Niall Horan (3) – Week Of September 23, 2017

Hey guys! I apologize for the very late post. I had a lot of work taking up my time this past week. My next countdown post will most likely be posted a lot sooner. Not much really went on this week, so let's just get into it. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Julia Michaels – Issues (#42)
• The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer (#43) [8 Weeks At #1]
• AJR – Weak (#44)
• Calvin Harris/Pharrell/Katy Perry – Feels (#45)

Last Week's #1 Song: Niall Horan – Slow Hands

The Countdown

45. Fall Out Boy – Champion (#36)

44. The Chainsmokers – Honest (#31)

43. All Time Low – Good Times (#32)

42. Hailee Steinfeld – Most Girls (#33)

41. Linkin Park/Kiiara – Heavy (#40)

40. Bruno Mars – That's What I Like (#41) [1 Week At #1]

39. Lady Gaga – The Cure (#39)

38. Harry Styles – Two Ghosts (#26)

37. Kygo/Selena Gomez – It Ain't Me (#35)

36. Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You (#30) [9 Weeks At #1]

35. Hey Violet – Hoodie (#23)

34. The All-American Rejects – Sweat (#38)

33. MAX/Gnash – Lights Down Low (#37)

32. Kelly Clarkson – Love So Soft (DEBUT)

31. Justin Bieber/BloodPop – Friends (#27)

30. Panic! At The Disco – L.A. Devotee (#34)

29. Zedd/Liam Payne – Get Low (DEBUT)

28. The Revivalists – Wish I Knew You (DEBUT)

27. Bruno Mars/David Guetta – Versace On The Floor (#29)

26. Louis Tomlinson/Bebe Rexha/Digital Farm Animals – Back To You (#19)

25. Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill (#20) [3 Weeks At #1]

24. Linkin Park – One More Light (#24)

23. Sam Smith – Too Good At Goodbyes (DEBUT)

22. Halsey – Bad At Love (#25)

21. Andy Grammer – Give Love (#28)

20. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber – Despacito (#21)

19. Sam Hunt – Body Like A Back Road (#8)

18. Charlie Puth – Attention (#13) [1 Week At #1]

17. Portugal. The Man – Feel It Still (#16)

16. Cheat Codes/Demi Lovato – No Promises (#17)

15. Imagine Dragons – Thunder (#14)

14. Macklemore/Skylar Grey – Glorious (#15)

13. Maroon 5/SZA – What Lovers Do (#22)

12. Mono Mind – Save Me A Place (#10)

11. P!nk – What About Us (#18)

10. Zedd/Alessia Cara – Stay (#12) [4 Weeks At #1]

  9. Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do (#9)

  8. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This (#7) [3 Weeks At #1]

  7. Liam Payne – Strip That Down (#3)

  6. Imagine Dragons – Believer (#6)

  5. Kesha – Praying (#11)

  4. Ed Sheeran – Galway Girl (#4)

  3. Demi Lovato – Sorry Not Sorry (#5)

  2. Shawn Mendes – There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back (#2) [5 Weeks At #1]

  1. Niall Horan – Slow Hands (#1) [3^rd Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: The Chainsmokers/Daya – Don't Let Me Down

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: The Chainsmokers – Honest (–13)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Maroon 5/SZA – What Lovers Do (+9)

New Entrants
~ Two not-so-interesting debuts this week (out of four). The first comes from Kelly Clarkson with Love So Soft. I'm not a huge fan of the drastic change in her sound. She went for more of a R&B/trap production, which I don't think fits for her. There's nothing exciting about this song. It's actually kind of boring as most trap songs are nowadays. She doesn't do very much with her vocals. I like that she tried to change it up. But it doesn't sound good. It's hard to believe this is what we get after the beautiful Piece By Piece.

~ Next we have Zedd/Liam Payne – Get Low. I would expect something like this from Liam. But I'm a little disappointed in Zedd. Similar to Kelly Clarkson, Zedd changed up his sound too much and now it's just not good. The production is lazy in comparison to his previous work. It's not the worst thing I've ever heard. It's mostly just disappointing. There's not much to it. The lyrical content is no good. Liam's trying way too hard to sound sexy and I'm just not feeling it. Aside from the lyrical content, this song feels very childish in my opinion. I can't take it seriously. So all in all, not a good song.

~ Immediately following Get Low, we have The Revivalists debuting with Wish I Knew You. This song is a lot different than what we normally get. It's definitely an interesting song and it's something I personally can get into. I like the instrumentals. The lyrical content is good. Overall, it's a good song and I want to hear more songs like this. I get that this is a pop station, but it's nice to hear something different than pop every now and then. Something just like this. I hope it does well.

~ Finally we have Sam Smith making his big return with Too Good At Goodbyes. It's not as good as Stay With Me. But Sam Smith has a very soulful voice and I can feel every word he sings, which is something I can't say about most of these songs. That being said, the lyrical content is very good. All in all, I think it's a really good song and it only gets better with each listen. I don't have much else to say other than I hope it does well.


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

• Evaride – Heartless
• Zayn/Sia – Dusk Till Dawn
• Taylor Swift – ...Ready For It?
• Sabrina Carpenter – Why
• Fergie/Nicki Minaj – You Already Know (DEBUT)
• Niall Horan – Too Much To Ask (DEBUT)
• Selena Gomez – Fetish
• Why Don't We – Something Different
• The Script – Rain
• Lauv – I Like Me Better (DEBUT)
• Dua Lipa – New Rules
• Ed Sheeran – Perfect
• PRETTYMUCH – Would You Mind
• Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso/Florida Georgia Line/watt – Let Me Go

~ Fergie is back with Nicki Minaj on the track You Already Know. To say the least, this song is a lot weirder than it is good. I do like Nicki's verse though. But I can't say much else about it until I give it a few more listens.

~ Too Much To Ask is a very nice song. It's arguably his best single so far. I'd love to see this song do well, which it probably will.

~ I Like Me Better pretty much only has good vocals. There's really not much else to it that grabs my attention. Maybe more listens will change my opinion, but I doubt it.

~ I've heard Something Different on my Today's Hits Radio Pandora station quite a bit lately. Maybe it's actually starting to become a hit? The song has definitely gotten better.

~ As part of the Hits 1 Wutchuwant Crew, I get sent surveys where I give opinions on songs on Hits 1. Believe it or not, Logic/Alessia Cara/Khalid – 1-800-273-8255 actually did appear on that survey. So I wouldn't be surprised if it debuted on Hit-Bound (or even the countdown) one of these upcoming weeks.


Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
1. The Script – Rain
2. Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso/F.G.L./watt – Let Me Go
3. Ed Sheeran – Perfect
4. Zayn/Sia – Dusk Till Dawn
5. Niall Horan – Too Much To Ask


Blurbs So Soft
~ I think the best thing that happened this week was seeing Kesha – Praying jump into the Top 5. This song is definitely Top 5 worthy and it'd be really nice to see it hit #1. But ultimately, I'm just happy it's doing well.

~ P!nk – What About Us took a small jump to #11 this week. I'd love to see this song jump into the Top 10 next week just like Praying did. It's very worthy of hitting the Top 10 and maybe even the Top 5.

~ Our Bottom 5 songs all fell from within the Top 40. It's a little saddening since they're all good. But at the same time, we don't have very many bad songs currently on the countdown, which is good.

~ All of our exits deserved to go except for Feels. That one did not do as well as it should've. But although I can't ensure anything 100% just yet, I'm 99% sure you will see that song in my Top 45 of 2017.

~ I apologize for the lack of blurbs. Not very much went on and this post is already very late.


Top 20 Review
0 – Crap:
20. Liam Payne – Strip That Down

1 – Bad:
19. Demi Lovato – Sorry Not Sorry

2 – Mediocre:
18. Sam Hunt – Body Like A Back Road
17. Imagine Dragons – Believer

3 – Decent:
16. Zedd/Alessia Cara – Stay
15. Maroon 5/SZA – What Lovers Do

4 – Good:
NONE

5 – Great:
14. Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do
13. Shawn Mendes – There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back
12. Niall Horan – Slow Hands
11. Charlie Puth – Attention
10. Ed Sheeran – Galway Girl
9. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber – Despacito
8. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This
7. Cheat Codes/Demi Lovato – No Promises
6. Imagine Dragons – Thunder
5. Portugal. The Man – Feel It Still
4. P!nk – What About Us
3. Macklemore/Skylar Grey – Glorious
2. Mono Mind – Save Me A Place

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Kesha – Praying

Total Score: 82/100 = 82% (B–)


Throwback Pick Of The Week: The Script – Breakeven

Most Missed Countdown Song: Zedd/Matthew Koma/Miriam Bryant – Find You

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Avicii/Rita Ora – Lonely Together

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Coldplay – Hymn For The Weekend (#13)


My Top 5 Picks
1. Kesha – Praying
2. Mono Mind – Save Me A Place
3. Macklemore/Skylar Grey – Glorious
4. P!nk – What About Us
5. Louis Tomlinson/Bebe Rexha – Back To You