-Eazy featuring Halsey
Be Alright by Dean Lewis
Chandelier by Sia
One More Night by Maroon 5
Finesse (Remix) by Bruno Mars featuring Cardi B

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

1 – Bad:
19. Memories by Maroon 5
18. Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi

2 – Mediocre:
17. Talk by Khalid
16. How Do You Sleep? by Sam Smith
15. I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber

3 – Decent:
14. Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug
13. Liar by Camila Cabello

4 – Good:
12. Time by NF

5 – Great:
11. Graveyard by Halsey
10. Circles by Post Malone
9. Truth Hurts by Lizzo
8. Only Human by Jonas Brothers
7. Motivation by Normani
6. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish
5. Good As Hell by Lizzo
4. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid
3. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello
2. Trampoline by SHAED

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Lover by Taylor Swift

Total Score: 74/100 = 74% (B)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Thriller by Michael Jackson (1983)

Most Missed Song: Teenage Dream by Katy Perry (since yesterday was her birthday)

#1 Recommendation For The American Top 40: Lose You To Love Me by Selena Gomez

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie between The Middle by Zedd featuring Maren Morris and Grey (#32) and Breathin’ by Ariana Grande (#21)

My Top 5 Picks
1. Lover by Taylor Swift
2. Trampoline by SHAED
3. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello
4. Higher Love by Kygo featuring Whitney Houston
5. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown
2. 7 Rings by Ariana Grande
3. Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House
4. No Guidance by Chris Brown featuring Drake
5. Ran$om by Lil Tecca

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Lost In Japan by Shawn Mendes: This was released simultaneously with In My Blood back in spring of last year.  As much as I like In My Blood, I think this is even better, mainly because of the groove and Shawn’s smooth vocals.  It did take for the remix with Zedd to help it gain some momentum.  Too bad it ended up flopping in the end.

Hello, fam!  Yes, I know this post is a little late.  I kinda got busy over the weekend and I actually forgot about this.  But at least I got this out and that’s all that matters.  Next week though, it won’t be as late.  Let’s get right into it.  Before we get to this week’s fresh 40, here are the songs we’re saying goodbye to this week:

• All The Time by Zara Larsson (#25)
• With You by Kaskade featuring Meghan Trainor (#37)

The Countdown:
Last Week’s #1 Song: Truth Hurts by Lizzo
40. Without Me by Halsey (#40) [=] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
39. Hate Me by Ellie Goulding featuring Juice WRLD (#17) [–22]
38. Good Things Fall Apart by ILLENIUM featuring Jon Bellion (#38) [=]
37. 7 Rings by Ariana Grande (#36) [–1] [Spent 5 Weeks At #1]
36. Higher Love by Kygo featuring Whitney Houston (DEBUT)
35. Sweet But Psycho by Ava Max (#34) [–1]
34. What Am I by Why Don’t We (DEBUT)
33. Old Town Road (Remix) by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (#32) [–1]
32. Ransom by Lil Tecca (#35) [+3]
31. Don’t Call Me Angel by Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey (#39) [+8]
30. Wow. by Post Malone (#29) [–1] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
29. Who Do U Love? by Monsta X featuring French Montana (#31) [+2]
28. Shameless by Camila Cabello (#30) [+2]
27. No Guidance by Chris Brown featuring Drake (#28) [+1]
26. Hey Look Ma, I Made It by Panic! At The Disco (#24) [–2]
25. Memories by Maroon 5 (#33) [+8]
24. Good As Hell by Lizzo (#27) [+3]
23. Sucker by Jonas Brothers (#21) [–2] [Spent 8 Weeks At #1]
22. Panini by Lil Nas X (#20) [–2]
21. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown (#19) [–2]
20. Dancing With A Stranger by Sam Smith featuring Normani (#18) [–2] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
19. Graveyard by Halsey (#26) [+7]
18. Lover by Taylor Swift (#23) [+5]
17. Liar by Camila Cabello (#22) [+5]
16. If I Can’t Have You by Shawn Mendes (#13) [–3]
15. Time by NF (#16) [+1]
14. Motivation by Normani (#15) [+4]
13. How Do You Sleep? by Sam Smith (#14) [+1]
12. Talk by Khalid (#8) [–4] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
11. Circles by Post Malone (#12) [+1]
10. Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House (#9) [–1]
9. Trampoline by SHAED (#11) [+2]
8. Only Human by Jonas Brothers (#10) [+2]
7. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish (#6) [–1] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
6. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid (#7) [+1]
5. I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber (#5) [=] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
4. Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug (#4) [=]
3. Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi (#3) [=]
2. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello (#2) [=] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
1. Truth Hurts by Lizzo (#1) [=] [3^rd Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Youngblood by 5 Seconds Of Summer (1^st of 3 Weeks At #1)

Biggest Fall Of The Week: Hate Me by Ellie Goulding featuring Juice WRLD (–22)

Biggest Rise Of The Week: Tie between Don’t Call Me Angel by Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey and Memories by Maroon 5 (+8)

New Entrants:
– Two new songs enter the countdown this week.  First, we have more of Kygo here.  This time around, he brings us some Higher Love.  The vocals used here are from the late Whitney Houston, who did a cover of Steven Winwood’s original song.  I talked about this one in full detail in my last post.  To sum it all up, I like Kygo’s work here, which proves to me that he is one of the best EDM artists out there right now.  The chopped up vocals sound really good and the drop is interesting.  This song overall basically fires on all cylinders and I’m glad that it’s here.

– Also, we have more of Why Don’t We as they give us What Am I.  This one I already talked about as well.  It’s quite different compared to what they’ve done before.  I like the guitar here and I think it sounds nice.  These guys sound good with their vocals.  I kinda like the lyrics, too.  These guys have potential to be good songwriters and they do show it here.  Overall, this is pretty good.

Best Debut Of The Week: Higher Love by Kygo featuring Whitney Houston

Where’s That Higher Blurb?
– Our two exits consist of With You and All The Time.  The former I’m happy about since it wasn’t good from the start.  Kaskade has made some stuff I liked for sure, but this was not one of them.  So, I have no complains about it leaving at all.  Then, there’s All The Time leaving, which makes me kinda sad.  But at the same time, it’s really no shock given that Zara Larsson is underrated in the US.

– The arrival of Trampoline in the Top 10 is very nice.  I’m glad to see this one becoming a minor hit.  That mysterious vibe really gets me here and I love Chelsea Lee’s voice.  I do hope it can continue its momentum.

– There’s really not else much for me to talk about other than Hate Me getting one of the biggest drops of the year.  I’m fine with this.  That song kinda soured on me after a while.  I’m still interested in what Ellie Goulding has in store for her new album, which is due to come out next year.

Breakouts/On The Verge:
Teeth by 5 Seconds Of Summer
Slow Dance by AJ Mitchell featuring Ava Max
Rooting For You by Alessia Cara

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

1 – Bad:
19. Talk by Khalid

2 – Mediocre:
18. How Do You Sleep? by Sam Smith
17. Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi
16. I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber

3 – Decent:
15. Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug
14. Liar by Camila Cabello

4 – Good:
13. Time by NF

5 – Great:
12. Graveyard by Halsey
11. Only Human by Jonas Brothers
10. Motivation by Normani
9. Circles by Post Malone
8. Truth Hurts by Lizzo
7. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish
6. Dancing With A Stranger by Sam Smith featuring Normani
5. If I Can’t Have You by Shawn Mendes
4. Trampoline by SHAED
3. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid
2. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Lover by Taylor Swift

Total Score: 78/100 = 78% (B)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Higher Love by Steven Winwood (1986)

Most Missed Song: Praying by Kesha

#1 Recommendation For The American Top 40: Nice To Meet Ya by Niall Horan

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Breathin’ by Ariana Grande (#22)

My Top 5 Picks
1. Lover by Taylor Swift
2. Higher Love by Kygo featuring Whitney Houston
3. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello
4. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid
5. Trampoline by SHAED

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House
2. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown
3. 7 Rings by Ariana Grande
4. No Guidance by Chris Brown featuring Drake
5. Ransom by Lil Tecca

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Electricity by Silk City featuring Dua Lipa: Even though people were getting tired of Dua Lipa at that point, it was still a really good song.  I like the work done by Mark Ronson and Diplo, the duo who formed Silk City.  Dua sounds great here.  I enjoyed this quite a lot.

Thunderclouds by LSD: I was never fond of this since day one, and I still find it quite messy even today.  I don’t like Sia’s or Labrinth’s vocals here and the production work is just awful.  It’s a good thing that one flopped elsewhere.

Breathin’ by Ariana Grande: I’ll talk more about this in my Year-End posts coming up within the next two months or so.  It’s definitely one of the best Sweetener had to offer.  Too bad it’s momentum stalled when Thank U, Next came around.

Hello, fam!  I’m running out of things to say at the moment.  I’ll just simply skip the introductions and get ont to the countdown.  Things are looking better around here.  We got some good moves, some nice debuts, and a good new #1.  Let’s just hope things will continue to get better as we head further into Fall.  Before we get to this week’s fresh 45, here are the songs leaving the countdown this week:

• Camila Cabello – Shameless (#35)
• Stephen Puth – Look Away (#38)

The Countdown:
Last Week’s #1 Song: 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier
45. Khalid – Talk (#44) [–1]
44. Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie – ME! (#45) [+1]
43. Dominic Fike – 3 Nights (#42) [–1]
42. Halsey – Nightmare (#43) [+1]
41. MAX featuring Quinn XCII – Love Me Less (#41) [=]
40. SHAED – Trampoline (#40) [=]
39. Katy Perry – Small Talk (#30) [–9]
38. Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber – I Don’t Care (#29) [–9]
37. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy (#31) [–6]
36. Lauv featuring Anne-Marie – I’m Lonely (#32) [–4]
35. Waterparks – Dream Boy (#34) [–1]
34. Sam Smith – How Do You Sleep? (#28) [–6]
33. PUBLIC – Make You Mine (#27) [–6]
32. Kygo featuring Whitney Houston – Higher Love (#37) [+5]
31. Panic! At The Disco – Roaring 20s (#36) [+5]
30. Alec Benjamin – Jesus In LA (#22) [–8]
29. Fall Out Boy featuring Wyclef Jean – Dear Future Self (Hands Up) (#25) [–4]
28. Why Don’t We – What Am I (#24) [–4]
27. TWENTY ØNE PILØTS – The Hype (#21) [–6]
26. Maroon 5 – Memories (#20) [–6]
25. Post Malone – Circles (#33) [+8]
24. Charlie Puth – Mother (#18) [–6]
23. Camila Cabello – Liar (#23) [=]
22. Dan + Shay featuring Justin Bieber – 10,000 Hours (DEBUT)
21. Taylor Swift – Lover (#26) [+5]
20. Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya (DEBUT)
19. The Chainsmokers featuring Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine (#16) [–3]
18. Shawn Mendes – If I Can’t Have You (#8) [–10] [Spent 9 Weeks At #1]
17. Post Malone featuring Young Thug – Goodbyes (#19) [+2]
16. Thomas Rhett – Look What God Gave Her (#17) [+1]
15. Lizzo – Good As Hell (#39) [+24]
14. OneRepublic – Rescue Me (#15) [+1]
13. Jonas Brothers – Cool (#12) [–1] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
12. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#9) [–3] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
11. Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other (#10) [–1]
10. Halsey – Graveyard (#11) [+1]
9. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita (#14) [+5]
8. The Chainsmokers featuring 5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love (#6) [–2] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
7. Lizzo – Truth Hurts (#3) [–4]
6. Jonas Brothers – Sucker (#4) [–2] [Spent 13 Weeks At #1]
5. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved (#7) [+2]
4. Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down (#5) [+1] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
3. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People (#13) [+10]
2. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier (#1) [–1] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
1. Jonas Brothers – Only Human (#2) [+1] [1^st Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood (3^rd of 5 Weeks At #1) 

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Shawn Mendes – If I Can’t Have You (–10)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Lizzo – Good As Hell (+24)

New Entrants:
– The two returning acts make their way back to the countdown.  It’s been 10,000 Hours since the country duo Dan + Shay left us with Speechless.  Well, not exactly.  By my calculations, it’s actually been 864 hours since that song left the countdown (1 month and 5 days to be exact).  Has it really been that long?  Anyway, I’ll talk about that new song of theirs, and they collaborate with Justin Bieber.  We’ve seen Justin cross over into the Latin genre two years ago when he contributed to the remix of Despacito, a huge hit back in 2017.  It was really cool and something different.  Now, here he is entering the realm of country music.  Much like with Despacito, 10,000 Hours is cool and something different.  Sure, it has the same country elements used in Tequila and Speechless.  Obviously, their new song doesn’t quite live up to those two.  But this is still a pretty good song.  The harmonies sound pretty good here and I quite like the guitar.  These guys had a nice vocal performance here and they have good chemistry.

– While it’s been a month since Dan + Shay left the countdown, it’s been a year since we’ve last heard from Niall Horan.  He brings us a great comeback here, as Nice To Meet Ya makes its debut.  I enjoyed a lot of what Flicker had to offer.  It showed how Niall has evolved artistically.  Songs such as Slow Hands, On The Loose, and Seeing Blind were solid.  Allow me to dissect this new song of his.  The intro starts with the piano, and then Niall starts smooth talking to a girl.  That’s where the rest of the production kicks in.  It has good use of guitars and a nice groove.  And Niall continues to have that swagger for the whole song.  Whatever creativity and effort he put into this, he did a fine job at it because everything is just divine.  With the exception for Liam and ZAYN, all the other members of One Direction have done wonders in terms of making good solo music.  But Niall does it much better and this song serves as a good example.  If this is an indication of how Niall’s new album will turn out, then I’m here for it.

Best Debut Of The Week: Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya

I’d Spend 10,000 Blurbs
Unfortunately, I don’t really have 10,000 blurbs.  But I do have some things I want to talk about.  Let’s get into the action.

– First up, we have two exits, neither of which will really be missed by me.  Shamless I’ve decided was not very good after more listens.  I’m glad it didn’t catch on.  It reminded me too much of Never Be The Same.  Then, there’s Look Away, which I thought was okay.  But nothing will ever top Sexual Vibe from earlier this year.  Guess that’s the last we’ll hear from Charlie Puth’s brother for a while.

– Nothing really has changed in the Bottom 5 this week other than four songs swapping places.

– Quite a lot of songs dropped 6 spots this week, which showed how much movement we had in this week’s countdown.

– No, not If I Can’t Have You!  It takes the Biggest DRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week.  I know, sad.  But it had a very good run and spent a lot of time at #1.  I’m happy about it’s success.

– Wowzers! Good As Hell has one of the biggest jumps of the year as it moves quickly into the Top 15.  It’s no Juice, but this is still divine.  I’m glad it’s starting to catch on.

– Before introducing If We Have Each Other, Spyder Harrison mentioned that Alec Benjamin is growing a beard.  When I looked up photos of him, he was clean shaven.  Now, he’s trying something different.  I wonder how much will he let it grow?

– It’s insane that Who Do You Love is still way too high in the Top 10.  I know I liked it before when it was new, but this is just pushing it.  It’s time to move on from this song, seriously.

– Before introducing Truth Hurts, Spyder Harrison mentioned that Justin Timberlake is planning on collaborating with Lizzo sometime in the near future.  That’ll definitely be interesting.  It’s been a year since we’ve last heard from Justin Timberlake.  I’m excited for whatever he brings in store.  What else does he have cooking up?

– The big jump from Beautiful People up to #3 was nice to see.  Good to see that one still going strong.  I would love it if it were to hit #1 pretty soon, but we’ll have to see.

– On that note, we’ve got a good #1 song for the first time in…let me see here…wow, 864 hours!  That’s about the same time Speechless has left the countdown.  Only Human has been on the countdown for 3 weeks, 21 days, 504 hours, 30,240 minutes, etc.  Already it rose to #1, tying the record for the fastest rise to #1.  This is looking like Sucker all over again.  Along with Beautiful People, this is one of two good songs in the Top 5 right now.  I’m hoping it holds at #1 for a little while.  But that won’t be too much of a problem given that it’s still gaining momentum.

Hit-Bound:

• Marshmello featuring Kane Brown – One Thing Right
• AJR – Dear Winter
• The Chainsmokers & ILLENIUM featuring Lennon Stella – Takeaway
• Harry Styles – Lights Up (DEBUT)
• Tones And I – Dance Monkey
• 5 Seconds Of Summer – Teeth
• Liam Payne featuring A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie – Stack It Up
• Normani – Motivation
• Louis Tomlinson – Kill My Mind
• Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel
• Billie Eilish – All The Good Girls Go Hell
• Diplo featuring Jonas Brothers – Lonely
• Monsta X featuring French Montana – Who Do U Love?
• Lewis Capaldi – Hold Me While You Wait (DEBUT)
• NF – Time

Entrant Reviews:
– It’s been even longer since we’ve heard from Harry Styles (about a year and a half, I should say).  He gives us his brand new single in the form of Light Up.  This is something different compared to what he had before when he went more of a glam rock.  But it’s not exactly what I was hoping for in his comeback single.  Harry sounds okay here, but the production isn’t too exciting.  I was expecting more, but it’s underwhelming at times.  His self-titled album has plenty of stuff I like, including Sign Of The Times.  I’m not sure what new direction he’ll take for his new album.

– Next, we have more of Lewis Capaldi with his latest single, titled Hold Me While You Wait.  I think it’s only a little bit of a step up from Someone You Loved.  Production-wise, it’s good but I still don’t really like his voice that much.  This is okay, but I can see it growing on me.

Best Hit-Bound Entrant Of The Week: Harry Styles – Light Up (Only by a little bit)

Hit-Bound Breakdown:
0 – Crap:
15. Marshmello featuring Kane Brown – One Thing Right

1 – Bad:
14. AJR – Dear Winter
13. Tones And I – Dance Monkey

2 – Mediocre:
12. Diplo featuring Jonas Brothers – Lonely
11. Liam Payne featuring A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie – Stack It Up

3 – Decent:
10. Lewis Capaldi – Hold Me While You Wait
9. Billie Eilish – All The Good Girls Go To Hell
8. Harry Styles – Light Up
7. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Teeth

4 – Good:
6. NF – Time

5 – Great:
5. Monsta X featuring French Montana – Who Do U Love?
4. Normani – Motivation
3. Louis Tomlinson – Kill My Mind
2. Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On Hit-Bound:
1. The Chainsmokers & ILLENIUM featuring Lennon Stella – Takeaway

Overall Grade: 48/75 = 64% (C)

Most Missed Hit-Bound Dropout: Disturbed – The Sound Of Silence

My Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
1. The Chainsmokers & ILLENIUM featuring Lennon Stella – Takeaway
2. Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel
3. Louis Tomlinson – Kill My Mind
4. Normani – Motivation
5. Monsta X featuring French Montana – Who Do U Love?

YouTube 15:

• Maroon 5 – Memories
• Super M – Jopping
• Camila Cabello – Easy
• Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
• J-Hope featuring Becky G – Chicken Noodle Soup
• Lil Nas X – Panini
• Harry Styles – Lights Up
• Post Malone – Circles
• OneRepublic – Wanted
• Lizzo – Truth Hurts
• Ali Gatie – Used To You
• Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Senorita
• Becky G featuring Myke Towers – Dollar
• Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
• Black Eyed Peas featuring J Balvin – RITMO (Bad Boys For Life)

Song Reviews:
– This week’s YouTube 15 list is not looking good here.  First is Camila Cabello yet again with another single titled Easy.  I think this is one of the better songs off of her new album.  I quite like her voice here.  She sounds better here than in Shameless.  The production is pretty solid.  Not much else beyond that.

– Then, there’s the return of the Black Eyed Peas, and they team up with J Balvin in RITMO (Bad Boys For Life).  Yeah, I’m not feeling this.  The beat is too minimalistic and neither of them sound good in their verses.  It’s not as bad as some of their earlier work (Imma Be, etc.), but it’s undesirable.

YouTube 15 Breakdown:
0 – Crap:
15. J-Hope featuring Becky G – Chicken Noodle Soup
14. Becky G featuring Myke Towers – Dollar
13. Black Eyed Peas featuring J Balvin – RITMO (Bad Boys For Life)

1 – Bad:
12. Ali Gatie – Used To You
11. Maroon 5 – Memories

2 – Mediocre:
10. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
9. Super M – Jopping

3 – Decent:
8. Harry Styles – Light Up
7. OneRepublic – Wanted
6. Lil Nas X – Panini

4 – Good:
5. Camila Cabello – Easy

5 – Great:
4. Post Malone – Circles
3. Lizzo – Truth Hurts
2. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The YouTube 15:
1. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita

Overall Grade: 40/75 = 53% (D+)

Most Missed YouTube 15 Song: JoJo – Save My Soul

My Top 5 YouTube 15 Picks
1. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita
2. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
3. Lizzo – Truth Hurts
4. Post Malone – Circles
5. Camila Cabello – Easy

Hits 1 Weekend Countdown Top 20 Breakdown:
0 – Crap:
20. Jonas Brothers – Cool
19. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier

1 – Bad:
18. Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down

2 – Mediocre:
17. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
16. The Chainsmokers featuring 5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love

3 – Decent:
15. Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other
14. Post Malone featuring Young Thug – Goodbyes
13. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It

4 – Good:
12. Jonas Brothers – Sucker
11. Thomas Rhett – Look What God Gave Her

5 – Great:
10. Jonas Brothers – Only Human
9. Halsey – Graveyard
8. OneRepublic – Rescue Me
7. Lizzo – Truth Hurts
6. The Chainsmokers featuring Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine
5. Shawn Mendes – If I Can’t Have You
4. Lizzo – Good As Hell
3. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People
2. Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya
1. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita

Overall Grade: 72/100 = 72% (B)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Janet Jackson – Any Time, Any Place (1993)

Most Missed Countdown Song: One Direction – Perfect

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Céline Dion – Imperfections

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie between The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#9) and Zedd featuring Elley Duhé – Happy Now (#7)

My Top 5 Picks
1. Taylor Swift – Lover
2. Kygo featuring Whitney Houston – Higher Love
3. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita
4. Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya
5. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. MAX featuring Quinn XCII – Love Me Less
2. Jonas Brothers – Cool
3. Halsey – Nightmare
4. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier
5. Lauv featuring Anne-Marie – I’m Lonely

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Loud Luxury featuring Brando – Body: I quite like this for some reason.  Maybe it’s because of the bassline that comes after the buildup leading to the drop.

Walk The Moon – Kamikaze: It doesn’t hit the height of One Foot and some of the other singles from What If Nothing.  But it is still something I enjoy quite a bit.  Also, is it me, or does the intro to the song sound eerily similar to Zedd’s single Happy Now?

Calvin Harris featuring Sam Smith – Promises: I prefer One Kiss, but I still like this.  Yeah sure, the backing vocals can get annoying at times.  But everything else I can live with.  Sam sounds pretty good here, and I like the piano here.

Lady Gaga featuring Bradley Cooper – Shallow: Taken from A Star Is Born movie soundtrack, this single became a massive #1 hit this year after winning in the Oscars.  Everything about it is just beautiful from the vocal production on down to the instrumentation.

Hello, fam!  Just an update on the 2012 Billboard Year-End Rankdown.  I’ve decided to extend the deadline once more, this time to October 26 at 11:00pm EST.  If you’re still interested, you have until then to submit your rankings.  I still have to do my own submission, so the extension will give me some time.  The rest of you, if you want to participate, now’s the time to do it.  Also, in case anybody doesn’t know, I post my personal charts on crownnote.  You can check out my weekly personal charts there.  For those who haven’t done so already, I recommend giving it a try.  Before we get to this week’s fresh 45, here are the songs leaving us this week:

• Zara Larsson – All The Time (#18)
• Ellie Goulding featuring Juice WRLD – Hate Me (#20)
• Panic! At The Disco – Dancing’s Not A Crime (#30)
• Ariana Grande featuring Social House – Boyfriend (#39)
• Jax Jones featuring Bebe Rexha – Harder (#42)

The Countdown:
Last Week’s #1 Song: 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier
45. Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie – ME! (#44) [–1]
44. Khalid – Talk (#45) [+1]
43. Halsey – Nightmare (#41) [–2]
42. Dominic Fike – 3 Nights (#40) [–2]
41. MAX featuring Quinn XCII – Love Me Less (#29) [–12]
40. SHAED – Trampoline (#35) [–5]
39. Lizzo – Good As Hell (DEBUT)
38. Stephen Puth – Look Away (#36) [–2]
37. Kygo featuring Whitney Houston – Higher Love (DEBUT)
36. Panic! At The Disco – Roaring 20’s (DEBUT)
35. Camila Cabello – Shameless (#33) [–2]
34. Waterparks – Dream Boy (#38) [+4]
33. Post Malone – Circles (#37) [+4]
32. Lauv featuring Anne-Marie – I’m Lonely (DEBUT)
31. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy (#28) [–3]
30. Katy Perry – Small Talk (#26) [–4]
29. Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber – I Don’t Care (#27) [–2]
28. Sam Smith – How Do You Sleep? (#22) [–6]
27. PUBLIC – Make You Mine (#43) [+16] (Whoa, there!)
26. Taylor Swift – Lover (#30) [+4]
25. Fall Out Boy featuring Wyclef Jean – Dear Future Self (Hands Up) (DEBUT)
24. Why Don’t We – What Am I (#34) [+10]
23. Camila Cabello – Liar (#24) [+1]
22. Alec Benjamin – Jesus In LA (#23) [+1]
21. TWENTY ØNE PILØTS – The Hype (#21) [=]
20. Maroon 5 – Memories (#25) [+5]
19. Post Malone featuring Young Thug – Goodbyes (#16) [–3]
18. Charlie Puth – Mother (#19) [+1]
17. Thomas Rhett – Look What God Gave Her (#13) [–4]
16. The Chainsmokers featuring Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine (#5) [–11]
15. OneRepublic – Rescue Me (#17) [+2]
14. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita (#14) [=]
13. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People (#15) [+2]
12. Jonas Brothers – Cool (#12) [=] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
11. Halsey – Graveyard (#11) [=]
10. Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other (#10) [=]
9. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#6) [–3] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
8. Shawn Mendes – If I Can’t Have You (#7) [–1] [Spent 9 Weeks At #1]
7. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved (#8) [+1]
6. The Chainsmokers featuring 5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love (#9) [+3] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
5. Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down (#4) [–1] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
4. Jonas Brothers – Sucker (#3) [–1] [Spent 13 Weeks At #1]
3. Lizzo – Truth Hurts (#2) [–1]
2. Jonas Brothers – Only Human (#31) [+29]
1. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier (#1) [=] [3^rd Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (6^th of 8 Weeks At #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: MAX featuring Quinn XCII – Love Me Less (–12)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Jonas Brothers – Only Human (+29)

New Entrants:
– To kick off this week’s new round of arrivals, we have more of Lizzo here as she continues to ride high in popularity following the success of Truth Hurts. She give us her second song on the countdown, and it’s Good As Hell.  No, this isn’t me exxagerating here.  It’s a really good song in my opinion.  This was actually released back in 2016, but it’s just now gaining momentum elsewhere and I’m here for it.  It’s basically a self-empowerment anthem and we’ve seen quite a lot of those.  The piano sounds really good and I like Lizzo’s voice.  The chorus is just divine.  It shows how talented Lizzo really is as a singer.  So I’m in love with this overall and I’m sure it’ll be another hit for Lizzo.

– Kygo is a EDM artist who’s been in the genre for sometime now. He didn’t have a huge hit back in 2017 with Selena Gomez in his single It Ain’t Me. I fell in love with that song and I ranked it as my #4 song of the year.  He has a good track record of producing good EDM music, such as Remind Me To Forget, which I loved also and I ranked it as my #37 favorite song of 2018.  In the first half of the year, he gave us songs such as Think About You and Carry On.  But neither of them graduated from Hit-Bound to the Weekend Countdown.  Now, the third time’s the charm for him.  He had a little help too from the late Whitney Houston, as he brings us our Higher Love.  Whitney’s cover of the song that was originally by Steven Winwood is used here, as Kygo takes her vocals and incorporates it in his song.  I like how Kygo can be creative as a EDM artist.  I think he does it better.  The chopped-up vocals sounds really good, especially with a singer like Whitney.  In addition, the beat is interesting and the rest of the production is just solid, which is a testament of how good Kygo is in the EDM genre.  Yeah, this is a divine posthumous release that fires on all cylinders.  It’s a shame that he’s underrated in the US.  But at least he’s making his presence known in the world of EDM, and I’m here for it.

– Brendon Urie and company have replaced themselves this week as they take us back to the Roaring 20’s with their latest single from Pray For The Wicked. The first time I heard this, I thought it was another good single for Brendon Urie. But my thoughts have changed over the course of the month. I do like the chorus here and Brendon sounds pretty good. But the rest of the production isn’t very interesting anymore. I’ll give it to them that it’s not overproduced like Dancing’s Not A Crime and some of their stuff from Pray For The Wicked. But I expected more out of it. I think there were better choices for the next single off of the album, which I liked. Roaring 20’s is decent, though I feel like it may fade on me faster than Dancing’s Not A Crime. We’ll see what ends up happening.

– Up next is the least interesting debut of the week.  It’s from Lauv once more because people can’t seem to get enough of him these days despite his music not being very good.  Here, he collaborates with Anne-Marie in I’m Lonely.  From the first time I heard this, I had thought this was underwhelming all around and even today, nothing really has changed.  I’ll admit that the beat is pretty decent.  But everything else to me is not very good.  Lauv sounds unenthusiastic here, which speak volumes as to how mediocre of a singer he is.  Anne-Marie doesn’t help much, either.  There’s no chemistry between the two.  The lyrics leave something to be desired here.  I don’t think there’s a lot to it.  Yeah, I’m not fond of this one.

– For our final debut of the week, we have the return of Fall Out Boy.  And guess what?  They team up with rapper Wyclef Jean in their latest single titled Dear Future Self (Hands Up).  In terms of how their last album went, it was quite a mixed bag.  Young & Menace was a huge letdown and their worst single.  But everything else they had (Champion and The Last Of The Real Ones) were good.  As for their new single, it’s really not much compared to what they’ve done in the past.  It reminds me of their older discography in a way.  Although the lyrics are okay, I like the rock vibe and the instrumentation is pretty darn solid.  Patrick Stump sounds good with his voice and I like Wyclef’s contribution.  It doesn’t quite live up to the height of their earlier lead singles, but it’s a lot better than Young And Menace.  I like the song overall and I hope to see it do well.

Best Debut Of The Week: Kygo featuring Whitney Houston – Higher Love

Bring Me Your Higher Blurbs
– I’m going to begin with the exits as always.  First off, it’s good to see that we bid adieu to Boyfriend.  It’s another in a long line of underwhelming singles Ariana has put out this year.  Harder was not very good either.  Jax Jones made some stuff I like for sure, but this was not one of them.  Hate Me soured on me after a while.  I like Ellie Goulding, but she’s had much better.  I much prefer her older stuff and even Close To Me for the matter.  Dancing’s Not A Crime I grew out of as well, though I’m kinda shocked that it left a little too early, given that Hits 1 loves Panic! At The Disco.  I was expecting it to hang around for a long period.  The only exit to me that’s really worth caring about is All The Time, which left from a high position after just jumping big to #11 a couple weeks back.  Dang!

– Before introducing Nightmare, Spyder Harrison mentioned that Halsey has found a new man named Evan Peters, whom she has had a crush on since I don’t know how long.  I wonder if that’s her dream boy (no pun intended).

– Thank the high heavens above for allowing Love Me Less to be announced as the Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week!  You have no idea how I felt for that to be dropping big.  Now let’s get it out of here!

– In other “Dang!” news, we have Make You Mine suddenly mounting a comeback as it jumps all the way to #27 this week.  This song really doesn’t want to leave anytime soon, huh?

– Call You Mine’s time in the Top 5 didn’t last very long, as it’s back to square one this week.  It’s a shame that it didn’t stay in that region, yet we still have songs like Who Do You Love in the Top 10.

– Before introducing Señorita, Spyder Harrison mentioned that when Shawn describes his date with Camila, he talks about going to drink coffee, go to the movies, and all kinds of stuff.   I do that a lot too when I go out on dates.

– Only Human takes an INSANE jump all the way to #2 in its second week.  This is looking like Sucker all over again.  It’s gonna be #1 within the next week or so.  Count on it.

Hit-Bound:

• Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel (DEBUT)
• Louis Tomlinson – Kill My Mind
• Marshmello featuring Kane Brown – One Thing Right
• Liam Payne featuring A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie – Stack It Up
• AJR – Dear Winter (DEBUT)
• The Chainsmokers & ILLENIUM featuring Lennon Stella – Takeaway (DEBUT)
• Diplo featuring Jonas Brothers – Lonely (DEBUT)
• Billie Eilish – All The Good Girls Go Hell
• NF – Time
• Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya
• Tones And I – Dance Monkey (DEBUT)
• 5 Seconds Of Summer – Teeth
• Monsta X featuring French Montana – Who Do U Love?
• Dan + Shay featuring Justin Bieber – 10,000 Hours
• Normani – Motivation

Entrant Reviews:
– For the second week in a row, I’m going to go out of order and begin with the two least interesting debuts of the week.  Up first is more of AJR once again (sigh) with their latest single Dear Winter.  I don’t even need to explain just how bad the song is. It’s better than 100 Bad Days, but only barely.  All there is is just the guitar and the vocals.  That’s it.  And the weak lyrics are not helping.  Yeah, I’m not feeling this.  NEXT!

– Then, we have newcomer Tones And I making her first-ever appearance on Hit-Bound.  She brings us Dance Monkey.  I’m going to be straight up and simply admit that I’m pretty basic when it comes to my taste in music.  I like a lot of generic pop & EDM and I can’t fully comprehend as to why some people don’t like it.  To me, a lot of it sounds good for the most part. But a good generic pop song requires decent vocals and Dance Monkey does not. I like the production here and I don’t mind the beat.  But Dear Odin, does her voice sound obnoxious here.  It’s so bad and that alone killed the potential for me to like this song.  This would’ve been better if somebody else had sung it.  But as it stands right now, her terrible voice gives me a good reason to slowly step away.  NEXT!

– Hits 1’s love for the Jonas Brothers continues as they bring in another song.  This time, they’re featured in Diplo’s latest single titled Lonely.  So with the Jonas Brothers being a big name this year, it was no surprise to see them jump in the world of EDM, where they try to make their presence known. In terms of how the song goes, I can say it’s pretty mediocre. These guys didn’t really put on their best vocal performance here and the drop that comes after the chorus is weird. Diplo’s work here is underwhelming by his standards. I’m not sold on this one. I have it in blue, but it’s closer to red.

– Alright, now it’s time for me to give praise to the two best debuts of the week.  Ariana Grande returns once more, and she collaborates with Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey in Don’t Call Me Angel, which is taken from the Charlie’s Angels movie soundtrack.  She really hasn’t been impressive this year with her latest music as songs like 7 Rings still annoy me to no end.  But I still really like Ariana because she is a talented singer and she put out good music prior to Thank U, Next.  As far as Don’t Call Me Angel goes, it’s really good.  This is probably the best thing she has done in a while since Breathin’.  I like the production here.  Ariana shines throughout the song.  I love the verses we get from Miley and Lana.  Her performance at the bridge was divine.  I like how she uses her sultry voice there.  Yeah, it’s a good collaboration and Ariana has redeemed herself here.

– And lastly, we have more of The Chainsmokers.  Hits 1 doesn’t seem to be getting tired of those guys yet and I’m kinda glad, because Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall bring us a song that’s finally here!  They team up with rising EDM star ILLENIUM and singer Lennon Stella in Takeaway.  I fell in love with the song since it was released and nothing has changed.  Lennon Stella sounds really amazing in the song.  She is another really good singer and she uses her voice well here.  She shines all throughout the song, especially in the chorus.  Andrew doesn’t sound too bad either.  They have good chemistry here.  I love the work ILLENIUM did here, mostly because of the drop and everything else production-wise.  Yeah, this is a fine work of art.  I hope to see it debut soon.

Best Hit-Bound Entrant Of The Week: Tie between Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel and The Chainsmokers & ILLENIUM featuring Lennon Stella – Takeaway

Hit-Bound Breakdown:
0 – Crap:
15. Marshmello featuring Kane Brown – One Thing Right
14. Tones And I – Dance Monkey

1 – Bad:
13. AJR – Dear Winter

2 – Mediocre:
12. Liam Payne featuring A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie – Stack It Up
11. Diplo featuring Jonas Brothers – Lonely

3 – Decent:
10. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Teeth
9. Billie Eilish – All The Good Girls Go To Hell

4 – Good:
8. NF – Time

5 – Great:
7. Monsta X featuring French Montana – Who Do U Love?
6. Dan + Shay featuring Justin Bieber – 10,000 Hours
5. Normani – Motivation
4. Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya
3. Louis Tomlinson – Kill My Mind

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On Hit-Bound:
TIE: 1. Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel
TIE: 1. The Chainsmokers & ILLENIUM featuring Lennon Stella – Takeaway

Overall Grade: 51/75 = 68% (C)

Most Missed Hit-Bound Dropout: Jason Derulo featuring Jennifer Lopez and Matoma – Try Me

My Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
TIE: 1. The Chainsmokers & ILLENIUM featuring Lennon Stella – Takeaway
TIE: 1. Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel
3. Louis Tomlinson – Kill My Mind
4. Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya
5. Normani – Motivation

YouTube 15:

It has been confirmed by Jenna Marbles that this week is her last week hosting the YouTube 15 and possibly the last one I’ll ever review. Here’s the full list:

• Lil Nas X – Panini
• Becky G featuring Myke Towers – Dollar
• Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya
• Post Malone – Circles
• Tiësto featuring Mabel – God Is A Dancer
• Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People
• Camila Cabello – Cry For Me
• Lizzo – Truth Hurts
• J-Hope featuring Becky G – Chicken Noodle Soup
• Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
• Super M – Jopping
• Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
• OneRepublic – Wanted
• Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita
• Dan + Shay featuring Justin Bieber – 10,000 Hours

Song Reviews:
– To begin, we have more of Camila Cabello with her newer single titled Cry For Me. Production-wise, it sounds good mostly because I like the beat here and the guitar sounds decent.  But Camila doesn’t really have the best voice and it kinda affected my thoughts on the song.  I’m pretty split on this, but it’s better than Shameless.

– Then, there’s another K-Pop group in the form of Super M, and they give us Jopping.  This is pretty weird, at least for me.  The beat is good for sure, but there’s no melody and I don’t really like their vocal performance.  I don’t know.  This just isn’t my thing.  That’s really all I have to say about it.

YouTube 15 Breakdown:
0 – Crap:
15. J-Hope featuring Becky G – Chicken Noodle Soup
14. Tiësto featuring Mabel – God Is A Dancer
13. Becky G featuring Myke Towers – Dollar

1 – Bad:
None!

2 – Mediocre:
12. Super M – Jopping

3 – Decent:
11. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
10. Camila Cabello – Cry For Me
9. OneRepublic – Wanted
8. Lil Nas X – Panini

4 – Good:
None!

5 – Great:
7. Post Malone – Circles
6. Lizzo – Truth Hurts
5. Dan + Shay – 10,000 Hours
4. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
3. Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya
2. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The YouTube 15:
1. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita

Overall Grade: 50/75 = 67% (C)

Most Missed YouTube 15 Song: Rachel Platten – Broken Glass

My Top 5 YouTube 15 Picks
1. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita
2. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People
3. Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya
4. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
5. Dan + Shay featuring Justin Bieber – 10,000 Hours

Hits 1 Weekend Countdown Top 20 Breakdown:
0 – Crap:
20. Jonas Brothers – Cool
19. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier

1 – Bad:
18. Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down

2 – Mediocre:
17. Maroon 5 – Memories
16. The Chainsmokers featuring 5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love

3 – Decent:
15. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
14. Post Malone featuring Young Thug – Goodbyes
13. Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other

4 – Good:
12. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It
11. Jonas Brothers – Sucker
10. Halsey – Graveyard

5 – Great:
9. Thomas Rhett – Look What God Gave Her
8. Jonas Brothers – Only Human
7. OneRepublic – Rescue Me
6. Charlie Puth – Mother
5. Lizzo – Truth Hurts
4. The Chainsmokers featuring Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine
3. Shawn Mendes – If I Can’t Have You
2. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita

Overall Grade: 72/100 = 72% (B)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Steven Winwood – Higher Love (1986)

Most Missed Countdown Song: Kygo featuring Selena Gomez – It Ain’t Me

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Ally Brooke featuring Matoma – Higher

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie between The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#21) and Zedd featuring Elley Duhé – Happy Now (#7)

My Top 5 Picks
1. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita
2. Taylor Swift – Lover
3. Kygo featuring Whitney Houston – Higher Love
4. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People
5. Shawn Mendes – If I Can’t Have You

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. MAX featuring Quinn XCII – Love Me Less
2. Jonas Brothers – Cool
3. Halsey – Nightmare
4. Lauv featuring Anne-Marie – I’m Lonely
5. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
None!

Hello, fam!  I have an update on the 2012 Billboard Year-End Rankdown.  I have some people who are still interested, so I’m going to extend the deadline once more.  The due date will now be on October 26 at 11:00pm EST.  I still have to work on my submission as well.  The extended deadline will give me some extra time.  So you guys are interested, you better get on it.  Before we get to this week’s fresh 40, here are the songs we’re saying goodbye to this week:

• Easier by 5 Seconds Of Summer (#24)
• You Need To Calm Down by Taylor Swift (#28)
• Rescue Me by OneRepublic (#32)
• Post Malone by Sam Feldt featuring RANI (#36)
• Eastside by Benny Blanco featuring Halsey and Khalid (#40) [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]

The Countdown:
Last Week’s #1 Song: Truth Hurts by Lizzo
40. Without Me by Halsey (#38) [–2] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
39. Don’t Call Me Angel by Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey (DEBUT)
38. Good Things Fall Apart by ILLENIUM featuring Jon Bellion (#39) [+1]
37. With You by Kaskade featuring Meghan Trainor (#37) [=]
36. 7 Rings by Ariana Grande (#35) [–1] [Spent 5 Weeks At #1]
35. Ran$om by Lil Tecca (DEBUT)
34. Sweet But Psycho by Ava Max (#33) [–1]
33. Memories by Maroon 5 (DEBUT)
32. Old Town Road (Remix) by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (#30) [–2]
31. Who Do U Love? by Monsta X featuring French Montana (#31) [=]
30. Shameless by Camila Cabello (#34) [+4]
29. Wow. by Post Malone (#27) [–2] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
28. No Guidance by Chris Brown featuring Drake (#29) [+1]
27. Good As Hell by Lizzo (DEBUT)
26. Graveyard by Halsey (DEBUT)
25. All The Time by Zara Larsson (#26) [+1]
24. Hey Look Ma, I Made It by Panic! At The Disco (#22) [–2]
23. Lover by Taylor Swift (#23) [=]
22. Liar by Camila Cabello (#25) [+3]
21. Sucker by Jonas Brothers (#15) [–6] [Spent 8 Weeks At #1]
20. Panini by Lil Nas X (#21) [+1]
19. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown (#20) [+1]
18. Dancing With A Stranger by Sam Smith featuring Normani (#18) [=] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
17. Hate Me by Ellie Goulding featuring Juice WRLD (#19) [+2]
16. Time by NF (#17) [+1]
15. Motivation by Normani (#16) [+1]
14. How Do You Sleep? by Sam Smith (#14) [=]
13. If I Can’t Have You by Shawn Mendes (#10) [–3]
12. Circles by Post Malone (#13) [+1]
11. Trampoline by SHAED (#12) [+1]
10. Only Human by Jonas Brothers (#11) [+1]
9. Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House (#9) [=]
8. Talk by Khalid (#8) [=] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
7. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid (#7) [=]
6. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish (#6) [=] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
5. I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber (#3) [–2] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
4. Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug (#5) [+1]
3. Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi (#4) [+1]
2. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello (#2) [=] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
1. Truth Hurts by Lizzo (#1) [=] [2^nd Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Love Lies by Khalid featuring Normani (3^rd And Final Week At #1)

Biggest Fall Of The Week: Sucker by Jonas Brothers (–6)

Biggest Rise Of The Week: Shameless by Camila Cabello (+4)

New Entrants:
– I haven’t really been fond of what Ariana Grande has to offer this year, what with 7 Rings and Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored not being to my liking.  Then, there’s Boyfriend, which wasn’t any better.  Now we have her new single debuting this week.  Taken from the Charlie’s Angels movie soundtrack, it’s titled Don’t Call Me Angel.  Here, she is collaborating with Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey.  Despite me not liking some of her latest music, I still really like Ariana Grande and I had hope that she would impress me with this song.  After listening to this in full, she redeem herself big time.  Now obviously, I won’t go too far and say that it lives up to what she had prior to Thank U, Next.  But this is a really good song by any means.  I love her voice.  Ariana shows her vocal capabilities and she shines in the chorus.  I like the verses we get from Miley and Lana.  But Lana put on quite a performance in the bridge.  The way she shows her sultry voice was pretty.  The production is neat and nicely put together.  Yeah, I’m definitely in love with this and even though I don’t see it lasting very long, it was nice to see Ariana redeem herself after what she bought us this year.

– Following that, we have a song that’s been around for a while.  It’s from Lil Tecca and he brings us Ran$om.  I remember listening to this for the first time and I said to myself, “this is not very good.”  Hearing this again…and well, my opinion has not changed.  There’s not a whole lot in terms of the production and the beat.  I don’t like his voice and his verses are pretty bad.  The songwriting is underwhelming.  Need I say more?  Yeah, this is not good and it’s a shame that it’s a big hit that’s gaining momentum for whatever reason.  Oh well.

– So, we have the return of Maroon 5 not long after their Super Bowl XLVII performance earlier this year.  Adam Levine and company try to bring back some Memories with their single.  While it’s better than the majority of what their last album, Red Pill Blues, had to offer, that’s not saying a whole lot.  Adam sounds very unenthusiatic in the song.  The guitar is woefully thin and was not put to good use.  That, coupled with the rest of the production being lifeless, does not help the song in any way.  Jon Bellion, who was behind All Time Low (a huge favorite of mine from 2017), had a hand in the songwriting and he didn’t really deliver.  Maroon 5 were at their peak back in the 2000’s when they did songs like She Will Be Loved and This Love.  Those are good songs that I like to hear from them.  Memories is nowhere near their best and it’s not even close.  I’m having a hard time calling it even a decent song because there’s nothing about it that makes it memorable.

– Ah yes, we have more of Lizzo!  Truth Hurts is still reigning the top spot and I’m cool with that.  But she gives us another song that’s even better than its successor.  It’s called Good As Hell.  I think this is better mostly because I like the production here.  The piano sounds nice and I like her voice as usual.  She shows that she has the charisma to pull it off.  The backing chorus sounds great as well.  Yeah, I’m digging this song and I hope to see it do well.

– As Eastside leaves and Without Me barely hanging on, Halsey gives us her latest single titled Graveyard, from the album Maniac which comes out on January of next year.  I’ve been pretty mixed with Halsey in terms of her latest music.  I loathed Without Me at first, but now I kinda like it.  I did like Nightmare at first, but now I kinda loathe it.  It’s not even that I got sick of Nightmare.  I realized that it was not good song, mostly because the chorus got irritating after a while and the lyrics kinda put me off.  But Graveyard I actually liked from the start.  I like the guitar throughout the song.  Halsey sounds pretty good and she’s not drowned in auto-tune like in Without Me.  She also doesn’t yell in the chorus like she did in Nightmare, which like I mentioned got annoying at some point.  This is not her best work.  I much prefer her older singles and some of Hopeless Fountain Kingdom.  But I do think Graveyard is solid overall.

Best Debut Of The Week: Don’t Call Me Angel by Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey (Actually, it was between this and Good As Hell by Lizzo for best and I decided to go with the former)

Good As Blurbs
– We’ll begin with our exits.  To start, Easier was a huge step down from 5 Seconds Of Summer’s discography.  It showed that there was no band in the song.  Good thing it wasn’t as big as Youngblood.  You Need To Calm Down was not good either.  I liked the concept, but it was poorly executed and the chorus is irritating to me.  Rescue Me was a nice comeback for OneRepublic, but I wasn’t too affected by it leaving.  Post Malone by Sam Feldt featuring RANI was pretty meh and not something I’ll revisit in the long run.  The big exit this week is Eastside, which finally left after being on the countdown for over a year.  I did enjoy that song a lot and I’m glad it became successful.  Farewell, Eastside.  It’s been real.

– There’s really not a lot of action in the Top 10 other than some songs hitting new peaks.  The only new song entering the Top 10 this week is Only Human by Jonas Brothers.  I’ll be cool with it becoming another hit for Jonas Brothers.  It might not stick with me however and I can see it wearing on me a little faster than Sucker.  But it’s a lot better than Cool, which thankfully was a flop.

– As one song from the Jonas Brothers enters the Top 10, another takes a big drop this week.  With Sucker having lasted forever in the Top 20, it was bound to drop eventually.  Now, we’ll see how the rest of its tenure plays out.

Breakouts/On The Verge:

• Small Talk by Katy Perry
• What Am I by Why Don’t We
• Higher Love by Kygo featuring Whitney Houston

Extras/Optional Extras:

• Cake By The Ocean by DNCE
• Lucid Dreams by Juice WRLD
• Easier by 5 Seconds Of Summer
• Believer by Imagine Dragons
• Titanium by David Guetta featuring Sia
• Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj
• Rockabye by Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie
• That’s What I Like by Bruno Mars
• Highest In The Room by Travis Scott
  
• Meant To Be by Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line
• Attention by Charlie Puth

Top 20 Breakdown:
0 – Garbage:
20. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown
19. Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House

1 – Bad:
None!

2 – Mediocre:
18. How Do You Sleep? by Sam Smith
17. Talk by Khalid

3 – Decent:
16. I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber
15. Hate Me by Ellie Goulding featuring Juice WRLD
14. Panini by Lil Nas X
13. Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi
12. Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug

4 – Good:
11. Time by NF

5 – Great:
10. Only Human by Jonas Brothers
9. Motivation by Normani
8. Circles by Post Malone
7. Truth Hurts by Lizzo
6. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish
5. Dancing With A Stranger by Sam Smith featuring Normani
4. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid
3. If I Can’t Have You by Shawn Mendes
2. Trampoline by SHAED

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello

Total Score: 74/100 = 74% (B)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Where Does The Heart Beat Now by Céline Dion (1990)

Most Missed Song: Black Magic by Little Mix

#1 Recommendation For The American Top 40: Higher by Ally Brooke featuring Matoma

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie between The Middle by Zedd featuring Maren Morris and Grey (#29) and God Is A Woman by Ariana Grande (#6)

My Top 5 Picks
1. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello
2. Lover by Taylor Swift
3. Trampoline by SHAED
4. Don’t Call Me Angel by Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey
5. If I Can’t Have You by Shawn Mendes

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown
2. 7 Rings by Ariana Grande
3. Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House
4. With You by Kaskade featuring Meghan Trainor
5. No Guidance by Chris Brown featuring Drake

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
One Day by Logic featuring Ryan Tedder: I like this quite a bit.  The verses get from these guys are good and I like the chemistry.  Not much else I can say beyond that.

High Hopes by Panic! At The Disco: This became a hit on Hits 1.  But little did we know that it would eventually become thei biggest hit of the band’s career.  I enjoyed the song a lot when it was new and even today, it’s still loud and fun.

Hello fam!  Well, October is upon us.  Things are about to get spooky for the whole month!  What scary things await us, you might ask?  We’ll you have to find out for yourself!  As far as the countdown went, it was somewhat interesting…until we got to the #1, which is no good.  We did make way for some new arrivals, most of which are solid.  There were some moves that had to be made, and they’re for the better.  Let’s jump right in!  Before we get to this week’s fresh 45, here are the songs we’re saying goodbye to this week:

• Marshmello featuring CHVRCHES – Here With Me (#40)
• Katy Perry – Never Really Over (#41)
• Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus – Old Town Road (Remix) (#43)
• Imagine Dragons – Bad Liar (#44)
• Kaskade featuring Meghan Trainor – With You (#45)

The Countdown:
Last Week’s #1 Song: Jonas Brothers – Cool
45. Khalid – Talk (#39) [–6]
44. Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie – ME! (#37) [–7]
43. PUBLIC – Make You Mine (#42) [–1]
42. Jax Jones featuring Bebe Rexha – Harder (#32) [–10]
41. Halsey – Nightmare (#36) [–5]
40. Dominic Fike – 3 Nights (#31) [–9]
39. Ariana Grande featuring Social House – Boyfriend (#23) [–16]
38. Waterparks – Dream Boy (#33) [–5]
37. Post Malone – Circles (DEBUT)
36. Stephen Puth – Look Away (#29) [–7]
35. SHAED – Trampoline (#38) [+3]
34. Why Don’t We – What Am I (DEBUT)
33. Camila Cabello – Shameless (#34) [+1]
32. Panic! At The Disco – Dancing’s Not A Crime (#30) [–2]
31. Jonas Brothers – Only Human (DEBUT)
30. Taylor Swift – Lover (DEBUT)
29. MAX featuring Quinn XCII – Love Me Less (#18) [–11]
28. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy (#28) [=]
27. Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber – I Don’t Care (#24) [–3]
26. Katy Perry – Small Talk (#21) [–5]
25. Maroon 5 – Memories (DEBUT)
24. Camila Cabello – Liar (#27) [+3]
23. Alec Benjamin – Jesus In LA (#35) [+12]
22. Sam Smith – How Do You Sleep? (#19) [–3]
21. TWENTY ØNE PILØTS – The Hype (#26) [+5]
20. Ellie Goulding featuring Juice WRLD – Hate Me (#17) [–3]
19. Charlie Puth – Mother (#22) [+3]
18. Zara Larsson – All The Time (#11) [–7]
17. OneRepublic – Rescue Me (#14) [–3]
16. Post Malone featuring Young Thug – Goodbyes (#15) [–1]
15. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People (#12) [–3]
14. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita (#8) [–6]
13. Thomas Rhett – Look What God Gave Her (#20) [+7]
12. Jonas Brothers – Cool (#1) [–11] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
11. Halsey – Graveyard (#25) [+14]
10. Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other (#16) [+6]
9. The Chainsmokers featuring 5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love (#9) [=] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
8. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved (#10) [+2]
7. Shawn Mendes – If I Can’t Have You (#3) [–4] [Spent 9 Weeks At #1]
6. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#6) [=] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
5. The Chainsmokers featuring Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine (#13) [+8]
4. Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down (#2) [–2] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
3. Jonas Brothers – Sucker (#7) [+4] [Spent 13 Weeks At #1]
2. Lizzo – Truth Hurts (#5) [+3]
1. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier (#4) [+3] [2^nd Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (5^th of 8 Weeks At #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Ariana Grande featuring Social House – Boyfriend (–16)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Halsey – Graveyard (+14)

New Entrants:
– Up first, we have more of Post Malone once more.  This time, he’s running around in Circles with his single taken from Hollywood’s Bleeding, which was released this past month.  Now compared to what he has done before, this is something different.  Post Malone is talented overall despite me being mixed on his music.  He has some stuff from his latest album which are good and some…not quite as much.  Circles lands in the category of being good.  The guitar was put to good use, though it doesn’t quite hit as hard and a little more effort could’ve been done.  But the thick bass groove both make up for its shortcomings.  He has a good voice and it shows as he put on a decent performance here.  The idea of talking about his relationship struggles relates to most people.  I can get behind the concept and I could dive deeper, if only the song had more in terms of the lyrical depth.  There’s isn’t too much and it feels lackluster in some parts.  Yeah, compared to some of the other records off of Hollywood’s Bleeding, this doesn’t quite hit its height because I felt like more could’ve been done.  But it’s fine enough and I’m okay with this being a hit.

– It’s about time Why Don’t We made their first appearance on the countdown.  They’ve been around for about two years and they’ve made some music.  It’s been a mixed bag, though.  There were songs that showed them their potential (8 Letters) and there were some that were…well, not too good (Trust Fund Baby).  So, where does What Am I stand in terms of my opinion?  It starts with the guitar and nice vocals from Corbyn and Daniel.  Then it gets interesting as the song goes along, which showed how much potential these guys have from a vocal standpoint.  While they don’t have the best performance, it’s still worthwhile when combined with the nice lyrics.  So as far as my opinion goes, I can say this is pretty good overall.  Although I much prefer 8 Letters, I’m fine with this being their first countdown song.

– Since the Jonas Brothers reunited this year, they’ve made a big splash by putting out a good record in the form of Sucker, which broke the record for most weeks at #1 in Hits 1 Weekend Countdown history.  But then they decided to follow-up with Cool, which was just messy and not very good.  As for Only Human…it’s quite different.  Yeah, you have a cool tropical vibe and decent instrumentation.  But really that’s all there is to it.  However, I can say it’s much better written than that of Cool.  It doesn’t have asinine lyrics and these guys put on a fine performance vocally.  Yeah, I’m fine with this potentially being a hit.  But I think there were better songs off of Happiness Begins that should be a single.  I’ll certainly take it over Cool, though.

– After Reputation was seen by many as a mixed bag, Taylor Swift has given people something that’s exceptional when Lover was released.  ME! was an enjoyable tune despite it having some cheesy lines, while You Need To Calm Down was a step down and a disappointment for her.  But when listening to the album in its entirety, it showed a clear evolution between Lover and Reputation.   I’ve praised her new album because it showed her artistic growth.  Making its debut at #30 this week, she give us the title track of the album.  I’m going to dissect the song and give it much praise as I possibly can because it deserves it.  The solid use of the strings, coupled with heavy emphasis on the drums, make this a fine listen instrumentally.  Her beautiful vocals fit very well for a song that has deep lyrical depth which tells more of a story about getting together.  If you want a testament as to how much Taylor continues to evolve for the better as a songwriter, look at the creativity and the effort put together in the lyrical department.  Simply put, this is a exceptional work of art.  Safe to say that this is the best of what the album has to offer.

– So, here’s a question: who’s ready for the return of Maroon 5?  No one?  Well, don’t worry, I wasn’t ready for them either.  But alas, here they are making their comeback not long after their Super Bowl performance earlier this year.  They try to bring back some Memories with their new single…and to be frank, it just doesn’t work for me.  I’ll give it to them that it’s a step up from the majority of Red Pill Blues (save for What Lovers Do), but only barely.  The production is lackluster and leaves a lot to be desired.  The guitar was not put to good use here.  It is very weak and mostly undercooked.  Adam Levine sounds unenthusiastic, which leads me to believe that he didn’t have much fun recording his vocal work for the song.  That to me speaks volumes about how much he has evolved, and not for the better.  Interestingly enough, Jon Bellion helped write the song.  Yes, the same Jon Bellion that gave us All Time Low (a huge favorite of mine in 2017) had a hand in the songwriting…and he didn’t deliver either.  Back in the 2000’s, Maroon 5 were at their peak when they gave us songs such as This Love, She Will Be Loved, Makes Me Wonder, and others.  Those were some of my favorites that the band had to offer back then, because they were putting forth the effort in producing their music and Adam has some form of charisma and personality.  But nowadays, they’ve basically become a modern day pop group and that’s not a good thing.  Their songs from Songs About Jane and It Won’t Be Soon Before Long had good singles that I revisit from time to time.  Even V I can sometimes enjoy even though it was nowhere near their best work.  Memories does not live up to those.   In fact, I’m hard pressed to call it decent song, let alone great because it’s a demo that comes up well short of what it’s trying to do.

Best Debut Of The Week: Taylor Swift – Lover

It’s Only Blurbs
– To begin, our exits.  Good riddance to With You.  I’m glad it didn’t stay for too much longer.  Kaskade is a good EDM producer and has some stuff I liked.  But this was not it and Meghan put on a poor vocal performance here.  Yeah, that one will not be missed.  Also, it’s about time we bid adieu to Old Town Road.  I still can’t believe this broke the record for most weeks at #1 on Billboard.  It’s a good thing I don’t have to deal with it anymore.  Then, there’s three songs that will be missed by me.  Never Really Over was a great comeback for Katy Perry and it’s a damn shame this didn’t get treated as such.  She has an amazing voice.  It’s pretty sad that one will end up missing the Billboard Year-End for 2019.  This song definitely deserves much better.  Then we have two other songs.  Here With Me, despite it flopping elsewhere, had a respectable run on this countdown spending a week in the Top 5.  It’s one of Marshmello’s few good songs that he had to offer.  Finally, we have the departure of Bad Liar.  And with it, that means we don’t have a song from Imagine Dragons on the countdown since 2017.  It’s pretty sad we won’t be getting anymore singles from them for a while.  But they had a good run.

– I want to say congrats to Taylor Swift on her new album, Lover going Platinum.  It’s a good album that showed her artistic growth.  It was well-deserved.

– By no surprise, Harder drops down to the Bottom 5, which is a good thing.  Between the weird drop and the gutless production work by Jax Jones, the song is not a fun listen for me.  Jax Jones had has better songs and it’s unfortunate that this is his first countdown song.

– Nice to see 3 Nights flopping as well.  I’ll admit that it’s kinda catchy in a way.  But I just couldn’t get into this one for some reason.  I don’t know.  I wasn’t that impressed with how it turned out.

– On the note of other good things that happened this week, both Boyfriend and Love Me Less took big drops this week!  Thank the high heavens above!  You have no idea how much this news pleases me!

– Before introducing Bad Guy, Spyder Harrison mentioned that Billie Eilish has been a fan of TWENTY ØNE PILØTS and says that she loved Blurryface.  I’m glad me and her are in the same boat.  I fell in love with their album as well and it had good songs, such as Stressed Out and some others I won’t mention right now.

– Speaking of Katy Perry, looks like Small Talk won’t last much longer.  That I’m actually okay with since this doesn’t hit as hard as its predecessor.  Like I referenced before, I’m very interested in what more Katy Perry has to offer in the future.  But Small Talk is a little underwhelming for my tastes.  I’m starting to grow into this a little bit, though it probably won’t last.

– Too bad Señorita was not a #1 hit on this countdown.  It kinda makes me a sad panda because I LOVE the song more than I’m supposed to.  Sure, it’s meaningless and all.  But that Latin vibe is really cool and I like the chemistry between Shawn and Camila.  Yeah, I can safely say that this has become a huge favorite of mine.

– Cool took quite a big drop out of the #1 spot quickly.  Dang!  But this has been getting worse with each additional listen.  So yeah, good thing it only got one week at the top.

– Then there’s Graveyard, which of course has the honor of being the Biggest Jump Of The Week.  That I’m actually fine with as opposed to Nightmare, which finally dropped down to the Bottom 5 this week.

– So, Shawn Mendes is deciding to grow his hair out long, huh?  I’ve never seen him with long hair before.  I wonder how it’ll turn out?  I’ll be looking forward to it.

– Call You Mine entering the Top 5 is music to my ears despite it not doing well elsewhere.  Looks like their love for The Chainsmokers hasn’t died down yet.  Fortunately, I’ve been enjoying the song and it’s nice to see it reach a new peak.

– And then there’s our #1.  Blech.  This is another one that just continues to get worse with each and every additional listen.  I’m hoping Truth Hurts or Call You Mine can get the top spot and fast.  This is just not ideal at all.

Hit-Bound:

• Monsta X featuring French Montana – Who Do U Love?
• Dan + Shay featuring Justin Bieber – 10,000 Hours (DEBUT)
• Normani – Motivation (DEBUT)
• Lauv featuring Anne-Marie – I’m Lonely
• Panic! At The Disco – Roaring 20’s
• Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya (DEBUT)
• Liam Payne featuring A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie – Stack It Up
• Fall Out Boy featuring Wyclef Jean – Dear Future Self (Hands Up)
• Lizzo – Good As Hell
• 5 Seconds Of Summer – Teeth
• Kygo featuring Whitney Houston – Higher Love
• Billie Eilish – All The Good Girls Go Hell (DEBUT)
• Marshmello featuring Kane Brown – One Thing Right (DEBUT)
• NF – Time
• Louis Tomlinson – Kill My Mind

Entrant Reviews:
–  Instead of me going in order, I’m going to get the most displeasing debut out of the way first.  We have more of Marshmello and he collaborates with country singer Kane Brown in One Thing Right.  If you’ve been following my blog as of late, then you’ve probably seen me do a rant it out review of the song.  You can check it out right here.  Following his collaboration with Anne-Marie in Friends, things have taken a wrong turn.  Most of his latest music (other than Here With Me) have not been to my liking.  Now we have One Thing Right, which is another new low for him.   Marshmello did not put forth any effort in the production aspect.  Kane Brown sounds like shit from the very first line.  I know he’s a good country singer and he has some things I like.  But his performance is just abysmal with him being drowned in auto-tune in the chorus and toothless verses.  Simply put, this song is one thing wrong about EDM.  I was rooting for Marshmello following the release of Wolves.  But now, I’m just not so sure anymore.

– Alright, now we’re going to talk about the other new songs entering Hit-Bound this week, and they’re much better than the one I just finished tearing apart.  I’m going to start with more of Billie Eilish with her latest single titled All Good Girls Go To Hell.  I like a good amount of what Billie had to offer this year..  Unfortunately, this song doesn’t exactly do it for me.  The gutless beat and Billie’s okay vocal performance doesn’t make me like this immediately as her previous singles did.  I might be able to grow into this with time.  But as it is, not too impressed with this.  I don’t know.  I kinda expected more out of her.

– Then there are three debuts which are actually good.  The first one comes from the return of country duo Dan + Shay not long after the departure of Speechless, and they team up with Justin Bieber.  It took them 10,000 Hours to create this song.  I find it interesting that they’re collaborating with Justin Bieber.  But to me, what’s even more interesting is the title itself.  I wonder did they really need that much time to be able to come up with music like this?  Anyway, this turned out well.  I’m not gonna say it’s as good as Tequila and Speechless.  But it’s a good listen.  Between the nice guitar, well-written lyrics, and the guys have good chemistry, everything about the songs works for me.  I’ll have more on this come its debut.

– After making her presence known the past two years, Normani gives us a little Motivation with her solo single.  First off, I like the music video she put together.  It has a nice throwback feel to it and it reminds me of the days I watch BET (I still do watch it even today).  This song was a grower for me initially, but now I’ve finally got into it.  The beat is pretty cool and I like Normani’s voice overall.  Interestingly, Ariana Grande had a hand in producing the song and she did a fine job here.  Yeah, this is just a bop and it’s proof that Normani is the best single out of all the Fifth Harmony members.

– And finally, we have the big return of Niall Horan.  He gives us his brand new single titled Nice To Meet Ya.  I expected him to lean more towards acoustic-pop.  But this is something different, and in a good way.  Niall sounds good and I like everything else it has to offer.  I’ll save my words for when it inevitably debuts.

Best Hit-Bound Entrant Of The Week: Normani – Motivation

Hit-Bound Breakdown:
0 – Crap:
15. Marshmello featuring Kane Brown – One Thing Right

1 – Bad:
14. Lauv featuring Anne-Marie – I’m Lonely

2 – Mediocre:
13. Liam Payne featuring A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie – Stack It Up

3 – Decent:
12. Billie Eilish – All The Good Girls Go To Hell
11. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Teeth
10. Panic! At The Disco – Roaring 20’s

4 – Good:
9. NF – Time

5 – Great:
8. Monsta X featuring French Montana – Who Do U Love?
7. Dan + Shay featuring Justin Bieber – 10,000 Hours
6. Fall Out Boy featuring Wyclef Jean – Dear Future Self (Hands Up)
5. Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya
4. Normani – Motivation
3. Louis Tomlinson – Kill My Mind
2. Kygo featuring Whitney Houston – Higher Love

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On Hit-Bound:
1. Lizzo – Good As Hell

Overall Grade: 57/75 = 76% (B)

Most Missed Hit-Bound Dropout: BØRNS – Electric Love

My Top 5 Picks
1. Lizzo – Good As Hell
2. Kygo featuring Whitney Houston – Higher Love
3. Louis Tomlinson – Kill My Mind
4. Normani – Motivation
5. Niall Horan – Nice To Meet Ya

YouTube 15:

• Ariana Grande featuring Social House – Boyfriend
• Tiësto featuring Mabel – God Is A Dancer
• Becky G featuring J-Hope – Chicken Noodle Soup
• NF – Time
• OneRepublic – Wanted
• Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
• Paulo Londra featuring A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie – Party
• Post Malone – Circles
• Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel
• Lizzo – Truth Hurts
• Bebe Rexha – You Can’t Stop The Girl
• Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
• Becky G featuring Myke Towers – Dollar
• Khalid – Talk
• Diplo featuring Jonas Brothers – Lonely

Song Reviews:
– There’s really not a whole lot to like here.  First is more of Becky G and she teams up with J-Hope in Chicken Noodle Soup.  I’ve not been very fond of what she has to offer and this is not doing her any favors.  Terrible production work and underwhelming vocals from Becky G makes this an unpleasant listen.  I’m not sure what has happened to her.  Shower and Can’t Stop Dancing were amazing and showed her potential.  Her latest stuff isn’t doing anything for me.  I can’t decide which is worse between Chicken Noodle Soup and Dollar, both of which show that her talent has gone to waste.

– Next, there’s Paulo Londra who teams up with rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie in Party.  Right off the bat, this is just not good.  I don’t like the production here with trap elements and a thin guitar.  Paulo sounds bad vocally.  I also don’t like A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’s contribution.  Yeah, it’s better than two of Becky G’s recent songs.  But I’m not a fan.  NEXT!

– More of Bebe Rexha is nice, as she gives us You Can’t Stop The Girl from the Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil movie soundtrack.  I think this a bit of a step up from her other solo singles.  She sounds great here and I like the piano work.  The rest of the song get better as it goes along.  Yeah, I’m in love with this and one of the best she has to offer.

– Finally, we have Diplo collaborating with the Jonas Brothers in their latest single titled Lonely.  I like the vocals and the beat is okay, but then there’s the weird drop which ruins it’s potential.  I wanted to like this, but it didn’t work out for me.  I have it in blue, but it’s closer to red.

YouTube 15 Breakdown:
0 – Crap:
15. Tiësto featuring Mabel – God Is A Dancer
14. Becky G featuring Myke Towers – Dollar
13. Becky G featuring J-Hope – Chicken Noodle Soup
12. Ariana Grande featuring Social House – Boyfriend

1 – Bad:
11. Paulo Londra featuring A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie – Party

2 – Mediocre:
10. Khalid – Talk
9. Diplo featuring Jonas Brothers – Lonely

3 – Decent:
8. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
7. OneRepublic – Wanted

4 – Good:
6. NF – Time

5 – Great:
5. Post Malone – Circles
4. Lizzo – Truth Hurts
3. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
2. Bebe Rexha – You Can’t Stop The Girl

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The YouTube 15:
1. Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel

Overall Grade: 41/75 = 55% (C)

Most Missed YouTube 15 Song: Nick Jonas featuring Robin Schulz – Right Now

My Top 5 YouTube 15 Picks
1. Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – Don’t Call Me Angel
2. Bebe Rexha – You Can’t Stop The Girl
3. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
4. Lizzo – Truth Hurts
5. Post Malone – Circles

Hits 1 Weekend Countdown Top 20 Breakdown:
0 – Crap:
20. Jonas Brothers – Cool
19. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier

1 – Bad:
18. Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down

2 – Mediocre:
17. The Chainsmokers featuring 5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love

3 – Decent:
16. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
15. Ellie Goulding featuring Juice WRLD – Hate Me
14. Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other
13. Post Malone featuring Young Thug – Goodbyes

4 – Good:
12. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It
11. Halsey – Graveyard

5 – Great:
10. Jonas Brothers – Sucker
9. Thomas Rhett – Look What God Gave Her
8. OneRepublic – Rescue Me
7. Charlie Puth – Mother
6. Lizzo – Truth Hurts
5. The Chainsmokers featuring Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine
4. Zara Larsson – All The Time
3. Shawn Mendes – If I Can’t Have You
2. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita

Overall Grade: 74/100 = 74% (B)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: LeAnn Rimes – Can’t Fight The Moonlight (2000)

Most Missed Countdown Song: Lauren Daigle – You Say

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Ally Brooke featuring Matoma – Higher

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie between The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#32) and Zedd featuring Elley Duhé – Happy Now (#10)

My Top 5 Picks
1. Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello – Señorita
2. Taylor Swift – Lover
3. SHAED – Trampoline
4. Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid – Beautiful People
5. Shawn Mendes – If I Can’t Have You

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Ariana Grande featuring Social House – Boyfriend
2. MAX featuring Quinn XCII – Love Me Less
3. Jonas Brothers – Cool
4. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier
5. Halsey – Nightmare

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Silk City featuring Dua Lipa – Electricity: By this point, people were getting tired of Dua Lipa.  But regardless, it’s still a solid song because it has good production work from Mark Ronson and Diplo (who both formed Silk City) and Dua’s exceptional vocal performance.

Shawn Mendes – Lost In Japan: This was released in the same day as In My Blood.  I like the groove here and Shawn sounds good with his smooth voice.  It’s a shame that one didn’t really take off.

The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling: The follow-up to Side Effects, I think this is their best release since Closer, which remains a huge favorite of mine.  Kelsea sounds amazing here and these guys did a fine job as an EDM duo.

Hello, fam!  We’re now in the month of October!  2019 has gone by so fast!  We’re getting closer and closer to ringing in the new decade!  It seemed like yesterday that we were ringing in the new decade of the 2010’s.  Now 2020 is coming and I can’t wait to see what the new year has in store, as well as the decade.  But first, we have to get through those three months.  Before we get to this week’s fresh 40, here are the songs leaving the countdown this week:

• Love Me Less by MAX featuring Quinn XCII (#21)
• Speechless by Dan + Shay (#29)

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

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Love Lies by Khalid featuring Normani (2^nd of 3 Weeks At #1)

Biggest Fall Of The Week: You Need To Calm Down by Taylor Swift (–12)

Biggest Rise Of The Week: Lover by Taylor Swift (+14)

New Entrants:
– We have two new entrants this week, and they’re from Camila Cabello who has some new solo music.  I’ll start with the least interesting of the two.  It’s titled Shameless.  I think the production and the beat are okay.  It reminds me a little bit of Never Be The Same.  But my big concern here is Camila’s voice.  She doesn’t really sound her best here, which has been the consensus for most of her music (save for Havana, Consequences, etc.).  Her vocals alone bring the song down for me.  I’m not quite feeling this.  I have it in blue, but that could change.

– And then get to her second single, in the form of Liar.  I think it’s more interesting than Shameless, in large part thanks to the Latin vibe.  Once again, Camila doesn’t sound her best, which proves that she’s not that great of a singer.  But it has a Latin elements that makes up for her limited singing abilities.  The saxophone is strong and was put to excellent use.  I quite like the lyrics here.  There’s more depth here.  Overall, I think this has a better change of growing on me than Shameless.  We’ll see what happens.

Best Debut Of The Week: Liar by Camila Cabello

Right Now I’m Blurbless
– So to begin, our two exits.  First off, good riddance to Love Me Less.  I cannot stand Quinn XCII’s verse and everything else about the song is just shit.  I’m glad we were able to say goodbye to it.  Speechless, on the other hand, is one that I enjoyed since the beginning of the year and it was nice to see Dan + Shay get another hit with this song.  This will for sure be on the Billboard Year-End list and I’m glad.  That one will definitely be missed by me.

– We have a cool new #1 in the form of Truth Hurts, which has dethroned Señorita after a month.  I much prefer Juice from earlier this year.  But this is still a good song overall.  I’m glad this was the one that helped Lizzo score a massive hit.  She has another song that is slowly gaining traction and that’s Good As Hell.  I hope to see that one debut soon, which I think it will.

– Easier dropping out of the Top 20?  That’s some good news there.  I’m glad this wasn’t as big as Youngblood from a year ago.  It’s pretty clear that I prefer that song over Easier, which is underwhelming.

– Taylor Swift has made some moves this week.  You Need To Calm Down drops big, which is a good thing since I found it underwhelming vocally.  But Lover is better and I’m glad that one is moving up.  Hopefully, I see that one become a hit.

–  We still have 7 Rings and With You here for reasons unbeknownst to me.  I’m not even going to  comment on the former.  I’m sure most people know how I feel about that song by now.  The latter is just underwhelming by Kaskade’s standards.  He has had much better.  I would appreciate if one or even both of them leave soon.

Breakouts/On The Verge:

• Good As Hell by Lizzo
• Small Talk by Katy Perry
• Ran$om by Lil Tecca
• Memories by Maroon 5
• Don’t Call Me Angel by Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey
• Graveyard by Halsey

Extras/Optional Extras:

• Slow Hands by Niall Horan
• Despacito by Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber
• 24K Magic by Bruno Mars
• Radioactive by Imagine Dragons
• Habits (Stay High) by Tove Lo
• Cheap Thrills by Sia featuring Sean Paul
• Say You Won’t Let Go by James Arthur
• Now Or Never by Halsey
• Too Good by Drake featuring Rihanna
• Starving by Hailee Steinfeld & Grey featuring Zedd
• See You Again by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth

Top 20 Breakdown:
0 – Garbage:
20. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown
19. Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House

1 – Bad:
18. How Do You Sleep? by Sam Smith

2 – Mediocre:
17. Talk by Khalid

3 – Decent:
16. I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber
15. Hate Me by Ellie Goulding featuring Juice WRLD
14. Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi
13. Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug

4 – Good:
12. Time by NF

5 – Great:
11. Circles by Post Malone
10. Sucker by Jonas Brothers
9. Only Human by Jonas Brothers
8. Truth Hurts by Lizzo
7. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish
6. Motivation by Normani
5. Dancing With A Stranger by Sam Smith featuring Normani
4. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid
3. If I Can’t Have You by Shawn Mendes
2. Trampoline by SHAED

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello

Total Score: 75/100 = 75% (B)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Can’t Fight The Moonlight by LeAnn Rimes (2000)

Most Missed Song: You Say by Lauren Daigle

#1 Recommendation For The American Top 40: Higher by Ally Brooke featuring Matoma

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie between Happy Now by Zedd featuring Elley Duhé (#33) and God Is A Woman by Ariana Grande (#8)

My Top 5 Picks
1. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello
2. Lover by Taylor Swift
3. Trampoline by SHAED
4. Sweet But Psycho by Ava Max
5. If I Can’t Have You by Shawn Mendes

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown
2. 7 Rings by Ariana Grande
3. Boyfriend by Ariana Grande featuring Social House
4. With You by Kaskade featuring Meghan Trainor
5. No Guidance by Chris Brown featuring Drake

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Goodbye by Jason Derulo & David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj and Willy William: I don’t have much to say about this one.  I like the Latin vibe and these guys have good chemistry here.  It’s too bad that one didn’t take off.