Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "Nice for What" - Drake (=) -- It's the fourth week for Drake's "Nice for What" at No. 1 and it seems like we're closer Drake being dethroned from this top spot as his two songs have combined to reign for 15 weeks straight now. We do have a new runner-up this week thanks to Post Malone's new album giving "Psycho" a huge boost, meaning had Drake not dethroned himself, "God's Plan" would've ended its run at No. 1 at 14 weeks. Although with Post fixing to crash back down next week, things might adjust right back to where they were last week for Drake come next week. I'm not sure what the exact margins were this week for Drake and Post, but "Psycho" was remarkably close to jumping to No. 1. Drake got 48.5 million U.S. streams compared to Post's 47.8 million. Drake is No. 11 on radio songs this week while Post is No. 12. Both songs are awful on sales, but Kworb estimated Drake got 29,000 with Post at 27,000. Billboard reported that the official number for Drake was 28,000, so that might have been really close, too. Again, don't expect Post to jump ahead next week as those streaming numbers will come crashing down next week. Do be on the lookout for Childish Gambino's "This is America," which is currently estimated by Kworb to debut with 94,000 in sales, which is right around where Ariana debuted with last week when she entered at No. 3. If the Streaming number for Gambino is high, he could enter at No. 1. With Gambino, aka Donald Glover, also set to star as Lando in the upcoming "Solo" movie, could he have a No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts while starring in the No. 1 hit at the box office? That would be cool. I don't know if that's ever happened.
2- "Psycho" - Post Malone (+3) -- I discussed this song at length just barely as Post's new album nearly boosted this song to No. 1 this week, but fell just short. It was at No. 5 last week, so I'm expecting it to fall back down to No. 5 next week. And hopefully further. It's time for Post Malone to get out of the top 10 altogether, but I suppose we'll see how much residual holdover he gets from the album next week.
3- "God's Plan" - Drake (-1) -- Could the fall for Drake's "God's Plan" finally begin. After 14 weeks in the top two, it seems like this song is finally starting to bleed out. It could go back to No. 2 next week. Or it could stay at No. 3 if Childish Gambino's streaming numbers are super high. Despite the peak at radio and continually diminishing streaming numbers, I'm sure said numbers will still be good enough to keep this around for a while longer since nothing else seems to want to enter the top five.
4- "Meant to Be" - Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line (=) -- With a slight bit of shuffling in the top five this week, Bebe and FGL wind up stuck at No. 4 still, despite Ariana's tumble out of the top five. This is because Post jumped up, as I've mentioned a few times now. "Meant to Be" still rules on radio, but it dropped a bit again this week, down to 130 million in total audience, meaning if any song has a desire to start performing well, this current top five is fairly weak. I keep thinking we're about ready for a major turnover, but no song seems to want to step up to the plate, so that might not happen.
5- "The Middle" - Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey (+2) -- After being pushed down by J. Cole and Ariana last week, it's nice to see Zedd and Maren back in the top five. I wouldn't say this song is super incredible and memorable, but I still find it to be a fun enough song. It's clinging onto that No. 2 spot on the radio, which is why it's been able to remain consistent on the charts. I mean, pop radio has nothing else to play, so they might as well just keep the same rotation spinning until someone starts releasing new songs.
6- "Never Be the Same" - Camila Cabello (+7) -- There's lots of anger to be had with Post Malone's new album poisoning our new arrivals section, but this entry into the top 10 made me jump for joy. I thought this song would enter the top 10 several weeks ago when "Havana" fell out, but it's ended up stuck right below for longer than I was hoping, but now it's here! And I'm uncertain that it'll stay because it got a huge sales boost this week thanks to a remixed version where Camila added Kane Brown to the song, giving it a "Meant to Be" feel with a pop star combining forces with country. I'm not sure the song necessarily needs Kane, but he actually does a decent job. Him and Camila feed off each other pretty well. So thanks to Kane for helping Camila get this song over the edge. We'll see what happens when those sales numbers come crashing back down next week, but the positives here are that the song is No. 1 on pop radio this week while being No. 4 overall, behind only "Meant to Be," "The Middle" and "God's Plan." So if it can survive next week, I think it'll stick around.
7- "Better Now" - Post Malone (new) -- Lots of yelling down below at Post Malone's ridiculous, pathetic excuse for an album that somehow has the country drooling all over themselves because apparently we don't actually care about quality in the United States. Out of all the lazy, awful rappers of today, I'm not sure why the music gods have decided to knight Post Malone as a superstar. He is one of the least deserving. But for what it's worth, at least the best song from the album debuted highest. If we HAVE to have a Post Malone song always in the top 10 from here on out, I'd much rather have this song than the likes of "rockstar," "Psycho" or really anything else he's done in his pathetic career. It's tolerable on its own. But don't get too excited because it's rather sad that a boring, generic breakup song is the best that Post has ever done. I'd rather prefer that he quit music and get a job flipping burgers at McDonalds so that he can leave the rest of us alone. He's not welcome in the world of music.
8- "rockstar" - Post Malone featuring 21 Savage (+24) -- Oh joy. What a horrible tragedy that this song is back in the top 10. I was enjoying watching it tumble each week. And I'll really enjoy seeing it fall BACK down next week.
9- "Look Alive" - BlocBoy JB featuring Drake (=) -- I'm not quite sure what emotion to feel here. Relief that this didn't get any higher or disappointment that this didn't get dragged out of the top 10 with those three J. Cole songs that all tanked. With "rockstar" and "Better Now" set to fall out next week, unfortunately this could jump back up to No. 7. So I'll go with the disappointed side of things.
10- "No Tears Left to Cry" - Ariana Grande (-7) -- No surprise here that Ariana tumbled down this week after her huge debut last week. That's a very common thing for a song's second week. However, can we PLEASE send this song back up? It's getting decent radio traction, which is a good sign. Let's keep that going because I would love to see this as one of the songs that gets stuck in the top five rotation along with Bebe, Maren and Camila. It's really refreshing seeing four female pop singers all in the top 10 right now, so let's keep it that way! In fact, lets add more! I'm speaking to you Anne-Marie!
Rising on the Hot 100:
21- "Whatever It Takes" - Imagine Dragons (+5) -- Hey look! We have this section of my analysis back this week after no songs rose high enough to qualify on last's week's post. But I am sad that it's headlined by this dull Imagine Dragons song. With Post Malone dominating much of the teens right now, I'm also guessing that this will headline next week's charts when the fallout of "beerbongs & bentleys" sends a whole ton of songs back up the charts. I'm just crossing my fingers that there are at least a few quality songs that jump up with it.
37- "Boo'd Up" - Ella Mai (+18) -- Soaring up 18 spots in the midst of an album bomb is an impressive feat. That means I'm officially convinced this will become a genuine hit. There were three new female R&B singers that debuted songs at the same time a few weeks ago and this was the lesser of the three, but it's still decent. So I'll accept this!
43- "Dame Tu Cosita" - El Chombo (+38) -- Oh goodness, I think I just threw up. If this becomes the next huge Latino dance hit, that will be an utter shame because there's probably hundreds if not thousands of Latino dance songs that are more deserving than this pile of messy horse manure. Get it out of here!
54- "Dura" - Daddy Yankee (+21) -- Ha! Like this! Instead of pushing "Dame Tu Cosita," can we please push "Dura"? Like, not both songs. Just this? There's also a new remix of this song with Bad Bunny and Natti Natasha. I'll take that, too, even though I'm not a huge fan of Bad Bunny. But Daddy and Natti are a good combination for this song and I suppose Bad Bunny has done worse.
64- "Te Bote" - Casper Magic, Nio Garcia, Darell, Nicky Jam, Ozuna & Bad Bunny (+10) -- Speaking of Latino songs with Bad Bunny. I can't say I'm surprised that this got a boost this week given that it features, like, everyone. But I would categorize this along with "Dame Tu Cosita" in that I would prefer if it went away. Sure, it's not quite as atrocious as that song, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
New Arrivals:
7- "Better Now" - Post Malone -- This week was a much dreaded week for me as 15 songs from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys" debuted. It's an 18-track album, with "rockstar," "Psycho" and "Candy Paint," songs that have already debuted in the past, rounding out the 18 songs. You can read this in any order you desire. But note that I wrote this in order of track listing so that I could go from beginning to end in covering this album. You'll see that I have the track number listed at the beginning of each song so that you can read this in order if you so desire. "Better Now" is track 9. At this point on the album, I've grown tired of Post's breakup songs. "Rich & Sad" was him being sad that he couldn't buy her love with all his money. "Over Now" was him being angry that the girl was too materialistic. And now for the third time around, we just have a generic love song where Post admits that he's been lying when he says that he's better now without her and assumes that she feels the same way. Which I highly doubt. Given the content of the previous eight songs before this, I don't believe for one second that this means anything. And with how generic it is, I'll bet you'll have a hard time arguing me. I suppose if you were to listen to this song on its own without the context of the album, it's the most tolerable of the bunch. But that's because it's the most generic, so it's not like I'm giving it much of a pass.
11- "Paranoid" - Post Malone -- Track 1 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." We begin this journey learning that Post Malone is paranoid. Why? Well, it took me a second, but his reasoning is in the end of the first verse. He has all this money now, which he says is hidden in his floors, walls and ceilings while saying that even his family and friends have changed and are acting completely different towards. So, in short, he's so rich that he doesn't know who to trust anymore. I mean, you poor little soul, Mr. Malone. Trying to convince me right off the bat that being rich and famous sucks because you don't know who your real friends are. I don't buy it and neither does he. Maybe if he was rapping/singing about a real experience he had, then maybe. But this just feels fake, especially since most of the song is super vague.
14- "Rich & Sad" - Post Malone -- Track 3 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." Following "Spoil My Night," where Post sings about having empty sex because he's so rich, he's now trying to convince us that he's sad because his girl broke up with him. He claims he doesn't care about the money and only wants her love, but he seems surprised that he wasn't able to buy her love with money. Well maybe if he would've paid more attention to her face and not her boobies, maybe he could've attempted to develop a relationship that can actually last instead of one developed based on money and lust. Perhaps some might see this song as Post being deep and emotional, but coming directly after "Spoil My Night," I find it absolutely pathetic. And at least in the first two tracks on the album, he's actually singing, whereas this track he slips back into his normal mumbles that he's so famous for in songs like "rockstar" and "Psycho."
15- "Spoil My Night" - Post Malone featuring Swae Lee -- Track 2 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." For this track, Post has teamed up with Swae Lee, which usually gives me a tiny bit of hope because Swae Lee songs have been known to be enjoyable for me. But I don't know what it is about Swae. He has potential as an artist. I guess he just needs someone to light a fire under him in order for him to perform and Post Malone is not that man. The funniest part of this song is that it starts out with the lyrics, "I don't have much to say, I'll be out front." Ha ha! Of course you don't, Post! And he certainly doesn't have anything to say in this song and neither does Swae. They're just singing about how they're so rich that they can't get the girls off of them. Post admits that he can't see her face, but he likes her because she had beautiful boobies while she only sees the diamonds in his teeth. That's the superficial, empty "relationship" that he has with this girl. Empty, worthless sex because he's rich. But she's going to rock with him like Jumanji? Ha ha! Get it? He's so clever! He made a Dwayne Johnson pun! Sarcasm there, if you couldn't tell.
16- "Ball for Me" - Post Malone featuring Nicki Minaj -- Track 10 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." Meaning we've now moved onto the second half of the album. Yet this feels like a hypocritical prequel to the song "Over Now" as Post is perfectly fine with buying his girl everything she wants as if he doesn't care about how materialistic she is. So he's painting himself a giant picture of how idiotic and stupid he is with this whole album, which showcases his unintelligence and complete lack of musical talent. Nicki Minaj comes in on the second verse to rap about Nicki Minaj things, which may or may not have anything to do with the actual song at hand. She probably doesn't care what Post was singing about prior to her verse, which is totally fine because he didn't care about what he sang about either. Giving me double the reason as to why I shouldn't care. My big takeaway from this disaster of a song is how horribly paced it was. I listened until Nicki came in so that I could judge her performance, and while that was only two minutes or so, it felt like 20 because this is so choppy and stretched out that it was a real chore to get through.
17- "Stay" - Post Malone -- Track 12 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." At this point in the album I can't tell if I've just lost all my brain cells after having gone through 12 Post Malone songs or that Post Malone lost all of his brain cells after recording all the previous songs because I can't even hardly tell what he's getting at here. I think he's trying to say something profound about relationships during certain parts of the song, but in the refrain he tells the girl not to break her back for him because he'll put her out of her misery. Shortly thereafter in the chorus he tells her to not count on him to stay. So after all of these embarrassing attempts to say that he cared so much about this relationship, it sounds like he's admitting that he didn't care to put anything into it. Meaning that I have no idea if he actually cared about any of these girls because each new song he is saying something completely different about his experience, showcasing a complete lack of focus.
20- "Same B------" - Post Malone featuring G-Eazy & YG -- Track 14 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." Did you know that it's extremely derogatory and sexist to refer to a girl as the b-word? So why in the world is it universally accepted in the rap culture to refer to girls as that in such a casual, normal way as if it actual means nothing? And why is it that we are aiming for such a progressive society, but we don't hold our rappers to the same standard, allowing them to be as sexist and racist as they want? It makes no sense to me. And on that light, Post is talking about how he sees the same GIRLS everywhere. They're all the same. Lifeless objects for his lustful pleasures. OK, he doesn't use that specific phrase from my previous sentence, but he might as well have because that's essentially what he's saying. And he wonders why none of his relationships ever work out in some of his other songs. Well maybe if he would treat girls like human beings and not objects, they might think about respecting him back. I didn't even make it to G-Easy or YG's part in the song, but their lyrics are the same and both of them are about as useless as Post Malone.
23- "Zack and Codeine" - Post Malone -- Track 4 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys. And not that I care about Disney Channel shows, but why in the frack is Post referencing the Disney Channel show "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody"? Just for the heck of it, I'm guessing? The show was about two twins living the good life in a hotel, so Post turns that and says that life is so sweet, he feels like Cody. And he wakes up and rinses his mouth out with codeine and later says that he threw a lot of parties in the hotel. So Post is using a Disney Channel show to sing about him doing drugs and partying. Man, what a brilliant lyricist this man is. Totally deserving of having his whole album chart this week. Yes, that's more sarcasm. Being serious now, this song is a perfect example of how little intelligence Post Malone has.
24- "Over Now" - Post Malone -- Track 7 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." This is the second time on the album that Post is singing about a breakup. In the previous breakup song, "Rich & Sad," Post claimed he was sad because he couldn't buy this girl's love with all of his money that he had, which was dumb in its own right because it came right after a song where he admitted to lusting after her because of her looks while not even caring what her face looked like. And now in "Over Now," Post is angrily breaking up with this other girl because she's too materialistic? So he's sad that one girl isn't materialistic enough while angry that this other girl is too materialistic. Because that makes so much sense. It's as if Post is impossible to please. Either that or he's writing empty songs that literally mean nothing to him in order to cover his bases and please all of his fans. I'm going with that interpretation. I will admit, though, that this chorus has a decent groove to it. But that's all I'm admitting because, outside that, the song still is void of any intelligence when listening to all the other songs around it. If you're reading this by track listing, which is how I wrote it, track 8 is "Psycho," so move straight onto track 9, which is "Better Now" at the very top.
29- "Takin' Shots" - Post Malone -- Track 5 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." And I lasted about a minute on this one before I simply gave up. Right after Post uses a Disney Channel show to reference all his drug use and partying, he just continues in this song talking about all the alcohol he's drinking and all the drugs he's doing while sleeping with all of these girls, specifically in a threesome in this instance, while going vroom vroom in all his cars. Considering the album is called "beerbongs & bentleys," you shouldn't really be surprised that this is all he's singing about. But that doesn't make it any less atrocious. This song is an abomination, just like Post Malone. Now if you're reading this in order of track listing, which is the order I wrote this in, then track 6 is "rockstar," so move onto track 7, which is right above this one.
40- "92 Explorer" - Post Malone -- Track 16 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." In case you were wondering, Post Malone bought a '92 Ford Explorer that he pimped out. Because, you know, why not? Not that he actually talks about that vehicle in this song or his experience getting it fancied all up, though. This is just a song about him driving with a girl whose name he forgot while buying all sorts of expensive stuff with all his money. Hey, maybe if he would've done better at remembering these girls' names and treating them like human beings, perhaps we wouldn't have to endure all these awful breakup songs on this album. This specific song isn't a breakup song. It's just a nothing song about Post being rich that he decided to name after his current vehicle for no apparent reason. And don't go looking for track 17 in this last. That would be "Candy Paint," which was initially from the "Fate of the Furious" soundtrack. And no, I don't like that song, either. So you can proceed to the final song on the album.
46- "Otherside" - Post Malone -- Track 11 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." And if you couldn't tell by now, I am so over Post's attempts to make believable breakup tracks because he has no idea what angle to take, so he just takes all of them. The intro to this track had a smooth, almost tropical feel to it which I somewhat enjoyed. But it was all ruined when Post started singing again with yet another song about how sad he was with this breakup, the unique spin this time being that all the beer and all the models can't make up for his loss. Yeah, blah blah blah. Shut up, Post. You don't give a crap about any of these lyrics and I don't either.
47- "Blame It on Me" - Post Malone -- Track 13 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." This song is in stark contrast to several previous songs as he is singing about how awful the rap life is with everyone cutting each other down and no one having any faith. I suppose there might be other rappers singing about this subject and it could be believable. People like Kendrick Lamar are good at being honest with things while making it sound genuine. The problem with Post Malone singing this is that I really don't believe he buys into one word he's saying as he totally loves every bit of this life of his. All of the money, the drugs, the jewelry, the cars, the girls. All of it. That's all he ever sings about. So why should I believe him when he is now saying it's all horrible and it was all for show? Yeah right.
57- "Sugar Wraith" - Post Malone -- Track 18 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." In this final song of the album, Post is just bragging about all the cars he owns and how he enjoys taking his girls out to drive in them while doing his drugs. I'm sure Post owns a lot of cars, but one of them is a white Rolls-Royce Wraith, which is one of the cars he talks about in this song. He also talks about his '92 Explorer, meaning he did that more in this song than the song titled "92 Explorer," as well as a Bentley, which is of course a part of the album title. So, you know, "beerbongs & bentleys" ends with a song about drugs and cars. What more did you expect from a rapper/singer with as little talent and creativity such as Post Malone? With this being the final track, I'll reveal that my grade for this painfully horrible album is a D-.
62- "Famous" - Mason Ramsey -- Hey look! NOT POST MALONE!! That alone makes me happy. What makes me even more happy is that this is an 11-year-old kid charting! Mason is an absolutely adorable little country boy who you may know because of the viral video of him yodeling at Walmart. If you haven't seen that video, go watch it. Then go watch his interview on Ellen. He's the best! But the fun thing about this song specifically is that it's a genuinely good country song and this kid has a better voice than most of the boring country singers around. If I were to be nitpicky about anything, I am slightly nervous about kids singing love songs because I don't know how much the lyrics mean to them as opposed to being words that they simply memorized. But hey, this kid is the same age as a lot of my nephews right now, so I just think he's adorable and I love this song because of that. Ignoring the age, though, lyrically this song is fairly sharp and on point for a country song. The lyrics remind me of a Brett Young song. And regardless of whether the lyrics mean anything to Mason or they're just words he memorized, he pulls it off really well. And country radio is actually playing this, which is cool.
73- "Jonestown (Interlude)" - Post Malone -- Track 15 from Post Malone's new album "beerbongs & bentleys." An interlude. Positioned at nearly the end of the album. It's only at No. 73 because it's barely a song. It's less than two minutes long and the only lyrics are as follows: "It happens every time. It sounds like suicide, but I guess I'll drink the Kool-Aid once again." That's repeated three times with some instrumental around it. What does that mean in context of the album? I don't know. The title of Jonestown is in reference to the Jonestown Massacre where over 900 people died from apparent cyanide poisoning in 1978. Some call it mass suicide while others call it mass murder. I suppose we could speculate as to what Post is referring to when it repeats those words after naming this interlude "Jonestown," but since he doesn't elaborate in the song itself and the album is all over the place, who knows what the purpose of this is.
77- "Overdose" - YoungBoy Never Broke Again -- As if 15 songs of Post Malone wasn't enough, I also get punished with a new YoungBoy track. Although the amusing thing is that YoungBoy's new album was released on the same day as Post's album, meaning we could've had two album bombs this week, but YoungBoy could only manage one song from it, which is a huge win for me and most likely a huge mistake on his part in releasing on the same day as Post Malone. Also surprising is that is a better song than most of Post Malone's crap. Not that that means much, but minor props to YoungBoy rapping about things that actually mean something to him, which I don't believe Post Malone does on his album. And YoungBoy's rap and flow is much better than Post's. But the problem is that YoungBoy rapping about things that mean something to him means he's rapping about the thug life, reminiscing about being in prison and being on the streets shooting people with his gun, which feels a bit odd since he starts off with some dialogue claiming he's not a killer or a gangbanger, he's just made some mistakes in life, which is cool and all, but can you blame me for thinking that sounds slightly contradictory? So no, I'm not giving this a pass. I'm just saying it comes slightly ahead of all of Post Malone's trash this week.
85- "Ye vs. The People" - Kanye West featuring T.I. -- If there's one person that I really have zero desire of dealing with right now it's the moron that is Kanye West. If you haven't heard, he went on TMZ and in the midst of his rantings about how much he loves Trump, he said that slavery was a choice. Even if he was trying to get at something else, that's horrible word choice. But then when he tried to explain himself, I don't think his explanation was that much better. It just proves how little intelligence he has. But on that note, Donald Glover followed that up with a brilliant SNL skit called "A Kanye Place" that makes fun of Kanye while also parodying the movie "A Quiet Place." And all of this is important because this is exactly what this song is about. Kanye wore Trump's hat, which started this controversy and he's tried to defend that controversy with this song and his TMZ appearance, which as I mentioned, only sparked more controversy with his comments on slavery. Zeroing in on the song, this is a back and forth banter with Kanye defending himself while T.I. represents the people attacking him. Or, well, Kanye's views of what he thinks the people are saying. If you want to listen to Kanye politics, why he thinks he should be president and why he supports Trump, then listen to this song and be amazed at how stupid this man is. In a week of a horrendous Post Malone album, Kanye easily managed to be worse than all of it.
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