Ed Sheeran (1) - Week Of December 23, 2017

Hey guys! My hopes are that you all had a wonderful Christmas. If you did not see it, The Year In Review post was posted a couple of days ago. If you have not seen that yet, then it is the post before this one. I plan to have the rest of the posts out here soon. Before we get to this week's countdown, here are the four songs that are leaving us this week.

• Sam Hunt - Body Like A Back Road (#23) [FINALLY!]
• Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee - Despacito [Justin Bieber Remix] (#43)
• The Script - Rain (#44)
• Logic/Alessia Cara/Khalid - 1-800-273-8255 (#45)

Last Week's #1 Song: Camila Cabello - Havana

#1 Song This Week 1 Year Ago: Hailee Steinfeld & Grey/Zedd - Starving 

The Countdown

45. MAX/Gnash - Lights Down Low (#40)

44. Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You (#42) [9 Weeks At #1]

43. Charlie Puth - Attention (#36) [1 Week At #1]

42. Harry Styles - Kiwi (#35)

41. Cheat Codes/Demi Lovato - No Promises (#41)

40. Walk The Moon - One Foot (DEBUT)

39. Liam Payne - Bedroom Floor (DEBUT)

38. Macklemore/Skylar Grey - Glorious (#26)

37. Linkin Park - One More Light (#37)

36. Louis Tomlinson - Miss You (DEBUT)

35. Eminem/Ed Sheeran - River (DEBUT)

34. The Shadowboxers - Hot Damn (#27)

33. Symon - Lonely Girl (#38)

32. Zedd & Alessia Cara - Stay (#39) [4 Weeks At #1]

31. Taylor Swift - Look What You Made Me Do (#32)

30. Nick Jonas - Find You (#31)

29. Demi Lovato - Sorry Not Sorry (#10) [1 Week At #1]

28. Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill (#30) [3 Weeks At #1]

27. Niall Horan - Slow Hands (#33) [3 Weeks At #1]

26. Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still (#20)

25. Liam Payne - Strip That Down (#29) [2 Weeks At #1]

24. X Ambassadors - Ahead Of Myself (#28)

23. Macklemore/Kesha - Good Old Days (#34)

22. Shawn Mendes - There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back (#25) [3 Weeks At #1]

21. Post Malone/21 Savage - Rockstar (#22)

20. P!nk - What About Us (#21) [1 Week At #1]

19. Lauv - I Like Me Better (#24)

18. Sam Smith - Too Good At Goodbyes (#18)

17. Dua Lipa - New Rules (#19)

16. Imagine Dragons - Believer (#16) [3 Weeks At #1]

15. Selena Gomez & Marshmello - Wolves (#15)

14. Niall Horan - Too Much To Ask (#13)

13. Bebe Rexha/Florida Georgia Line - Meant To Be (#14)

12. Zayn/Sia - Dusk Till Dawn (#17)

11. Kesha - Praying (#12)

10. Charlie Puth - How Long (#11)

9. Kelly Clarkson - Love So Soft (#8)

8. Taylor Swift - ...Ready For It? (#5)

7. Ed Sheeran - Galway Girl (#4) [4 Weeks At #1]

6. Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso/Florida Georgia Line/watt - Let Me Go (#6)

5. Maroon 5/SZA - What Lovers Do (#9)

4. Halsey - Bad At Love (#3) [1 Week At #1]

3. Imagine Dragons - Thunder (#4) [2 Weeks At #1]

2. Camila Cabello - Havana (#1) [1 Week At #1]

1. Ed Sheeran - Perfect (#2) [1st Week At #1]

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Demi Lovato - Sorry Not Sorry (-19)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Macklemore/Kesha - Good Old Days (+11)

#1 Recommendation Of The Week: Grace VanderWaal - So Much More Than This

New Entrants

~ Our first entrant this week comes from Walk The Moon, returning with One Foot. This band had a lot to live up to after their smash hit a couple of years ago, Shut Up & Dance, and I have to say they definitely did not fail to impress with this one either. This song just has a lot of good vibes to it and it's one of those get up and dance songs. This has a good beat, and great vocals, as well as those feel-good vibes. We could definitely use more songs like this, as they are just ones that put a pause on our lives that just make us feel good.

~ Next up is Liam Payne returning with his new single, Bedroom Floor. This song reminds me a lot of Strip That Down. I liked this song for a little bit, but it quickly faded on me, probably mostly due in part to its similarity to its predecessor. Liam definitely needs to branch out a little more with the style he's taking with is music, as this style is a little awkward and his lyrical content thus far is pretty much satisfactory. I'm not sure it will last so long here, as it's not doing so great elsewhere, but it's just okay at this point, it's not a song I'm excited to listen to in summary. 

~ Next we have Louis Tomlinson with Miss You. Unlike Liam, Louis really seems to have found his own lane. Liam needs a little more work on that. I really like the solo artist Louis has become. The lyrical content on this one is pretty good considering its highlighting what you must do after you experience heartbreak.  It's just something that I'm sure a lot of people relate to. The instrumentals are very cool and I like the production. This would make a good lead single off an album, which hopefully will be coming soon from him. All in all, this is my favorite song that he has released as a solo artist this far, and I can't wait to hear what else he has in store.

~ Ladies and gentlemen, Eminem has made his return and he is back this time with Ed Sheeran. The song entering the countdown this week is River. Ed Sheeran now has FIVE, count them, FIVE songs on the countdown. I didn't think that Hits 1 would ever allow that but they love Ed Sheeran, so I guess it's not much of a surprise that they would have him be the first person to achieve such an honor. Eminem has decent flowing verses on the track and Ed Sheeran sounds great as usual. I really like how Eminem finds people who are just as passionate as him with music to collaborate with. I think it makes for pretty decent tracks every time. 

Hit-Bound

• Sofi Tukker/NERVO/The Knocks/Alisa Ueno - Best Friend
• Fall Out Boy - Hold Me Tight Or Don't
• Spencer - Whatever
• NF - Let You Down (DEBUT)
• Imagine Dragons - Whatever It Takes
• Taylor Swift/Ed Sheeran/Future - End Game
• AJR/Rivers Cuomo - Sober Up
• P!nk - Beautiful Trauma
• Alan Walker/Noah Cyrus/Digital Farm Animals - All Falls Down (DEBUT)
• Clean Bandit/Julia Michaels - I Miss You
• WOLVES - Animal
• G-Eazy & Halsey - Him & I (DEBUT)
• Camila Cabello - Never Be The Same (DEBUT)
• All Time Low - Last Young Renegade

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Camila Cabello - Never Be The Same

2. Taylor Swift/Ed Sheeran/Future - End Game

3. Clean Bandit/Julia Michaels - I Miss You

4. G-Eazy & Halsey - Him & I

5. P!nk -Beautiful Trauma

Bedroom Blurbs

~ I am very happy seeing Ed Sheeran - Perfect at the top spot. It is such a very nice and beautiful song with a great meaning behind it. We definitely need more love songs like this being successful nowadays.

~ Although Camila Cabello - Havana did drop from the #1 spot, I am glad that it even reached that height here. It is still the best song here. It is so infectiously catchy, and I am so glad that it has been successful.

~ I am pretty surprised that Kesha is still up this high with Praying. I thought for sure she would be lower by now. Nevertheless, it is still a good song and I'm glad that it hasn't dropped so far down yet.

~ Although Bebe Rexha/Florida Georgia Line - Meant To Be is still in green, it is becoming a little too much to handle. I hear this song all the time, and it is slowly becoming just an okay song. I don't know if my opinion will change on this one or not, but it could in the coming weeks.

~ I am about ready to lose it with Imagine Dragons - Believer. Now that the previous worst song has left the countdown, my main focus is on brushing this one out of here. It has been in the top 20 far too long and it needs to just leave. It's been very overplayed and overrated and its really just a poor track overall. I am hoping to see some declining from this one in the near future.

~ I am glad to see that the better Macklemore song here, Good Old Days, featuring Kesha, has been successful so far with a decent second week jump. I hope to see some success out of this one. I think it is probably going down in my book as better than its predecessor.

~ Well, it looks like it's coming close to an end for Demi Lovato - Sorry Not Sorry. The drop came at the right time, though, as it is becoming a little old to me at this point. Its status right now is just an okay song to me.

~ The Shadowboxers - Hot Damn seems to be declining lately, and it's a bit sad, as I really wanted this one to do well. It's a good song in my book.

~ Harry Styles - Kiwi has clearly been completely unsuccessful and I am quite sad that this station seems to favor all of the other artists from the band, and not him. His music is very good, and I don't see why it always does bad here.

~ Hopefully this marks the final moments of MAX/Gnash - Lights Down Low. I am quite sick of it at this point. It would be one less bad song on the countdown if it left next week.

Let's Do A Top 20 Review!

0-Garbage

20. Imagine Dragons - Believer

1-Bad

NONE

2-Mediocre

NONE

3-Decent

19. Ed Sheeran - Galway Girl

18. Imagine Dragons - Thunder

17. Kelly Clarkson - Love So Soft

4-Good

16. Dua Lipa - New Rules

5-Great

15. Bebe Rexha/Florida Georgia Line - Meant To Be

14. Sam Smith - Too Good At Goodbyes

13. P!nk - What About Us

12. Kesha - Praying

11. Charlie Puth - How Long

10. Zayn/Sia - Dusk Till Dawn

9. Niall Horan - Too Much To Ask

8. Lauv - I Like Me Better

7. Halsey - Bad At Love

6. Maroon 5/SZA - What Lovers Do

5. Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso/Florida Georgia Line/watt - Let Me Go

4. Selena Gomez & Marshmello - Wolves

3. Taylor Swift - ...Ready For It?

2. Ed Sheeran - Perfect

1. Camila Cabello - Havana

Score: 88% (B+)

My Bottom 5 Countdown Picks

1. Imagine Dragons - Believer

2. Liam Payne - Strip That Down

3. Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill

4. MAX/Gnash - Lights Down Low

5. Post Malone/21 Savage - Rockstar

My Top 5 Countdown Picks

1. Camila Cabello - Havana

2. Ed Sheeran - Perfect

3. Taylor Swift - ...Ready For It?

4. Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still

5. Louis Tomlinson - Miss You

Thanks for reading! More posts on the way!

~ Jack :)