Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "SICKO MODE" - Travis Scott (+1) -- Help me understand this one because I'm lost. I have no idea why this is No. 1. OK, yeah, as far as statistic go, it's consistent across the board and thus got here by default. But why do people love this song so much? I even re-listened to it just now AND I listed the remix with Skrillex. The best I can come up with is that it has a decent beat to it. Lyrically, though, Travis and Drake bring NO energy and NO fire to the track, which is unfortunate because the song is all about how awesome they are. If they actually sounded ominous and braggadocious, then maybe I can understand. But they sound bored and lazy. Heck, the first line of the song is "Sun is down, freezing cold; That's how we already know winter's here." Where's the intensity in that? I don't see it. In fact, it barely edges out Post Malone's "Psycho" as my least favorite No. 1 hit of 2018. And no, the Skrillex remix doesn't help the song out at all. It's just Skrillex inserting his super annoying robotic sounds into the song. The original mix actually has a better beat, which is kinda embarrassing for Skrillex.
2- "thank u, next" - Ariana Grande (-1) -- Ariana was falling fast compared to "SICKO MODE," so I'm not at all surprised she tumbled this week. In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised if she had tumbled to No. 4 or No. 5. And unless she's able to get some serious radio traction (the song is only at No. 23 on the radio charts this week -- up from No. 36 last week, granted), I have a hard time seeing this song stick around for very long in the top 10 given how much it's bleeding in sales and not being super steady on streaming. THAT SAID, it probably will go back to No. 1 next week since the music video debuted and broke all kinds of YouTube records. It's already had 128 million views since posting on November 30. Billboard only counts the U.S. views when it comes to the Hot 100, but that's still probably enough to get Ariana a fourth week at No. 1 next week. That's only a brief fix, though. I just hope it's enough to hold off "SICKO MODE" for a bit before we get a more consistent No. 1 hit.
3- "Happier" - Marshmello & Bastille (=) -- I thought that this song was destined for No. 1. Now I think it's destined to get stuck behind Ariana and Travis Scott. But hey, this is still a solid showing for Marshmello and Bastille as I didn't even think this song would get close to hitting top 10 when it debuted earlier this year. So I'm not complaining.
4- "Without Me" - Halsey (=) -- I'm curious about what this song is going to do. It also seems stuck right here. Halsey does have some radio momentum, but I'm not sure it's strong enough to get her over the hump for a No. 1 hit. But hey, if this song can hold it's place in the top five over the awful rap songs just below the top five, that will be a win.
5- "High Hopes" - Panic! At the Disco (+1) -- The absolute best news of the week is seeing Panic! break the top five. It gets a second week on top of the radio charts, and it's audience there is still climbing, which bodes well for this song's future. A dream of mine at this point is that "High Hopes" remains consistent enough while the four songs ahead of it start to drop, priming this song to be a No. 1 hit. I'm not going to bet on that, though. For now I'll just be happy that it made the top five and cross my fingers that it can hold its place in the region.
6- "Mo Bamba" - Sheck Wes (+1) -- The good news here is that "Mo Bamba" doesn't seem to have a ton of momentum at the moment. It's holding its place in the top 10, but only rose a spot because "Lucid Dreams" collapsed. Unfortunately I could see it sneaking into the top five, I just hope it's not at the expense of "High Hopes."
7- "ZEZE" - Kodak Black featuring Travis Scott & Offset (+3) -- This song had it's music video debut. That's why it jumped three spots. Hopefully it will fall back down.
8- "Drip Too Hard" - Lil Baby & Gunna (+1) -- This song also rose simply because "Lucid Dreams" collapsed and "Girls Like You" continues to tumble. The fact that it's remained consistent enough to stick around in the bottom half of the top 10 is troubling, though.
9- "Girls Like You" - Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B (-1) -- I'm counting down the weeks until this drops out of the top 10. It only has a week or two left, which is super exciting. If Mariah Carey is the one to officially kick it out, that would be excellent.
10- "Lucid Dreams" - Juice WRLD (-5) -- This shocked me. I mean, I know this song was losing momentum and wasn't going to stick around in the top five for much longer, but I expected a more gradual descend, not a week where it suddenly dropped like a rock.
Rising on the Hot 100:
14- "All I Want for Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey (+15) -- You know it's Christmas time when Mariah Carey is shooting up the charts with this song! We're only in the first full week of December and the song is already knocking on the door to the top 10. Last Christmas season, the song finally cracked the top 10 and peaked at No. 9. It's time to get it even higher this year!
21- "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - Andy Williams (re-entry) -- And hey, more Christmas news. Mariah got here a week before everything else, but this week we see the rest of the annual Christmas entries, starting with Andy Williams, who earns a new high in terms of peak position. Does that mean we can get two Christmas songs into the top 10 this year? If so, this would be very much deserved as this is an absolute Christmas classic. In fact, this is more deserving of a top 10 appearance than Mariah is, in my opinion. But hey, we can have both, right?
23- "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" - Brenda Lee (re-entry) -- Our third Christmas song of the week is also in great position. Wouldn't it be great if we could even get THREE Christmas songs in the top 10? OK, I'm not holding my breath there. Just dreaming. Brenda Lee previously got to No. 14 with this song, so unlike Andy Williams, she didn't enter at a new high. But I think she has potential to beat her previous high, even if she doesn't get her top 10 entry. In terms of Christmas songs, this is one of the most fun and exciting Christmas songs out there, so I'm glad it's here each year.
26- "A Holly Jolly Christmas" - Burl Ives (re-entry) -- Like Andy Williams, Burl Ives is debuting this year at a new high, with a chance of at least getting close to the top 10, which is an exciting prospect. "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and "A Holly Jolly Christmas" make a great duo, so it's good to see both of them debuting in the 20's.
29- "Better" - Khalid (+14) -- The only song interrupting our Christmas groove this week is Khalid as most of the other songs around this year either fell or stayed in the same general area as the previous week. And I'm fine with Christmas entries cause everything else to go stagnant. And I would've been fine with this being a song that also went stagnant since it's one of Khalid's more forgettable entries on the charts.
33- "Jingle Bell Rock" - Bobby Helms (re-entry) -- "Jingle Bell Rock" combined with "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" also make for one exciting Christmas duo, so I'm glad both of them are around. This song previously peaked at No. 29, so it also has a chance to beat its previous record. In fact, it's quite likely since that's only four spots away and we have the whole Christmas season in front of us.
39- "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" - Nat King Cole (re-entry) -- I always forget that this is called "The Christmas Song." That seems like a fairly generic title. But the second you sing the first line, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire," I know exactly what you are talking about. In fact, I kinda attribute it as the Chestnuts song. But this is yet another Christmas classic that is a joy to have around. It's previous peak was No. 37, so it's a great year all around for our Christmas songs.
43- "Last Christmas" - Wham! (re-entry) -- Our final Christmas entry is the one that's the lesser of the bunch. I don't necessarily love "Last Christmas" like I do all the others, but it's undoubtedly a catchy, fun song that'll get stuck in everyone's head once one person starts singing it. Thus it makes perfect sense that it's now part of the annual Christmas tradition. Overall, I'm glad it's around. It's previous peak was No. 41, so again, everyone is going to break their records this year. And I do anticipate some of our other entries at some point in December. In previous years we had "Feliz Navidad" and Pentatonix's arrangement of "Mary Did You Know?" show up, so I'm wondering if those two are going to make a reappearance this year. I believe Billboard just has rules that if an older song re-enters, it has to be a top 50 song in terms of chart points, which might be why some of the other songs aren't here yet.
61- "STOOPID" - 6ix9ine featuring Bobby Shmurda (+14) -- GROSS
65- "Be Alright" - Dean Lewis (+11) -- I expected to see more songs below the top 50 rise up this week, but I guess we had the Christmas songs dominate the top 50 and 6ix9ine dominate the bottom 50, so I suppose it makes sense. But out of all the songs that could've gained this week, I'm glad it's this one. Again, I look at this song and think that it's a country song since Dean Lewis is very much a country singer name, but no. This is an Australian singer doing his best Ed Sheeran impression. And since I love Ed Sheeran's style, I find myself really loving this song, too. If it can continue to gain momentum, I think this is a perfect song for pop radio to simply fall in love with.
New Arrivals:
58- "MAMA" - 6ix9ine featuring Nicki Minaj & Kanye West -- NOPE
59- "KIKA" - 6ix9ine featuring Tory Lanez -- NOPE
62- "TIC TOC" - 6ix9ine featuring Lil Baby -- NOPE
69- "Come Out and Play" - Billie Eilish -- Yes, I'm ignoring 6ix9ine this week. Maybe if he had only one song, I could bite the bullet and cover it. But five new 6ix9ine songs? Nope. You can't make me. That leaves an awfully short list of new arrivals for me to actually cover, with just Billie Eilish and Jacquees. Now when I saw Billie Eilish debuting last week, I was surprised that it was "Ocean Eyes," a two year old song, rather than "Come Out and Play." Not that I'm complaining. The more Billie Eilish, the better. But "Come Out and Play" is the song on that "Share Your Gifts" commercial/short film from Apple, which is why I have that video headlining the new arrivals. Now I'm not exactly sure what that video has to do with Apple, but it's a nice, little Christmas short about a girl being too afraid to share her gifts until her dog causes what she's been writing to blow out the window. She's nervous and wants to get them back, but is pleasantly surprised when people react positively to what she has written. Now there's an even shorter version of this that plays as a commercial, so I recommend you watch the whole thing above if you haven't. It's pretty good. As far as the song goes, it's the perfect backdrop to this video as Billie shows off her versatility by writing a smooth and toned-back pop song, gently encouraging people to come out of their bubble. On it's own, it's still a really good Billie Eilish song, but it's made even better with the video.
71- "WAKA" - 6ix9ine featuring A Boogie wit da Hoodie -- NOPE
90- "You" - Jacquees -- If you don't know who Jacquees is, don't worry. You're not alone. He's only had two previous entries on the Hot 100, "B.E.D.," which debuted last year and "At the Club" with DeJ Loaf, which charted in February. Neither song was particularly memorable as I had to look them up myself before typing this. I recognized the name, but I didn't remember what exactly he had done. After jogging my memory, I can say I don't like "B.E.D.," and am not impressed with "At the Club," although the latter is the more tolerable song from Jacquees. And now as the third Jacquees song to chart on the Hot 100, we have "You," an extremely undescriptive and vague song title, which is fitting, I suppose, because the song isn't much of anything, either. It's not particularly bad and probably falls into the R&B genre, which is a genre I don't hate, but get mostly bored with. I will say that Jacquees has a decent voice that carries the song, but all he's doing in this song is hating on this girl for all the things that bother him, but then, in a very wishy-washy, not committal way, claims that he would rather be with her and all her B.S., which I don't believe would get him very far in whatever broken relationship this is. I'm not sure what he's trying to get at with this song, but he comes off as more of a jerk and thus if I were the girl, I'd say, "screw you" and walk out. Thus is why I'm not gravitating towards this song at all, even though it's not particularly bad, music-wise, minus the annoying water drops that are scattered throughout for some reason.
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