I'm Still Trying (Week of 10/17/2026)

 

Hello everyone, welcome to another post. This week was a lot better than last week, we had good songs jump and two of our HB debuts could very well make my best list in two months. Let's get into it, here are our exits:

Alex Warren- Passenger (#7 last week)

Martin Garrix/ Ed Sheeran- Repeat It (#14 last week)

Karol G/ Bruno Mars- Still (#18 last week)

Dominic Fike- Babydoll (#20 last week)

Countdown:

30. Steve Lacy- Oh Yeah (Re-entry)

29. Jamie Miller- Babydoll (Debut)

28. Alyssa Grace- Bloodstream (Re-entry)

27. Harry Styles- Dance No More (+3)

26. Bruno Mars- Dance With Me (Debut)

25. Rosé- New Trick (-1)

24. Adela- Ain't In LA (-3)

23. Asse- Stop The Wedding (+6)

22. Slayyyter- Brand New Chanel$ (+4)

21. Malcolm Todd- Earrings (+1)

20. Raye/ Amma/ Absolutely- Joy (+5)

19. Ariana Grande- Petal (-4)

18. Katseye- Hootie Frutti (+5)

17. Sienna Spiro- Great Expectation (+10)

16. Adela- Nicole Kidman (+12)

15. The Beaches- Edge Of The Earth (+1)

14. Taylor Swift- Patient Zero (+5)

13. Alex Warren- Emerald Eyes (+4)

12. Gracie Abrams- Minibar (+1)

11. Tame Impala- Loser (+1)

10. Olivia Rodrigo- The Cure (+1)

9. Jonas Brothers- Listen When Sad (=)

8. Stella Lefty- Boston (=)

7. Miley Cyrus- Bass Persuades (+3)

6. Sombr- My Body Isn't Ready (-1)

5. Taylor Swift- I Knew It I Knew You (-1)

4. Sabrina Carpenter- House Tour (+2)

3. Olivia Rodrigo- Stupid Song (=)

2. Teddy Swims- Mr Know It All (=)

1. Katseye- Animal (=)

Countdown Extra: Ax And The Hatchetmen- Hotel Room

Last Year's #1: Sabrina Carpenter- Tears

#1 Two Years Ago: Sabrina Carpenter- Taste

My Favorite Song Last Year: Alex Warren- Eternity

My Favorite Song Two Years Ago: Linkin Park- The Emptiness Machine

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Kygo/ Ava Max- Before You Know It

Both Oh Yeah and Bloodstream re-entered. It's good to see Oh Yeah back as I feel like it's starting to grow on me. I could really do without Bloodstream having a third run though. This could get really annoying rather quickly.

We also have two debuts. First up is Babydoll by Jamie Miller. This is still pretty good, although it has faded on me a bit since debuting last month. It still has a fun beat and I like Jamie Miller's vocals on this. Overall, glad this is starting to become a hit.

Our other debut is something I was hoping would just stay in the abyss and miss its chance to debut, but here we are. This has already dropped to mediocre for me. Bruno Mars sounds pretty good but this is a bit too slow and forgettable, and a waltz like this shouldn't be on pop radio. Not sure how well I see this doing, and I Hope this son's run isn't super long.

Hitbound:

Slayyyter- I Think He's Got A Girl

Olivia Rodrigo/ Chappell Roan- Expectations (Debut)

Knox- Sad Song

Tate McRae- Housewife (Debut)

Asse- Lasso The Moon (Debut)

JYT- I Wanted You

The Chainsmokers- Baby (Debut)

Andy Grammer- Don't Want To Fall In Love (Debut)

Alessi Rose- Fun

Justice/ Tame Impala/ Sza/ King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard- Flower In A Hurricane (Debut)

Remi Wolf- Champagne

Malcolm Todd- Obsessica

Ax And The Hatchetmen- Hotel Room

Holly Humberstone- Too Cute To Be Lonely

Monic/ Gone Astray- Meant To Be

Teddy Swims- Perfect Man

As you may remember, the main way Chappell Roan's song Good Luck Babe became huge and songs like Hot To Go and Pink Pony Club became sleeper hits was because she opened up for Olivia Rodrigo at the beginning of 2024. Fast forward two years later, we have a collab from the two of them that I definitely had expectations for, pun intended, because that's the title of the song. This was originally just Olivia Rodrigo and was on You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl In Love earlier this year, then Chappell Roan hopped on the remix for what is her first release of 2026. And this is what I was hoping it would be. Both of them sound really good here and I really like the beat this has, it sounds like something that could easily be on ZZ Top's albums Eliminator or Afterburner. I also like the lyrics. They are both talking about what they are looking for in a relationship, and I like how we have both Olivia Rodrigo's take on this as a straight woman and Chappell Roan's take on this as a lesbian. I hope this song is a hit.

On the topic of artists who haven't dropped in 2026 until this past weekend, Tate McRae is up next with Housewife. This is pretty good. I like the beat this has and Tate McRae sounds pretty good per usual. I'll take this.

So Asse just put out her new album. This is actually her first album that isn't named after part of her full name (her first album was called Ashlyn, her second was called Rae, and her third was called Willson), it's called The Girl Of Your Dreams, and the song we have from it is called Lasso The Moon. This is also pretty good, kinda similar to Stop The Wedding in a way, the issue here is the rather sudden key change mid final chorus that was probably unnecessary. But other than that, solid song.

Next up, the Chainsmokers are back with Baby. This is pretty good, though they've definitely done better. My issue is that this isn't in the right key for the job, but that's only a minor complaint, because the rest of the song is good, if you remember their song Friday from a couple years ago, this sounds a lot like that song, and Drew Taggart sounds good here per usual. I definitely see this growing on me.

Up next, Andy Grammer is back on here for the first time in almost exactly one year, the last time I talked about him was when he had The Thing I Love with Max about a year ago, now he's here with Don't Want To Fall In Love. This is solid. It has in interesting beat to the point where it sounds a bit like World's Greatest by Lil Nas X from a couple weeks ago (which this is replacing on HB this week) and Andy Grammer sounds pretty good here per usual. So good song, but not exactly compared to...

Guys, we're saving my easy favorite song right now for last, as well as by far my favorite GTA 6 song thus far. Here, Justice and Tame Impala have collaborated again following Neverender from the beginning of last year, but this time, they also have Sza and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard on Flower In A Hurricane. Wow, wow, more fucking wow. This is a banger. The production from Justice and Tame Impala is fucking legendary, fully enforced by KGLW lead guitarist Joey Walker's iconic AF guitar riff right before the hook, and both Tame Impala and Sza sound really good together over this beat. I'm honestly praying we see this on the countdown at some point.

We lost World's Greatest (as I sort of previously mentioned), Bad Taste, Seriously, Let's Get Married, Sawadika, and Another Drink. Only those first two I will miss, the other four I can do without, Another Drink was definitely fading on me before it re-entered a couple weeks ago.

Blurbs:

Our exits were Passenger, Repeat It, Still, and Babydoll. The first two will definitely be appearing on my best list at the end of the year (with Repeat It going top 5) and had great runs, so I don't think I can complain too much. Still grew on me a lot, but of course I still (no pun intended) prefer Ahi. Lastly, Babydoll lasted super long to the point I even lost track of how long it was on for, according to Ethan, it lasted 29 weeks and somehow never made the top half of the countdown, peaking at only #17. 

Looks like some wedding will be stopped soon.

Good seeing Joy getting success.

I don't think we needed Great Expectation jumping huge.

Though I'll say the exact opposite about Nicole Kidman.

Can Patient Zero just peak there at #14?

Hopefully, Bass Persuades goes top 5 soon.

Animal held on to #1, but could get dethroned by House Tour soon.

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