Finally back to doing this again... again... again - Hits 1 9/21/24

Hi! So, after my big album review series, I got sort of burnt out for a while, but I'm back to doing Hits 1 reviews, and hopefully it stays fairly consistent now. This week was kinda good and kinda not. One of my favorite songs on the countdown had the biggest drop, and another one of my favorite songs on the countdown fell off the #1 position. But that #1 was replaced by an almost equally good song, there were some great debuts, and most importantly we got rid of one old song and three contenders for my worst list of 2024 (which might have to be a bit longer than the 2023 one was because there have been so many horrible songs this year). So let's get into it!

Exits:

Ariana Grande - The Boy is Mine

Kesha - Joyride

Charli XCX & Billie Eilish - Guess

Megan Thee Stallion & Yuki Chiba - Mamushi

Countdown:

#30: The Weeknd - Dancing In The Flames (Debut)

#29: Addison Rae - Diet Pepsi (Debut)

#28: MGK & Jelly Roll - Lonely Road (-9)

#27: Katseye - Touch (Debut)

#26: Khalid - Heatstroke (-3)

#25: Halsey - Ego (+5)

#24: Coldplay, Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna & Tini - We Pray (+3)

#23: Tate McRae - It's Ok I'm Ok (Debut)

#22: Benson Boone - Pretty Slowly (+6)

#21: Charli XCX - 360 (+1)

#20: Shawn Mendes - Why Why Why (+5)

#19: Madison Beer - Make You Mine (-2)

#18: Marshmello & Kane Brown - Miles On It (-8)

#17: Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars - Die With a Smile (+1)

#16: Alex Warren - Carry You Home (+5)

Extra: Katy Perry & Doechii - I'm His He's Mine

#15: Dasha - Austin (-7)

#14: Benson Boone - Slow it Down (=)

#13: Charli XCX - Apple (+2)

#12: Myles Smith - Stargazing (+4)

#11: Sabrina Carpenter - Taste (+2)

#10: Mark Ambor - Belong Together (+2)

#9: Gracie Abrams - Close to You (=)

#8: Teddy Swims - The Door (-2)

#7: Chappell Roan - Hot to Go (+4)

#6: Taylor Swift - I Can Do It With a Broken Heart (+1)

#5: Shaboozey - A Bar Song (-1)

#4: Billie Eilish - Birds of a Feather (-1)

#3: Sabrina Carpenter - Please Please Please (-2)

#2: Post Malone & Morgan Wallen - I Had Some Help (=)

Last year's #1: Taylor Swift - Cruel Summer

#1: Chappell Roan - Good Luck Babe! (+4)

Debuts:

The Weeknd is back with Dancing In The Flames. This is pretty good. I like the lyrics and the synth-pop production but I guess it's just a bit generic and forgettable. I don't mind if this one does well.

Tate McRae is back again with It's Ok I'm Ok. This is just very generic Tate. I don't love it, but it's still pretty good. I like the lyrics, sung to an ex's new girlfriend and assuring her that she's been in a similar situation, which somewhat reminds me of Hayes Warner's Predator. But it's very repetitive and doesn't feel like it does much different from her other songs production-wise. Still decent song.

We have two artists getting their first song ever on the Hits 1 countdown this week. Addison Rae makes her countdown debut with Diet Pepsi. I like this song WAY better than that annoying song she had four years ago, Obsessed. This song has really cool R&B production that kind of reminds me of Ariana Grande. The only reason it's not green is because I agree that the key change down a half step at the end is random and unnecessary and doesn't add anything to the song whatsoever.

Now the best for last. Katseye gets their first song on Hits 1, Touch. This is actually great, and much better than their previous Hitbound dropout, Debut. The production here has some really cool unique elements to it and some of it sounds almost jazz-like. The lyrics are also super relatable, about missing a chance for love because of lost communication. Even the repetitive chorus lines are done pretty well here. Honestly, I considered making this light purple, but I try to limit it to one dark purple and two light purples each week, and I still slightly prefer Please Please Please, Lonely Road, and Ego. But it's pretty close to dark purple.

Biggest Jump: Benson Boone - Pretty Slowly (+6)

Biggest Drop: MGK & Jelly Roll - Lonely Road (-9)

Missed song: Sabrina Carpenter - Skin

Recommendations for Hits 1: Sabrina Carpenter - Slim Pickins, Charli XCX - Talk Talk, Pearl Jam - Upper Hand, Chappell Roan - Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl, Camila Cabello - B.O.A.T.

Hitbound:

Dasha - Bye Bye Bye

Alex Warren - Burning Down (Debut)

Tinashe - Nasty

Ava Max - Spot a Fake (Debut)

Fifty Fifty - SOS (Debut)

Linkin Park - The Emptiness Machine

Katy Perry & Doechii - I'm His He's Mine

Meghan Trainor - Criminals

Henry Moodie - Right Person, Wrong Time

Haiden Henderson - Sweat (Debut)

Myles Smith - Wait For You

Jimin - Who

Knox - Invisible

Teddy Swims - Bad Dreams

Camila Cabello - Godspeed

Natalie Jane - Somebody to Someone

This week's Hitbound had a special guest host: Nonsentient Air Molecules. They were very entertaining. I especially loved when they said "__________". That was a really interesting thing to hear.

Alex Warren brings us yet another new song, Burning Down. This isn't great. It's a bit overproduced and the lyrics aren't that well-written either.

Ava Max returns with Spot a Fake. This is sorta generic but sounds alright, and I like the lyrics. It's not the most interesting thing out there but it's pretty good.

Fifty Fifty returns with a new lineup. Their song SOS is pretty good but sounds a bit too similar to Cupid for me to enjoy as much as I should.

Finally, Haiden Henderson brings us another countdown song, Sweat. This is better than HOAGT but still a very generic forgettable song that I couldn't remember one second of if you asked me.

Dropouts:

Mike Posner - Beautiful Day

Alex Warren - Troubled Waters

I'm fine with these leaving, neither one was that great.

You've been so out of blurbs blurbs blurbs blurbs blurbs, thought about you way too blurbs blurbs blurbs blurbs blurbs, over overthinking blurbs blurbs blurbs blurbs blurbs, but you've been so out of blurbs, you could've had my blurbs, but you've been so out of blurbs:

The Boy Is Mine, Joyride, Guess, and Mamushi departed the countdown this week. The Boy Is Mine was the "best" of those four but it was still about time that left or else it would've gotten super annoying. But good riddance to those other three. Joyride, Guess, and Mamushi are all terrible songs that have been guaranteed a spot on my worst songs list for this year, so hopefully none of them re-enter.

Noooooo not Lonely Road having the biggest drop! I hope this song's run isn't over yet, and it rebounds next week.

It's great to see that Ego, my new dark purple song on the countdown, is climbing a bit. Now let's see this jump 24 spots to #1 next week.

With Joyride, Guess, and Mamushi all leaving, 360 goes back to orange status, and Belong Together & I Had Some Help become the new light oranges this week.

Why are Make You Mine & Slow It Down still here after almost half a year? These songs first debuted on Hits 1 back when Dua Lipa's Houdini was still #1. I keep forgetting that they haven't left yet, and on top of that, Slow It Down is somehow still in the top 15, and Make You Mine is hovering right outside of the top 15. I doubt either one of those songs will make it into October, but Hits 1 is Hits 1 so we'll see what they do with them.

Well, Please Please Please unfortunately only lasted one week at #1. I wish it got a bit of a longer time at #1. However, if, say I Had Some Help reclaimed #1, I would've been much more upset. There would definitely be a rant. In this case, the replacement at #1 was almost as good, Good Luck Babe. It's great to see Chappell Roan getting her first Hits 1 #1 song, and I'm not surprised it was Good Luck Babe. I could definitely see Hot to Go hitting #1 within the next few weeks and I wouldn't mind if that happened.

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!