Halsey (1) - Week Of January 12, 2019

Hey guys! I hope that you all had a fantastic week! We had a bit more interesting countdown this week. Anything would be better than the anti-climactic nature of last week's countdown. Anyways, I don't want to make this a long intro so lets get right into it. Before we get to this week's fresh 45 songs--here's a list of songs that we are saying goodbye to.

• Shawn Mendes - Nervous (#31)
• Bazzi/Camila Cabello - Beautiful (#41)
• Twenty One Pilots - My Blood (#42)
• NOTD/Bea Miller - I Wanna Know (#45)

Last Week's #1 Song: The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini - This Feeling
#1 Song This Week 1 Year Ago: Ed Sheeran - Perfect

The Countdown
45. Shawn Mendes - In My Blood (#44) [2 Weeks At #1]
44. Zedd, Maren Morris, & Grey - The Middle (#43) [9 Weeks At #1]
43. George Ezra - Shotgun (#40)
42. Steve Aoki/BTS - Waste It On Me (#37)
41. Charlie Puth - The Way I Am (#38)
40. Silk City & Dua Lipa - Electricity (#32)
39. Olly Murs - Moves (#21)
38. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren - Side Effects (#39)
37. Panic! At The Disco - Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#35) [4 Weeks At #1]
36. Bebe Rexha - I'm A Mess (#36)
35. Backstreet Boys - Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#33)
34. Little Mix/Nicki Minaj - Woman Like Me (#26)
33. Dan + Shay - Speechless (DEBUT)
32. Selena Gomez - Back To You (#30)
31. Lauv/Julia Michaels - There's No Way (#27)
30. Zara Larsson - Ruin My Life (DEBUT)
29. Maroon 5/Cardi B - Girls Like You (#29)
28. Khalid - Better (DEBUT)
27. Imagine Dragons - Machine (DEBUT)
26. Camila Cabello - Consequences (#16)
25. Mark Ronson/Miley Cyrus - Nothing Breaks Like A Heart (#34)
24. lovelytheband - Broken (#19)
23. Lauren Jauregui - Expectations (#22)
22. James Arthur - Empty Space (#25)
21. Ellie Goulding & Diplo - Close To Me (#20)
20. Twenty One Pilots - Chlorine (#23)
19. Ariana Grande - Breathin (#14)
18. Dan + Shay - Tequila (#13)
17. Benny Blanco, Halsey, & Khalid - Eastside (#18)
16. Imagine Dragons - Natural (#15) [1 Week At #1]
15. David Guetta & Anne-Marie - Don't Leave Me Alone (#24)
14. Alec Benjamin - Let Me Down Slowly (#17)
13. Ava Max - Sweet But Psycho (#28)
12. Panic! At The Disco - Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#11)
11. Post Malone & Swae Lee - Sunflower (#12)
10. The Struts/Kesha - Body Talks (#9)
9. Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next (#6)
8. Fall Out Boy - The Last Of The Real Ones (#7) [2 Weeks At #1]
7. Anne-Marie - 2002 (#8)
6. Khalid & Normani - Love Lies (#10)
5. 5 Seconds Of Summer - Youngblood (#5) [5 Weeks At #1]
4. Marshmello & Bastille - Happier (#4) [2 Weeks At #1]
3. Panic! At The Disco - High Hopes (#2) [8 Weeks At #1]
2. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini - This Feeling (#1) [4 Weeks At #1]
1. Halsey - Without Me (#3) [1st Week At #1]

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Olly Murs - Moves (-18)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Ava Max - Sweet But Psycho (+15)

#1 Recommendation Of The Week: L'FREAQ - I've Become A Thief

Best Countdown Song This Week 1 Year Ago: Tie Between Camila Cabello - Havana and Ed Sheeran - Perfect


New Entrants

~ First up this week, after a few weeks without exits, we have Dan + Shay with the follow up to Tequila. This one is called Speechless. I don't know why, but I just can't get into them. Their voices annoy me a great deal. I know that many people happen to like their songs, but again I just can't get into them. Speechless is no different. The lyrical content here is pretty good I guess, but the negatives outweigh the positives. Their voices are just derivative of the typical male country singer. I don't know, but Speechless just isn't that great in my opinion. Country songs nowadays are not that good, and this one is just another example. I hope that it doesn't reach the level of success that Tequila had, even if this may be the better of the two.

~ Next up, we have my favorite debut onto the countdown this week, in the form of Ruin My Life by Zara Larsson. I like the chorus on this one, and Zara shows her vocals off pretty lightly--as I expected. Even though this isn't her best track vocally, it is still undeniably catchy. She definitely has potential to do a little more with her voice, and I would love to see her reach that potential with her future tracks. But for the most part, I can always count on this song to put me in a good mood...or to get me in some sort of mood. I just hope that it is not a flop here, similar to how it was on several other charts.

~ Khalid is pretty much a hit or miss with me usually. I was not a fan of Location and Young, Dumb, & Broke. But, I was a fan of Love Lies and Eastside...even though I grew out of it eventually. Better was good from the start. Everything here works well. Khalid shows his voice nicely in this song, similar to the singles of his that I have been partied to liking. There is also a very cool vibe here. It's just chill, and these are the songs that Khalid needs to be releasing. Songs that truly show off his vocal abilities are the ones that work for him. I hope to see this one have a decent level of success on the countdown.

~ The final entrant of the week comes from Imagine Dragons with what may possibly be their worst single ever. Machine is one of the worst songs that I have ever heard. It is even worse than Tequila--that is how bad it is. We do have a new worst song here. The beat on this song is absolute trash. It is messy and all over the place. Dan Reynolds is unnecessarily yelling throughout most of the song. I just don't understand what they were trying to go for here. Maybe some type of heavy rock song, similar to back in the day? Considering the heavy guitar use--that sounds very bad by the way--that may have been what they were trying to get at. This song is grating and annoying almost every way possible, and I do not understand why Hits 1 thought it was okay to pick up on this one, rather than the incredibly great single that they released recently, Bad Liar. I like that one a great deal. Machine just sucks--it makes my ears want to bleed and leaves me with a borderline headache. I just hope that this one does not go much further--and it is kind of upsetting that this one was the highest debut of the week.

Best New Entrant Of The Week: Zara Larsson - Ruin My Life 


Hit-Bound

• Post Malone - Wow. (DEBUT)
• Sabrina Carpenter - Sue Me (DEBUT)
• lovelytheband - Maybe, I'm Afraid 
• 5 Seconds Of Summer - Killer Queen
• Seeb & Bastille - Grip
• Kelsea Ballerini - Miss Me More (DEBUT)
• Benny Blanco & Calvin Harris - I Found You
• Avril Lavigne - Tell Me It's Over
• Pitbull & Rhea - Ocean To Ocean
• Dean Lewis - Be Alright
• Stephen Puth - Sexual Vibe
• Alessia Cara - Trust My Lonely
• Lauren Daigle - You Say
• Alternate: Travis Scott - Sicko Mode (DEBUT) 

~ Our first new song to Hit-Bound this week comes from no other than Post Malone with Wow.--and this song is merely "good" at this point. I feel as if it will grow on me, because I really wasn't a fan at all at first. It took me a few listens to get into. So, in the coming weeks I could see myself liking this song a little bit more. But for now, it is just okay.

~ Second up, we have my new favorite song on Hit-Bound. It is Sabrina Carpenter - Sue Me. I love this song, even though I understand that it is not everyone's best interest. This one is just strong, and very powerful. Her vocals sound great on this track. The production is pretty good and out there as well. Lyrically, I also like the power in this song. It's just a nice anthem. This is one of the better tracks on her new album, Singular: Act 1. Sue Me is just a small part of that album, which I highly recommend that you take a listen to. Personally, there wasn't one song that wasn't a pleasurable listen. All set aside, I am hoping that Sue Me can have the same success as previous hits of hers like Why and Almost Love here on Hits 1 and elsewhere.

~ Next we have an example of a pretty good country song. Kelsea Ballerini brings us Miss Me More. I hope that this one can debut on the countdown, because I need a breath of fresh air with the country music on the countdown. All set aside, this song is pretty solid. There are some nice vocals provided by Kelsea, and a strong guitar to back her up. The lyrics and the beat here are also good as well. It isn't the best thing ever, but it is definitely pretty enjoyable for what it is.

~ Our final debut onto Hit-Bound comes from Travis Scott with Sicko Mode, which is surprisingly good. I have never liked a song by Travis Scott before, but this one is pretty good. It has a very nice production and a great beat. I like the contributions from all of the rap artists on this track, especially Drake. I found myself really jamming to this song in my car the other day...it is just one of those songs. I hope to see this one make it onto the countdown in the near future, despite its unknown fate on Hit-Bound this week. I didn't listen to Hit-Bound this week, so I included it just in case. 

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
1. Sabrina Carpenter - Sue Me
2. Avril Lavigne - Tell Me It's Over
3. Lauren Daigle - You Say
4. Dean Lewis - Be Alright
5. Travis Scott - Sicko Mode*

*If Sicko Mode was not on Hit-Bound this week, then #5 would be Miss Me More by Kelsea Ballerini. 


Ruin My Blurbs 

~ We have a breath of fresh air atop the countdown this week. Halsey - Without Me takes the prize this week. Similar to This Feeling, I don't mind at all if this song spends some time at the #1 spot--but I just hope it doesn't spend an excessive amount of time there. 

~ Every song that is in the top 5 this week has been #1 at some point in time. That has probably happened before, but I just found that kind of interesting.

~ When will the undying 2002 leave the top 10. Something this generic and irrelevant should not be here anymore. I don't think Anne-Marie is talented at all. Her voice is pretty grating. This is probably still here because the equally as horrible Don't Leave Me Alone made a jump into the top 20 this week--and songs by the same artist on this countdown have to be a considerable amount of spots apart. My hope is that whoever is voting for these songs stops, because they should not be this successful here. 

~ Hopefully the leap from Ava Max - Sweet But Psycho lasts this time. We can't have a good song like this out of the top 20. So yeah. Hopefully it can hold on and not drop right back down.

~ Broken has finally dropped out of the top 20. It has been up there for quite a while, and I wouldn't be surprised if it jumped right back in. This isn't the best song here, so I am glad that it took a dip and allowed for some better songs to shine.

~ I am sad that Camila Cabello - Consequences has dropped out of the top 20, to make way for crappy songs like Chlorine and Don't Leave Me Alone. I am seriously hoping that this doesn't signify and eventual drop out of the countdown.

~ Woman Like Me has dropped out of the top 30, after silently pining after a spot in the top 20 unsuccessfully. I guess it is an okay time for it, because just this week I ended up thinking that it wasn't that great anymore. It was just okay. I don't know. That is just how I feel about it now.

~ Olly Murs - Moves has made a significant drop--and just before making it right into the top 20. This song is pretty good, don't get me wrong. But, I kind of expected this to happen. I just really didn't see this song taking off here for some reason. I hope that it can stick around for a while, even if it is a little low in the ranks.

~ As far as our exits go, we lost a few good songs this week. Nervous is a song that I wished could have lasted longer, but I had expected that it wasn't destined to last here. It is sad to see Beautiful go, but I am glad that it was able to stay as long as it did. The song hung around the bottom of the countdown for a while. My Blood should've had more success here, but it is what it is. It was definitely time for I Wanna Know to leave. It was becoming a little annoying anyway, given how much Hits 1 has played it the past few months.

~ If you haven't been keeping up with the results for My Hot 80 Of 2018 Rankdown and Year-End Special, there are thirty more songs to go! Please check it out by clicking here.

~ Also, if you have not parceled through My Top 45 Songs Of 2018, I hope that you will consider checking it out--because I worked pretty hard on that post, and I would love for you all to see it! You can read by clicking here.


Let's Do A Top 20 Review!

0-Garbage
NONE

1-Bad
20. Dan + Shay - Tequila
19. Anne-Marie - 2002
18. Twenty One Pilots - Chlorine
17. David Guetta & Anne-Marie - Don't Leave Me Alone
16. Benny Blanco, Halsey, & Khalid - Eastside 

2-Mediocre
15. Imagine Dragons - Natural

3-Decent
14. Panic! At The Disco - High Hopes

4-Good
13. Khalid & Normani - Love Lies

5-Great
12. Panic! At The Disco - Hey Look Ma, I Made It
11. Fall Out Boy - The Last Of The Real Ones
10. 5 Seconds Of Summer - Youngblood
9. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini - This Feeling
8. The Struts/Kesha - Body Talks
7. Post Malone & Swae Lee - Sunflower
6. Marshmello & Bastille - Happier
5. Halsey - Without Me
4. Alec Benjamin - Let Me Down Slowly
3. Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next
2. Ava Max - Sweet But Psycho
1. Ariana Grande - Breathin


My Bottom 5 Countdown Picks
1. Imagine Dragons - Machine
2. Dan + Shay - Tequila
3. Zedd, Maren Morris, & Grey - The Middle
4. Anne-Marie - 2002
5. Charlie Puth - The Way I Am

My Top 5 Countdown Picks
1. Ariana Grande - Breathin
2. Camila Cabello - Consequences
3. Ava Max - Sweet But Psycho
4. Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next
5. Alec Benjamin - Let Me Down Slowly

Thank you all for reading! More on the way!

~ Jack :)