Wednesday, March 22, 2017

DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - April 1, 2017

The new Billboard charts have arrived and so it's time again for me to give you my thoughts! In this weekly post, I cover three sections. First, I give my thoughts on the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Second, I give my thoughts on the songs that experienced significant gains below the top 10. Third, I give my initial thoughts on our new arrivals this week. I may decide to switch things up in the future, but for now this is what I'm sticking with. I've followed the Billboard charts for a long time now and this is a great way for me to express my thoughts to the world. I hope you enjoy!

Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:




1- "Shape of You" - Ed Sheeran (=) -- It's eight weeks at No. 1 for Ed Sheeran. And he's now got actual competition for the top spot with Bruno jumping up to No. 2. Well, kinda. Ed is still way ahead of him in streaming and radio, even if the sales for the two songs aren't too far off. At this point, I'll predict 10-12 weeks for "Shape of You" at No. 1 unless something else comes out of nowhere.

2- "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars (+1) -- Now the question will be who is going to have more staying power at the top of the charts? Bruno has a lot of momentum right now, but Ed is still a huge powerhouse. If Bruno can remain consistent enough to still be strong until Ed starts to fall, we could be looking at our next No. 1 hit. But there's also a chance that this could be the next song to get stuck at that No. 2 spot.

3- "Bad and Boujee" - Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert (-1) -- Let's all shout a cry of relief that Migos has dropped a spot on the charts! I'll take what I can get right now. Although it would be really nice if this could fall faster. There's just not a whole lot of competition on the charts right now to shove this out of the way. Let's hope more rises. More good, anyways. Not Nicki or Drake. Let's not open the door for those two to dominate in the top 10.

4- "I Don't Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)" - Zayn & Taylor Swift (=) -- I thought this song might have a chance to move up a spot due to its iTunes discount, but the result of that was that it had enough power to fend off the songs right below it that are begging to sneak into the top five.

5- "I Feel it Coming" - The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (+7) -- Here's a welcome addition! And speaking of iTunes discount, that's exactly what allowed this song to jump into the top five. That and its new music video. Now I just hope it can gain more traction and stick around in the top five. It would be great if this was our next No. 1 hit. That might be wishful thinking at this point, but we shall see.

6- "Tunnel Vision" - Kodak Black (=) -- This stays at No. 6. Good. I don't mind this hanging around for a bit in the bottom half of the top 10, but I would get upset if it snuck into the top five and camped out there. Although I have a sneaking suspicion that that's exactly what's going to happen due mainly to the weakness of some of the other songs around it.

7- "Love on the Brain" - Rihanna (-2) -- Rihanna, where's your music video? If this song is never promoted, we can chalk it up to a bit of a missed opportunity. I won't be upset, though. Rihanna doesn't need another No. 1 hit. She's had plenty of them. But I'm just saying.

8- "Something Just Like This" - The Chainsmokers & Coldplay (+3) -- It's back! And it's slowly gaining more traction on all metrics, so thankfully it looks like this is here to stay. "Paris" is still stronger on radio, but "Something Just Like This" is rising on radio and is having consistently good sales. I expect a top five reappearance before too long.

9- "Paris" - The Chainsmokers (-2) -- And speaking of The Chainsmokers, they've now spent 46 consecutive weeks in the top 10. I won't do a weekly accounting on that, just an occasional reminder to see how close The Chainsmokers can get to Katy Perry's 2010-2011 record of 69 consecutive weeks for an artist in the top 10. Drake had 51 weeks from 2015-2016, Ace of Base had 48 weeks from 1993-1994 and The Chainsmokers are tied with Rihanna for fourth place with the aforementioned 46 weeks. But for the first time in eight months, "Closer" is not in the top 10. Barring one final resurgence, which I'm not expecting to happen, it appears that "Closer" will remain tied with LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live" for the all-time record that one single song has spent in the top 10.

10- "iSpy" - KYLE featuring Lil Yachty (+4) -- I saw this coming, so no surprise here. It's this year's "Broccoli," especially since both songs feature Lil Yachty attached to a song led by a rapper you've never heard of, but probably will hear of a lot more given the success of this song. Also like "Broccoli," this is a unique, catchy rap song, although I was a heck of a lot more repulsed by the lyrics of "Broccoli" than I am of "iSpy." So this is tolerable. It's not good by any means, but I suppose I'm fine with this being around as long as it doesn't get too high.


Rising on the Hot 100:





16- "Cold" - Maroon 5 featuring Future (+4) -- A lot of songs rose this week due to the natural fallout of the 10 Ed Sheeran songs that debuted last week after the arrival of his new album. The least of which might be this. Truth be told, this song is so forgettable that I can't even think of the tune off the top of my head. At least I can do that with "Don't Wanna Know." And I have a dreading suspicion this is heading for the top 10 for some reason that is beyond me.

19- "Mask Off" - Future (+13) -- And why in the heck is this continuing to skyrocket up the charts? If Future ends up with two concurrent top 10 hits, I might throw a fit. The fact that he has two top 20 hits is bad enough.

21- "Say You Won't Let Go" - James Arthur (+7) -- James Arthur has almost hit the top 20 here in the U.S. after celebrating a No. 1 hit in the U.K. quite some time ago. It's also gone No. 1 in Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and Sweden, so we're a little late to the party. It has continued momentum, though, so we'll see how high it can get.

27- "Stay" - Zedd & Alessia Cara (+7) -- You think I'd be happier for this given the two artists involved. I guess whatever traction Zedd can get is positive given that it keeps the door open for future success. But as I said two weeks ago when this debuted, there's a lot of Zedd songs out there that are much better than this.

34- "Rolex" - Ayo & Teo (+14) -- This is eventually going top 10, too, isn't it? I just hope its momentum can be stopped, but I'm not counting on it.

37- "Dirt on My Boots" - Jon Pardi (+5) -- The biggest gainer in the country world this week. I suppose this would be a better top country song than "Body Like a Back Road" if it can catch up to that song, but that's not saying very much.

44- "Party" - Chris Brown (+7) -- This song can't make up its mind, so allow me to make up its mind for it. GO AWAY!!!

46- "How Far I'll Go" - Auli'i Cravalho (+14) -- The Oscar boost continues? Or is this due to the DVD release? Probably the latter. That would make more sense. But I continue to be impressed with how much staying power the "Moana" soundtrack is having on the charts.

56- "Redbone" - Childish Gambino (+13) -- Can Mr. Glover hit top 50 with this song? I'd be down for that.

58- "Play That Song" - Train (+10) -- Here's a nice surprise. I thought this song was dead. And many people would've been happy if it stayed dead because hating Train is the cool thing to do these days. I still find this to be a fun song, though, even though I got really bored of the new album.

68- "In Case You Didn't Know" - Brett Young (+12) -- Now this needs to be our top country song! Let's hope it can continue to gain momentum and hit the top 50. Let's get that Sam Hunt song dethroned from the top of the country charts!

69- "Heavy" - Linkin Park featuring Kiiara (+10) -- I never envisioned myself saying this, but I hope this Linkin Park song burns and dies. Let's not encourage Linkin Park to go the route of Marroon 5 with their music. That would be awful.

76- "How Far I'll Go" - Alessia Cara (+13) -- Speaking of "Moana." This song is still here. I don't bring up re-entries, but "You're Welcome" also reappeared at the bottom of the charts this week.

81- "Hometown Girl" - Josh Turner (+14) -- I envision much success for this song in its future. This seems like the song that will catch on with country radio. Which is a shame, really. But oh well. Not bad, but there's a lot better.


New Arrivals:





14- "No Frauds" - Nicki Minaj, Drake & Lil Wayne -- I hate it when Nicki shows up on the charts. I want her to disappear from the world of music, but we can't let her go and now she has THREE new songs this week. So now we're going to play this game of seeing how long my ears can tolerate each of these songs. First song up is "No Frauds" and so far so good. I actually went the whole song without wanting to gouge my eardrums out. Yes, that's my scale when it comes to Nicki songs. I hate her that much. So the fact that I didn't absolutely hate this song with a fiery passion is a good thing, I guess. She's done much worse. I think the hook of this song is actually decent. It's the three verses where it goes wrong and each of our lovely rappers collaborating get exactly one verse. The best of which is Lil Wayne. The worst is a toss-up. More facepalms at the lyrics in Nicki's verse, but absolutely no life in Drake's verse. Speaking of Drake, he dropped yet another album this week, which means I'll be spending a lot of time covering it next week. I'm not excited for that.

61- "Regret in Your Tears" - Nicki Minaj -- Every once in a while Nicki decides to sing a song that is less rap and more pop. That rarely happens, but when it does it's a whole heck of a lot more tolerable. See, as a rapper she comes off as arrogant, annoying and filthy. Like someone who thinks she's super cool, but is the exact opposite. When she's trying to be more like Beyonce or Rihanna, it's still not good, but it's tolerable. And that's what this is. She's actually trying to be more emotional by talking about a recent breakup. She's a lot softer as she's holding back from her usual arrogant tone and it kinda works. She still screws things up by making some facepalm-worthy statements in her verses, but for Nicki's standards, this isn't bad at all.

71- "Changed It" - Nicki Minaj & Lil Wayne -- We went two for two so far without me hating life while listening to a Nicki song. Part of me wondered if we were going three for three. But no. Not so lucky. Sure, I've listened to Nicki songs and Lil Wayne songs that are a lot more repulsive and disgusting, but this here is exemplifies the worst of both Lil Wayne and Nicki. Both are as cocky and arrogant as ever with them bragging about how awesome they are and how much they've influenced others. The only slightly saving grace is that this song is mostly Lil Wayne with only a touch of Nicki.

72- "Chanel" - Frank Ocean -- Hallelujah! We're done with Nicki for the week! Although in an odd turn of events, the first two Nicki songs are actually better than this pile of garbage by Frank Ocean. There's absolutely no life to this song. Just three really long verses with no flow or rhythm connected with a two ling chorus and a brief bridge. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of Frank Ocean, but I do know he's done way better than this in the past.

78- "Liability" - Lorde -- Holy fire!!! I absolutely loved "Green Light" and I love this song even more. If this is what we have in store for Lorde's second album "Liability," then I am pumped. Lorde has been classified as rock in the past. "Royals" was on top of the rock charts for a really long time. I don't think that makes much sense. Lorde is kinda her own unique genre, but this song here is straight up piano ballad and it's gorgeous. Lorde is super vulnerable in this song talking about how hurt she is that she can't find romance. They get what they want out of her, then they leave her out in the cold, making her hurt and depressed and giving her the mindset that she's only a liability to other people. I can't even do it justice with this explanation, but this is excellent. I get a lump in my throat and goosebumps everywhere while listening to it. One of the best songs of the year, if not the best song so far.

95- "Prblms" - 6LACK -- He forgot to include the vowels in the song title. And his rap name is supposed to pronounced as "black," but spelled with a "6" instead of a "b." That kind of stupid thing makes me not even want to give this song the time of day as it oozes of an unintelligent punk just wanting to be cool. The kicker is that his real name is Ricardo Valentine, which has a good ring to it. Sure that sounds more like a Latino singer and not a black rapper, but hey. A name's a name. And after such a masterpiece with Lorde's "Liability" I almost just want to leave it at that and never listen to another song again. But OK. I'll talk about this song. And yeah, it's as awful as it sounds. This guy sounds like a bad combination of Drake, Future and 21 Savage. Awful lazy rap that drags on like crazy and is barely comprehensible. And he's talking about these problems (yes, that's how you spell it Six-Lack) he's having with the girl, but he's bragging that he's done absolutely nothing wrong and that it's all her fault. Yeah, that's a genius way to look at things. Horrendous. We went from one of the best of the year to one of the worst of the year in just two songs. Ouch.

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