Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "Psycho" - Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla $ign (+1) -- I'm not one bit surprised that this happened, but I'm still really angry about it. I was hoping that this song would be blocked from hitting No. 1, despite it being in its 15th week in the top five, but Drake's song just didn't have enough momentum to keep that top spot while Post Malone is still celebrating decent sales due to his iTunes discount, good enough streaming, and shockingly strong radio that now sees it as No. 1 on pop radio. I don't even know why pop radio is playing this song at all, let alone playing it more than any other song around. The good thing about this song being in its 15th week in the top five is that it can't hold this spot for too much longer, so it'll be a quick reign for Post Malone.
2- "Nice for What" - Drake (-1) -- I don't think I've ever said that I wish Drake were No. 1 instead, but I was hoping this song would hold up well enough to keep Post Malone away from the top spot. But nope. Now we as a country look really stupid by allowing a lazy, piece of crap in Post Malone to have the No. 1 spot on our Hot 100.
3- "I Like It" - Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin (+4) -- I wasn't sure what this song was going to do, but now it appears that it's here to stay as the video premier has now bolted it into the top five after it roared back into the top 10 last week. While not the worst thing Cardi has done, I still don't like the fact that this song takes a really good song an spits in its face with atrocious additions to the song from all three of these acts. But if this can be the cause of taking down Post Malone from that top spot before he gets too comfortable, then I'm all for it. In the meantime, I would like there to be a song to come around that's actually worthy of hitting that No. 1 spot.
4- "Girls Like You" - Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B (+90) -- What in the blazes is this doing here? I'm genuinely shocked. After this debuted last week at No. 94, I was hoping that it was a sign that the world has stopped caring about Maroon 5. But nope. Apparently the release of the music video, which took effect on the Hot 100 this week, gave this song huge streaming numbers and even bigger sales numbers with it being the top selling song this week. And I have no idea why. At best this is an average filler song on a boring Maroon 5 album. Adding Cardi to the song turned a boring song to an awful song. Even though it's not hard to outdo Maroon 5 on a track, her verse does not fit in at all with the track and just makes this a lazy, desperate piece of crap. I can only that this takes a good tumble next week after the boost from the video wears off.
5- "God's Plan" - Drake (-3) -- It was only a matter of time. This song has been here for a long while now and has been losing steam for the last month or so, but has only stuck around because nothing else was willing to step up. Now things have stepped up and thus Drake finally falls. And I think this is only going to start falling faster as I could see a few songs right below it also passing it up in the next week or so.
6- "Boo'd Up" - Ella Mai (+2) -- Ella is going to need to start picking up on radio a bit faster than the she is if this song is going to be a huge hit, but she does have really strong streaming that is remaining consistent, so that should be good enough to at least keep this song around in the top 10 for quite some time.
7- "This is America" - Childish Gambino (-3) -- I'm not sure how much longer this is going to last in the top 10. Streaming continues to trend downward and the radio is just not there to keep it held up as the streaming continues downward. But that was kinda to be expected as this is less of a traditional single and more of a huge political statement with the video. With it hard to separate the two, it makes sense that radio is really responding and sales have never been too high.
8- "Yikes" - Kanye West (new) -- Kanye's new album "Ye" debuted on the charts this week, with all seven tracks debuting in the top 40. This means I'll have plenty to say about it in our new arrivals section. But my short word on this song is that it could've worked out as it has a dark premise and a catchy chorus. But I just can't get over what he said about the #MeToo movement on this song, which makes it the most frustrating song on a very unintelligent album from a man that seems to have a really low IQ. Let's hope that this is just here for a week and then goes away.
9- "Lucid Dreams" - Juice WRLD (+6) -- I defended this song when it first debuted, but then I was shocked that it rose so quickly on the Hot 100. Now after just a few weeks on the charts, it's broken the top 10. I had to re-evaluate this song after seeing it rise so quickly. After doing so last week, I'm still a fan of the song and I'm happy that it's here in the top 10. In fact, this is the No. 2 song on streaming right now, meaning that it will most likely be the top streaming song next week after Kanye's album fades away. The problem is that it has no radio at the moment and the sales just don't exist. I could see pop radio picking this one up and loving it. But it hasn't happened yet. If it does, I could see this contending for the top spot. But for now its monster streaming numbers will do a great job of keeping it around in the top 10 until the other metrics catch up.
10- "The Middle" - Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey (-5) -- I was honestly surprised to see this song collapsing this week. It's still No. 1 on the radio charts, even though it ceded the top spot on pop radio to "Psycho," which still makes no sense to me. But I guess being held up by radio only just wasn't enough to survive the storm of everything else that happened this week in the top 10. I suppose I'm not upset as this has had a good run. Although I wouldn't surprised to see this stick around still, especially if some of these other songs end up being one-week wonders in the top 10.
Rising on the Hot 100:
31- "Back to You" - Selena Gomez (+7) -- Due to Kanye's album, most of the Hot 100 below the top 10 stalled out. Which is why I'm really happy that the lone song that rose high enough to qualify for this section of my list. That means it seems to be gaining real traction on the charts and has the potential to get boosted even higher once Kanye's album fades. Let's hope that holds true because this is a really good song from Selena that I want to see become a huge hit.
59- "Taste" - Tyga featuring Offset (+23) -- Out of all the dumb rap songs to debut last week, I really don't know why this is the one to get a huge boost. Not that any of them deserved it, but this one probably deserved it the least. I don't imagine Tyga had anything to do with it. That Offset feature was probably the big reason here.
79- "Lovely" - Billie Eilish & Khalid (+10) -- I am super excited to see this song get a good boost this week. This is one of my favorite songs of the year so far, so I'm hoping Billie and Khalid will continue to gain momentum so that this song can at least be a decent top 50 hit that hangs around for a while.
New Arrivals:
8- "Yikes" - Kanye West -- My reaction when I saw Kanye's new album was dominating streaming, meaning I had to cover this whole thing this week. I knew this album was coming, but I was hoping that we could all just ignore it. But nope, Kanye had to go and say some really stupid things a month or so before the album was released so that he could put himself right in the spotlight. Controversy sparks curiosity, thus the worlds most annoying troll just won with all seven songs from his mini-album charting in the top 40. This is the second track from the album if you care to follow me in the order that the album goes, following "I Thought About Killing You." The main theme of "Yikes" is Kanye talking about his drug addiction, which he talks about being menacing and frightening to him as it could end up killing him like it did Michael Jackson and Prince. That's all fine and dandy, and he actually puts together a really catchy chorus that almost made me give this song a pass. But then he starts rambling on in his verses, which sees him completely dissing the #MeToo movement in his first verse, like so:
"Russell Simmons wanna pray for me too; I'ma pray for him cause he got #MeToo'd; Thinkin' what if that happened to me too; Then I'm on E! News."
In other words, the #MeToo movement is bad and we have to pray for people who got victimized by the movement. NO!!!! If we're praying for people, it's for the people who have been victims of sexual assault who haven't been able to do anything about it because the world cares too much about the celebrity status of individuals, thus we end up protecting sexual predators. And Kanye wants to continue protecting sexual predators by trying to get rid of the #MeToo movement? This is disgraceful. But it's exactly what happens when Kanye opens his big mouth and starts talking.
11- "All Mine" - Kanye West -- The third track from Kanye's album. The positives of this song is that he doesn't say anything super offensive like he did on "Yikes." But he's also not saying anything super intelligent. The message of this song is infidelity. He talks about the controversy that would rise if he showed up in public with Kerry Washington, Naomi Campbell or Stormy Daniels. Then he says the only reason why Tristan Thompson and Kobe Bryant are still married, despite their cheating scandals, are because they are good ballers. I'm not sure what his purpose to all this because he kinda just says these things, then goes off on dirty tangents while letting whoever Ant Clemons is take care of the dirty chorus in between.
16- "Ghost Town" - Kanye West -- The sixth song from Kanye's new album is a very strange and disjointed one. Kanye himself is only on the song for a few brief moments, which is probably a good thing, except for the fact that he's somehow better than the other three people he features on this song. We start with PARTYNEXTDOOR saying that someday he wants to rest like God did on Sunday, while smoking marijuana and doing what he wants to. His final two lines are slurred and mumbled as if he got drunk and passed out when recording. Then Kid Cudi jumps in and gives a cringeworthy bit where says two quick lines that are extremely stretched out. Then comes Kanye's verse where he reminisces that some day all the controversy will be gone and he can live in peace. A day that will never come until he learns to shut his dumb mouth. Then we get Kid Cudi's bit repeated, followed by a two-minute outro by new rapper 070 Shake, that was apparently not finished until the day this song was released. And I don't know why because it's a lazy, repeated bit where he's repeating that they're the kids they used to be and nothing hurts anymore. The instrumentation behind the song is fine. But the rest of it is so weird and disconnected that I don't know how anyone could listen to this.
24- "Wouldn't Leave" - Kanye West -- The fourth track from Kanye's album. In this track Kanye sings praises to his wife for sticking with him through thick and thin. I guess he felt he probably had to throw this one in here after his ramblings about infidelity in the previous track, "All Mine." He acknowledges all the stupid things he's done and said, claiming he feels bad about them. Which I don't really buy because he says more stupid stuff on this album that's equal to or worse than previous things he's said. He also not so subtly throws out his "Slavery was a choice" comments, adding afterwards that "Just imagine if they caught me on a wild day." This feels like he's trying to justify those comments, saying they were mild and that he's said and done a whole lot worse. Which I believe. But it still doesn't justify that his slavery comments were awful and him trying to downplay them is really stupid. But whatever. The rest of the song sees a decent chorus from PARTYNEXTDOOR, with Jeremih and Ty Dolla $ign chipping in, with verses from Kanye that are otherwise decent. Even if I don't buy he actually had positive intentions with this song, as it seems more self-centered in trying to make himself look good, this is mostly a fine track if you play it on its own. So it's whatever.
27- "Violent Crimes" - Kanye West -- This is the seventh and final track from Kanye's album. After listening to this, I was just glad this listening experience was over. Even though I barely consider this an album as it's barely over 20 minutes, I was glad that Kanye went that route because it meant that I didn't have to cover more from him. This finale is decent, I suppose. 070 Shake, who was featured on the previous track "Ghost Town" gives the chorus to start and end the song. He doesn't really say anything interesting outside setting up Kanye's long verse wherein he discusses his change in mindset after having two daughters of his own. Before he saw girls as something to conquer and now he sees them as something to nurture, then talks a lot about his fears for the future as he plans on being a very protective father towards his daughters. This is certainly the most interesting thing he's talked about on this album as his blunt honesty proves that he also has a bit of a good side amidst most of the murky crap. I still think some of the specific lyrics here show his unintelligence, but compared to most of the rest of his album, this is passable.
28- "I Thought About Killing You" - Kanye West -- Well that's a disturbing title. Coming from the rapper with the world's lowest IQ makes it even more disturbing. This is actually the opening track from Kanye's new album where he starts off with spoken word, which consists of half of this nearly five minute song. This finds Kanye being honest right off the bat, which is something I normally appreciate. It's better than cliche nonsense that people normally do. But Kanye being honest is just laughably unintelligent. In his spoken word, he says that he thought about killing you and he thought about killing himself, and he loves himself way more than he does you. And he repeats that dialogue a few times, while adding in there that you'd only care enough to kill someone you love. What? Then he tries to justify it by saying that he's supposed throw in something good, so what he said doesn't come off as bad, but instead he decided to be honest and finish that by saying that sometimes he thinks bad things. And I'm just left dumbfounded at how stupid this man is. Then he starts rapping in the second half of the song, which is blocky and boring, seeing him rambling on about a whole bunch of stupid stuff that only makes his case worse.
36- "No Mistakes" - Kanye West -- This is the song that charted last from Kanye's album, but follows after "Wouldn't Leave" as the fifth track from the album. This is a really simple song. It has one verse from Kanye that is framed by a chorus from Charlie Wilson and Kid Cudi that states "Make no mistake, girl, I still love you." The final chorus also echoes in the line "Believe it or not, the Lord still shines on you." The verse in between is something that I don't really know how it fits in with the chorus as Kanye talks about how rough the past year has been for him, how he's not taking advice from people less successful than him as well as a few other random things that just seem random. An inoffensive song. But a useless one where I don't understand the point of it. It's also the shortest song from the album at barely two minutes.
55- "Simple" - Florida Georgia Line -- Despite how much praise I've given "Meant to Be" these past several months, I still don't necessarily get excited for a Florida Georgia Line song, especially when they're on their own and not featuring a good pop singer like Bebe Rexha, which is a big reason why I enjoy "Meant to Be." But this works decently enough. Dare I say that this is a... simple song? Because it is. It has a fun, upbeat tune that feels a bit folky to me with a nice banjo strumming in the background. The lyrics are the male voice claiming he wants a simple romance with his girl, thus fitting the simplicity theme of this song. I think it could've used another voice in the mix, maybe to play the voice of the female as the song might get a bit overly simple and thus not super memorable. But I'm not upset that it's around and I'll be fine if it does well.
81- "Must've Never Met You" - Luke Combs -- I haven't been a fan of the previous songs released from Luke Combs' recent album, that being "One Number Away" and "Beautiful Crazy" from this year, so I didn't expect much from this and in turn I didn't get much, so I guess the song met my expectations. This is Luke being a little overly bitter as he complains at all these cliche phrases used to make people feel better, because obviously the people that came up with them didn't know this girl and how awful she was to Luke. As if Luke is the only person to every experience a breakup and is the only one to feel pain afterwards. Yeah, it feels a bit self-absorbed even though it's trying to be real and human. I just don't buy it. And it's too heavy on the country rock for the music itself to fit with the lyrics that he's singing.
85- "Humility" - Gorillaz featuring George Benson -- It's not too often you wake up and learn a Gorillaz song has charted on the Hot 100. In fact, it's been 13 years to be exact as their previous Hot 100 entry was "DARE," their follow-up single to their smash hit "Feel Good Inc." in 2005 from their album "Demon Days." Although they have been active recently as they released an album just last year called "Humanz" that sold decently and had songs chart in various countries and on the U.S. rock charts, but not on the Hot 100. Now they're back with their sixth studio album "The Now Now" later this month that finally got them back on the Hot 100 with this lead-off single. The feature of George Benson means he's also back on the Hot 100 for the first time since "No One Emotion" in 1985. So this is a pretty significant entry here. Now I can't honestly say I'm a huge fan of the Gorillaz. I love "Feel Good Inc.," but that's the only song of there's that I've really gravitated to. That said, I would certainly prefer Gorillaz over most everything else on the charts today, so this is a welcome entry and a rather groovy song. It's fairly mellow and laid-back, but has a good enough beat to it that'll make you want to dance around in your chair as you listen. I want to say the lyrics jump out at me and are mind-blowing, but they're really not. Serviceable, I suppose. And given that I'm not super huge into this group, don't ask me how this compares to their previous work, because I don't know. It's not as hot and fiery as "Feel Good Inc.," but few songs are. Yet I enjoy it and I would love to see this gain traction on the charts, although my confidence in it doing so is not super strong.
89- "Africa" - Weezer -- First we get Gorillaz on the Hot 100, now we have Weezer? This just a couple weeks after Backstreet Boys also charted. Remind me a gain what year this is? Because Weezer haven't charted since 2009 and this is actually only their sixth song to hit the Hot 100 as they've mainly been content to dominate the U.S. Alternative Songs chart over the course of their career. Although Rivers Cuomo himself charted as recently as 2010 as featured on B.o.B's "Magic," a song that I've always loved. Weezer themselves, if I'm being honest, is a band that I've heard my friends talking about over the years more than I've paid much attention to myself. A lot of people in my Junior High and High School loved Weezer. I never jumped on the bandwagon for whatever reason. Although this song specifically doesn't require a vast knowledge of Weezer as this is a cover of Toto's popular 1982 song "Africa." They did this following a viral Twitter campaign requesting they do so after they covered Toto's "Rosanna." They don't reinvent the wheel with this cover. It's actually mostly a beat for beat cover, with the main difference being Weezer add their own stronger modern rock edge to it. Rivers Cuomo does a great job of matching the vocals of the original song and they also throw in the synthesizer and other instruments of the original. This performance me of when you go to a rock concert and the band does a quick cover of another previous classic just a change of pace. It's often an enjoyable change of pace while you wait for their main stuff. And it's fun to have this song and Weezer back on the charts.
96- "Youngblood" - 5 Seconds of Summer -- I was also surprised to see this group back, although the sad part of that is that they came back in March of this year with "I Want You Back" and I already forgot about that song. Both "I Want You Back" and "Youngblood" will be on their third studio album, which gets a release later this week, in case there's anyone on Earth that still cares about this group. It's always funny to me reading about a group like this talk about the writing process of a new album and song because it just confuses me. If they really put all this work into a new song or a new album, why does always end up so generic and boring? He's just bantering about a relationship, wanting this girl back in his life. It's something that we've heard a thousand times before, done better hundreds of time. To their credit, though, the chorus does have a bit of life to it. They go from a smooth intro to the sharp chorus with some aggressive vocals that play rather well. So that might make this more memorable than their previous efforts. But I still wish they had something in terms of content.
99- "Sin Pijama" - Becky G & Natti Natasha -- For some reason I thought I'd already covered this song. But no. This is the first week it's charted on the Hot 100. I guess my faulty thinking came because the Music Video Sins YouTube channel covered this music video about a month ago as it's already topped 300 million views after being published on April 20 of this year. So I guess it just took a while to finally chart here in the U.S. Without looking up any of the lyrics to the song, as it's all in Spanish, a direction I'm totally fine with Becky G going, I'd say this is a fun Latino dance song. It has a fun beat to it that's worthy of dancing to. Becky G and Natti Natasha play off each other quite well, even though it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between the two if you listen casually as their voices are fairly similar. Problems do arise when you actually translate the lyrics or you know Spanish. I don't know a lot of Spanish, so I often play the ignorance card here when the beat and music are good, but the lyrics are sketchy. It doesn't take much to figure out that title. "Sin" translates to "without," which is what I guessed before looking it up, because I do know a bit of French from Junior High and I knew that "sans" is the French word for "without." And, well, that second word is the same in English and Spanish, so you connect the dots.
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