Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "God's Plan" - Drake (=) -- "God's Plan" has now matched the 10-week run of Drake's 2016 hit "One Dance," meaning Drake is the first lead solo male with two 10-week No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Although that's not quite as special as it sounds. Pharrell Williams has done that with "Blurred Lines" and "Happy," although he was just a featured act on Robin Thicke's song. In terms of bands or groups, Boyz II Men, Santana and The Black Eyed Peas all have two 10-week hits. The only solo female to accomplish this feat is the queen herself, Mariah Carey, with "One Sweet Day" and "We Belong Together," both seeing her in a lead role. In fact, both of those songs reigned for at least 14 weeks, making her and Boyz II Men the only acts with two 14-week hits. And finally, Boyz II Men lead everyone as the only act to have three 10-week hits. The other thing Drake has accomplished by hitting the 10-week mark is that this is just the fifth song in Billboard history to reign for 10 weeks after debuting at No. 1. The other four songs are "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks), "Candle in the Wind 1997"/"Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14 weeks), "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy & Faith Evans (11 weeks) and "Hello" by Adele (10 weeks).
2- "Meant to Be" - Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line (=) -- Bebe and FGL celebrate their second week at No. 2. How far away are they from "God's Plan" in terms of chart points? Well, quite a ways away. In Billboard's weekly article, Gary Trust reported this week that "God's Plan" has a 1.7-to-1 lead over "Meant to Be," which is narrowed from last week's 1.9-to-1 lead. That means if this trend were to continue, "Meant to Be" could be No. 1 in a month from now. But that assumes the upward momentum continues for "Meant to Be," which could be a struggle because the streaming and sales are not very good, thus radio alone is going to have to be what takes this over the top, which is pretty great with 122 million in total audience, up 10 percent from last week. But I personally don't think it's going to be enough as Drake still has over 60 million U.S. streams this week with 61.1 million.
3- "Finesse" - Bruno Mars & Cardi B (+1) -- It finally happened. After several weeks of me thinking it could happen followed by it not actually happened, "Finesse" has passed Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" on the Hot 100, probably helped by a 69-cent iTunes discount that boosted sales as well as its continued reign on the radio charts for a fourth week, although it's down 6 percent from last week to 131 million, which means that "Meant to Be" is probably quickly coming for that title within the next week or two. It also helps "Finesse" that the bottom seems to have fallen out for "Perfect," so this might have happened without the iTunes discount.
4- "Psycho" - Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla $ign (+1) -- Much to my disappointment, "Psycho" also passes Ed Sheeran's "Perfect." I was hoping this song was going to fall out of the top five this week, but instead it rises a spot thanks to the weaknesses of "Perfect." I'm still hoping this will be able to fall out of the top five soon. But that would require something to be willing to step up. At the moment, though, it doesn't seem like anything is ready, which is annoying.
5- "Perfect" - Ed Sheeran (-2) -- I still really like this song, but with it spending 18 weeks in the top five and 21 weeks in the top 10, I do agree that it's time for it to go. I like there to be more movement at the top of the charts instead of things staying stagnant. I'd say it's also time for "Finesse" and "Psycho" to go, but you should know by now that I never wanted those songs there in the first place, so that should be a given.
6- "Look Alive" - BlocBoy JB featuring Drake (+5) -- I was really happy last week when this fell out of the top 10, down to No. 11. I was hoping that downward trend would continue, so you can imagine my extreme disappointment to see this back up to No. 6 with a huge gain in streaming. Like, why? There wasn't a music video drop. That was already out. Did XXXTENTACION's evaporated streaming this week after last week's album drop cause this song to pick up some of the slack? I don't know. Regardless of how this got back, it's time to send it back out.
7- "The Middle" - Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey (-1) -- I actually thought this song was going to jump into the top five and go as high as No. 3 thanks to the weaknesses of the songs ahead of it. And with a huge boost on radio, up 13 percent to 103 million, it's kinda surprising to me that it fell back a spot. But with that radio continuing to build, I have to think that this is at least going to remain consistent in the top 10. I guess it wasn't strong enough in the other two categories to break top five and fell a spot thanks to the huge streaming boost from "Look Alive."
8- "Freaky Friday" - Lil Dicky featuring Chris Brown (+1) -- I said I'd tolerate this song in the top 10 for ONE WEEK. That week is over and instead of falling out of the top 10, it gained a spot? That's frustrating. So I'll repeat what I said last week. I appreciate the creativity with the song, but the execution is just disgusting with some of the worst lyrics of the year. So why is the streaming so huge?
9- "SAD!" - XXXTENTACION (-2) -- Last week X had seven songs on the Hot 100. This week that is down to four. "the remedy for a broken heart" is barely hanging on to No. 97 this week while "changes" (No. 39) and "Moonlight" (No. 48) are still somehow both in the top 50. And "SAD!" is STILL in the top 10? OK, I'm happy they all fell down. And I'll repeat that "SAD!" specifically is not as awful as X's previous songs last year. But do people really enjoy listening to these lazy, partial songs? If you're going to listen to some awful rap music, why not listen to some awful rap music that are at least complete ideas and full song? And does the fact that X is a horrible human being and a convicted felon bother no one besides me? Can we please get rid of this guy?
10- "Havana" - Camila Cabello featuring Young Thug (-2) -- It's been a great run for Camila in the top 10 with "Havana." And I'm happy to report that, unlike last week, "Never Be the Same" recovered this week and is back on track to hitting the top 10. But more on that in a second.
Rising on the Hot 100:
11- "Mine" - Bazzi (+4) -- A viral internet meme is about to become a top 10 hit. The sad thing about this song is that it's now gaining a lot of radio traction in addition to already being a monster streaming hit. I re-listened to this to see if there was something I was missing or if I was being too harsh by hating this. And no. It's still only a partial song with little depth or purpose. I imagine Bazzi spent five minutes lazily throwing this together, not expecting it would even go anywhere. Yet because we live in 2018, look at what's happened. And I'm embarrassed for all the talented musicians who spent hours and days constructing their songs. It's the lazy idiots that we gravitate towards in 2018.
14- "Never Be the Same" - Camila Cabello (+5) -- At least we have Camila rising in the top 10 this week along with Bazzi. This is an actual full-length pop song where it seems like Camila put some thought into. In a perfect world, "Mine" would get stuck at No. 11 and this would be our new top 10 entry next week. But since the world of music in the U.S. sucks right now for the most part, who knows what's going to happen. I will note that this song has a massive amount of radio play right now. In fact, it's No. 5 on pop radio, so I'll be surprised if that doesn't equate to a top 10 entry soon.
15- "Walk It Talk It" - Migos featuring Drake (+5) -- Migos featuring Drake on paper just looks like a huge winner when it comes to streaming, so I'm not surprised to see this gaining, although I'm not happy about it. We don't need anymore Migos.
18- "Plug Walk" - Rich the Kid (+5) -- We let this song into the top 20? Well that's embarrassing. Seriously, who on Earth things that this thug is worthy of having a top 20 hit. If he makes it into the top 10, then help us all!
22- "In My Blood" - Shawn Mendes (+50) -- Apparently Baby Mendes' debut last week was only after a few days of tracking. He jumps 50 spots because this is his first full week of tracking. And as Baby Mendes doesn't have the maturity to know how to write a full song that actually means something, of course I'm not happy about this. But I suppose there's worse things happening right now, so it's whatever.
38- "Powerglide" - Rae Sremmurd & Juicy J (+13) -- Rae Sremmurd's chorus for this song is genuinely catchy, even though the song itself is still trash. But hey, I'll take catchy trash over trashy trash, so if we have to have a certain number of rap songs at the top, I'll accept this one. Doesn't mean I'm giving it a pass, though.
50- "Singles You Up" - Jordan Davis (+7) -- I wish I liked this song more than I did, but while Jordan aimed for fun and intelligent, he completely missed for me. Still, I'm not surprised this is now top 50 and I'll take this over a lot of the other country songs.
52- "Delicate" - Taylor Swift (+14) -- Two weeks in a row of major gains for Taylor Swift. That's encouraging! Is this actually going to change Taylor's luck and become a hit? I hope so because I really like this song!
59- "Tell Me You Love Me" - Demi Lovato (+14) -- This song just refuses to go away and I'm happy about that. This is a good Demi song. She did just release an EP of remixes for the song, so I'm guessing that's what gave this song a second wind. In that remix EP, there's the original, a Dave Audé remix, a NOTD remix, a Spanglish version, a Spanish version and a live acoustic version. If for some reason you think the song is too slow, the Dave Audé remix nearly doubles the tempo, making the song pretty fun. I'd say it's about 120-130 BPM, compared to the original's 80-90 BPM, but both of those are just educated guesses. The NOTD remix isn't bad, but gets a bit weird in a few spots. The other three are exactly what they sounds like. I will say that the Spanish version is really pretty and the live acoustic is pretty mellow and chill. I don't think I'd ever listen to the Spanglish version voluntarily. I'd either go all English or all Spanish.
74- "Tequila" - Dan + Shay (+13) -- This song re-entered the charts either last week or the week before. Can't say I'm super stoked about that as I forgot this drinking song existed before then. He can drink all he wants without remembering the girl, but for some reason he gets all broken up and sad when he drinks tequila. So don't drink tequila, man. You can move on with life and so can all of us.
New Arrivals:
60- "Say Amen (Saturday Night)" - Panic! At the Disco -- Foster the People last week, Bad Wolves' cover of "Zombie" the week before and now Panic! At the Disco this week? Man, the last few weeks have been fairly nice to rock music. Panic! At the Disco is a band that I have a generally positive view of. I really liked their 2016 album "Death of a Bachelor," that brought us songs like "Victorious," "Death of a Bachelor" and "Emperor's New Clothes." Then throughout their history, they've given us songs like "I Write Sins Not Tragedies," "This Is Gospel," "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" and the surprisingly decent cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the "Suicide Squad" soundtrack. They're a band that typically brings a lot of energy to their music, making them fun to listen to. And now they have their sixth studio album, "Pray for the Wicked," coming out in June. So that gives us something to look forward to. Lead singer Brendon Urie usually has a lot to say with his music, so the album title makes me curious as to what he has up his sleeve.
With this song specifically, there's a lot of religious undertones here, which most likely stem from Brendon Urie's religious upbringing as he was raised in an LDS household in Las Vegas after being born in St. George, Utah. Thus you can say there's a lot of valid comparisons to Brandon Flowers of The Killers here. Both were raised in Vegas in an LDS family and both drifted away after starting a rock band. The big difference is that Brandon Flowers drifted back while Brendon Urie is still drifting as he claims he's no longer religious. I'm not judging him here, but that's the subject matter of the song. There's a lot of conflict in his head during the verses as he's trying to be the best he can be every day, but admits that he's grown into a different person than he used to be. Then he says on the chorus that he prays for the wicked on the weekend, but then admits that he loves partying on Saturday night wherein he tells God that he's never going to repent. That's a bit jarring for me, but at the same time it feels very personal to Brendon, especially when you take the whole song in context of everything he's saying. I'm not going to say it's the most memorable song from this group, but I find it enjoyable enough with lyrics that feel person, so I appreciate that.
Also, go watch this music video that is posted right above. It's a prequel music video to the music video of "This Is Gospel," which is then completed by the video of "Emperor's New Clothes." Also, thematically all three songs are interconnected, so that's a pretty cool achievement. How many bands or musicians can claim they have a trilogy of music videos that all tell one story? It's also proof that prequels can be good.
64- "Lost in Japan" - Shawn Mendes -- All the Mendesites on the internet who drool all over themselves the second he opens his mouth mostly claimed that they like "Lost in Japan" most out of his two new singles. Personally it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to be better than "In My Blood" as that song is another boringly vague song from Baby Mendes who is basically claiming how a breakup is ruining his life because he just can't handle it. And, well, it wasn't a very high bar to jump over, but this is the better song of the two. Baby Mendes said he was listening to a lot of Justin Timberlake while writing this song and that is extremely evident because he's trying to be JT on this song. Turns out R&B suits him a lot better than his bland, boring pop music and feels a lot more real than him trying to be a rock star on "In My Blood," which also doesn't work. But this kinda does. It has a much more comfortable feel to it than most of his music. But as with EVERY Shawn Mendes song, there's a huge issue with the lyrics. Why in the frack is Baby Mendes singing about flying over to a girl in Japan? Outside that fact, this is another bland love song with no meaning. But seriously. Japan? Why? Oh. Because Baby Mendes said he fell asleep one day and dreamed about Japan. So he wrote a song about it. Whatever, Mendes. Swing and a miss. Again. Perhaps that's why the girl in "In My Blood" broke up with him. Because they were on different continents.
70- "Japan" - Famous Dex -- Another song about Japan? What's up with this Japanese theme this week? I mean, not that there's a problem with that. Just a curious coincidence. The sad thing is neither of these two songs have anything to do with Japan. Baby Mendes wrote another empty love song with his girl being in Japan for some reason. And Famous Dex? Uh, well, he needed a word to rhyme with xans, vans and Gram. He's doing drugs, smoking marijuana, bragging about all his new diamonds, talking about his shoes and sleeping with girls. That's this song. Yet there's a line saying "50,000 in Japan." 50,000 what? And why Japan? I don't know. And I don't think Dex knows. I honestly think he just needed a word to rhyme with xans and Vans.
86- "Up Down" - Morgan Wallen featuring Florida Georgia Line -- It's a rare occasion where I actually praise Florida Georgia Line, so me doing so on "Meant to Be" is pretty unique. I just think they struck gold in collaborating with Bebe Rexha. So could they repeat that success with Morgan Wallen? Uh, no. But first off, who in the heck is Morgan Wallen? This is his first ever appearance on the Hot 100 and turns out he was a contestant on The Voice season 6, but got eliminated in the playoffs round, right before the top 12. And while I didn't watch that season, or any season for that matter, I imagine there's a good reason why he couldn't even get top 12 on a music competition that no one cares about. Because he's not good. This is an annoying country-ish song where Morgan is way too twangy and is just singing about bland, boring country stuff. Parties, beer, hot women, red neck life. I don't care. The only reason this song is here is because he someone conned FGL into joining him. The only thing that brought me emotion while researching this song is that I learned that season 6 of the The Voice is the season that Christina Grimmie got third place. She's the girl that got tragically killed in Orlando after a concert by a crazy psychopath. Rest in peace, Christina!
95- "For the First Time" - Darius Rucker -- I got distracted with this song. I searched "For the First Time" on my Apple Music account and started listened to the song of the same title by The Script. Great song! Now I'm extremely picky with my country music, but Darius Rucker is a country singer who I actually appreciate. I really liked "If I Told You," which charted last year for him from this same album of "When Was the Last Time." This song isn't as good as that one. And it's also quite simple. Darius is just asking this girl when was the last time you did something for the first time? He's challenging her, and thus his listeners, to go out and do something new. Which is good. The song might not have a ton of depth to it, but it's what I call a fun, relaxing country song. If this got big, I could see this song growing on me.
100- "No Roots" - Alice Merton -- Who is Alice Merton and where did this song come from? Well, listen to this song and you'll hear her story. She's a person who wants things consistent in her life, but consistency is not been her thing. She was born in Germany to a German mother and an Irish father, was raised in Canada and moved all over the place. She's moved 11 times and lived in four different countries. So this song "No Roots" describes her story. It's the first song she's charted. It was actually released back in December 2016 and has slowly grown over time. At the moment it's doing quite well on pop radio as it's in the top 30 and gaining, so if you haven't heard this on the radio already, you'll probably start to. And I'm going to root for it. In addition to being a person song about Alice's upbringing, the construction of this rock song is rather great. It starts with an electric bass guitar, I believe it is. Then Alice comes in. Then we slowly start adding more instruments along the way with a steady drum beat coming in at the 30 second mark before eventually being fully developed. I already kinda love it on first listen and I have a feeling it's only going to grow on me. For a comparison, I'm reminded of "Feel It Still," by Portugal. The Man from last year. An indie song that comes out of nowhere to perform well. In a day where most of the top music is pretty bad, I really hope this can break through and provide some much needed life to the charts.
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