Hello, fam! I finally got my first Year-End post out. In case you’ve missed it, you can check it our right here. I have more Year-End posts coming within the next few weeks. Also, March Madness is officially upon us. As a sports fanatic, I plan on watching all the games this weekend. So yeah, it’s gonna be wild. Before we get to this week’s fresh 40, here are the songs we’re saying goodbye to this week:
- Dynamite by BTS (#38)
- SO DONE by The KID LAROI (#39)
- Before You Go by Lewis Capaldi (#40) [Spent 1 Week At #1]
The Countdown:
Last Week’s #1 Song: 34+35 by Ariana Grande
40. Up by Cardi B (DEBUT)
39. Savage Love by Jawsh 685 featuring Jason Derulo (#36) [–3] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
38. Talk About Love by Zara Larsson featuring Young Thug (DEBUT)
37. ily (i love you baby) by Surf Mesa featuring Emilee (#34) [–3]
36. Star by LOOΠΔ (#37) [+1]
35. Blinding Lights by The Weeknd (#32) [–3] [Spent 5 Weeks At #1]
34. Skin by Sabrina Carpenter (#35) [+1]
33. Heat Waves by Glass Animals (DEBUT)
32. Laugh Now Cry Later by Drake featuring Lil Durk (#30) [–2]
31. The Business by Tiësto (#33) [+2]
30. I Hope by Gabby Barrett featuring Charlie Puth (#28) [–2]
29. Girl Like Me by The Black Eyed Peas featuring Shakira (#31) [+2]
28. Best Friend by Saweetie featuring Doja Cat (#29) [+1]
27. Lasting Lover by Sigala featuring James Arthur (#27) [=]
26. Kings & Queens by Ava Max (#23) [–3]
25. Dákiti by Bad Bunny featuring Jhay Cortez (#26) [+1]
24. WITHOUT YOU by The KID LAROI (#25) [+1]
23. Bang! by AJR (#21) [–2]
22. Goosebumps (Remix) by Travis Scott featuring HVME (#22) [=]
21. Lifestyle by Jason Derulo featuring Adam Levine (#24) [+3]
20. Holy by Justin Bieber featuring Chance The Rapper (#17) [–3]
19. We’re Good by Dua Lipa (#20) [+1]
18. Monsters by All Time Low featuring Blackbear (#19) [+1]
17. Willow by Taylor Swift (#18) [+1]
16. Anyone by Justin Bieber (#15) [–1]
15. My Head & My Heart by Ava Max (#16) [+1]
14. Levitating by Dua Lipa featuring DaBaby (#10) [–4]
13. Golden by Harry Styles (#14) [+1]
12. What You Know About Love by Pop Smoke (#13) [+1]
11. Lonely by Justin Bieber featuring Benny Blanco (#8) [–3] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
10. My Ex’s Best Friend by Machine Gun Kelly featuring Blackbear (#12) [+2]
9. Save Your Tears by The Weeknd (#11) [+2]
8. Mood by 24KGoldn featuring Iann Dior (#7) [–1] [Spent 10 Weeks At #1]
7. You Broke Me First by Tate McRae (#9) [+2]
6. Put Your Records On by Ritt Momney (#6) [=]
5. Positions by Ariana Grande (#4) [–1] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
4. Therefore I Am by Billie Eilish (#5) [+1]
3. Go Crazy by Chris Brown featuring Young Thug (#2) [–1]
2. 34+35 by Ariana Grande (#1) [–1] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
1. Driver’s License by Olivia Rodrigo (#3) [+2] [1st Week At #1]
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa (2nd of 5 Weeks At #1)
Biggest Fall Of The Week: Levitating by Dua Lipa featuring DaBaby (–4)
Biggest Rise Of The Week: Lifestyle by Jason Derulo featuring Adam Levine (+3)
New Entrants:
– Three not so interesting debuts this week. Up first is the return of Cardi B with her new single Up. We haven’t seen much of Cardi B since 2019 when Please Me was a hit. There was also WAP with Megan Thee Stallion, but I won’t get into that one right now. I can’t say I care for this one. I’ll say that Cardi B is talented and she has some good songs I like. But I’m not particularly sold on Up for the most part. Something about the song doesn’t click with me the say way WAP did. There are moments where Cardi B shows some of her talent. But it feels a little forceful in some parts and while the production is fine, it’s missing something that makes it special. I don’t know. Yeah, I’m a little indifferent on this one.
– Next, we have the return of Zara Larsson who is collaborating with Young Thug in her new single Talk About Love. I adore Zara Larsson and her music is very much underrated (at least in the US). I can’t say I’m enjoying Talk About Love at the moment. Her voice is pretty good here, but I’m not too fond of Young Thug. He doesn’t really add anything to the song. The production is okay, but there are ways in which it can be improved upon because the beat isn’t too interesting. Overall, the song is pretty decent. But I know Zara is capable of better because Never Forget You was a divine work of art. Talk About Love doesn’t really live up to that, unfortunately.
– Finally, we have alt band Glass Animals making their first appearance on the AT40 countdown with Heat Waves. Having listened to the song in its entirety, I don’t really see the appeal. I’m sorry. I mean, I can get what the song is going for. It’s about staying strong through the bad times and we’ve seen a lot of songs about those. But it wasn’t executed in the best way possible. I don’t like the production as it has a brittle beat and weaker instrumentation. The vocals aren’t very good here either. I know I feel alone in this opinion, but I really don’t see anything interesting about it nor is it special. I’m sorry, but I find this to be underwhelming at best. It’s in blue, but it’s much closer to red.
Best Debut Of The Week: Hmm…I guess Talk About Love by Zara Larsson featuring Young Thug
Talk About Blurbs
– In terms of our exits this week, good riddance to the mess that is of SO DONE by The KID LAROI. That one should’ve never debuted. As of right now, it’s set to appear in My Bottom 10 Songs of 2021. We’ll see. There’s also Before You Go by Lewis Capaldi which was long overdue. All I have to say about that is it’s about damn time. The only other exit happens to be Dynamite by BTS, which was a bop and I enjoyed it while it lasted. I’m glad it became BTS’s biggest hit and I’ll definitely revisit that one again. So farwell, Dynamite. It’s been a fun ride. You will be missed.
– I would appreciate if songs like Girl Like Me and Best Friend not move up any further, especially the former. That one has only been getting worse with each and every additional listen. Preferably, they both need to drop at the very least.
– Bang! also needs to go as well. I really don’t know who is still supporting this song.
– My Head & My Heart has only been getting better with each listen. Hopefully, it can continue it’s momentum. It would be nice to see Ava Max getting another hit.
– Unfortunately, we saw Levitating out of the Top 10 for good. It’s too bad this never ended up becoming a #1 song, but at least it was another hit for Dua. I’m hoping this’ll end up sticking around for a little bit longer. I still adore that song as opposed to her other song (We’re Good for the matter).
– In Top 10 news, we have My Ex’s Best Friend and Save Your Tears both enter that region. I’m very thrilled to see Save Your Tears become another Top 10 hit for The Weeknd. He’s been killing it this past year. I hope to see it enter the Top 5 soon.
– And finally, we’ve come to our #1. I saw it coming from a mile away. It was of course expected that Driver’s License by Olivia Rodrigo is at #1 because it’s a massive success elsewhere. I’ll say that it’s a pretty divine song and it’s refreshing to see a great song at the top after four weeks of middling #1’s. I’m almost certain that it’ll hog the #1 spot for a long while.
Breakouts/On The Verge:
- Lil Bit by Nelly featuring Florida Georgia Line
- Good Days by SZA
- Astronaut In The Ocean by Masked Wolf
- Leave The Door Open by Silk Sonic (starring Bruno Mars and Anderson.Paak)
- Bad Girl by Daya
- Beautiful Mistakes by Maroon 5 featuring Megan Thee Stallion
Extras/Optional Extras:
- Him & I by G-Eazy featuring Halsey
- Sugar by Maroon 5
- Stay by Zedd featuring Alessia Cara
- Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding
- Side To Side by Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj
- Unforgettable by French Montana featuring Swae Lee
- Diamonds by Sam Smith
- Happier by Marshmello featuring BΔSTILLE
- Yeah! by Usher featuring Ludacris and Lil Jon
- Sunflower by Post Malone featuring Swae Lee
Top 20 Breakdown:
0 – Crap:
20. Put Your Records On by Ritt Momney
19. Holy by Justin Bieber featuring Chance The Rapper
18. Go Crazy by Chris Brown featuring Young Thug
1 – Bad:
17. We’re Good by Dua Lipa
16. What You Know About Love by Pop Smoke
2 – Mediocre:
15. Lonely by Justin Bieber featuring Benny Blanco
3 – Decent:
14. You Broke Me First by Tate McRae
13. 34+35 by Ariana Grande
12. Willow by Taylor Swift
4 – Good:
11. My Ex’s Best Friend by Machine Gun Kelly featuring Blackbear
10. Positions by Ariana Grande
5 – Great:
9. Anyone by Justin Bieber
8. Golden by Harry Styles
7. Driver’s License by Olivia Rodrigo
6. My Head & My Heart by Ava Max
5. Monsters by All Time Low featuring Blackbear
4. Therefore I Am by Billie Eilish
3. Mood by 24KGoldn featuring Iann Dior
2. Levitating by Dua Lipa featuring DaBaby
BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:s
1. Save Your Tears by The Weeknd
Total Score: 67/100 = 67% (C)
Throwback Pick Of The Week: Stayin’ Alive by The Bee Gees (1977)
Most Missed Song: HUMBLE by Kendrick Lamar
#1 Recommendation For The American Top 40: Angels Like You by Miley Cyrus
Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa (#1)
My Top 5 Picks
1. Save Your Tears by The Weeknd
2. Levitating by Dua Lipa featuring DaBaby
3. Mood by 24KGoldn featuring Iann Dior
4. Kings & Queens by Ava Max
5. Therefore I Am by Billie Eilish
My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Skin by Sabrina Carpenter
2. WITHOUT YOU by The KID LAROI
3. Girl Like Me by The Black Eyed Peas featuring Shakira
4. Put Your Records On by Ritt Momney
5. Holy by Justin Bieber featuring Chance The Rapper
Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Sugar by BROCKHAMPTON: I like how these guys were able to go in depth about being in a relationship. Everything else works well to perfection.
The Other Side by SZA featuring Justin Timberlake: An interesting collaboration here. These guys have good chemistry here and I love the beat. It’s a shame that this ended up flopping because it’s one of SZA’s best songs, along with her feature in All The Stars.
Stupid Love by Lady Gaga: Ah yes, Lady’s Gaga big return. Interestingly, this took place a year after Shallow gained popularity in large part thanks to Shallow winning the 2019 Oscars.
Music Reviews + More 