DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - July 8, 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 reserve the right 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- "Despacito" - Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber (=) -- Seven weeks at No. 1. It's closing in on the No. 1 spot on radio and still unstoppable in both streaming and sales. It seems to have peaked on the latter two, but it's not falling very fast at all, thus is why I think this is still going to be here for a while. At seven weeks at No. 1, it's now halfway to the 14 week total of "Macarena."

2- "I'm the One" - DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne (=) -- DJ Khaled and friends now look like they are going to be stuck at No. 2 for a while. I really don't get this song's appeal, so I am utterly confused as to why this is sticking around.

3- "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars (=) -- Come on. What in the frack is this still doing here? Go away already!

4- "Wild Thoughts" - DJ Khaled featuring Rihanna & Bryson Tiller (new) -- OK, this is not what I meant when I've been crying for new songs in the top 10 the last few weeks. And now Rihanna has her 31st top 10 hit, behind only Madonna's 38 and The Beatles' 34. Joy. Just what we all wanted. This song is pretty darn awful and I'll get to why in the new arrivals section.

5- "Shape of You" - Ed Sheeran (-1) -- Ed Sheeran has now celebrated 24 weeks in the top five. And it has yet to drop below that range since it debuted at No. 1 earlier this year. And the only reason it fell a spot this week is because DJ Khaled's new song debuted. If that song has its expected second week drop, then this might rise again. Can we please be done with it?

6- "Humble." - Kendrick Lamar (-1) -- I would be really happy if this snuck ahead of Ed Sheeran next week as it has yet to wear out its welcome. One of the few good songs in this current top 10 that I think deserves to stick around for a while longer.

7- "Mask Off" - Future (-1) -- This better not rise again next week or else I'm going to throw a fit. But hey, at least "XO Tour Llif3" left the top 10 this week.

8- "Congratulations" - Post Malone featuring Quavo (+1) -- With DJ Khaled's debut, a one spot jump is essentially equivalent of a two spot jump. And I really have no idea why. What's the appeal to this monstrosity of a song?

9- "Something Just Like This" - The Chainsmokers & Coldplay (-2) -- The Chainsmokers have now celebrated 60 consecutive weeks in the top 10. Crazy! I still don't think Katy's 69-week record is in jeopardy, especially after a two spot drop for this song, but what an accomplishment. 60 consecutive weeks in the top 10.

10- "Stay" - Zedd & Alessia Cara (-2) -- This song better not "stay" in the top 10 next week. It was time for Zedd and Alessia to leave a while ago, so I really hope this is its final week.

Rising on the Hot 100:

11- "Believer" - Imagine Dragons (+4) -- I've not been super happy about Dan Reynolds and Imagine Dragons recently. I won't get to all of the reasons here, but the main one that pertains to this Billboard analysis is that they just released their third studio album and it's pretty darn mediocre. That's two straight mediocre albums after their phenomenal debut album. One mediocre album can be a simple bump in the road. I can forgive that. But two in a row is legitimately concerning. "Believer" itself is a catchy, upbeat song that sticks in my head, but I still don't think it's anything special and it makes me sad to see Imagine Dragons losing their touch.

16- "Unforgettable" - French Montana featuring Swae Lee (+2) -- I'm expecting this song to sneak into the top 10 eventually. Perhaps even in the next few weeks. And I'm fine with that. For the record, I'm not madly in love with this song, but compared to a lot of other rap songs that have been plaguing the music industry of late, this song is fairly tolerable.

34- "Strip that Down"  Liam Payne featuring Quavo (+10) -- "Sign of the Times" continues to plummet while this song continues to gain steam. America has their priorities backwards when it comes to these former 1D singers. Unfortunately Liam is probably winning right now because he's featured the horrendously annoying and flat-out untalented Quavo.

46- "God, Your Mama, and Me" - Florida Georgia Line featuring Backstreet Boys (+5) -- I was wondering if this song was going to start rising. It's pretty unique and kinda fun to have the Backstreet Boys back on the charts. And it's even more unique to have them attached to a Florida Georgia Line song, but it's one that kinda works and I'd be fine with this song continuing to rise.

55- "4 AM" - 2 Chainz featuring Travis Scott (+29) -- 2 Chainz just dropped his album, didn't he? Oh joy. At least no new songs from him arrived this week, but I really hope these three that soared up are only here for this week. Let's not make these songs a thing.

58- "It's a Vibe" - 2 Chainz featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Trey Songz & Jhene Aiko (+37) -- Certainly don't make this song a thing. It's the worst of the bunch. And that's saying something because the other two are pretty awful.

70- "Good Drank" - 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane & Quavo (+24) -- I had forgotten this song existed until just now. And might I remind these dumb rappers that drank is PAST TENSE. It really bothers me when people purposely use awful grammar like this just to look cool.

87- "Reminder" - The Weeknd (+10) -- Apparently this song is being pushed as The Weeknd's next single. And I never covered it on this blog because it debuted last year along with the rest of his "Starboy" album, which rather shocked me, might I remind you. I hadn't liked much of anything from The Weeknd until this album rolled around, yet I found myself really loving it. Yet this specific song was one that I had totally forgotten about. That's because it felt like mediocre album filler. There's over 10 songs from the album that I would've rather seen made singles than "Reminder," so this is a disappointing turn of events. But oh well. It's not awful, so this could be worse.

New Arrivals:

4- "Wild Thoughts" - DJ Khaled featuring Rihanna & Bryson Tiller -- I'm going to judge this is a Rihanna song, because that's what this is. After DJ Khaled reminds us all that he has the best music, we start by Rihanna telling us that she knows we want to see her naked. I can't speak for everyone, but I actually don't. And I get mad every time she gets naked without warning in one of her music videos. With that type of introduction, I knew I was in for a doozy. And yes, this is about as unintelligent as you think as Rihanna is just trying to put some wild thoughts into our heads. Or better yet, she is saying she gets wild thoughts every time she's with whoever she's talking to. And, well, if the guy is anything like what Bryson Tiller is singing, she better get the heck out of there because he says he's going to bang her until she is burned out and cremated. Say, what? The only reason why this song kinda works musically is because Santana's "Maria Maria" is being sampled or interpolated and that's actually a good song. But it's certainly a waste of a sample given the lyrics that are dumped on it. Lastly, is Rihanna a Jets fan? Because she references the '68 Jets, who won Super Bowl III. If she's not, that's an awfully random team to call out in a song.

51- "Feels" - Calvin Harris featuring Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry & Big Sean -- Calvin Harris certainly has a lot of odd collaborations on this new album. Frank Ocean and Migos on "Slide." Young Thug, Pharrell and Ariana Grande on "Heatstroke." Future and Khalid on "Rollin." And looking at the song titles for the album that's soon to be released, each song is an odd collaboration. This time with "Feels," he brings back Pharrell while adding in Katy Perry and Big Sean. Just looking at that title, I knew that could be a home run if done right. But only one of those three comes to play on this track and it's certainly not Katy Perry as she phones in a chorus that just cries desperation especially because she's quoting Migos by singing "drop top." Big Sean also brings in a boring verse towards the end, so mathematically we're left with Pharrell as our standout. He starts us off and seems like he's actually having fun on what could've been an upbeat summer jam with the groove that Calvin Harris brings to the song. But yeah, the other two are just not there and thus Pharrell ends up caving under pressure as he can't carry this song on his own. 

61- "First Day Out" - Kodak Black -- Well this is weird. Earlier this year a rapper by the name of Tee Grizzley wrote a rap song called "First Day Out" after he got released from jail and now Kodak Black has done the same thing because apparently he got arrested recently for violating his house arrest and was just released on June 5. I hope this doesn't become a trend. I don't need a new song called "First Day Out" from every rapper or singer who gets arrested. That would be a real dumb trend. So automatic negative points for unoriginality. And more negative points for mumbling through most of this song. And finally, a ton of negative points for Kodak Black rambling on about what he did after getting out and what his initial thoughts were because I don't care.

83- "Relationship" - Young Thug featuring Future -- Another thing I don't need in life is Young Thug and Future, two of my least favorite rappers, rambling on about all of their "relationships," aka all the girls they are sleeping around with. Yup. That's all this song is. A big pile of crap.

89- "Feel it Still" - Portugal. The Man -- An American rock band with eight studio albums, the last three of which have sold decently well? Why have I not heard of this group? It's probably because this is their first ever song to crossover onto the U.S. Hot 100, which makes me feel super lame that I heard of them only because they have a song. But this is one thing I love about the Billboard charts. I find songs, artists and bands like this that I otherwise would've never known. And in a day where most of the new songs are crap, we could definitely use a rocking song like this one. The lyrics are short and sweet, yet subtly brilliant. I watched a video of them on Genius of the band breaking this song down and this is very much a song about rebelling against the current sinking political regime. They conclude that this current political state might be like a few major movements in the past and it's time to stand up and take a stance instead of sitting back and watching. I love it. That and musically this song has a great groove to it that I predict will get better over time. I hope this catches fire and becomes a hit because we could use good stuff like this. I've now added their new album "Woodstock" onto my list of albums to listen to and grade. I'm excited to dive in!

100- "Real Hitta" - Plies featuring Kodak Black -- Oh, man, did you know these two are real hitters? Even certified smackers? Yah!!! Yaah!!!!! OK, I'm done making fun of the song now. So it's time to start complaining. Kodak Black is stretching his parts out like taffy or like he's trying to run through the mud. And he's mumbling the whole time. Plies finally comes in and relieves me from this piece of trash rapper called Kodak Black and it's a relief that he's actually rapping at a normal pace AND is coherent. I can understand him! So kudos there. But oh my goodness does he have some hilariously awful, cringe worthy lines. I both facepalmed and started laughing at the same time. Did the dude proofread his lyrics before he started spouting them out?

DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - July 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 reserve the right 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- "Despacito" - Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber (=) -- This just in. The original video for "Despacito," the one with just Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee (without Justin Bieber), has now become the 11th song to hit 2 billion views on YouTube. And it hit this milestone in record-breaking time of 154 days, or just over five months. The next fastest to hit this mark was Justin Bieber's "Sorry" with 394 days, followed by Wiz Khalfa's "See You Again" with 515 days. That's remarkable. If it can hit 2 billion views in five months, can it get to 4 billion before the year is over? I mean, you would think these views would start slowing down, but you never know. Just goes to show you how popular this song is worldwide. The remix audio itself is doing quite well with 330 million views in just over two months. Billboard only counts U.S. numbers to it's Hot 100 formula, but those are still pretty high across the board on both accounts. This is why I think this song isn't going anywhere any time soon. Although it does have a new challenger for runner up.

2- "I'm the One" - DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne (+1) -- After five weeks stuck at No. 3, DJ Khaled and friends have finally surpassed Bruno to get this runner-up spot. And it looks like it's going to be an even bigger uphill battle to dethrone "Despacito" to get back to that top spot, where this song debuted six weeks back. With how stagnant these charts are right now, I suppose it still has a chance, even if "Despacito" goes 12-14 weeks at top. It doesn't appear that any other song has any desire to make a big push. If it does happen, Justin Bieber will be happy because he'll be replacing himself. I certainly won't be, though.

3- "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars (-1) -- Here on the Billboard charts, we celebrate the small victories. Like Bruno finally giving up that No. 2 spot. I don't hate this song, but I certainly don't think it's any good and 10 weeks at No. 2 is at least eight or nine weeks too long. Now if it would continue to keep falling, that would be nice.

4- "Shape of You" - Ed Sheeran (=) -- What's worse than Bruno spending 10 weeks at No. 2 (and 18 total weeks in the top 10 so far), is Ed Sheeran spending 23 weeks in the top five. Listen, I don't hate this song. I even find it a fun song, even though most of the other songs on Ed's album are much better. It was just time for it to go at least 10-15 weeks ago, so it's overstayed it's welcome. Now go!

5- "Humble." - Kendrick Lamar (=) -- I really want this whole top 10 to just get wiped clean. But I think "Humble." should stick around. In fact, if Kendrick can jump ahead of Bruno and Ed, that would be really nice. I'd say jump ahead of the other two as well because this is the best song in the top five right now, but I gotta stay a bit realistic, right?

6- "Mask Off" - Future (=) -- You know, what's even worse that Bruno spending 10 weeks at No. 2 and Ed spending 23 weeks in the top five is this song being here at all. On the charts overall. This song isn't even good enough to deserve a spot on the Hot 100. Why in the frack is it still stuck at No. 6? Get this song out of here.

7- "Something Just Like This" - The Chainsmokers & Coldplay (+1) -- The Chainsmokers are about to hit 60 straight weeks in the top 10, meaning Katy's 69 week record is still in reach, especially since this reversed course this week in a top 10 that doesn't seem to want to go anywhere at this point. I love this song. It's one of my favorite songs of the year. But don't you think it's time The Chainsmokers leave and disappear into obscureness? Most of their songs aren't even going to be remembered by the mainstream in five years from now.

8- "Stay" - Zedd & Alessia Cara (+1) -- I gotta take a deep breath and remind myself that there are worse things in this top 10 than Zedd gaining again. I'm still mad that this is the song that stuck around while Kygo and Selena's song continues to fall down the charts.

9- "Congratulations" - Post Malone featuring Quavo (+1) -- No! Hitting No. 10 was already too high for this song. About 90 spots too high, if you know what I mean. But now it's officially peaked at single digits? Why do we as a country accept dog crap like this as music?

10- "XO Tour Llif3" - Lil Uzi Vert (-3) -- The last three songs all rose a spot because Lil Uzi took a bit of a tumble. It wasn't a hard enough tumble as I want this song gone, but hey I'll take what I can get. Now let's invite someone else into the top 10 next week.

Rising on the Hot 100:

11- "Body Like a Back Road" - Sam Hunt (+3) -- But oh my goodness get this piece of trash away from here! How in the world did this rise again to No. 11? And why is it still in the teens anyways? If this returns to the top 10, I'm going to be an angry man.

14- "Redbone" - Childish Gambino (+2) -- Instead of inviting Sam Hunt back into the top 10 next week, let's all do society a favor by letting Mr. Glover, aka Childish Gambino, into the top 10. In a very dull Billboard year, that would be a huge positive!

23- "Bad Liar" - Selena Gomez (+22) -- In fact, let's bring a solo Selena song into the top 10 as well. Our ladies this year are vastly underrepresented in the top 10 of the Hot 100 this year. In fact, we're six months into the year and do you know how many females that debuted songs on the charts this year have made it into the top 10 without a male attached to the song? Two. And we booted Katy out of the top 10 after just two weeks and Miley after just one week. Why is this happening? Plus, I like this song, so female representation aside, I want it to be successful.

33- "Magnolia" - Playboi Carti (+7) -- The rest of our risers this week are all awful. So yeah, "Redbone" and "Bad Liar" are the only two good songs that had significant rises this week. That sucks. So let's get through the rest of these fast. THIS SONG IS AWFUL. WHY IS IT HERE?

36- "Slippery" - Migos featuring Gucci Mane (+7) -- THIS SONG IS AWFUL. WHY IS IT HERE?

37- "Everyday We Lit" - YFN Lucci featuring PnB Rock (+25) -- THIS SONG IS AWFUL. WHY IS IT HERE?

44- "Strip that Down" - Liam Payne featuring Quavo (+7) -- THIS SONG IS AWFUL. WHY IS IT HERE?

62- "Swish Swish" - Katy Perry featuring Nicki Minaj (+21) -- THIS SONG IS AWFUL. WHY IS IT HERE?

81- "Butterfly Effect" - Travis Scott (+12) -- THIS SONG IS AWFUL. WHY IS IT HERE?

85- "Bon Appetit" - Katy Perry featuring Migos (+13) -- THIS SONG IS AWFUL. WHY IS IT HERE?

New Arrivals: 

16- "2U" - David Guetta feauting Justin Bieber -- What do you get when you combine some very average Justin Bieber lyrics that sound like he phoned it in just to get another quick hit with some very basic David Guetta dance beats? A song that makes David Guetta look desperate by going for the sales and popularity instead of artistic value, which I know he is capable of? Well, sure. I mean, when you compare this song to others like "Titatium," "Without You," "I Can Only Imagine," "Dangerous" or "Lovers on the Sun," just to name a few, it doesn't shine a candle. But surprisingly, despite all this, this song kinda works for me. It's like Justin Bieber and David Guetta weren't trying very hard, but they naturally mix quite well. David Guetta enhances Bieber's average music and Bieber is a good voice that helps David Guetta's style. I'm surprised this song didn't debut in the top 10 despite a strong first week of sales. Let's see if it can make it's way there in the next few weeks.

70- "Love Galore" - SZA featuring Travis Scott -- I had never heard of SZA until this week, but apparently she's a new R&B artist on the scene and debuted her first album earlier this month. Her actually name is Solana Rowe, which I think she should've gone by instead of SZA. In terms of first impressions, this isn't a very good one. We start out by me looking at this and seeing a Travis Scott feature and already being put off before I listen to my first ever SZA song. But hey, I gave it a shot and I was mostly bored. This song feels like a dull R&B song that's stuck in the mud because it drags on and never has a good flow. I suppose this girl has a decent voice, but she doesn't use it here very much and the content of this song isn't very interesting. And with Travis Scott's verse, well, at least he's not doing his Migos impressions very much, but it doesn't seem like he cared much here, if he ever cared with any music at all. The song is four and a half minutes long and it felt like 14 minutes. Certainly not a song that gives me any desire to listen to this girl's album.

79- "Do I Make You Wanna" - Billy Currington -- Billy left me hanging there with that title. Do I make you wanna... what? Turns out there's a lot of ways to answer that in this song as he spends his whole song asking this girl a bunch of questions. And it kinda works. This is more of a soft, toned-down country song that feels honest and genuine. He obviously wants to be with this girl and he wants to know how she feels about him. Fairly basic and simple, but it works.

89- "Escapate Conmigo" - Wisin featuring Ozuna -- I don't have a lot to say about this one because as someone who doesn't understand Spanish, I don't consider myself the best judge. I will say it's interesting how many Spanish songs have been on the charts recently, even before "Despacito" became a monster hit. This song has two voices, one guy who is smooth relaxing and another guy who is more in your face at times. It makes for an interesting balance that works most of the time. Overall the song is more laid back I'd say, but it doesn't jump out at me.

93- "What Ifs" - Kane Brown featuring Lauren Alaina -- This is the second country song that spends most of its time asking a bunch of questions, but this time it doesn't really work. I don't know Kane Brown, but he has a nice, rich country voice, but the song content doesn't interest me and thus the song is more of what I come to expect with new country songs these days. Boring, dull cliche with artists that don't seem to put a lot of thought into the song they are writing. However, Lauren Alaina providing harmonization makes the song interesting and mixed in with the typical country rock beats that flood country music these days is a twangy banjo that gives the song a fun, folky beat to it. So it's not a complete loss and thus I won't be angry if it does well, but it's also not a country song that I will remember much and not one I care to add to my library and listen to again.

95- "It's a Vibe" - 2 Chainz featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Trey Songz & Jhene Aiko -- "Yuh... Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Yuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh...." Because that's a great way to get my attention for a song. Then 2 Chainz invited three of his friends to join him in a song where they take turns saying the phrase "that's a vibe" over and over while throwing in talking about this girl's girl parts to put it nicely. And the whole time 2 Chainz sounds like he recorded the song drunk. I think I'm done here.

100- "It Ain't My Fault" - Brothers Osborne -- Here's a country song with some fire and groove to it. Speaking of the beat and the music alone, this is a song that had me dancing around in my seat while listening to it. If you played it at a party, I predict a lot of people would have a ton of fun with the song. Our lead singer in this country due, Mr. T.J. Osborne, has an amazingly deep country voice that makes me rather jealous. He hits the low register without any effort and his verses have a great flow to them. What holds this song back for me is that what they're singing about isn't really that interesting. They're just blaming everything on everything else and they don't go into a ton of depth. But the verses are fairly poetic despite that. I'm not a huge fan of country if you couldn't tell, but there have been quite a few phenomenal country songs that have been released this year. This isn't one of them. But yet it's a fun, dancy country song that is better than most, so I dig it.

DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - June 24, 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 reserve the right 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- "Despacito" - Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber (=) -- This is the fifth week at No. 1 for "Despacito." Streaming and sales look to have finally peaked for this song as they decreased ever so slightly from last week, but are still way higher than anyone else at the moment. Meanwhile, radio still continues to climb. So yeah, no end in sight for this song's reign. And in cas you haven't had enough of Justin Bieber yet, he's got another song set to debut in the top 10 next week, this time as a featured act on a David Guetta song.

2- "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars (=) -- Radio is what's keeping this song alive. Even though it only celebrated one week at the top, it's now had 10 weeks at No. 2, so Bruno probably isn't complaining. I am starting to, though. Our top 10 is stuck at the moment and I want some change. Plus, this song was never that great in the first place.

3- "I'm the One" - DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne (=) -- One of these weeks, "I'm the One" is going to flip flop with Bruno on the charts. But this is not that week. I'd really be happy if this just fell off, though.

4- "Shape of You" - Ed Sheeran (+1) -- What? OK, part of me is happy that we had a little bit of a change in the top five. This was the wrong change, though. Who said "Shape of You" was allowed to climb up again? 22 weeks in the top five for this song is WAY too long. Especially since it's been in the top five for it's entire chart life.

5- "Humble." - Kendrick Lamar (-1) -- But of course, "Shape of You" went up a notch because it was able to outlast "Humble." which fell down a spot. This is the one song in the top five right now that I want to stick around, so of course it's the only one that falls.

6- "Mask Off" - Future (=) -- Have I told you yet that I hate this song? Why did it get here in the first place and why is it still around?

7- "XO Tour Llif3" - Lil Uzi Vert (+2) -- Why in the freaking heck did this song rise two spots? This was supposed to be the song that fell out of the charts this week.

8- "Something Just Like This" - The Chainsmokers & Coldplay (=) -- I am glad this is sticking around for a bit longer. It's the best song in the top 10 right now. That said, it's been 58 straight weeks of The Chainsmokers in the top 10. It's time for that streak to end.

9- "Stay" - Zedd & Alessia Cara (-2) -- Well at least one song deserving of falling actually fell. Now get the frack out of this region Zedd and come back with something better, because I know you can do MUCH better than this bland, uninspiring song.

10- "Congratulations" - Post Malone featuring Quavo (=) -- At least this song didn't rise this week. I'll make sure to knock on some wood real quick because I would love it if this song went away.

Rising on the Hot 100:

13- "Believer" - Imagine Dragons (+2) -- Part of me is doubtful that this Imagine Dragons song is actually going to make it into the top 10. I think it may just get stuck right below the region. But hey, at least if it did sneak into the top 10, we'd have something different.

18- "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back" - Shawn Mendes (+4) -- I really want new blood in our top 10, but this is NOT what I'm hoping for. That would be called jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

21- "Now or Never" - Halsey (+5) -- No, I'm not a fan of this song, but at least we'd have more female representation in the top 10 if this managed to make it in.

23- "Castle on the Hill" - Ed Sheeran (+5) -- For crying out freaking loud can we get rid of "Shape of You" already and replace it with "Castle on the Hill"? This is the highest this song has been since it debuted in the top 10, which is promising.

28- "Slow Hands" - Niall Horan (+5) -- Why can't we have "Sign of the Times" do well instead of this bland song? Are we really going to embrace the boring 1D songs and reject the good ones? 

31- "Attention" - Charlie Puth (+6) -- Top 30 next week, I'm sure of it. Top 10 shortly thereafter. Because the radio enjoys having love affairs with bland pop singers.

33- "Swang" - Rae Sremmurd (+7) -- NO! GO AWAY RAE SREMMURD!!!

40- "Magnolia" - Playboi Carti (+9) -- Can we PLEASE not make Playboi Carti a thing? Reject his awful rap music and send it to the trash instead of encouraging him to write more or encouraging other dumb rappers to start featuring him on their awful music.

46- "The Cure" - Lady Gaga (+5) -- This song confuses me. I thought it was going away because the charts haven't been nice to Gaga lately and this is one of the more bland songs she's ever put out, but for some reason this has managed to stick around in the middle section of the charts.

48- "The Fighter" - Keith Urban featuring Carrie Underwood (+7) -- Eh. This is whatever. I like Carrie and I don't hate Keith, thus I'm not super offended at this climbing the charts.

51- "Strip that Down" - Liam Payne featuring Quavo (+14) -- I repeat what I said earlier, are we really going to reject "Sign of the Times" and accept this nonsense? A former 1D member has ACTUALLY put out good music, but it's the awful crap from Harry's friends that America has decided to embrace instead. What a shame!

78- "No Such Thing as a Broken Heart" - Old Dominion (+12) -- There is such thing as a broken heart, Old Dominion. Now shut up and go away.

New Arrivals: 

42- "Down" - Fifth Harmony featuring Gucci Mane -- Fifth Harmony's name no longer makes sense. There's only four of them now. Fourth Harmony? Sorry, I had to. This is their first single since Camila left the group and man she must be glad she escaped these girls because this song has no personality whatsoever. Bland lyrics. No interesting vocals. Very few harmonies in the song, making their name make even less sense. They're just taking turns singing some boring verses and coming together to slowly repeat the word "down" over and over in the chorus. I really want some female representation on the Billboard charts, but not this. I'll just take solo Camila instead. The worst part of it is that Gucci has more personality and energy than the four girls.

53- "To the Max" - DJ Khaled featuring Drake -- Oh great. The world needed more music from Drake in 2017. NOT! As expected, DJ Khaled is here to throw in his two lines, so we're left with Drake doing typical boring Drake with some rather annoying drum beats playing in the background. In fact, in this song we go away from Drake for a while to stick with this drum beat and do some sort of bridge and chorus combo for most of the song featuring some uncredited vocalists that sound like DJ Khaled lowered their volume to one when he was mixing the song together because you can barely hear them. So instead we get what sounds like some weirdly mixed background noise that DJ Khaled did when he was drunk. Overall, I have no idea what is going on in this song and I'm baffled at how anyone could listen to this garbage and refer to it as music.   

73- "4 AM" - 2 Chainz featuring Travis Scott -- Hey, this is an actual rap song here as opposed to whatever the crap that DJ Khaled nonsense was. But that's the only piece of praise this pile of trash gets from me. 2 Chainz is lazily wandering through some unintelligent, nonsensical lyrics while Travis Scott comes in for the chorus doing his best Migos impression. I don't even need to say anymore.

82- "Whatever You Need" - Meek Mill featuring Chris Brown & Ty Dolla $ign -- Well, we're slowly moving in a positive direction with our rap music this week. We go from complete nonsense to lazy rap to slightly less lazy rap. At least Meek Mill seemed like he attempted to make a rap song here and put a tiny bit of thought into it. Chris Brown comes in for a bit of a poppy, cliche chorus about a girl he claims he's going to treat right and Meek Mill gives some meh verses that don't drive me crazy while Ty Dolla $ign joins in at the very end to repeat in slightly different words what Chris Brown said earlier in his chorus. Not the worst thing ever, but I still pass.

85- "Small Town Boy" - Dustin Lynch -- Earlier this year I kinda enjoyed Dustin Lynch's "Seein Red." I thought it was a fun southern rock song that pretended to be country, but really wasn't. This song does feel more country than the latter, but it also has a lot less personality and still plenty of drums and guitar that make it qualify as a country rock song in my books. This song is kind of a reverse love song. Instead of singing about how much he loves this girl, Dustin is instead singing about how much this girl loves him. Thus he spends the song tooting his own horn, which I didn't find interesting at all. Chart this one up as another throwaway country song.

87- "Know No Better" - Major Lazer featuring Travis Scott, Camila Cabello & Quavo -- This song showed up last week on the EDM charts, so I've had an extra week to think it over and hope, to no avail, that it would fail to chart on the normal Hot 100. While Major Lazer has done plenty of songs that I've really enjoyed, like "Lean On" and "Cold Water," they also occasionally drop some pretty bad stinkers and this is one of them. Not only does this song scream desperation by featuring Travis Scott, Camila Cabello AND Quavo, but the three don't mix together very well to create anything musically interesting and Major Lazer feel like they're phoning it in with some lazy, almost non-existent electronic beats. There's been plenty of good EDM music this year, but it's sad that a song like this is what crosses over while the others get ignored.

94- "It's Everyday Bro" - Jake Paul featuring Team 10 -- After listening to this song, my first thought was where in the frack did this come from? And who is Jake Paul? I mean, he's rapping about how famous and awesome he is, how much money he's making and how he's number one. Yet I hadn't even heard this dude's name. Like, what the heck? So I looked him up. And apparently Vine made him famous, then Disney Channel cast him in a sitcom called "Bizaardvark." And now this. Suddenly it all makes sense. And now I read that the song was written in a day and everything was produced by Jake Paul himself. The music video has 38 million views with an equal number of likes and dislikes. One million each. Perhaps that will tell you the story of this. To be fair, the sound and flow of the rap is better than most of the new rap songs I've covered this week, but the lyrics are just so unintelligent and annoying. A nobody rapping about how he's better than everyone else. And one of his friends from this Team 10 crew actually states that the U.S. is awful (that's a censor on my part) and that England is his city. Like, really? Hate to break it to you bud, but England is NOT a city. Then shortly after one of them starts rapping in Spanish. I obviously don't mind Spanish, but that was so out of left field. If we could just send this away next week, I would be really happy.

97- "Somebody Else Will"  Justin Moore -- In our latest addition of country rock to the Billboard charts, Justin Moore is singing about how if he doesn't go ask this girl out, buy her a drink or something like that, then somebody else will. Well that's all fine and dandy. But did you do it, Justin? I thought that this song was going to go somewhere when it started. Like, I was expecting Justin to tell us that he did ask this girl out and that they had a good time and he's glad he did. But that doesn't happen. He just keeps repeating the sentiment that if he doesn't do something, then somebody else well. Like if somebody sat down and started telling you a story, but instead of finishing it, they told the beginning of the story three or four times, then walked away. This just feels empty and incomplete. And barely even country, in case anyone cares. 

99- "Nobody Else But You" - Trey Songz -- We end our glorious week with a new song from Trey Songz. And in a crazy turn of events, this winds up as the best song of the week. But don't chalk that up to this song being great. Chalk it up to this week just being plain out horrible. The lyrics here aren't anything special or deep on Trey's end. He's just singing about this girl and how he doesn't want anybody else but her. But at least it appears that he has made an effort to write a decent song and the rap itself is alright. Most rap these days makes me cringe for multiple reasons. Either it's mumble rap, Migos style of echos and sound effects, and/or lyrics that just make me want to throw up. But this does none of that. I can understand Trey. I am not annoyed by Trey. And Trey's lyrics are fine. Nothing special or deep, but totally acceptable. In a week riddled with a bunch of awful crap, I'll certainly take this.

DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - June 17, 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 reserve the right 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- "Despacito" - Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber (=) -- In case you wanted this song to go away, I have bad news. This week "Despacito" posted the second highest weekly streaming total ever, behind only "Harlem Shake." Yup. And it's sales and radio are also still rising. Thus I'm going to throw a very early number out there. "Macarena" got 14 weeks at No. 1. Can "Despacito" match that? I certainly think that 10+ weeks is practically a guarantee at this point, even though it's only at four right now. And if you disagree, then please inform me what you think has the momentum to stop this. I'm all ears.

2- "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars (=) -- No sympathy for Bruno only getting one week on top. He's now racked up nine weeks at No. 2. That type of staying power is almost more impressive than getting a lot of time at the top. Also, this week the top nine are the exact same as last week. BORING!!! So let's move through the rest of these quickly.

3- "I'm the One" - DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne (=) -- This song needs to burn and die.

4- "Humble." - Kendrick Lamar (=) -- This song needs to move up a few spots.

5- "Shape of You" - Ed Sheeran (=) -- Time for Ed to go away.

6- "Mask Off" - Future (=) -- This song needs to burn and die.

7- "Stay" - Zedd & Alessia Cara (=) -- This song needs to burn and die.

8- "Something Just Like This"  The Chainsmokers & Coldplay (=) -- For the sake of The Chainsmokers finally leaving the top 10, I'd be fine with this song going.

9- "XO Tour Llif3" - Lil Uzi Vert (=) -- This song needs to burn and die.

10- "Congratulations" - Post Malone featuring Quavo (+3) -- And we arrival at our new arrival. Instead of Kygo moving up on the charts, he leaves and instead of getting "Issues" or "Say You Won't Let Go" (our No. 11 and No. 12 this week), Post freaking Malone now has a top 10 hit. What an outright shame to humanity this man's unintelligent, uninspiring piece of dog crap music is. This song practically burns my eardrums when I listen to even 30 seconds of it. And this is what we call music these days? Music deserving of being in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100? And you wonder why I complain each week about the pathetic state of our current Billboard charts. Good songs get thrown to the curb while trash is what rises to the tops. And now Quavo has two songs in the top 10 at the same time right now even though he adds nothing intelligent to either one.

Rising on the Hot 100:

17- "Redbone" - Childish Gambino (+5) -- "Redbone" continues to rise up the charts each week and now we're closer to this hitting the top 10. That would fantastic! This is just the right type of unique energy that our current top 10 could really use. And it's a song that grows on you quite a bit the more you listen to it!

18- "Unforgettable" - French Montana featuring Swae Lee (+5) -- If we have to have a bunch of rap songs in the top 10 at all times, I'd be fine if this became a placeholder. While not close to Kendrick levels, this is at least much better than "I'm the One," "Mask Off," "XO Tour Llif3" and "Congratulations."

20- "Rolex" - Ayo & Teo (+11) -- This, on the other hand, better not enter the top 10. It's the exact opposite of what we need right now. More awful rap music.

33- "Slow Hands" - Niall Horan (+19) -- Harry Styles' "Sign of the Times" has stalled out on the charts and is starting to fall after failing to re-enter the top 10 after his huge debut. If this becomes the 1D song that the country latches onto instead, I'm going to be mad. Good 70's-style classic rock throwback from Harry isn't good enough for anyone, but this boring piece of work is?

41- "Drowning" - A Boogie wit da Hoodie featuring Kodak Black (+7) -- The downside of Kodak Black's "Unforgettable" rising up the charts: his other music is following it. And we're making A Boogie wit da Hoodie a thing. Please let this stop rising and go away.

44- "Slippery" - Migos featuring Gucci Mane (+7) -- No! I thought we had all decided that we're NOT going to let any more Migos songs rise higher. It's bad enough that Quavo has two featured hits in the top 10 right now. We certainly don't need any more with all three of them together.

47- "Everyday We Lit" - YFN Lucci featuring PnB Rock (+8) -- This, too? I kinda forgot this song existed and I was hoping the was going to do the same thing.

49- "Magnolia" - Playboi Carti (+9) -- Oh but we're not done torturing me this week.

70- "Felices Los 4" - Maluma (+20) -- Well finally we have another decent song rising as Maluma makes his attempt to feed off the success of "Despacito." I'd be down with this going higher! 

86- "Weak" - AJR (+10) -- But we couldn't have two good songs in a row could we? I'm unashamedly going to say that this song is very weak and needs to not get much higher than No. 86.

New Arrivals:

74- "Somethin Tells Me" - Bryson Tiller -- In addition to a boring top 10 and some uninspiring rises on the charts, we also have the arrival of Bryson Tiller's new album on the charts. Well, five of his songs that is. And we start with the second to last song from the 19 track album. And I have to say, there's certainly a lot worse than Bryson Tiller out there. He has a nice voice and his choruses in this song have a decent groove. For some reason I was expecting this to be rap, but I guess I don't know Bryson Tiller too well because this is R&B. The problem here is that the content of this song isn't super interesting. He's accepted the fact that this relationship isn't going to last, thus he feels tormented inside when they are together. That's pretty much it. Nothing bad, but nothing I'm going to write home to or remember existed if it falls off the charts soon.

85- "Self-Made" - Bryson Tiller -- While "Somethin Tells Me" is more R&B, this is more of what I was expecting because this is rap. And rather boring rap at that. Musically speaking, it's essentially one or two measures of music copied and pasted over and over throughout the song while Bryson challenges his inner Migos by making plenty of sound effects and echoes. Then he just spends the song talking about how rich he is and how he's been balling like Steph Curry (because all rappers need to mention Steph now days) and needs to spend all the money on himself. Nope. Pass.

88- "Met Gala" - Gucci Mane featuring Offset -- Oh goodness, heck no! This is billed as Gucci featuring Offset because it's Gucci's song, but listening to it, it feels more like Offset featuring Gucci because Offset starts things off and we don't get Gucci until two minutes in. So yes, this is essentially another Migos song drowning in echoes and sound effects with the rap consisting of a bunch of short phrases that don't really connect together to make a cohesive idea. I'm really sick of Migos influencing ever rapper out there to copy their extremely annoying style that is literally the musical nightmare for someone with Misophonia. Yeah, this song is literally unlistenable for me. Looking over the lyrics, there's even a line that says, "Look at my boogers, they big as you." What?

89- "Don't Get Too High" - Bryson Tiller -- Back to Bryson Tiller and back to more of an R&B feel with this song, but a little bit of a rap vibe to it. This song is towards the beginning of the album and finds Bryson telling the girl what she should be doing, because she's getting to drunk and too high and he just wants to love her and be by her side. I don't know, it feels too bossy. And he wonders why this relationship is bound to fail, as he states in "Somethin Tells Me." It's also really boring. Nothing that upsets or angers me, but it might put me to sleep if play it again.

90- "No Such Thing as a Broken Heart" - Old Dominion -- I went through all the Bryson Tiller songs first, then jumped to Gucci and Offset before getting to this. And man, after so much boring Bryson Tiller and awful Migos music, I was almost relieved to listen to this because at least it doesn't threaten to put me to sleep or make my eardrums hurt. But that's as far as I'll go with positives. This is a middle of the road country song with a lackluster message. He's telling us that we've gotta love like there's no such thing as a broken heart. I get the sentiments of what he's trying to go for, but I think there's a better way that this could've been phrased. And there's not a lot of emotion or depth to back up these lyrics. Not a country song I'm ever going to remember.

91- "Run Me Dry" - Bryson Tiller -- We're back towards the middle of Bryson's album, the song right after "Self-Made." And here he's just describing this doomed relationship again. The first verse I gather is him admitting that it's a sex-based relationship at this point because that's all they've got going because he spends the whole second verse complaining about this girl and how she's done nothing for him despite him claiming he's given everything for her. And it's another cut and paste job musically. But the choruses are slightly different than the verses, so there's a minor touch of creativity, but not a whole lot. I get the vibe that if I were to try to listen to this whole album, I would fall asleep rather fast. I'm glad there's only five of these. And only one more to go.

94- "There for You" - Martin Garrix & Troye Sivan -- After typing up all the new arrivals for this week, I immediately was filled with a huge sense of dread and what I was in for, which was especially disappointing considering how boring the top 10 is and how nervous the rising songs list makes me. But hey! At least we have a Martin Garrix song to cover! That's one bright light as he's one of my favorite DJ's. And yes, this is easily the best song of the week. Although as you can tell, that wasn't a very high bar to jump over. Unfortunately for Martin Garrix standards, this doesn't live up to most of his other songs. The Martin Garrix part of the song is smooth and relaxing, but not quite as interesting as his other beats. And Troye Sivan brings nothing to the table. His lyrics are shallow and boring. But not bad overall. Just not great.

98- "No Longer Friends" - Bryson Tiller -- The final Bryson Tiller song this week is the first real song on the album following the intro and in this song we learn that this relationship he keeps speaking of throughout these songs started off as them just being friends while she had a boyfriend that of course Bryson doesn't approve of because he thinks he's much better. And suddenly everything about this boring, lifeless relationship makes sense. It started off superficial and apparently didn't last very long. Nice try Bryson. And now that I'm done covering the Bryson songs for the week, let me just say that overall it's been a boring ride with no depth, but yet not as painful to listen to as many other rap songs plaguing the charts at this moment.

99- "Butterfly Effect" - Travis Scott -- See what I mean when I say every rapper is trying to copy Migos? Even Travis Scott is on board. Short phrases that don't seem to connect together followed by a lot of echoes. When I have to sit and stare at these lyrics trying to decipher how they fit together and I can't come up with anything, that's NOT a good thing. But at least Travis Scott is better at doing Migos than Migos is. By that I mean that this song isn't annoying. I can sit and listen to the whole thing without wanting to gouge my eardrums out. And he's not mumbling through his lyrics like Future and the Future wannabes do. But "I can tolerate the music" and "I can understand the words he's saying" shouldn't be the basis of what we call good rap because this song still has nothing interesting in terms of content and music. It's mostly just boring and dull.

100- "Strangers" - Halsey featuring Lauren Jauregui -- Halsey's sophomore album, "hopeless fountain kingdom," has dropped. I haven't listened to it, but maybe I will check it out at some point to see if there is anything salvageable because I did kinda enjoy "BADLANDS." I'm not super excited to give this whole album a listen, though, because I found "Now or Never" fairly lifeless and I find "Strangers" lacking depth or emotion. What immediately jumped out to me with this song is that it's a lesbian romance song. Halsey and Lauren are clearly singing to each other as they are upset that they are strangers now instead of lovers. So either Halsey is bisexual or she just wanted more LGBT representation in modern pop music. I don't have a problem with that either way, but I will say that this specific angle isn't enough to win me over. You still have to do something interesting with the music part of things and that doesn't happen. I like the harmony on the chorus with Halsey and Lauren singing it together, but other than that, both singers play it safe musically. Not much emotion and Halsey doesn't stretch herself vocally, which I know she is capable of. And the lyrics just have no depth. It's all cliche, surface-level stuff. The only thing that makes this song unique is that it's a girl singing about a girl. You gotta give me more than just that. Sorry.

DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - June 10, 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 reserve the right 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- "Despacito" - Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber (=) -- Streaming is skyrocketing and quite frankly unstoppable right now. Sales are pretty good and slowly rising while pop radio is quickly catching up with this mostly Spanish hit. Yeah, I'd say we have a huge summer hit on our hands. I'm not yet upset even though I realize this isn't the best and the original mix is much better. It's far superior than what's hanging out at the next two spots trying to dethrone it, so as long as those songs are still around, I'm game with this holding the top spot.

2- "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars (=) -- It would really be nice if Bruno started to decline on the charts. This is really not that great of a song. Bruno has done much better... on this "24K Magic" album. And it's a pretty sub-par album, even for his standards. So I'm glad this is looking like it only is going to get that one week at the top. But it's now spent way too long at the runner-up spot.

3- "I'm the One" - DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne (=) -- But even Bruno's song is much better than this giant DJ Khaled and friends mess of a thing he's calling music. Radio is picking up with this, probably because Justin Bieber is invincible at this point. He could probably record himself singing the alphabet and get a top five hit out of it. But thankfully it's looking like streaming and sales aren't getting much higher, which means that I doubt this is going back to No. 1 as long as "Despacito" is around. Which I'm happy about.

4- "Humble." - Kendrick Lamar (+1) -- Hey look! "Humble." switched spots with "Shape of You"! I'm happy with that. This is easily the best song in the top five at the moment. I wish this were the song camping out at No. 1, but oh well. I'll take what I can get. At least it's sticking around in the top five.

5- "Shape of You" - Ed Sheeran (-1) -- Ed Sheeran broke a record. After debuting in the top five, "Shape of You" has now spent its first 20 weeks in the top five. That's the longest any song has stayed in the top five after debuting in the range. Take that as your obscure Billboard broken record of the week. And now let's hope that "Shape of You" is done with the top five sooner rather than later.

6- "Mask Off" - Future (+1) -- What in the fetch?!?!?! Why is this BACK at No. 6? Is it because of the Mask Off Challenge? Is the internet and our generation of young music listeners really that gullible in following a dumb challenge from an awful rap song?

7- "Stay" - Zedd & Alessia Cara (+2) -- Zedd is now No. 1 on pop radio. Hence the rise to No. 7 this week. Worse things have happened to me in this life, but pop radio should really pick a different song to get stuck on repeat because we shouldn't encourage Zedd to make more average music.

8- "Something Just Like This" - The Chainsmokers & Coldplay (-2) -- After getting a several week positioning battle with "Mask Off," have The Chainsmokers been defeated? Or do they have another random surge left in that to top Future again? The Chainsmokers currently have 56 straight weeks in the top 10 and given that they have no incoming hits primed to keep that streak going, it looks like Katy's streak of 68 weeks is safe. This is my favorite song in the top 10 right now, but it's had a good run, so I won't be too upset if it exists.

9- "XO Tour Llif3" - Lil Uzi Vert (-1) -- Thank goodness this fell yet another spot. Can we officially kick it out soon?

10- "It Ain't Me" - Kygo & Selena Gomez (+2) -- Justice has been served! Kygo and Selena have returned to the top 10! I believe this was due to an iTunes discount that is now over, so I fear this is heading right back out, but I really wish it could gain a little more traction and hold a place in this top 10 because we're struggling with quality here in 2017, so we could use an actual good song like this.  

Rising on the Hot 100:

11- "Issues" - Julia Michaels (+3) -- I'm making a guess that Julia Michaels has made another push with "Issues" because of her performance of the song at the BBMA's. Even though I'm fine with the song and I would welcome Julia Michaels into the top 10, that live performance was pretty bad.

15- "Believer" - Imagine Dragons (+5) --I'm also guessing that Imagine Dragons got a push this week from the BBMA's. Their performance was actually pretty good, so I'm totally fine with this rising. The song has grown on me slightly even though it's still not in the realm of Imagine Dragons' best performances. But I'd certainly prefer this over several other current chart toppers.

19- "In Case You Didn't Know" - Brett Young (+4) -- Man, we're on a pretty good streak here with these risers. I'm so happy to see Brett Young in the top 20 with this song and now I'm curious as to what this song's ceiling can be.

22- "Redbone" - Childish Gambino (+7) -- Four for four! "Redbone" surprises me yet again! Can Childish Gambino get a top 20 hit? Can this song even sneak into the top 10? That would be pretty great if it did!

25- "There's Nothing Holding Me Back" - Shawn Mendes (+7) -- Oh man, Shawn, you had to mess things up. Things were pretty good until you showed up. But since the radio has a love affair with sub-par Shawn Mendes crap, this is probably heading into the top 10 soon.

26- "Now or Never" - Halsey (+12) -- Halsey also performed at the BBMA's and she did fine although she was wearing some very sketchy outfits the whole time like she's crying for attention, so I don't think we should give it to her, especially since this song is pretty average.

27- "Bad Liar" - Selena Gomez (+53) -- Selena skyrockets up the charts this week following her first full week of sales. Overall I think I'm totally fine with this song being in the region. There's definitely a lot worse on the charts and I kinda like this song. Although first full week of sales usually means a dip next week, so I don't expect another big jump next week. But maybe eventually this will become a top 10 hit?

30- "Castle on the Hill" - Ed Sheeran (+9) -- Easily the best performance of the night at the BBMA's out of the current group of singers on the charts. Of course Cher and Celine Dion blew everyone out of the water, but that's to be expected with how many years of experience both of them have. I'm glad to see "Castle on the Hill" back in the top 30. Now let's hope it goes even higher because this NEEDS to be a hit! We need good music to be accepted!

35- "Attention" - Charlie Puth (+10) -- Is there anyone on earth that loves Charlie Puth? The radio certainly seems to think so. I fear that Charlie and Shawn are going to team up to put a huge damper on our summer radio, which is unfortunate.

71- "You Look Good" - Lady Antebellum (+12) -- Oh hey! Lady Antebellum got a boost on the charts this week. This is a fun country song originating back from April that I thought was going to be a dud because it didn't do much after its debut. If this ended up being a country hit, I'd be fine with that.

74- "No Promises" - Cheat Codes featuring Demi Lovato (+21) -- Not surprised to see rising on the charts after finally debuting last week. I'm just wondering how big of a hit this will be. Will Cheat Codes become the next Chainsmokers or will they be like Marshmello by showing up for a bit and disappearing again?

82- "Thunder" - Imagine Dragons (+12) -- Both Imagine Dragons songs got a boost this week, so that's good news for them. Although I don't know how long "Thunder" is going to actually stick around on the charts, but we'll see if it ends up surprising me.

New Arrivals:

42- "Strip that Down" - Liam Payne featuring Quavo -- We've heard from Zayn, Niall, Louis and Harry. Now we get our final former One Direction member giving us his solo single. Liam Payne. And he found a perfect way to annoy me right off the bat by featuring Quavo. I suppose he's trying to be cool and hip by featuring a Migos member, but I hate just about everything Migos related, so I would've rather had him release a single on his own, without Quavo, because we have the trademark sound effects and echoes scattered throughout the song. Not only is Quavo doing it, but Liam himself is trying to do it, too. Luckily it's not quite as bad as I was expecting going in, but it's still annoying. Ignoring that, this is still not a great song. He tells us that not he's out of 1D that he feels free and so he's just going to go bang this girl. Not only do these lyrics have no depth, but if I'm Zayn, Niall, Louis or Harry, what do I feel about Liam's confession in this song? He's essentially saying that his time with the group made him feel trapped and held back. So no, I'm not feeling this. And now if I'm ranking the 1D members' solo work, from best to worst I'm going with Harry, Louis, Niall, Liam and Zayn, with Harry being way ahead and Zayn being way behind.

43- "Deja Vu" - Lauren Duski -- And in a surprising turn of events, it's Chris Blue that wins season 12 of "The Voice." Not Lauren Duski. She's the runner up. But did Chris really win? Lauren's song charted at No. 43 while Chris' song charted at No. 66. And Lauren even charted two songs this week instead of just one. And if all the years of me watching "American Idol" have taught me anything, it's that winning a show like that means jack squat. You just need to successfully get your name out there and see where your career takes you. In terms of initial success, it appears that Lauren has the early lead. And the better song. Because in the finale, you perform three times. One cover song, one duet with your mentor and one original song. This is Lauren's original song. And while it's not as good as her "Ghost in this House" cover that charted last week, this song still has a lot of emotion to it as she's trying to get rid of the memories of this man, but is failing to do so. And she has a really nice voice. She's a girl that country radio could really use, so let's hope they buy into her.

46- "Swish Swish" - Katy Perry featuring Nicki Minaj -- Oh dear Katy, what in the blazes are you doing? I was ready to be excited for this upcoming album because I loved "Prism" and our lead-off single for this one, "Chained to the Rhythm," was one that I thought was pretty good, even though I was in the minority in thinking that. But that's OK. This is music. It's all subjective. But then Katy came out with "Bon Appetit," which had me reeling backwards it was so bad. Then we had the music video for "Bon Appetit," which was so repulsively disturbing and very unsexy. And now this? This is a lazy, generic attack at Katy's haters that has no heart and passion. I don't know who this song is aimed at, but whoever it is will probably be laughing their head off after hearing this lazy, pathetic attempt of a song. And in a weird twist of events, Nicki Minaj comes in and gives the song energy and passion. When I'm more impressed with Nicki Minaj's part in your song, you know you've failed. This isn't as bad as "Bon Appetit," but that's not a very high bar to cross.

47- "Crying in the Club" - Camila Cabello -- Here we have another debut solo single from a former group. Yes, Camila has done solo work before with Shawn Mendes and Machine Gun Kelly, but this is her debut solo single for her upcoming debut album. I've always liked Camila as I've seen the potential that she has as a singer. She's talented and has a nice voice. But I feel that piece of trash Fifth Harmony group was holding her back. Such awful writing with pretty much every song. Thus I was happy when she officially left and was intrigued by the idea of a Camila solo career. I was crossing my fingers that this debut album would be good and while the jury is still out because the album hasn't been released, this is actually a nice start. Speaking of writing, Sia contributed in the writing of this song and you can definitely feel Sia's influence and Camila even sounds like Sia for most of the song. Lyrically this song doesn't quite hit the emotional height that it has the potential to get to after a solid start and Camila's vocals never hit a home run, but this is a pretty good start for Camila as overall I enjoy this. This is far superior than anything Camila did with Fifth Harmony, so it looks like breaking off from them will end up being a great decision.

66- "Money on You" - Chris Blue -- This is my first introduction to our winner of "The Voice" season 12, Mr. Chris Blue. Given that I didn't watch "The Voice," and probably never will, I have no idea how he did overall this season and if he deserved to win, but this isn't a very good introduction for me. He has charm and charisma singing the sing. And his stage presence is pretty great. So I suppose I see the appeal and potential, but this song has no life to it. He has obviously had a great time with this girl and now he's trying to convince her to top it off by sleeping with him. She could be the highlight of his night and he could be the highlight of her's. It's not an explicit song or an awful song. It's just a boring one for me. No winner of "The Voice" has ever amounted to anything. All the show has managed to do is spark a light in the careers of the judges themselves. I highly doubt that if this is the direction Chris Blue is going to take to try and become relevant in the pop world that he's going to be the one to change things.

76- "Yours if You Want It" - Rascal Flatts -- Hey look! We have a Rascal Flatts sighting! I can't say I've been a huge fan of Rascal Flatts, but they've had a few fun songs like "Life is a Highway" and "What Hurts the Most" that I've enjoyed. "Yours if You Want It" is the lead-off single for their 10th studio album, which was released a couple weeks back. This is the lead-off single to that album, which was released back in January but took until now to actual chart, which was obviously due to the album's release, so we'll see if this actually sticks around. Despite being extremely consistent for the better part of the 2000's, the 2010's haven't been quite as nice to the group and perhaps it's because the quality of their music hasn't been as good? It's been a long time since I've heard a Rascal Flatts song that connected with me like the two aforementioned smash hits and this certainly isn't one of them. It's upbeat and catchy with a nice groove to it, like a Rascal Flatts song should be, but the lyrics and overall style slip into the bland, boring country range. It doesn't seem like there was much thought put into any part of this song. Just a generic, catchy country song.

77- "Most Girls" - Hailee Steinfeld -- Shall we dissect yet another attempt at a female empowerment anthem from Hailee? I initially defended her because I love her as an actress and I thought "Love Myself" showed she had great potential as a singer and I initially said that people were taking "Love Yourself" the wrong way. Turns out she stabbed me in the back with her ensuing singles, proving to me that I was wrong about her and everyone else was right. I felt betrayed. Now we have a song that feels generic as heck with the message and completely uninteresting musically. And I do know that Hailee has a voice somewhere in there that she completely hides for this song. But let's talk more about this message. It actually took me a while to discern what she was talking about because she starts by describing how many girls act and I thought she was going to say that she DOESN'T want to be like most girls and that she wants to be herself. But she caught me off guard by saying she DOES want to be like most girls, thus I was confused. But at a second glace, she actually says that SOME girls are obsessed with their appearance and kiss new guys each night, but that MOST girls are smart and strong and beautiful. She wants to be like MOST girls and not like SOME girls. Got it. So generic female empowerment anthem that is a little confusing and poorly worded. And then she says that it's OK if you want to change the body you came in instead of feeling good in your own skin? Shouldn't that be the other way around? Yeah, this song is kind of a mess. Sorry, Hailee.

92- "The Dance" - Lauren Duski -- The other song from Lauren Duski's night on "The Voice." While "Deja Vu" was her original song, this was her choice of a cover song. Her third song, the duet with Blake Shelton, didn't chart. "The Dance" comes via Garth Brooks. It's his final single from his debut album back in 1989 and was released as a single in 1990. It went No. 1 on the country charts, in both the U.S. and Canada, but never charted on the normal Hot 100. In fact, Garth Brooks didn't cross over to the Hot 100 at all until his live album in 1998, which surprised me when I looked it up. So yeah, at No. 92, this cover has already officially charted higher than the original. Take that for what it's worth. Now I am not familiar with Garth Brooks' music, so I made sure to do my due diligence and listen to the original before listening the to cover and holy cow this song is beautiful. Makes me feel like I should educate myself on Garth Brooks. He says that he's glad things are left to chance and that he didn't know how things would end because, while he would've missed the pain, he would've also had to miss the dance. That is fantastic. If we're being picky, Lauren doesn't add anything to the original with her cover, but it was a great song selection for her and she sang it beautifully. Based on this and "Deja Vu," I'm confused as to why she lost.

94- "Boy" - Lee Brice -- We end this week with Lee Brice, a country singer who I personally know for the song "I Drive Your Truck," a song written about a father whose son was killed in Afghanistan while trying to save a fellow soldier. In the song, the father is driving his son's truck so that he can feel close to his son. That hit a personal chord for me because the song was released right around the time my brother passed away. I haven't listened to Lee Brice's other songs, but this latest song, "Boy," has a similar emotional feel to it. It's not about a father who has lost his son, but it's about a father singing to his son. In this case I'm pretty sure it's Lee Brice singing to his own son who is somewhere in the realm of four years old. He's telling his son that he is going to grow older one day and experience life in various stages and is reminiscing about what things he's going to do. Things that a father would realistically say and ponder about when it comes to his young children. Towards the end of the song, he mentions that it's 3 a.m. and he'd do anything to get this boy back to sleep and that this is the same face he'll have when the boy is leaving home for the first time. I like this a lot! It reminds me of the book "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch, which is a fantastic little kids book. If you haven't heard of it, go look it up and you'll know what I'm talking about.