Gets better and better this year (Week of 1/25/2025)

 

Hello everyone, welcome to another post. Looks like 2025 has definitely gone better than I initially thought, because we had a decent amount of debuts and the # of HB debuts is going up from previously. Let's just get into it, here are our exits:

Meghan Trainor- Criminals (#12 last week)

Jelly Roll- I Am Not Okay (#8 last week)

Tate McRae- It's Ok I'm Ok (#26 last week)

Tate McRae- 2 Hands (#19 last week)

Katseye- Touch (#28 last week)

Countdown:

30. Hayes Warner- Oh (Debut)

29. Kendrick Lamar/ Sza- Luther (-6)

28. Megan Moroney- Am I Okay (Debut)

27. The Weeknd/ Playboi Carti- Timeless (+2)

26. David Guetta/ Alphaville/ Ava Max- Forever Young (-5)

25. Vella- All My Love (Debut)

24. Myles Smith- Nice To Meet You (Debut)

23. Raye- Oscar Winning Tears (Debut)

22. Sza- BMF (+5)

21. Lola Young- Messy (+4)

20. Ariana Grande- Popular (-11)

19. Alex Warren/ Joe Jonas- Burning Down (+3)

18. Addison Rae- Diet Pepsi (+12)

17. Morgan Wallen- Love Somebody (+1)

16. Charli XCX- Apple (+8)

15. Cynthia Erivo/ Ariana Grande- Defying Gravity (=)

14. Damiano David- Born With A Broken Heart (=)

13. Gigi Perez- Sailor Song (-2)

12. Gracie Abrams- I Love You I'm Sorry (+1)

11. Sabrina Carpenter- Taste (-1)

10. Shaboozey- Good News (+6)

9. Lisa- Moonlit Floor (+8)

8. Teddy Swims- Bad Dreams (+12)

7. Billie Eilish- Birds Of A Feather (=)

6. Myles Smith- Stargazing (=)

5. Gracie Abrams- That's So True (=)

4. Sabrina Carpenter- Bed Chem (-1)

3. Chappell Roan- Pink Pony Club (+1)

2. Lady Gaga/ Bruno Mars- Die With A Smile (=)

1. Rosé/ Bruno Mars- APT (=)

Countdown Extra: Marshmello/ Jonas Brothers- Slow Motion

Last year's #1: Tate McRae- Greedy

#1 Two Years Ago: Meghan Trainor- Made You Puke

My Favorite Song Last Year: Lil Nas X- J Christ

My Favorite Song Two Years Ago: Fall Out Boy- Love From The Other Side

Recommendations For Hits 1:

LiAngelo Ball- Tweaker

Kygo/ OneRepublic- Chasing Paradise

Travis Scott- 4X4

Of course, one week after being a Hits 1 exclusive, Oh by Hayes Warner debuts the countdown the day after it comes out. And my opinion still stands. This is alright. The beat is alright and she sounds fine, I just wish I could hear it on streaming services, and just like Predator, the fact that Hits 1 picked up on this a week before it came out takes this down for me a bit, although now that I can stream it, it could grow on me.

This next song I don't think I've talked about, although it's been in the abyss for about two months now. The song in question is Am I Okay by Megan Moroney, and I quite like this one. Megan Moroney has a really good singing voice and I like the beat this has. Glad this finally debuted the countdown.

Like Oh, I talked about this next song last week, All My Love by Vella, which pulls a Sunday Best this week (could've played Tweaker during HB instead, just saying). This is alright. It gives of the vibes of Amy Winehouse or Adele and has a solid beat, plus Vella sounds pretty good. It's still a bit forgettable, but it's fine.

So apparently, Myles Smith is the 1TW... Ok then, and two months after Nice To Meet You dropped out of HB, it's on the countdown. As I stated when it dropped out of HB, this was starting to fade on me, and it honestly has. Beat's fine, Myles Smith sounds good, and I like the hookup type lyrics, I feel like I've heard it a bit too much before today. That's all.

Lastly, we have Oscar Winning Tears by Raye. This is good. It has a cool enough beat and Raye sounds solid, and this has interesting lyrics. I'll take it for now, but this could get relatively annoying if it sticks around.

Hitbound (not including Sunday Bests):

Griff- Last Night's Mascara

Knox- Pick Your Poison (Debut)

Sexyy Red/ Bruno Mars- Fat Juicy & (Debut)

Tate McRae- Sports Car (Debut)

Willow Avalon- Baby Blue

Tyla- Push 2 Start

Kesha- Dear Me (Debut)

Crash Adams- Optimist

Lauren Spencer-Smith- Pray (Debut)

Djo- Basic Being Basic (Debut)

Twice/ Megan Thee Stallion- Strategy

Teddy Swims- Guilty (Debut)

Alessi Rose- IKYK

Sza- Drive

Morgan Wallen- Smile

Guess I don't have to wait to talk about the best debut this week. This debut in question is Knox's latest, Pick Your Poison. And I'm going to be completely honest here, this is easily his best song thus far. The beat here is insane, especially during the hook, and Knox sounds quite good here per usual, and the hookup jam type lyrics make this work. Amazing song, songs like this are why I don't mind Hits 1 consistently picking up on Knox's music.

Umm... ok then. I don't think anyone was expecting Sexyy Red to appear on Hits 1, and I was never expecting to like any of her songs. Now I don't exactly care for Sexyy Red's music, mainly because she endorsed Trump during the election, although I'm not explicitly boycotting her music since she didn't work with Fivio Foreign and Kodak Black on Onboa47rd. So cut to this weekend, her new collab with Bruno Mars, Fat Juicy & (originally called Fat Juicy & Wet, I'm calling it what it was called on Hits 1). And color me surprised by how much I liked this. Beat's fun and both of them sound pretty good (Yes, even Bruno Mars can rap well here). Again, I never thought I'd like a Sexyy Red song, but I'll gladly take this.

Tate McRae's next album drops soon, and the latest single from it is called Sports Car. This is pretty good. It gives off the vibes of 2000s pop and Tate McRae sounds good once again here. So another solid song from her.

(sighs) For only the second time I can remember, Kesha made a ballad, and unlike Praying from 2017, nothing about Dear Me works. This is not good at all. It's pretty slow and I don't exactly care for the lyrics, which are about self reflection and not in a good way, plus it eerily reminds me of Million Reasons by Lady Gaga. Kesha sounds fine, but it doesn't save the song at all. I hope this drops out.

If we're talking about something similar but better, it's Lauren Spencer-Smith's latest, Pray. I really like this one. It evolves quite well and it's in a key that makes this work, and the lyrics about wishing someone who it didn't work out well with the best in life are well written. Plus, Lauren Spencer-Smith sounds really good here. Really good song.

Uhh... remember End Of Beginning by Djo from last summer? Well, he's back with Basic Being Basic, and this is thankfully a lot better than that song, and thankfully not, you know, basic. It gives off major Brakence vibes in a good way. The production is really good and Djo sounds good here, I especially like the robotic rapping in the verses. Marked improvement over what I previously heard from Djo.

Lastly, we have a song from Teddy Swims's latest album, this is called Guilty. I actually heard this one on Daniel's Hits Of The Future show this week. So this is pretty good, although forgettable. It has a good beat and Teddy Swims sounds great per usual, that's really all I need to say here. Another solid song from him.

We lost Slow Motion, Toxic Till The End, Bye Bye Bye, Are You Even Real, Delusional, and Pins And Needles. Slow Motion was the extra and is in the abyss, hopefully it debuts next week. Toxic Till The End is also in the abyss, but I'd prefer if that one didn't debut. And the rest I don't care about, Bye Bye Bye was especially getting annoying.

Blurbs:

Our exits were Criminals, I Am Not Okay, It's Ok I'm Ok, 2 Hands, and Touch. Criminals was just good and I kind of questioned why it re-entered super high a couple weeks ago in the first place. I Am Not Okay was just all right, Jelly Roll has done better imo. While it is interesting to see both Tate McRae songs on the countdown last week leaving this week, this kind of thing has happened on the countdown before, notably on May 10th, 2014, when two Avicii songs (Wake Me Up and Hey Brother) and two Eminem songs (Headlights with Nate Ruess and The Monster with Rihanna) left, and on December 21st, 2019, when two Harry Styles songs (Lights Up and Watermelon Sugar) left. As for the two Tate McRae songs that left this week, they were solid, I don't plan on revisiting them soon. Lastly, I'm not sure what the point of bringing Touch back if it wasn't going to do anything in a span of four weeks.

Looks like I spoke too soon about Luther starting to do something.

I hope Forever Young eventually rebounds.

I'm happy seeing Messy jump off the debut.

Popular took a huge tumble. I suspect this will be gone soon since its airplay is lacking.

And speaking of lacking airplay, Burning Down. So I'm confused by why it's jumping three spots. But it's a good song, so I'm fine with it.

Oh, now Diet Pepsi chose to jump into the top 20.

Apple also needs to stop jumping and go the fuck away.

On to songs that I'm happy jumped, it's good news that both of Shaboozey's songs have now made the top 10, pun definitely intended.

Bad Dreams jumped huge to #8. Still fine with this.

Not a lot of movement in the top 5, aside from Bed Chem and Pink Pony Club switching spots. I'd prefer if the latter replaced APT at #1 instead of the former.

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