Are we ready yet? (Week of 2/21/2026)

 

Hello everyone, welcome to another post. Not a lot to say here, let's just get into it, here are our exits:

Ed Sheeran/ Arijit Singh- Sapphire (#13 last week)

Meghan Trainor- Still Don't Care (#12 last week)

Countdown:

30. PinkPantheress/ Zara Larsson- Stateside (-2)

29. Justin Bieber- Yukon (=)

28. Hilary Duff- Roommates (Debut)

27. Tyla- Chanel (-1)

26. Myles Smith/ Niall Horan- Drive Safe (Debut)

25. Zara Larsson- Midnight Sun (-3)

24. Kehlani- Folded (-4)

23. Noah Kahan- The Great Divide (+2)

22. Katseye- Internet Girl (+2)

21. Ella Langley- Choosin Texas (+9)

20. Tate McRae- Tit For Tat (-3)

19. Tame Impala- Dracula (+2)

18. Sienna Spiro- Die On This Hill (-2)

17. Sombr- Homewrecker (+10)

16. Freya Skye- Silent Treatment (+3)

15. Nick Jonas- Gut Punch (+8)

14. Olivia Dean- So Easy (To Fall In Love) (+4)

13. Harry Styles- Aperture (+2)

12. Madison Beer- Bittersweet (+2)

11. Alex Warren/ Jelly Roll- Bloodline (-1)

10. Kpop Demon Hunters- Golden (-3)

9. David Guetta/ Teddy Swims/ Tones And I- Gone Gone Gone (-1)

8. Sabrina Carpenter- When Did You Get Hot (+3)

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

6. Olivia Dean- Man I Need (+3)

5. Sombr- 12 To 12 (=)

4. Taylor Swift- The Fate Of Ophelia (-1)

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

2. Bruno Mars- I Just Might (=)

1. Taylor Swift- Opalite (=)

Countdown Extra: Tiffany Stringer- Bullet

Last Year's #1: Chappell Roan- Pink Pony Club

#1 Two Years Ago: Dua Lipa- Houdini (real countdown), Justin Timberlake- Selfish (fake countdown)

My Favorite Song Last Year: The Weeknd- Cry For Me

My Favorite Song Two Years Ago: Max/ Huh Yunjin- Stupid In Love (real countdown), People R Ugly- Brain Dead (fake countdown)

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Tanner Massey- Choke

Up first is Hilary Duff's first appearance on the countdown in literally 19 years, this is called Roommates. This is quite good. Ethan said this sounds a lot like Anti Hero by Taylor Swift, and I can sort of see that in terms of the beat this has, and Hilary Duff sounds quite good here. Glad to see her back.

Our other debut this week is Drive Safe by Myles Smith and Niall Horan. This is also really good. The beat here is rather solid and both of them sound quite good. Plus, this seems to be about the uncertainties of life and overcoming them. Really good song here.

Hitbound:

Holly Humberstone- To Love Somebody

Charli XCX- Dying For You (Debut)

Meghan Trainor- Get In Girl

Kygo/ Gryffin/ Khalid- Save My Love (Debut)

Twenty One Pilots- Drag Path (Debut)

Stella Lefty- Thinking Bout You

Mckayla Twiggs- What A Girl Wants (Debut)

Sienna Spiro- You Stole The Show

Zayn- Die For Me

Tiffany Stringer- Bullet

FlowerOvLove- Casual Lady (Debut)

Bebe Rexha- I Like You Better Than Me

Knox- Go For Broke

Maisie Peters- My Regards

Kpop Demon Hunters- How It's Done (Debut)

Bella Kay- ILoveItILoveItILoveIt

First up, Charli XCX put out Wuthering Heights, and from it, we have Dying For You. This is just good. It has a decent enough beat and she sounds pretty good, this is just way too forgettable, especially compared to...

...this next song. It's a collaboration between Kygo, Gryffin, and Khalid called Save My Love, and this marks Gryffin's second ever song on Hits 1 and first since After You at the beginning of 2022. Interestingly enough, 2022 was also the last time he collaborated with Kygo (on Woke Up In Love) and the last known time Khalid was on an EDM song (Numb with Marshmello). As for this new song, it's really good. The production from Kygo and Gryffin is extremely on point and Khalid sounds quite good here. I also think the drop here fits the song rather well. Hopefully, this actually does something, but since I saw this was getting airplay, I like my chances.

Twenty One Pilots are back with a new song called Drag Path. This is just decent at best. It's on the slower side for their music, but Tyler Joseph sounds pretty good here so that saves the song from being all that bad. I can confirm they are capable of better songs though.

Next up, we have newcomer Mckayla Twiggs with her song What A Girl Wants. And not only did she jack the title from a Christina Aguilera song from the late 90s, this new song actually sounds a lot like that song. So this is indeed on the solid side, plus, Mckayla Twiggs sounds pretty good. I'll take this.

Of course we have FlowerOvLove's new song on here, this is called Casual Lady. This is among her better songs. It has a solid beat to it and she sounds pretty good. I could have done without that intro, but at least Hits 1 edited that part out. That's all I really need to say here.

For our last debut, Hits 1 is way too late picking up on. It's another song from the Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack, this is called How It's Done. I'm glad this eventually made its way on to Hits 1, because this is so much better than Golden. It gives off the vibes of various Kpop girl group songs, such as any classic Blackpink song or Internet Girl by Katseye, and everyone sounds pretty good here. Will we see this on the countdown? Hopefully.

We lost Big Guy, High Maintenance, Hotel California, Over Love, and Thankful. Big Guy is in the abyss, so hopefully, it debuts soon. I wish High Maintenance and Hotel California were given a chance to debut because they were pretty good. And I'm perfectly fine with the last two leaving.

Blurbs:

Our exits were Sapphire and Still Don't Care. It was good to see Sapphire's unexpected second countdown run while it lasted, and I think it was getting time for Still Don't Care to go.

Nice to see Choosin Texas jumping huge off its debut.

Not as sold on Homewrecker jumping off its debut, but I'll take it.

Gut Punch also jumped huge, behaving exactly like a song from any of the Jonas Brothers should.

When Did You Get Hot is slowly but surely making its way up the countdown.

And for some ungodly reason, Opalite is still #1. This is getting extremely ridiculous if it wasn't already. It's now 13 consecutive posts I have had to use a picture of Taylor Swift (not counting my worst and best lists). I really hope we get something else at #1 soon.

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