Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "Shape of You" - Ed Sheeran (=) -- This is the week that the Grammy's impacted the charts, which means we got a huge shakeup in the top 10 and it will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of weeks as the dust settles. One thing that is certain is that Ed Sheeran has a stranglehold on this top spot. He got a huge boost from the Grammy's to his already large lead and is holding well as sales for next week are looking great and the radio is eating this song up. It might be a while before we see something else hit the top spot.
2- "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" - Zayn & Taylor Swift (+1) -- As expected, the album release and the movie release of "Fifty Shades Darker" gave Zayn and Taylor enough of a boost to push them up to No. 2. Now the question with a significant drop in sales this upcoming week, will this be able to hold on? The radio is loving this and streaming is fine, but sales could make this drop back to No. 3.
3- "Bad and Boujee" - Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert (-1) -- No sales and hardly any radio, but an embarrassingly high amount of streaming is keeping this alive. I hope this dies quickly, but I honestly think this could go back to No. 2 next week before sliding down when streaming finally dies. Can we just all agree when this is done that we aren't going to ever let these four back into the top 10?
4- "Chained to the Rhythm" - Katy Perry featuring Skip Marley (new) -- I'll share my opinion of this song down below if you haven't heard it already, but Katy snags her third highest debut of her career. The big question is will this have staying power on the charts or will it drop hard like "Rise"? Considering that "Rise" actually had better first week sales, but couldn't even debut in the top 10, I'd say that's a good sign for "Chained to the Rhythm." Also there's the fact that "Rise" was just a promotional song for the Olympics while "Chained to the Rhythm" is leading of Katy's new album due sometime this year, so she might make more of an effort to promote the song. This song is gaining traction with the radio and Katy just barely released the official music video after starting off with that odd hamster lyric video a week ago. That should help mitigate the natural huge drop in sales that will come in week two. But after some sort of drop next week, I think this is going to catch on and stick around for a while.
5- "Closer" - The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (+2) -- Yep, I saw this one coming last week. Thanks to the Grammy's, "Closer" gained one final push that sent it back to the top 5, which means it now stands alone as the song that has spent the most weeks in the top 5 in the 59-year history of the Billboard Hot 100. It's 26 weeks now that it has spent in the top 5, which is one more week than "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars as well as "How Do I Live" by LeAnn Rimes. The record for most weeks spent in the top 10 is also "How Do I Live" by LeAnn Rimes with 32 weeks. "Closer" is now at 29 weeks in the top 10, meaning it's three weeks away from tying the record. Next week it will tie "Uptown Funk" for second place on that list. Love or hate the song, you have to be impressed with this run. We've watched history with "Closer."
6- "Bad Things" - Machine Gun Kelly & Camila Cabello (-1) -- I wasn't sure how "Bad Things" was going to fare this week with all the Grammy's push that many other songs got that this song didn't get. I was a bit surprised to see that it held it's ground pretty well. Now it has a chance of going back to No. 4 next week if all goes well given that "Chained to the Rhythm" and "Closer" probably aren't going to hold their spots next week.
7- "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars (+30) -- Bruno was the biggest winner from the Grammy's in terms of a chart boost. "That's What I Like" was already heading up and Bruno killing it in both of his performances at the Grammy's sent this sky high. And while some of the other songs that got a boost are set to fall back down to where they were prior to the Grammy's, "That's What I Like" is looking to have a pretty solid week of sales next week as well, which means that this probably goes top five next week.
8- "Love on the Brain" - Rihanna (+5) -- Much to my dismay, we also have to recognize another impressive historical marker this week. With "Love on the Brain" finally hitting top 10 after bubbling just under for the last month or so, Rihanna now has 30 top 10 hits, pulling her ahead of Michael Jackson into third place. The only acts that are ahead of her are Madonna and The Beatles. And being that Rihanna is still only 29 years old, it's a fairly safe bet that one day she will be No. 1 with that record. Madonna holds the record with 38 top 10 hits, but she didn't get her 38th top 10 hit until she was 52 years old. Imagine what Rihanna can do in 23 more years of music if she continues at the pace she's going. That kinda scares me actually since I think Rihanna is perhaps the most overrated singer ever.
9- "I Feel it Coming" - The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (+7) -- It's great to see The Weeknd and Daft Punk back in the top 10 following their Grammy's performance. Unlike Bruno, though, this looks like it will topple back out of the top 10 next week. I wish it was the other way around. If I'm right and this does fall out next week, I hope it can recover and make it back.
10- "Bounce Back" - Big Sean (-4) -- With Big Sean's album out of the way, "Bounce Back" took an expected hit this week, but quite honestly I thought it will fall a little harder. Now I think it has a chance of hanging around for a few weeks in the bottom half of the top 10. But if this week is it's final week in the top 10, I'm fine with that. I don't hate this song, but if it sticks around for much longer, it will quickly overstay its welcome.
Rising on the Hot 100:
20- "iSpy" - KYLE featuring Lil Yachty (+8) -- I think it's been a few weeks since I've had to talk about this song. After skyrocketing in its first few weeks, it plateaued a bit, but now it's positioned quite well with not many songs between 11 and 19 doing anything. I'm expecting a top 10 entry for this, but I won't be too upset if it falls short.
33- "Congratulations" - Post Malone featuring Quavo (+6) -- Well I won't be too upset if "iSpy" sneaks into the top 10, I will throw a fit if this sneaks in as well. I don't know how anyone thinks this song by Post Malone and Quavo is appealing. I don't even know how anyone likes anything these two do for that matter.
34- "Issues" - Julia Michaels (+7) -- I keep expecting this song to slow down. Usually the 20's and 30's is the place where many songs get stuck, but if this song can break top 20, I will be quite happy. We'll see what happens next week!
35- "Better Man" - Little Big Town (+5) -- Here's your biggest country gainer of this week. Sam Hunt is still at the top of the country charts with "Body Like a Back Road" for some mysterious reason, but thankfully that dropped a few spots on the Hot 100 this week. "Better Man" isn't wonderful, but it's certainly a lot better than that awful Sam Hunt song.
39- "Dirt on My Boots" - Jon Pardi (+7) -- "Better Man" is also better than "Dirt on My Boots," but that's not saying much. I have no idea why this continues to climb when there actually are decent country songs on the charts right now.
41- "Party" - Chris Brown featuring Usher & Gucci Mane (+7) -- I was hoping we were done with this song. No. 41 better be where it peaks.
43- "I Got You" - Bebe Rexha (+13) -- And Bebe Rexha finally sneaks into the top 50 with "I Got You," which is a decent pop song. If this continues to gain traction and becomes another hit from Bebe Rexha, I will be happy with that.
44- "Location" - Khalid (+8) -- Another song that has been slowly climbing the last few weeks that finally breaks top 50. I have a feeling that this will probably get stuck in the 30's, but I'd be fine if it went higher.
47- "Sober Saturday Night" - Chris Young featuring Vince Gill (+19) -- Another huge strikeout for our country risers. This needs to die.
52- "Castle on the Hill" - Ed Sheeran (+10) -- If I'm being honest, I'm surprised that "Castle on the Hill" gained so much this week, but perhaps it's a good after effect of Ed Sheeran killing it at the Grammy's. I really wish this was at No. 1 instead of "Shape of You." That would be a lot more deserving. But oh well. At least Ed finally has a No. 1 hit!
57- "Swang" - Rae Sremmurd (+20) -- Gross. I'm glad to see "Black Beatles" plummeting on the charts and finally out of the top 10. Let's PLEASE not give Rae Sremmurd another top 10 hit. This song by these two just might be a worse song. It may not be attached to an annoying trend like the Mannequin Challenge (which I proudly can say I have not and will never participate in), but that's not a good enough consolation prize. A 20 spot jump by a bad song that's now on the brink of top 50 scares me.
74- "Look at Me!" - Xxxtentacion (+21) -- It's only at No. 74. No reason to panic yet. But this might easily hold the spot of worst song of the year at the moment, so this better not get any higher. I don't know how anyone can listen to this. Listening to it once so that I could give my thoughts was one too many listens for me.
75- "In Case You Didn't Know" - Brett Young (+19) -- I'm kinda sad that the Zac Brown Band song fell off in it's second week. I hope it re-enters and does well. But I'm glad that this song had a great second week. I'd be really happy if this goes to the top of our country charts.
New Arrivals:
4- "Chained to the Rhythm" - Katy Perry featuring Skip Marley -- I think I just watched this music video that I have posted right above like 10 straight times leading to me typing up my thoughts here. There's a lot of people that have been hating this song since it was released and I hope this music video can open people's minds to how great this song is. First off, I actually really liked it the first time I heard it. It reminded me of a 70's disco song, which is not only different for Katy Perry, but is very different for anyone right now. It's a fun song that had me dancing around in my chair from that very first listen. What really got me, though, were the lyrics. Subtle at first, but the more I think about them, the more I realize how deep and important of a message this is. Katy is telling us here that we are trapped in our white picket fence like ornaments. We're living in so much of a bubble that we can't see the trouble that is happening around us. We're stumbling around like a wasted zombie and we think we're free. But, as Skip Marley says in his verse, we need to break down the walls to connect and inspire. We need to wake up and see the world around us and do something about it. Then we have the music video which depicts a bunch of people wandering around like robots in a very dangerous theme park while not noticing any of the danger around them. When Skip Marley jumps out of the TV and starts preaching, Katy then realizes that something is wrong. Like, seriously. Wow! I freaking love this song and I hope more people realize its brilliance.
42- "Cold" - Maroon 5 featuring Future -- Outside Katy's debut, not a whole lot of great this week. So let's get this over with. Maroon 5 is a band that once upon was a pretty awesome rock band with songs like "Harder to Breathe." I don't know why they ever decided to drop the rock part of that, but they've been pure pop for a long time and ever since they made that change, all they've ever put out is boring, bland pop music that's super forgettable. They continue that streak with "Cold." Adam is singing that he doesn't know why this girl has gotten so cold with him recently and that's all this song is. It doesn't do anything special. It's not deep. He doesn't even do a good job at elaborating with this situation. There's just nothing to this song. Bland, boring and forgettable like everything else they've done. The only positive part is that I was dreading this Future verse because Future usually does this thing I call mumble rap where you can't understand a word he says. He didn't do that this time. I could actually understand him and he didn't make me want to gouge my ears out. I mean, his verse didn't add anything to the song. He just basically repeated the same thing Adam has been saying the whole song. But that's the least upset I've ever been at anything Future related, so that's something.
54- "Bom Bidi Bom" - Nick Jonas & Nicki Minaj -- Nick and Nicki. I didn't expect to ever see these two collaborate. But Nick and Nicki kinda has a fun ring to it. That's as positive as I'm going to get here. This is one of our two new debuts from "Fifty Shades Darker." Here we have a very straight forward "Fifty Shades" message. Nick says he was good and she was bad, but he was wrong and she was right. He's an addict to her love and he had to have her back. Switch the genders and you have our movie there. In the world's worst love story, the girl should've just stayed away from the psychopath who loves to use BDSM in the relationship, but for some reason she couldn't stay away. This song is fairly harmless, but it's also nothing deep or special and as far as the music and the beat goes, I'm trying to figure out where it would play into the movie. If this is a song that was playing during the love making scenes, that would be really weird, because this is the farthest thing from romantic or sexy. Instead we have Nick saying the girl has that bom bidi bom for most of that song. I don't even know what that means. Nicki's verse didn't really upset me, but it was also empty fluff, like this whole song.
62- "Shining" - DJ Khaled featuring Beyonce & Jay Z -- You ready for a Beyonce and Jay Z song? Because you didn't think DJ Khaled would actually participate on his own song did you? As always, he yells at us about how awesome this song is going to be and then let's Beyonce and Jay Z take over the rest of the song. And he comes in and echoes what Beyonce says a few times. Because Migos made that popular, so now that's the cool thing to do. And I say this is a Beyonce and Jay Z song, but it's really mostly just a Beyonce song. Jay Z comes in for a verse and brags about how many albums his put out and how many Grammy's he's won, but that's about it. I listened to what Beyonce was trying to say in her song, but I didn't really understand. Then I read the lyrics and I still didn't really understand. So yeah, we have pointless DJ Khaled, a dumb verse from Jay Z and Beyonce rambling on about something shiny. And that's it. Yeah, I don't really care for this at all. Yet I was one of three people on earth that didn't like "Lemonade," so what do I know?
71- "Helium" - Sia -- Our second new song from "Fifty Shades Darker" this week comes from Sia. My first reaction to this is why the heck is Sia writing songs for "Fifty Shades Darker"? What bet did she lose to have to do that? Well, that aside, we've now had four songs from "Fifty Shades Darker" hit the Billboard charts since they started promoting the movie and, not surprisingly, this is the best of the four. But if I'm being honest, I have a high standard when it comes to Sia because 95 percent of the time she hits a super high standard. This time around it feels like she's just phoning it in to get this "Fifty Shades Darker" song out of the way. It's kinda sweet and romantic at parts, but it doesn't even come close to what Sia is capable of, both in terms of lyrics and vocals. The lyrics are super simple and the vocals aren't really there. And that chorus has too much spacing between each word when she's singing, "your love lifts me up like helium." Also not a super sexy song, so I have no idea where this would fit into the movie. Also, one minor nitpick. I feel Sia misses the boat a bit with her comic book reference. In the context of what she was saying, I think she should've said Supergirl or Lois Lane instead of Superwoman.
77- "Heroe Favorito" - Romeo Santos -- Another Latino song. It seems like we get one of these a week now, which I'm fine with. I'm totally down for the Billboard charts being culturally diverse. I just don't feel like I'm a good judge of theses because I don't speak Spanish and I don't have a lot of personal connection to the Latino culture outside having a lot of friends who are Latino. But I do my best and what I can say here is Romeo has a really high pitched voice. I was kinda surprised by that. There is some interesting instrumentals going on here behind the vocals and a good solo by some sort of string instrument that sounded like a banjo. But otherwise this song didn't really catch me as much as other Latino songs like Despacito. This is a nice song, but not one that really makes me want to jump up and dance.
84- "Everything 1K" - Kodak Black -- I don't know much about Kodak Black. He was featured on the French Montana song "Lockjaw," the title of which sounds familiar, but I can't think of the song itself. Then he had "No flockin'" chart earlier this year, another song that I've already forgotten. This rap song started out with decent potential in the intro, but got on my nerves rather quickly. This is a surprisingly slow rap song. As if it was .5 speed on my Apple Music and that flow didn't work for me. It felt like I was listening to a song that was lagging really bad. There's nothing really offensive or annoying about the lyrics themselves, but I just couldn't stand the music part of this song.
85- "Everyday" - Ariana Grande featuring Future -- Ariana is an interesting girl. It doesn't seem like she can ever impress me twice in a row. She seems to always follow up one good song with at least one or two bad ones. I liked "Dangerous Woman." I hated "Side to Side." I think she did a great Celina impression with her "Beauty and the Beast" song. Then she follows that up this week with perhaps her worst single ever. She's a very attractive girl who can often sound quite sexy with her music, but she's not sexy at all when she's swearing a lot, like she does in this song. It just feels off. I think she's trying to sound cool, but she ends up sounding more like a brat. Then she has Future along for the ride repeating the word "everyday" over and over. His verse, while also not as mumbly like he usually is, is also completely useless and much worse than his verse in the Maroon 5 song this week. Then Ariana has a section that she repeats a few times where literally all she does is "la, la, la, la, la, la, la" for way too long. Like she ran out of ideas for the song. I don't know what this was supposed to be, but it doesn't work. In fact, I hate this more than "Side to Side," and that was pretty awful.
87- "Rolex" - Ayo & Teo -- I wanted this song to work because Ayo and Teo has a nice ring to it, but this song is super annoying. He's basically using a bunch of slang to talk about all this fancy jewelry that he wants because fancy jewelry, like a nice Rolex watch and a bunch of bling, is what is going to attract the girls every time. According to these dudes anyways. Teo calls the Rolex a "Rolly" and he repeats that over and over, adding that he wants it with a dab or Ranch, which I don't even understand what that means. Some sort of Migos reference, apparently? No thanks. I want this song to quickly die, which probably means it's going to be a big hit.
88- "Cash Me Outside (#CashmeOutside)" - DJ Suede the Remix God -- Few things are more annoying than using hashtags in your song title. I don't know who DJ Suede is or why he is calling himself the remix god. But this is a two minute song that essentially has two lines repeated over and over. "Cash me outside" and "How 'bout dat." I don't have any idea where this song came from or what it's trying to remix and I don't really care to research it. I just know that this is a really annoying thing that needs to get off the charts right now.
93- "It Ain't Me" - Kygo & Selena Gomez -- One of the greatest mysteries of life is why Norwegian DJ Kygo hasn't crossed over to the US mainstream yet. He's done decent on the EDM charts, but his only Billboard hit on the Hot 100 was "Firestone," an absolutely phenomenal song that took like a year to finally chart and only stayed at No. 92 for like a week. I also really liked his "Cloud Nine" album last year. A very pleasant, soothing album that you could listen to front and back and make you feel relaxed and comfortable. That's why they call it tropical house. It's a very descriptive name for this sub-genre of EDM that's self-explanatory. "It Ain't Me" isn't on the level of "Firestone" when it comes to quality, but if this is the song that gets Kygo into the mainstream over here (he's hit 10 many times in a whole bunch of European countries), then I'm ecstatic. Lyrically it's your typical break-up song, but it has a really nice groove to it and I can see it growing on me really fast. Selena is a singer I like, but she's tried way too hard recently to be super sexy with a goal to remind the world that she's now a grown-up woman. I find that annoying. But this is probably the best I've liked her in quite some time. I didn't expect a Selena and Kygo collaboration and on paper it sounds a bit strange, but it works quite well.
94- "Yeah Boy" - Kelsea Ballerini -- We'll end the day here with two country songs. Last week the two country songs were my favorite of the week. This week not so much. Kelsea Ballerini is a country pop singer that reminds me of Taylor Swift in her very early days, which is something I appreciate. She most recently did "Peter Pan," a song that I kinda liked. "Yeah Boy" has a fun, dancy country groove to it that I can get behind, but it feels a little too empty for me. She has two short verses in the song, followed by her essentially repeating the chorus five times, which is her saying she wants to be with this boy. She alternates saying "Yeah boy" with a line she likes about him or a line of something she wants to do with him. We get a third of the way through the song and I'm ready to be done with it because it repeats itself a little too much without doing much else. But as a country song it's fairly decent. I can get behind it.
96- "Hurricane" - Luke Combs -- With our two country songs, we go from country pop to country rock. Neither of these feel like true country, but that seems more hard to find these days. "Hurricane" slips into the category of country song that I really don't care about. You can be a bit cliche and still be good like "In Case You Didn't Know" by Brett Young last week as long as it feels genuine. This just feels generic and boring. No passion. No heart. No soul. Just a guy saying he thought he was over the girl until she came storming back into his life like a hurricane. Because we've never heard stuff like that before. And when there's no passion behind it, that same boring message just becomes hollow and lifeless.
