This week was incredibly terribly greatly awfully amazingly badly weird - Hits 1 9/28/24

Hi! So, I've made a big decision about what I'm gonna do with my blog. In addition to countdown reviews, I decided to continue my album reviews because there are so many interesting albums being released and they're so fun to make. So instead of just doing little series of them every time I hit a milestone number of views, you can expect an album review about once a week, if possible. That's definitely subject to change depending on whether my life gets insanely busy again, but there will certainly be an album review this week, most likely by Wednesday or Thursday. As for this week's countdown, just like last week, it was a combination of really good and really bad stuff. We got rid of a bunch of old songs and had some amazing debuts, but one re-entry of a song that's guaranteed a spot on my worst songs list of 2024, maybe even #1. There were also a crap ton of weird movements that made zero sense and a lot of them did not need to happen. So let's get into it!

Exits:

Benson Boone - Slow It Down

Madison Beer - Make You Mine

Shawn Mendes - Why Why Why

Teddy Swims - The Door

Countdown:

#30: Megan Thee Stallion & Yuki Chiba - Mamushi (Re-entry) (oh please...)

#29: Addison Rae - Diet Pepsi (=)

#28: Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us (Debut)

#27: Meghan Trainor - Criminals (Debut)

#26: Linkin Park - The Emptiness Machine (Debut)

#25: Katseye - Touch (+2)

#24: The Weeknd - Dancing in the Flames (+6)

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

#22: Khalid - Heatstroke (+4)

#21: MGK & Jelly Roll - Lonely Road (+7)

#20: Halsey - Ego (+5)

#19: Coldplay, Little Simz, Elyanna, Tini & Burna Boy - We Pray (+5)

#18: Charli XCX - Apple (-5)

#17: Benson Boone - Pretty Slowly (+5)

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

Extra: Dasha - Bye Bye Bye

#15: Alex Warren - Carry You Home (+1)

#14: Gracie Abrams - Close to You (-5)

#13: Mark Ambor - Belong Together (-3)

#12: Charli XCX - 360 (+9)

#11: Myles Smith - Stargazing (+1)

#10: Sabrina Carpenter - Taste (+1)

#9: Marshmello & Kane Brown - Miles on It (+9)

#8: Dasha - Austin (+7)

#7: Chappell Roan - Hot to Go (=)

#6: Taylor Swift - I Can Do It With A Broken Heart (=)

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

#4: Shaboozey - A Bar Song (Tipsy) (=)

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

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

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

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

Debuts:

We did not need MaTRASHi to re-enter. I swear, every Megan Thee Stallion song is exactly the same, and it does not work. This better leave next week and then never come back after that.

Luckily we have a debut this week by a different and much better Meghan. Meghan Trainor's Criminals debuts the countdown this week after two weeks in Hitbound. This is great. The lyrics are hilarious - it's about how the intense amount of love she feels should be illegal, so she and her partner are criminals. And it's got her signature production style that sounds amazing here. I hope this does well, but judging by how poorly Mother, Been Like This & Whoops had previously performed on the countdown, I doubt this'll do much.

So, I don't think I've told you this before, but I actually hadn't listened to Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us until about two months ago. I've very rarely brought myself to listen to rap music outside of Hits 1 as it doesn't interest me much, but I knew if I went too long without listening to this particular song, people would think I live under a rock. I like this. It's got really clever and kinda funny lyrics, including the line that's apparently going viral, "Tryna strike a chord and it's probably a minor". Obviously I love when songs have musical humor because I'm the biggest music nerd on the planet. So this is pretty good.

And finally, we have Linkin Park finally having one of their newly released songs make the countdown, The Emptiness Machine. This is probably my favorite debut this week. The rock production is fantastic, the lyrics are great, and I quite like the new lead singer.

Biggest Jump: Marshmello & Kane Brown - Miles On It, Charli XCX - 360 (+9)

Biggest Drop: Gracie Abrams - Close to You, Charli XCX - Apple (-5)

Missed song: Halsey - Colors

Recommendations for Hits 1: Chappell Roan - Casual, Pearl Jam - Scared of Fear, Charli XCX & Troye Sivan - Talk Talk, Demi Lovato - You'll Be Ok, Kid

Hitbound:

Myles Smith - Wait for You

Kylie Minogue - Lights Camera Action (Debut)

Knox - Invisible

Jon Bellion - Kid Again (Debut)

Camila Cabello - Godspeed

Morgan Wallen & Ernest - Cowgirls (Debut)

Henry Moodie - Good Old Days (Debut)

Damiano David & Labrinth - Silverlines (Debut)

Ava Max - Spot a Fake

Alex Warren - Catch My Breath (Debut)

Teddy Swims - Bad Dreams

Natalie Jane - Somebody to Someone

Balu Brigada - So Cold (Debut)

Nightly - Every Part (Debut)

Dasha - Bye Bye Bye

Alex Warren - Burning Down

8 debuts... okay then. First up is Kylie Minogue, a year after one of my favorite EDM songs of 2023 (not exactly saying much but a great song nonetheless) Padam Padam. Lights Camera Action isn't near as great but I like it. It's moderately forgettable but the production sounds pretty good. The lyrics aren't so amazing as they feel a bit generic but it's fine. This'll probably perform about as well as Padam Padam and I'm fine with that.

This next song is by Morgan Wallen and someone named Ernest with this song Cowgirls, which is apparently from almost two years ago but it's getting a sudden resurgence for whatever weird pop radio reason. This is just more generic boring Morgan Wallen. I really don't get why he's popular, not just because of all the controversies, but his music is also insanely boring.

Henry Moodie returns with Good Old Days. Unfortunately, none of his later songs have quite matched up to the same level of greatness as Drunk Text, one of my favorite songs of the year. This suffers from the same problem as RPWT where it just feels too generic and forgettable for me to enjoy it as much as some of his other songs.

Damiano David & Labrinth collab on Silverlines. Am I the only person in the universe who doesn't hate this song? (Of course, that's true of a lot of songs for me, but whatever) It sounds so cool to me and it's not boring at all, it evolves in an amazing way. So much better than Never Felt So Alone.

Hits 1 has now picked up on five Alex Warren songs in half a year, three of which have been in the past month. It's official, he's becoming the new Hayes Warner/Jessie Murph/Havana Winter/Knox/Henry Moodie/Presley Regier. Catch My Breath is a very mediocre and forgettable song that sounds like every other song he's released.

Balu Brigada is here with So Cold, and this is yet another song that I can't remember one second of after it's over. But I guess it's not bad, just a bit forgettable, like almost every other song on here.

Nightly returns after one year, this time bringing us Every Part. I don't love this as much as Shirt, which grew on me a lot after dropping out of Hitbound, but I like this a decent bit. The lyrics are really well-written as they're about loving someone who's going through mental issues and wanting to help them. Of course, the pre-chorus does rhyme "head" with "bed", but that doesn't take away from the song that much in this case.

Dropouts:

Tinashe - Nasty

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

Haiden Henderson - Sweat

Henry Moodie - Right Person Wrong Time

Jimin - Who

Fifty Fifty - SOS

These won't be missed. I'm His He's Mine and Who are in the abyss though so it's possible they might debut the countdown after some time.

The Blurbiness Machine:

We said goodbye to Slow It Down, Make You Mine, The Door, and Why Why Why. I'm fine with all of those leaving, especially the first three. My prediction was correct: Slow It Down, Make You Mine, and The Door had pretty much zero chance at making it into October.

No idea what Hits 1 will do with Touch, but I hope it keeps jumping, even if it only peaks at like #22 or something.

Great to see Lonely Road and Ego climbing. Now let's see them each jump 19 spots to #2 and #1 next week.

Charli XCX had both this week's biggest drop and biggest jump. Unfortunately, the significantly better song is the one that dropped, and the significantly worse song is the one that jumped. I thought for sure 360 was on its way out two weeks ago, but right now it's seeming like Apple might even leave first.

I really hope Close to You makes a comeback and doesn't leave from #14 next week.

I Can Do It With A Broken Heart is now on its 22nd week on the countdown! It's feeling twenty twoooo...

After falling last week, Miles On It and Austin both made big rebounds into the top 10. Miles On It is fading on me, and Austin is likely to fade on me if it lasts too much longer, but I'm still okay with this. Also, if Austin stays on for a mere three more weeks it will join the small club of songs that have lasted 30+ weeks on the countdown after it was shortened to top 30.

Good Luck Babe holds the top spot for a second week. That's pretty good for right now. It would be cool to see Please Please Please reclaim #1 for a second nonconsecutive week, and even better if Ego eventually hits #1, both of which are unlikely but possible, because Hits 1 is unpredictable. For now I'm perfectly fine with GLB at the top.

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!