Ed Sheeran (2) - Week Of May 20, 2017

So, this week was good in some areas, and then not so good again. I am glad we saw the light of five new songs here and most of the ones that were replaced by them had to go anyways. There were other good parts, for example, our biggest drop this week. Finally, the return of our number one song this week was odd and I prefer that it does not come back again after this weekend. So, before we get to this week's fresh 45 songs, here's the five songs that are leaving us this week.

• Flo Rida/99 Percent - Cake (#27)
• Jon Bellion - All Time Low (#29)
• Bruno Mars - 24K Magic (#34)
• Snakehips & MØ - Don't Leave (#39)
• Ariana Grande/Nicki Minaj - Side To Side (#41)

Last Week's #1 Song: Zedd & Alessia Cara - Stay

#1 Song This Week 1 Year Ago: Panic! At The Disco - Victorious

The Chart

45. The Weeknd/Daft Punk - I Feel It Coming (#45)

44. Niall Horan - This Town (#44)

43. Katy Perry/Skip Marley - Chained To The Rhythm (#43)

42. Machine Gun Kelly & Camila Cabello - Bad Things (#32)

41. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey/Zedd - Starving (#38) [4 Weeks At #1]

40. Aaron Carter - Sooner Or Later (#37)

39. ONE OK ROCK - American Girls (#40)

38. ZAYN/PARTYNEXTDOOR - Still Got Time (DEBUT)
37. Maroon 5 - Don't Wanna Know (#42) [3 Weeks At #1]

36. G-Eazy & Kehlani - Good Life (DEBUT)
35. Twenty One Pilots - Heavydirtysoul (#31)

34. Jason Derulo/Ty Dolla $ign/Nicki Minaj - Swalla (DEBUT)

33. DNCE - Kissing Strangers (DEBUT)

32. Steve Aoki & Louis Tomlinson - Just Hold On (#33)

31. Machine Gun Kelly/Hailee Steinfeld - At My Best (DEBUT)

30. ZAYN & Taylor Swift - I Don't Wanna Live Forever (#34)

29. The Chainsmokers/Halsey - Closer (#13) [8 Weeks At #1]

28. MAX/Gnash - Lights Down Low (#36)

27. Maroon 5/Future - Cold (#17)

26. Shawn Mendes - Mercy (#6)

25. Clean Bandit/Sean Paul/Anne-Marie - Rockabye (#25)

24. Harry Styles - Sign Of The Times (#28)

23. DJ Khaled/Justin Bieber/Chance The Rapper - I'm The One (#35)

22. The Vamps/Matoma - All Night (#16)

21. Fitz & The Tantrums - HandClap (#23)

20. Charlie Puth - Attention (#20)

19. Train - Play That Song (#19)

18. AJR - Weak (#22)

17. Bruno Mars - That's What I Like (#5) [1 Week At #1]

16. Niall Horan - Slow Hands (#30)

15. Calvin Harris/Frank Ocean/Migos - Slide (#15)

14. Halsey - Now Or Never (#26)

13. Lady Gaga - The Cure (#18)

12. Panic! At The Disco - L.A. Devotee (#8)

11. Shawn Mendes - There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back (#14)

10. James Arthur - Say You Won't Let Go (#12)

9. The Chainsmokers - Paris (#9) [1 Week At #1]

8. Julia Michaels - Issues (#10)

7. Linkin Park/Kiiara - Heavy (#19)

6. Kygo & Selena Gomez - It Ain't Me (#7)

5. Imagine Dragons - Believer (#11)

4. The Chainsmokers & Coldplay - Something Just Like This (#3)

3. Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You (#2) [9 Weeks At #1]

2. Zedd & Alessia Cara - Stay (#1) [2 Weeks At #1]

1. Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill (#4) [2nd Week At #1]

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Shawn Mendes - Mercy (-20)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Niall Horan - Slow Hands (+14)

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Kygo & Ellie Goulding - First Time

#1 Recommendation For You: Selena Gomez - Bad Liar

New Entrants

~ This week's entrant class was very good. Let's start with the song that we saw first here this week. The song is called Still Got Time by ZAYN featuring PARTYNEXTDOOR. This song really was not special to me when I first heard it, but when I started developing a sense of what it was and listened to it a little more, I began to enjoy it. My favorite part of the song is the chorus, and while the production may be a little sloppy, the song is working just fine for me for now, but I honestly don't know how this song is going to work out, just due to the fact that they brought in an unusual artist that I would never expect them to pick up, PARTYNEXTDOOR. 

~ Next up this week, we have the "theme" to the new Fast & Furious movie. The song is Good Life from G-Eazy & Kehlani. I have been enjoying this song ever since I first heard it a few weeks ago. Both artists sound great in this song and the vocals are huge sell for me. The production, not to mention, is also very exceptional. All in all, these factors all call for a good song, and I'm glad it made it here, onto the countdown and I hope it does well. 

~ The third entry that was admitted to the countdown this week was Swalla by Jason Derulo featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj. If I'm being completely honest with you all here, I would have never expected Hits 1 to pick up on this song. The reason being Ty Dolla $ign is in it, and this is the first time this station has picked him up. The only sole reason I can actually see this one being picked up was that Jason Derulo was the leading artist and this station absolutely loves him. This song isn't bad, but I can see myself really losing interest in it in the coming weeks, just due to the repetition of the same line over and over through the course of the track. All in all, I can see this one doing well here, so hopefully, in the long run, it doesn't get on my nerves too much.

~ Fourth this week we have DNCE - Kissing Strangers. I was quite surprised that they cut Nicki Minaj from this song, as she is on the original version of the track. At first, I didn't think I would like this song, and it would go to red quickly, rather then climbing up the ladder to being green. As I listened to this song more, though, I started to enjoy the chorus, so that's why it's green. The production is still pretty suckish, so it will probably be back in blue in the near future. I really don't care how it does here though, as it will probably be a pretty shifty song for me.

~ Lastly, we have the best debut of the week. The song is Machine Gun Kelly/Hailee Steinfeld - At My Best. I have been enjoying this song for quite a number of weeks now. I really don't know why Hits 1 starts the song with Hailee Steinfeld's chorus though, because that's not how it starts. I don't understand why they did that, but, nevertheless, both artists do astounding jobs at the vocals on this track. That is the main seller for me on this one. I really hope it excels here.

Best Debut Of The Week: Machine Gun Kelly/Hailee Steinfeld - At My Best

HitBound

• Camila Cabello - Crying In The Club (DEBUT)
• Erin Bowman - Good Time Good Life
• Hey Violet - Break My Heart
• Liam Payne/Quavo - Strip That Down (DEBUT)
• Noah Cyrus - Stay Together
• Ocean Park Standoff - Good News
• Selena Gomez - Bad Liar (DEBUT)
• Fall Out Boy - Young & Menace
• Hailee Steinfeld - Most Girls
• G-Eazy/Mansionz - Wicked
• Miley Cyrus - Malibu (DEBUT)
• Jon Bellion - Overwhelming
• Katy Perry/Nicki Minaj - Swish Swish (DEBUT)
• Sam Hunt - Body Like A Back Road

My Top 5 HitBound Picks

1. Camila Cabello - Crying In The Club

2. Selena Gomez - Bad Liar

3. Katy Perry/Nicki Minaj - Swish Swish

4. Noah Cyrus - Stay Together

5. Hailee Steinfeld - Most Girls

Kissing Blurbers

~ I am not really appreciating the reappearance of Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill at the top spot this week. I thought this was going to be a one time thing, but I guess not. This song faded on me much faster than I had it expected it to. So, I would like to see it make a reasonable decline after this week.

~ Another move that I wish didn't happen this week was the sudden jump into the top 5 by Imagine Dragons - Believer. I am very quickly starting to lose interest in this song, and I'm hoping to see it's decline here soon.

~ Linkin Park/Kiiara - Heavy made a decent jump back into the top 10. I am very glad about this, and I hope this doesn't mean it will be jumping around again. It needs to stay in one place, and that place is within the top 10. 

~ Julia Michaels - Issues is now excelling here. I would have thought this would happen a while ago, but now is still good enough. I hope it continues to do well.

~ Halsey - Now Or Never finally made a move. I am glad it is now in the top 20. This is where it belongs. It continues to be on my playlist and I'm enjoying the difference of this song and I hope it continues to well here. 

~ Niall Horan - Slow Hands made quite the jump on its second week here, not that I'm surprised. This song has grown into me over the past week, so I don't mind it.

~ Making a surprising this week is Bruno Mars - That's What I Like. I'm not very upset about this, though. I'm slowly starting to lose interest in this track as well. Next week, it will probably move back up, no surprise there.

~ Charlie Puth - Attention has been holding in the same spot for a number of weeks now. That just seems odd to me. I hope it makes a move soon, because I would like to see more than just a low-brimming top 20 song out of this.

~ Shawn Mendes - Mercy finally took the drop it needed. Now, it doesn't need to come back. In fact, if it could leave in the coming weeks, that would be great.

~ Speaking of large jumps, The Chainsmokers/Halsey - Closer made quite the decline this week. I hope this song continues to hang around, because it's still good. I think this will just be one of those songs that I will never manage to get sick of.

~ Maroon 5 - Don't Wanna Know is now the worst song here. It needs to stop jumping up when it starts to go back down. It's the worst song, so I think it should just get to leaving.

~ ONE OK ROCK - American Girls has made a quite small second week jump. Only one spot. Maybe this won't really be successful.

~ Speaking of second weeks, Aaron Carter - Sooner Or Later has already dropped three spots. I was really hoping this song would do good here, this is a bad sign, though.

~ The Weeknd/Daft Punk - I Feel It Coming continues to hang around after that drop. I can honestly say that this one shouldn't leave yet.

~ The Hot 45 Chart for this week will be out as soon as I can get it out. I have caught up on all of the late charts, so please go read them if you have not already.

Let's Do A Top 20 Review!

0-Garbage

NONE

1-Bad

20. Train - Play That Song

2-Mediocre

19. Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill

3-Decent

18. Imagine Dragons - Believer

4-Good

17. Bruno Mars - That's What I Like

16. Calvin Harris/Frank Ocean/Migos - Slide

5-Great

15. AJR - Weak

14. Panic! At The Disco - L.A. Devotee

13. The Chainsmokers & Coldplay - Something Just Like This

12. Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You

11. James Arthur - Say You Won't Let Go

10. The Chainsmokers - Paris

9. Niall Horan - Slow Hands

8. Lady Gaga - The Cure

7. Linkin Park/Kiiara - Heavy

6. Halsey - Now Or Never

5. Shawn Mendes - There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back

4. Julia Michaels - Issues

3. Charlie Puth - Attention

2. Zedd & Alessia Cara - Stay

1. Kygo & Selena Gomez - It Ain't Me

Score: 89% (B+)

My Bottom 5 Countdown Picks

1. Maroon 5 - Don't Wanna Know

2. Niall Horan - This Town

3. Train - Play That Song

4. Shawn Mendes - Mercy

5. Steve Aoki & Louis Tomlinson - Just Hold On

Top 5 Countdown Picks

1. Kygo & Selena Gomez - It Ain't Me

2. Machine Gun Kelly/Hailee Steinfeld - At My Best

3. Zedd & Alessia Cara - Stay

4. Charlie Puth - Attention

5. Julia Michaels - Issues

Love you guys!

~ Jack :)