DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - December 21, 2019

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.

DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - December 14, 2019

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.

DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - December 7, 2019

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.

DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - November 30, 2019

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!

Special note. Last I week I started tracking Christmas songs currently on the Hot 100 in their own separate category and I will continue to do so until the end of the holiday season. Only one has shown up so far, but once Thanksgiving has passed, they should start showing up in droves as last year they were quite dominate on the charts.

Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:

1- "Circles" - Post Malone (+1) -- This seemed inevitable. "Someone You Loved" had previously celebrated three non-consecutive weeks at No. 1, but wasn't a particularly strong No. 1 as it had already been on the charts for a long time due to its slow ascent. Post Malone wasn't necessarily that strong either, but his song has been around for a shorter amount of time, so I was guessing it would naturally slide up to No. 1, which is pretty much the best way to describe its performance this week. Across the board, it only rose 3 percent on radio to 91.1 million audience impressions, it rose 2 percent on streaming to to 23.4 million U.S. streams, and it fell 7 percent in sales to 14,000 downloads sold. Billboard didn't report on what the numbers for "Someone You Loved" are this week, so I don't know how close it was, but I'm guessing it just narrowed it out as "Circles" actually falls a spot on the radio charts to No. 3, meaning it didn't pass "Someone You Loved" on radio. It just beat it out due to stronger sales and/or streaming. So I don't know how long this one is going to last at top, but I'm actually fine with it being here. It's Post Malone's fourth No. 1 on the Hot 100 following "rockstar," "Psycho" and "Sunflower." Even though it's not nearly as good as "Sunflower," it's most certainly miles better than those first two song.

2- "Someone You Loved" - Lewis Capaldi (-1) -- No shame here that Lewis fell a spot to No. 2. I'm just happy and surprised that his song managed to get to No. 1 in the first place after a really long rise to the top. This also could start to tumble down the charts a bit as the three songs right below it appear to have significantly more momentum.

3- "Good as Hell" - Lizzo (+1) -- When I saw "Circles" as the No. 1 song this week, I assumed it was because it had rose to No. 1 on the radio. Nope. As I previously mentioned, it fell to No. 3 on radio. The song that actually rose to No. 1 on radio is this one, "Good as Hell." That's a bit of a surprise for me, but a welcome surprise. I think this is an excellent song that deserves to be having this success. Again, Billboard didn't report a whole lot of numbers this week, so I'm going off pure guesswork here, but the obvious statement is that Lizzo just isn't as strong on sales and streaming. How close is that margin? I have no idea. But if I'm going to make a guess, I'd say that sometime in December is when Lizzo when takeover for "Circles," perhaps as early as next week?

4- "Memories" - Maroon 5 (+1) -- Another competitor for No. 1 is Maroon 5, who I assume is soaring up the radio charts as the radio always loves Maroon 5. I have no idea what the margins here are, but I imagine this song is going to be around for a while. Surprisingly, I have no issues with that. I was internally conflicted here because I've been very negative towards Maroon 5 for the majority of this decade, but I've just accepted that I enjoy this song, so I'm content that it's sticking around.

5- "Lose You to Love Me" - Selena Gomez (+3) -- After debuting at No. 1 a couple of weeks ago, Selena started a bit of a free fall down the top 10, making me nervous that her song just didn't have the necessary momentum to stick around, which is why I grateful to see it reverse course and go back into the top five. Hopefully it's here to stay this time around because this is very deserving of being a smash hit for much longer than a few weeks. Despite Billboard not having reported much this week, they did report that a huge 24 percent surge in airplay, up to 53.7 million audience impressions, is what boosted this song. Traction on radio is an excellent sign for its potential.

6- "Señorita" - Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello (-3) -- Just like "Circles" going No. 1 seemed inevitable this week, "Señorita" finally falling out of the top 10 also seemed inevitable. I wasn't sure when exactly it was going to happen, but when you spend 17 weeks in the top three, as well as 21 weeks in the top five, eventually that has to come to an end. Now it's worth noting that Billboard's calendar year ends in November, meaning this is the last week of tracking for their year end list as well as the last week for their 2010s decade list. That means songs like "Señorita" will get shortchanged on those charts because they didn't finish their run. For me, since my calendar year ends like normal people in December, songs will have another month left for my year end list. And when it comes to the decades list, what I've done in the past is include a song's entire run in the decade where it made the biggest impact. So before I create that final list, I will wait until every 2019 song has finished its run in the top 10 (because I only track the top 10 for my lists instead of the entire Hot 100). For "Señorita," if it lasts into January, I will be fair and include its entire run in the 2010s in my decades chart. It's only fair that way. Same goes for "Someone You Loved" and "Circles." When it comes to "Good as Hell," "Memories" and "Lose You to Love Me," I imagine they will build up more points in 2020 and thus they will be left off my 2010s chart completely and will get a head start on next decade's chart. But we'll see how things shape out.   

7- "No Guidance" - Chris Brown & Drake (=) -- For some reason this song is still at No. 7. And I have no idea why. Can someone please kick it out?

8- "everything i wanted" - Billie Eilish (+66) -- This is a genuine shocker for me. When this song debuted last week, I didn't realize it debuted on a partial week and thus I wasn't sure if it would really catch on with the general public as its more of a depressing Emo song from Billie, which is not something that the general public gravitates to. But I guess I was proven wrong. At least initially. And I'm happy about that. The more that Billie becomes a huge thing, the better. Now given that this is the first full week of tracking for this song, that means next week is when its scheduled to experience the drop, so I'm guessing this will fall back out of the top 10 next week, but we'll see what happens. I would love it if this song was able to stick around in the top 10.

9- "10,000 Hours" - Dan + Shay & Justin Bieber (+1) -- Nothing is really ready to jump into the top 10 at the moment, which means this song slides up a spot. Of note, with Billie's arrival into the top 10, "Panini" by Lil Nas X has been booted. Good. Hopefully that spells the end of Lil Nas X's moment in the spotlight.

10- "Truth Hurts" - Lizzo (-4) -- Another surprise, apparently the floor just completely fell out from under "Truth Hurts" this week. Although admittedly it's probably Lizzo's own fault since "Good as Hell" is now getting all the attention. That's a fair trade, I think. "Truth Hurts" is fine, but "Good as Hell" is much better.

Rising on the Hot 100:

12- "Roxanne" - Arizona Zervas (+15) -- Make this go away.

15- "Lover" - Taylor Swift (+11) -- So it wasn't just a one-week rise for "Lover" last week following the new remix with Shawn Mendes. Of note, Billboard's rule is that a remix has to have at least 50 percent of the chart points in order for the new artists on the remix to be given credit on the charts, which is why Mr. Mendes has been left off. But I'm glad to see that he's had a positive effect in helping Taylor's song out. Despite a poor early singles choices for Taylor's latest album, there's a lot of good songs on that album, so if "Lover" performs well, it opens up the door for some of those other to potentially do well if Taylor decides to release them as singles.

16- "Woah" - Lil Baby (+3) --  Make this go away.

18- "BOP" - DaBaby (+49) -- Make this go away.

19- "Dance Monkey" - Tones and I (+4) -- This one got stuck for a bit last week, which wasn't a huge surprise. Usually when a song gets to this point, it becomes increasingly harder to continue soaring up the chart, meaning "Dance Monkey" still has a ways to go before it becomes a massive hit. But I still imagine that it will at least become a top 10 hit before too long. Although sometimes getting through the teens is like walking in quick sand. It's a tough final stretch to get through before a song officially breaks into the top 10. But let's hope "Dance Monkey" does it!

20- "Ballin'" - Mustard featuring Roddy Ricch (+5) -- Make this go away.

44- "Jerry Sprunger" - Tory Lanez & T-Pain (+39) -- Make this go away.

47- "What If I Never Get Over You" - Lady Antebellum (+7) -- It's not a completely country-less week on the charts this week. We have plenty of new arrivals to get to in a bit. But in terms of rising songs, Lady Antebellum is the only entry, giving us a perfect track record for good country songs rising on the charts as Lady Antebellum hitting top 50 is a welcome site. Let's hope they can get even higher. On a slightly different note, it's a bit strange that we have no significant risers below the top 50 this week. But no lost sleep for me. We'll quickly move onto the next section!

Christmas Songs:

31- "All I Want for Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey (+8) -- Yup, only Mariah again this week, but she jumps up eight more spots in her quest back to the top 10. As a reminder, last holiday season she managed to get all the way to No. 3. Is this the year she gets to No. 1? Also, since Thanksgiving is this week, that means Christmas season will be officially upon us next week, meaning we will hopefully start seeing more of these songs show up. Although with the way the tracking week goes, we may have to wait until the week after to get the full effect. But within two weeks, I anticipate this section to start growing in size as we get deep into the Christmas season.

New Arrivals:

49- "Reply" - A Boogie wit da Hoodie -- Nope.

55- "None of Your Concern" - Jhene Aiko featuring Big Sean -- I considered checking this one out, but neither artist has impressed me as of late, so I'm taking a pass.

60- "Watermelon Sugar" - Harry Styles -- Harry Styles' new album "Fine Line" is due December 13 and I'm excited to check it out. His lead-off single from that album, "Lights Up," is a perfectly enjoyable song, even if it wasn't as good as his singles from his debut album. And now we have "Watermelon Sugar"...? That's a unique title for a song. The title certainly has a 60's/70's feel to it, which I suppose makes it stand out in today's world. The song itself is nothing super unique, though. It has less of a retro groove to it and has more of a modern, typical pop feel to it. Lots of fruit metaphors here and I'm not 100 percent sure what all of it means because the song is doused in fruit without giving many clues as to what it's all referring to, outside Harry saying he wants this girl's belly, which is a strange body part to express desire for. I'm not sure how a girl would react in real life if I told her I wanted her belly. I suppose going along with all the fruitiness of the song, belly sounds close to berry, so there's that. If I don't think too much about what it means, the song has enough of a fun pop groove to be enjoyed, which is probably what the intention of the song is. I don't want to call it bubblegum pop, but I'm going from fruit to sugar here in saying either bubblegum or cotton candy is the type of pop/rock song that this is. It has no substance to it, but can still be enjoyed regardless. I'm just hoping the album itself has a bit more substance to it because "Lights Up" isn't exactly lighting up the radio and I'm not sure if this is going to do the trick, either. Harry deserves to have success, but he needs to release songs with a higher level of quality in order to obtain it. Although I played this for my nephew and got it stuck in his head rather quickly, so that's good for something, right?

66- "The Take" - Tory Lanez featuring Chris Brown -- Nope. Especially not considering that featured artist. Chris Brown needs to stop becoming a new thing again.

75- "Falling" - Trevor Daniel -- Do I know who Trevor Daniel is? I feel like he's shown up on the charts before in some fashion, but after listening to his song right here, I'm not really that interested in looking into that in depth. Trevor is one of our trap/hip-hop boys, which means I respect him for having a normal name instead of a dumb hip-hop name that makes me want to ignore him forever. And this is not really a hip-hop song through and through. This is probably closer to a pop feel with a hip-hop sound and flavor. And it's not particularly bad. But it's also not super unique or memorable.

87- "Beauty in the Benz" - Tory Lanez featuring Snoop Dogg -- Nope. But I'm guessing Tory Lanez released an album? Either Snoop Dogg jumped on to sing about getting high or Tory Lanez interpolated one of his songs, which is what I learned happened with last week with "Jerry Sprunger." T-Pain was there via interpolation.

89- "Up All Night" - Khalid -- Khalid is always a bit hit or miss for me. I'm not sure if he's actually talented when it comes to music. He has a good voice, but I feel like he always needs to be pointed in the right direction or have a bit of luck, because if he's left all alone like this, he comes up with boring songs. My nephew is sitting here listening to some of these songs with me (my nephew is almost 12 years old) and he says it's medium quality. Medium minus, specifically. He really enjoyed "Watermelon Sugar," but he says this is a more sad, breakup song that is less energetic and too slow. As I was playing this song, he kept asking me to play "Watermelon Sugar" instead. And I agree. This song doesn't have much energy to it, nor are those sad, lonely lyrics impactful enough to make me care about Khalid's breakup woes in this instance.

93- "We Back" - Jason Aldean -- It's Thanksgiving and I don't want to spend too much time on these country songs. My nephew calls this medium plus.

95- "Homesick" - Kane Brown -- My nephew calls this one medium quality. Better than "Up All Night," but not as good as "We Back" and not close to "Watermelon Sugar."

97- "Death" - Trippie Redd featuring DaBaby -- Nope.

99- "Hell Right" - Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins -- I'm not going to review this song with my nephew because of the title. We'll get to it next week.

100- "RITMO (Bad Boys for Life)" - The Black Eyed Peas & J Balvin -- The Black Eyed Peas? What decade are we in? They haven't even charted since 2011, nor have they released an album since 2010, unless you count whatever "Masters of the Sun Vol. 1," which Wikipedia claims was released in 2018 as a seventh studio album, but it made zero impact on the world. I guess "RITMO" is the song that's being promoted for "Bad Boys for Life," a movie that I have zero excitement for since I've not even seen the other "Bad Boys" movies, but that's a discussion for the other blog. But it confuses me that they reached out to The Black Eyed Peas and J Balvin for their big soundtrack song. Because that's a gross combination of nothingness. My nephew initially gave it a high minus, which is slightly higher than a medium plus for him, but as the song went on, he told me that the song was too repetitive, which caused it to get boring. By the end of the song, he downgraded it to a medium plus, then down to a medium. And I agree. I even might call it a medium minus or a low plus. It has a decent enough beat to make it serviceable, but it is just dull and lifeless. If this serves as a comeback for The Black Eyed Peas as well as a promotion for "Bad Boys for Life," this is a bad sign for both. It even took me a while to figure out what "RITMO" was since I assumed that was an acronym. But no, it's the Spanish word for rhythm.

DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - November 23, 2019

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!

Special note. From now until the end of the holiday season, I am adding a fourth section to this category. Christmas songs! There were a lot of Christmas songs that dominated the charts last year and I'm excited to track them all in their own separate section.

Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:

1- "Someone You Loved" - Lewis Capaldi (=) -- One of the top comments on this music video was someone thanking Ed Sheeran and Adele for having this wonderful child. The more I thought about that, the more I understood why that comment had 25,000 likes. And then there's the one person in the replies that's like, "Wait, he is?" Doh! That comment went right over that person's head. But seriously, if you combined Ed Sheeran and Adele into one person, both in terms of physical appearance and musical style, you get Lewis Capaldi. Which is why I'm glad he's now celebrating his third week at No. 1 with consistent enough numbers across the board, even though it seems like the song is just on the brink of spiraling downwards. That makes sense considering it's already been on the Hot 100 for quite some time. It seems like it's going to eventually give way to "Circles," but this week is not that week.

2- "Circles" - Post Malone (=) -- The margins between "Someone You Loved" and "Circles" are quite close. "Someone You Loved" is currently No. 1 on radio with 98.1 million audience impressions (down 3 percent), No. 7 on streaming with 24.6 million U.S. streams and No. 8 on sales with 12,000 downloads sold. So you can see that it's propped up by radio. Meanwhile, "Circles" is gaining on radio, rising 6 percent to 88.4 million audience impressions. The problem is that it's falling in the other two categories as it's No. 6 on streaming with 23 million U.S. streams (down 6 percent) and No. 5 on sales with 15,000 downloads sold. So the continued competition here might be determined by which song can fall slower.

3- "Señorita" - Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello (=) -- Meanwhile, as the rest of the top five shifts around quite a bit, "Señorita" manages to stay put at No. 3, giving it 17 weeks in the top three despite only holding the No. 1 spot for one week. I wasn't expecting this, but it's starting to sneak up on "bad guy" and "Sunflower," which are No. 2 and No. 3 on my personal tracking of the most popular songs of 2019. There's actually only one more week on Billboard's calendar year since they go December through November so that they can put out their year-end list in the beginning of December instead of in January. Because of that, "Señorita" might get shafted when it comes to Billboard's year end list. But since I am a normal person and my year goes from January through December, there's still a whole month for "Señorita" to continue to climb up my list.

4- "Good as Hell" - Lizzo (+2) -- For another week, Lizzo is right behind Shawn and Camila. However, this time it's "Good as Hell" that is here, as it swapped spots with "Truth Hurts." And as I think about it, with the three songs above it not the strongest, "Good as Hell" is in good position to potentially go No. 1.

5- "Memories" - Maroon 5 (+4) -- After a few weeks of getting trapped right below the top 10, "Memories" has now shot up into the top five, become Maroon 5's 10th top five hit. Maroon 5 already held the record for most top five hits for a group, but now they extend their lead. The second best there is The Black Eyed Peas with seven. And do you know what? I've been conflicted with this one because my brain is naturally configured to dislike Maroon 5, but I'm going to own up to this. I think this is a good song. It's certainly helped by its sample of "Cannon in D," but I think that's a sample that works quite well. If you're one of the people that don't like this song, I get it. I'm on that boat 90 percent of the time with Maroon 5. But this time around is the exception. If you don't like it, you're in for a rough ride because now it looks like this one has all sorts of momentum. More positive momentum than "Good as Hell" does at the moment.

6- "Truth Hurts" - Lizzo (-2) -- Solid run for "Truth Hurts," but it's now on its way out. No hard feelings, though. We got Lizzo to switch spots with herself and I am totally fine with that because "Good as Hell" is the better song, anyways.

7- "No Guidance" - Chris Brown featuring Drake (=) -- This needs to go. The fact that it stayed put this week despite there being plenty movement around it is upsetting to me.

8- "Lose You to Love You" - Selena Gomez (-3) -- I really hope that Selena can gain traction with this song. I'm glad she got her first ever No. 1 hit, but now I want said hit to stick around because this is a good song.

9- "Panini" - Lil Nas X (-1) -- This also needs to go away.

10- "10,000 Hours" - Dan + Shay & Justin Bieber (=) -- We got no new top 10 entries this week, so this hangs out at No. 10 this week. It doesn't seem to have a whole lot of positive or negative momentum. It's just kinda stuck here, which is fine with me.

Rising on the Hot 100:

11- "Even Though I'm Leaving" - Luke Combs (+22) -- Consider me surprised this week. Thanks to Luke Combs' album dropping, this song nearly shot up to the top 10, which is a rare occasion for a country song that doesn't have a pop act attached to it. Given the album boost, I fully expect this to drop quite a bit next week. I would be shocked if it ever got to the top 10. If it did, I wouldn't be super upset. I mean, better this than "No Guidance" or "Panini." But I would be a bit confused as to how Luke Combs of all people was able to break the trend of country acts unable to hit the top 10. This song isn't bad. But it's also not too terribly special.

12- "HIGHEST IN THE ROOM" - Travis Scott (+2) -- This has managed to annoyingly stick around. But as of yet it hasn't climbed back into the top 10. I would like to keep it that way. Now excuse me while I go knock on some wood.

14- "Trampoline" - SHAED (+2) -- Instead of sending Travis Scott or Luke Combs into the top 10, let's send SHAED. I've enjoyed this song ever since first hearing it and I'm glad that a smaller song like this has been able to sneak into our current pop culture and it would be great to see it become an even bigger hit than it is.

20- "One Man Band" - Old Dominion (+8) -- An excellent week for country with a second new entry into the top 20. I'm less surprised here because for some reason Old Dominion is a big thing, but I've not ever really cared. This song is alright, though.

26- "Lover" - Taylor Swift (+17) -- If you're wondering why this shot up this week despite being fairly stagnant in recent weeks, it's because she released a new remix of this song that adds Shawn Mendes. He doesn't get featured credit on the charts because the remix with him didn't contribute to at least 50 percent of the song's chart points. But his addition to the song is a welcome inclusion. This is the type of ballad that is good with two singers, so this is now a nice duet. Mr. Mendes may have been included simply to help boost the songs sales as opposed to Taylor feeling like he needed to be on the song to improve it's quality. But whatever the motivation, the final result is positive. And if it gives the song the necessary boost to propel it forwards, I'm down with that. Although I'm curious to see if it actually gains more traction or if this was just a one-week boost due to the release of the remix.

27- "Roxanne" - Arizona Zervas (+7) -- Make this go away.

47- "Juicy" - Doja Cat & Tyga (+20) -- Make this go away.

48- "The Bones" - Maren Morris (+6) -- Maren enters the top 50. I don't know how much traction this is going to get beyond the usual country trajectory, but this is a good song to be played on country radio.

53- "Remember You Young" - Thomas Rhett (+15) -- Another winner in terms of country quality. Perhaps this song could've been a little better, but I think the pleasant country pop crossover that's typical of Thomas Rhett works rather well for me in this instance.

54- "What If I Never Get Over You" - Lady Antebellum (+23) -- Let's keep this going! Maren, Thomas Rhett and now Lady Antebellum get country boosts this week. Thus this current cycle of country music is a rather nice one.

62- "Stuck in a Dream" - Lil Mosey & Gunna (+25) -- Make this go away.

63- "Nice to Meet Ya" - Nial Horan (+15) -- Yes! I was hoping this was going to be a hit. It had a solid debut, but then it kinda disappeared and I became worried that it would go away. But this really needs to become a pop hit because Nial really outdid himself.

76- "Ridin' Roads" - Dustin Lynch (+12) -- For our final country riser of the week, I'll also accept this one. For what it sets out to do, becoming a solid country song for a long ride, I think this is perfectly acceptable.

Christmas Songs:

39- "All I Want for Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey (re-entry) -- Merry Christmas everyone! OK, I apologize. I'm usually of the camp of not celebrating Christmas until Thanksgiving has come and gone, but it's rather encouraging to see Mariah back this early in the season. In fact, this is the earliest in the year that this song has re-entered, further cementing it into the modern day Christmas culture. Last Christmas season, this rose all the way to No. 3. The fact that it's back at its earliest ever time could mean that this is the year that this finally hits No. 1. And with our current top 10 not being too terribly strong, the door is wide open for Mariah to dominate along with several others. In addition to Mariah, "Jingle Bell Rock" by Bobby Helms, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee and "A Holly Jolly Christmas" by Burl Ives also cracked the top 10 last Christmas season. So expect all of them back, and more, in the coming weeks. And as always, I'm awfully curious to see which additional Christmas songs will crossover onto the Hot 100, which is why I will be tracking them all right here until they disappear.

New Arrivals:

19- "Woah" - Lil Baby -- Nope.

56- "Heart on Ice" - Rod Wave -- I don't know where this thing came from as I've not heard of Rod Wave before, but I find it amusing that it came out in the same week that "Frozen 2" gets releasing, even though it obviously has nothing to do with the movie. Just the same icy subject matter. I was predicting this to be another worthless rap hit that came out of nowhere, but I decided to give it a shot because Rod Wave because Rod Wave has somewhat of a normal stage name and "Heart on Ice" seems like it could be a decently well thought out song. And this does have a nice intro with a decent groove that almost convinced me that this is a song worth listening to. But then Rod Wave comes out and sounds like he's trying way too hard. I'm not sure if this is officially categorized as Rap or if it's more R&B. Perhaps a combination of the two. But there are plenty of modern rap tropes snuck into this to make me annoyed. He might not be flexing in this, which is somewhat reliving, but he doesn't put a whole lot of detail into his subject matter of having his heart broken, thus meaning this still feels empty and forgettable. Kudos to it not being an offensive piece of trash like most modern rap these days, but that alone does not merit this being a good song in my books.

72- "Better Together" - Luke Combs -- In case you skimmed past my earlier comments, Luke Combs released an album that impacted the charts this week, resulting in "Even Though I'm Leaving" to rocket up to No. 11 this week. And although we're not yet in the era of country artists getting album bombs, the release of said album did cause one additional Luke Combs song to chart. Whether or not this will stick around longer than this week has yet to be seen, but this is decently tolerable song. I'm still not sure if I'm a fan of Luke Combs' voice. The super twangy style is just not really my thing and he leans heavily into that here. He also talks about plenty of cliche country things that sometime seem like prerequisites to releasing a country song, but outside those two things, this song is fairly nice. It's a stripped back piano ballad from Luke Combs. No guitars. No drums. For once this is a tone matches the lyrics and I can totally see Luke Combs fans being completely swooned by this with his passionate delivery that actually hits the emotions. I just wish it was a different singer singing it who had a more likable voice. I would also like the lyrics to dive deeper into something that felt more raw and genuine rather than it seeming like lyrics crafted in a country factory. But all in all, I'll take this.

74- "everything i wanted" - Billie Eilish -- Last week Billie's song "all the good girls go to hell" re-entered the charts and had a decent rise this week, even though it didn't quite rise high enough to qualify being on the rising songs list this week. Which is why I was slightly surprised to see a new Billie song this week that was not from her album earlier this year, which makes me curious as to what her plan is going forward with her singles. But of course I'm always down to covering a new Billie song, even though I wasn't expecting that. And as is traditional with Billie, this sees her going unconventional with the pop route, writing a song that she felt like writing and releasing, rather than writing something to a modern pop audience. For that, I once again respect her. This song definitely makes you pay close attention to what she's saying as it's rather dark and depressing. She talks about getting everything she wanted in a dream she had, but said dream would be a nightmare to those who actually care about her as she essentially committed suicide in the dream and noticed that no one really cared. So yeah, it's Billie being emo, but she does it quite well. Her mellow, toned back delivery combined with slow and sad music really packs a punch as it fits her lyrics perfectly. Is a sad, emo song like this going to catch on with the general public and be a huge radio smash? I don't think so. But I don't think Billie really cares and I'm certainly glad I treated to this.

78- "Tusa" - Karol G & Nicki Minaj -- I was going to see this is the American Nicki Minaj and the Latina Nicki Minaj, but that's not being completely fair to Karol G, who is quite talented. She just hasn't been on a song that's charted this year that doesn't have a team of untalented people with her. I don't know what she's singing about here, and I'm not really in a mood to go translate it, but her parts are rather enjoyable. Her voice is excellent and the beat is just right. It doesn't feel like its trying too hard to be an extremely heavy reggaeton song, but it's also not too slow. It finds a good balance, thus making it an enjoyable song. When Nicki comes in, she's actually trying harder to sound more like Karol G rather than it being the other way around. She even memorized a couple of lines in Spanish before flowing straight into her English. Her lyrics are very much like a Nicki Minaj song, but it wasn't distracted. And yeah, she can't hold it in too long. She does slip in a rap verse. But it's not terrible. It quickly happens without me being annoyed and immediately transitions back into Karol G afterwards. And in watching the music video, the two girls both seem to be having fun. So yeah, I'm fine with this. It's nothing to write home about, but it's perfectly acceptable.

81- "Yellow Hearts" - Ant Saunders -- When I first saw this song, I immediately assumed it was the artist who was featured on two Kanye West songs from his album bomb a couple of weeks ago. It would make sense that Kanye helped propel said artist into a successful solo career after getting attention. But with a closer look, that's not what happened here. That artist is Ant Clemons. This is Ant Saunders. Now why are we getting two Ants on the charts in one month? I have no idea. But this guy got popular thanks to TikTok, which totally makes sense because it's a dumb little song that's catchy enough for a younger audience to go crazy over. It's very simplistic musically with a few unique elements to make it stand out enough. The lyrics aren't much of anything, but they're also not offensive. I'm also not quite sure if this guy is trying to appeal to the hip-hop crowd or the pop crowd. It seems like he's going for the hip-hop crowd, but just isn't very good at it, so it feels like it'll crossover into the pop realm. This song reminded me quite a bit of Bazzi, an artist who I try to forget was ever a thing and I'm kinda mad at myself for thinking of it. But like Bazzi, this seems to have all the ingredients to just explode, which is not going to make me very happy.

83- "Jerry Sprunger" - Tory Lanez & T-Pain -- They spelled Jerry Springer wrong. And they probably did it on purpose to look cool and hip, which is why I'll boycott this even though Tory Lanez and T-Pain aren't the worst people in the hip-hop realm.

90- "Show Me Love" - Alicia Keys featuring Miguel -- Here's the surprise entry of the week. Alicia Keys on the charts? I mean, she's released plenty of music in the past years, but none of it has charted. Looking at her discography, apparently she was a part of a remix of "Calma" by Pedro Capo and Farruko, but I don't think she ever got charting credit for that. Outside that, she's hasn't charted on the Hot 100 as a lead artist since "Girl on Fire" in 2012 and as a featured act on 50 Cent's "New Day," also in 2012. So yeah, this was a surprise. Admittedly I'm not an Alicia Keys aficionado, but I've generally enjoyed the music she's put out. If this is a comeback single, it's a perfectly enjoyable little tune. I don't think it quite measures up to other Alicia Keys songs in looking through her discography, but her and Miguel mesh quite well with each other on a fairly romantic R&B song. I think there could've been a bit more to this as it's fairly simple and basic, meaning it's a bit curious that this song is the one song to get Alicia Keys back on the charts after a seven-year absence, but if we want to make Alicia Keys a thing again at the end of 2019, leading into the new decade, I'm totally fine with that. 

92- "Valentino" - 24kGoldn -- Nope. I've checked out a few new names this week from artists who I didn't recognize, but 24kGoldn? I'll pass on that.