Hello, fam! September is officially here. Fall is almost upon us. And that means football, sweaters, pumpkin spice, etc. All that good stuff. I’ll be getting started on my Year-End posts within the next week or so. It’s going to be time consuming as always, and I’m hoping to get this all of those done in time. But first, I’m going to be doing this post because I’m not going to have time to do it as I’m going to be busy during this Labor Day Weekend. So, here it is. Before we get to this week’s fresh 40, here are the songs leaving the countdown this week:
- Flowers by Lauren Spencer-Smith (#29)
- Thousand Miles by The Kid LAROI (#39)
- Stay by The Kid LAROI featuring Justin Bieber (#40) [Spent 11 Weeks At #1] (!!!!!!!!!!!)
The Countdown:
Last Week’s #1 Song: Sunroof by Nicky Youre featuring dazy
40. Ghost by Justin Bieber (#38) [–2] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
39. Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez (DEBUT)
38. Heat Waves by Glass Animals (#35) [–3] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
37. Where Are You Now by Lost Frequencies featuring Travis Scott (#37) [=]
36. Woman by Doja Cat (#33) [–3] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
35. 10 Things I Hate About You by Leah Kate (#21) [–14]
34. Music For A Sushi Restaurant by Harry Styles (DEBUT)
33. Enemy by Imagine Dragons featuring JID (#31) [–2] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
32. Love Me More by Sam Smith (#17) [–15]
31. Easy Lover by Ellie Goulding featuring Big Sean (#32) [+1]
30. Sweetest Pie by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Dua Lipa (#27) [–3]
29. Can’t Stop Us Now by Pitbull featuring Zac Brown (#30) [+1]
28. Wasted On You by Morgan Wallen (DEBUT)
27. THAT’S WHAT I WANT by Lil Nas X (#25) [–2] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
26. Grand by Kane Brown (#36) [+10]
25. 2 Be Loved (Am I Ready) by Lizzo (#34) [+9]
24. Boyfriend by Dove Cameron (#23) [–1]
23. Massive by Drake (#24) [+1]
22. Bones by Imagine Dragons (#22) [=]
21. Wait For U by Future featuring Drake and Tems (#26) [+5]
20. Betty (Get Money) by Yung Gravy (#28) [+8]
19. Big Energy by Latto (#13) [–6] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
18. Don’t You Worry by The Black Eyed Peas featuring Shakira and David Guetta (#19) [+1]
17. Bad Habit by Steve Lacy (#20) [+3]
16. Numb Little Bug by Em Beihold (#10) [–6]
15. Left And Right by Charlie Puth featuring Jung Kook (#16) [+1]
14. Vegas by Doja Cat (#18) [+4]
13. Glimpse Of Us by Joji (#15) [+2]
12. Numb by Marshmello featuring Khalid (#14) [+2]
11. So Good by Halsey (#11) [=]
10. I Ain’t Worried by OneRepublic (#12) [+2]
9. Get Into It (Yuh) by Doja Cat (#6) [–3]
8. Break My Soul by Beyoncé (#9) [+1]
7. First Class by Jack Harlow (#7) [=] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
6. I Like You (A Happier Song) by Post Malone featuring Doja Cat (#8) [+2]
5. Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) by Kate Bush (#5) [=]
4. As It Was by Harry Styles (#4) [=] [Spent 6 Weeks At #1]
3. About Damn Time by Lizzo (#3) [=] [Spent 6 Weeks At #1]
2. Late Night Talking by Harry Styles (#2) [=]
1. Sunroof by Nicky Youre featuring dazy (#) [=] [2nd Week At #1]
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Good 4 U by Olivia Rodrigo (6th of 7 Weeks At #1)
Biggest Fall Of The Week: Love Me More by Sam Smith (–15)
Biggest Rise Of The Week: Grand by Kane Brown (+10)
New Entrants:
– To start our new round of debuts, we have Stephen Sanchez who makes his first appearance on the countdown. His single is titled Until I Found You. I’ve heard this song quite a few times while I was out and I recalled it being a good song. It’s another in a long line of love songs, this time talking about trying to get together with someone after a long while. I like the vocals we get from Stephen. He reminds me a little bit of Paul McCartney. The instrumentation is also really nice here. Anything that harkens back to the soft rock of the 50’s and 60’s is a win for me. I’m hoping to see this one stick around.
– To the surprise of nobody, we get more of Harry Styles on the AT40 countdown. As It Was is still going strong as it just took back the #1 spot on Billboard this week. It pretty much has its sights set on the record for most weeks in the Top 5. And Late Night Talking also looks poised to take the #1 spot since it’s continuing to gain momentum. So, he brings us Music For A Sushi Restaurant as his next single. To put it short, I’m not a fan. Looking at the lyrics, what I’m getting at is that he makes sushi while making music in which it pertains to a special someone he loves. I find the chorus to be weird, and not the good kind of weird. The “ba, ba-ba” can get on my nerves a lot and Harry doesn’t showcase his vocal talent very well here. I don’t know. I expected more out of him. I like that it has a funky groove and the beat is fine. But that’s really the only redeeming quality in an otherwise bad song. Harry has made plenty of stuff I like for sure, but this unfortunately isn’t one of them. We’ll see how far this goes.
– Sigh…I wasn’t looking forward to the return of Morgan Wallen. But alas, here he is with his latest single making the countdown. Enter Wasted On You. I haven’t been fond of what he has to offer. I’ll admit, he’s capable of making good songs (i.e. 7 Summers). But they’re few and far between. Here, we have this song which was actually released in 2021. Right off the bat, the song is just crap. His vocals don’t sound good at all. The instrumentation is just underwhelming and when you combine that with trap elements, it makes for a undesirable listen. It’s supposed to be some kind of song in which his past relationship didn’t work out. But he should’ve taken a different approach because there’s just no lyrical depth and some of the lines put me off. Whatever he was going for did not work out to my liking at all. So basically for me, this is a skip.
Best Debut Of The Week: Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez
Blurbs For A Sushi Restaurant
– I have to say, this was an important week in terms of the exits. Well, first there’s Flowers by Lauren Spence-Smith, which I didn’t really find interesting. But more importantly, let us celebrate as we have both songs from The Kid LAROI departing! Thousand Miles wasn’t any good and it’s nice to see that one off. But the big exit happens to be Stay, as it is finally out of the countdown! It’s about time.
– The massive drop we get from 10 Things I Hate About You is one I saw coming. I was growing out of that song though, so I guess you can say I’m okay with it.
– On that note, I find it pleasing to see Love Me More tank hard alongside it. Yeah, that song just didn’t meet my expectations when it comes to Sam Smith. Thankfully, that one is dying elsewhere.
– So, I’ve grown into Left And Right within the course of the past week. Something about it just pulls me in. I think it’s the chorus where Charlie sings. I wouldn’t mind seeing this last a little bit longer.
– I Ain’t Worried entered the Top 10 rather quickly. I’m not really looking forward to this being a hit. As someone who has been fond of those guys, it just seems inferior compared to what they’ve done before.
Breakouts/On The Verge:
- Hold Me Close by Elton John featuring Britney Spears
- Baby Boo by Muni featuring Saweetie
- Victoria’s Secret by Jax
- Bad Decisions by Benny Blanco featuring BTS and Snoop Dogg
Extras/Optional Extras:
- The Hills by The Weeknd
- Give Me Everything by Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo and Afrojack
- Title by Meghan Trainor
- SUPERMODEL by Måneskin
- Crazy In Love by Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z
- Toxic by Britney Spears
- All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor
- abcedfu by GAYLE
- Mine by Bazzi
- Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid
- Lips Are Movin’ by Meghan Trainor
- Bad For Me by Meghan Trainor featuring Teddy Swims
- Like I’m Gonna Lose You by Meghan Trainor featuring John Legend
– With Meghan Trainor being the guest host this week, it’s no shock to see some of her songs being listed as Extras.
Top 20 Breakdown:
0 – Putrid:
20. I Like You (A Happier Song) by Post Malone featuring Doja Cat
1 – Bad:
19. Don’t You Worry by The Black Eyed Peas featuring Shakira and David Guetta
18. I Ain’t Worried by OneRepublic
2 – Mediocre:
17. Big Energy by Latto
3 – Decent:
16. Betty (Get Money) by Yung Gravy
15. Numb by Marshmello featuring Khalid
14. Bad Habit by Steve Lacy
4 – Good:
13. As It Was by Harry Styles
12. Get Into It (Yuh) by Doja Cat
5 – Great:
11. Left And Right by Charlie Puth featuring Jung Kook
10. Late Night Talking by Harry Styles
9. Vegas by Doja Cat
8. So Good by Halsey
7. Glimpse Of Us by Joji
6. Sunroof by Nicky
5. Numb Little Bug by Em Beihold.
4. Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) by Kate Bush
3. Break My Soul by Beyoncé
2. First Class by Jack Harlow
BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. About Damn Time by Lizzo
Overall Grade: 77/100 = 77% (B)
Throwback Pick Of The Week: Dancing Queen by ABBA (1976)
Most Missed Countdown Song: Talking Body by Tove Lo
#1 Recommendation For The American Top 40: Million Dollar Baby by Ava Max
Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Take My Breath by The Weeknd (#21)
My Top 5 Picks
1. About Damn Time by Lizzo
2. Easy Lover by Ellie Goulding featuring Big Sean
3. First Class by Jack Harlow
4. Sweetest Pie by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Dua Lipa
5. Break My Soul by Beyoncé
My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Boyfriend by Dove Cameron
2. Wasted On You by Morgan Wallen
3. Enemy by Imagine Dragons featuring JID
4. Heat Waves by Glass Animals
5. I Like You (A Happier Song) by Post Malone featuring Doja Cat
Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Saturday by TWENTY ØNE PILØTS: I much prefer Shy Away over this, but this is still pretty solid. And did I mention that Saturday is actually my favorite day of the week.
Rumors by Lizzo featuring Cardi B: An interesting collaboration if I do say so myself. But sadly, it never took off elsewhere. Luckily, Lizzo came back roaring this year with her current representation on the countdown.
Music Reviews + More 