In 2018, the Billboard charts nearly broke me. I had previously committed to covering every new song that debuted on the Hot 100, but given the huge amount of filth that kept flooding in, I came close to giving up on this particular blog as a whole because it didn't seem worth it. Instead, though, I decided to simply be more selective with what I cover. I no longer covered every song that debuted. Just the ones I felt like covering. After a whole year of this in 2019, I've received zero complaints, saved a lot of time, and had no decrease in viewership. It's been quite satisfying. However, that made the prospect of creating a least favorite songs of the year list quite tricky since I skipped a grand total of 244 of this year's 516 songs. And no way was I going to go back through them all. So I had a bit of a stroke of genius. I normally don't care to implement Billboard's official year end list, but for the sake of this list, I'm doing just that. But with my own little twist. In order to qualify for making this list, a song had to show up on Billboard's year end Hot 100 AND debut on the charts in 2019. That narrowed my field from over 250 songs down to about 30, which is a lot more manageable in my book. Thus I spent an evening going through all of those and this is what I came up with.
Another year has come and gone. This time it's a big one as the final year of the 2010's is now in the books. That means decades lists are coming your way in droves before too long. But first, though, we've got to get through 2019's lists, starting with the most popular songs of 2019. These, of course, are not my personal favorite songs of 2019, but rather the songs that performed the best on the Billboard charts, based on my own personal tracking, which is specifically focused on the top 10 instead of the entire Hot 100. The way I track things is that the No. 1 song gets 10 points, the No. 2 song gets nine points, all the way down to the No. 10 song getting one point. This is different than how Billboard tracks things. First off, they have official chart points to go off of and they track the entire Hot 100. Plus, they do this weird thing where their calendar year starts in December and ends in November. I find that weird and go from January through December, like normal human beings. Thus my point here is not to replicate Billboard, but to create my own version of this. And in case you're curious, I've done this for every year dating back to 1958, a project I started back in 2015. Given that this was a fairly interesting year, let's dive in and see how it all turned out.
10- "Sucker" - Jonas Brothers 9- "Someone You Loved" - Lewis Capaldi 8- "Wow." - Post Malone 7- "7 rings" - Ariana Grande 6- "Without Me" - Halsey 5- "Truth Hurts" - Lizzo 4- "Señorita" - Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello 3- "Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)" - Post Malone & Swae Lee 2- "bad guy" - Billie Eilish 1- "Old Town Road" - Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
The new Billboard charts have arrived and so it's time again for me to give you my thoughts! This is a weekly post where I cover three main sections of the charts: the Billboard Hot 100 top 10, the songs rising on the Hot 100, and the new arrivals. As pertaining to the rising songs, in order to be included, a song has to rise at least two spots between Nos. 11 and 20, five spots spots between Nos. 21 and 50, or 10 spots between Nos. 51 and 100. As pertaining to new arrivals, I used to dedicate myself to covering every single song that debuted, but that started to burn me out, especially with the high number of album bombs, so I've been a lot more selective recently and so far I've received no complaints. However, if I skip a song that you want to hear my thoughts on, feel free to let me know. I'll occasionally mix things up depending on the week, like throwing in a notable re-entry into the rising songs section, but generally this is what I go with. Most of the data I give you comes from Billboard.com, usually Gary Trust's weekly article. If I pull from elsewhere, I'll generally let you know. With all of that out of the way, let's dive in and see what this week has to offer!
And yes, as I've noted in previous weeks if you follow me, I'm tracking Christmas songs on the Hot 100 in their own category. This will continue for this week and, yes, next week. Because even though Christmas is this week on the calendar year, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as well as the weekend leading up to the holiday, don't impact the charts until next week, which makes the events of this week all the more impressive.
Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "All I Want for Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey (=) -- I hope all of you had a merry Christmas this week! And I hope you continue to have a wonderful holiday season through the end of the month and into the new year. If you're taking time during whatever is left of your break to check out my last Billboard Analysis segment of the year, well thank you. I appreciate. We end the year with a bang as Mariah Carey takes the No. 1 spot for a second straight week, grabbing the record for the highest weekly streaming total for any holiday hit ever with 54.4 million U.S. streams, besting her peak total last year of 51.9 million U.S. streams. And again, as I mentioned in the intro in case you skipped that (it's OK, that's mostly the same each week), Christmas is not even a part of this week's tracking week. The tracking week for this week began December 13 and went through December 19. So next week will include totals for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the weekend leading up to the those holidays. So yeah, next week is going to be huge for Christmas songs. All of this makes me wonder what's in store for the Christmas season in ensuing decades. Is 2019 the peak year for streaming Christmas music or is this only the beginning of a tradition with Mariah on top each season? And are there any other Christmas songs that can ever dethrone Mariah? 2- "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" - Brenda Lee (+1) -- Mariah made history last week as she sent the first Christmas song to No. 1 on the Hot 100 since "The Chipmunk Song" in 1958-59, and only the second overall. Mariah also made history this week with the highest weekly streaming total ever for a Christmas song. This week, Mariah and Brenda team up to create another mark in history. Thanks to its streaming total of 45.3 million U.S. streams, this is the first time in the history of the Hot 100 that Christmas songs have doubled up the top two spots on the Hot 100. Last week, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" became only the third Christmas song to even hit the top five. And it's almost certain that we get at least one more to join the club next week. 3- "Circles" - Post Malone (-1) -- I've been saying for the past couple of weeks that I don't think it's Post Malone that will return to the No. 1 spot when all the Christmas songs disappear. However, despite "Circles" not really being too strong, outside a slight 3 percent increase on radio, good enough for Post Malone's first ever No. 1 radio hit, at the moment it doesn't appear that there are many other strong contenders to sneak ahead of Post Malone. So I could be eating my words in two weeks. Or at least I hope I end up doing so considering the next two songs behind it. 4- "Roxanne" - Arizona Zervas (+2) -- If "Roxanne" ends up being the first new No. 1 hit of 2020 (Mariah Carey will, of course, be taking next week), that's going to be really depressing. Not only is that starting off the new year on the wrong foot, but that's also starting the new decade off on the wrong foot. So let's just cross our fingers that the momentum for this song at least evaporates enough for it to not go No. 1. 5- "Futsal Shuffle" - Lil Uzi Vert (new) -- What in the frack is this? Let's hope it's not the new dance craze of 2020. I can only hope it falls hard next week after its debut this week and fails to gain traction. Because no one needs any more Lil Uzi Vert in their lives. And we certainly don't need to give this thug a No. 1 hit. 6- "A Holly Jolly Christmas" - Burl Ives (+4) -- With those last three songs out of the way, and back to our Christmas spirit, this will certainly become the latest Christmas song to enter the top five. I hope this can get all the way up to No. 3. That would be a lot of fun! 7- "Memories" - Maroon 5 (=) -- A lot of movement in the top 10 this week, that is certainly going to continue into next week. But amidst it all, Maroon 5 remains steady, which is impressive. It's quite possible it takes a hit next week, and even falls out of the top 10 momentarily. But I'm convinced that the radio is going to carry this song well into January and beyond. And I'm certainly hoping that it will because I will will definitely take this over "Roxanne" or Futsal Shuffle." 8- "Someone You Loved" - Lewis Capaldi (-4) -- Getting bullied out of the top 10 right now is Lewis Capaldi. Even though this might be slightly premature, Lewis still had a good run and I'm glad he was able to grab No. 1. That said, with Christmas gift cards and radio year-end lists, the story might not quite be over for this song as a lot of the 2019 hits will often get a boost in the early weeks of January. 9- "Jingle Bell Rock" - Bobby Helms (+6) -- The fourth Christmas song to enter the top 10 this year is the wonderfully catchy "Jingle Bell Rock." And I would love it if the momentum from Christmas can boost this right into the top five as well next week. 10- "Good as Hell" - Lizzo (-5) -- Speaking of getting prematurely bullied out of the top 10, poor Lizzo is taking a quick exit. Not helping its cause this week is that it lost its boost from the recently released music video, which combined with the other movement to nearly drop kick Lizzo right out of the top 10. Even though I would love to see this song recover, I'm not so sure it will.
Rising on the Hot 100:
14- "Ballin'" - Mustard featuring Roddy Ricch (+4) -- Make this go away. 18- "The Box" - Roddy Ricch (+29) -- More Roddy Ricch? Did he get some sort of album boost again this week? If not, that worries me. Let's not make him a thing. 24- "Adore You" - Harry Styles (+11) -- Harry Styles had a good week on the charts as releasing his new album right before Christmas was times quite well, giving him a mini album bomb week with four new songs to cover in the new arrivals, as well as a couple of his previously released singles getting an album boost. I'm not so sure this momentum is going to last, but I would really like it if Harry could gain some sort of hit from this album so that he can remain relevant moving forward. 43- "No Idea" - Don Toliver (+33) -- Make this go away. 54- "Watermelon Sugar" - Harry Styles (+38) -- More Harry Styles getting a boost. "Watermelon Sugar" is a really fun song that I'm happy to see do well this week. Again, like with "Adore You," I'm not so sure this is going to last much beyond this week, but I would be happy to be wrong. 58- "Suicidal" - YNW Melly (+16) -- Make this go away. 61- "My Oh My" - Camila Cabello featuring DaBaby (+21) -- Is Camila going to get another hit with this? I mean, I suppose I wouldn't be too upset at the idea since I do like Camila. But why does it have to be this song that is doing well? Can't she release anything else from her new album that can become a hit instead?
Christmas Songs:
1- "All I Want for Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey (=) -- It's a bit redundant bringing up some of these songs twice, but I enjoy it. Having it be Christmas heavy at the top of the charts is rather wonderful. 2- "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" - Brenda Lee (+1) -- It would be fun to see Brenda hit No. 1 next week. I might actually prefer this song over Mariah's. But at the same time, letting Mariah have the glory of being the only artist to get a No. 1 hit in four different decades is a cool feat that I want to happen. Let's not make Mariah wait until next Christmas to do it. 6- "A Holly Jolly Christmas" - Burl Ives (+4) -- I hope everyone had a holly jolly Christmas this week! It's truly a wonderful time of year where we can all come together. 9- "Jingle Bell Rock" - Bobby Helms (+6) -- Four Christmas classics already in the top 10 this week. And I'm glad that both of our upbeat Christmas rock songs are a part of that. 15- "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - Andy Williams (+5) -- This hit the top 10 last year. I would be more than shocked if it missed out next. Given that streaming for Christmas songs is going to be huge next week, that certainly seems inevitable. 17- "Last Christmas" - Wham! (+9) -- This week we have four Christmas songs in the top 10. Next week we're guaranteed to have at least five. But can we have six? The fun thing about the potential for "Last Christmas" is that it would be the song's debut in the top 10 whereas the other five all got there at some point last year. 23- "Feliz Navidad" - Jose Feliciano (+11) -- OK, it's probably asking too much for "Feliz Navidad" to also go top 10 next week, but it does have a sufficient amount of momentum at the moment. And again, streaming for Christmas songs is going to be huge next week. At the least, this is guaranteed to go top 20. 28- "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" - Dean Martin (-4) -- In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Dean Martin reverses course and falls down four spots. But no worries. This is set to recover next week along with everything else. But can it get enough of a boost to also hit top 20? 30- "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" - Nat King Cole (+2) -- This is such a pleasant Christmas. It's good to see it hit top 30. At the same time, though, I can't get too angry that this stalled out slightly this week because this is not necessarily the one song that is at the top of every Christmas playlist. So it makes sense. I'm excited for it to get a good boost next week, though. 36- "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - Gene Autry (+2) -- It was a busy week for Rudolph as he yet again helped Santa get all the way across the world in just one night. Perhaps a little time zone travelling magic also helps. 37- "Sleigh Ride" - The Ronettes (=) -- Another stalled out song this week as The Ronnettes stay steady, allowing Rudolph to sneak right past them. Can we get both songs to go top 30 next week? 40- "Happy Holidays / The Holiday Season" - Andy Williams (+3) -- Admittedly this is a bit of a unique Christmas song to be gaining traction. But I'd like to think that it's the power of Andy Williams and his undeniable charm and charisma with his vocals that allowed him to have two separate hit songs this year. 47- "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) - Gene Autry (re-entry) -- After taking a bit of a backtrack last week off the charts, Gene Autry is back in the top 50 with his other song. This is a reminder that old songs need to be charting within the top 50 in order to be included, in case you were wondering why this departed the charts. 50- "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" - Perry Como and The Fontaine Sisters with Mitchell Ayres and his Orchestra (re-entry) -- Only one new re-entry this week and it's quite the mouthful there. That's practically two full lines of text there just to list the song name and artist. Quite frankly, though, I'm a bit surprised that this isn't one of the Christmas songs that debuted a bit earlier in the month. I would say this is a much more well known and enjoyed Christmas song than at least the two songs directly ahead of it. It reminds me "Let It Snow" in that it does have a direct connection with the weather in a certain way, but there's also a bit more to it. While "Let It Snow" is mostly a winter song, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" is the best of both worlds. Yes, it's the song you sing whenever it starts snowing. But it's also not just the weather pushing this song forward. There's a lot of fun holiday themes thrown in there, with great interplay between Perry Como and The Fontaine Sisters as well as some great work from the orchestra. It's one of my favorite caroling songs. Perhaps it's just not as high is because Perry Como isn't quite as popular as some of the others here? Also, when I search the title of this song on YouTube without specifying the artist, Michael Buble's version is the first to come up, followed by Bing Crosby. So having multiple artists fight for attention with one song might be the reason this isn't quite as high. 53- "Like It's Christmas" - Jonas Brothers (+8) -- Pulling up the rear is the Jonas Brothers, hoping to crack the top 50 next week. They are, of course, exempt from the top 50 rule due to the fact that this is a new song this year, not a returning entry. And I'd be willing to bet that next week will be this song's last ever week on the Hot 100 because I highly doubt that this will become a regular Christmas classic. I wouldn't be too upset if I was proven wrong, though. This is a fine song.
New Arrivals:
5- "Futsal Shuffle" - Lil Uzi Vert -- I know it's a top five hit right now, but I really don't want to deal with Lil Uzi Vert this week. If this song is able to maintain traction, I'll talk about it later. Right now I'm just hoping it experiences a harsh, second week drop. 62- "Falling" - Harry Styles -- I plan on listening to this full album on my own before too long. I enjoyed Harry's first album and I'm intrigued by a second album, even though the individual promotional singles didn't hit quite as hard as I wanted them to. However, the thing I wasn't quite expecting was for Harry to get a mini album bomb this week with four new debuts, so I'll end up getting through a good portion of the album by simply covering the songs that debuted on the charts since he released "Lights Up" earlier this week. The top of the debuts this week is "Falling," which is an excellent start to these four new songs. This is a ballad from Harry and it's fairly simple in its structure and writing, but Harry does a great job of pulling it off with some excellent vocal work and an emotional delivery as he sings about being brokenhearted. This is nothing particularly original, but I'm a sucker for a well-executed ballad and this is a really good one. And as I think about it, it's not too often that Harry has done ballads like this. His first solo album was a 70's rock album and his One Direction stuff wasn't quite like this, so I can appreciate some versatility here. 67- "Dirty Iyanna" - YoungBoy Never Broke Again -- Why do we continue to make YoungBoy a thing? 78- "Let Me Know (I Wonder Why Freestyle)" - Juice WRLD -- Is this is song that Juice WRLD finished before he died or is this the first attempt of many to take advantage of his death for the sake of money. Record labels must love it when a popular rapper dies because it means they get to use the name to make bank, which is gross. It's the type of thing that promotes conspiracy theories in the industry. If I'm wrong and this is not the first posthumous release of a Juice WRLD, I'm sure there's many on the way. 79- "Nobody but You" - Blake Shelton & Gwen Stefani -- The way Billboard had this listed was "Blake Shelton duet with Gwen Stefani." I simplified it to "Blake Shelton & Gwen Stefani." However, after listening to the song on my Apple Music, I almost put it back to what it has listed on the album. "Blake Shelton featuring Gwen Stefani." The reason being is that Gwen doesn't really get a whole lot to do on this song. I'm normally not a huge fan of Blake Shelton, but when I saw a song that was labeled as a duet between him and Gwen, I was intrigued. But Gwen is instead relegated to mostly backing vocals on Blake Shelton's mostly generic love song that lacks chemistry between the two leads because there's not much passion behind the music, nor do the heavy drums and guitars fit the tone of a love song. When I see "duet," I expect both singers to get equal portion of the song and perhaps a bit of back and forth interplay. Maybe they each take turn with a verse. I don't know. Something like that. I'm not a songwriter, but I know a good love song when I see one. And this is not that. It's not a bad song by any stretch of the imagination. That's because the vocals by the two of them are decently impressive. Or at least passable. But the rest of the song is just too empty for me to care. 83- "Famous Hoes" - NLE Choppa -- Gross. 84- "Cherry" - Harry Styles -- "Watermelon Sugar" and now "Cherry"? This is a fairly fruity album here. Although for as fruity as this song is, it doesn't use the word "Cherry" in it, making me wonder why it's actually called "Cherry." This has a similar theme to "Fallen" in terms of Harry being upset at a broken relationship, but instead of it being a ballad, this feels more like a light-folky sort of song with a light guitar/banjo thing that reminded me a bit of a Simon & Garfunkle song for some reason. The song has a great flow to it and a good enough groove that is very subtle and enjoyable. I think this is a song that could really grow on me if I give it enough attention. And maybe one of these days I'll look up what Harry has to say about it, if anything, then maybe I can figure out why it's called "Cherry." Maybe the girl is named Cherry? I don't know. 86- "Golden" - Harry Styles -- I'm sensing a theme with this album. All of these songs have been about a relationship that Harry isn't quite good at. This song specifically focuses on how golden and perfect this girl is, while in contrast Harry is lacking the confidence to go for it. So yeah, it's pretty much the same thing as the previous two songs. Although in this song's defense, it is the song that opens the album, so if the whole album is pretty much Harry's story about a broken relationship, this song does a great job of setting the stage for the rest of the album. Compared to the two previous songs, this is the more upbeat of the bunch of them. And like those two songs, the execution is well done, even though the lyrics are a bit overly-simplistic. I think the overall structure of these songs could've used a bit of work. I might've liked a bit more depth and substance. But overall, I haven't been upset at all. Three pleasant songs. 99- "She" - Harry Styles -- Considering the theme and structure of the previous three songs, I get to this one, simply titled "She," and I have a feeling that I already know what I'm going to get. However, even though this is the song with the most simple title, it's the song with the most complexity to it in terms of the lyrics. Generally speaking, it's still about a girl. But it's a very dreamy song and Harry takes his time getting through, with a lot of creative elements added to it musically. In regards to the verses, he actually goes through situations of a guy in very normal, everyday situations daydreaming of this girl. And it's all done in third person rather than Harry telling how he personally has been dreaming about this girl. And again, in regards to him taking his time, this song is six minutes long. So this is definitely not a song that is going to go mainstream, but I think it's a fun, unique song that I could see myself becoming attached to.
The new Billboard charts have arrived and so it's time again for me to give you my thoughts! This is a weekly post where I cover three main sections of the charts: the Billboard Hot 100 top 10, the songs rising on the Hot 100, and the new arrivals. As pertaining to the rising songs, in order to be included, a song has to rise at least two spots between Nos. 11 and 20, five spots spots between Nos. 21 and 50, or 10 spots between Nos. 51 and 100. As pertaining to new arrivals, I used to dedicate myself to covering every single song that debuted, but that started to burn me out, especially with the high number of album bombs, so I've been a lot more selective recently and so far I've received no complaints. However, if I skip a song that you want to hear my thoughts on, feel free to let me know. I'll occasionally mix things up depending on the week, like throwing in a notable re-entry into the rising songs section, but generally this is what I go with. Most of the data I give you comes from Billboard.com, usually Gary Trust's weekly article. If I pull from elsewhere, I'll generally let you know. With all of that out of the way, let's dive in and see what this week has to offer!
And yes, as I've noted in previous weeks if you follow me, I'm tracking Christmas songs on the Hot 100 in their own category. This will continue at least for the next couple weeks until they all disappear. It's already been a historic Christmas season on the charts and we haven't even made it to Christmas yet, so it's been fun tracking them all on the charts and I'm excited to see how this all plays out.
Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "All I Want for Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey (+2) -- She did it! She did it! And given that this week's charts comes from last week's totals (Dec. 6 - Dec. 12), that means Mariah has two more weeks of tracking to remain in this spot, which means her strength is only going to grow, especially in two weeks from now when Christmas Eve and Christmas are a part of the tracking week. Already she is No. 1 in streaming (45.6 million U.S. streams) and sales (27,000 downloads), while gaining on radio, up 11 percent to 34.4 million in total audience. Again, those numbers are going to explode in the next two weeks, giving her a healthy lead until the song falls off after the new year. The fun thing about this No. 1 is that it's only the second holiday song to top the Hot 100, the first being "The Chipmunk Song," by The Chipmunks featuring David Seville, which ruled for four weeks in 1958-59. For Mariah, this is her 19th No. 1 and 80th week at No. 1. The Beatles hold the record for the most No. 1 hits at 20, meaning Mariah holds the record for solo acts. Mariah's 80th week extends her record there, with Rihanna beng in second place with 60 weeks. Mariah also joins an elite club of singers who have now had No. 1 hits in the 90's, 00's and 10's. Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Usher are the other three. And if "All I Want for Christmas is You" is still at No. 1 on the chart dated Jan. 4, which she should be given that that week includes tracking for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Mariah will be the first artist to have a No. 1 hit in four different decades. For the song specifically, it was released back in 1994 on Mariah's Christmas album, meaning it has now completed the longest journey ever for a song to hit No. 1 following its release, that being over 25 years. 2- "Circles" - Post Malone (=) -- Following Christmas, the big question will be what song goes No. 1 after the Christmas songs disappear. "Circles" currently has the edge, as it would've returned back to No. 1 this week had it not been for Mariah Carey, but I highly doubt this will last as the highest non-Christmas song come January. It is interesting to note, though, that last week's No. 1, The Weeknd's "Heartless," plunged all the way down to No. 17 this week. That's the biggest fall from No. 1 in the history of the Hot 100. 3- "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" - Brenda Lee (+5) -- More records here. "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" sets the record for the longest journey to the top five after its initial chart debut. Originally released in 1958, the song first debuted on the Hot 100 in December 1960, which was 59 years ago. That's a pretty impressive record. Is it possible that said record could be topped within the next few weeks though if Burl Ives and/or Andy Williams all hit the top five. I don't know when their respective songs first debuted on the charts. If said occurrence happens, I'll let Billboard tell me if the record is ready to be broken. And even though I'm hoping Mariah remains No. 1 throughout the season, a situation that is highly likely, so that she can be the first artist to have a No. 1 hit in four decades, wouldn't it be fun if this song went No. 1? 4- "Someone You Loved" - Lewis Capaldi (=) -- An impressive hold for Lewis considering the surge of Brenda Lee. I guess that's because of The Weeknd's plummet. But nevertheless, Lewis still remains ahead of his closest competitors, which speaks towards the song's staying power thanks to radio. 5- "Good as Hell" - Lizzo (+1) -- I might've expected this song to get a slightly higher boost since I believe Lizzo released a new music video for this song. But despite that, she can't quite get ahead of either "Circles" or "Someone You Loved." If her streaming numbers fall after said music video boost, does she have enough staying power through the holidays to eventually get to No. 1 come January? I'm not sure. 6- "Roxanne" - Arizona Zervas (+1) -- I'm hoping the timing of this release right before the Christmas song invasion hurts its potential in the long run. Because no one needs this Tik Tok boosted piece of trash here in the top 10. 7- "Memories" - Maroon 5 (-2) -- A tough week for Maroon 5 as they get passed by Lizzo and Arizona on the charts this week. And even though the next two weeks aren't going to be much better with all the other Christmas songs that are going to be shooting up the charts, I do believe that this song has enough radio traction to survive the season and be in good position come January. 8- "Lucid Dreams" - Juice WRLD (re-entry) -- The death of a human being is always a sad one to me, regardless of who that person is or what they did. And, yes, even when it's the death of a horrible human being, that is also still sad because it's a life wasted. Although by all accounts I hear, Jarad Higgins, who calls himself Juice WRLD, was a nice human being who was liked by many. And in terms of his music, out of all the thug rappers out there, Juice WRLD's music was mostly tolerable. I actually like this song here. Although, admittedly, the more Juice WRLD released music, the more I realized that "Lucid Dreams" was more of a one-hit wonder in terms of quality. So while I mourn his loss, and was rather shocked at the news, I can't call myself a fan of his music overall. Like with XXXTENTACION, his death is not going to change. I'm not going to suddenly call him a musical genius just because he died. While the official cause of his death is unconfirmed, TMZ's report on it states that there were 70 pounds of marijuana found on his private jet with a lot of other drugs as well. People on his flight witnessed him popping various unknown pills and it was also reported that he took Percocet to hide it from police, who were waiting for the flight to land, in which two people were arrested for gun charges. So while I'll wait for the official results to come out on the mode of death, it wouldn't be too crazy to think that it was a drug overdose that led to him convulsing in seizures, especially since it was also reported that he was administered two doses of Narcan, an emergency treatment when opioid overdose is suspected. And this is why I have a problem with this industry. While drugs have been long attached to famous musicians in various genres of music, the current rap industry spends a huge percentage of its time glorifying drug use. So while the younger generation is mourning the death of their idol, my hope is that we can somehow learn from this and teach our kids that drugs are BAD. I hope that we could one day reject trashy music that glorifies drugs, violence, and murder. But that's probably wishful thinking. I do think this is all a bad influence on kids, which is why I'm worried. 9- "Dance Monkey" - Tones and I (+4) -- With that out of the way, it's time to move onto more happy news. I've been waiting for "Dance Monkey" to enter the top 10, but the last few weeks seemingly were too busy with all the holiday stuff that I was hoping it wasn't bad timing here. But with this song finally breaking in, while a lot of the other songs in this top 10 are fading, I think "Dance Monkey" is in great position to become a major hit in 2020 and that makes me happy. 10- "A Holly Jolly Christmas" - Burl Ives (+8) -- The final entry into the top 10 is another piece of wonderful news as "A Holly Jolly Christmas" enters into the top 10 again. Last year it entered, but quickly got replaced by other holiday music. This year I hope that it shoots up to the top five because it would be wonderful to have an all holiday top five.
Rising on the Hot 100:
12- "Bandit" - Juice WRLD & YoungBoy Never Broke Again (+28) -- See my previous note on Juice WRLD that I wrote in the top 10 with "Lucid Dreams." 36- "Falling" - Trevor Daniel (+5) -- Please, no. 60- "Hate Me" - Ellie Goulding & Juice WRLD (+29) -- See my previous note on Juice WRLD that I wrote in the top 10 with "Lucid Dreams." 73- "Tip Toe" - Roddy Ricch featuring A Boogie wit da Hoodie (+10) -- Stop it. 74- "Suicidal" - YNW Melly (+12) -- Excuse me while I throw up.
Christmas Songs:
1- "All I Want for Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey (+2) -- Well, after 25 years, Mariah has finally gone No. 1 with "All I Want for Christmas is You." If you for some reasons skipped the top 10 in order to go straight to the Christmas music section, you might want to go back up to read my many comments on this song. Mariah is definitely the queen of Christmas with this modern classic. 3- "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" - Brenda Lee (+5) -- Having two Christmas songs in the top five is quite wonderful. Let's keep it going and have more Christmas songs in the top five. Or at least more in the top 10. Last year there was a total of five songs that made it. We have three so far this year. 10- "A Holly Jolly Christmas" - Burl Ives (+8) -- It's great seeing this song back in the top 10. As I explained above, last year it hit the top 10, then reversed course and got replaced by the others. Let's send this up to the top five in the next two weeks with Mariah and Brenda. 15- "Jingle Bell Rock" - Bobby Helms (+8) -- This is going top 10 next, right? If "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" is in the top five, then its companion piece, "Jingle Bell Rock" deserves to join it. 20- "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - Andy Williams (+4) -- Here's the final song from last Christmas to enter the top 10. Now can you imagine it if all five of these songs comprised our top five in two weeks? That would make for the most wonderful Christmas on the charts yet! 24- "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" - Dean Martin (+4) -- Sneaking past "Last Christmas" this week is Mr. Dean Martin with "Let It Snow." And I'm fine with that. I'm fine with whatever, really. I just want Christmas songs to rise. Even though this song is more of a winter song than a Christmas song, it still counts. 26- "Last Christmas" - Wham! (+1) -- I'm a bit surprised to see "Last Christmas" only rise one spot this week. I'm wondering if this song has a ceiling to it. But the story is far from over as the next two weeks should see all of these songs continue to get boosted up, so "Last Christmas" is still in good position. 32- "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" - Nat King Cole (+1) -- Also surprised that Nat King Cole got somewhat stuck. Given that it's only at No. 32 this week, I'm not quite sure what this song's potential is, but it should still be able to get top 20, I think. 34- "Feliz Navidad" - Jose Feliciano (+5) -- Last week I said that I can put "Feliz Navidad" on repeat and listen to it for hours as background noise. After saying that, I put the song on repeat while typing up a few different posts. And it didn't get old. In regards to its chart position, a five spot jump is an improvement on the four Christmas songs just ahead of it, but maybe that's just because it's easier to rise while in the 30's. 37- "Sleigh Ride" - The Ronnettes (+6) -- "Sleigh Ride" now breaks into the top 40 this week. Navigating the path because a bit tricky, but I believe it has a head start based on where it was last year at this point. 38- "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - Gene Autry (+6) -- Gene lost his other song from the Hot 100 this week as a slew of Juice WRLD returns put a pause on the progress of some of the lower Christmas songs this week (an older song has to be in the top 50 and gaining in multiple metrics in order to qualify for a spot in the Hot 100), but it's good to see Rudolph cruising through the Hot 100. 43- "Happy Holiday / The Holiday Season" - Andy Williams (+4) -- Admittedly a bit of a unique choice when it comes to holiday hits. There's probably a lot that I would've selected ahead of this, but I think the broadly appealing "Happy Holiday" angle of this song helps. And anything Andy Williams sings is certainly enjoyable. 59- "Christmas Tree Farm" - Taylor Swift (new) -- It totally makes sense for Taylor Swift to write a Christmas song. It fits her style quite well. In fact, she could do a whole Christmas album if she wanted and I think that would be quite wonderful. However, I do think this is a strange title for a Christmas song. I suppose it makes it unique enough, but "Christmas Tree Farm"? Did Taylor Swift grow up on a farm where they grew Christmas trees? If not, I'm not sure why she would be reminiscing on being back at the Christmas tree farm. That aside, though, this song is nice enough. As you can tell, I'm rather forgiving when it comes to Christmas music. If it's happy and heartwarming, chances are that I'll be fine with it. And if this comes up on a Christmas music playlist when I'm with family or friends, I'll be perfectly happy as Taylor does a good job of bringing the Christmas spirit as she compares what life is like right now at times to what they were back in the day. The music video is quite enjoyable as she puts together a bunch of videos from her childhood as little toddler Taylor is enjoying Christmas with her family. It fits well into the lyrics of the song to provide a nice Christmas atmosphere. 61- "Like It's Christmas" - Jonas Brothers (+11) -- I don't know if this is ever going to stand the test of time and become a Christmas classic that re-enters this year, but this is a perfectly enjoyable Christmas song from the Jonas Brothers, even though they probably could've made it a little more Christmasy instead of just using Christmas as a backdrop for their love song.
New Arrivals:
35- "Adore You" - Harry Styles -- Harry's album came out this past Friday and I'm not sure if it's really set to make much of an impact. And part of that is a shame because I think Harry deserves to see more success with his solo career. At the same time, though, while his two promotional singles for his album were good enough, they weren't necessarily super memorable, which I why I don't think they have caught on with the general public. And if they didn't do a good job of catching on, I'm not so sure this is going to be the song to change his luck around. Although with the album set to impact the charts next week, I could see it getting a boost next week, but I'm not sure what the song's long-term potential goes. Chart success aside, this song does well enough at being smooth, relaxing and enjoyable. It's not flashy at all. It's not going to make you get up and dance. But it has a mellow, charming flow to it. And Harry brings enough passion to it to make it feel genuine. Even though it's a bit generic lyrically, it still feels significantly different than his days with One Direction when they would write songs specifically pandering to a teenage girl audience. But if I'm going to show people what Harry has done following 1D, I'm still going to show them his first album instead of any songs from this second album. I do plan on listening to the album, though. 47- "The Box" - Roddy Ricch -- Nope. 72- "Peta" - Roddy Ricch featuring Meek Mill -- Nope. 82- "My Oh My" - Camila Cabello featuring DaBaby -- My thoughts exactly when I saw DaBaby was featured on Camila's new song. My oh my. What the frack is she doing? Speaking of new albums, Camila's sophomore album is also out and I need to go listen to it because there was a lot to like about her first album, even though Camila has never been good at picking the right singles and marketing them well. I'm willing to bet that there are songs from her album that are good, but yeah this is not one of them. Camila's part is kinda dreary and uninteresting as she rides the line of being a good girl and a bad girl with her sketchy new boyfriend in this song. DaBaby comes in and has solid flow, but has nothing interesting to add, nor does his verse have much of anything to do with the song, which is admittedly not thought out too well. This feels like Camila desperately pandering to a certain audience, but I don't think it's going to work well. 85- "Bad Vibes Forever" - XXXTENTACION featuring PnB Rock & Trippie Redd -- We're still taking advantage of the death of XXXTENTACION to make money? Gross. 97- "Lord Above" - Fat Joe & Dre featuring Eminem & Mary J. Blige -- Dr. Dre and Eminem on the same song? What year is it? Oh, 2019. Because it's not Dr. Dre. Just Dre. As in Cool and Dre. I don't know much about that duo, nor Fat Joe, but I don't like either. They try to do the old school rap, but it's like they're walking in molasses. It's just so slow with no good flow to it while trying to sound all cool hip, yet having nothing interesting to say to go along with their non-existent flow. I do know Eminem, but he comes on and is nothing but foul and gross. Eminem does that every once in a while and I'm not the type to just forgive him for everything he does, especially since he's not really been on his game as of late. And I have no idea why they brought Mary J. Blige on board only to use her as for backing vocals. So yeah, I listened to this because maybe I thought this would be different, but no. This is just as trashy and awful as most rap. 98- "Big Stepper" - Roddy Ricch -- Nope.
100- "BEST ON EARTH" - Russ & BIA -- I had no idea who these two were, so I pressed play. I got 10 seconds and and quit. This is a nope and I'm going to waste no more time.
The new Billboard charts have arrived and so it's time again for me to give you my thoughts! This is a weekly post where I cover three main sections of the charts: the Billboard Hot 100 top 10, the songs rising on the Hot 100, and the new arrivals. As pertaining to the rising songs, in order to be included, a song has to rise at least two spots between Nos. 11 and 20, five spots spots between Nos. 21 and 50, or 10 spots between Nos. 51 and 100. As pertaining to new arrivals, I used to dedicate myself to covering every single song that debuted, but that started to burn me out, especially with the high number of album bombs, so I've been a lot more selective recently and so far I've received no complaints. However, if I skip a song that you want to hear my thoughts on, feel free to let me know. I'll occasionally mix things up depending on the week, like throwing in a notable re-entry into the rising songs section, but generally this is what I go with. Most of the data I give you comes from Billboard.com, usually Gary Trust's weekly article. If I pull from elsewhere, I'll generally let you know. With all of that out of the way, let's dive in and see what this week has to offer!
As I've noted in previous weeks, I'm tracking Christmas songs on the Hot 100 in their own category. This will continue until they all disappear, which is usually early January. With Christmas season now here, they're all starting to show up in droves and so I'm going to have fun tracking to see how they all do, especially since it looks like it will be a historic season for Christmas songs on the charts.
Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "Heartless" - The Weeknd (+31) -- I keep underestimating these songs that shoot up on the charts after their first full week of tracking. Selena Gomez, Billie Eilish and now The Weeknd have all caught me off guard recently. Because, yeah, like those other two, I didn't realize that The Weeknd debuted last week with only a partial tracking week. The track is boosted heavily by streaming and sales with 30 million U.S. streams and 58,000 sold this week, both significant jumps from the previous week. Airplay is slowly gaining tracking, but is currently a long ways away from being able to boost the song up as I expect this to come crashing down next week. Maybe The Weeknd will maintain decent streaming, but those sales are going to come crashing down. So the question is, what will take its spot next week? My bet is on Mariah Carey, but it's possible that Juice WRLD takes it with "Lucid Dreams" in a similar way that XXXTENTACION took No. 1. 2- "Circles" - Post Malone (-1) -- Yeah, I didn't think this one would last very long at time, although I wasn't expecting The Weeknd to be the one to take the crown. "Circles" is holding well on the radio, but sales tanked this week and streaming didn't do so hot anyways. And with the Christmas songs rapidly taking over, this might be swallowed up. 3- "All I Want for Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey (+15) -- I expected Mariah to get this high as she peaked at No. 3 last Christmas season with this song. The thing is, last season she hit No. 3 in the week dated Jan. 5, so technically earlier this year. That means this song is just getting started and it's already the No. 1 song on streaming. This is definitely taking the No. 1 spot as early as next week, especially considering the two songs ahead of it aren't the strongest at the moment. The Weeknd is going to come crashing down in his second full week of tracking while Post Malone is bleeding significantly in streaming and sales. 4- "Someone You Loved" - Lewis Capaldi (-2) -- All things considered, Lewis Capaldi is holding on pretty well. He got knocked down by The Weeknd and Mariah, but still managed to stay ahead of the other songs in the top five last week. 5- "Memories" - Maroon 5 (-1) -- I think "Memories" has enough traction at the moment to be able to withstand the invasion of Christmas music over the course of the next month. It hasn't quite caught up to "Someone You Loved" or "Circles," but it did sneak ahead of "Good as Hell," which was a bit of a surprise. 6- "Good as Hell" - Lizzo (-3) -- Out of all the songs to topple this week, I wasn't expecting "Good as Hell" to take a hit. I would love for this song to stick around, but it looks like it could end up being a casualty of the Christmas music this month. 7- "Roxanne" - Arizona Zervas (-2) -- I'm glad this cockroach fell out of the top five, but I'm not celebrating just yet. Sure, Christmas music is going to continue to knock this down, which is great, but I'm not so certain this is done just yet. And I base that solely on the idea that awful trap songs like this have a habit of sticking around. 8- "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" - Brenda Lee (+21) -- OK, so Mariah shooting into the top five wasn't too surprising, especially since she hit that mark last Christmas. But Brenda skyrocketing into the top 10 this early was surprising, especially since it peaked at No. 9 last Christmas season. But with this type of momentum, can we now expect this to go even higher and soar into the top five? And how many other Christmas songs will hit top 10 or even top five this season? I'm excited to see! Much more on the rest of the Christmas songs here in a second. 9- "Lose You to Love Me" - Selena Gomez (-3) -- Unfortunately it does appear that Selena is going to be a casualty of the Christmas music. I would like for this to hold on better, but it's just not quite getting the right amount of traction and now it might get left in the dust with this upcoming stampede. I can only hope that, come January, someone Selena's fortunes might change. Although I can't be too sad since this song did get Selena her first No. 1 hit. That was already a huge accomplishment. 10- "10,000 Hours" - Dan + Shay & Justin Bieber (-2) -- In a weird way, I'm not so sure that this song is completely done with the top five. Of course it's going to take a hiatus after this week as more Christmas songs are bound to hit top 10. But this could hang out in the teens for a while and make it's way back come January.
Rising on the Hot 100:
46- "Into the Unknown" - Idina Menzel & AURORA (+9) -- There were plenty of risers on the charts this week. It's just that they all belong in the next category, so we'll get to them. As far as non-Christmas songs, it was the two "Frozen 2" songs that are the big risers this week, with "Into the Unknown" cracking top 50. Of course this won't get close to the level that "Let It Go" did, but I envision that this song will hang around for a while on the Hot 100. At least while "Frozen 2" is still dominating the box office. 70- "Show Yourself" - Idina Menzel & Evan Rachel Wood (+29) -- It does make me happy that "Show Yourself" had the much larger rise of the two "Frozen 2" songs. I still haven't decided which Elsa song I like best. "Into the Unknown" is the catchier song of the two, but I remember "Show Yourself" having a larger impact on me in context of the film. So it's good to see that it's not just "Into the Unknown" performing well. I would've liked to have seen more "Frozen 2" songs crack the Hot 100. But I'll take what I can get it. 88- "Homesick" - Kane Brown (+12) -- Spoiling the "Frozen 2" party here in the rising songs section is Kane Brown. Because we couldn't go a week without a country song.
Christmas Songs:
3- "All I Want for Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey (+15) -- I already expressed my surprise that Mariah hit No. 3 so early. But as you can see here, the first full week of December in terms of the tracking was quite healthy across the board as everything shot up, with a large number of re-entries joining the party. It's already looking like it will be a historical season for holiday music on the charts, but just how strong will this all be? I'm really curious to see how this all pans out these next few weeks. But yes, Mariah reigns supreme in the holiday realm. 8- "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" - Brenda Lee (+21) -- I love seeing Brenda go toe-to-toe with Mariah in the top 10. I would love for this to reach the top five here next week. It's good to get some classic Christmas fun spread around during the holidays. 18- "A Holly Jolly Christmas" - Burl Ives (+30) -- The previous two songs are already in the top 10. This song, as well as the two following, were in the top 10 last year, so it seems predetermined that they will all return. Can the do so at the same time while inviting others to the party, too? "A Holly Jolly Christmas" is a definite Christmas classic. It's one of the first songs anyone will starting singing when Christmas time comes around. 23- "Jingle Bell Rock" - Bobby Helms (+24) -- I really like the combination of having both Brenda Lee and Bobby Helms making noise in the Christmas realm. Both songs are the fun, upbeat part of the holiday season. 24- "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - Andy Williams (+25) -- Much like "A Holly Jolly Christmas," the simplicity and joy that this song brings around Christmas time makes it one of the most iconic Christmas songs. 27- "Last Christmas" - Wham! (+19) -- I call this one the black sheep of the family. The other songs are all so upbeat and friendly. Meanwhile, George Michael rocks the bitter, salty Christmas song that doesn't have a lot of happiness and joy to it, but is still incredibly infectious. It's a strange one, but it's still good. 28- "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" - Dean Martin (re-entry) -- Now we bring on this week's slate of re-entries. I don't always like it to snow. I'm one of those people that hates the cold, so I don't mind having a green Christmas because that means the weather is slightly warmer. But the nice thing about this song is that it's warm and cozy. It's about two people spending time together by the fire, having a relaxing, romantic night, so they don't mind it if the snow continues to fall. That makes this song more of a winter song than a Christmas song, but they're mostly one and the same, right? Dean Martin's voice is so relaxing that he could sing any song and make me love it. 33- "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" - Nat King Cole (re-entry) -- The thing that I love about the Christmas songs doing so well is that the majority of them are the older, classic versions of the song. Like Dean Martin, Nat King Cole has an excellent voice that's very warm and soothing. And of course we have to have a song called "The Christmas Song" do well during Christmas. 39- "Feliz Navidad" - Jose Feliciano (re-entry) -- Perhaps the most infectious Christmas song there is. And there's really nothing to it in terms of the lyrics. There's a Spanish section and an English section. Both are pretty short and the song just repeats. But I can have this song on repeat for hours. Then I'll have it stuck in my for the rest of the week. It's just the perfect combination of this Mariachi Band Christmas song thing. And there's enough English in the song for us dumb Americans to actually accept it into our Christmas culture. 43- "Sleigh Ride" - The Ronettes (re-entry) -- In my Junior High School band class, the ninth grade class always performed this song for the Christmas band concert. So it's had a special place in my heart. That's also why I might be a tad bit more partial to the orchestral version of this. For a great example of that, the Leroy Anderson version of the song is fantastic. But The Ronettes do a great job with their lyrics of making this feel like a fun, adventurous sleigh ride that we're going on with this song. 44- "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - Gene Autry (re-entry) -- I mean, it would be Christmas without Rudolph. This is the one song that every person on the planet has memorized, regardless of age. Sure, it might be a Christmas song that's more directed at children. But we're all children at heart, right? 47- "Happy Holiday / The Holiday Season" - Andy Williams (new) -- I'm always curious to see which new Christmas songs debut on the charts each Christmas season. Last year we got a a large mass of new Christmas songs on the charts and it made me overjoyed. With this year looking it will be a history Christmas season, I'm sure there will be at least a decent handful of new arrivals. We start this season with a song that I'm honestly not quite as familiar, which is why it surprised me that this was the first new arrival. I think the chorus on this song is the most recognizable, but the verses feel a bit obscure, which is why it was fun exploring all of them. Out of all the Christmas songs on the charts right now, I actually think this is one of the longer ones as most of these are fairly short and simple. But the verses in this song give the song a lot of personality and the rhyming schemes are fairly subtle, but clever. It feels like the type of song that Andy Williams probably had a lot of fun performing. 48- "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" - Gene Autry (re-entry) -- Like last year, we get a double dose of Gene Autry. Perhaps Gene Autry isn't the first one you think of when it comes to Christmas singers. And "Here Comes Santa Claus" isn't necessarily the most popular Christmas song ever, but I like how both Gene and this song are getting love on the charts. 72- "Like It's Christmas" - Jonas Brothers (new) -- Out of all the current artists to release a Christmas song, I'm not sure I would've tagged the Jonas Brothers to be the first one to chart a new Christmas, but it works. They certainly have the personality to pull of a fun Christmas song. Although I find it curious that this song is more of a love song that uses Christmas as a backdrop rather than it being a song that feels like a genuine song about the holiday or the season itself. The girl is so wonderful that everyday feels like it's Christmas. Not really much of a Christmas song, but it certainly feels very much like a Jonas Brothers thing. And it's not like anyone is going to pay too much attention here to the lyrics. They're going to be hearing the Jonas Brothers singing and they'll be listening to them saying the word Christmas a lot and that will be enough. I will say that it does have an uplifting, happy vibe to it that makes it blend it with a lot of the other stuff here. And I do appreciate an attempt at a new Christmas song rather than doing yet another cover of one of the 10 different Christmas songs that exist in popular Christmas culture, if you know what I mean. So this is perfectly acceptable. I'm not sure if it will turn into a Christmas classic, but I'm totally fine with it being around.
New Arrivals:
11- "Blinding Lights" - The Weeknd -- I've done so many Christmas songs this week with that past section that it feels weird to cover a new song that's just a normal song. But it's an excellent week for The Weeknd as he gets a top new debut during the same week he goes No. 1. Of the two songs, this is by far the better of his two new songs and thus I would love it if the two songs could swap places. Let this song be the one goes No. 1 while the other one can hang out here at No. 11 or lower. I think the biggest reason here is that "Blinding Lights" doesn't get into the trashy realm in terms of the content. This is a clean song with a sharp groove to it that makes it feel a bit retro. I'm not exactly sure what instruments they used to create all the sounds and effects to go along with the song, but it's a good mix of instruments that creates an awesome sound. And whether or not The Weeknd is singing quality lyrics, he always has an excellent voice that's also fairly unique. In this case, his vocals match the music of the song rather well and there's no dirty content. Just solid singing with decent and clean lyrics teamed with an excellent groove. Now debuting at No. 11 is a solid arrival, but I hope this one doesn't fall by the wayside in the coming weeks. 68- "No Idea" - Don Toliver -- Nope. 83- "Tip Toe" - Roddy Ricch featuring A Boogie wit da Hoodie -- Nope.
The new Billboard charts have arrived and so it's time again for me to give you my thoughts! This is a weekly post where I cover three main sections of the charts: the Billboard Hot 100 top 10, the songs rising on the Hot 100, and the new arrivals. As pertaining to the rising songs, in order to be included, a song has to rise at least two spots between Nos. 11 and 20, five spots spots between Nos. 21 and 50, or 10 spots between Nos. 51 and 100. As pertaining to new arrivals, I used to dedicate myself to covering every single song that debuted, but that started to burn me out, especially with the high number of album bombs, so I've been a lot more selective recently and so far I've received no complaints. However, if I skip a song that you want to hear my thoughts on, feel free to let me know. I'll occasionally mix things up depending on the week, like throwing in a notable re-entry into the rising songs section, but generally this is what I go with. Most of the data I give you comes from Billboard.com, usually Gary Trust's weekly article. If I pull from elsewhere, I'll generally let you know. With all of that out of the way, let's dive in and see what this week has to offer!
Also, I'm tracking Christmas songs on the Hot 100 in their own category. This will continue until they all disappear, which is usually early January. Now that Thanksgiving has passed, they're all starting to show up in droves and so I'm going to have fun tracking to see how they all do, especially considering how well they did last season.
Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "Circles" - Post Malone (=) -- For the second straight week, Post Malone captures the No. 1 spot. As I said when it reached No. 1 last week, I'm not so sure how long this one is going to last at the top as it's not the strongest right now. Although this week it had a very healthy boost across the board thanks to Post Malone performing the song in a medley with "Take What You Want" at the AMAs. It rose 45 percent in sales to 20,000 downloads sold and was up 5 percent in streaming to 24.6 million U.S. streams. Radio is about on par with last week with 90.6 million audience impressions. Although with this boost from the AMAs, there's a good chance those sales and streaming numbers come crashing down next week, leading the door wide open for something to take the spot. But are any of the songs in the top five going to step up to the plate? 2- "Someone You Loved" - Lewis Capaldi (=) -- I do think we have a few songs surging in the top 10 right now, which could make for an interesting holiday season in the top 10, especially as the Christmas songs continue to catch fire, but no major movement this week among our top contenders, which gives Lewis Capaldi another week at No. 2. 3- "Good as Hell" - Lizzo (=) -- Is it Lizzo or Maroon 5 that will grab the next No. 1? Currently it's neither as both got stuck on the charts this week. Billboard didn't report numbers on where each song is at, but I feel like both are positioned well enough to naturally rise up to the top given that the top two songs aren't super strong at the moment. It's just a matter of which song will make the move. 4- "Memories" - Maroon 5 (=) -- Regardless of what happens at the top of the charts, I think I'll be pretty content. If Post Malone manages to fend off his challengers, that's alright. If Lizzo or Maroon 5 jump to No. 1, I enjoy both of the songs. If Mariah shoots up to No. 1 with "All I Want for Christmas is You," that would be fantastic. Just as long as our next song is held back... 5- "Roxanne" - Arizona Zervas (+7) -- Yeah, who let this cockroach into the top five? The hip-hop universe really confuses me sometimes. They all gravitate to the dumbest of songs. The top of the charts were pretty good the last few months, but now we have to make sure this song gets blocked somehow. With excellent streaming and sales, as well as radio that is starting to gain traction, this unfortunately might stick around and I have no idea what the appeal is. The hip-hop gods simply knighted another untalented thug into superstardom. A year from now, no one will remember this existed. 6- "Lose You to Love Me" - Selena Gomez (-1) -- Can we please get Selena back into the top five? If Mr. Servas has to be here in the top 10, at least relegate him to the bottom half of the top 10, not the top five. Selena is a million times more deserving. 7- "Señorita" - Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello (-1) -- I don't imagine "Señorita" will be here for a whole lot longer, but it's certainly been an excellent song. Last year we had several Christmas songs enter the top 10. If they come back this year, that could kick "Señorita" out if this song hasn't already fallen out before that. 8- "10,000 Hours" - Dan + Shay & Justin Bieber (+1) -- Dan, Shay, and Justin all hanging around. Due to the drop of Chris Brown and Drake, this jumps up a spot. 9- "Truth Hurts" - Lizzo (+1) -- I was expecting this to be gone this week, but Lizzo survives another week in the top 10 with "Truth Hurts." I don't know if the AMAs had anything to do with this momentary rise, but it's possible it did. 10- "No Guidance" - Chris Brown featuring Drake (-3) -- Thankfully the floor finally fell out from under this song. Now I'm not going to be celebrating just yet as this song has an annoying habit of not going way, but falling three spots to No. 10 is progress.
Rising on the Hot 100:
11- "Dance Monkey" - Tones & I (+8) -- The infamous No. 11 spot. Where a lot of songs go to die. Let's hope that's not the case for "Dance Monkey," though. Nothing from No. 7 to No. 10 is very strong at the moment while "Dance Monkey" continues to build momentum, so let's get it offically int the top 10 next week! 12- "BOP" - DaBaby (+6) -- No! Make this go away! 16- "Ballin'" - Mustard featuring Roddy Ricch (+4) -- I don't get the appeal here. 34- "Graveyard" - Halsey (+5) -- I would be totally fine with this becoming a hit. It's a nice song from Halsey. However, it doesn't seem like this is getting the same type of momentum as some of Halsey's previous songs, but if it slowly climbs up, I'm happy with that. It's just going to have to survive the incoming stampede of Christmas songs that's only going to get stronger in the next few weeks. 37- "Don't Start Now" - Dua Lipa (+5) -- Yes, please! This is also going to have to survive the onslaught of Christmas music, but if it manages to at least keep it's head above water for the next month, I could see this being a pop hit in 2020. 42- "Falling" - Trevor Daniel (+33) -- Make this go away. 50- "Take What You Want" - Post Malone featuring Ozzy Osbourne & Travis Scott (+7) -- I would be curious if this actually became a hit. It's been floating around ever since Post's album bomb, but hasn't really shown signs of actually gaining traction. In regards to this week, as I said at the top of this post, this was performed as a part of a medley with "Circles" at the AMAs which is why it got a boost this week. 59- "Death" - Trippie Redd featuring DaBaby (+38) -- Trippie Redd had a new album impact the charts this week. And I obviously don't care. 78- "We Back" - Jason Aldean (+15) -- I don't care for Jason Aldean.
Christmas Songs:
18- "All I Want for Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey (+13) -- For the last two weeks, it was only Mariah on the charts with Christmas music. But now all of her best friends are here to join her and the party is only going to get bigger as we get deeper into December. But with that, Mariah is gaining all sorts of traction, shooting her into the top 20 at the beginning of December. That's a great sign as there's at least four weeks left of this. She got to No. 3 last Christmas season. How high can she get this season? 29- "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" - Brenda Lee (re-entry) -- Joy fills my heart this week as more Christmas songs join the Hot 100. And this is mainly from the week of Thanksgiving, which means all of these songs are going to continue to go higher in the weeks of December. Now a lot of Christmas songs are peaceful and sentimental and I think that's excellent. But it's nice to have a bit of variety as "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" provides a fun, upbeat tune for the holidays. But at the same time, this song doesn't go too strong into the upbeat into the Christmas dance realm, but rather settles for a nice, old-fashioned Jazz feel with an absolutely excellent saxophone solo in the middle for the perfect Christmas groove. 46- "Last Christmas" - Wham! (re-entry) -- There's a lot of classic Christmas songs that are hard to hate. "Last Christmas," on the other hand, is one that is a little more debatable as it's not the happiest of Christmas songs. It has a relaxing, upbeat tune, but is also accompanied with lyrics that are dreary and upsetting. There's a sense of bitterness to this with past love that didn't work out. For me, I don't know if I would call this one of my personal favorites, but it has an excellent George Michael touch to it that makes it work, at least with this original version. Every Christmas song is covered about a million times and while most of them are hard to get wrong, not everyone can pull of "Last Christmas" like George Michael does. As pertaining specifically to this year, I'm wondering of the presence of the movie "Last Christmas" well help boost this song. 47- "Jingle Bell Rock" - Bobby Helms (re-entry) -- Very much in the same realm as "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," Bobby Helms brings a lot of excitement and energy into the holiday season with "Jingle Bell Rock. But this original version also doesn't fly overboard. It has a fun energy to it, but Bobby Helms has a lot of restraint here, giving it a nice, old-fashioned touch to it. 48- "A Holly Jolly Christmas" - Burl Ives (re-entry) -- Sometimes all you need is a bit of simplicity with your holiday music. And of course we all think of the stop-motion Rudolph movie here with Burl Ives, which is a very pleasant little movie. 49- "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - Andy Williams (re-entry) -- It wouldn't be Christmas without Andy Williams. Again, simplicity is the story with this one as we have a heart-warming song about how wonderful Christmas is. And if there's one song that will put you into the Christmas spirit, this is the one that'll do it. And Andy Williams has such an excellent voice that he makes this pleasant to listen to. It's one of those Christmas songs that I don't think is possible to dislike.
New Arrivals:
32- "Heartless" - The Weeknd -- It feels like it's been a while since The Weeknd has made an impact on the charts, but I guess I'm just used to all of his friends and coworkers in his genre just pumping out song after song just so that they can continue to have sales and streaming totals to their name. But The Weeknd did have two big hits last year and he's had his name on a few songs this year, but none of them have amounted to anything, so this feels like a comeback. And if it is, it's a really weak one. Now I can't say I'm a huge fan of The Weeknd as a whole, but he's good at crossing over into the pop realm while also appealing to the hip-hop folks. But this song just has zero substance as he dives into the raunchy realm while producing a song that feels like a recycled song from The Weeknd that has no energy and passion behind it. 33- "Vete" - Bad Bunny -- Bad Bunny by himself? No thanks. I sometimes tolerate him as a part of other Latino songs on the charts. But with him being all by his lonesome here, I have no reason to listen to this. And if there's other people on this song that just weren't credited, that's his problem. He should've given them credit. 55- "Into the Unknown" - Idina Menzel & AURORA -- If you read my long review of "Frozen 2," you'll know that I was a huge fan of it. I didn't talk much about the music, though, because I needed time for it to settle. And while I still feel like I need to watch the movie again to really make a determination as to which songs are the best, it's been long enough that I feel like I have my feet under me a bit and "Into the Unknown" is certainly one of the highlights of the movie. It's the song they're obviously pushing as this movie's "Let It Go" and while it doesn't have the power or infectiousness of "Let It Go," Idina Menzel once again kills it here. The song has an excellent contrast as Elsa is debating within herself what she needs to do. The song knows when to pull back and be soft, but Idina delivers enough emotion into those moments that when she finally releases and belts out the chorus, it feels very earned and will certainly stick in your head as a strong moment for the movie. It's not the most emotional song of the film, but you can feel the conflict in Elsa as she goes through these lyrics. And speaking of contrast, in addition to the tones of the song providing good balance for the song, so does the voice of the spirit that Elsa is searching for. The vocals of the spirit are provided by AURORA, a 23-year-old Norwegian singer. She isn't given any lyrics to sing, but her background vocals provide a nice touch and it's her four to six notes that immediately got stuck in my head as I was leaving the theater. In re-listening to the song, AURORA doesn't get a whole lot of time, but the time she does get is timed rather well to provide a nice effect. She also has some solid harmonies with Idina at the end of the song that help lead the song to a solid conclusion. 58- "Who Needs Love" - Trippie Redd -- Nope. 60- "6 Kiss" - Trippie Redd featuring Juice WRLD & YNW Melly -- Nope. 63- "Loyal" - PARTYNEXTDOOR featuring Drake -- Why are we making PARTYNEXTDOOR a thing again in 2019? I thought that was just an unfortunate fling that we overcame. 64- "Suicidal" - YNW Melly -- Nope. 84- "Hate Me" - Trippie Redd featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again -- Nope. 87- "Candy" - Doja Cat -- Nope. 95- "Cuban Links" - Rod Wave & Kevin Gates -- Nope. 98- "Into the Unknown" - Panic! At the Disco -- Just like no one really remembers that Demi Lovato did an end credits version of "Let It Go" in the first "Frozen," I'm not so sure that people are going to remember this version of "Into the Unknown." And it's not that this is bad. Brendon Urie's vocals are excellent and the rock version of the song has a unique flavor that makes a fun version. It's just that Brendon simply doesn't compare to Idina. He also doesn't provide the right level of desperation and conflict to the song. Idina does an excellent job voicing Elsa, both when it comes to dialogue and music. Thus it's not really fair for anyone to try to cover a song that she makes her own. Then to put said cover into the credits just feels off. I'd rather just go listen to the original. Again, this is not bad by any stretch of the imagination. It's just not the version of the song that I'm going to remember. 99- "Show Yourself" - Idina Menzel & Evan Rachel Wood -- I'm a bit disappointed that we only got three songs from "Frozen 2" this week, with only two songs being from the film itself. Once I saw that one of them have charted, I was ready to discuss all of them. But I suppose if I had to pick two songs from the movie to debut, I suppose the two Idina songs are excellent choices. But I'm really sad that we didn't get "Lost in the Woods" or "The Next Right Thing." Anyways, in regards to "Show Yourself," I'm conflicted as to whether I like this one or "Into the Unknown" better. "Into the Unknown" has a lot more bombast to it. It's the one you'll be singing when you leave the theater and is also the one they are pushing the heaviest from the movie. But I think "Show Yourself" has a lot more substance to it lyrically. My overall thoughts of the music as a whole is that it's a lot more mature than the first movie. While I love the music from the first movie, it focused heavily on being fun and catchy. The songs from "Frozen 2" have more heart and depth to them and that's apparent here in "Show Yourself." It's not necessarily a song that gets stuck in my head, but it's more of a completion of Elsa's conflict. She has a lot more to say here as she seems to have found herself. And again, Idina's vocal performance is excellent. She's mellow and smooth for most of the song, but she also has her moments where she gets to unleash. Both instances she does a great job of added the emotion to what Elsa is going through. And I think adding Evan Rachel Wood at the end is a beautiful and touching way to finish off the song.
