And so I concluded the first week of my current semester... (Week of 1/13/2024)

 

Hello everyone, welcome back to another countdown post. This was an interesting week, with a lot of exits, almost a Wamb favorite. We also had some solid movements this week. Here are our 6 exits:

The Kid Laroi/ Jungkook/ Central Cee- Too Much (#17 last week)

Jessie Murph/ Jelly Roll- Wild Ones (#29 last week)

Diplo/ Jessie Murph/ Polo G- Heartbroken (#21 last week)

Ed Sheeran- American Town (#23 last week)

Noah Kahan/ Post Malone- Dial Drunk (#19 last week)

Jungkook/ Jack Harlow- 3D (#12 last week)

Countdown:

30. Bruce Melodie/ Shaggy- When She's Around (Debut)

29. People R Ugly- Brain Dead (Debut)

28. Mitski- My Love Mine All Mine (Debut)

27. Nicki Minaj/ Lil Uzi Vert- Everybody (=)

26. Noah Kahan- Stick Season (+2)

25. Doechii- What It Is (-1)

24. Willow Avalon- Stranger (+2)

23. Renee Rapp/ Megan Thee Stallion- Not My Fault (+7)

22. Thirty Seconds To Mars- Seasons (+3)

21. Taylor Swift- Now That We Don't Talk (Debut)

20. Nicki Minaj- Pink Friday Girls (Debut)

19. Henry Moodie- Pick Up The Phone (Debut)

18. Tyla- Water (+4)

17. Olivia Rodrigo- Can't Catch Me Now (=)

16. Jack Harlow- Lovin On Me (+4)

15. Kenya Grace- Strangers (=)

14. Doja Cat- Agora Hills (+2)

13. Post Malone- Enough Is Enough (-3)

12. Tate McRae- Exes (+1)

11. Knox- Not The 1975 (+3)

10. Sabrina Carpenter- Feather (-1)

9. AJR- Yes I'm A Mess (+2)

8. Jelly Roll- Need A Favor (=)

7. Jonas Brothers/ Bailey Zimmerman- Strong Enough (=)

6. Olivia Rodrigo- Get Him Back (-1)

5. Taylor Swift- Is It Over Now (-1)

4. Teddy Swims- Lose Control (+2)

3. Paul Russell- Lil Boo Thang (=)

2. Dua Lipa- Houdini (=)

1. Tate McRae- Greedy (=)

Countdown Extra: Lewis Capaldi- Strangers

Last Year's #1: Taylor Swift- Anti Hero

#1 Two Years Ago: Ed Sheeran- Shivers

My Favorite Song Last Year: Metro Boomin/ The Weeknd/ 21 Savage- Creepin

My Favorite Song Two Years Ago: Sza- I Hate U

Recommendations For Hits 1: Alok/ Bebe Rexha- Deep In Your Love and Jeymes Samuel/ Adekunle Gold/ Kodak Black/ Doja Cat- Jeezu

Six debuts. Very interesting for the second countdown of the year. The first two are my two favorite songs on here right now, starting with When She's Around by Bruce Melodie and Shaggy. This is quite good. It's extremely catchy and both of them sound really great here. I also like the "drop" after the chorus. I hope this becomes huge on here.

And then it gets better, because next up is easily my favorite song on here, Brain Dead by People R Ugly. H o l y C r a p. This is a funny banger. First off, if the opening line to a song is "I recently found out that Will Smith was a rapper and Drake used to be a Nickelodeon actor," that automatically makes it a funny song. Then whoever is doing the vocals sounds really great here and the production is fucking legendary. I'm super glad this is here.

Of course, we have to have some not good debuts. Next up is My Love Mine All Mine by Mitski. Mitski was my younger sister's fourth most streamed artist on Spotify for 2023, and she actually tried to convince me that this is good, but guys, it isn't. This is incredibly slow and sounds like a jazz ballad, which feels way too out of place for 2024. Mitski also sounds like a cross between Billie Eilish, Lana Del Rey, and Dove Cameron, and not in a good way. I hope this has no longevity on here at all.

Now what could be worse, you might ask? Well, another song off 1989 Taylor's Version, this one being Now That We Don't Talk, and as you've probably guessed, it's a diss track on an ex, which has honestly become quite cliche at this point, not to mention I've had quite enough Taylor Swift on here already. If this makes the top 5 under any circumstances, we will have some serious fucking problems.

Then it gets better, because next up, Pink Friday Girls by Nicki Minaj debuted. I moved this up a tier because it is quite good compared to Everybody. The production on here just makes more sense and the sample of Girls Just Want To Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper is executed better than the sample of Move Your Feet by Junior Senior was on Everybody. This deserves more success on here.

Lastly, after 10 weeks on HB and multiple weeks in the abyss, Pick Up The Phone by Henry Moodie debuted. And my opinion on this still stands after four months. There could be more to the production but Henry Moodie sounds pretty good. So I'm fine with this being here.

Hitbound:

AJR- Inertia

Ariana Grande- Yes And (Debut)

Dominic Fike- Mama's Boy

Willow Avalon- Honey Ain't No Sweeter (Debut)

Crash Adams- Good Side (Debut)

P1Harmony- Fall In Love Again (Debut)

Lil Nas X- J Christ (Debut)

Eliza Rose/ Calvin Harris- Body Moving (Debut)

Boys Like Girls- Miracle

Umi/ V- Wherever U R

Lany- XXL

24kgoldn- Good Intentions (Debut)

Knox- Girl On The Internet

Alec Benjamin- I Sent My Therapist To Therapy

Jagwar Twin- Bad Feeling

Smallpools- Night Shift

Up first, Ariana Grande is back for the first time since POV in 2021, meaning I don't think I've ever talked about her on here since I started blogging in 2022. I liked some of her earlier songs, but Sweetener and Thank U Next were highly overrated when they were things, and Positions was just there, although I liked the 34+35 remix with Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion. So now, she brings us Yes And. Yes, and I'm not entirely sold on this yet. The production is pretty cool and she sounds pretty good, but it takes some time to get going, as in she doesn't start singing until one minute into the song, and Hunter even pointed this out. I already know this will be a hit, meaning it could grow on me in the future.

Great. We're already picking up on more Willow Avalon, her new song is called Honey Ain't No Sweeter. This is better than Stranger but not by a huge margin. She sounds better on here than on Stranger, but it is only somewhat more upbeat. Whatever, I'm convinced they'll remove this in the coming weeks.

Of course Hits 1 picked up on the new Crash Adams song. This is called Good Side, and it has to be my favorite song from them thus far. This gives off the same vibe of Give Me A Kiss, but the production is actually somewhat cooler. Glad this is here.

So this next song is kind of becoming a thing everywhere else. This is Fall In Love Again by Kpop group P1Harmony. This is pretty good. They all sound pretty good and the production is pretty cool, my main issue is that some of the lyrics are in Korean, and I only like Kpop songs if all of the lyrics are in English, because the only languages I like songs in are English and Spanish. So major whatever on this song being here.

 But then it gets a lot better, because Lil Nas X is back with his new song J Christ. H o l y C r a p. This is quite good. This sounds like his song Late To Da Party with NBA Youngboy from two years ago as well as Humble by Kendrick Lamar from 2017. Then Lil Nas X's flow is as on point as ever. I hope this is huge.

I think we remember Eliza Rose from her song BOTA from a couple years ago that never made Hits 1. Today, she makes her Hits 1 debut with Body Moving with Calvin Harris. This is just decent. Of course I like Calvin Harris's production on here, but the song feels somewhat repetitive and Eliza Rose sounds like Tones And I, Jessie Murph, and Willow Avalon, as if we haven't had enough singers that sound like those three do. I've definitely heard better Calvin Harris songs than this.

Lastly, we have another new 24kgoldn song, this is called Good Intentions. I usually like his music, and this is also pretty good. The production on here is solid, and I've learned from previous songs of his that he does pretty well on this type of beat. So overall, solid song.

We lost On My Mama, Bleed, Standing Next To You, Strangers (even though it was the countdown extra this week), White Glove, Run For The Hills, and Entrapeneur. The first three are in the abyss, and I couldn't care less what happens to any of them. Not sure if Strangers is entirely gone since it's the extra, White Glove was moderately strange and lasted a bit too long, and I would have liked to see last two on the countdown, but it's fine.

Blurbs

Our exits were Too Much, Wild Ones, Heartbroken, American Town, Dial Drunk, and 3D. Too Much definitely should have had more longevity on here. Both Jessie Murph songs left after heavily lacking in airplay for weeks. Then American Town, Dial Drunk, and 3D all had good runs and will be missed by me.

How is Stranger still here?

Ayy, Not My Fault got a nice seven spot jump from the bottom spot.

I really want Seasons in the top 20 next week please and thank you.

Water is finally in the top 20. Good to see.

Lovin On Me is slowly but surely rebounding, hopefully next week, it will be in its rightful place in the top 15.

Umm... why hasn't Not The 1975 made the top 10 yet?

Not a whole lot of movement in the top 10, in fact, last week's top 3 held their respective positions from last week. The only notable thing is Yes I'm A Mess re-entering.

I guess that does it for me this week, see you guys next week.