Week of February 20, 2021 - Harry Styles (4)

Harry Styles (4)

“Whaaat? No, we don’t rig the surveys so that Harry Styles constantly gets- Yeah, okay, we rig the surveys so that Harry Styles constantly gets the #1.” - Somebody at Hits 1 to somebody else at Hits 1.

So this week had its ups and downs. An up: I got the first two rounds of reveals up on my 2020 Countdown Extras Rankdown and I plan to do another today. A down: Our #1 is Harry Styles again. An up: Our Hit-Bound entrants were pretty good. A down: So were our Hit-Bound exits. An up: The biggest jump is great. A down: The biggest drop is also a good song.

Here’s our list of exits for this week:

Songs We’re Saying Goodbye To

Fix It to Break It - Clinton Kane (#28) [#28] {2 weeks}

Lonely - Justin Bieber/benny blanco (#13) [#13] {13 weeks}

Prisoner - Miley Cyrus/Dua Lipa (#12) [#10] {12 weeks}

Last Week’s #1: Levitating - Dua Lipa/DaBaby (3)

#30: Good Days - SZA (DEBUT) [3 weeks in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#29: I’m not Pretty - JESSIA (-2) [#27] {2 weeks}

#28: Lifestyle - Jason Derulo/Adam Levine (+2) [#28] {4 weeks} *new peak*

#27: Fly Away - Tones And I (+2) [#27] {3 weeks} *new peak*

#26: Heat Waves - Glass Animals (-) [#26] {4 weeks}

#25: Diamonds - Sam Smith (-6) [#6] {22 weeks}

#24: WITHOUT YOU - The Kid LAROI (-) [#24] {3 weeks}

#23: positions - Ariana Grande (-8) [#2] {17 weeks}

#22: Go Crazy - Chris Brown/Young Thug (+3) [#20] {9 weeks}

#21: Lie Lie Lie - Joshua Bassett (-3) [#18] {4 weeks}

#20: What You Know Bout Love - Pop Smoke (+3) [#17] {18 weeks}

#19: forget me too - Machine Gun Kelly/Halsey (+3) [#19] {2 weeks} *new peak*

#18: We’re Good - Dua Lipa (DEBUT) [0 weeks in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#17: Put Your Records On - Ritt Momney (-) [#15] {15 weeks}

#16: Lasting Lover - Sigala/James Arthur (-2) [#14] {8 weeks}

#15: Anyone - Justin Bieber (+5) [#15] {6 weeks} *new peak*

#14: My Head & My Heart - Ava Max (+7) [#14] {4 weeks} *new peak*

#13: Afterglow - Ed Sheeran (+3) [#11] {8 weeks}

#12: you broke me first - Tate McRae (-2) [#7] {21 weeks}

#11: Love Story (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift (DEBUT) [1 week in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#10: 34+35 - Ariana Grande (-2) [#8] {6 weeks}

#9: Treat People With Kindness - Harry Styles (-) [#9] {6 weeks}

#8: Therefore I Am - Billie Eilish (-3) [#3] {14 weeks}

#7: Save Your Tears - The Weeknd (+4) [#7] {14 weeks} *new peak*

#6: Monsters - All Time Low/Demi Lovato/blackbear (-) [4 weeks at #1] {23 weeks}

#5: willow - Taylor Swift (+2) [#5] {9 weeks} *new peak*

#4: my ex’s best friend - Machine Gun Kelly/blackbear (-) [#2] {21 weeks}

#3: Levitating - Dua Lipa/DaBaby (-2) [3 weeks at #1] {19 weeks}

#2: drivers license - Olivia Rodrigo (+1) [#2] {6 weeks} *new peak*

#1: Golden - Harry Styles (+1) [4th week at #1] {17 weeks}

Last Year’s #1: Adore You - Harry Styles [2/10 weeks at #1]

Countdown Extra: Remember That Night? - Sara Kays

Yup, I was not expecting this at all. Surprisingly, our first debut at #30 is SZA’s new hit, Good Days. It really doesn’t sound like the type of song that would typically debut on the Countdown, but honestly, I think I’m starting to like it. It’s an extremely R&B song, which is probably a first for Hits 1. Anyways, onto the actual song. I think SZA sounds pretty great here. She’s always sounded great and that definitely showed in her past three Countdown songs. The chorus is actually somewhat catchy and I can remember what it sounds like after a few days of listening to it, which doesn’t normally happen with R&B music with me. My only real issues with it is that the verses can get kind of boring and it’s much longer than it needs to be. Other than that, though, it’s actually quite good. Expect it to start changing colours very soon.

So the other week, Dua Lipa released Future Nostalgia Side B, which added four new songs to her album Future Nostalgia. Her new single from those four new tracks, We’re Good debuts at a pretty high #18 this week. This wouldn’t have been my pick as the new single. I would have chosen Not My Problem featuring JID. Don’t get me wrong, this song isn’t bad. It just has a really different vibe from the other singles from Future Nostalgia and it’s not as interesting or catchy. It doesn’t have that infectious 80s vibe which was so prominent on most of the album, especially Physical. Other than that, it’s fine, she sounds good and the production’s alright, but it could’ve been much better.

Well, this is quite weird. I’m not sure how well the original Love Story did on the Countdown, but it probably hit the top 10 and I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if it hit #1 back in the day. So this means that two versions of Love Story by Taylor Swift will soon have both hit the top 10. I’m not entirely sure this re-recorded version was really meant for radio, but honestly, I don’t really care. This is one of those (rare) times that Hits 1 really liking an artist actually pays off for a lot of people. It’s really nice to hear this gem of a song back on the radio. It’s a great song in every meaning of the term. Taylor sounds fantastic, even better than she did in the original, you can hear the instruments here much more than in the original, but every single aspect of the original song is still here. I really love it and it would make me super happy if this hit #1 here. I would definitely expect this to turn to purple in the coming weeks if I were you.

Best Debut: Love Story (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift

Biggest DROP!!!: positions - Ariana Grande (-8): Aw. That kind of sucks that this song is starting to drop, but it got a #2 peak, which is great here especially considering Hits 1 doesn’t exactly love Ariana Grande. I’m pretty sure this is one of the if not the highest-peaking Ariana song. So it’s good that she finally got that.

Biggest Jump: My Head & My Heart - Ava Max (+7): On the other hand, I’m so happy that this song is jumping. It’s debuted on the Hot 100 now and I can only see it climbing everywhere from here on out. It’s a fantastic song and I think it has huge potential to be a huge hit.

Countdown Ranking

0 - Crap:

#30: Golden - Harry Styles

1 - Bad:

#29: Therefore I Am - Billie Eilish

2 - Mediocre:

#28: Fly Away - Tones And I

#27: Put Your Records On - Ritt Momney

#26: Good Days - SZA

3 - Decent:

#25: 34+35 - Ariana Grande

#24: Heat Waves - Glass Animals

4 - Good:

#23: Diamonds - Sam Smith

#22: you broke me first - Tate McRae

#21: We’re Good - Dua Lipa

#20: willow - Taylor Swift

#19: I’m not Pretty - JESSIA

#18: Treat People With Kindness - Harry Styles

#17: Lifestyle - Jason Derulo/Adam Levine

#16: Afterglow - Ed Sheeran

#15: What You Know Bout Love - Pop Smoke

5 - Great:

#14: Go Crazy - Chris Brown/Young Thug

#13: my ex’s best friend - Machine Gun Kelly/blackbear

#12: Lie Lie Lie - Joshua Bassett

#11: Monsters - All Time Low/Demi Lovato/blackbear

#10: Levitating - Dua Lipa/DaBaby

#9: Anyone - Justin Bieber

#8: positions - Ariana Grande

#7: forget me too - Machine Gun Kelly/Halsey

#6: Save Your Tears - The Weeknd

#5: drivers license - Olivia Rodrigo

#4: Lasting Lover - Sigala/James Arthur

#3: Love Story (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift

#2: My Head & My Heart - Ava Max

#1: WITHOUT YOU - The Kid LAROI

Overall Score: 119/150 = 79%

5 Oldest Songs

#5: What You Know Bout Love - Pop Smoke {18 weeks}

#4: Levitating - Dua Lipa/DaBaby {19 weeks}

#3: you broke me first - Tate McRae & my ex’s best friend - Machine Gun Kelly/blackbear {21 weeks}

#2: Diamonds - Sam Smith {22 weeks}

#1: Monsters - All Time Low/Demi Lovato/blackbear {23 weeks}

#1 Recommendation for Hits 1: no body, no crime - Taylor Swift/HAIM

My Favourite Song Last Year: Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

My Least Favourite Song Last Year: Say So - Doja Cat

Most Missed Countdown Song: It’s Time - Imagine Dragons

Hit-Bound

Provide - G-Eazy/Chris Brown/Mark Morrison [1]

Fix It to Break It - Clinton Kane [1; 2nd time]

Talk About Love - Zara Larsson/Young Thug [4]

Best Friend - Saweetie/Doja Cat [3]

Cry Over Boys - Alexander 23 [2]

Remember That Night? - Sara Kays [2]

Way Less Sad - AJR [1]

Girls Like Us - Zoe Wees [5]

Overdrive - Conan Gray [1]

Body - Megan Thee Stallion [10]

Momma Always Told Me - Mike Posner/Stanaj/Yung Bae [3]

rubberband - Tate McRae [3]

cheers - blackbear/Wiz Khalifa [3]

Skin - Sabrina Carpenter [3; 2nd time*]

Goosebumps (Remix) - Travis Scott/HVME [2]

*Skipped Hit-Bound, so this is technically its first time around.

So G-Eazy and Chris Brown have sampled an old song by Mark Morrison. I’m not sure what that song is, but I’ll probably figure it out. Anyways, so now that new song, Provide in on Hit-Bound. This song is actually really good. The blue ranking is definitely just a placeholder right now. G-Eazy actually works really well with the beat here. He works much better than he did in Hate The Way. His extremely non-melodic rapping somehow fits and I don’t know how. Chris Brown also delivers a pretty great hook. Vocally, he’s quite good and he also works well with the production. I really hope that this is a hit here.

Fix It to Break It left the Countdown and re-entered Hit-Bound this week. I never expected this to be a hit, so I’m definitely not that sad about it. I highly doubt that it’ll re-enter the Weekend Countdown.

So AJR have announced since Bummerland that their new album, OK ORCHESTRA will be released on March 26, which honestly isn’t that far away and if the rest of the songs are at all like this new one and Bang!, I’m so excited. Anyways, this new single is called Way Less Sad and this is now my second-favourite AJR song (after Bang!, obviously). This really reminds me of an extremely toned-down version of 100 Bad Days. They hit that great balance of over-the-topness without going overboard that they hit in Bang! and it works so well. The chorus here is actually fantastic and I’m so glad that they didn’t give it to Kygo and Keith Urban or Cardi B. The horns honestly work so well here, Jack Met is singing in the range that works the best for his voice and he’s not trying to go way too high like in Dear Winter, and the lyrics are great too. I honestly can’t think of a single thing that would make this song better. I really hope that this debuts very soon.

So Conan Gray’s now released another single that’s made it onto here and I cannot tell you how happy I am that this is much more like Maniac than Heather. I would honestly say that Overdrive is better than Maniac. It has the same synth-heavy vibe that Maniac did, but Maniac was mainly just a catchy chorus and that was literally the only thing that made it special. This song has more layers to it. Conan actually sounds great here, the chorus has a really interesting melody that I can seriously get behind. The production is also just much more. Yeah, I’m not sure how to describe it. This is a great song though. It was a really good batch of Hit-Bound debuts this week. I want all of these songs to be hits.

Best Debut: Way Less Sad - AJR

Hit-Bound Ranking

0 - Crap:

#15: Body - Megan Thee Stallion

1 - Bad:

#14: Best Friend - Saweetie/Doja Cat

2 - Mediocre:

#13: Goosebumps (Remix) - Travis Scott/HVME

3 - Decent:

#12: rubberband - Tate McRae

#11: Girls Like Us - Zoe Wees

#10: Cry Over Boys - Alexander 23

4 - Good:

#9: Skin - Sabrina Carpenter

#8: Remember That Night? - Sara Kays

#7: Talk About Love - Zara Larsson/Young Thug

#6: Momma Always Told Me - Mike Posner/Stanaj/Yung Bae

#5: Provide - G-Eazy/Chris Brown/Mark Morrison

#4: cheers - blackbear/Wiz Khalifa

5 - Great:

#3: Fix It to Break It - Clinton Kane

#2: Overdrive - Conan Gray

#1: Way Less Sad - AJR

Overall Score: 52/75 = 69%

The Goldn Hour

One More Time - Daft Punk

3, 2, 1 - 24kGoldn

Mood - 24kGoldn/iann dior

WITHOUT YOU - The Kid LAROI

acting like that - YUNGBLUD/Machine Gun Kelly

So over a year after the YouTube 15 was discontinued, we’re finally getting a third show on Hits 1 again! It’s an artist-hosted show with 24kGoldn! He shares some of his favourite, a throwback, some of his music and Hits 1 favourites too. He hosts it with one of his producers, Omer Fedi and I think they actually do a pretty great job of hosting. “But wait, Beluga, there’s only five songs on that list. That’s a ridiculously short show!” You’re probably saying. The thing is, I noticed that Golden and Omer actually only picked about five songs. The rest were just songs that Hits 1 would regularly play and it changes with every replay. So here I’ve only listed the songs that they actually chose, because the rest of the list is just Countdown songs. Personally, I think that they should be given more selection on what they play, but for now, this is fine. If they decide to give them more options, though, I’d be all over that.

So the first song that they chose was a throwback. I can’t remember exactly what they called it, but I’ll just call it a throwback. Anyways, the song that they chose was the 2007 hit One More Time by EDM duo Daft Punk. I’ve never really loved Daft Punk’s stuff. Honestly, the only Daft Punk stuff that I like is their collaborations with The Weeknd and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (or Kanye’s song that sampled that one). The production isn’t fantastic and the robotic vocals are really weird and don’t really work with anything. Also, this song really doesn’t need to be five minutes long.

Anyways, since 24kGoldn hosts the show, he gets to play his new song, 3, 2, 1. So I’ll be reviewing it today. I think this is pretty good. It’s definitely not his best, I would for sure say that Mood and Coco are both better, but this is still enjoyable. The electric guitar in the chorus fits pretty well with the song and I think Golden’s voice works pretty well with it. The chorus is pretty catchy too. The song’s a little too short though, only clocking in at 2:11. I think it would have benefited from a bridge and another chorus.

So I won’t review Mood, but I just want to share the story that he told right before playing it. So apparently, him, Omer and some other producers were just hanging out at iann dior’s house. Then, one of the producers (I can’t remember if it was Omer or not) picked up a guitar and started playing the riff that can be heard throughout the entire song. While playing Call of Duty, 24kGoldn, on the spot, sang the chorus to Mood. Then, he stopped the game, recorded the chorus, him and iann did their verses and the whole thing only took about 20 minutes. It’s insane how quickly great songwriters can make a huge hit.

They also played WITHOUT YOU by The Kid LAROI. Nothing to add on that one, they just played it.

So I’m pretty sure every week they get at least one song that they can play that isn’t theirs. This week, that song is acting like that by pop-punk artists YUNGBLUD and Machine Gun Kelly. It seems like Travis Barker helps to produce a lot of pop-punk songs nowadays. Anyways, this song is fantastic. I’ve always been a huge fan of pop-rock. I would definitely consider it my favourite genre, Imagine Dragons, Panic! At The Disco and Fall Out Boy are among my favourite artists. I think both YUNGBLUD and Machine Gun Kelly sound great here and they sound honestly really great together. The instrumentation here is also really really good. I’d love to see it debut Hit-Bound sometime soon.

Best Goldn Hour Song: acting like that - YUNGBLUD/Machine Gun Kelly

It’s a Love Story, Baby Just Say “Blurbs”

The Countdown exits this week (other than FItBI) were Lonely and Prisoner. Lonely was never fantastic, even though I didn’t hate it, so I’m not too sad to see it go and Prisoner was only alright, so I’m also not disappointed to see that go.

As for our Hit-Bound exits… oh man. SO DONE and Stay Next To Me. For the former, I’m really sad that it didn’t debut. It’s still doing well on pop radio and did not deserve to drop out. As for the latter, I’m not entirely convinced that it’s gone for good, as it’s still getting consistent spins and it would be weird to just let it go when it’s been leading in spins for the longest time now. Point being, I really hope that it manages to debut next week.

I’m not Pretty fell to #29, because y’know… the One to Watch can never do well. That’s just how it works.

Okay, can we please let go of Diamonds soon? I’ll be really tired of it if it doesn’t leave very soon.

Go Crazy and What You Know Bout Love just keep jumping and dropping. I mean, come on. Just make up your minds already.

I really hope that forget me too becomes a big hit here. That would be awesome.

Yay! Anyone is now a top 15 hit! I really hope that this becomes Justin Bieber’s biggest song here from the past few years.

Save Your Tears is now at #7, which is fantastic. I’d love to see this become a top 5 hit, it really deserves it.

willow’s now a top 5 hit. I would be totally fine if this hits #1 soon. Especially considering…

Golden is back at #1, dethroning Levitating. I mean, come on. This is just absolutely ridiculous. It’ll probably just stay there until Treat People With Kindness can hit #1, completely blocking off drivers license from hitting #1. Also, listening to Adore You and Golden back-to-back made me grow a deeper dislike for Golden, because they’re really just the same song, except Harry sounds slightly less annoying in Golden.

How Hits 1 Songs Are Doing on the Hot 100

#1: drivers license - Olivia Rodrigo

#3: Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

#4: Save Your Tears - The Weeknd

#5: Mood - 24kGoldn/iann dior

#6: 34+35 - Ariana Grande

#7: Go Crazy - Chris Brown/Young Thug

#8: Levitating - Dua Lipa/DaBaby

#9: positions - Ariana Grande

#10: What You Know Bout Love - Pop Smoke

#13: Good Days - SZA

#14: Holy - Justin Bieber/Chance the Rapper

#15: Therefore I Am - Billie Eilish

#16: Lonely - Justin Bieber/benny blanco

#20: I Hope - Gabby Barrett/Charlie Puth

#21: Body - Megan Thee Stallion

#23: Bang! - AJR

#24: you broke me first - Tate McRae

#25: my ex’s best friend - Machine Gun Kelly/blackbear

#27: Lemonade - Internet Money/Gunna/Don Toliver/NAV

#29: willow - Taylor Swift

#30: Laugh Now Cry Later - Drake/Lil Durk

#32: Before You Go - Lewis Capaldi

#34: Anyone - Justin Bieber

#41: Best Friend - Saweetie/Doja Cat

#43: Dynamite - BTS

#44: WITHOUT YOU - The Kid LAROI

#45: Put Your Records On - Ritt Momney

#48: Kings & Queens - Ava Max

#49: ROCKSTAR - DaBaby/Roddy Ricch

#57: Afterglow - Ed Sheeran

#58: Golden - Harry Styles

#59: Goosebumps (Remix) - Travis Scott/HVME

#62: Monsters - All Time Low/Demi Lovato/blackbear

#64: Provide - G-Eazy/Chris Brown/Mark Morrison

#69: Heat Waves - Glass Animals

#74: SO DONE - The Kid LAROI

#82: My Head & My Heart - Ava Max

#91: Monster - Shawn Mendes/Justin Bieber

#95: Lifestyle - Jason Derulo/Adam Levine

#98: Prisoner - Miley Cyrus/Dua Lipa

#99: Skin - Sabrina Carpenter

Top 10 on the Hunger Games Countdown

#10: Fly Away - Tones And I

#9: Haunt You - X Lovers/chloe moriondo

#8: Momma Always Told Me - Mike Posner/Stanaj/Yung Bae

#7: Therefore I Am - Billie Eilish

#6: going out - ROLE MODEL

#5: Skin - Sabrina Carpenter

#4: Goosebumps (Remix) - Travis Scott/HVME

#3: Best Friend - Saweetie/Doja Cat

#2: Midnight - Alesso/Liam Payne

#1: 100 Ways - Jackson Wang

Top 10 If the Countdown Made Sense

#10: Save Your Tears - The Weeknd

#9: my ex’s best friend - Machine Gun Kelly/blackbear

#8: positions - Ariana Grande

#7: Go Crazy - Chris Brown/Young Thug

#6: you broke me first - Tate McRae

#5: Put Your Records On - Ritt Momney

#4: Levitating - Dua Lipa/DaBaby

#3: Therefore I Am - Billie Eilish

#2: drivers license - Olivia Rodrigo

#1: 34+35 - Ariana Grande

Kwaheri, everybody! See you all in the next one. #GoldnHour (Yup, not sure why I put that either)