Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "7 rings" - Ariana Grande (+1) -- In a fairly unsurprising turn of events, Ariana is back on top with "7 rings." She's now totaled six weeks at No. 1 with "7 rings," meaning she would've had eight total right now had it not been for her getting interrupted by "Shallow" and "Sucker," two very welcomed interruptions, I would add. At least for me. Having Ariana back on top is boring for me, especially since this isn't a very good song. I'd rather see "Sunflower" or "Without Me" sneak back up to the top, which is certainly possible depending on how well the three songs hold. "7 rings" is certainly not a strong No. 1 hit this week as the song is losing significantly on sales and streaming while its also beginning to lose momentum on the radio. Though its still strong enough in all three categories to retain the top spot until our next big sensation shows up.
2- "Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)" - Post Malone & Swae Lee (+2) -- Again, I would be delighted to have this song jump up to No. 1. I don't know if it has a whole lot of gas left in the tank, but it remains here because it's a lot more stable than some of the other songs that have been flying in and out of the top five. And depending on how Ariana holds up, this could default to No. 1 based on said strong legs. But I do feel we're in for a new rotation of songs at the top here soon.
3- "Without Me" - Halsey (+2) -- Still the top song of the year according to my Excel charts. Like "Sunflower," Halsey rises up to No. 3 based solely on consistency. "Without Me" is powered strongest at the moment by radio, as the song celebrating its third week on top of that chart. Although said radio lead is not getting any stronger. In fact, it's down 1 percent to 100.6 million audience impressions, meaning something could easily overtake it. It's just that nothing is stepping up to the plate at the moment.
4- "Please Me" - Cardi B & Bruno Mars (-1) -- Bruno and Cardi seem to be stabilizing a bit after getting a huge boost from the music video last week. Although the fact that Post Malone and Halsey shot back ahead of them is not the best sign for this song moving forward. I still think this is going to be here for a while, though, simply based on how popular these two are. Although I'm not going to be happy about it.
5- "Wow." - Post Malone (+2) -- This is gross. I was happy to see that this song wasn't gaining that much traction and was actually on the brink of falling out of the top 10. But it's benefiting greatly from the weakness of the rest of the top 10 and now has snuck its way into the top five. Billboard brought up some sort of dance routine from a random Florida man that went viral as one reason why this song got a boost this week. Again, that's gross. And now there's a remix on the way featuring Roddy Ricch and Tyga that could help it? Because, you know, an already useless and lifeless trap song definitely needs more awful rappers joining in on the crap-fest, right?
6- "Sucker" - Jonas Brothers (-5) -- This was totally expected. The Jonas Brothers weren't going to hold that top spot for longer than a week. But now the test for this song will be what happens moving forward. Is this going to continue to fall and become a forgotten about Jonas Brothers song that only had a No. 1 debut based on the hype of a Jonas Brothers reunion rather than the quality of the song itself? Or is the song itself going to actually catch on and help this gain traction? I suppose I won't be too upset if the former is the case, but given what our alternatives are, I would certainly be happy if this song stuck around. It has little depth to it, but it's a fun tune that's better than most of the songs around it in this region at the moment.
7- "Happier" - Marshmello & Bastille (+1) -- I'm continually impressed at this song's longevity. Sure, it may have risen a spot due to "Shallow" falling, but that also means it's stable enough to not fall yet. Granted, there's not been a whole lot of competition below the top 10 at the moment, but still. I would've thought that this song was going to fall out a long time ago. Maybe more artists should go do "Fortnite" concerts?
8- "Middle Child" - J. Cole (+1) -- If we have to have a rap song in the top five, can't we discard "Wow." as the utter trash that it is and replace it with "Middle Child"? This is far from a masterpiece, but it's way more tolerable than most other rap music.
9- "Shallow" - Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper (-3) -- I don't know how much longer this song has in the top 10, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. After it exploding to No. 1 following the Oscars, I thought it was going to drop back out of the top 10 the next week, but it's now lasted an additional two weeks, perhaps being helped by a radio surge. If said radio play is strong enough to keep it around, I'm happy.
10- "SICKO MODE" - Travis Scott (=) -- GO AWAY ALREADY!!!!!!!!! Seriously, if you're still streaming this song... WHY? Not only has it had the best run ever for a rap song in the top 10, but it's now just one week away from entering into a three-way tie with Maroon 5 and Ed Sheeran for the longest run ever in the top 10. It's had 32 weeks, which matches the run of "Closer" by The Chainsmokers and Halsey, as well as "How Do I Live" by LeAnn Rimes. PLEASE let's get this song OUT OF HERE. For crying out loud, I'll take the return of "Thotiana" or "Going Bad" instead of another week of "SICKO MODE."
Rising on the Hot 100:
11- "Thotiana" - Blueface (+2) -- Well, I'm certainly glad that this song's momentum stalled out. That gives me confidence that it's not going to explode and become a monster hit. The radio isn't really touching this thing yet, so once the streaming dies out, this is sure to evaporate, which is good. Although as I just said, if this is the only song capable of stopping "SICKO MODE," I'll take it.
14- "Going Bad" - Meek Mill featuring Drake (+2) -- It's been an impressive run for this song. It debuted in the top 10 forever ago and took a nosedive the next week, but it's managed to hang around in the teens for what seems like forever. I'm surprised it hasn't rebounded back into the top 10 yet because, you know, Drake. But I'm certainly not upset. We can keep this song out of the top 10.
18- "Dancing with a Stranger" - Sam Smith & Normani (+2) -- What really needs to catch fire is this song. It's slowly rising up in the top 20, but we need to help it pick up the pace so it doesn't get stuck in the teens. I would love for this to occupy a space in the top 10 because it really deserves.
19- "Better" - Khalid (+2) -- I suppose I'll accept this song to. I'm not crazy about it. Khalid has done a lot better, but I'll certainly take it over the likes of "Thotiana" or "Going Bad."
27- "Robbery" - Juice WRLD (+7) -- This song rises because of Juice WRLD's album bomb, which I am happily ignoring this week. Although he only got four new songs in the Hot 100, so it wouldn't take much time to go through it. But still, any rapper that gets an album bomb is most likely going to get ignored by me. Juice WRLD's very first entry on the charts via "Lucid Dreams" is one that I supported. But that was a just a one-hit wonder in terms of quality Juice WRLD. He's been crap ever since, so now he's entered into the realm of me deciding to completely ignore everything he does.
38- "Hear Me Calling" - Juice WRLD (+18) -- See previous comment.
40- "Pure Water" - Mustard & Migos (+11) -- When this song first debuted, I made fun of the idea of there being a new rapper calling himself Mustard. Turns out this Mustard is none other than producer DJ Mustard rebranding himself as Mustard. That's hilariously awful. I mean, DJ Mustard is not the best producer name, but it's a lot better than simply Mustard, so why the change? What that also means is that this is simply just a Migos song with Mustard continuing this dumb trend of producers giving themselves featured credit. Being that this is just a Migos song, it's also one that I will continue to ignore because I don't do Migos.
42- "Talk" - Khalid (+7) -- You know, if we want to replace "Better" with "Talk," I'm totally down with that. Khalid teaming up with Disclosure has produced a decently enjoyable tune here. But as it turns out, Khalid has a new album coming out April 5, so he's doing some great promoting for that. We even have another new entry this week to discuss down below from that upcoming album, which is titled "Free Spirit."
51- "Old Town Road" - Lil Nas X (+22) -- I ignored this song when it debuted last week and I'm ignoring it again. If this becomes a huge hit, maybe I'll give it 30 seconds one of these weeks. But it's not top 50 yet, so I'm not even going to bother.
56- "Put a Date on It" - Yo Gotti featuring Lil Baby (+34) -- I don't even know what this is or why it's here. With these two artists attached, I most definitely have no desire to give it the time of day, so make this go away.
59- "wish you were gay" - Billie Eilish (+15) -- I've been a bit conflicted with this song ever since it debuted. Not that I buy into whatever controversy might be brewing. As I explained last week, this is not a homophobic song. In fact, it's a very unique way of expressing disappointment in a failed relationship that's very much personal to Billie. I just haven't connected with it on the same level as some of Billie's other songs that she's released. But hey, I've been waiting for something of Billie's to gain traction with the mainstream. "bury a friend" had a huge debut, which made me happy, but then has unsurprisingly failed to gain traction as that's not quite what you call a radio-friendly tune. Can "wish you were gay" be that mainstream hit for Billie? I'd be down with that. Even though I say the song hasn't connected with me as much as her other songs, that's more of a compliment on her previous material than anything. The song has been stuck in my head for the majority of the last two weeks, so I'm far from being against it. And I'm still super stoked for her album that gets released at the end of the month. I'm definitely going to give it a listen the first day it's released.
63- "Act Up" - City Girls (+14) -- Let's please not make these girls a thing. There other song stalled out before it was able to get too high. Let's hope this song stalls out, too.
New Arrivals:
41- "Empty" - Juice WRLD -- Don't Care.
47- "Fast" - Juice WRLD -- Don't Care.
65- "Maze" - Juice WRLD -- Don't Care.
75- "Here with Me" - Marshmello featuring CHVRCHES -- I did a bit of exploration on this song before diving in because I was pretty sure this was the first entry on the U.S. Hot 100 for the synth-pop band CHVRCHES. I was correct on that, but I was trying to figure out exactly what songs of there's I had heard because this is certainly not my first exposure to CHVRCHES. I failed in pinpointing exactly what songs of there's I'd heard, but I learned they hail from Scotland initially and compose of Lauren Mayberry on lead vocals with Iain Cook and Martin Doherty doing a lot of the work on the synthesizers and other instruments they work with. According to Wikipedia, Cook does piano, guitars, and bass while Doherty does samplers and helps with lead vocals on occasion. Both men do synthesizer work. And Lauren does drums and percussion in addition to lead vocals. They also have three studio albums that they've released, with their first coming in 2013. This all combines for a very good sound. I sampled from their three albums before jumping into this Marshmello collaboration and I love what I heard, especially the song "Miracle" from their 2018 album "Love is Dead." I've downloaded all three albums in my Apple Music and plan on exploring them even more once I'm done with this post as a whole. The band stated they take a lot of influence from David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Iggy Pop, Eurythmics as well as a lot of other bands and singers from that era. Unsurprisingly, they've been really popular in the home country of Scotland, as well as the U.K. as a whole and other European countries. Hopefully this Marshmello feature gives them more U.S. exposure.
As far as this specific song, they're evidently a lot better on their own rather than being attached to a Marshmello song, but if we judge this on Marshmello standards rather than CHVRCHES standards, this certainly gets a pass. Lauren's vocals fit quite well with Marshmello's beat and she has Iain Cook with her on guitar in the song. But as with most of Marshmello's music, this is more like popcorn fluff. Harmless entertainment that works perfect as background noise, but Marshmello never attempts to go super deep or emotional with his music. It's like comparing summer blockbusters to the Oscar-worthy dramas in the movie world. Summer blockbusters are perfectly enjoyable, but it's the awards-worthy dramas that hit deep. If you're in the mood for some Marshmello, this is acceptable. It's upbeat and fun. But if you want some more richly rewarding musical experience, go check out CHVRCHES' solo stuff.
77- "My Bad" - Khalid -- On the Apple Music description of Khalid's upcoming album "Free Spirit," Khalid says that he played it safe with his 2017 album "American Teen" because he didn't know what the world wanted to hear from him. That makes sense because "American Teen" was his breakout album. He wasn't a thing before that. But now that Khalid is one of the big superstars of our day, he says this album is going to be heavy and dark. And that's all fine and dandy. We'll judge that when the album comes out on April 5. But if he has material like that on this upcoming album, he's certainly not choosing to showcase it with his lead-off singles. "Talk" is a fun song because of Disclosure's beat, but it has nothing to say. He's telling this girl they need to talk about this relationship they're in. And "Better" is a boring song with even less to say. He's just saying he feels better with this girl and wishes that she wouldn't hide their relationship. And "My Bad" has him being a stubborn grouch. Him and his girl got in an argument and he says he refuses to talk to her. So yeah, this is a strange definition of "heavy" and "dark." It's more boring and lifeless. He's talking about basic relationship stuff, but is unwilling to dive very deep at all. I think Khalid has a good voice and is talented, but he's one who requires a bit of direction in order to make the best of said talent. Pair him up with the right people and he can do great things. But on his own, he has the potential drop boring stuff like this, thus I don't know how much talent he has when it comes to song writing or discerning what the best path for him is, but maybe it's just personal preference on my part. He's always hit or miss for me and this is a miss.
85- "Undrunk" - FLETCHER -- I don't think "undrunk" is a word. Most people say sober. Anyways, with that off my chest, this looked like it was a country song from what I was guessing was another random country loser with no talent. Turns out that I couldn't be more wrong. This is a 25-year-old female pop singer. Her name is Cari Elise Fletcher, but she goes by her last name and types it all caps. She starred in the 2010 film "How Katie Howard Found Herself," a movie that I don't think anyone saw, and was on the first season of X-Factor in 2011, but didn't make it very far. So why is this here? I have no idea. She's released a couple of EPs and several singles, but this is the first time she's charted anywhere. So is it any good? Well, it's alright. She actually has a really good voice, but I am a sucker for female pop singers, so take that for what it's worth. In the song she's saying that she wishes she could she wishes she could get un-drunk so she could un-call you. She would then un-love you. She would un-kiss the room full of strangers, so she could un-spite you and un-lose her temper. But then she admits that one thing she can't undo is you. So that's where she's going with the "undrunk" thing. No, it's not a word. But she's making up a whole lot of "un-" words and it has a decent groove to it. The song is nothing super special. It's your typical breakup song sprinkled with a clever bit of word play. But it's totally acceptable.
88- "Rumor" - Lee Brice -- I initially THOUGHT we were getting a country song with "Undrunk." I was wrong. But we ARE getting a country song here from Lee Brice, who has impressed me in the past with songs like "I Drive Your Truck" and "Boy." "Rumor" comes from his 2017 self-titled album that also has the song "Boy" on it, which charted early in 2018. Based on that, I'm surprised he hasn't had more of a rollout with this album. You don't often see singers release an album, then only release a single once a year from it. But whatever. "Boy" is a song I liked because it's Lee singing to his little boy, telling him all the things he's going to do in his life. It's a really sweet song. And "I Drive Your Truck" has him singing about a brother who has passed away. But "Rumor" has no emotional depth to it, which is why I found it to be disappointing and am thus more confused as to why he's releasing it as a single right now instead of a few months after, or even before "Boy." But why even choose this song as a single in the first place? It feels like album filler. He's singing to a girl and telling her that there's a rumor going around town about him and her, then asks her if she wants to make that rumor true. And that's it. He has a nice voice and the music isn't overdone like a lot of country these days. But it's still a song that I'll forget about a week or two after it disappears.
91- "Flaws and Sins" - Juice WRLD -- Don't Care.
92- "Calma" - Pedro Capo & Farruko -- If you're like me and you don't remember who Pedro Capo or Farruko are, well, Pedro Capo is brand new to the U.S. charts, so I'm as lost as you are there. But Farruko is one of the artists responsible for the Latino song "Krippy Kush" that I try to forget exists. I'm mad at myself for even reminding myself that it did exist because it was completely gone from my brain until I got a little overly curious here. I was hoping that this new song from him was a little more... uh.. calm? And it absolutely is. Thanks to Pedro Capo, this is a beautiful. It's very smooth and romantic. And my very unprofessional way of translating the lyrics clued me in on the idea that the lyrics are about as sweet and innocent as Pedro Capo's voice. The song really does have a calming influence on the soul. HOWEVER, the problem here is when Farruko comes in. He's extremely annoying and loud and ruins all momentum that the song has. Lucky for us, though, there's an original version to this song with Padro Capo only and that song is gorgeous. The song that charted here with Farruko is a remix. The remix isn't any good, but the original version that didn't actually chart is great.
96- "I've Been Waiting" - Lil Peep & ILoveMakonnen featuring Fall Out Boy -- I get all my Lils mixed up. But Lil Peep is the emo rapper who died in 2017. And yet we're STILL releasing posthumous songs from him by his label and a bunch of others who are using his death as a means to cash in on his post-death popularity. I don't see this as people honoring Lil Peep. I see this as people cashing in on his death. Because of that, I'm skipping this song. ILoveMakonnen is trash anyways.
