Hello, fam!  Welcome to the Thanksgiving Weekend edition of the American Top 40.  So as I mentioned before, I plan on hopefully doing reveals for my 2012 Billboard Year-End Rankdown sometime within the next week or so.  While I’m at it, I’ll be focusing on my Year-End posts.  You’ll likely see those soon.  Before we get to this week’s fresh 40, here are the songs we’re saying goodbye to this week:

• Don’t Call Me Angel by Ariana Grande featuring Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey (#25)
• Ran$om by Lil Tecca (#29)
• Rooting For You by Alessia Cara (#35)
• Higher Love by Kygo featuring Whitney Houston (#39)

The Countdown:
Last Week’s #1 Song: Circles by Post Malone
40. Old Town Road (Remix) by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (#40) [=]
39. Writing On The Wall by French Montana featuring Post Malone, Cardi B, and Rvssian (DEBUT)
38. Wow. by Post Malone (#37) [–1] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
37. Teeth by 5 Seconds Of Summer (#38) [+1]
36. Hot Girl Bummer by Blackbear (DEBUT)
35. Hey Look Ma, I Made It by Panic! At The Disco (#34) [–1]
34. Raising Hell by Kesha featuring Big Freedia (DEBUT)
33. Slow Dance by AJ Mitchell featuring Ava Max (#36) [+3]
32. Sucker by Jonas Brothers (#32) [=] [Spent 8 Weeks At #1]
31. Lonely by Diplo featuring Jonas Brothers (#33) [+2]
30. Dancing With A Stranger by Sam Smith featuring Normani (#28) [–2] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
29. My Type by Saweetie (#31) [+2]
28. Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa (DEBUT)
27. What Am I by Why Don’t We (#27) [=]
26. If I Can’t Have You by Shawn Mendes (#26) [=]
25. Dance Monkey by Tones & I (#30) [+5]
24. Talk by Khalid (#22) [–2] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
23. Nice To Meet Ya by Niall Horan (#24) [+1]
22. All The Good Girls Go To Hell by Billie Eilish (#23) [+1]
21. Lover by Taylor Swift (#20) [–1]
20. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish (#15) [–5] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
19. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown (#21) [+2]
18. Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug (#13) [–5]
17. Graveyard by Halsey (#17) [=]
16. Liar by Camila Cabello (#16) [=]
15. 10,000 Hours by Dan + Shay featuring Justin Bieber (#19) [+4]
14. I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber (#11) [–3] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
13. Panini by Lil Nas X (#14) [+1]
12. Lose You To Love Me by Selena Gomez (#18) [+6]
11. Time by NF (#12) [+1]
10. How Do You Sleep? by Sam Smith (#9) [–1]
9. Memories by Maroon 5 (#10) [+1]
8. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello (#7) [–1] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
7. Trampoline by SHAED (#8) [+1]
6. Truth Hurts by Lizzo (#4) [–2] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
5. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid (#5) [=]
4. Only Human by Jonas Brothers (#3) [–1]
3. Good As Hell by Lizzo (#6) [+3]
2. Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi (#2) [=] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
1. Circles by Post Malone (#1) [=] [2^nd Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Happier by Marshmello featuring BΔSTILLE (1^st of 5 Weeks At #1)

Biggest Fall Of The Week: Tie between Bad Guy by Billie Eilish and Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug (–5)

Biggest Rise Of The Week: Lose You To Love Me by Selena Gomez (+6)

New Entrants:
– We have a new round of arrivals on this Thanksgiving weekend.  Let’s begin with the return of French Montana.  He is collaborating with Cardi B, Post Malone, and Ryssian in their new single titled Writing On The Wall.  A couple years back, he gave us Unforgettable and I fell in love with that song.  But his latest single is a much different story.  I’m not exactly sure what he’s going for here because everything about the song just doesn’t work out to my liking.  The production is no good here.  French Montana doesn’t put on a good vocal performance and none of the artists made a good contribution here.  There’s no charisma whatsoever.  So yeah, this is a huge misfire and such a waste of French Montana’s talent.  NEXT!

– So, who remembers Blackbear?  Anyone?  No?  Well, he makes his comeback this week with my new least favorite song on the countdown.  It’s titled Hot Girl Bummer.  I remember when he gave us Do Re Mi back in 2017, which I legitimately disliked with a burning passion.  But dear Odin, Hot Girl Bummer is even worse.  Blackbear sounds like absolute shit from the very first line all the way to the end, and everything from a production standpoint is weak as hell.  It’s like he didn’t put forth any effort in trying to work on the song.  And don’t even get me started on the lyrics, because they’re just unbearable.  Who would’ve thought it was a good idea to try and attempt what Megan Thee Stallion did?  Her cut is much better than what Blackbear is trying to offer.  This is just a horrific song that fails on any level you can think of.  NEXT!

– Now onto the good stuff.  We have the return of Kesha, and she give us her comeback single in the form of Raising Hell, which is from her new album High Road.  It was around this time back in 2017 when she made her comeback with Praying. Those who have been following my blog from the beginning should know that I fell madly in love with the song and it was ranked as my #1 favorite song of 2017.  Her last album Rainbow was just divine on all levels.  I loved songs such as Learn To Let Go, Woman, and some other singles I won’t mention.  As far as Raising Hell goes, I’m in love with this one as well.  It looks like she’s taking the approach of going back to her fun, party days.  I wasn’t huge on the drop at first, but now I’ve come around to it.  The rest of the production works well here and I like Kesha’s voice as usual.  Yeah, this is pretty divine and I’m interested to see what she has in store for her new album.

– Finally, with the highest debut of the week, we get the return of Dua Lipa!  She gives us her brand new single titled Don’t Start Now.  She had a big year in 2018 with the success of New Rules, which was a 4-time #1 song on the American Top 40 and would eventually go on to be the #1 of the year on last year’s Year-End countdown.  Hearing this new single of hers…look, this isn’t quite what I was expecting from her.  New Rules had a tropical vibe that fits well with Dua’s voice, which I thought sounded good.  But here, she’s taking a different approach, and I was genuinely impressed with the way it turned out.  I really like the groove here and the rest of the production works well to perfection.  Dua put on a fine vocal performance.  She has shown that she is one of the best pop singers in my opinion.  I’m also fond of the lyrics as well.  Yeah, this is an upbeat song that makes me want to dance.  Dua made an impressive comeback with this single and I hope it does well.

Best Debut Of The Week: Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa

Don’t Blurb Now
– We’ll begin with our exits.  First off, Don’t Call Me Angel was pretty good and probably one of the best Ariana has put out this year.  Ran$om was no good and it should’ve never debuted.  Rooting For You was okay, but it was nowhere near Alessia Cara’s best.  Higher Love was an amazing song and it’s a shame that it didn’t get treated as such.  I’m pretty sad that Kygo will forever be a one-hit wonder with It Ain’t Me.

– Not much action as far as the Top 10 goes.  But we get get Good As Hell entering the Top 5 at #3.  I’m pretty sure that one will end up being #1 in the near future and I’ll be cool with it since it’s a really good song.  Lizzo will likely continue to ride her wave in popularity heading into next year.

– Before introducing Bad Guy, Ryan Seacrest mentioned that it took a bunch of takes to be able to get the word “duh”, to sound right.  I’ll bet Billie had a lot of practice working on her vocal technique.  I’m glad it turned out okay.

– Taylor Swift has recently released a remix to Lover, which features Shawn Mendes.  I think he adds quite a bit to the song and I like how they blend together in the chorus.  It’s pretty good, but I much prefer the solo version.

Breakouts/On The Verge:
I’m Lonely by Lauv featuring Anne-Marie
Take What You Want by Post Malone featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott
Make It Right by BTS featuring Lauv
Highest In The Room by Travis Scott

Extras/Optional Extras:
God Is A Woman by Ariana Grande
Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
What Lovers Do by Maroon 5 featuring SZA
In My Blood by Shawn Mendes
Give Me Everything by Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo and Afrojack
Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly featuring Camila Cabello
Whatever It Takes by Imagine Dragons
I Like Me Better by Lauv
No Guidance by Chris Brown featuring Drake
Heathens by TWENTY ØNE PILØTS
Happier by Marshmello featuring BΔSTILLE
Good Things Fall Apart by ILLENIUM featuring Jon Bellion
Motivation by Normani

Top 20 Breakdown:
0 – Garbage:
20. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown

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

2 – Mediocre:
17. I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber

3 – Decent:
16. Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug
15. Time by NF
14. How Do You Sleep? by Sam Smith
13. Liar by Camila Cabello
12. Panini by Lil Nas X

4 – Good:
None!

5 – Great:
11. Only Human by Jonas Brothers
10. Circles by Post Malone
9. Truth Hurts by Lizzo
8. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish
7. Graveyard by Halsey
6. 10,000 Hours by Dan + Shay featuring Justin Bieber
5. Good As Hell by Lizzo
4. Señorita by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello
3. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid
2. Trampoline by SHAED

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Selena Gomez – Lose You To Love Me

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

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Clocks by Coldplay (2003)

Most Missed Song: Mirrors by Justin Timberlake

#1 Recommendation For The American Top 40: Tie between Lovers Never Die by Céline Dion and No Good by Ally Brooke

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Breathin’ by Ariana Grande (#7)

My Top 5 Picks
1. Lose You To Love Me by Selena Gomez
2. Lover by Taylor Swift
3. Trampoline by SHAED
4. Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid
5. Nice To Meet Ya by Niall Horan

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Hot Girl Bummer by Blackbear
2. One Thing Right by Marshmello featuring Kane Brown
3. My Type by Saweetie
4. Lonely by Diplo featuring Jonas Brothers
5. Old Town Road (Remix) by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Thank U, Next by Ariana Grande: This came out of nowhere last year, and though I liked it to an extent, it’s probably the weakest lead single she has put out.

Taki Taki by DJ Snake featuring Selena Gomez, Ozuna, and Cardi B: I’m not sure what I was thinking when I said I liked it at first.  Everything about it is no good.  The production is underwhelming and I don’t like the verses very much.  It’s the worst thing DJ Snake has released in my opinion.  That’s really all I have to say about this one for now.