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) [=] [2nd Week At #1]
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Love Lies by Khalid featuring Normani (3rd 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.
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