Year-End Special: Billboard Hot 100 of 2017

As you know, the Billboard Hot 100 is a lot different than the SiriusXM Hits 1 Weekend Countdown. It's a more accurate representation of the biggest songs in the country as it includes a bunch of rap songs that Hits 1 tends to not pick up on. In terms of how 2017 went overall, it was pretty bad, at least looking at this list. It seems like the rap music has gotten worse. That's not to say that there weren't a bunch of great songs, because there were. But aside from Shape Of You and Despacito, rap pretty much dominated. There are a bunch of songs here that I have never even heard before and I was very unpleased (Blogger tells me that's not a word apparently) listening to them. I apologize if I rant too much about rap music. But honestly, it's annoying how popular it's become lately. But like I said in one of my previous Year-End posts, I'll try to do a rant-it-out post, which is where I will vent out all of my frustration. Though I'm warning you now that are some complaints in this post about the rap music in this list. But anyway, now I'll be reviewing Billboard's Year-End chart for 2017. Color-coding works the way it usually does. There will be ten purple and ten orange songs because I feel like having that many. There will also be a Top 50 Review at the end of the post. I can't do a Top 100 Review because I just don't have that kind of time. So you'll have to live with just the Top 50. So with that, here are the Top 100 songs of 2017 according to Billboard!


Last Year's #1 Song: Justin Bieber – Love Yourself
The Countdown
100. Keith Urban/Carrie Underwood – The Fighter (#38)
99. XXXTentacion – Look At Me (#34)
98. Blackbear – Do Re Mi (#40)
97. Maroon 5/SZA – What Lovers Do (#9)
96. Camila Cabello/Young Thug – Havana (#2)
95. YFN Lucci/PnB Rock – Everyday We Lit (#33)
94. Dustin Lynch – Small Town Boy (#36)
93. Gucci Mane/Migos – I Get The Bag (#11)
92. Shawn Mendes – Treat You Better (#6)
91. Cheat Codes/Demi Lovato – No Promises (#38)
90. Marian Hill – Down (#21)
89. Miley Cyrus – Malibu (#10)
88. Adele – Water Under The Bridge (#26)
87. Harry Styles – Sign Of The Times (#4)
86. Migos/Gucci Mane – Slippery (#29)
85. Jason Derulo/Nicki Minaj/Ty Dolla $ign – Swalla (#29)
84. P!nk – What About Us (#13)
83. Gucci Mane/Drake – Both (#41)
82. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey/Zedd – Starving (#12)
81. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie/Kodak Black – Drowning (#38)
80. SZA/Travis Scott – Love Galore (#32)
79. Playboi Carti – Magnolia (#29)
78. Khalid – Young, Dumb, and Broke (#18)
77. Sam Smith – Too Good At Goodbyes (#4)
76. Luke Combs – Hurricane (#31)
75. Jon Bellion – All Time Low (#16)
74. Calvin Harris/Pharrell/Katy Perry/Big Sean – Feels (#20)
73. Katy Perry/Skip Marley – Chained To The Rhythm (#4)
72. Kane Brown/Lauren Alaina – What Ifs (#26)
71. Calvin Harris/Frank Ocean/Migos – Slide (#25)
70. D.R.A.M/Lil Yachty – Broccoli (#5)
69. Maroon 5/Future – Cold (#16)
68. Travis Scott/Kendrick Lamar – Goosebumps (#32)
67. Kesha – Praying (#22)
66. Kendrick Lamar/Rihanna – Loyalty (#14)
65. Drake – Passionfruit (#8)
64. Rae Sremmurd – Swang (#26)
63. Zay Hilfigerrr/Zayion McCall – Juju On That Beat (#5)
62. Kendrick Lamar – DNA (#4)
61. Ayo & Teo – Rolex (#20)
60. Aminé – Caroline (#11)
59. Halsey – Now Or Never (#17)
58. Twenty One Pilots – Heathens (#2)
57. Brett Young – In Case You Didn't Know (#19)
56. Post Malone/21 Savage – Rockstar (#1)
55. Kodak Black – Tunnel Vision (#6)
54. Shawn Mendes – Mercy (#15)
53. Yo Gotti/Nicki Minaj – Rake It Up (#8)
52. Migos – T-Shirt (#19)
51. Imagine Dragons – Thunder (#4)
50. J Balvin & Willy William/Beyoncé – Mi Gente (#3)
49. Justin Timberlake – Can't Stop The Feeling (#1)
48. 21 Savage – Bank Account (#12)
47. Demi Lovato – Sorry Not Sorry (#6)
46. DJ Snake/Justin Bieber – Let Me Love You (#4)
45. Portugal. The Man – Feel It Still (#4)
44. Clean Bandit/Sean Paul/Anne-Marie – Rockabye (#9)
43. Ariana Grande/Nicki Minaj – Side To Side (#4)
42. The Chainsmokers – Paris (#6)
41. Machine Gun Kelly/Camila Cabello – Bad Things (#2)
40. Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill (#6)
39. Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do (#1)
38. Maroon 5/Kendrick Lamar – Don't Wanna Know (#6)
37. Drake – Fake Love (#8)
36. Liam Payne/Quavo – Strip That Down (#10)
35. Big Sean – Bounce Back (#6)
34. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming (#4)
33. Rihanna – Love On The Brain (#5)
32. Niall Horan – Slow Hands (#11)
31. Logic/Alessia Cara/Khalid – 1-800-273-8255 (#3)
30. Alessia Cara – Scars To Your Beautiful (#8)
29. Julia Michaels – Issues (#11)
28. Kyle/Lil Yachty – iSpy (#4)
27. Kygo/Selena Gomez – It Ain't Me (#10)
26. Zayn/Taylor Swift – I Don't Wanna Live Forever (#2)
25. Childish Gambino – Redbone (#12)
24. Cardi B – Bodak Yellow (#1)
23. Shawn Mendes – There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back (#6)
22. Charlie Puth – Attention (#5)
21. Khalid – Location (#16)
20. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – Starboy (#1)
19. Rae Sremmurd/Gucci Mane – Black Beatles (#1)
18. DJ Khaled/Rihanna/Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts (#2)
17. Zedd/Alessia Cara – Stay (#7)
16. Bruno Mars – 24K Magic (#4)
15. French Montana/Swae Lee – Unforgettable (#3)
14. Future – Mask Off (#5)
13. Lil Uzi Vert – XO Tour Llif3 (#7)
12. DJ Khaled/Justin Bieber/Quavo/Chance The Rapper/Lil Wayne – I'm The One (#1)
11. James Arthur – Say You Won't Let Go (#11)
10. Post Malone/Quavo – Congratulations (#8)
  9. Imagine Dragons – Believer (#4)
  8. Sam Hunt – Body Like A Back Road (#6)
  7. The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer (#1)
  6. Migos/Lil Uzi Vert – Bad and Boujee (#1)
  5. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This (#3)
  4. Kendrick Lamar – Humble (#1)
  3. Bruno Mars – That's What I Like (#1)
  2. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber – Despacito (#1)
  1. Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You (#1)


Shape of Blurbs
~ And we have another chart where Shape Of You is at the top. Definitely the most predictable thing this year. I talked about this in my review of Hits 1's Top 45 of 2017, but I don't think this song is worthy of being #1 of the year. What exactly is so amazingly special about it? It is a good song without a doubt. But Ed Sheeran has done better in my opinion. And when you compare this to previous songs ranking #1 on the Year-End Hot 100, it looks silly that a song like this with not very much to it is #1 of the whole year. Again, it's a good song. But there's nothing special about it that would make me ever rank it at #1 for the year.

~ Next we have Despacito at #2. I personally think this would've been a better choice for #1 just because I think the Latin genre deserves that kind of acknowledgement and, let's be real here, this song was a jam. But #2 is good enough. It spent 16 weeks at the top, tying the record for most weeks at #1 with One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey featuring Boyz II Men. Of course many were afraid that Despacito would break the record. Me personally, I didn't really care either way. I have nothing against Mariah Carey (please disregard all of my previous criticisms about her, she is indeed very talented). But I loved Despacito at the time enough to the point where I wouldn't have minded seeing it break the record. Some people hate the song for that reason alone, which doesn't make very much sense to me, but whatever I guess. I'm glad the song was as successful as it was. Latin-pop music deserves more recognition than it gets. Seriously. We have only two Latin songs on this list.

~ Migos/Lil Uzi Vert – Bad and Boujee just barely missed the Top 5. I'm having a really hard time understanding why this song was so big. It's nothing more than some lame beat and terrible "rapping". Seriously, this song is shit and I find it quite annoying that this was a #1 hit. I don't know how anyone could possibly enjoy this. It's song like these that make me lose faith in music if this is really one of the Top 10 songs of the year in the country. This is not okay.

~ I'm glad James Arthur – Say You Won't Let Go ended up getting as big as it got. It originally seemed like one of those songs Hits 1 would randomly pick up and it ends up not doing much. But sure enough, this song made it big and actually ranked at #11, which is quite impressive, especially considering that its chart peak is also #11. I think it's a sweet song. I can understand if people find it boring. But I actually like slower love songs. I don't love it now as much as before. But I still like it to some extent.

~ DJ Khaled's two big hits this year both ranked in the Top 20. One I thought was pretty mediocre, while the other is easily one of the best songs of the year. I'm The One had a collection of artists featured and Bieber was the only one that sounded okay. Lil Wayne ruins almost everything he touches with his awful voice. The production was also pretty weak. Khaled did a pretty mediocre job here. But with Wild Thoughts, he easily redeemed himself. This is another one of those songs where the simplicity works very well and sounds very good. I love the Latin vibe and the guitar sample from Santana fits really nicely. Rihanna and Bryson Tiller both sound great. This was definitely a step-up and it's a shame it didn't do as well. It definitely deserved at least one week at the top. But it just so happened to be the song stuck behind Despacito, which was unfortunate. But regardless, it's still one of the best songs of the year.

~ I enjoyed Black Beatles mostly towards the end of 2016. Then it kind of faded away from my personal music rotation. But I do still think it's a good song. I'm not exactly sure why I like it. The production doesn't suck and Swae Lee's voice actually sounds above average here. I guess you can say I liked it as more of a guilty pleasure. But I feel like it was a pretty solid track. I can't say the same thing about Swang, which is one of the worst songs of the year. This one was just not good and it's not hard to figure out why. Literally you just have to listen to the chorus.

~ Fortunately, songs like Cardi B – Bodak Yellow and Kyle/Lil Yachty – iSpy missed the Top 20. Both peaked in the Top 5 and I honestly just hate both of them. I absolutely despise Lil Yachty. I don't think there's a single song he's part of that I actually like. I think he is an abomination to music. Thankfully, none of his solo work made it on here. His features are bad enough. iSpy is another one of those songs that just goes to show that you don't need talent to get a Top 5 hit. The vocals here are not good and I don't like the production. Bodak Yellow doesn't need much explanation. Cardi B is very much a Nicki Minaj wannabe and I see a lot of comparisons between the two. Though it's pretty obvious who has more talent. The fact that Bodak Yellow actually hit #1 and Nicki hasn't even had a #1 hit is slightly infuriating because only these days can some random rapper with little to no talent pop out and get a #1 on her first try. There is nothing appealing about Bodak Yellow. The pacing is awful. It's very slow and easy to lose someone's attention. The lyrical content speaks for itself. Cardi B's voice is almost unbearable. I do not think she is a good rapper. I really can't see myself liking anything she releases. Her newer song, Bartier Cardi, is really bad too (seriously why does everyone want to have 21 Savage in their songs?).

~ A little further down, we have a lot of pop songs that just were not good. Songs like Don't Wanna Know, Love On The Brain, Issues, Look What You Made Me Do, Strip That Down, Side To Side, and Bad Things all made it on to Hits 1. I've already talked about why I dislike each of these. But I just wanted to note that it's not only the rap songs getting my criticism. If you've been following this blog and my weekly countdown posts, then you should already know that.

~ It feels like DJ Snake/Justin Bieber – Let Me Love You was released such a long time ago. It was released in August of 2016, which I guess is a little late in the year. But it's been such a long time since I've heard it that it looks strange to this song here. That's just me though. But I still like the song. Justin Bieber sounds really good here and DJ Snake has stepped it up from songs like You Know You Like It and Middle. While I liked the latter, I still thought Let Me Love You was better.

~ I legitimately do not understand why people like 21 Savage. His voice is absolutely atrocious. Like Lil Wayne, he ruins just about everything he touches. Rockstar by Post Malone may have been more tolerable without his verse. But with someone as bad as him, it's hard to imagine how a solo single would sound. And of course, we got Bank Account. This song is hard to listen to. Aside from the shitty vocals, the lyrics here are awful and the production is almost not even there. That's how underwhelming it is. Seriously, why do people like this guy? I need a legitimate explanation because this man has no talent whatsoever.

~ Just barely making the Top 50, we have J Balvin & Willy William/Beyoncé – Mi Gente. It took me a while to realize how disliked this song was. Sure, it's not as good as Despacito, nor is it the best thing Latin pop has to offer. But I just really like it. As a Latino myself, I like Latin pop music, which is probably why I like this song. The production is not amazing and it gets repetitive. But I just think it's catchy. I don't know. I like the vocals and Beyoncé's contribution is pretty good. All I can really say is that I'm glad this song was successful.

~ And for the second year in a row, D.R.A.M/Lil Yachty – Broccoli made it on to the Year-End chart. I pretty much ranted about this song when I counted down my Bottom 10 songs of 2016. It's essentially your typical rap song with shitty lyrics and vocals. But the production is unbearable and it makes the song nearly impossible to listen to. This song has no place here again for the second year. It's bad enough it was here last year. And like I said earlier, anything Lil Yachty is part of is almost bound to be garbage.

~ Calvin Harris' two big singles, Slide and Feels, managed to make the Year-End chart thankfully. I praised both songs when I counted down my Top 45 songs of 2017. Calvin Harris went for something different here and it really worked out well. I'm so glad he managed to redeem himself after the extremely mediocre This Is What You Came For. I'm glad these songs were moderately successful as they are very good. Calvin Harris did a great job here.

~ Playboi Carti – Magnolia is another rap song that I can't not mention. This song is honestly just awful. Throughout the whole song is that lame beat an endless loop. If it wasn't boring to begin with, it certainly wouldn't take long for it become boring. The background sounds are awful and this guy sounds as unintelligent as almost every other rapper here aside from Kendrick and Logic. And there's some kind of high-pitched squeal that you hear multiple times. It sounds awful and I don't know who thought that was okay. Frankly I don't why songs like these are even getting made. Like this is a forgettable piece of garbage. When putting songs together, I would think you'd want to release something that would have a long-lasting impact. No one is going remember this along with a lot of other rap songs in this list.

~ Gucci Mane and Migos had two collaborations that made this list and, not surprisingly, neither of them are good. I'd be shocked if they were. The last rap song I want to mention is Look At Me. First off, the song is just barely over two minutes, which is probably the shortest song I've heard in a long time. And of course, he has nothing intelligent to say at all during those two minutes. The lyrics are awful and this guy looks high in the single cover. I seriously don't know how anyone can consider this music. This is a disgrace to music. It's so sad that songs like these actually get big. And only in the U.S. would a song like this actually chart.

~ We have a lot of country music in the bottom half of the list. Normally, I wouldn't think much of it. But because of how much god-awful rap music I've had to suffer through while putting this post together, I found these country songs to be rather refreshing. I get that country songs and rap songs are not comparable. But seriously, when you've listened to a lot of crap, anything that's decent at the very least suddenly gets a little bit better. Songs like Kane Brown/Lauren Alaina – What Ifs, Brett Young – In Case You Didn't Know, Luke Combs – Hurricane, and Dustin Lynch – Small Town Boy are what I'm talking about. None of them are great songs, aside from maybe What Ifs. But I'm being nice to them right now because frankly, it's nice to not have to listen to another rap song. More talent went into these songs, which is something half of this list is missing.

~ Finally, we come to Keith Urban/Carrie Underwood – The Fighter just barely making this list. I talked about this song in one of my previous Year-End posts where I listed the 25 best songs that failed to make it onto Hits 1. The Fighter is probably the least-country song from the country genre in 2017. It's a lot more pop, upbeat, and fast and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I like the production and I think the song is pretty fun. I like the duet between Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood. They've sounded better, but they still sound good here. Some may not like it because of how poppy it is. But frankly, that doesn't really bother me as much as it probably should. It's a catchy song and honestly, I like it for what it is. I'm glad it was able to make this list, even if it is at #100.


Top 50 Review
0 – Crap:
50. 21 Savage – Bank Account
49. Future – Mask Off
48. Lil Uzi Vert – XO Tour Llif3
47. Migos/Lil Uzi Vert – Bad and Boujee
46. Cardi B – Bodak Yellow
45. Kyle/Lil Yachty – iSpy
44. Julia Michaels – Issues
43. Liam Payne/Quavo – Strip That Down
42. Childish Gambino – Redbone
41. Post Malone/Quavo – Congratulations
40. Maroon 5/Kendrick Lamar – Don't Wanna Know
39. Drake – Fake Love
38. Bruno Mars – 24K Magic
37. Rihanna – Love On The Brain
36. Sam Hunt – Body Like A Back Road
35. Bruno Mars – That's What I Like

1 – Bad:
34. Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do
33. Demi Lovato – Sorry Not Sorry
32. Ariana Grande/Nicki Minaj – Side To Side
31. Zedd/Alessia Cara – Stay

2 – Mediocre:
30. Zayn/Taylor Swift – I Don't Wanna Live Forever
29. Machine Gun Kelly/Camila Cabello – Bad Things
28. DJ Khaled/Justin Bieber/Quavo/Chance The Rapper/Lil Wayne – I'm The One
27. Shawn Mendes – There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back
26. The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer

3 – Decent:
25. Khalid – Location
24. Portugal. The Man – Feel It Still
23. Big Sean – Bounce Back
22. Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You
21. James Arthur – Say You Won't Let Go

4 – Good:
20. Rae Sremmurd/Gucci Mane – Black Beatles
19. Niall Horan – Slow Hands

5 – Great:
18. The Chainsmokers – Paris
17. Alessia Cara – Scars To Your Beautiful
16. J Balvin & Willy William/Beyoncé – Mi Gente
15. Justin Timberlake – Can't Stop The Feeling
14. DJ Snake/Justin Bieber – Let Me Love You
13. Imagine Dragons – Believer
12. Charlie Puth – Attention
11. Clean Bandit/Sean Paul/Anne-Marie – Rockabye
10. French Montana/Swae Lee – Unforgettable
9. Kendrick Lamar – Humble
8. Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill
7. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber – Despacito
6. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – Starboy
5. DJ Khaled/Rihanna/Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts
4. Logic/Alessia Cara/Khalid – 1-800-273-8255
3. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming
2. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This

BONUS: 6 – Best Song Of The Year:
1. Kygo/Selena Gomez – It Ain't Me

Final Score: 128/250 = 51.2% (C)


Throwback Pick Of The Year: Ke$ha – TiK ToK (#1 song of 2010) (since her birthday is today)

Most Missed Hot 100 Song: Justin Bieber – Love Yourself (#1 song of 2016) (since his birthday is today)

#1 Recommendation For Billboard: Robert DeLong/K.Flay – Favorite Color Is Blue

Favorite Song One Year Ago: Coldplay/Beyoncé – Hymn For The Weekend


My Top 10 Picks
1. Kygo/Selena Gomez – It Ain't Me
2. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This
3. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming
4. P!nk – What About Us
5. Kesha – Praying
6. Logic/Alessia Cara/Khalid – 1-800-273-8255
7. DJ Khaled/Rihanna/Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts
8. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – Starboy
9. Jon Bellion – All Time Low
10. Calvin Harris/Pharrell/Katy Perry/Big Sean – Feels


My Bottom 10 Picks
1. XXXTentacion – Look At Me
2. 21 Savage – Bank Account
3. Future – Mask Off
4. Lil Uzi Vert – XO Tour Llif3
5. Migos/Lil Uzi Vert – Bad and Boujee
6. D.R.A.M/Lil Yachty – Broccoli
7. Playboi Carti – Magnolia
8. Cardi B – Bodak Yellow
9. Kyle/Lil Yachty – iSpy
10. Rae Sremmurd – Swang


That concludes my review of Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 for 2017. The Top 50 score was pretty average, which I expected. 2017 could've definitely been better as far as music goes. It seems like the rap music got worse. Hopefully we don't see this kind of list again at the end of 2018. We've been on a decline for the past couple of years and these lists are getting worse each year. Hopefully 2018 will be different, though I doubt it will be. On a more positive note, there were a lot of very good songs and I will remember each and every song that made it into my Top 10 picks. All of them were amazing. And with that, I have (finally) completed my Year-End posts for 2017. I wanted to do a Year-End chart for the Hit 45 Chart despite my lack of blogging on there. But I really don't think it'll end up happening at this point. So I'll just say that this is the end of the 2017 Year-End posts. Now I want to get some specials out soon because I haven't done any milestone posts in forever and I have some ideas in mind. So hopefully those will start coming out soon. But that's all I have for you guys today. Enjoy the remainder of your week and I'll be back this weekend for the Weekend Countdown post. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. :)