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) [=] [3rd Week At #1]
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (6th 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!
Music Reviews + More 