Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "In My Feelings" - Drake (=) -- I was crossing my fingers that our dumb country would wake up and realize that the "In My Feelings" challenge is one of the stupidest internet challenges. But nope. The challenge boosted the song to another 106.2 million U.S. streams, which is second place only to the song's 116.2 million total last week. I've also felt that maybe Billboard should only include YouTube views from official music videos or lyric videos only rather than every video that has the official audio in it. The song also posted 100,000 sales this week, meaning it is the first song since Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" to get two straight weeks of 100,000 or more sales, which is strange to me because it didn't used to be super hard to hit the 100,000 mark. Also helping the song is the quickly increasing radio that is now in the top five in the radio charts with 81.9 million in total audience. So the fact that this song is super strong in all three categories drains my hopes and spirits because it's going to be here for a long time.
2- "I Like It" - Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin (=) -- I guess I don't feel too bad for Cardi B since her song isn't very good. In fact, it's a worse song overall than "In My Feelings." But Cardi B fans are probably disappointed to hear that this song isn't going back to No. 1. As far as how you can be a Cardi B fan is beyond me, but I suppose we can have that conversation another day.
3- "Girls Like You" - Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B (=) -- In more disappointing news, Maroon 5 now takes over as the top song on the radio. Why this song even broke the top 10 or even charted on the Hot 100 is beyond me as it's a boring song from a boring band. So the fact that it's now the top song in radio is driving me crazy.
4- "FeFe" - 6ix9ine featuring Nicki Minaj & Murda Beatz (new) -- WHAT THE?!?!?!? WHO IN THE LIVING FETCH LET THESE TWO LOSERS DEBUT IN THE TOP FIVE???? I say two because I don't know why Murda Beatz got listed as a credited artist as a writer/producer. But seriously. Why haven't we banned 6ix9ine from the Hot 100 altogether? The fact that he not only got a top 10, but debuted in the top 10, is an absolute disgrace. I'd ask what the heck drove Nicki to collaborate with this loser, but she's not the most intelligent person on Earth, so why should I be surprised? I'll give my full thoughts on the song down below, but I really hope it will tank next week.
5- "Better Now" - Post Malone (+2) -- There's certainly been worse Post Malone songs to find success recently. "Better Now" is not nearly as awful as "rockstar" and "Psycho," but I still don't get the fascination this country has with Post Malone. We've elevated one of the most lazy, untalented, wannabe rappers into superstardom. It makes me embarrassed for our country.
6- "Nice for What" - Drake (-2) -- I'll take this song over any song in the top five right now. I still think it's one of the better Drake songs that he's released in his career. But at this point I'm just sick of seeing Drake on the charts in any capacity, so I'm ready for this song to go away so we can have a break from Drake.
7- "Boo'd Up" - Ella Mai (-2) -- As much as I also believe that this song is better than anything currently in the top five, it's also been here for quite some time, so I'm not too upset seeing it fall. I'm just annoyed by what's taken its place.
8- "Lucid Dreams" - Juice WRLD (-2) -- Is it strange that I now wish that this song would've done a lot better? Let's just not encourage Juice WRLD too much because his other songs aren't nearly as on point as this one. Let's just say he got lucky.
9- "Psycho" - Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla $ign (=) -- Why won't this go away already? Ariana dropped out of the top 10, but this song is stubbornly sticking around, despite Post Malone's other song hitting the top five?
10- "Taste" - Tyga featuring Offset (+3) -- This is upsetting. I was excited for Taylor Swift to enter the top 10 this week with "Delicate," but instead of doing so, she gets stuck at No. 12 and this song leapfrogs her into the top 10. Because, you know, why not? We already have a whole bunch of awful songs in the top 10. Why not add another piece of smelly trash? Yeah, of course there's a whole lot of sarcasm there.
Rising on the Hot 100:
14- "Yes Indeed" - Lil Baby & Drake (+2) -- Let's all be glad that this doesn't seem to have enough momentum to cross back into the top 10, even though it's doing rather well for itself here in the teens. Now excuse me while I go find some wood to knock on.
16- "Friends" - Marshmello & Anne-Marie (+2) -- If only this song had slightly more momentum, perhaps it would've been able to be holding a spot in the top 10. Granted this isn't the best song either artist has pulled off, but it would still be a vast improvement over most of our top 10 right now.
17- "Perfect" - Ed Sheeran (+2) -- I continue to be impressed by how long this song has managed to stick around. It seems like every week I am saying it will finally start falling down the charts, but yet it managed to jump up a bit yet again. Wouldn't it be funny if it made it back into the top 10?
18- "Love Lies" - Khalid & Normani (+3) -- OK, here's a song I can get behind. Welcome to the top 20 Normani! And welcome back Khalid! This song has been slowly rising on the charts ever since it debuted early in the year and I'm glad that it's got enough traction to now be a top 20 hit. Let's hope it doesn't slow down now because, as you can see, I'm really upset with our current top 10 and I would like there to be at least something to help improve it right now.
25- "Youngblood" - 5 Seconds of Summer (+7) -- I'll even take 5SOS at this point. Strange that I'm now crossing my fingers for them to help us. This isn't even that great of a song. But it's tolerable enough to be an acceptable entry if it continues to rise up.
28- "Big Bank" - YG featuring 2 Chainz, Big Sean & Nicki Minaj (+11) -- Knowing my luck, though, this is going to be the song that actually breaks through out of this current crop of rising songs. Because we apparently can't help ourselves in this country. We have to continue to boost all of this awful, meaningless rap up the charts.
33- "Mercy" - Brett Young (+5) -- Our top country riser of the week. I'm certainly not surprised to see Brett Young continue to have a ton of success for a country artist. I just wish I was happier for him this time around.
42- "Drowns the Whiskey" - Jason Aldean featuring Miranda Lambert (+6) -- I'll take Brett Young's song over this sham. I think the only reason this is being played on country radio is because of the names of the artists. Who cares if Miranda Lambert is being relegated to backup vocals and Jason Aldean is as lazy as ever with the rest of the song.
49- "Life Changes" - Thomas Rhett (+5) -- Welcome to the top 50, Thomas Rhett! Normally I'm upset to see him here, but this time around my welcome is genuine. This is certainly better than the previous two country songs.
50- "Coming Home" - Keith Urban featuring Julia Michaels (+12) -- And it's also much better than this song. Here Keith Urban does the same exact thing as Jason Aldean. Using a female artist just to boost his song's airplay and sales, yet not really having any idea as to how to actually properly implement her in the song. But at least the song itself is slightly better than Aldean's.
64- "I'm a Mess" - Bebe Rexha (+28) -- Hey, I'll take it. Bebe is an artist I really enjoy and it's great seeing her have success. I just wish I was slightly more excited about this song specifically. It's not awful, but it could've been a bit sharper.
65- "Medicine" - Queen Naija (+13) -- Can Queen Naija actually gain traction? I'd totally welcome it, but I'm a bit skeptic because she hasn't been able to gain real traction as of yet. But certainly not bad for a YouTube personality releasing a single.
72- "Sin Pijama" - Becky G & Natti Natasha (+11) -- Call it a guilty pleasure, but it makes me grin a bit seeing this song rise. I know the song is horrible lyrically, but these two girls have a lot of personality and the song itself is pretty catchy.
79- "Remind Me to Forget" - Kygo featuring Miguel (+15) -- Do you think Miguel can be enough of a mainstream appeal to help us out here? Because I absolutely love Kygo and I think him and Miguel mesh quite well to provide us with a fun, upbeat tune. As a final reminder, the current state of the charts as a whole is an absolute disaster, so it would be really nice if songs like this can actually gain some real traction.
New Arrivals:
4- "FeFe" - 6ix9ine featuring Nicki Minaj -- I was looking up the lyrics to this song on Genius and in the process I saw a link on the side that said something to the effect of "6ix9ine gets his first top 10 with a song he put no effort into recording." Well obviously. Does this punk put any effort into anything he does? All he ever does with his music is yell at us about all the people he's going to murder. Because, you know, that's the cool thing to do. Definitely an action worthy of praising and rewarding with a top 10 hit. With this song, it's a very mild relief that he's NOT yelling at us, but he's still talking about murder as he says people are talking about murdering people, but he's actually doing it. Bragging that he's better than them because of that. And when he's not bragging about murder, he's talking about all the girls he's sleeping with while saying he doesn't want any friends on the chorus. Yeah, sure, he's not yelling at us, but he's mumble rapping instead, which isn't much better. And I'd say over 90 percent of the song is on the same exact note while the beat is repetitive eighth notes throughout. Yet some punk is complaining that 6ix9ine copied the beat from his song. I mean, if your song is this awful and boring, maybe you should shut up and go hide in your closet. If this song debuted at the bottom of the charts, then I'd say whatever. No one's going to remember it and it'll be gone in two weeks. But the fact that it's a top five debut, and managed to do so without a full week of tracking, is absolutely disgusting.
37- "Natural" - Imagine Dragons -- If we're going to have another Imagine Dragons song become popular, why can't it be "Born to Be Yours," their collaboration with Kygo? But oh well. When I first saw this song, I assumed it was the band's fourth single from "Evolve," which had me nervous because I only remember there being one or two songs from that album that were even tolerable. Yet my investigation discovered that this wasn't from "Evolve," leaving me confused initially as to why it exists. But then I discovered that this is the 2018 college football anthem for ESPN, which quickly reminded me that last year's anthem, "Walk on Water" by 30 Seconds to Mars, never even charted, which is sad. "Natural" is nowhere near as good as that song, nor is it as good as "Centuries" by Fall Out Boy, another college football anthem from the recent past. I'm guessing that Imagine Dragons wrote "Natural" with the intention of it being the college football anthem after being approached by ESPN, in which case I believe this is sufficiently successful in what it sets out to be. All you really need is a chorus that gives a good punch and fits well with some football highlights. That's exactly what this song does. Said chorus talks about being a natural, having a heart of stone and requiring one to be cold in order to make it in this world, which fits college football perfectly. That's why I assume the song was written specifically to be the college football anthem, yet is slightly vague enough to hit non-football audiences as well. If I'm right with my assumptions, that explains why this is better than anything from "Evolve." I'll accept this as the college football anthem of the year.
60- "I Might Need Security" - Chance the Rapper -- I read through the lyrics of this song and it seems like a competent enough song from Chance. However, if I'm being completely honest, I simply couldn't get through it on a listen because the song sample's a Jamie Foxx stand-up bit in 2002 wherein Jamie Foxx sings the f-word repeatedly. I can sometimes ignore language when I judge these rap songs. If I like the song enough, I'll go find a clean version on Apple Music to download, which is usually available. But this was too much for me. If you like Chance and you don't mind the f-word being played on repeat throughout the whole song, then maybe you'll like this.
77- "Level Up" - Ciara -- I was a little surprised to see Ciara on the charts this week. She was huge back in the mid-2000's at what was arguably the height of R&B, yet once the 2010's hit, she essentially fell off the map. The highest she's peaked in the 2010's was No. 22 with "Body Party" in 2013. She hasn't charted anything since 2015, making this her comeback single ahead of what I assume will be her seventh studio album. Honestly this isn't off to a great start. I like Ciara's voice and I think she has a sufficient amount of passion behind this to give me hope that if a seventh album is on its way that there might be some good content here, but it's the chorus that bogs this down as the repetition of the words "level up" is more annoying than anything and her talk of "you know you want this yummy, yummy all in your tummy" is pretty cheesy. The verses themselves are pretty good. I like the mindset of putting past mistakes behind you and moving forward. Her vocals on the chorus is where she's on fire. But I just can't get passed that chorus, which is repeated four times, so it comprises over half the song.
81- "Best Part" - Daniel Caesar featuring H.E.R. -- Here's two artists you probably didn't think you were going to see again. We saw Daniel Caesar back in Mach as he teamed up with Kali Uchis for the song "Get You." Meanwhile H.E.R. debuted with the song focus back in April. Neither song lasted too long on the charts, but yet I thought both were pretty good. Thus, not surprisingly, the two of the work quite well together with this slow love ballad. The song is about as simple as they get with a very stripped down production, meaning the song relies solely on the vocals of the two artists to pull the weight and they both succeed with great vocals that mesh rather well. You buy their chemistry and their love. However, some of the lyrics get a bit cheesy as it sounds like a brand new couple coming up with creative ways off the top of their heads to express their love with such lines like "You're the coffee that I need in the morning" or "You're the Tylenol I take when my head hurts." I don't think lines like that are as romantic as they think and it makes it hard for me to connect with the song as much as I want.
90- "Nevermind" - Dennis Lloyd -- I saw this song and I initially thought it looked like a song from a new country singer. Nope. Dennis Lloyd is the stage name of Nir Tibor, an Isreali musician. "Nevermind" is a song from 2016 that has already charted high in a lot of countries across the world. So what's it doing charting here and why has it taken so long to get here? Well, I don't know the answer to either question, but I'm glad it's here because this is a rather infectious little pop song. This song is very layered with said layers building and falling away throughout. Dennis Lloyd's lyrics are simple, but sang fairly quick, making him hard to understand at first, but as his portion is repeated it becomes ingrained in your mind and is perfectly sufficient for what the song is trying to accomplish. The way the song is constructed certainly lends itself to remixes. In searching for remixes, I found the Wankelmut remixes. Wankelmut is a strange name, but said remixes add even more layers to make this a fun club hit worth listening to.
93- "You Should See Me in a Crown" - Billie Eilish -- Billie Eilish is my personal candidate for breakthrough artist of 2018 so far. I haven't dove super deep into her whole discography, but "Lovely" by her Khalid is my current go-to song. I've briefly gone through a few of her other songs and I've been impressed with what I've heard. She has a lot of personality and attitude that she brings to her music. She doesn't have the type of voice where she belts out her music, but she has a great handle on her range and style and is able to effectively use that to her advantage. While "Lovely" is a super sad, yet pretty song about depression, "You Should See Me in a Crown" also has a fairly dark tone, but is slightly maniacal in terms of the lyrics as she seems to gain pleasure by telling this person all the crazy things she would do if she ruled this place. Her motivation for writing this song came from the show "Sherlock" as she heard Jim Moriarty say the line, "You should see me in a crown." That caught her fancy and she fashioned a fun song around it. Thus makes sense as to why there's a slightly dark or evil edge to the song. The thing that impresses me the most with Billie is that she's actually only 16 years old and turns 17 in December. This essentially makes her this year's version of Lorde in that she's a very young female singer overflowing in talent with even more potential given the young age. I'm glad to see her get this second song on the charts and I hope she's able to gain traction.
97- "Lie" - NF -- We finish this week off with NF, a rapper who I've typically found that I've been able to get behind. "Lie" comes from his 2017 album "Perception," which also delivered the breakthrough hit "Let You Down," a song that I really enjoy. In between "Let You Down" and "Lie" he released "No Name," which was also a pretty good song, but not a single from the album. Of the three songs, "Lie" is the least interesting one. First, though, I think it's important to know that I like his style and rapping abilities. Most modern rappers are excellent at giving rap a bad name while NF actually knows how to rap in a clear, concise manner and is interesting to listen to. He's one of the rappers that gives rap a good name. A rapper who I'd feel comfortable playing for a person who's not typically a fan of the genre in order to show them that sometimes rap can be good. In fact, I think the best comparison that I can personally come up with in regards to NF is Macklemore. Or at least Macklemore from a few years ago as Macklemore's most recent album was pure trash. The issue I have with the song "Lie" itself is that the content isn't interesting as he's complaining about a ruined relationship. He apparently thought this relationship was going very well until he learned that she's been telling her friends that he's not her type and that they're just friends. In turn, he spends the whole song railing on her about how much of a liar she is, how well he really treated her and how hurt he feels by this new revelation. Meanwhile, instead of feeling for NF, I want to slap him upside the head and tell him to move on with life and find a new girl. Then I assume I'd get the actual story from the girl. I don't think this is the reaction NF was going for, which is why it's a bit disappointing.
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