Year-End Special: Billboard Hot 100 of 2016

Now the Billboard Hot 100 is much different in comparison to charts like the SiriusXM Hits 1 Weekend Countdown. This is mainly because Billboard actually includes all music including the trashy rap songs that only get popular from streaming services like SoundCloud and YouTube. Thankfully, those rap songs didn't take over their year-end list entirely. There are a few songs that seem quite random, but most of the rap songs here are the real big hits. But like I said, rap wasn't the main genre on this list thankfully. So right now, I'm going to review Billboard's Year-End Hot 100. Color-coding will work the way it usually does. The only difference is purple and orange. Typically they are used to note the best and worst songs on the chart, respectively. But for this list, purple will be for the Top 5 songs and orange will be Bottom 5 songs. So there will be five songs in purple and five songs in orange. There's just so much in this list to have only one of each. So why not five? That's the only real difference. So without further ado, here are the Top 100 songs of 2016 according to Billboard!


Last Year's #1 Song: Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
The Countdown
100. One Direction – Perfect (#10)
99. Wiz Khalifa/Charlie Puth – See You Again (#1)
98. Desiigner – Timmy Turner (#34)
97. Future – Wicked (#41)
96. Tim McGraw – Humble and Kind (#30)
95. Coldplay – Adventure Of A Lifetime (#13)
94. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey/Zedd – Starving (#12)
93. Fifth Harmony/Fetty Wap – All In My Head (Flex) (#24)
92. Kevin Gates – Really Really (#46)
91. O.T. Genasis/Young Dolph – Cut It (#35)
90. Usher/Young Thug – No Limit (#32)
89. Chris Brown – Back To Sleep (#20)
88. Silentó – Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) (#3)
87. Fat Joe/Remy Ma/Jay-Z/French Montana/Infared – All The Way Up (#27)
86. Shawn Mendes/Camila Cabello – I Know What You Did Last Summer (#20)
85. Major Lazer/DJ Snake/MØ – Lean On (#4)
84. Daya – Hide Away (#23)
83. Adele – When We Were Young (#14)
82. Drake/The Throne – Pop Style (#16)
81. Ellie Goulding – On My Mind (#13)
80. DJ Snake/Bipolar Sunshine – Middle (#20)
79. Taylor Swift – Wildest Dreams (#5)
78. Daya – Sit Still, Look Pretty (#28)
77. Ariana Grande/Nicki Minaj – Side To Side (#4)
76. Ruth B. – Lost Boy (#24)
75. Travi$ Scott – Antidote (#16)
74. Tory Lanez – Say It (#23)
73. Coldplay/Beyoncé – Hymn For The Weekend (#25)
72. The Weeknd – Can't Feel My Face (#1)
71. Beyoncé – Sorry (#11)
70. Tory Lanez – Luv (#19)
69. Yo Gotti/Nicki Minaj – Down In The DM (#13)
68. Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, & Imagine Dragons/Logic/Ty Dolla $ign/X Ambassadors – Sucker For Pain (#15)
67. X Ambassadors – Unsteady (#20)
66. Nick Jonas/Tove Lo – Close (#14)
65. Post Malone – White Iverson (#14)
64. Thomas Rhett – Die A Happy Man (#21)
63. Elle King – Ex's & Oh's (#10)
62. Meghan Trainor – Me Too (#13)
61. The Weeknd – In The Night (#12)
60. Flume/Kai – Never Be Like You (#20)
59. DJ Khaled/Drake – For Free (#13)
58. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – Starboy (#1)
57. Kevin Gates – 2 Phones (#17)
56. Selena Gomez – Hands To Myself (#7)
55. Jeremih – Oui (#19)
54. Fetty Wap/Remy Boyz – 679 (#4)
53. Bryson Tiller – Exchange (#26)
52. Kiiara – Gold (#13)
51. Ariana Grande – Into You (#13)
50. Charlie Puth/Selena Gomez – We Don't Talk Anymore (#9)
49. Florida Georgia Line – H.O.L.Y. (#14)
48. Kent Jones – Don't Mind (#8)
47. DJ Snake/Justin Bieber – Let Me Love You (#4)
46. Zara Larsson/MNEK – Never Forget You (#13)
45. Meghan Trainor – No (#3)
44. James Bay – Let It Go (#16)
43. Charlie Puth – One Call Away (#12)
42. Meghan Trainor/John Legend – Like I'm Gonna Lose You (#8)
41. Drake – Controlla (#16)
40. Selena Gomez – Same Old Love (#5)
39. Alessia Cara – Here (#5)
38. Gnash/Olivia O'Brien – I Hate U, I Love U (#10)
37. Drake/Future – Jumpman (#12)
36. Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman (#8)
35. Bryson Tiller – Don't (#13)
34. D.R.A.M./Lil Yachty – Broccoli (#5)
33. P!nk – Just Like Fire (#10)
32. The Weeknd – The Hills (#1)
31. Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean? (#1)
30. Future/The Weeknd – Low Life (#18)
29. Drake/Rihanna – Too Good (#14)
28. Shawn Mendes – Treat You Better (#6)
27. The Chainsmokers/Rozes – Roses (#6)
26. Adele – Send My Love (To Your New Lover) (#8)
25. Major Lazer/Justin Bieber/MØ – Cold Water (#2)
24. Drake – Hotline Bling (#2)
23. Shawn Mendes – Stitches (#4)
22. Zayn Malik – Pillowtalk (#1)
21. Twenty One Pilots – Heathens (#2)
20. Twenty One Pilots – Ride (#5)
19. G-Eazy/Bebe Rexha – Me, Myself, and I (#7)
18. DNCE – Cake By The Ocean (#9)
17. Calvin Harris/Rihanna – This Is What You Came For (#3)
16. Fifth Harmony/Ty Dolla $ign – Work From Home (#4)
15. Mike Posner/SeeB – I Took A Pill In Ibiza (#4)
14. Flo Rida – My House (#4)
13. Rihanna – Needed Me (#7)
12. Lukas Graham – 7 Years (#2)
11. Sia/Sean Paul – Cheap Thrills (#1)
10. The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer (#1)
9. Justin Timberlake – Can't Stop The Feeling (#1)
8. The Chainsmokers/Daya – Don't Let Me Down (#3)
7. Adele – Hello (#1)
6. Desiigner – Panda (#1)
5. Twenty One Pilots – Stressed Out (#2)
4. Rihanna/Drake – Work (#1)
3. Drake/WizKid/Kyla – One Dance (#1)
2. Justin Bieber – Sorry (#1)
1. Justin Bieber – Love Yourself (#1)


Justin Blurber
~ So Justin Bieber managed to snag not just the top spot, but the top TWO spots. Pretty impressive if you ask me. Especially since Love Yourself only lasted two weeks at #1 on the Hot 100. But Justin Bieber is really talented, so he without a doubt deserves this.

~ Drake/WizKid/Kyla – One Dance was definitely one of the most successful singles of the year spending ten weeks at #1 on the Hot 100. And even after all that, I'm still not sick of it. There's one thing about the song in particular that I still love as much as I did at first listen and that's the beat. The beat makes the song in my opinion.

~ Then we have the trashy Work by Rihanna and the song that is only in turquoise because I'm sick of it, Twenty One Pilots – Stressed Out. Immediately following after that is easily the worst song of the year, which I don't even want to get into for my sanity and yours. But I actually did see a performance of this song on Pitbull's New Year's Eve special, which pretty much just made the song worse.

~ Billboard ended up ranking Adele – Hello at the exact same spot as where I ranked it in my Top 45 of 2016. Frankly, I'm surprised it wasn't ranked higher. But I get the whole thing about how it was released late in 2015 and was a big hit end of 2015 going into 2016. But still, Justin Bieber – Sorry, which was released the same exact day as Hello, managed to get all the way up to #2. So it was possible for Hello to be higher.

~ The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer was obviously one of the biggest songs this year as it was the longest-running song at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. But it did hit #1 reasonably late in the year, so I'm not surprised that it's not any higher.

~ Rihanna – Needed Me was ranked a lot higher than I thought it would be. I never did give a full-on review of this song. So here's what I think. It's okay. There are pros and cons that pretty much balance out to make the song neither good nor bad. On one hand, I do not like the production at all and the lyrics seem pretty dumb. But on the other hand, I do like Rihanna's vocal performance and I take into consideration the fact that this song is a step up from the god awful Work. Personally, I thought Kiss It Better was the best single off Anti. Of course, the one single that was actually really good flopped pretty hard, which is as disappointing as Anti as a whole. Overall, while Needed Me is much better than Work, it's still not exactly good. It's listenable.

~ Once again, I find it just mind-boggling how This Is What You Came For is considered one of Calvin Harris' biggest songs when some of his less popular singles were MUCH better. Easily the worst song he has put out and the most generic drop I have ever heard.

~ With two Twenty One Pilots songs back-to-back, it doesn't surprise me that Ride is above Heathens. As much as I wanted it to be the other way around, I pretty much knew it would turn out this way. Heathens was definitely a new sound for these guys after songs like Ride and I am really enjoying their new sound. Heathens has pretty much already lasted on me longer than Stressed Out and Ride, which I never even liked. I may have a little bit of the unpopular opinion when it comes to these songs, but that's just how I feel.

~ I did not anticipate on Drake – Hotline Bling being ranked this high. I'll admit that it's actually not a bad song. It's stupid, but it's reasonably catchy. For some reason back when I disliked it, I never actually gave it a thumbs-down on my Today's Hits Radio station on Pandora. So it comes on every now and then and it did get a little better with more listens. It's nowhere near Drake's best. But he has had a lot more crappier stuff this past year.

~ Those of you that know me may be shocked to see a Justin Bieber song not in green (or purple). But What Do You Mean was just not his best song. It was not the best comeback. It just felt a little too simple. It's definitely not bad, but I know he can do better, and he did (see: #1 and #2).

~ The Weeknd – The Hills was definitely one of the best songs of 2015 ranking at #4 on my Top 45 of 2015 and for the second year in a row, it managed to make Top 5 for best of the year. Of course it didn't appear in my Top 45 of 2016 because it was already ranked in 2015 and I don't rank songs more than once. Plus it didn't even make it into 2016 on Hits 1 because it flopped for whatever unknown reason. But this is easily his best single. The production is incredible. That chorus is just phenomenal and the vocals are fantastic. This was one of those songs along with Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do that had a serious shot at being my #1 pick of 2015. But I am thrilled to see this song here for a second year because it is just a fantastic song.

~ Then we have P!nk – Just Like Fire, which is another Top 5 favorite of mine this past year. It unfortunately only barely cracked the Top 10 on the Hot 100. But it's still a fantastic song in my book. But immediately following this song at #34 is another one of the worst songs of the year that just makes you go, "Wtf is this?!?!" I could go on a whole rant about this song, but I'm not to keep this post moving. But just know that if we get more songs like this one, we will be seeing a huge downfall in music.

~ Just a side note that there are a few songs in this list that are colored dark green. No, that does not mean I haven't heard the song. That's not what "no opinion" means. I always listen to every song I type in these posts. So there will never be a time where I haven't heard a song. If it's on Hit-Bound when I'm reviewing it, then I will listen to it so I can give it an honest review. So dark green just simply means no opinion. I use it rarely (because I pretty much always have an opinion), but I use it when I just don't know what to think of the song. These songs that are in dark green aren't necessarily good or bad or even okay. It may sound weird, but I don't know how else to put it. But yeah, just thought I'd clear that up.

~ Next we come to another one of the worst songs of the year in the form of Gold, the debut single by Kiiara. I watched TheDoubleAgent's review of this song in his Top 16 Worst Songs of 2016 video and I have honestly not seen a more accurate review. This song is a lot of empty space. It relies way too much on its excuse of a beat, Kiiara's excuse for vocals, and echo effects so that the song doesn't go through any awkward silences. The chorus is straight up obnoxious with those chopped up vocals because she couldn't be bothered to come up with more lyrics. The music video is dumb. The lyrics are dumb. Ultimately, the song just feels like nothing. There's nothing special about the so-called "chorus" as it doesn't stick out from the verses as anything exciting. There are those where the chorus just excites me. This one is not one of them. It just keeps that lame beat that's really easy to get sick of. Oh and I just realized that there's actually a remix of this song featuring Lil Wayne. So just when I thought this song couldn't get any worse, they bring him in. So yeah, I do hate this song. Definitely one of my least favorites this year and I do not anticipate any future releases from Kiiara.

~ As Jeremih was releasing more music, I started to realize how lame his voice is. It's not necessarily awful. But it feels very flat to me and doesn't show any talent. Typically R&B singers are the ones that have some of the best voices. Jeremih unfortunately does not fall under that category and when you have a song like Oui that has lame vocals and weak production, it doesn't call for a very good song.

~ Of course DJ Khaled's album was one that I'm sure a lot of people were anticipating the release of. Now I'll admit, DJ Khaled is not a bad artist or a bad producer. He does have some good songs. For Free, which was the lead single from his album Major Key, is not a bad song. It's not necessarily good either. But compared all the other rap music we've gotten this year, it's actually pretty decent. This isn't even the best song off the album in my opinion. Do You Mind is probably my favorite song on there. I've been enjoying it quite a bit lately. It's R&B songs like that one that I enjoy.

~ It's no surprise to see X Ambassadors – Unsteady on this chart. Obviously it was a successful song in 2016. But I am pleased to see that it wasn't ranked as high as Renegades was in 2015. In 2015, Renegades was ranked at the #54 song of the year, while this year Unsteady is #67.

~ And right after that, we have another song including X Ambassadors along with five other artists. It's the second of the two big singles from the Suicide Squad soundtrack, Sucker For Pain. I honestly don't know why I enjoy this song. It has an interesting beat and I like Imagine Dragons' chorus. The four rappers obviously don't sound amazing. But they don't sound bad either. It's just a catchy song in my opinion.

~ I do think Coldplay – Hymn For The Weekend is a little low, but frankly I'm glad it appeared at all. Hell, I didn't even think Adventure of a Lifetime would make the list, and sure enough it did. So I'm thrilled to see that Hymn For The Weekend made the list.

~ And somehow, Silentó – Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) managed to make this list for a second year. I'm still pretty annoyed that this was ever even a hit. We even had songs this year like Juju On That Beat try to replicate it, but fail miserably. But come on, Watch Me is just the definition of stupid. Juju On That Beat is stupid 2.0.

~ Usher was definitely a favorite of mine back in the day when he released these fun R&B/pop jams that everyone got down to like DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love, Hot Tottie, and Scream. Even Yeah! was catchy at some point to me. But now he has turned into this trap artist that I don't even recognize anymore. It's like before he was Anakin Skywalker, and now he's Darth Vader. That's the best analogy I can come up with because he really did turn to the dark side and his music is now at an all time low. It legitimately sucks and No Limit is a good example. Young Thug is not the kind of artist I'd be necessarily proud to have featured on my song. But that's just my opinion.

~ And finally, landing at #100 just barely making it on the chart, we have One Direction – Perfect. I'll admit that Billboard has been kind of underrating One Direction's most recent music. Yes, Drag Me Down did reach #3, but it didn't stay there that long and ended up ranking at #65 in 2015. Perfect is a really good song and it saddens me a little that it wasn't a massive hit on this chart like it was on Hits 1. Yes, I did get very sick of this song at some point. But regardless, it was a really good song to begin with and it is a really good song now that I haven't heard it in a long time. But I am glad it made the list.

Top 20 Review
0 – Crap:
20. Desiigner – Panda
19. Rihanna/Drake – Work
18. Calvin Harris/Rihanna – This Is What You Came For
17. Twenty One Pilots – Ride

1 – Bad:
16. Fifth Harmony/Ty Dolla $ign – Work From Home
15. Sia/Sean Paul – Cheap Thrills

2 – Mediocre:
14. Twenty One Pilots – Stressed Out
13. The Chainsmokers/Daya – Don't Let Me Down

3 – Decent:
12. Rihanna – Needed Me

4 – Good:
NONE

5 – Great:
11. Drake/WizKid/Kyla – One Dance
10. DNCE – Cake By The Ocean
9. The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer
8. Flo Rida – My House
7. Justin Timberlake – Can't Stop The Feeling
6. Lukas Graham – 7 Years
5. G-Eazy/Bebe Rexha – Me, Myself, & I
4. Adele – Hello
3. Justin Bieber – Love Yourself
2. Justin Bieber – Sorry
1. Mike Posner/SeeB – I Took A Pill In Ibiza

Total Score: 64/100 = 64% (D)


So there it is! My review of the Year-End Top 100 songs according to Billboard. I was reasonably satisfied with how this list turned out, somewhat. I mean, we did have some songs a little bit on the shittier side. But we certainly had some songs that were simply fantastic. I'm sorry it took so long to get this post out. I of course have been very busy with the start of second semester. But now that this is done, the next thing on the agenda are the other posts I'm pretty behind on. This includes the 900,000 pageview special, which I have headway into. So I hope to get that out soon. But this was my review of the Year-End Billboard Hot 100 for 2016 and I hope you enjoyed. :)


My Top 5 Picks
1. Coldplay – Hymn For The Weekend
2. Mike Posner – I Took A Pill In Ibiza
3. Justin Bieber – Sorry
4. The Weeknd – The Hills
5. P!nk – Just Like Fire

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Desiigner – Panda
2. Kiiara – Gold
3. D.R.A.M./Lil Yachty – Broccoli
4. Rihanna/Drake – Work
5. Kent Jones – Don't Mind