Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "Old Town Road" - Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (=) -- I beginning to be really confused as to WHY and HOW this song continues to maintain its high level of streaming. When it rocketed to its record number of 143 million U.S. streams in a single week, that was surprising. But it's almost more surprising that it's maintained at least 100 million U.S. streams for six weeks straight now. It's only down 1 percent from last week to 103.1 million U.S. streams. And it's going to skyrocket again next week now that they released the official music video on Friday, which will impact the charts next week. And perhaps that's one of the reasons. They've now released six different videos. Three of them are official audios of the three different versions of the song (the original mix, the Billy Ray Cyrus mix and the Diplo mix). Then they had the original video game thing that they called the visualizer. Then they had that Animoji video they released two weeks ago. And now they have the official music video, that they're calling the "official movie," a trend that I personally think is stupid. There's a lot of music videos that are calling themselves films or movies. They're not. They're music videos. Most of them, this one included, don't have a narrative. It's just him riding around on a horse. But anyways, with that insane amount of streaming, solid sales (down 12 percent to 69,000 downloads sold) and increasing radio (up 8 percent to 83.8 million audience impressions), this is still not going to budge anytime soon.
2- "I Don't Care" - Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber (new) -- The list of songs that "Old Town Road" has prevented from getting to No. 1 is growing quite large. You can now add Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber to that list with "I Don't Care." The song opens with 77,000 downloads sold (No. 1 on sales) and 34.1 million U.S. streams (No. 3 on streaming), while jumping up 33-13 on radio with 49.1 million audience impressions. So yeah, solid numbers. And the official music video dropped on Friday, meaning it should get an additional boost on next week's charts. But it's not going to get anywhere close to "Old Town Road" anytime soon. And fun fact. Justin Bieber currently holds the record for most No. 2 debuts with this being his fourth. Previously debuting at No. 2 for him was "Boyfriend," "Sorry" and "Cold Water." I'll have my opinion of the song down below but the short version is that I think it's fine, even if both artists have done much better. And I do think this has the ability to stick around on the charts longer, which wasn't the case with Shawn Mendes and Logic this week, both of whom dropped hard this week.
3- "Sucker" - Jonas Brothers (+1) -- As you'll quickly notice, there was a lot of movement within the top 10 this week. It's like someone took a snow globe and shook it hard. Among all the winners with the dust settling this week is the Jonas Brothers, who unsurprisingly move up to No. 3 this week as "Sucker" remains solidly consistent on the charts, thanks mostly to it's powerful radio.
4- "bad guy" - Billie Eilish (+5) -- This was a pleasant surprise. I was beginning to be rather amused that Billie was able to stay consistent at No. 9 for several weeks despite all the movement around her. But that's a very dangerous spot to be in and I was worried that she was going to get knocked out. I was hoping that she would stick around in the top 10, but I did not see her soaring up to No. 5. Helping her out is continued strong streaming as she's up 4 percent to 39.9 million U.S. streams, which is actually good for No. 2 on streaming this week. But most importantly, this is FINALLY getting a radio push. I don't know why it took them so long, but this debuts at No. 43 on the radio charts with 24.1 million audience impressions, up 42 percent from last week. Let's hope that continues to soar up because that'll keep this song around for even longer as there's only so much that streaming can do to hold up a song on its own. But on that note of streaming, I'm really impressed that Billie Eilish has managed to become a streaming powerhouse when normally streaming is dominated by rap and hip-hop in today's age. More pop artists getting huge streaming numbers would really please me.
5- "Wow." - Post Malone (+1) -- Also not a shock here, but "Wow." returns to the top five after Shawn Mendes, Logic AND Taylor Swift fall out of the top five. The win here is that, despite the three songs falling out of the top five, "Wow." only rises one spot.
6- "Sunflower" - Post Malone & Swae Lee (+1) -- Also rising just one spot is "Sunflower," which did surprise me a bit, especially since Halsey still managed to take a tumble despite all the movement. I thought this would be down to No. 9 this week, not rising up to No. 6. But hey, I'm fine with this. In fact, if we're going to keep a Post Malone song around, I'd much rather it be "Sunflower" than "Wow." But given that this song has been here forever, it's only a matter of time before it finally runs out of steam.
7- "Dancing with a Stranger" - Sam Smith & Normani (+4) -- I'm really glad to see this song back in the top 10. I was rather upset that it got dragged down with all the others in the whirlwind of all the top 10 debuts in the last few weeks. But being No. 1 on radio will help you remain consistent on the charts amidst all the craziness. However, No. 7 has thus far been this song's peak. Let's get this higher. I'd love to see this get cemented into the top five. Given that I don't think either Post Malone song is super stable at the moment, I don't think that's out of the realm of possibilities.
8- "ME!" - Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie (-5) -- This surprised me a bit. I thought Taylor would have enough consistency to at least stick around in the top five for longer due to the radio seeming to love this song. But I suppose she's now at the moment of truth. Is she going to be able to gain traction with this single and stick around or is this song going to follow in the footsteps of her most recent album lead-off single in "Look What You Made Me Do" by fizzling out rather quickly a few weeks after its huge debut? I'm not a huge fan of the song, but I'm having a hard time getting a pulse on what the rest of the country thinks about this. I'll guess we'll have to wait and see. If this drops out of the top 10 next week, that might tell us a lot.
9- "Talk" - Khalid (+3) -- OK, I'm fine with this song returning to the top 10. It doesn't have any depth to it lyrically. But thanks to the uncredited help of Disclosure, it has a catchy enough groove to it for me to find enjoyment in it. However, I would've much rather seen "Sweet but Psycho" show up instead. She got bumped down to No. 13 last week thanks to the influx of debuts. While "Dancing with a Stranger" and "Talk," which sat at No. 11 and No. 12 last week, managed to jump into the top 10 this week, "Sweet but Psycho" only jumped up to No. 12. I still am clinging onto hope because the songs between "Talk" and "Sweet but Psycho" are Halsey's "Without Me" at No. 10 and Ariana Grande's "7 rings," which thankfully falls out of the top 10 to No. 11. And both of those songs are on the downward trend. As long as we don't get something crazy next week from the likes of Tyler the Creator or DJ Khaled, both of whom are dominating Apple Music at the moment, maybe "Sweet but Psycho" can finally get in?
10- "Without Me" - Halsey (-2) -- After a marvelous run in the top 10, it looks like Halsey is finally about to bow out. Even though this means she'll remain behind "Sunflower" on the yearly chart, she's now logged 29 weeks in the top 10 with this song, which ties with "Party Rock Anthem" for the eighth longest top 10 run in the history of the Hot 100. If she can manage just one more week, she'll be one of the few that have made it into the 30 week club. Although as I just mentioned, I'd rather kick her out in favor of "Sweet but Psycho." That song is much better anyways.
Rising on the Hot 100:
16- "Suge" - DaBaby (+6) -- I swear if this song ends up getting into the top 10 instead of "Sweet but Psycho," I'm going to throw a huge fit. At least I can gain solace in the fact that this annoying hit at best will be more like that Blueface song "Thotiana," which was a huge viral hit for a moment, but then immediately disappeared back into oblivion. No one will ever remember that song was a thing, just like no one will ever remember this song was a thing. In a year from now, I'll ask my friends if they remember the song "Suge" by DaBaby and they'll all be like, "What?"
24- "God's Country" - Blake Shelton (+9) -- A solid week for a handful of country songs. Morgan Wallen's "Whiskey" is also right behind this, although it didn't rise enough spots this week for me to include it, which is nice. But threatening to jump into the top 20 is "God's Country" and I'm kinda fine with this. If you ignore the lyrics, which I think most people listening to country radio do, this is quite enjoyable.
29- "Beer Never Broke My Heart" - Luke Combs (+39) -- On the other hand, I am NOT fine with this song soaring up this high. And yeah, I ignored this song last week because of the extremely incompetent title. But I gave in and gave it a listen. And yeah, it sucks. What did you expect from a country song about beer? If beer hasn't broken your heart yet, Luke, you just wait. Having a bad drinking problem is the root cause of a lot of awful things in life. Also, I'm far from being a beer expert, but if he's never had a bad-tasting beer or drank a beer that didn't immediately solve all of his problems, then he's just lying to himself. That's why this song is extremely stupid. Plus, it's the most generically country that you can get, so no points there.
34- "Pop Out" - Polo G featuring Lil Tjay (+5) -- Well, I'm lucky that this only rose five spots this week. But if we can slow this one down, that would be great.
41- "Hey Look Ma, I Made It" - Panic! At the Disco (+18) -- Welcome back to the top 50, Panic! Having this song around doesn't necessarily excite me that much. But I'm also not upset. Compared to a lot of other songs in this region, I'll certainly take an average Panic! song at this song over a lot of other things.
42- "Truth Hurts" - Lizzo (+8) -- If people gravitate towards this and make it a huge, I won't be complaining, even if it's not my cup of tea.
48- "Look What God Gave Her" - Thomas Rhett (+7) -- It wouldn't be the Hot 100 without Thomas Rhett roaming around here somewhere. He's the definition of hit and miss for me. This time around he's a miss. But country radio worships him for some reason.
50- "Love Ain't" - Eli Young Band (+10) -- This song still ain't. And I ain't excited that we made it a top 50 hit.
62- "Put a Date on It" - Yo Gotti featuring Lil Baby (+8) -- Don't care.
78- "Love Someone" - Brett Eldredge (+11) -- I keep forgetting this song exists. And so will the rest of the world whenever it goes away.
New Arrivals:
2- "I Don't Care" - Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber -- Surprised to see Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber team up on a song? Don't be. Ed Sheeran helped co-write a few of Bieber's big hits, so this is not the first time they've worked together. It's just the first time they are co-billed on a song. Thus this happening makes total sense. However, the thing that surprises me the most is how well they don't fit together. Or maybe I should say that they fit together a little too well. What I mean by that is when I listen to a song with two different singer, what I generally like is there to be a balance. You get singer No. 1 for a while, then singer No. 2 comes on and takes the song in a completely different direction, giving the listener a change of pace, causing the song to remain fresh. Then they often come together to provide some good harmonies with their different sounding voices. I learned in this song that Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber actually sound very similar and have very similar styles. When the songs transitions from Sheeran to Bieber, you might not realize that the transition takes place unless your paying close attention. Thus there's not enough contrast between the two of them to justify them both being there. And the lyrics of the song are really written for one voice, not two. Thus I think the only reason to have them both here is for name recognition alone to boost sales. That aside, the title of the song implies a feeling of nonchalance. The two of them really don't care about the world around around them. They just want to be with their girls and they don't care about what everyone says. They can also easily forget about the bad parts of life as long as they still have their girl with them. And like the lyrics, the song is very relaxing and chill. I think it's a great summer song and if the radio helps it blow up, I'll be fine with that. Sure, it's not the Ed Sheeran song I'll turn to if I'm in the mood for Ed Sheeran, but it's still perfectly acceptable.
51- "Triggered" - Jhene Aiko -- Jhene Aiko is a name I feel I should know a lot better than I do. I mean, you say that name and she sounds super familiar, but I couldn't name a song she sings if you asked me to. So I look up her discography and I still feel like I'm in the dark. So whatever. I'll just judge this song on its own. And it's more of a mellow R&B song. I like her voice. But she curses a lot in this song and I don't think it provides for a very good flow. Even when I listen to the clean version of the song, there's too many blank spots where her endless stream of f-bombs are censored out. Sure, cursing doesn't always bother me. I can often tolerate it in various forms of media. But I'm a little more sensitive to it in music. And when my only two options are to listen to her spout off tons of f-bombs in a song where said cursing feels completely out of place or to listen to a censored version of the song where just about every other word is edited out, I'll just write it off as being a song that's not for me.
73- "Soltera" - Lunay, Daddy Yankee & Bad Bunny -- In using my very untrustworthy way of translating the word "soltera," Google Translate tells me that it means "single." In searching "Soltera" on my Apple Music, I discovered there's a new Maluma song featuring Madonna titled "Soltera" from his album released this Friday. And that reminds me that there was another collaboration with Maluma and Madonna from a few weeks ago titled "Medellin." Thus I'm begging the charts to let me cover Madonna. But instead we get this thing by Lunay. This is initially a song from two months ago featured Chris Jeday and Gaby Music. But, you know, when you can't get your song to chart in the U.S., just add Daddy Yankee and/or Bad Bunny and that should do the trick, right? So I listened to the original and was expecting three voices and was surprised to only hear Lunay. Well, turns out Chris Jeday and Gaby Music are just producers, so everything suddenly makes sense. And I guess I'm fine with adding more voices here, even though the motivations are strictly based on getting more sales, because Lunay on his own is boring. The problem here is that for half of the song it goes from boring to worse because Bad Bunny is awful. We get one verse from Daddy Yankee and that one is exciting because he actually knows how to get his audience interested in his music. But there wasn't enough of him in this song. And based on my translation of the title, I'm assuming this has something to do with him or them being single. But I don't really care to translate this because the song itself isn't very good.
85- "Someone Loved You" - Lewis Capaldi -- Like Jhene Aiko, I looked at the name Lewis Capaldi and felt like it's a name I should know. However, in this case looking up his name taught me that this song is his first ever entry on the U.S. Hot 100. Maybe I just recognize this because it's already been a top 10 hit in many places across Europe, going No. 1 on the U.K., Ireland and Scotland charts. Given that dude is from Scotland, his Scottish accent definitely comes out in the song, which means me as a dumb American can't always understand everything he says, but I really like how stripped down the song is, as well as how passionate Lewis sings. It's a simple piano ballad that's rather beautiful. Lewis also has a bit of a gruffness to his voice that gives the song a good energy when he belts out his lyrics, but then pulls us back in when he goes back to being softer. It makes for a nice balance. Lyrically this is also a fairly simple song. In that case, though, it hurts the song a bit because there's not a ton of depth to this. But there's enough passion in the delivery to make up for the lack of lyrical content. So I'll sweep that under the rug and enjoy this song.
95- "Te Robare" - Nicky Jam & Ozuna -- I threw this title into Google Translate and "te robare" came back with "I will steal you." That was a bit concerning. So I had to throw in some of the lyrics and I came back with all sorts of troubling things, but we're just going to pretend that this was all meant in a very innocent way. Like they're trying to steal this girl's heart and make her love them rather than stealing... her. At least in this case Nicky Jam and Ozuna are much better than Lunay and Bad Bunny at giving me a solid beat with good vocals for me to get attached to. I can certainly play the ignorant card because I don't speak Spanish and say that this is a fun song to dance to. But I'm still concerned at what I read from my translation. I might have to get one of my Spanish-speaking friends to come help me out with a real translation because I have a feeling this is a situation like a lot of our thug rappers where their lyrics are pure garbage, mostly because they're careless in their writing. They don't mean harm, but their lyrics can be taken in awful ways, which in consequence makes me not like the song.
100- "Juice" - Lizzo -- We finish this week off with more Lizzo. I mentioned last week that this girl really isn't my style, but I appreciate her a lot more than the likes of a Cardi B or Megan Thee Stallion. I think her best trait is her vibrant personality that makes her shine in her songs because she knows how to properly harness it instead of letting herself go all over the place. And I actually like the confidence in this song as she's saying how awesome she is. It gives the song more energy when compared to your typical flexing song. That said, that's all this song is. While I wouldn't call this rap, she does use a lot of rap cliches and phrases that make me roll my eyes. I don't envision myself ever purposely listening to this song for my own enjoyment, but if others gravitate towards this as a strong anthem, I'm not going to be upset.
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