5 Seconds of Summer (4) – Week Of November 24, 2018

Hey guys! I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. Because of the Thanksgiving weekend, the countdown started airing yesterday, which is why I was able to post it today. So yeah. It's really nice to finally get a post out early (and first for once). Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Pitbull/Theron Theron – Free Free Free (#25)
• Bryce Vine – Drew Barrymore (#38)
• Tiësto & Dzeko/Preme/Post Malone – Jackie Chan (#40)
• Kim Petras – Heart To Break (#41)

Last Week's #1 Song: Marshmello/Bastille – Happier

The Countdown

45. Bazzi/Camila Cabello – Beautiful (#45)

44. George Ezra – Shotgun (#44)

43. Juice WRLD – Lucid Dreams (#36)

42. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (#42) [2 Weeks At #1]

41. NF – Lie (#43)

40. Taylor Swift – Delicate (#39) [3 Weeks At #1]

39. Walk The Moon – Kamikaze (#17)

38. NOTD/Bea Miller – I Wanna Know (#28)

37. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am (#35)

36. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#37) [4 Weeks At #1]

35. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle (#32) [9 Weeks At #1]

34. Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly (DEBUT)

33. LSD – Thunderclouds (#34)

32. Shawn Mendes – Nervous (DEBUT)

31. Ariana Grande – God Is A Woman (#30)

30. Post Malone/Swae Lee – Sunflower (DEBUT)

29. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes (#33) [1 Week At #1]

28. Camila Cabello – Consequences (DEBUT)

27. Twenty One Pilots – My Blood (#27)

26. Alex Aiono – Big Mistake (#21)

25. Dan + Shay – Tequila (#15)

24. Selena Gomez – Back To You (#26)

23. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#9)

22. Calvin Harris/Sam Smith – Promises (#14)

21. Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper – Shallow (#24)

20. Loud Luxury/brando – Body (#23)

19. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You (#29)

18. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside (#20)

17. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#31)

16. Silk City/Dua Lipa – Electricity (#16)

15. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks (#19)

14. Ariana Grande – Breathin (#22)

13. Shawn Mendes/Zedd – Lost In Japan (#11)

12. lovelytheband – Broken (#13)

11. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren – Side Effects (#18)

10. Anne-Marie – 2002 (#8)

  9. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies (#4)

  8. Imagine Dragons – Natural (#5) [1 Week At #1]

  7. Bebe Rexha – I'm a Mess (#10)

  6. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones (#7) [2 Weeks At #1]

  5. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#6)

  4. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier (#1) [2 Weeks At #1]

  3. Halsey – Without Me (#12)

  2. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#3) [7 Weeks At #1]

  1. 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood (#2) [4^th Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Imagine Dragons – Thunder (2)

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Walk The Moon – Kamikaze (–22)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart (+14)

New Entrants
~ First up, we have Let Me Down Slowly by Alec Benjamin. I really don't have much to say about this song. It's kind of boring overall and I don't like his voice. I have it in blue now, but it could easily change to red. So yeah. Definitely the least interesting of our debuts this week. I would prefer if this did not stick around.

~ Next we have Shawn Mendes with Nervous. I've actually grown to like this song a fair amount. It feel more like an adult contemporary hit than a Top 40 hit, but it's a good song nonetheless. There isn't much to the production, but I feel like Shawn's vocals make up for it. The song starts out a little slow, but it gets more interesting over time. I really like the chorus. Overall, I think this is a good song despite what my fellow bloggers think. Maybe I just have a thing for Shawn Mendes. It's obviously not his best, but I like it for what it is.

~ At #30, we have Post Malone and Swae Lee debuting with Sunflower. I kind of like this song because I think Swae Lee and Post Malone have great voices. This is something I've noticed in the past with Swae Lee's chorus on the French Montana song Unforgettable from last year and Post Malone's songs like Better Now. I think they both sound great on here. I just don't think the production lives up to that. I feel like the song kind of lacks something that makes it interesting outside of the vocals. It is still growing on me though, so it could very well be in green sometime in the near future. So overall, I like this to some extent.

~ With the highest debut of the week, we have Consequences by Camila Cabello. As you probably know, I am not a fan of her overall with the exception of songs like Havana. Consequences is probably one of her better songs. I like the message behind the song and what it was going for lyrically. Her voice is not that good here, which doesn't really come as a surprise to me. But I like how it's a ballad and the lyrics are great as I said. So this is good. I enjoy this. It's not something I can see myself coming back to in the long-term. But it's nice for the time being.


Best Debut of the Week: Shawn Mendes – Nervous


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

• Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho (DEBUT)
• Twenty One Pilots – Chlorine
• Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next
• James Arthur – Empty Space (DEBUT)
• Little Mix/Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me
• Imagine Dragons – Machine
• 5 Seconds Of Summer – Killer Queen
• Zara Larsson – Ruin My Life (DEBUT)
• Steve Aoki/BTS – Waste It On Me
• Lauren Jauregui – Expectations
• Lauv/Julia Michaels – There's No Way
• Ellie Goulding/Diplo/Swae Lee – Close To Me
• David Guetta/Anne-Marie – Don't Leave Me Alone
• Olly Murs/Snoop Dogg – Moves

~ Sweet But Psycho is one of those songs I feel like I've heard before. I think the song is fun and catchy. Ava Max actually has a pretty good voice, which is nice. The chorus is infectious. Overall I think this is really enjoyable. Consider me impressed.

~ I think I prefer ballad, Say You Won't Let Go-type James Arthur over this newer and weirder James Arthur. His voice is objectively good, and that's all I can really give it. I find the rest of the song to be off-putting and that's probably because his voice is very unique to the point where it only sounds good in certain types of songs. I can't say Empty Space is one of those songs. I think slower ones work better for him. But that's just my opinion.

~ I feel like I went into Ruin My Life expecting more, so I was a little disappointed coming out of it. It's okay overall, but nothing about it really jumped out at me. I like Zara Larsson's voice and I thought Never Forget You was a great song, but Ruin My Life is just not on that level unfortunately. I could grow into it, but right now, it's decent.

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Olly Murs – Moves

2. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho

3. Little Mix/Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me

4. Ellie Goulding/Diplo – Close To Me

5. N/A

Sunblurber

~ I'm going to speak on behalf of my fellow bloggers here when I say that Without Me by Halsey is trash and should not be in the Top 5. I already know it's going to hit #1, but I just thought I'd take the time right now to file a complaint not just to Hits 1, but to the people voting for this so-called "song". It's one of the most boring, terribly-written, and poorly-sung songs I've heard this year on Hits 1. And it's not just because I'm tired of Halsey. This is an objectively bad song. It does not have a good message and her voice is drenched in autotune. It's annoying that this is becoming a big hit because of the Halsey stans who eat up anything she puts out there.

So yeah. That was my big complaint for the week.

~ So..... something strange is happening. Nowadays when 2002 comes on the radio, I don't immediately rush to change the station. I've actually grown to like her vocals a little bit and I kind of like the chorus now. So I guess it's growing on me. Just letting you guys know.

~ As a Backstreet Boys fan, I can say that I'm very happy about the jump back into the Top 20 from Don't Go Breaking My Heart. I still really love this song and I'm very happy with how well it has done here. I would love if this could stick around for a while longer, maybe even into 2019. It's a great song and I'm glad these boys are back at it. I look forward to the new album.

~ The big jump into the Top 10 from Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It last week clearly did not last long. I doubt this is the end of the song. We could very well see it back up there sometime soon.

~ NOTD/Bea Miller – I Wanna Know has finally fallen out of the Top 30. All I can say is that it's about damn time. Now we need it off the countdown.

~ I can't say the drop from Walk The Moon – Kamikaze surprises me. I'm actually kind of surprised it debuted in the first place. It's a great song and I'm a little sad that it's not doing that well. But at least it got to spend some time here and peak in the Top 20.

~ As far as the exits go, Free Free Free was never meant to last. Drew Barrymore sucked ass. Jackie Chan was just not that good and a little disappointing if I'm being totally honest. The only one that saddens me is Heart To Break, which I thought was a great song. It really deserved better.


Top 20 Review
0 – Crap:
20. Halsey – Without Me

1 – Bad:
19. Loud Luxury/brando – Body

2 – Mediocre:
18. Anne-Marie – 2002

3 – Decent:
17. Silk City/Dua Lipa – Electricity

4 – Good:
NONE

5 – Great:
16. Imagine Dragons – Natural
15. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling
14. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood
13. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies
12. lovelytheband – Broken
11. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You
10. Bebe Rexha – I'm A Mess
9. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren – Side Effects
8. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
7. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier
6. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones
5. Ariana Grande – Breathin
4. Shawn Mendes/Zedd – Lost In Japan
3. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside
2. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks

Overall Score: 87/100 = 87% (A)


Throwback Pick Of The Week: Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You

Most Missed Countdown Song: Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso/Florida Georgia Line/watt – Let Me Go

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Rita Ora – Let You Love Me

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie Between Macklemore/Skylar Grey – Glorious (#7) and P!nk – What About Us (#8)


My Top 5 Picks
1. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks
2. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart
3. Dan + Shay – Tequila
4. Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper – Shallow
5. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside

Marshmello (2) – Week Of November 17, 2018

Hey guys! Thanksgiving Day is just about here. I hope you all enjoy the holiday with family and people you love. I pretty much made myself finish this post today because I can't picture myself having time tomorrow. So here it is. No songs leaving the countdown this week. So let's get right into it!



Last Week's #1 Song: Marshmello/Bastille – Happier
The Countdown
45. Bazzi/Camila Cabello – Beautiful (#43)
44. George Ezra – Shotgun (#42)
43. NF – Lie (#45)
42. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (#44) [2 Weeks At #1]
41. Kim Petras – Heart To Break (#39)
40. Tiësto & Dzeko/Preme/Post Malone – Jackie Chan (#41)
39. Taylor Swift – Delicate (#36) [3 Weeks At #1]
38. Bryce Vine – Drew Barrymore (#37)
37. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#40) [4 Weeks At #1]
36. Juice WRLD – Lucid Dreams (#35)
35. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am (#17)
34. LSD – Thunderclouds (#33)
33. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes (#38) [1 Week At #1]
32. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle (#30)
31. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#28)
30. Ariana Grande – God Is A Woman (#21)
29. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You (#13)
28. NOTD/Bea Miller – I Wanna Know (#27)
27. Twenty One Pilots – My Blood (#34)
26. Selena Gomez – Back To You (#23)
25. Pitbull/Theron Theron – Free Free Free (#20)
24. Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper – Shallow (#19)
23. Loud Luxury/brando – Body (#25)
22. Ariana Grande – Breathin (#29)
21. Alex Aiono – Big Mistake (#32)
20. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside (#31)
19. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks (#22)
18. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren – Side Effects (#16)
17. Walk The Moon – Kamikaze (#24)
16. Silk City/Dua Lipa – Electricity (#14)
15. Dan + Shay – Tequila (#15)
14. Calvin Harris/Sam Smith – Promises (#18)
13. lovelytheband – Broken (#10)
12. Halsey – Without Me (#12)
11. Shawn Mendes/Zedd – Lost In Japan (#11)
10. Bebe Rexha – I'm a Mess (#5)
  9. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#26)
  8. Anne-Marie – 2002 (#9)
  7. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones (#6) [2 Weeks At #1]
  6. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#7)
  5. Imagine Dragons – Natural (#8) [1 Week At #1]
  4. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies (#4)
  3. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#2) [7 Weeks At #1]
  2. 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood (#3) [3 Weeks At #1]
  1. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier (#1) [2^nd Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: P!nk – What About Us (1)

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Charlie Puth – The Way I Am (–18)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (+17)

Blurbin
~ Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It made the jump we've been expecting up into the Top 10 because Hits 1 stans this man. But it is definitely a great song, so I have no complaints. I really like it.

~ Calvin Harris/Sam Smith – Promises seems to be going strong right now. The song is slowly growing on me and I'm starting to like it a little bit more. It could potentially enter green territory depending on how much longer it stays.

~ It's nice to see Kamikaze back in the Top 20. I'm also happy about the jumps into the Top 20 from Body Talks and Eastside, both of which I've been really enjoying lately.

~ LSD – Thunderclouds is still hanging around for some reason. Can we please get rid of this song and not let LSD have another song on here? I can't honestly be the only one who dislikes this project.

~ Charlie Puth – The Way I Am took a hard fall this week out of the Top 30, having a run similar to Done For Me. I'm glad this wasn't that big of a hit since it's the weakest single from Voicenotes as of right now. I still believe Done For Me deserved more than it got, but I'm glad The Way I Am didn't hit #1 and make Done For Me the only single to miss the #1 spot.

~ So yeah. I don't really have anything else to say here since nothing too interesting happened and the post is already kinda late. I will say that year-end posts will start coming out soon once we hit December. I'm currently in the process of selecting songs for my best and worst lists. Those will be out sometime next month, hopefully after I finish reveals for the 2013 Billboard Year-End Rankdown. But we'll see.


Top 20 Review
0 – Crap:
20. Halsey – Without Me

1 – Bad:
NONE

2 – Mediocre:
19. Anne-Marie – 2002

3 – Decent:
18. Silk City/Dua Lipa – Electricity
17. Calvin Harris/Sam Smith – Promises

4 – Good:
NONE

5 – Great:
16. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling
15. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies
14. Imagine Dragons – Natural
13. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood
12. lovelytheband – Broken
11. Bebe Rexha – I'm A Mess
10. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
9. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren – Side Effects
8. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones
7. Shawn Mendes/Zedd – Lost In Japan
6. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It
5. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier
4. Walk The Moon – Kamikaze
3. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside
2. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Dan + Shay – Tequila

Overall Score: 89/100 = 89% (A)


Throwback Pick Of The Week: Olivia Newton-John – Physical

Most Missed Countdown Song: Charlie Puth/Kehlani – Done For Me

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Rita Ora – Let You Love Me

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: P!nk – What About Us (#1)


My Top 5 Picks
1. Dan + Shay – Tequila
2. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks
3. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside
4. Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper – Shallow
5. Walk The Moon – Kamikaze

Marshmello (1) – Week Of November 10, 2018

Hey guys! Thanks to some available time, I was able to actually get this post out at a reasonable time. Overall, I thought this was a very good week (for the countdown at least). We have a cool new #1, some good jumps, great debuts, and one huge piece of shit left the countdown. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Zedd/Elley Duhé – Happy Now (#41)
• Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry (#44)

Last Week's #1 Song: Imagine Dragons – Natural

The Countdown

45. NF – Lie (#45)

44. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (#42) [2 Weeks At #1]

43. Bazzi/Camila Cabello – Beautiful (#39)

42. George Ezra – Shotgun (#28)

41. Tiësto & Dzeko/Preme/Post Malone – Jackie Chan (#35)

40. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#34) [4 Weeks At #1]

39. Kim Petras – Heart To Break (#23)

38. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes (#30) [1 Week At #1]

37. Bryce Vine – Drew Barrymore (#25)

36. Taylor Swift – Delicate (#36) [3 Weeks At #1]

35. Juice WRLD – Lucid Dreams (#43)

34. Twenty One Pilots – My Blood (#38)

33. LSD – Thunderclouds (#21)

32. Alex Aiono – Big Mistake (DEBUT)

31. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside (#27)

30. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle (#33) [9 Weeks At #1]

29. Ariana Grande – Breathin (DEBUT)

28. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#32)

27. NOTD/Bea Miller – I Wanna Know (#26)

26. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#20)

25. Loud Luxury/brando – Body (#37)

24. Walk The Moon – Kamikaze (#15)

23. Selena Gomez – Back To You (#12)

22. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks (#40)

21. Ariana Grande – God Is A Woman (#17)

20. Pitbull/Theron Theron – Free Free Free (#31)

19. Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper – Shallow (#24)

18. Calvin Harris/Sam Smith – Promises (#29)

17. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am (#18)

16. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren – Side Effects (#16)

15. Dan + Shay – Tequila (#22)

14. Silk City/Dua Lipa – Electricity (#19)

13. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You (#13)

12. Halsey – Without Me (#14)

11. Shawn Mendes/Zedd – Lost In Japan (#8)

10. lovelytheband – Broken (#11)

  9. Anne-Marie – 2002 (#9)

  8. Imagine Dragons – Natural (#1) [1 Week At #1]

  7. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#6)

  6. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones (#5) [2 Weeks At #1]

  5. Bebe Rexha – I'm a Mess (#7)

  4. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies (#10)

  3. 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood (#3) [3 Weeks At #1]

  2. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#2) [7 Weeks At #1]

  1. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier (#4) [1^st Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Demi Lovato – Sorry Not Sorry (1)

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Kim Petras – Heart To Break (–16)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks (+18)

New Entrants
~ First up this week, we have Alex Aiono with Big Mistake. I have no idea who this guy is, but this song is great. I enjoyed it a lot when it debuted on Hit-Bound and I still enjoy it a lot now. It's fun and it's catchy. I love the chorus. His voice sounds great. I like the lyrics. There's a lot to like about this song. It probably won't last long, but I personally would like to see it do well.

~ Next we have Ariana Grande, who has not been that good this year in my opinion. No Tears Left To Cry was overrated and God Is A Woman is just not good. We even have a newer song from her, which I'll be discussing in the Hit-Bound section. But debuting this week, we have Breathin, which is easily the best song I've heard from Ariana this year and probably the best off of Sweetener. I really like the production and she actually shows off her voice very nicely here, which is great. I know she's very talented and has a great voice. So I'm glad she uses it here. Overall, I think this is a great song and the best song I've heard from Ariana since Into You.


Best Debut of the Week: Ariana Grande – Breathin (only by a short amount)


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

• Camila Cabello – Consequences
• Twenty One Pilots – Chlorine
• Steve Aoki/BTS – Waste It On Me
• Imagine Dragons – Machine (DEBUT)
• Little Mix/Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me
• 5 Seconds of Summer – Killer Queen
• Lauv/Julia Michaels – There's No Way
• Post Malone/Swae Lee – Sunflower
• Olly Murs/Snoop Dogg – Moves (DEBUT)
• Lauren Jauregui – Expectations (DEBUT)
• Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly
• Ellie Goulding/Diplo/Swae Lee – Close To Me
• David Guetta/Anne-Marie – Don't Leave Me Alone
• Shawn Mendes – Nervous
• Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next (DEBUT)

~ I listened to Imagine Dragons' album Origins and I was not impressed for the most part. This week we have Machine, which is one of the worst tracks off the album, if not the worst. The song is just so messy. It tries to be this rock anthem, when in actuality it's just a pop song with an unusual amount of yelling. The guitar solo sounds very out of place. This is just terrible. You know it's bad when I prefer listening to Thunder over this. Also, was it necessary to release Origins not long after Evolve came out??? It's giving Imagine Dragons overexposure, something another certain artist is also going to have.

~ Olly Murs makes his return to Hits 1 this week with Moves. It might just be me, but I feel like his voice sounds slightly different than it used to. But anyway, I really like this song. It's very cool and groovy. The production is on point. I like his vocals. I kind of wish Hits 1 didn't edit out Snoop Dogg's verse because I thought he was a nice presence. But either way, this is a great song. I hope it debuts on the countdown soon.

~ Next we have Lauren Jauregui with I believe her debut single as a solo artist titled Expectations. I like the guitar here. I think it sounds very slick. But my god. Her vocals are so bad it ruins the song for me. This actually would've been a pretty good had it been sung by another artist. But Lauren just does not have a good voice. So yeah. I don't like this.

~ For some reason, Ariana Grande and her team thinks it's a good idea to already release the lead single for her NEXT album even though Sweetener was practically just released. Bad move, Ariana. It's just going to her overexposure, even worse than Imagine Dragons. As far as Thank U, Next goes, I do not like this song. This is the worst song she has put out this year. I like what she was going for lyrically, but musically it just did not work. The song is just boring. Her vocals are underwhelming. She is a much better singer than this. The way she drops the f-bomb in the chorus is very awkward and unnecessary. This song is just not good at all and it'll probably kill Breathin's momentum, which is infuriating.

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Olly Murs – Moves

2. Little Mix/Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me

3. Camila Cabello – Consequences

4. Ellie Goulding/Diplo – Close To Me

5. Shawn Mendes – Nervous

Blurbier

~ We have a new #1 this week in the form of Happier by Marshmello and Bastille! This is easily Marshmello's best mainstream hit after the mediocre Wolves and the terrible Friends. Bastille kind of stole the show though. And Marshmello's best song is still Ritual. But I really enjoy Happier and I'm glad this is the song that managed to hit #1.

~ lovelytheband – Broken is now in the Top 10. It could potentially make the Hits 1 year-end list, which I would be all for. I certainly did not expect this song to do this well when it debuted on Hit-Bound. I also didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I do. But this is a great song and I'm happy to see it having success even though it feels like a Foster The People song.

~ Calvin Harris/Sam Smith – Promises is up in the Top 20. This song has kind of grown on me. I kinda like Sam Smith's vocals a little bit more now, but not enough for me to put the song in green. The female voice is still pretty annoying. But I guess it's growing on me.

~ Also in the Top 20 we have Free Free Free by Pitbull. I'm calling it right now that this song is not sticking around into 2019. I can't even imagine people voting for this song because of its irrelevancy.

~ The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks made a nice second-week jump up to #22. I'm praying to the gods of this countdown that they actually let this be a hit because it is just amazing. Shame on the public for not letting it be a hit everywhere else. It deserves its shot here.

~ After strong longevity, it looks like Selena Gomez – Back To You might be on its way out soon. I'm very impressed and pleased with how this song did considering that it's one of Selena Gomez's best songs, as well as her best solo single since Come & Get It.

~ For some reason, Eastside dropped on its second week. I actually really enjoy this song now, though mostly because it's the far superior Halsey track currently on the countdown. I'm hoping this does well and I would like if it did better than Without Me, though that most likely will not be the case.

~ Kim Petras – Heart To Break and George Ezra – Shotgun took some hard falls this week. I never cared too much about Shotgun. It could leave next week and I probably won't care. But Heart To Break is a very good song that deserved better. She just has such a great voice.

~ As far as the exits go, No Tears Left To Cry was very overrated. The song was decent, but didn't deserve as much praise as it got. So I'm glad to see it off. We also got rid of a huge piece of shit by the name of Happy Now by Zedd and Elley Duhé. I'm so glad this is finally gone. Zedd is much better than this and I just could not stand Elley Duhé's autotuned voice. So yeah. We can now celebrate the song's departure.

~ As a little bonus blurb, I thought I'd talk about some new music to check out. Imagine Dragons released Origins and I don't recommend it unless you liked Evolve. Muse released Simulation Theory and I actually enjoyed that album overall as a fan of Muse. I have my favorite track as the #1 recommendation for Hits 1 even though it'll probably never get picked up. Also, they released Kelly Clarkson's cover of Never Enough from The Greatest Showman. I loved the original and I thought Kelly Clarkson did a fantastic job with the cover. I highly recommend it.

Top 20 Review

0 – Crap:

20. Halsey – Without Me

1 – Bad:

19. Anne-Marie – 2002

2 – Mediocre:

18. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am

3 – Decent:

17. Pitbull/Theron Theron – Free Free Free

16. Silk City/Dua Lipa – Electricity

15. Calvin Harris/Sam Smith – Promises

4 – Good:

NONE

5 – Great:

14. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling

13. lovelytheband – Broken

12. Imagine Dragons – Natural

11. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood

10. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies

9. Bebe Rexha – I'm A Mess

8. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You

7. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes

6. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren – Side Effects

5. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones

4. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier

3. Shawn Mendes/Zedd – Lost In Japan

2. Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper – Shallow

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:

1. Dan + Shay – Tequila

Overall Score: 83/100 = 83% (A) (It feels like this score never changes.)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: OneRepublic/Timbaland – Apologize

Most Missed Countdown Song: DJ Khaled/Rihanna/Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Muse – The Dark Side

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Cheat Codes/Demi Lovato – No Promises (#11)

My Top 5 Picks

1. Dan + Shay – Tequila

2. Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper – Shallow

3. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks

4. Selena Gomez – Back To You

5. Shawn Mendes/Zedd – Lost In Japan

Imagine Dragons (1) – Week Of November 3, 2018

I have nothing interesting to say in this introduction. I just need to get this out now and I'm tired as hell. So yeah. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Lady Gaga – I'll Never Love Again (#36)
• Calvin Harris/Dua Lipa – One Kiss (#37)
• The Vamps – Just My Type (#41)
• Post Malone – Better Now (#42)
• Weezer – Africa (#43)

Last Week's #1 Song: Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes

The Countdown

45. NF – Lie (#44)

44. Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry (#45)

43. Juice WRLD – Lucid Dreams (#38)

42. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (#32) [2 Weeks At #1]

41. Zedd/Elley Duhé – Happy Now (#10)

40. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks (DEBUT)

39. Bazzi/Camila Cabello – Beautiful (#40)

38. Twenty One Pilots – My Blood (DEBUT)

37. Loud Luxury/brando – Body (#35)

36. Taylor Swift – Delicate (#39) [3 Weeks At #1]

35. Tiësto & Dzeko/Preme/Post Malone – Jackie Chan (DEBUT)

34. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#34) [4 Weeks At #1]

33. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle (#33) [9 Weeks At #1]

32. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#28)

31. Pitbull/Theron Theron – Free Free Free (DEBUT)

30. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes (#30) [1 Week At #1]

29. Calvin Harris/Sam Smith – Promises (#31)

28. George Ezra – Shotgun (#15)

27. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside (DEBUT)

26. NOTD/Bea Miller – I Wanna Know (#26)

25. Bryce Vine – Drew Barrymore (#27)

24. Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper – Shallow (#20)

23. Kim Petras – Heart To Break (#24)

22. Dan + Shay – Tequila (#13)

21. LSD – Thunderclouds (#18)

20. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#21)

19. Silk City/Dua Lipa – Electricity (#22)

18. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am (#25)

17. Ariana Grande – God Is A Woman (#8)

16. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren – Side Effects (#16)

15. Walk The Moon – Kamikaze (#23)

14. Halsey – Without Me (#29)

13. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You (#17)

12. Selena Gomez – Back To You (#14)

11. lovelytheband – Broken (#11)

10. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies (#5)

  9. Anne-Marie – 2002 (#12)

  8. Shawn Mendes/Zedd – Lost In Japan (#19)

  7. Bebe Rexha – I'm a Mess (#3)

  6. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#7)

  5. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones (#9) [2 Weeks At #1]

  4. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier (#2)

  3. 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood (#4) [3 Weeks At #1]

  2. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#1) [7 Weeks At #1]

  1. Imagine Dragons – Natural (#6) [1^st Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Ed Sheeran – Galway Girl (3)

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Zedd/Elley Duhé – Happy Now (–31)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Halsey – Without Me (+15)

New Entrants
~ First up we have a song that I'm so glad finally managed to debut. It's The Struts and Kesha on Body Talks. I honestly see no flaws in this song. It is an absolute jam. Their voices sound great together. I love the instrumentation and the production. This song is a whole lot of fun. I would love this song do well because it is simply amazing. Please don't underrate talent like this. This could not be any more deserving of being a hit.

~ Next we have Twenty One Pilots with My Blood. Although I didn't love Trench as a whole, I enjoy this song to an extent. The production is good and I like Tyler Joseph's voice when he's not singing in falsetto. This is one of the few songs I actually like from the album, so if a song has to be here, then I'm glad it's this one. But I don't care how it does whether it does well like Stressed Out or flops like Jumpsuit.

~ At #35, we have Tiësto and a few other people with Jackie Chan. I can't say I'm a fan of this one unfortunately. This song feels like Tiësto's path towards mainstream mediocrity similar to Zedd and Marshmello. I find the production to be a little underwhelming for a Tiësto track. Preme does not sound good at all and Post Malone has definitely sounded better. I also don't really like the lyrics. So yeah. I'm not a fan of this one.

~ Next we have a song that I did not think would debut. It's Pitbull with Free Free Free. I don't think Pitbull has had a real massive hit since Fireball, which was quite a while ago. But that clearly doesn't stop him from trying as he brings Free Free Free, which follows the same formulaic structure as a lot of his songs in the past. In other words, there's nothing unique about it at all. It's just Pitbull rapping unintelligent lyrics over a rather mediocre beat. I feel like the world is starting to lose interest in this man and I am as well. That being said, I doubt this will stick around.

~ With the highest debut of the week, we have Eastside by Benny Blanco, Halsey, and Khalid. I like the production here and Khalid sound great in his verse and the chorus. The problem is that Halsey does not sound good here. She sounds decent with Khalid, but not so much on her own. The song is also really short. So I'm stuck between blue and green here. I might put it in green soon. But for now, it's nothing that special. However, I will say that Halsey's contribution here is a lot better than her other song Without Me. Hopefully this does better than that one.


Best Debut of the Week: The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks


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

• Little Mix/Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me
• Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly
• Post Malone/Swae Lee – Sunflower
• Twenty One Pilots – Chlorine (DEBUT)
• Ariana Grande – Breathin
• Lauv/Julia Michaels – There's No Way
• 5 Seconds Of Summer – Killer Queen (DEBUT)
• Camila Cabello – Consequences
• Alex Aiono – Big Mistake
• Ellie Goulding/Diplo/Swae Lee – Close To Me (DEBUT)
• Shawn Mendes – Nervous
• David Guetta/Anne-Marie – Don't Leave Me Alone
• Steve Aoki/BTS – Waste It On Me

~ After realizing that Chlorine is the real fan favorite from Twenty One Pilots' Trench, Hits 1 decided to bring that onto Hit-Bound. I don't like this song either unfortunately. I just didn't like this album as a whole. For some reason, I just can't get into Tyler Joseph's vocals. But this will probably debut at some point even though it's not a single.

~ Honestly, the last thing modern pop bands should do is cover classics. But here we have 5 Seconds Of Summer with their cover of Queen's hit Killer Queen. I'm not sure why this is here other than the fact that the people at Hits 1 are 5SOS stans. This cover isn't the worst thing ever, but it's just nowhere near as good as the original. I don't know why someone would listen to this when they can just listen to the original version.

~ Ellie Goulding has made her long-awaited return with Close To Me. I do like this song, but I'm gonna be straight up and say that this is probably the weakest lead single we've ever gotten from her. I like her vocals, but the production isn't great. Swae Lee has a good voice, but I don't know if he should be here. It's kind of a weird collab and I can't say I love it. But it's good.


Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
1. Ariana Grande – Breathin
2. Little Mix/Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me
3. Alex Aiono – Big Mistake
4. Camila Cabello – Consequences
5. Ellie Goulding/Diplo/Swae Lee – Close To Me


I'll Never Blurb Again
~ Natural is predictably our new #1 song, because Imagine Dragons can't go without a #1 hit these days. It's still a good song, so I'm cool with it chilling up there.

~ Shawn Mendes/Zedd – Lost In Japan made a nice jump into the Top 10. I'm very happy about this. Even though this remix is nowhere near as good as the original, it's still very good and I'm glad this song was released as a single.

~ But then we have Anne-Marie – 2002 also entering the Top 10. Honestly, do we need to be giving Anne-Marie more hits than she deserves. This is only slightly better than Friends and nothing she does will ever be as good as Rockabye.

~ New to the Top 20, we have Halsey – Without Me and Walk The Moon – Kamikaze. I'm happy about one and annoyed about the other. I'm sure you can figure out which is which.

~ So with more listens, I've been really growing into Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. I like the whole duet between them and Brad sounds great. I like the guitar. It's a really nice song and I hope it does well.

~ Easily the best thing that happened this week was the massive drop from Zedd/Elley Duhé – Happy Now. This piece of trash never deserved to be in the Top 10. You have no idea how good it felt to record it as the Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week.

~ As far as the exits go, I'll Never Love Again only lasted one week unfortunately. That's a shame. But like I said, I'm growing more into Shallow and I'm starting to realize that Shallow might be the better song. Time will tell on that. One Kiss had a nice run here. Just My Type flopped unfortunately. Then Better Now and Africa did decent here. Both are good songs, but I'm not heartbroken about losing them.


Top 20 Review
0 – Crap:
20. Halsey – Without Me

1 – Bad:
19. Anne-Marie – 2002

2 – Mediocre:
18. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am
17. Ariana Grande – God Is A Woman

3 – Decent:
16. Silk City/Dua Lipa – Electricity

4 – Good:
NONE

5 – Great:
15. lovelytheband – Broken
14. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling
13. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren – Side Effects
12. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You
11. Imagine Dragons – Natural
10. Bebe Rexha – I'm A Mess
9. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies
8. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood
7. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
6. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones
5. Walk The Moon – Kamikaze
4. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier
3. Shawn Mendes/Zedd – Lost In Japan
2. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It
1. Selena Gomez – Back To You

Overall Score: 83/100 = 83% (A)


Throwback Pick Of The Week: Far East Movement/The Cataracs/Dev – Like A G6

Most Missed Countdown Song: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis/Mary Lambert – Same Love

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Muse – The Dark Side

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: P!nk – What About Us (#2)


My Top 5 Picks
1. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks
2. Dan + Shay – Tequila
3. Selena Gomez – Back To You
4. Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper – Shallow
5. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It