Ed Sheeran (2) – Week Of May 20, 2017

Yes, I am completely aware of the fact that I skipped a week. Keep in mind that I am not someone who likes to skip weeks considering that this is the first time that has ever happened. But when you're a senior in high school, you'll realize that the last week of school is always the busiest with finishing final exams, prom, and graduation. So I really didn't have much of a choice here. If you would like to see last week's countdown, feel free to visit fellow blogger Jack Farrell's blog or anyone else in the "Other SiriusXM Hits 1 Countdown Blogs" section. Once again, I apologize for skipping a week. But I hope you can understand. Here are the songs that left last week.

• Adele – Water Under The Bridge (#39)
• James Hersey – Miss You (#43)
• Lady Gaga – Million Reasons (#44)
• Rihanna – Love On The Brain (#45)

Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Flo Rida/99 Percent – Cake (#27)
• Jon Bellion – All Time Low (#29)
• Bruno Mars – 24K Magic (#34)
• Snakehips/MØ – Don't Leave (#39)
• Ariana Grande/Nicki Minaj – Side To Side (#41)

Last Week's #1 Song: Zedd/Alessia Cara – Stay

The Countdown

45. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming (#45)

44. Niall Horan – This Town (#44)

43. Katy Perry/Skip Marley – Chained To The Rhythm (#43)

42. Machine Gun Kelly/Camila Cabello – Bad Things (#32)

41. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey/Zedd – Starving (#38) [4 Weeks At #1]
40. Aaron Carter – Sooner Or Later (#37)
39. One Ok Rock – American Girls (#40)
38. Zayn/PartyNextDoor – Still Got Time (DEBUT)
37. Maroon 5 – Don't Wanna Know (#42) [3 Weeks At #1]
36. G-Eazy/Kehlani – Good Life (DEBUT)
35. Twenty One Pilots – Heavydirtysoul (#31)
34. Jason Derulo/Nicki Minaj/Ty Dolla $ign – Swalla (DEBUT)
33. DNCE – Kissing Strangers (DEBUT)
32. Steve Aoki/Louis Tomlinson – Just Hold On (#33)
31. Machine Gun Kelly/Hailee Steinfeld – At My Best (DEBUT)
30. Zayn/Taylor Swift – I Don't Wanna Live Forever (#24)
29. The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer (#13) [8 Weeks At #1]
28. MAX/Gnash – Lights Down Low (#36)
27. Maroon 5 – Cold (#17)
26. Shawn Mendes – Mercy (#6)
25. Clean Bandit/Sean Paul/Anne-Marie – Rockabye (#25)
24. Harry Styles – Sign Of The Times (#28)
23. DJ Khaled/Justin Bieber/Chance The Rapper – I'm The One (#35)
22. The Vamps/Matoma – All Night (#16)
21. Fitz & The Tantrums – HandClap (#23)
20. Charlie Puth – Attention (#20)
19. Train – Play That Song (#21)
18. AJR – Weak (#22)
17. Bruno Mars – That's What I Like (#5) [1 Week At #1]
16. Niall Horan – Slow Hands (#30)
15. Calvin Harris/Frank Ocean/Migos – Slide (#15)
14. Halsey – Now Or Never (#26)
13. Lady Gaga – The Cure (#18)
12. Panic! At The Disco – L.A. Devotee (#8)
11. Shawn Mendes – There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back (#14)
10. James Arthur – Say You Won't Let Go (#12)
  9. The Chainsmokers – Paris (#9)
  8. Julia Michaels – Issues (#10)
  7. Linkin Park/Kiiara – Heavy (#19)
  6. Kygo/Selena Gomez – It Ain't Me (#7)
  5. Imagine Dragons – Believer (#11)
  4. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This (#3)
  3. Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You (#2) [9 Weeks At #1]
  2. Zedd/Alessia Cara – Stay (#1) [2 Weeks At #1]
  1. Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill (#4) [2^nd Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Panic! At The Disco – Victorious

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Shawn Mendes – Mercy (–20)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Niall Horan – Slow Hands (+14)

New Entrants
~ We have five new entrants this week as well as the four from last week that I didn't review. So buckle up guys. I got nine new songs to review right now. First up, last week's debuts. Kicking it off with One Ok Rock – American Girls. I don't have much to say about this one. It's really catchy and a cool rock song. I like the instrumentation and the production. The vocals are pretty good. All in all, it's a good song. I don't think it'll last very long, but I'm curious to see how it does.

~ Next up we have Aaron Carter with Sooner Or Later. I was really disappointed when I heard that this song left Hit-Bound two weeks ago. I'm really glad it still debuted. The production on this track is fantastic. I love the chorus, especially when we get that first loud drop. The vocals are very good. I like the verses. Overall, it's a great song that I really hope does well. Unfortunately, it seemed to have dropped on its second week. Hopefully it can recover from that. I refuse to watch this song die out early. It's way too good to go through that. Out of both of these two weeks, Sooner Or Later is the best debut.

~ Next we have producer DJ Khaled making his first appearance on the Weekend Countdown. He brings I'm The One with Justin Bieber and Chance The Rapper, eliminating Quavo and Lil Wayne from the song (thankfully). If I'm being honest, I really don't see the appeal. It's not a bad song per se, but it really isn't something I think is worthy of a #1 spot anywhere. I like Bieber's work on the chorus. But the production seems very underwhelming and I'm going to blame Khaled for that. I've read some things about this song potentially being the song of the summer, which does not sound very pleasing to me. Last year, we had the same thing happen with Calvin Harris/Rihanna – This Is What You Came For, which was beyond mediocre. Not to say that I'm The One is as mediocre as This Is What You Came For. Like I said, it's not a bad song. However, it's not a song that'll last very long with me and if it really is gonna be the song of the summer, it ain't leaving anytime soon. We're just gonna have to wait and see what happens. My opinions on this song could very well change. I don't anticipate it, but it could happen.

~ Niall Horan debuts with his second countdown song, Slow Hands. This one is a lot more upbeat than This Town. But at the same time, it's still a pretty chill song. There's some good instrumentation going on here and I think Niall's vocals sound really good. Overall, it's a good song. It's not necessarily a song that I'll have on repeat. But it's the kind of song where if it comes on the radio, I won't change the station.

~ Moving on to this week's debuts. Zayn returns (again....) with PartyNextDoor on the track, Still Got Time. When your least favorite member of a certain boyband decides to make music solo, you'll be lucky if you ever get a good song. I really don't like the production on this track. It's probably my least favorite thing about it. The vocals are not good either. Zayn has better vocal capabilities than what he does on this song. It's not an awful song, but it's pretty damn flavorless. I hope it doesn't do well. It doesn't seem to be very big of a hit elsewhere, which I guess is a good thing. But if this gets the same treatment as his other songs, I won't be very happy.

~ Next we have the return of G-Eazy with Kehlani on the track Good Life from The Fate of the Furious soundtrack. G-Eazy has some pretty solid verses that are certainly enjoyable. I absolutely love Kehlani's work on the chorus. I think she has a great voice. There really isn't much else to say about it. It's a catchy song and I hope it does well. It probably won't, but it still doesn't hurt to hope.

~ Next up we have Jason Derulo/Nicki Minaj/Ty Dolla $ign – Swalla. I'm willing to consider it to be my guilty pleasure of 2017 so far. It's such a strange song, but I just love it. The chorus is really catchy. Both rap verses are pretty good, especially Nicki's. Her verse is probably my favorite part of the song next to the chorus. Like I said, it's a very strange song. But somehow, it all works out well. It's hard to tell how this song will do. Hopefully it does decently well. It's a catchy song and I don't want to see it drop out too early.

~ DNCE is back. They bring the song Kissing Strangers, a title that certainly sounds like a whole lot of fun to do in real life. I haven't heard it on Hits 1, so I'm assuming Nicki Minaj's verse is edited out, which sucks because I really like her verse. Oh well. Despite that, it is still a good song. I thought it was a little annoying at first. It took a few listens for me to really get into it. I guess I can consider it a fun song. I really like Joe Jonas' vocals. Overall, it's a good song. It definitely isn't their best. But they really haven't disappointed me yet with their music. Let's see if this song can do better than the very underrated Body Moves.

~ Finally, we have Machine Gun Kelly debuting with his second song currently on the countdown, At My Best featuring another artist currently on the countdown, Hailee Steinfeld. I would say At My Best is definitely superior to both Bad Things and Starving. As far as MGK's music, At My Best doesn't exactly top some of his other songs like A Little More, but it is still enjoyable. Hailee Steinfeld does a lot better on the chorus for this song than Camila Cabello does for Bad Things. The verses flow pretty smoothly. Overall, it's a very good song. I can't really see it being as big of a hit as Bad Things unfortunately. We'll just have to wait and see.


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

• Camila Cabello – Crying In The Club (DEBUT)
• Erin Bowman – Good Time Good Life
• Hey Violet – Break My Heart
• Liam Payne/Quavo – Strip That Down (DEBUT)
• Noah Cyrus – Stay Together
• Ocean Park Standoff – Good News
• Selena Gomez – Bad Liar (DEBUT)
• Fall Out Boy – Young & Menace
• Hailee Steinfeld – Most Girls
• Mansionz/G-Eazy – Wicked
• Miley Cyrus – Malibu (DEBUT)
• Jon Bellion – Overwhelming
• Katy Perry/Nicki Minaj – Swish Swish (DEBUT)
• Sam Hunt – Body Like A Back Road

~ Hit-Bound just seems to be getting less and less appealing. Body Like A Back Road is legit on the line between an okay song and a bad song. I've certainly heard worse songs (such as every other red/orange song on this list). But at the same time, it's kind of embarrassing to the country genre.

~ Malibu isn't exactly that exciting of a song. But it seems as though we're getting a different side of Miley Cyrus. If she continues to release songs like this, I will start to view her as a better artist. She's definitely talented and she has a great voice. It's just a matter of how she uses it and in Malibu, she uses it well. Now I can't say the same thing about her sister, Noah Cyrus. She does not have a good voice at all. I tried listening to Stay Together and I just suffered. Can she just not make music?

~ Camila Cabello and Liam Payne's new singles are not very appealing. As of right now, I'll consider them okay. But that could very well change. Selena Gomez has once again proven that she sucks as a solo artist. Bad Liar sounds like Hands To Myself 2.0.

~ Katy Perry has debuted with Swish Swish, replacing Bon Appetit. This one is definitely a bit more interesting. However, her music is still getting a little questionable. And it's pretty obvious Katy Perry is continuing this feud with Taylor Swift. She even just confirmed it recently saying something along the lines of, "She started it, and it's time for her to finish it." I don't know. We'll see how this new album turns out, but I know some people aren't exactly looking forward to it with all these singles so far.


American Blurbs
~ Our Top 5 looks pretty decent-ish. I'm very pleased to see Something Just Like This getting some love. Hopefully it can hit #1 soon. However, I'm too thrilled to see Believer in the Top 5 as well. It's really not a song that should get any higher than this.

~ Linkin Park/Kiiara – Heavy is once again in the Top 10. As usual, I didn't really expect it. This song is very unpredictable. With time, it is starting to fade a little bit on me. It is still in green, but it could very well change to blue sometime in the near future.

~ I feel like the only person that actually dislikes Julia Michaels – Issues. But I don't care. Her voice sucks. The song itself is not at all interesting either. I'm not very happy about it being in the Top 10. Please do not stay long.

~ And of course there had to be a jump at some point for Halsey – Now Or Never. This song is just straight up boring. It has nothing to it to really grab your attention. Halsey's vocal performance is pretty mediocre. The song just has nothing interesting to it. But it's Halsey, so it has to do well according to Hits 1's logic.

~ I am pretty happy with the drop out of the Top 10 from Bruno Mars – That's What I Like. Now if we can just get it out of the Top 20, and soon enough the countdown.

~ We finally got a drop from The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer. While I still like the song, it had its time towards the top. Now it's time to give other songs a chance. However, I can guarantee this song is not leaving anytime soon.

~ The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming seems to have dropped to the very bottom of the countdown. At times like these, I question who it is that does these rankings because this is just absurd. A fantastic song is getting relatively underrated. Yes, it did peak in the Top 10. But it only spent one week there at #10. Doesn't seem like enough to me. Oh well. Now I just hope it doesn't fall out just yet. Hopefully it can hang on for a little while longer.

~ As far as our exits go, it was really nice to see Rihanna – Love On The Brain finally leave last week. That one was here much longer than it should've been. Jon Bellion – All Time Low will for sure be missed. I did not expect it to leave already. I kind of expected it to hang around for a little while like Hymn For The Weekend. It was really nice to see Cake, 24K Magic, and Don't Leave exit the countdown. All of those songs desperately needed to go. Finally, I was starting to get sick of Side To Side. So I consider that to be good timing.

~ I am very behind on my Hit 45 Chart posts. So bear with me as I attempt to catch up.

Senior Prom!
~ My senior prom took place last Friday. Those of you that follow me on Instagram should know because I did post about it. So here's the playlist of songs that I heard and know.

• The 1975 – The Sound
• Beyoncé – Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
• Bruno Mars – 24K Magic
• Bruno Mars – That's What I Like
• Calvin Harris/Frank Ocean/Migos – Slide
• The Chainsmokers – Paris
• The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer
• The Chainsmokers/Rozes – Roses
• Daddy Yankee – Gasolina
• Deorro/Pitbull/Elvis Crespo – Bailar
• DJ Khaled/Justin Bieber/Quavo/Chance The Rapper/Lil Wayne – I'm The One
• Drake – Hotline Bling
• Drake/WizKid/Kyla – One Dance
• Enrique Iglesias/Sean Paul – Bailando
• Flo Rida/T-Pain – Low
• Hailee Steinfeld & Grey/Zedd – Starving
• iLoveMemphis – Hit The Quan
• Imagine Dragons – Believer
• James Arthur – Say You Won't Let Go
• Jason Derulo – Want To Want Me
• Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone
• Ke$ha – TiK ToK
• Lil Uzi Vert – XO TOUR Llif3
• Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber – Despacito
• Machine Gun Kelly/Camila Cabello – Bad Things
• Migos/Lil Uzi Vert – Bad and Boujee
• Miley Cyrus – Party In The U.S.A.
• Panic! At The Disco – Death Of A Bachelor
• Outkast – Hey Ya!
• Sam Smith – Stay With Me
• Sean Paul – Temperature
• Shakira/Wyclef Jean – Hips Don't Lie
• Shaggy – It Wasn't Me
• Shawn Mendes – There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back
• Snakehips/MØ – Don't Leave
• The Spice Girls – Wannabe
• The Vamps/Matoma – All Night
• The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming
• Usher/Lil Jon/Ludacris – Yeah!
• Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall – Juju On That Beat
• + a bunch of other rap songs I didn't know

The playlist doesn't look that bad. But there was a lot of seemingly random rap music that I just did not find appealing. But other than that, it was a very fun night and a great experience that I'm glad I didn't miss out on.

~ So now that I have officially graduated high school, I will hopefully be able to start blogging normally again (at least over the course of the summer). My first priority is to catch up on the Hit 45 Chart. Then I may do some special additional posts. I know America's Got Talent is returning next week. So I may start to review that show for a second year. We'll see.

Top 20 Review

0 – Crap:

20. AJR – Weak

19. Bruno Mars – That's What I Like

18. Julia Michaels – Issues

17. Imagine Dragons – Believer

1 – Bad:

16. Halsey – Now Or Never

2 – Mediocre:

NONE

3 – Decent:

NONE

4 – Good:

NONE

5 – Great:

15. Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You

14. James Arthur – Say You Won't Let Go

13. Linkin Park/Kiiara – Heavy

12. Niall Horan – Slow Hands

11. Zedd/Alessia Cara – Stay

10. Panic! At The Disco – L.A. Devotee

9. Train – Play That Song

8. Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill

7. Charlie Puth – Attention

6. Kygo/Selena Gomez – It Ain't Me

5. The Chainsmokers – Paris

4. Shawn Mendes – There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back

3. Calvin Harris/Frank Ocean/Migos – Slide

2. Lady Gaga – The Cure

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:

1. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This

Total Score: 77/100 = 77% (C+)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: OneRepublic – Good Life

Most Missed Countdown Song: Pitbull/Chris Brown – International Love

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber – Despacito

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Mike Posner – I Took A Pill In Ibiza

My Top 5 Picks

1. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This

2. Lady Gaga – The Cure

3. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming

4. Aaron Carter – Sooner Or Later

5. Jason Derulo/Nicki Minaj/Ty Dolla $ign – Swalla