The Weeknd [4] - Week of May 16, 2020

What's up, guys? The countdown has definitely been getting better these past couple of weeks, which I very much appreciate. We certainly had a pretty interesting countdown this week, so much so that it's freaking me out I definitely think someone over at Hits1 screwed up in some way or another. Without further ado, here are the songs that are "leaving" the countdown this week.

This Week's Exits

❖ Kelsea Ballerini/Halsey - The Other Girl (#33)
❖ 24kgoldn - City Of Angels (#34)

The Countdown

❖ Last Week's #1 Song: The Weeknd - Blinding Lights [3rd Week At #1]

45 ∙ Ed Sheeran/Camila Cabello/Cardi B - South Of The Border (#43) [–2]
44 ∙ Tones And I - Dance Monkey (#44) [=]
43 ∙ Jonas Brothers - Only Human (#45) [+2] [1 Week At #1]
42 ∙ Halsey - Graveyard (#41) [–1]
41 ∙ Arizona Zervas - Roxanne (#42) [+1]
40 ∙ Niall Horan - Nice To Meet Ya (#35) [–5] [8 Weeks At #1]
39 ∙ Blackbear - Hot Girl Bummer (#40) [+1]
38 ∙ 5 Seconds Of Summer - Teeth (#37) [–1] [2 Weeks At #1]
37 ∙ Saint Jhn/Imanbek - Roses (DEBUT)
36 ∙ Sam Smith/Demi Lovato - I'm Ready (#31) [–5]
35 ∙ Regard - Ride It (#38) [+3]
34 ∙ Ariana Grande/Justin Bieber - Stuck With U (DEBUT)
33 ∙ The Black Eyed Peas/J Balvin - Ritmo (#36) [+3]
32 ∙ Harry Styles - Adore You (#24) [–8] [10 Weeks At #1]
31 ∙ Marshmello/Halsey - Be Kind (#25) [–6]
30 ∙ Post Malone - Circles (#28) [–2] [2 Weeks At #1]
29 ∙ Alesso/Liam Payne - Midnight (#29) [=]
28 ∙ Billie Eilish - Everything I Wanted (#23) [–5]
27 ∙ Blackbear - Me And Ur Ghost (#26) [–1]
26 ∙ Jonas Brothers - What A Man Gotta Do (#22) [–4]
25 ∙ Powfu/Beabadoobee - Death Bed (Coffee For Your Head) (#32) [+7]
24 ∙ Benee/Gus Dapperton - Supalonely (#21) [–3]
23 ∙ Justin Bieber/Quavo - Intentions (#15) [–8]
22 ∙ Halsey - You Should Be Sad (#18) [–4]
21 ∙ Surfaces - Sunday Best (#13) [–8]
20 ∙ Lady Gaga - Stupid Love (#9) [–11]
19 ∙ Alec Benjamin - Oh My God (#27) [+8]
18 ∙ Taylor Swift - The Man (#17) [–1]
17 ∙ Lauv - Modern Loneliness (#20) [+3]
16 ∙ Dua Lipa - Don't Start Now (#7) [–9]
15 ∙ JP Saxe/Julia Michaels - If The World Was Ending (#12) [–3]
14 ∙ Trevor Daniel - Falling (#30) [+16]
13 ∙ Maren Morris - The Bones (#39) [+26]
12 ∙ The Weeknd - In Your Eyes (#19) [+7]
11 ∙ Twenty One Pilots - Level Of Concern (#16) [+5]
10 ∙ Camila Cabello - My Oh My (#5) [–5]
9 ∙ Harry Styles - Watermelon Sugar (#8) [+2]
8 ∙ Demi Lovato - I Love Me (#11) [+3]
7 ∙ 5 Seconds Of Summer - Old Me (#8) [+1]
6 ∙ Dua Lipa - Break My Heart (#14) [+8]
5 ∙ Niall Horan - No Judgement (#4) [–1]
4 ∙ Doja Cat - Say So (#3) [–1]
3 ∙ Lewis Capaldi - Before You Go (#2) [–1]
2 ∙ Conan Gray - Maniac (#10) [+8]
1 ∙ The Weeknd - Blinding Lights (#1) [=] [4th Week At #1]

❖ #1 Song One Year Ago: Jonas Brothers - Sucker [8th/13 Weeks At #1]

❖ Biggest Jump Of The Week: Maren Morris - The Bones [+26]

❖ Biggest...DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Lady Gaga - Stupid Love [–11]

❖ Countdown Extra: Tones And I - Bad Child

New Arrivals

We have 2 new arrivals this week, and both of them are solid, but only barely. The first of which is the Imanbek remix of Saint Jhn's Roses, which was a song that actually came out in 2016 (the remix was released in 2019 however). Honestly I kinda like this. The production is groovy, the vocals are weird as hell but I can kinda get behind the high-pitched vocal filter here, certainly more than the down-pitched vocals on Regard's Ride It. Overall, solid song, but I'm not really sure if it's actually gonna stick with me.

And finally, Ariana Grande, my all-time favourite artist, decided to collaborate with Justin Bieber, who's music I never liked, for a charity single called Stuck With U. Obviously I had no idea what to think of this collaboration, both on paper and after actually listening to it. I had a feeling it would either be Ariana's worst song or Justin's best song, and in both cases, it would be because of their respective collaborator. At first I was INCREDIBLY mixed on it, but after giving it quite a few more listens, I've decided that it leans more towards the latter, which is good, because I feel really bad whenever I find an Ariana song that I dislike. That being said, it's not great. While Ariana sounds really good here, she can do better. While this instrumental had potential to be really good, it's a bit slow and I'm not a huge fan of that. Oh, and...Justin Bieber kinda sucks. It's one of his better vocal performances ever, but he's still as anti-charismatic as always and his falsetto sounds really bad. But the vocal chemistry is better than it should be, and the production is solid, so overall I kinda like it overall. But as I said, it's not a *great* song, and I'm worried I may actually get kinda sick of it if it gets overplayed. Thanks, Justin!

❖ Best New Entrant: Ariana Grande/Justin Bieber - Stuck With U (#34)

Hit-Bound

❖ AJR - Bang
❖ Megan Thee Stallion/Beyonce - Savage (DEBUT)
❖ Jackson Wang - 100 Ways
❖ Ava Max - Kings And Queens
❖ 24kgoldn - City Of Angels (RE-ENTRY)
❖ Gabby Barrett/Charlie Puth - I Hope (DEBUT)
❖ Kelsea Ballerini/Halsey - The Other Girl (DEBUT*)
❖ Lil Mosey - Blueberry Faygo
❖ Tones And I - Bad Child
❖ Surfaces - Sunday Best (RE-ENTRY**)
❖ Meghan Trainor/Nicki Minaj - Nice To Meet Ya
❖ The 1975 - If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)
❖ Drake - Toosie Slide
❖ Ashe - Moral Of The Story
❖ Major Lazer/Marcus Mumford - Lay Your Head On Me

*Not a Hit-Bound re-entry because it debuted straight onto the countdown.

**Re-entered Hit-Bound even though it's still on the countdown. :wat:

First up, we have Megan Thee Stallion's 1st appearance on Hits1 besides the YouTube15 with the Savage remix with Beyonce. To be completely honest, I actually prefer the original version of this song. I don't really like Beyonce's attempts at whisper-rapping. You can tell she's trying to sound sexy and she definitely doesn't. Her normal singing and rapping here is good though. As for the rest of the song, I've said this before, but I quite like Megan as a rapper. I think she does great here. The chorus is insanely catchy, and the production is pretty minimalist but I think it's great, honestly. And overall, this song kinda slaps a lot and I'm happy it's doing well.

We have yet another Hit-Bound re-entry this week, and this time it's City Of Angels by 24kgoldn, a song I don't care about at all. In other words, let's move on.

Next we have I Hope by Gabby Barrett, a song that's been on the Hot 100 for a little while now. Except oh wait, it's the Charlie Puth remix because this is Hits1 we're talking about. I gotta be totally honest, Gabby might be kinda cute and all but I don't think she's a very good singer at all. So much so that it's freaking me out (okay fine I'll stop making out-of-context Ava Max references) I may actually prefer Charlie Puth here. Dire circumstances indeed. I also don't like the production here very much at all. And overall, not a good song.

Now here's where things start to make no sense. The Other Girl by Kelsea Ballerini and Halsey and Sunday Best by Surfaces are back on Hit-Bound. But wait! The Other Girl debuted straight onto the countdown and was never actually on Hit-Bound so it's technically not a Hit-Bound re-entry, and Sunday Best is also still on the countdown at the same time. Huh!?? That has to be not just a first, but also a mistake. I'd be very surprised if it isn't either of those.

We lost Boyfriend, Check Your Phone, Six Feet Apart, and 17 this week. I'm definitely really happy about those last 2 because they suck, and I'm not about to complain that Check Your Phone is gone either since it's the sort of "song" that shouldn't be anywhere near the radio. Kinda sucks that Boyfriend left however, and it is kinda surprising because it was the countdown extra a couple weeks ago and I heard it multiple times that week. But as I've mentioned before, it's definitely not the best song named Boyfriend that I've ever heard. That would definitely be Ariana's, with a distant 2nd place going to Mabel's.

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1 ∙ Ava Max - Kings And Queens
2 ∙ Kelsea Ballerini/Halsey - The Other Girl
3 ∙ Megan Thee Stallion/Beyonce - Savage
4 ∙ Lil Mosey - Blueberry Faygo
5 ∙ Meghan Trainor/Nicki Minaj - Nice To Meet Ya

Sassy, Blurby, Nasty

Let's begin by talking about the fact that Adore You is now out of the Top 30 entirely. I have no choice but to stan that.

The Bones had a massive jump out of nowhere up to #13. It's not even doing that great on airplay so I have no clue where this came from. Not complaining, though.

I'd be sad that Don't Start Now fell out of the Top 10, except it was replaced by Break My Heart, which is even better. So I'm actually kind of okay with that.

I'm cool with Falling making a big gain into the Top 20. I probably like this song way more than I should honestly, but I don't really care.

Oof at Stupid Love receiving the biggest drop of the week. This song has actually been underperforming pretty hard on the charts, which kinda stinks honestly. Luckily, she has a collaboration with Ariana Grande coming out in just a few days, and I have every expectation that it's going to be absolutely great. I'm so looking forward to it.

At this point, In Your Eyes is actually super close with Say So as my favourite countdown song. Don't be surprised if it overtakes it in a week or 2. Seriously I've been listening to that song a lot the past couple of days because it's just so good.

Why did Be Kind fall 6 spots on its 2nd week? It was doing so well on airplay, it actually seems to be doing good on the Hot 100 (so far), and it's Halsey for god's sake. There's no reason it should've fallen, especially since it's actually a damn great song unlike the majority of songs from the both of them. At least I'm Ready has basically no airplay so I kinda get why it fell on its 2nd week.

❖ Favourite Countdown Song 1 Year Ago: Ciara - Thinkin Bout You (#19)

❖ #1 Recommendation For Hits1: Doja Cat - Boss Bitch

Top 20 Review

0 = Awful

20 ∙ JP Saxe/Julia Michaels - If The World Was Ending
19 ∙ Lewis Capaldi - Before You Go

1 = Bad

18 ∙ Lauv - Modern Loneliness
17 ∙ Alec Benjamin - Oh My God

2 = Mediocre

16 ∙ Conan Gray - Maniac

3 = Decent

15 ∙ Niall Horan - No Judgement
14 ∙ Twenty One Pilots - Level Of Concern

4 = Good

13 ∙ 5 Seconds Of Summer - Old Me
12 ∙ Harry Styles - Watermelon Sugar
11 ∙ Maren Morris - The Bones
10 ∙ Trevor Daniel - Falling

5 = Great

9 ∙ Lady Gaga - Stupid Love
8 ∙ Demi Lovato - I Love Me
7 ∙ Taylor Swift - The Man
6 ∙ Camila Cabello - My Oh My
5 ∙ Dua Lipa - Don't Start Now
4 ∙ The Weeknd - Blinding Lights
3 ∙ Dua Lipa - Break My Heart
2 ∙ The Weeknd - In Your Eyes

6 = BONUS: Best Song

1 ∙ Doja Cat - Say So

Overall: 72/100 (72%, B) = Good

My Top 5 Songs

1 ∙ Doja Cat - Say So
2 ∙ The Weeknd - In Your Eyes
3 ∙ Dua Lipa - Break My Heart
4 ∙ The Weeknd - Blinding Lights
5 ∙ Marshmello/Halsey - Be Kind

My Bottom 5 Songs

1 ∙ JP Saxe/Julia Michaels - If The World Was Ending
2 ∙ Lewis Capaldi - Before You Go
3 ∙ Powfu/Beabadoobee - Death Bed (Coffee For Your Head)
4 ∙ 5 Seconds Of Summer - Teeth
5 ∙ Halsey - You Should Be Sad