First post of 2026 (and the beginning of a new era) (Week of 12/3/2026)

 Hello everyone, welcome to another post, first of 2026 and the first ever since I updated my blogger name. I will do a post sometime tomorrow explaining why I decided to change my blogger name in the first place. But for now, let's just focus on this countdown and my new color coding:

Great

Good

Decent

Mediocre

Awful

And now on to this week's countdown. We had no exits this week (as I sort of predicted in my last post. So let's just get into it.

Countdown:

30. Justin Bieber- Yukon (-3)

29. Sienna Spiro- Die On This Hill (-6)

28. Role Model- Writing's On The Wall (-4)

27. Tyla- Chanel (+3)

26. Jonas Brothers- Backwards (+3)

25. Laufey- Lover Girl (-6)

24. AJR- The Big Goodbye (-4)

23. Tate McRae- Tit For Tat (+5)

22. Sophia James- So Unfair (+3)

21. Kevin Jonas- Changing (-3)

20. Alessi Rose- First Original Thought (-3)

19. David Guetta/ Teddy Swims/ Tones And I- Gone Gone Gone (-5)

18. Meghan Trainor- Still Don't Care (+3)

17. Benson Boone- Mr Electric Blue (-1)

16. Madison Beer- Bittersweet (+10)

15. Charlie Puth- Changes (+7)

14. Chappell Roan- The Subway (-4)

13. Alex Warren/ Jelly Roll- Bloodline (-4)

12. Katseye- Gabriela (+3)

11. Sombr- 12 To 12 (+2)

10. Kpop Demon Hunters- Golden (-2)

9. Ed Sheeran- Camera (-2)

8. Sabrina Carpenter- Tears (+4)

7. 5 Seconds Of Summer- Not Ok (+4)

6. Olivia Dean- Man I Need (=)

5. Conan Gray- Vodka Cranberry (-2)

4. Taylor Swift- The Fate Of Ophelia (=)

3. Raye- Where Is My Husband (-1)

2. Sombr- Back To Friends (+3)

1. Taylor Swift- Opalite (=)

Countdown Extra: Girlset- Little Miss

Last Year's #1: Sabrina Carpenter- Taste

#1 Two Years Ago: Tate McRae- Greedy

My Favorite Song Last Year: David Guetta/ Alphaville/ Ava Max- Forever Young

My Favorite Song Two Years Ago: Thirty Seconds To Mars- Seasons

Recommendations For Hits 1: 

Matthew Orgel- The Thrill Of It

Benjamin Steer- Trophy

Quinn Dorian- Blind Spots

No exits means no debuts, so let's move on.

Hitbound:

MGK- Times Of My Life (Debut)

Sabrina Carpenter- Such A Funny Way

The Kid Laroi- Back When You Were Mine (Debut)

Alessi Rose- Get Around

Olivia Dean- So Easy (To Fall In Love)

Freya Skye- Silent Treatment

JYT- What U Want

Girlset- Little Miss

NF- Fear

Nick Jonas- Gut Punch (Debut)

Alex Warren/ Gigi Perez- Eternity

Katseye- Internet Girl (Debut)

5 Seconds Of Summer- I'm Scared I'll Never Sleep Again

Doechii/ Sza- Girl Get Up (Debut)

Tate McRae- Nobody's Girl

In Color- Lighter

Well, five HB debuts for the first weekend of 2026 is definitely rather surprising, but at least I have something to talk about at the beginning of the year. Anyways, first up is a new song from MGK called Times Of My Life. This is quite good, just like a lot of the songs I've heard from him lately. It's another rock song, which I've already made clear I like from him. Then we have the lyrics, which are directed towards an ex of his and he says that while she doesn't want to hear from him ever again, he still thinks that the best times of his life are the ones when he was with her, and he hopes she will come back to him eventually. So yeah, such a solid song.

Continuing with songs about an ex, The Kid Laroi brings us Back When You Were Mine. This is honestly just decent. The beat is a little bit on the slower side although The Kid Laroi sounds pretty good on this. And this seems to be about his breakup with Tate McRae, which I feel like every song since that happened is about. So I'm fine with this for now, but my opinion could change, for better or for worse.

It looks like Nick Jonas is getting ready to drop his first solo album in five years, and we have the lead single from that, this is called Gut Punch. This song is rather solid. It's a little slow at the beginning but picks up at the first hook. And in terms of the lyrics, this seems to be about worrying about getting older, from what I deduced. So I'll take this one too.

Katseye are also starting off 2026 with new music, this is called Internet Girl. Apparently, I'm supposed to hate this, but I actually don't. It's rather good. It gives off Blackpink vibes, specifically vibes of older Blackpink songs, and all five of them sound pretty good. Such a fun song.

Our last debut is a collab between Doechii and Sza called Girl Get Up. This is rather fun, gives off Afrobeats vibes in a rather good way. Both of them also have good verses, and yes, Sza can rap, which I have never heard before. Quite a catchy song.

We lost The Thing I Love, A Perfect World, Ginger Tea, I Stay I Leave I Love I Lose, and Chains Of Love. The Thing I Love is in the abyss, so I hope we see that on the countdown soon, and I'm fine with the rest of them leaving, especially Ginger Tea.

Blurbs:

Glad they realized Die On This Hill won't be a hit in 2026. Though it seems like Billboard is saying otherwise, and thus I learned that Mark from Billboard Breakdown also hates it.

Lover Girl also fell a few spots. I'd be fine if this left next week.

The Big Goodbye unfortunately fell off its re-entry. I honestly questioned how long its second run would last. 

Nice to see Bittersweet and Changes finally jumping huge.

Umm... why did Tears randomly re-enter the top 10?

Though I'll take Not Ok doing such.

Of course, Opalite is still #1. Though it looks like Back To Friends might challenge it, and I hope it ends up taking the top spot.

I guess that does it for me today, see you guys in the next post.