Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "Old Town Road" - Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (=) -- It did it. "Old Town Road" tied the record for most weeks at No. 1 with 16 weeks, entering what is now a three-way tie with "One Sweet Day" and "Despacito." Thus we now have seven acts among those three songs that hold the record, that being Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber. Getting to the record this week was a bit of a dramatic turn of events as one of those current record holders, that being Justin Bieber, decided he wanted to do his best to keep his record, so he jumped on a remix with Billie Eilish, which nearly did the trick. Said remix of "bad guy" helped the song increase 32 percent in overall chart points, which would've done the trick, except that "Old Town Road" also countered with yet another remix that featured Young Thug and Mason Ramsey. Said remix didn't have as big of an impact on "Old Town Road" as it only increased 13 percent in overall chart points. But yet said increase was just enough for it to maintain a 1.3-to-1 lead over "bad guy," compared to a 1.5-to-1 lead the week before and a 1.9-to-1 lead two weeks ago.
Now the big question is can "Old Town Road" break the record by staying at No. 1 for another week? On that note, Billboard pointed out a very interesting statistic that both "One Sweet Day" and "Despacito" also had a 1.3-to-1 lead over the No. 2 song in the final week of their reign. That might suggest a pattern wherein history repeats itself a third time and "Old Town Road" also stops at 16 weeks. However, the kicker here is that with both "One Sweet Day" and "Despacito," it wasn't the No. 2 song that stopped them. With "One Sweet Day," it was "Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me" that vaulted 5-1 while with "Despacito," Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" charted 77-1 after its first full week of tracking. In the case of "Old Town Road," there's no song at the moment that's set to soar up to No. 1 or debut at No. 1, so it's all on "bad guy." In which case, it will be a story of which song falls harder next week, given that both songs are set to tumble a bit in points in the week following their respective remix. Billboard suggests that it's "bad guy" that's set for a harder tumble. But at the same time, "Old Town Road" has already been in a bit of a free fall whereas "bad guy" has a lot left in the tank. So even if the flip-flop doesn't happen next week, the weeks are certainly numbered for "Old Town Road." If nothing else rises to the occasion, Billie may finally get her time in the spotlight with her first ever No. 1 hit.
2- "bad guy" - Billie Eilish (=) -- See previous comment for my "Old Town Road" vs. "bad guy" competition. There's not much else to add here. Love or hate the Bieber remix, it didn't account for enough of the song's overall points for Bieber to get officially credited on the song by Billboard. So this is still a solo Billie song here we're talking about. Bieber just gave her a huge boost this song. If you missed my comments last week on the Bieber remix, I don't hate it. Obviously his version is pretty pathetic, but I find it more amusing than anything. And it's just one verse. I also think it makes total sense that Billie would accept the opportunity to collaborate (because I'm assuming it was Bieber's camp that reached out, but I've heard nothing official) because she is a teenage girl after all. With how different and mature her music is, sometimes we forget that. Until you go watch an actual interview with her. Then you realize she's just a crazy teen.
3- "I Don't Care" - Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber (+3) -- The other story this week that will get buried under news of "Old Town Road" tying the record is that Ed Sheeran's new album "No. 6 Collaborations Project" impacted the charts this week. It didn't make as huge of an impact as I was expecting, with only four new songs charting. But that's been the story of 2019. There hasn't been a whole ton of album bombs that completely messed up the charts. I find that rather refreshing. In fact, I think Billboard should implement a rule that an artist can only chart a certain number of new songs in a given week (either three or four?) so that album bombs never fully happen. But we'll get to Ed's four new songs. In the meantime, the other thing the album did was boost "I Don't Care" up to No. 3, which is what I think I said would happen last week.
4- "Señorita" - Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello (+1) -- A great week for "Señorita" as it leapfrogs both "Talk" by Khalid" and "Goodbyes" by Post Malone. Next week it'll probably move up to No. 3 behind "Old Town Road" and "bad guy," although I don't imagine it will get much higher than that. But who knows. It appears that the song is indeed maintaining traction on the charts, which is good news for both artists, who have had a bit of a struggle recently getting their songs to stick around. It's also good news for me personally. Even though I don't think the song is the best, it's an enjoyably catchy pop song that I'm perfectly fine with holding a spot in the top five.
5- "Talk" - Khalid (-1) -- "Talk," on the other hand, appears to be slowly slipping down as all it really has at this point is radio. Granted, radio is still massive as the song maintains the top song on the radio charts with 133.3 million audience impressions, but said number has finally seemed to peak as it was even when compared to last week. That's still big enough to keep the song around for a while longer.
6- "Truth Hurts" - Lizzo (+1) -- Although I'm still a bit surprised that "Truth Hurts" hasn't yet cracked the top five after it appeared destined to do so two weeks ago, I'm now going to guess that next week is the week. "I Don't Care" is going to come crashing back down next week following this week's album boost, while as I previously just mentioned, "Talk" continues to slowly slip away.
7- "Goodbyes" - Post Malone featuring Young Thug (-4) -- I knew this was going to come crashing down this week. That's what often happens in a song's second week following a huge debut. But I am a bit surprised that this fell all the way to No. 7. I was expecting it to just drop a spot or two to No. 4 or No. 5. But the fact that it fell all the way to No. 7 means I'm currently unsure about the song's future. Recently Post Malone has been on a hot streak with his singles sticking around. I assumed that was going to again be the case here, but I guess we'll have to wait and see what it does next week.
8- "Sucker" - Jonas Brothers (=) -- I don't expect "Sucker" to be in the top 10 for much longer after an excellent run, but so far none of the songs below the top 10 are rising fast enough to push it out, so the Jonas Brothers sneak in another week.
9- "Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)" - Post Malone & Swae Lee (=) -- Like "Sucker," "Sunflower" also sneaks in another week, mostly because there's no strong competition below the charts. That means we have to start a record tracker here as "Sunflower" earns a 31st week in the top 10. The current record, which is sadly held by Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" and Maroon 5's "Girls Like You," is 33 weeks. I don't think "Sunflower" will break the record, but if there continues to be no competition for the top 10, it wouldn't be the craziest idea that "Sunflower" gets three more weeks.
10- "No Guidance" - Chris Brown featuring Drake (+2) -- Again, another "out of the frying pan, into the fire" situation. We got rid of "Suge," but we brought back "No Guidance." "Suge" is now at No. 11 while "Money in the Grave" is at No. 12. Until we get a new song or two rising high enough to crack the top 10, these three songs might just rotate in and out. Hopefully we can soon get rid of all three of them for good.
Rising on the Hot 100:
16- "Hey Look Ma, I Made It" - Panic! At the Disco (+2) -- Climbing ever so slowly up the charts is Panic! At the Disco, getting closer to becoming a top 15 hit. However, I'm still not convinced at this point that the song is going to be a song that kicks out one of our current top 10 songs. It seems to be destined to hang out in the teens. But if it can remain a bit more steady than the current songs that are stagnant in front of it, it's certainly a possibility. Yet it might just fall with those songs.
19- "Beautiful People" - Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid (+21) -- Another song that is benefiting from Ed Sheeran's album release impacting the charts this week. I don't think this song will stick around, though. It should be a lot better than it is.
25- "Cross Me" - Ed Sheeran featuring Chance the Rapper & PnB Rock (+16) -- I hope this song doesn't catch on. This is easily the worst of Ed's new songs.
26- "Someone You Loved" - Lewis Capaldi (+10) -- Rising another 10 spots this week is once again surprising and impressive. Now the song is at the point where it's a lot harder to just jump 10 spots each week. Just ask "The Git Up," which has stalled out in the teens. But I'm glad this song is here and will welcome it to the top 20.
41- "Knockin' Boots" - Luke Bryan (+7) -- Our top country riser of the week. I personally don't care about the song, though.
43- "Some of It" - Eric Church (+6) -- I also don't really care about this song too much. It's not awful. But it's also not particularly memorable.
47- "My Type" - Saweetie (+20) -- I'm not surprised at this one rising high. Cardi B 3.0 seems to have found a strong connection. Cardi B 2.0 might be jealous at this point.
50- "Clout" - Offset featuring Cardi B (+12) -- Speaking of Cardi B, the original one herself also makes an appearance. On a song I don't think I've ever cared to listen to.
61- "Cash S---" - Megan Thee Stallion featuring DaBaby (+13) -- Oh, here's Cardi B 2.0. So she's not too jealous. But she also probably wishes her song was a top 50 hit.
87- "Only Human" - Jonas Brothers (+13) -- The Jonas Brothers are pushing this as their next big single? OK. I guess I'm not mad at that. Better this than "Cool." But I still highly doubt that this will catch on as strong as "Sucker."
New Arrivals:
37- "Antisocial" - Ed Sheeran & Travis Scott -- Four new Ed Sheeran songs to talk about this week. There was a total of 11 possible new songs to chart as it's a 15-track album and he had previously released four songs to promote the album. So it's a not as big of an impact from Ed, who saw all of "÷" chart back in 2017. But maybe that's because this is more of a collaboration project rather than a full-out new album. I'm personally expecting him to release his next mathematical symbol album before too long. He's also previous done "+" and "x." That means "-" is next, right?
Anyways, onto this actual song. Out of all four new songs from Ed, this is the one that had me the most nervous. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I've never understood the appeal of Travis Scott. He's just another one of those dumb rappers to me. But whatever. Can him and Ed deliver a competent song? The answer is a no. Like with most of these tracks on this album, Ed's trying to make his best impression of the artists he's collaborating with. So this feels like Ed trying to be Travis Scott. And it's not a style that really fits him. He's not really rapping, but it's also not his traditional pop style. He's somewhere in between, to the point where Travis Scott fits right into the song when he gets his verse, but both of them are just talking about them being... antisocial (surprise). It fits right in with "I Don't Care" and "Beautiful People" in terms of lyrical content, but it's the one that has the least to say, which is saying something since those other two songs don't really have much to say either. So again, it also fits right into Travis Scott's style, who is a rapper who also has very little to say. If you like Travis Scott, then maybe you'll like this? But given that I don't, this song is a complete miss for me.
53- "South of the Border" - Ed Sheeran featuring Camila Cabello & Cardi B -- If the point of this album is to collaborate with a bunch of artists that Ed has always wanted to collaborate with, then adjust his style to fit with their's, then this is a collaboration that had me a bit intrigued, given that Camila Cabello is on the track. The Cardi B thing had me nervous, though. After listening to the song, I guess it makes sense that it would sound exactly like "Señorita" or Ed Sheeran's own "Shape of You." That's kinda Camila's thing. The good thing about this song is that Ed and Camila have a solid bit of chemistry. In a better written song, I'd be totally down for a collaboration between the two of them. But speaking of "Shape of You," this sounded a lot like that song to me, but with a whole lot less energy. I'd even prefer "Señorita" over this. And when it comes to hook-up songs, this is lyrically about as basic as you can get. Then the song gets a bit awkward when Cardi B shows up. Ed is singing to Camila and Camila is singing to Ed. At least that made sense. But Cardi B sounds like a fly on the wall, commenting on their relationship. It was weird. This whole thing for Ed Sheeran makes me feel like he put a lot of effort into getting people together to collaborate with him, but put no effort into the content of what he wanted to sing about, which makes this disappointing.
57- "Remember the Name" - Ed Sheeran featuring Eminem & 50 Cent -- The third new Ed Sheeran arrival sees him collaborate with Eminem, which makes sense. It's not the first time Ed Sheeran and Eminem have been on a song together. The most recent time I can think of is "River," which is Eminem featuring Ed Sheeran from Eminem's album "Revival" in 2017. Seeing 50 Cent is a bit of a surprise, though. Believe it or not, 50 Cent hasn't had a song chart on the Hot 100 since 2012. The final result between these three is more amusing than anything. On this album, Ed is trying to mimic the artists he's collaborating with. So instead of this being a song where Ed does his usual pop thing while Eminem adds in his rap flavor, this is Ed trying to rap like Eminem. But since Ed is not a rapper, this happens in slow speed. When Eminem comes in, he seems to be trying to meet Ed in the middle as to not completely burn him when it's Ed's song and album. Thus neither end up doing the other favor, so I can't really so in good conscious that this is any good, especially since 50 Cent is relegated to the third verse rap feature, with nothing to add. But I also can't hate this song. It sounds like the three of them are having fun. And since Ed seems to be focusing on the collaborations rather than quality music with this album, they got together to sing what sounds like a parody of something that Eminem or 50 Cent would've released 10-15 years ago. If it's meant to be taken seriously, it fails miserably. But I don't think that was the intention. That's at least not the way I take it. It's a fun, dumb song. Three guys just goofing around.
83- "Tip of My Toungue" - Kenny Chesney -- Before we get to Ed's final song, we have to wade through quite a bit of other stuff. This is the first of a few country songs. And the opening lyrics of this song are "I love the dimples in the small of your back." That's a really awkward compliment. Now this is just a guess, but I don't think many girls, in hearing that, will have their heart melt. The way the rest of the lyrics play out thus makes Kenny sound weird and creepy rather than romantic, the latter of which is what I'm guessing he was going for. Outside sounding creepy, there's nothing else that sets this song apart. Just a generic country song with creepy lyrics.
89- "Baguettes in the Face" - Mustard featuring NAV, Playboi Carti & A Boogie wit da Hoodie -- With a lineup like that, I'm sure you already knew I was going to skip this song. I do have to comment on how strange of a title that is. I'm hoping it doesn't mean what I think it does, but given the artists involved, it probably does.
90- "Like a Rodeo" - Kane Brown -- After skipping the song with Mustard and friends, we then move onto our next generic country song. The benefit that this song has in retrospect is that it's not weird and creepy. But that's the best compliment I have. Kane is comparing love to a rodeo, which I imagine has been done a thousand times, especially with our cowboy-wannabe country artists, singing with their deep southern twangs while wearing their cowboy hats. That in mind, and considering that Kane Brown is about as boring as it gets, this song is exactly what you think it is.
92- "Time" - NF -- I'm not really sure what NF is doing at this point. His recent songs that he's released, while not awful, have also failed to impress me. In searching for this one, I learned that he has a new album called "The Search" coming this Friday. This is the final track on that album, whatever that means. NF is not a rapper that drives me up the wall. Generally speaking, he doesn't get on my nerves as his style is the type of rap that I can tolerate and even enjoy when the lyrics aren't terrible. But that's the problem. He's singing about a broken relationship that's bad mainly because of him. At least there's the self-awareness there that he's the toxic one who's doing everything wrong. But then he acts a bit conceded because he confidently, or arrogantly, says that everything's going to be fine because he's changing and he just needs time. She's going to be perfectly happy with him, even though apparently she's nothing but miserable at the moment. I don't know, something like this is better than all our untalented rappers who do nothing but flex rapping. And NF can actually rap. But he needs to come up with content that I can get behind because this is just nonsense.
96- "Southbound" - Carrie Underwood -- Our third country song of the week, but one I can actually get behind due to the artist behind it. Carrie has a country-pop style that I've always enjoyed. In general, I find I like female country singers much better than male country singers. Out of the female country singers that I've enjoyed, Carrie's always been one of my favorites. "Southbound" comes from her 2018 album "Cry Pretty," which caught me off guard a bit because the other two singles she released from that album were released last year, so if she hasn't given up yet on the album, the spacing is a bit odd. Also, in regards to timing, this is a relaxed, care-free summer song, meaning she should've released this at the beginning of the summer, not towards the end of it. But that aside, this is a fun enough song. Carrie's not going for the deep emotions or the powerful vocals. This is her change-of-pace song. It almost feels more like album filler rather than something that deserved a push as a single, which is probably why it's a Carrie song that I won't remember too much when I'm in a mood to listen to some Carrie music, but in the right setting I can see myself enjoying this.
98- "Spirit" - Beyoncé -- Oh, we're getting into "The Lion King" now? I posted my review of that earlier this week. The short version is that I wasn't impressed. But I listened to this song well before I watched the movie. I thought it was just fine. I was a bit confused, though, because it was generic enough that I couldn't see where or how it would fit into the movie. I was excited to see Nala get her moment, just like Disney gave Jasmine her moment in "Aladdin." I was especially excited that they got Beyoncé to voice her because that means Nala's moment was going to be great. At least that's what I was hoping, which is why I was a bit disappointed that "Spirit" didn't seem to have much depth to it. Even though I'm not familiar with the Broadway version of "The Lion King," my friends pointed out to me that "Shadowland" would've been a great song to include in the movie. Beyoncé would've owned that song and it would've been an excellent movie moment. So I had a few reservations regarding this song in the movie, but I was curious to see how it would play out. Thus you can see my surprise when "Spirit" was played for like 20 seconds in the background while Simba and Nala were running back to Pride Rock. That's it. They cast Beyoncé in their movie, but didn't even give her the spotlight. I was stunned. It's parallel to when Marvel hired Kendrick Lamar to write music for "Black Panther," but then used his songs as background noise for a few scenes rather than featuring them in the movie. If I separate the song from the movie, "Spirit" is fine. It's even pretty good. But it's not good enough for me to remember on its own merits and since the movie barely even used it, I'll have successfully forgotten about it in probably a week or two.
99- "Best Part of Me" - Ed Sheeran featuring YEBBA -- We had to get all the way to the end before getting to Ed's final song that barely qualified for the Hot 100 this week. If we were going to get a fourth song to chart, I certainly wouldn't have picked this one. Not making the cut was collaborations with Young Thug, Ella Mai, H.E.R., Meek Mill, A Boogie wit da Hoodie and Skrillex. But those all fail while the song with YEBBA makes it. Strange. I had to look up who YEBBA was. I learned that YEBBA is a she. And her name is Abbey Smith. I looked at that for a second and then facepalmed hard when I realized that YEBBA is Abbey spelled backwards. That's as if I became a singer and used MADA as my stage name. Why not just Abbey or (gasp) Abbey Smith? Oh well. Turns out this girl can sing, which is probably why Ed choice to collaborate with her. Even though this is her first charting song on the Hot 100, she signed onto Ed's label in 2017, so perhaps he heard her voice and wanted to give her some spotlight. The fact that she's a great singer means that, in collaborating her, Ed did his best to give a great vocal performance, which puts this song right in his wheelhouse. Yes, Ed does have plenty of upbeat pop songs, but in my opinion he's at his best when he's writing his soulful romance ballads, which is what this is. Sure, there's not much depth here, but there's actually a lot of passion. When you take a simple love song and add a lot of passion to, plus you have two singers who can sing their soul out, that's a winner in my books. And that's probably why I think it's the best song of the eight songs from the album that I've now listened to. And maybe that's why it charted over those other songs.
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