Ed Sheeran (9) – Week Of April 8, 2017

Hey guys! Once again, I apologize for the late post. I had a busy week this past week so I haven't had much time to work on this post. The Hit 45 Chart is also late and that will hopefully be out tomorrow. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Noah Cyrus/Labrinth – Make Me (Cry) (#40)
• DJ Snake/Justin Bieber – Let Me Love You (#43)
• Daya – Words (#45)

Last Week's #1 Song: Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You

The Countdown

45. Rihanna – Love On The Brain (#31)

44. Panic! At The Disco – Death Of A Bachelor (#24)

43. Bebe Rexha – I Got You (#41)

42. Coldplay/Beyoncé – Hymn For The Weekend (#44)

41. Ariana Grande/Nicki Minaj – Side To Side (#39)

40. MAX/Gnash – Lights Down Low (DEBUT)

39. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – Starboy (#37)

38. Niall Horan – This Town (#42)

37. Snakehips/MØ – Don't Leave (DEBUT)
36. Maroon 5 – Don't Wanna Know (#38) [3 Weeks At #1]
35. Bruno Mars – 24K Magic (#25)
34. The Vamps/Matoma – All Night (DEBUT)
33. Panic! At The Disco – L.A. Devotee (#36)
32. Alessia Cara – Scars To Your Beautiful (#34)
31. Twenty One Pilots – Heathens (#26) [2 Weeks At #1]
30. Ariana Grande/Future – Everyday (#28)
29. Shawn Mendes – Treat You Better (#30) [2 Weeks At #1]
28. Adele – Water Under The Bridge (#29)
27. James Hersey – Miss You (#33)
26. Linkin Park/Kiiara – Heavy (#11)
25. Steve Aoki/Louis Tomlinson – Just Hold On (#27)
24. Machine Gun Kelly/Camila Cabello – Bad Things (#6)
23. AJR – Weak (#32)
22. Jon Bellion – All Time Low (#25)
21. Zayn/Taylor Swift – I Don't Wanna Live Forever (#9)
20. Katy Perry/Skip Marley – Chained To The Rhythm (#16)
19. Lady Gaga – Million Reasons (#19)
18. Twenty One Pilots – Heavydirtysoul (#18)
17. Julia Michaels – Issues (#21)
16. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming (#20)
15. Train – Play That Song (#17)
14. The Chainsmokers – Paris (#10)
13. Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill (#5)
12. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey/Zedd – Starving (#8) [4 Weeks At #1]
11. Imagine Dragons – Believer (#22)
10. Clean Bandit/Sean Paul/Anne-Marie – Rockabye (#23)
  9. Maroon 5 – Cold (#15)
  8. Kygo/Selena Gomez – It Ain't Me (#12)
  7. Shawn Mendes – Mercy (#3)
  6. The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer (#2) [8 Weeks At #1]
  5. James Arthur – Say You Won't Let Go (#13)
  4. Zedd/Alessia Cara – Stay (#14)
  3. Fitz & The Tantrums – HandClap (#7)
  2. Bruno Mars – That's What I Like (#4)
  1. Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You (#1) [9^th Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: DNCE – Cake By The Ocean

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Panic! At The Disco – Death Of A Bachelor (–20)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Clean Bandit/Sean Paul/Anne-Marie – Rockabye (+13)

New Entrants
~ First up, we have the very unappealing Don't Leave by Snakehips featuring MØ. Remember when I said that she should just stick to singing on DJ-produced tracks? Yeah, scratch that. She should just stop singing all together. All My Friends with Tinashe and Chance The Rapper was a solid track in my opinion. But then we started to see the messy side of Snakehips with Cruel featuring Zayn. Now we have Don't Leave. The production isn't awful, but I am not a fan of MØ's voice. That's really the main thing that kills this song. I don't see this song staying here very long. Hopefully I'm right.

~ Next we have long-time Hit-Bound veteran, MAX/Gnash – Lights Down Low. MAX is a very talented artist and I love his voice. Lights Down Low is definitely a little different from his other songs. It's a bit slower and more acoustic. I love the meaning behind the song. I also really liked the music video, which I had watched when it first debuted Hit-Bound. Gnash's verse is slightly unnecessary if you ask me, but it's not awful. It is an interesting collab though, I'll give it that. Overall, I really enjoy this song. I hope it can last on the countdown as long as it did on Hit-Bound.

~ Finally we have The Vamps returning with All Night. This track is definitely one of their better ones. Somebody To You and Oh Cecilia were definitely two very good songs by these guys and All Night is not that far behind. I love the production on the track and I can thank Matoma for that. The vocals are good as well. Overall, it's a very enjoyable song and I hope it does well. I didn't exactly expect it to debut, but I'm glad it did.


Hit-Bound
~ Here is the Hit-Bound list:

• Jason Derulo/Nicki Minaj/Ty Dolla $ign – Swalla
• Harry Styles – Sign Of The Times (DEBUT)
• One Ok Rock – American Girls
• The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This
• Mansionz/G-Eazy – Wicked (DEBUT)
• Erin Bowman – Good Time Good Life
• Halsey – Now Or Never (DEBUT)
• Kungs/Ephemerals – I Feel So Bad (DEBUT)
• Aaron Carter – Sooner Or Later (DEBUT)
• Coin – Talk Too Much
• Jon Bellion – Overwhelming
• Lorde – Green Light
• Ocean Park Standoff – Good News
• Flo Rida/99 Percent – Cake

~ We lost both Little Mix – Touch and Calvin Harris/Frank Ocean/Migos – Slide. The latter I've heard several times this week, so I'm not concerned about that one. However, I'm quite disappointed by the departure of Touch. That song had actually proven itself to be on the same level as Shout Out To My Ex and Black Magic. It seems as though these girls just can't get a Top 40 hit and it sucks because they are very talented and in my opinion, the better of the two popular girl groups.

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
1. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This
2. Jon Bellion – Overwhelming
3. Kungs/Ephemerals – I Feel So Bad
4. Aaron Carter – Sooner Or Later
5. Jason Derulo/Nicki Minaj/Ty Dolla $ign – Swalla


Blurbs Down Low
~ Bruno Mars – That's What I Like has reached #2 just to annoy me. How lovely. What's even worse is the fact that I can actually see this as a potential #1 in the future. I never thought I'd say this, but Shape Of You must continue to hold if needed.

~ Zedd/Alessia Cara – Stay and James Arthur – Say You Won't Let Go made rather sudden jumps into the Top 5 from outside of the Top 10. I never really saw either of them as Top 5 hits, especially the former considering that Zedd has had better songs that didn't even crack the Top 10 (Beautiful Now). But I'm satisfied with these two songs being here.

~ Kygo/Selena Gomez – It Ain't Me was destined to reach the Top 10 at some point. Once again, I'm happy with this. I think it's a very good song and it's nice to see Kygo have a bit hit for once. His music is always very underrated.

~ As expected, Cold is back in the Top 10. It took while longer than expected, but it was anticipated.

~ Clean Bandit/Sean Paul/Anne-Marie – Rockabye also took a little sudden jump into the Top 10. Considering that this song joined the countdown a little late to the party, this was expected to happen relatively soon. I hope it can stay there for a little while because it is definitely one of the best songs currently on the countdown.

~ Unfortunately when there is good, there is not-so-good. Imagine Dragons – Believer has taken a little bit of a leap up to #11. Pretty easily the worst Imagine Dragons single so far and I'm a little annoyed that it's up this high.

~ Then of course, we have Julia Michaels – Issues consistently jumping in and out of the Top 20. Can we just keep it out of the Top 20 for good. I doubt it'll leave anytime soon. So the least it can do is stay out of the Top 20.

~ Zayn/Taylor Swift – I Don't Wanna Live Forever and Machine Gun Kelly/Camila Cabello – Bad Things took some sudden drops out the Top 10. Not that I really care at all. In fact I'm actually pretty pleased by this. This week was a good example of out-with-the-old-and-in-with-the-new.

~ And Ariana Grande/Future – Everyday drops on its second week. This is a good sign, people.

~ Rihanna – Love On The Brain has dropped to the very bottom of the countdown. I knew this song wouldn't do so hot considering how Hits 1 treats Rihanna's music. For once I can actually be happy about them doing this to her. Hopefully we can see it leave soon.

~ As far as the exits go, Make Me (Cry) deserved to leave. Words was getting a little less interesting with more listens so I'm glad it left. Finally, we have Let Me Love You, which had a very good countdown run and I'm satisfied considering that Justin Bieber songs don't always do too well. So I don't really mind it leaving.

Top 20 Review
0 – Crap:
20. Bruno Mars – That's What I Like
19. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey/Zedd – Starving

1 – Bad:
18. Julia Michaels – Issues
17. Imagine Dragons – Believer

2 – Mediocre:
NONE

3 – Decent:
NONE

4 – Good:
NONE

5 – Great:
16. Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You
15. The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer
14. Fitz & The Tantrums – HandClap
13. Shawn Mendes – Mercy
12. James Arthur – Say You Won't Let Go
11. The Chainsmokers – Paris
10. Maroon 5 – Cold
9. Zedd/Alessia Cara – Stay
8. Twenty One Pilots – Heavydirtysoul
7. Train – Play That Song
6. Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill
5. Kygo/Selena Gomez – It Ain't Me
4. Lady Gaga – Million Reasons
3. Katy Perry/Skip Marley – Chained To The Rhythm
2. Clean Bandit/Sean Paul/Anne-Marie – Rockabye

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown
1. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming

Total Score: 83/100 = 83% (B)


Throwback Pick Of The Week: Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love

Most Missed Countdown Song: Gym Class Heroes/Adam Levine – Stereo Hearts

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Stargate/P!nk/Sia – Waterfall

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie Between Justin Bieber – Love Yourself and G-Eazy/Bebe Rexha – Me, Myself, & I


My Top 5 Picks
1. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming
2. Clean Bandit/Sean Paul/Anne-Marie – Rockabye
3. Katy Perry/Skip Marley – Chained To The Rhythm
4. Jon Bellion – All Time Low
5. Coldplay – Hymn For The Weekend