Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "7 Rings" - Ariana Grande (=) -- No surprise here. After launching last week with 85.3 million U.S. streams, "7 Rings" grabbed another 63.2 million U.S. streams this week, down 26 percent, to go along with 39,000 downloads sold, which was down a hefty 59 percent. Despite the drops, both of those numbers were still good enough to top both the streaming and sales charts and give Ariana her second week at No. 1 for the song. Notably, she was also up 53 percent to 41.9 million audience impressions on the radio charts, meaning this looks like it's getting serious radio traction, which I think is unfortunate. As I said last week, this is Ariana trying to mimic Cardi B for some odd reason. Not that I like Cardi B in the first place, but even on those standards, Ariana sucks at trying to be Cardi B and should just stick to pop music. Not that this really surprises me. Ariana has always had a lot of talent, but I've also seen her as one of the most inconsistent in terms of putting out quality music and her rushing out another album so soon after her previous one has caused her to throw quality out the window in favor of huge Billboard success. And it's a shame that it's working because it's going to encourage Ariana to repeat this in the future. If crappy, rushed music is what finally gets you the most success, why try to write quality music, right?
2- "Without Me" - Halsey (=) -- Ariana's huge success means that Halsey probably has to settle with those two weeks she got at No. 1 with this song. But this song still has a lot of staying power, so I'm guessing that it'll sit here at the runner-up spot for a while, which is a decent consolation prize for Halsey.
3- "Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse") - Post Malone & Swae Lee (=) -- Same thing goes with "Sunflower." It's moment of glory at the top only lasted one week, but I imagine it'll be camped out in the top five for a while. I'm curious as to what will happen when the "Spider-Verse" hype dies down, though. Will the song disappear with it?
4- "Middle Child" - J. Cole (+22) -- Part of me was hoping that this song would skyrocket to No. 1. It hit No. 26 last week after just a couple of days of tracking. Now in its first full week, its monster streaming total comes in at 54.4 million U.S. streams. Which in this case is only good enough for No. 2 on the streaming charts, so it couldn't quite topple Ariana's song there. It also clocked in 24,000 downloads sold, which is a decent number. But radio isn't touching it quite yet. So is it going to be able to maintain this momentum going forward? I'm expecting a bit of a drop next week since this is only being held up by streaming. But if it does hold, it wouldn't mind it. This is not the type of song that I would add to my playlist and actually listen to on a regular basis. But in terms of rap music, this is certainly a lot better than most of the crap that charts today.
5- "SICKO MODE" - Travis Scott (=) -- I want this song gone, but I have to face the unfortunate reality that this will probably get a huge bump next week thanks to Travis Scott's Super Bowl halftime appearance. I was planning on muting him anyways because Travis Scott is pure trash, but CBS practically did it for me with how much he was censored because most rappers can't help but swear up a storm when they're given a mic, which is no bueno for live TV. I was also disappointed that the SpongeBob skit was used as a means to introduce "SICKO MODE." What a slap in the face to SpongeBob fans that were looking forward to that. I'm not a fan of SpongeBob, so I wasn't really one of those. But I was offended for them in what amounted to the worst Super Bowl halftime show that I have ever watched.
6- "thank u, next" - Ariana Grande (-2) -- "7 Rings" gaining traction on radio means that Ariana is sabotaging "thank u, next." She could've spaced them out a bit more to get the most out of each song. But oh well. It is what it is.
7- "High Hopes" - Panic! At the Disco (-1) -- The rest of these songs essentially stayed put from last week. They just all got pushed down a spot thanks to "Middle Child" surging to No. 4. We'll see what happens next week when/if "Middle Child" falls back down. Panic! still has the top spot on the radio charts this week, giving the song a total of 11 weeks on top. That lead won't last too longer, though, as its finally starting to bleed on radio.
8- "Happier" - Marshmello & Bastille (-1) -- Same thing for "Happier" as with "High Hopes." It essentially stayed even, but got pushed down a spot thanks to "Middle Child." Of note, "Happier" has now crowned the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for a 20th week, which makes me think that the should do some adjusting on those individual genre charts. Songs shouldn't be lasting that long at No. 1 on a regular basis.
9- "Wow." - Post Malone (-1) -- It made me happy to see that this song didn't gain any additional traction this week. I'm not going to celebrate, though, because I'm expecting this song to stick around for a while. If it fails, though, that would amazing!
10- "Girls Like You" - Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B (-1) -- Curse you Super Bowl halftime committee! This song was about to fall out this next week, but Maroon 5's halftime performance, which I think was the worst I've ever heard, is going to cause the sales of this song to surge. The sad thing about that is doing so will cause "Girls Like You" to tie Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" for the longest ever stay in the Hot 100 top 10 at 33 weeks. It's at 32 weeks right now. And then I'm sure that surge is going to have a bit of a hangover that will cause the song to break the record. So congratulations. This will be your new all-time record holder. Y'all happy that such a boring, lifeless song can be talked about as one of the most successful Billboard hits of all-time? Now in regards to that halftime performance, Maroon 5 actually played some of their older classic songs that are actually good. And Adam Levine sounded like he was out of tune the whole performance, as if he hadn't practiced anything prior to the performance and/or hadn't sang most of those songs in years. After the first couple songs, I simply muted the whole thing and watching him without sound, he looked like he was bored up there. No stage presence. No personality. But of course he had to take off his shirt and expose his ugly body full of gross tattoos. It was awful in every sense of the word.
Rising on the Hot 100:
16- "Shallow" - Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper (+8) -- Wouldn't it be amazing to see awards season buzz help this song resurge into the top 10? I'm already happy that it's back in the top 20 this week and we still have several weeks until the Oscars, where it'll most certainly win best original song. It's already become a mega hit in other countries. It would be nice if it could do the same here.
26- "A Lot" - 21 Savage (+8) -- The big news of this week is that 21 Savage was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after it was discovered that he's actually a U.K. native who's been illegally living in the U.S. since 2006. He legally came here in 2005 when he was 12 years old, but his visa expired in 2006 and he hasn't done anything about it since. He's also a convicted felon, which doesn't help his case. All of this means that he faces deportation and a potential 10-year ban for the U.S. The funny thing is that his attorney said that he "is a role model to the young people in the community." That floored me because they have a funny definition of role model. All the dude sings about is drugs, sex, and murder while having all sorts of legal issues and has apparently been lying to everyone about where he's from because everyone thought he was an Atlanta native. Yet we also have a huge percentage of people calling this a racial issue? I don't care if his skin is black, green, purple, blue, orange, or white. The dude is a convicted felon who has been illegally living in this country for the last 13 years and is an all-around awful human being. Let's get his sorry face out of here.
28- "Thotiana" - Blueface (+38) -- I about threw up when I saw that this song jumped 38 spots this week.
31- "Dancing with a Stranger" - Sam Smith & Normani (+10) -- This is a great song from Sam Smith and Normani. I wish it was more of a duet where the two are responding to each other rather than taking turns singing the same thing. But that aside, I'm glad to see this gaining traction and I hope that continues.
44- "Be Alright" - Dean Lewis (+6) -- Dean Lewis has been a huge hit everywhere else in the world with "Be Alright." I would love for this song to be a hit here as well, but I have a feeling that it's not going to gain a whole lot more traction than this. It's still good to see it in the top 50, though.
56- "Pure Cocaine" - Lil Baby (+33) -- Why did this get a boost this week? Lil Baby singing about cocaine is something that should disappear forever.
61- "Saturday Nights" - Khalid & Kane Brown (+14) -- I forgot that this song existed, so I had to go look it up to remind myself what I thought about it. Well, as it turns out, I forgot about it because it was a song that debuted back in November, but only lasted two weeks on the charts. And the reason it's back is that this is a remix. The version that debuted in November was Khalid only. And now Khalid has added Kane Brown to the song. No wonder I didn't remember a Khalid and Kane Brown duet. I hadn't listened to it before. First off, I reminded myself of the Khalid only version and it's a solid song from Khalid. It's nothing super special. In fact, the lyrics are a bit troubling when Khalid is claiming that he cares more about this girl than her parents do. That aside, it's a relaxing, mellow song from Khalid that works well enough. As far as the remix goes, well, Khalid and Kane Brown mix together a little too well. They sound too similar on this song. And lyrically adding Kane Brown doesn't make sense. Instead of one guy talking to a girl, it's two guys talking to this girl. Kane doesn't make the song worse, necessarily. But he doesn't make it better, either. So I don't know. It is what it is.
68- "Take It from Me" - Jordan Davis (+10) -- I also forgot this song existed. The problem here is that it debuted in January, so that's a bad sign for Jordan Davis. Another boring country song that's completely forgettable.
76- "When the Party's Over" - Billie Eilish (+11) -- I love how much staying power Billie has on the charts. I just wish that she could get one of her songs to at least crack the top 50. I'm waiting for her to become a huge hit in 2019 and hopefully her debut album that's getting released soon will do that for her. More on that later because a new song from that upcoming album debuted this weeks and gives us a lot to talk about.
78- "Murder on My Mind" - YNW Melly (+17) -- So I went and actually read these lyrics to see if I was off base by judging this song last week by title only. Nope. I was justified in what I said. The dude is complaining about being in prison as if it was someone else's fault that he's there. Then he talks about waking up with murder on his mind, name dropping plenty of gun names. The next verse he talks about him accidentally killing someone because the dude caught him by surprise. I think that verse was supposed to sound emotional, but instead it sounded messed up to me. And it's not made worse because, after another chorus, he then starts bragging about being a murderer as if that now makes him cool. And no, I didn't listen to the song. I just read the lyrics. After reading them, I don't need to listen to this song. If these are the type of lyrics that are being accepted into our culture today, I'm not even going to add one number to its streaming total. Y'all should join me in this effort, too.
85- "Roses" - benny blanco & Juice WRLD featuring Brendon Urie (+12) -- Let's not make this song a thing.
New Arrivals:
65- "Put a Date on It" - Yo Gotti featuring Lil Baby -- Don't care.
74- "bury a friend" - Billie Eilish -- Billie Eilish's debut album titled "WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?" is right around the corner. In the Apple Music description of the album, it quotes an interview with Billie wherein she said she wanted the album to sound like a bad dream. Or maybe a good dream. Her goal was that if 14 people who like different genres were all in the room listening to her album, she wants every single person to like at least one song. So the idea is to be crazy and different here. I'm really excited to see how that turns out. I think it totally fits her because she's quite the spunky 17-year-old if you've listened to interviews with her or watched her music videos. She's not someone who has a desire to fall into all the typical conventions. Her goal is to be different. And she has the personality to pull it off.
And with that context in mind, this song. Yeah, I'm obsessed with this. Yet at the same time, I'm nervous to share this with anyone because of how weird, creepy and different it is. I first listened to the audio only, with zero context of what it was about. And it was dark and creepy. But I had to listen to it again. And I decided that I loved the song as a creepy Halloween-like song. Then I dove deeper and learned that Billie said in an interview that the song is literally from the perspective of the monster under her bed. Now go listen to the song with that perspective in mind and suddenly everything makes sense. Then in the same interview, Billie said that she might be the monster under her own bed. As in, she's her own worst nightmare at times. Then the song adds another layer to it, making it deep and personal. Finally, Billie says that she also might be the monster under YOUR bed. Yeah, this girl is awesome. Musically, I don't even know how to describe the song. The construction of it is certainly unconventional. I was trying really hard to think of what song it reminded me of and it eventually hit me. "Knights of Shame" by AWOLNATION. Or at least it reminds me of certain segments of that song. "Knights of Shame" is a 14-minute long song from their album "Megalithic Symphony" that's the strangest, weirdest song, but I love the creativity and the uniqueness of it. And maybe that's why I love "bury a friend." If Billie wanted different, she succeeded. I have no idea how the general public will react to this one or if it's even possible to become a radio hit, but I love it. And if you love it, too, then we can be friends.
And finally, I have to give a shout out to that music video. It does a perfect job and representing the who song. And quite frankly, it's scarier and creepier than most horror movies. And as I think about it, this song would work perfectly as a trailer song for a horror movie. I think that gives it bonus points. I have the music video embedded above this section, so give it a watch! If you're brave enough, haha.
86- "i'm so tired..." - Lauv & Troye Sivan -- It's hard to go from "bury a friend" by Billie Eilish to, well, anything else. You almost have to take a bit of a break before diving into all of the generic stuff. Luckily for me, though, "I Like Me Better" by Lauv is a really catchy song that I enjoy, especially when you get to some of the remixes that add even more groove to it. But he doesn't win any awards for originality there. And he won't with "i'm so tired..." either. He's tired of love songs. He's partying and trying to have a good time, but all he sees is other people falling in love to his song. Or "our song" as he states. Who is "our"? I don't know. He doesn't explain. But whatever the song is, he's sad that he can't find someone to fall in love with. So yeah, super basic. But like with "I Like Me Better," the song has an upbeat groove to it that makes it fun, so I give it a pass. And yeah, Troye Sivan is on the song, too. But it's another one of those collaboration errors. Troye Sivan and Lauv sound too similar to make a collaboration interesting. And Troye Sivan adds nothing to the song. He just sings the second verse of a song that sounds like it was initially written for just one singer.
88- "Shot Clock" - Ella Mai -- Ella Mai's bid to be included in some sort of NBA content? She's using shot clock metaphors to tell a guy that he's got a limited time to make a move or else she's out of there. Later in the song she complains that she's been waiting five years for him to make a move and is running out of patience, which I find a bit curious. If you've been dating a guy for that long and you want the relationship to move forward, why don't you just say something instead of continuing to wait? The song isn't as choppy and annoying as "Trip," but it's also a song that I find mostly boring with vocals that are way over the top for a song with lyrics that feel so underwritten. Too many uses of the n-word as well. I know that's a thing in black culture to use that word a ton. I just don't think it fits at all into this style of slow, R&B song about a relationship.
89- "Sauce!" - XXXTENTACION -- Can we please stop taking advantage of X getting killed to make money? I may have said this before, but at this point I'd almost believe that the record label hired someone to kill him so that they could earn a ton of money off of him being dead. It's horrible. And I have thus vowed to never listen to a song by him again.
90- "Con Calma" - Daddy Yankee featuring Snow -- I don't know who the singer Snow is, but it is snowing outside as I type that, so that's a random coincidence for you. I do know who Daddy Yankee is, though, and as such I don't really feel the need to translate his songs. They're all the same. So with this, I pay attention to the beat to see if Daddy Yankee has delivered a good enough for groove for this song to be a fun one on the dance floor. And he's succeeded. This is a fun Latino dance song that I can dance to. If the lyrics are randomly super awful, I'll just play the language card because I don't understand Spanish. Both Daddy Yankee and Snow, when the latter finally decides to show up during the last 30 seconds, have solid flows and the groove well together.
98- "Night Shift" - Jon Pardi -- I scrolled through Jon Pardi's discography to see if there was a song of his that stood out to me because his name stood out to me. But the list was just a long list of generic-sounding country songs, so I gave up. In searching "Night Shift" on my Apple Music, I learned its a song from 2016. So I have no idea why it's here. And all Jon Pardi has to say on this song is about he loves working the night shift with this girl. If you were to take that premise in your head and think of a generic country song to go along with it, you'd probably come up with this exact song. So there's no need to spend anymore time with this, is there?
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