A Year-End Special - 2016: A Year In Review

Well, I'm sure we can all agree that 2016 was a wild ride. Now I'm just glad that today is the beginning of something fresh that has the ability to be good. 2016 had a lot of celebrity deaths such as Prince, David Bowie, and Carrie Fisher. 2016 also brought the election of Donald Trump, our president to be in the coming weeks. 2016 also had a lot of controversy out in the world. All in all, the world could use a fresh start, and I'm glad 2017 is finally here! As in the world of music, this year wasn't the best year, but we got some good music here and there. 2015 was definitely a better year in my book for music. You will see the good songs that I believe deserve recognition in my Top 45 Songs Of 2016 post coming in the next few days, as it is a long process and there has been a lot going on lately. It also doesn't help that my school is having us go back in two days, on Tuesday, which is a pain, but I'm sure most of you don't have a Mid-Winter Break, which is a week long break in February that we have yearly, since its in the middle of semesters. So, anyway, here's a Hits 1 Year In Review!

First, I will be counting down my bottom 10 songs of 2016. I will only be using music that appeared on Hits 1, on the countdown, though there was crappy music elsewhere that thankfully didn't debut on this station. This is a Hits 1 Year In Review, so why review songs not here? Let's celebrate that they  never ventured into the station's territory. However, I will recognize those songs in just a moment.

So, here are the songs that were terrible and easily could've been on my bottom 10 songs of 2016 on Hits 1, had they debuted on the countdown.

• Desiigner - Panda
• Desiigner - Tiimmy Turner
• D.R.A.M./Lil Yachty - Broccoli
• Fat Joe & Remy Ma - All The Way Up
• Future/The Weeknd - Low Life
• Jacob Sartorious - Hit Or Miss
• Jacob Sartorious - Sweatshirt
• Kevin Gates - 2 Phones
• Kevin Gates - Really Really
• Migos/Lil Uzi Vert - Bad & Boujee
• Post Malone - White Iverson
• Rae Sremmurd/Gucci Mane - Black Beatles
• Travis $cott - Antidote
• Zay Hilfigerrr/Zayion McCall - Juju On That Beat

That's all I can think of for that off of the top of my head right now. So, now I will list my dishonorable mentions that did appear on Hits 1 this year and were very close to making the list.

• Andy Grammer - Fresh Eyes
• Ed Sheeran - Photograph
• Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud
• Elle King - Ex's & Oh's
• James Bay - Let It Go
• Justin Bieber - What Do You Mean?
• Lukas Graham - 7 Years

Now, here's this year's bottom 10 songs.

10) X Ambassadors - Unsteady

To most of yours' surprises, I actually enjoyed this song before it came to the countdown. I actually believe it was in green for its first couple of weeks here. Eventually Hits 1 just had to kill it with overplay. Thank you, Hits 1 for ruining this song for me. Well, I can't really say as to why I hate it so much, its just that its always on the radio, and I can't stand hearing the lines in the chorus over and over again. Part of the reason I wish for it to leave the countdown is so that I can somewhat begin to enjoy it again, if that's possible.

9) AJR - I'm Not Famous

So, most of us remember AJR - I'm Ready, which was a huge guilty pleasure of mine, and I just thought that was a really fun song. This one, however is just a lost cause. I mean, this was just a bland space filler to start, and I thought it would just leave in about a week and be the shortest song of the year. Not even kidding, but eventually it just stayed for a while and became this big song on Hits 1. So, the airplay it received kind of just made the song annoying, as it was super repetitive.

8) Charlie Puth - One Call Away

I know this song is sweet and all, but it's just too boring and uninteresting to really captivate my attention. It didn't take me long to get sick of this song, just because there is not much to it. The follow-up single to this experimented more and got a better sound. It was definitely better than One Call Away, but We Don't Talk Anymore didn't truly reach an entire peak. It was almost there, but not too close. The main point with this guy I am trying to make is that he needs to experiment more with his music in the future. I think his new single, Dangerously, is very interesting and better than One Call Away, but I don't know how long I will stay with it, honestly.

7) Kenny Chesney/P!nk - Setting The World On Fire

I know you all know by now that I absolutely despise this song. Any song I have ever heard by Kenny Chesney has been nothing to my interest. The guy just never changes up anything with his music. His voice is generic and boring, and it really shows on this snoozefest of a song. P!nk was an interesting choice, I'll admit, but she just doesn't fit with Kenny Chesney and his style. I just cannot stand the constant repetition, "we were up all night and we were feeling so good...". This guy seriously needs to be more experimental with his music, which I doubt will happen, since he's been doing this for years. I might've ranked this higher, but P!nk saves it the slightest bit when I drown out Chesney's vocals.

6) Lukas Graham - Mama Said

Yes. I did try to get into this song. Yes. It was green at some point on the countdown. No. I did not get into it. No. I do not like it. Frankly, this song was just such a pain for me to get into. I just couldn't stand it after about a week. All those times I put it in blue, it really should've been in red. I mean, recruiting a bunch of kids to annoyingly sing in the back of your song really degrades the quality of your music. Thankfully Lukas Graham somewhat redeemed themselves with their latest single, You're Not There.

5) Dawin - Dessert

No. Just no. This guy tried way too hard with this song. It sounds like a howler monkey got in a fight with a chew toy. This just sounds like overkill. If this song had been tried a little less on, I believe it wouldn't have been on this list, but man is this horrid.

4) Elle King - America's Sweetheart

Elle King has still thus far failed to impress me. The chorus of this song just sounds like she is screaming. This song just sounds like it was rushed, and she's just too folk for this kind of era. I just don't like the sound. Maybe her next single will stick with me, but this was just a vocal mess.

3) 5 Seconds Of Summer - Girls Talk Boys

This was just a mess. It sounds like this was put together in a five minute car ride. I mean, its just not good at all. 5 Seconds Of Summer usually impresses me with their unique style of music, but this was just not their song. The song is just very repetitive with the speaking of over and over "girls talk boys", they are basically just saying that through the whole chorus. The beat and production are just let downs and don't save the song at all, and the lyrical content sounds like something that a nine year old could put together. I mean, it was just not their day when they had this idea of a song. I don't even know how this fits the title of being the lead single off of the Ghostbusters soundtrack, but whatever.

2) Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - S.O.B.

A rightful vocal mess, a perfect example. This song just degrades all vocal meaning. This guy's voice is just raspy and it sounds like he needs to take a freaking cough drop. I mean, the lyrical content is just a mess as well. I mean, who the heck can feel a vibe like the one in this song? There is just nothing to it, its bland and I wish as if this station just skipped over it completely, as it was never picked up anywhere else.

1) Jason Derulo - Get Ugly

This is it. The worst song on Hits 1 all year long. This track was just a mess all over. Nothing good about it. Jason Derulo managed to make me dread listening to the countdown when this song came on. His voice is rather terrible in this song, and the lyrical content is just stupid. This dude seriously needs to just go back to his older music like The Other Side, because that was some good stuff. This is just trying way too hard to be the next big rap song. Jason Derulo has tried to deem himself a rap artist before, and I'm telling you pop music his more his style.

We had a variety of #1 songs this year on Hits 1. Some of the songs being at #1 we all saw coming, and other's we didn't. Let's take a look at all of the #1 songs this year.

• Twenty One Pilots - Heathens (1)
• Demi Lovato - Confident (1)
• Panic! At The Disco - Victorious (1)
• Adele - Send My Love (To Your New Lover) (1)
• Flo Rida - My House (1)
• Mike Posner/SeeB - I Took A Pill In Ibiza (2)
• One Direction - Perfect (2)
• Shawn Mendes - Treat You Better (2)
• Taylor Swift - New Romantics (2)
• Charlie Puth - One Call Away (2)
• The Chainsmokers/Daya - Don't Let Me Down (3)
• Hailee Steinfeld & Grey/Zedd - Starving (3)
• DNCE - Cake By The Ocean (4)
• Twenty One Pilots - Stressed Out (5)
• Adele - Hello (5) [12 total, 7 in 2015]
• The Chainsmokers/Halsey - Closer (8)
• Justin Timberlake - Can't Stop The Feeling! (10)

Now, we move on to HitBound. HitBound has been very intriguing this year as there were several songs that never made it to the countdown. Some were good, some were bad, and some were just meh. These are the songs that were never announced by Spyder Harrison on the  Hits 1 Weekend Countdown.

• Adam Lambert - Another Lonely Night
• Alesso/Nico & Vinz - I Wanna Know
• Bebe Rexha/Nicki Minaj - No Broken Hearts
• Ben Rector - Brand New
• Bo Napolean - If That's Ok
• BØRNS - Electric Love
• David Guetta/Sia/Fetty Wap - Bang My Head
• Demi Lovato - Stone Cold
• Disturbed - The Sound Of Silence
• Ellie Goulding - Still Falling For You
• Flo Rida/Jason Derulo - Hello Friday
• Hailee Steinfeld/DNCE - Rock Bottom
• Jacob Whitesides - Secrets
• Jason Derulo - Kiss The Sky
• Kelly Clarkson/Chloe & Halle/Missy Elliot/Jadagrace/Lea Michele/Janelle Monáe/Kelly Rowland/Zendaya - This Is For My Girls
• Kungs & Cookin' On 3 Burners - This Girl
• Magic! - Red Dress
• Magic!/Sean Paul - Lay You Down Easy
• MAX - Basement Party
• Mike Posner - Be As You Are
• MKTO - Superstitious
• Nathan Sykes/Ariana Grande - Over & Over Again
• One Direction - Infinity
• Pentatonix - Hallelujah
• Snakehips/Zayn - Cruel
• Steve Aoki & Boehm/Walk The Moon - Back 2 U
• The Summer Set - The Night Is Young
• Troye Sivan/Alessia Cara - Wild

Here are the songs that are currently on HitBound and still have not been on the countdown. These songs are not eligible for the Lights Over Paris Award, as they have yet to exit HitBound (they will not recieve a color rating, check on my last countdown post, if you wish).

• Bruno Mars - Versace On The Floor
• Calum Scott - Dancing On My Own
• Captain Cuts/Nateur - Love Like We Used To
• Daya - Words
• Dua Lipa - Blow Your Mind (Mwah)
• Fitz & The Tantrums - HandClap
• Gavin DeGraw - She Sets The City On Fire
• Hey Violet - Guys My Age
• Little Mix - Shout Out To My Ex
• Lukas Graham - You're Not There
• Machine Gun Kelly & Camila Cabello - Bad Things
• Maty Noyes - In My Mind
• Rihanna - Love On The Brain
• Shawn Mendes - Mercy

Now, I will announce the 2016 Lights Over Paris Award. This is something the rest of the bloggers here do each year, and I just play along with it, as well as the Biggest Whiff Award, that you will see in a moment. This year there were two songs that I had to deal with in the search for the victor. The song that was second and so close to winning the title was Nathan Sykes/Ariana Grande - Over & Over Again. Now, here's the 2016 Lights Over Paris Award.

2016 Lights Over Paris Award: Hailee Steinfeld/DNCE - Rock Bottom

Now, for the Biggest Whiff Award. This is an award given to a rather successful song that Hits 1 never picked up on any of its shows. Now, here it is, the award. 

2016 Biggest Whiff Award: Beyoncé - Sorry

Tenure Recognition

There were zero songs that lasted only one or two weeks this year. The shortest tenure, that five songs share, was three weeks. Now, here are the shortest tenured songs of 2016, all lasting just three weeks.

• Big Gigantic/Angela McCluskey - The Little Things
• Conrad Sewell - Hold Me Up
• Katy Perry - Rise
• Pitbull/Osmani Garcia/Lil Jon - El Taxi
• Shawn Hook - Sound Of Your Heart

The longest tenure on the countdown this past year was almost a full year. Now, here is the longest tenured song of 2016.

• Twenty One Pilots - Stressed Out (entered 12/26/15, exited 12/17/16)

Well, that's all I have for you at the moment! Thanks for reading guys! This was just a summary of 2016 on Hits 1 in one post. Thank you to all who read the whole way through, and the Top 45 Songs Of 2016 will hopefully be out in the coming days. I am sorry I couldn't get these two posts out to you before it was 2017. Well, better late than never, right? 

Love you guys!

~ Jack :)