Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "7 rings" - Ariana Grande (=) -- Part of me is upset that Ariana Grande is No. 1 this week. I wanted to be able to say that "7 rings" was No. 1 for seven weeks. Eight weeks isn't as cool, but she beats her previous record that she had with "thank u, next." And really this would've been 10 weeks at No. 1 had she not been interrupted by "Shallow" and "Sucker," both of which I was grateful for. But this is not a strong No. 1. She still has decent numbers across the board that are keeping her at No. 1, but she's falling in all categories and it seems like its only a matter of time before another song takes over as I feel "7 rings" has officially ran its course at the top. She might have some interesting competition next week, but I don't want to say too much so that I don't curse things.
2- "Wow." - Post Malone (+2) -- I certainly hope that "Wow." isn't what replaces Ariana. I gain a bit of comfort at the fact that this song got a huge boost this week with it being the first full week of tracking for its official video, which means it might slide down. Unfortunately Post Malone may have just timed this perfectly as the other songs in the top five right now are all losing momentum. I yearn for the day where we officially get Post Malone OUT of the top 10 because he's a strong contender for the least talented superstar of our age that has somehow even spilled over into the pop universe.
3- "Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)" - Post Malone & Swae Lee (=) -- Speaking of Post Malone, he now has the No. 2 and the No. 3 spot. The only reason this song is any good is because of Swae Lee. Post Malone's part is trash. But I really wish that we could've accepted this as our obligatory Post Malone song.
4- "Without Me" - Halsey (-2) -- The yo-yo-ing with this song and "Sunflower" continues. I guess they are just destined to continue switching spots for as long as they stay in the top 10. Does that mean that this song is in position to jump back up next week?
5- "Please Me" - Cardi B & Bruno Mars (=) -- I'm glad that Cardi B and Bruno seem to be failing to get any additional traction that would be necessary for them to sneak into that top spot. They can't even get ahead of Post Malone and Halsey who have been in the top five for what seems like forever. But that's certainly a good thing. I don't want "Wow." to get to No. 1, but I also don't want this to get to No. 1.
6- "Happier" - Marshmello & Bastille (=) -- It's still here. Can you believe it? Last week I said I should start keeping track of how long this song has been here so this week I am beginning that. We're in week No. 25 for this song in the top 10, which is insane.
7- "Middle Child" - J. Cole (+2) -- This is a welcome boost. If we have to have our obligatory rap songs poisoning the top of the charts, I'm happy that this is one of them because it's at least a tolerable song.
8- "Thotiana" - Blueface (+3) -- I'm not happy that this has returned, although I remain hopeful at the fact that it had a hard time staying in the top 10 when it first showed up and has instead been floating around in the upper teens. That tells me that it's not going to get a whole lot higher than this. It's No. 5 on the streaming songs charts and that seems to be the only thing that this song is getting.
9- "Sucker" - Jonas Brothers (-1) -- Meanwhile in the Jonas Brothers' world, radio is the only thing they're getting. The song surged another 23 percent this week on the radio charts, jumping from No. 19 to No. 12 with 55.7 million audience impressions, but they're not getting much of anything else. And if radio is all they're getting, that's not good enough to hold them up in its own.
10- "Shallow" - Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper (-3) -- I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to see this song fall a bit. Quite frankly I am pleasantly surprised that it's still here as I was expecting it to quickly exist after that Oscar boost. But here it is! What I haven't mentioned is that the song is now celebrating its 10th straight week on top of the digital sales chart, but it's kinda pathetic that a weekly total of 28,000 downloads sold is good enough enough for a No. 1 spot on the sales chart. That just goes to show how increasingly irrelevant sales are become in 2019. "Shallow" also hits the radio top 10, inching up 3 percent to 57.4 million audience impressions. The small increase means that it's not going to get too much higher on the radio charts, but the fact that it hit the radio top 10 is an accomplishment worth celebrating.
Rising on the Hot 100:
15- "Old Town Road" - Lil Nas X (+17) -- This song just won't stop surging as the streaming numbers are going crazy right now and seem to only be gaining more momentum. So welcome to your new stupid dance craze of 2019 with this lazy country rap hybrid that doesn't even get to two minutes. Yikes!
16- "Better" - Khalid (+2) -- Khalid isn't getting a whole lot of momentum here, but he is maintaining consistency. I don't expect this to end up as a top 10 hit, but I imagine it'll continue to do well enough to stick around in the teens for a bit of time.
41- "bury a friend" - Billie Eilish (+5) -- As I've kinda expected, Billie Eilish is having a hard gaining any radio traction with this song. It's not your typical song that pop radio naturally gravitates. But I have no qualms against that. Billie just does her own thing without caring about what a mainstream song should sound like. That said, her debut album was released this past Friday, meaning it's schedule to impact the charts in a major way next week. I don't want to do much predicting at this point, but Billie is owning streaming right now. Most of her album is performing quite well on Spotify and "bad guy" is the current No. 1 song on Apple Music. Currently as I look at the Apple Music charts, all of her songs are jockying for position in the top 20 with Nipsey Hussle's songs from his album "Victory Lap," the latter of which is here due to the unfortunate circumstances of the rapper being shot and killed recently. Back to Billie, her album is set to debut with at least 275,000 equivalent album units sold, which will earn it an easy No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200. But what does that mean for the songs on the Hot 100 next week? I don't know for sure. But I'm thinking we're in for a Billie Eilish, which is an album bomb that I will be glad to cover since I rather love this new album. The song "bad guy" has 26 million views on YouTube since debuting Friday and I think 25 million of those have come from me personally, if you're catching my vibe there.
43- "Act Up" - City Girls (+7) -- Get these girls out of here.
53- "Here with Me" - Marshmello & CHVRCHES (+26) -- I've rather enjoyed my journey into CHVRCHES since this song debuted. They're a great group. This song, though, is just a generic Marshmello song, which is unfortunate, but it's still an overall win if it gets CHVRCHES to be accepted by the mainstream.
59- "Good as You" - Kane Brown (+10) -- Most of the rest of this list belongs to country, so I'll plow through these real quick. I've never been able to get a Kane Brown song imprinted in my memory as he's a painfully mediocre country singer.
60- "Miss Me More" - Kelsea Ballerini (+17) -- In terms of country, it's great to see Kelsea getting traction. I'm surprised that she didn't release this earlier as the album this came from came out a while ago, but I'm happy to see it here because this is one of the better songs from an already solid album.
63- "Walk Me Home" - P!nk (+26) -- Not a country song. But I'm glad to see this song get a boost. I was getting worried for P!nk as this song started to plummet following its debut. The world needs more P!nk, but I was worried that she was going to be left in the dust instead. She's not completely out of the dark yet, but this is a good step in the right direction. Her album comes out at the same time as "Avengers: Endgame," that being April 26. I want this song to be well on its way to becoming a hit by then!
65- "Down to the Honkeytonk (+16) -- This is a goofy enough country song that I'm surprised it hasn't started gaining faster. I don't mind it being around. It's upbeat enough for me to accept it.
67- "One that Got Away" - Michael Ray (+11) -- I still look at this song and get Katy Perry's song stuck in my head instead. I can't remember this tune very well, but I look at my Excel sheet and reminded myself that it didn't make a good impression anyways.
69- "Look what God Gave Her" - Thomas Rhett (+11) -- Last but not least, we have Thomas Rhett getting a boost. No surprise there. But Thomas Rhett is doing his usual here. That being releasing dull country pop trash. He's surprised me before with his songs, but this has him going back to his usual boring self.
New Arrivals:
72- "Price on My Head" - NAV featuring The Weeknd -- Don't care.
78- "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" - Logic -- Don't care.
89- "Tap" - NAV featuring Meek Mill -- Don't care.
95- "Pop Out" - Polo G featuring Lil Tjay -- I have no idea who these two are, but the featured artist is another dude whose name starts with "Lil." I mean, how original. A boycott is in order because of it.
97- "Don't Call Me Up" - Mabel -- Mabel is a singer who has been around since 2015 and has had seven songs chart on the UK charts already, with "Finders Keepers" peaking at No. 8 in 2017 and this song here peaking at No. 3 this year. But since we're here in America and we hate good music, it takes a while for songs like this to show up, if they do at all. It reminds me that I need to make a better effort in following the UK charts because I feel I will be able to discover a higher quantity of quality music. This song here isn't super special, but I searched it on my Apple Music and immediately saw seven versions, this original mix, an acoustic version, and a 5-track EP of remixes. That must mean it's entertaining enough to warrant all of these remixes. The easy answer there is yes. The message here is that of a breakup song. Mabel is telling this person that she is over them and to not call her up. That's pretty much it, but the music is upbeat and catchy, which certainly opens the door for all the remixes. If I discover a favorite, I'll let you know. But as for now, the original mix is good enough to be enjoyed on it's own.
98- "Last Hurrah" - Bebe Rexha -- After her major success with "Meant to Be," which began its run in late 2017 and lasted like a year on the charts, earning the No. 3 spot on Billboard's year-end lest for 2018, Bebe hasn't quite had as much luck with a follow-up single. And by that, I suppose I mean that the only single she's released since was "I'm a Mess" from her debut album "Expectations" last summer and that didn't do so well. It peaked at No. 35 on the Hot 100. Which is not bad, but not the smash hit that was "Meant to Be." And now she's going to try again with "Last Hurrah," which is the lead-off single for her second album? We haven't heard much about said second album, but "Last Hurrah" doesn't come from "Expectations," meaning she seems to have already left that album in the dust. On Twitter Bebe said "Last Hurrah" was inspired by her friend. Said friend was eating a slice of chocolate cake when her husband caught and her asked why she's not following her diet. The friend responded that this is her last hurrah. Her last night of messing up. So even though chocolate cake inspired this song, Bebe takes it further by listing off a whole bunch of things that she's now claiming she's done with, including drinking, smoking and partying. I'm not sure how personal this song is or what her actual addictions are, but I like this song as an anthem for change and improvement. Committing yourself to tonight being the last night of whatever your demons are while hoping that means tomorrow will be a better. It's a solid song with a solid message. It's not the most upbeat or catchy thing Bebe has done, but that's OK.
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