Week of August 21, 2021 - Ed Sheeran (3)

Hello, everyone! Welcome to another weird as hell Weekend Countdown! Honestly, this week was just strange, and a lot of things happened that really didn't need to. I'll get into all of that soon, but for now, here are our exits.

Songs We're Saying Goodbye To

NDA - Billie Eilish (#29) [#27] {4 weeks}

Motley Crew - Post Malone (#28) [#26] {3 weeks}

working - Tate McRae/Khalid (#21) [#17] {8 weeks}

Renegade - Big Red Machine/Taylor Swift (#20) [#18] {4 weeks}

Lil Bit - Nelly/Florida Georgia Line (#11) [#6] {12 weeks} [x2]

Butter - BTS (#9) [#8] {12 weeks}

Last Year's #1: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran (2)

#30: Wild Side - Normani/Cardi B (DEBUT) [2 weeks in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#29: everything sucks - vaultboy (DEBUT) [2 weeks in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#28: New Normal - Khalid (DEBUT) [3 weeks in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#27: People Watching - Conan Gray (-2) [#25] {4 weeks}

#26: Essence - WizKid/Justin Bieber/Tems (DEBUT) [1 week in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#25: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish (DEBUT) [0 weeks in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#24: Rumors - Lizzo/Cardi B (DEBUT) [1 week in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#23: Beggin' - Måneskin (+4) [#23] {2 weeks} *new peak*

#22: Take My Breath - The Weeknd (+8) [#22] {2 weeks} *new peak*

#21: Memory - Kane Brown/blackbear (-6) [#15] {5 weeks}

#20: Demeanor - Pop Smoke/Dua Lipa (+6) [#20] {5 weeks} *new peak*

#19: Skate - Silk Sonic (+3) [#19] {3 weeks} *new peak*

#18: Fancy Like - Walker Hayes (+5) [#18] {2 weeks} *new peak*

#17: Don't Go Yet - Camila Cabello (+1) [#17] {4 weeks} *new peak*

#16: Arcade - Duncan Laurence (-) [#10] {7 weeks}

#15: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd (+2) [#15] {8 weeks} *new peak*

#14: Shy Away - Twenty One Pilots (-) [#7] {19 weeks}

#13: Iko Iko (My Bestie) - Justin Wellington/Small Jam (+6) [#13] {8 weeks} *new peak*

#12: 90s Kids - Jax (-) [#12] {14 weeks}

#11: INDUSTRY BABY - Lil Nas X/Jack Harlow (+13) [#11] {3 weeks} *new peak*

#10: deja vu - Olivia Rodrigo (-) [1 week at #1] {19 weeks}

#9: A-O-K - Tai Verdes (+4) [#9] {11 weeks} *new peak*

#8: You - Regard/Troye Sivan/Tate McRae (-1) [#4] {18 weeks}

#7: Saturday - Twenty One Pilots (-1) [#6] {5 weeks}

#6: Love Again - Dua Lipa (+2) [#6] {5 weeks} *new peak*

#5: Our Song - Anne-Marie/Niall Horan (-) [#3] {12 weeks}

#4: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber (-) [#4] {6 weeks}

#3: Leave Before You Love Me - Marshmello/Jonas Brothers (-1) [#2] {13 weeks}

#2: good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo (+1) [9 weeks at #1] {13 weeks}

#1: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran (-) [3rd week at #1] {8 weeks}

Last Year's #1: Moral of the Story - Ashe/Niall Horan [1/6 weeks at #1]

Countdown Extra: Reckless - Madison Beer

So I forgot to go over the Hit-Bound exits for last week, but basically, we lost four songs that are still getting spins today (Wild Side, New Normal, Lost and I Like That) and two songs that only spent one week in Hit-Bound (jump and PMA). So basically, the songs that had no reason to leave. Anyways, one of the songs that left Hit-Bound last week, Wild Side by Normani and Cardi B debuts this week at #30. This didn't need to happen. This song really isn't that good. It's super boring, and ridiculously forgettable. Both Normani and Cardi sound good here, but that's pretty much the only notable thing about this song. I can't possibly see this sticking around for very long, and I sure hope it doesn't.

After being announced as our new One to Watch last week, vaultboy makes his countdown debut this week with his One to Watch song, everything sucks. This song's good. I really like the production here, and I think vaultboy actually sounds quite good here, especially in the chorus. The song as a whole is pretty catchy and fun, and it's pretty enjoyable. However, I do have a couple complaints here. For one thing, the song is only 1:55, which is ridiculously short. Also, some of the lines here are... not great, and clearly geared for TikTok. Actually, come to think of it, the entire song is clearly geared for TikTok. But, overall, this is still a very solid song, and I'm not sad that it's the One to Watch.

Also dropping out of Hit-Bound last week and debuting on the Countdown this week, we have New Normal by Khalid at #28. My opinion on this song hasn't really changed since it debuted Hit-Bound. I really feel like I shouldn't like this song, because it's very R&B, and I don't generally like R&B songs, but somehow, I thoroughly enjoy this song. Khalid sounds fantastic throughout, and the chorus is actually kind of catchy. The production evolves nicely, and remains interesting until the end of the song. This definitely isn't Khalid's best, in fact, I'd say it ranks just above Better and below Love Lies with his solo stuff, but I'd still love to see it become a hit here.

After debuting Hit-Bound last week, Essence by WizKid, Justin Bieber and Tems makes its debut on the Countdown this week at #26. Yeah, I still like this song. I think it's very possible that it could fade on me, because it's pretty forgettable, but for now, I like it. Everybody here sounds good and fits well with their respective parts, and the beat's decent. It gets slightly boring as the song goes on, and I think it's a little too long, but it remains interesting enough that I still find the song good. I can't see this becoming a hit though.

I'm extremely conflicted on this next song, Happier Than Ever by Billie Eilish. Here's how I feel: The first half of this song is super boring, and reminds me of my future or Your Power, both of which sucked, and Billie doesn't sound great during it. But, about halfway through the song, it picks up a lot and becomes a rock song, which somehow fits really well with Billie's voice. I actually really love this section of the song, specifically the part before the full instrumentation kicks in. The reason for that is because the instrumentation is way too loud and sounds like an earrape version of a song, which just makes it really hard to listen to. If I factored all of that together, this song would end up either in the "mediocre" or "bad" tier, but here's where I start to get really conflicted. The radio edit that Hits 1 plays slashes most of the boring part, and turns down the loud part a bit. So it basically takes everything I don't like about the song and makes it better in one way or another. I've decided I'll just factor in the radio edit (even though it's not on Spotify), but even then, the issues are still there, even if they're better than the OG version. So for now, this will be in the "decent" tier, but I would definitely expect that to change. Whether it'll change to "good" or "mediocre", I'm not sure, but we'll see.

Finally, we have the best debut of the week by far. It's Lizzo's big return, Rumors with Cardi B. I love this song. I think I listened to it one too many times this week, which is why it's not my favourite Countdown song this week, but it's still a great song. Both Lizzo and Cardi sound amazing in this song and have great chemistry together. The song is insanely catchy, and the instrumentation is really interesting and changes a lot throughout the song. The lyrics are also filled with self-confidence, which is something that Lizzo does really well. Overall, this is a great song that's destined to be a huge hit.

Best Debut: Rumors - Lizzo/Cardi B

Biggest Drop: Memory - Kane Brown/blackbear (-6): After getting the biggest jump of the week last week, this song drops to #21. This kind of sucks, because I do like the song, but it's alright.

Biggest Jump: INDUSTRY BABY - Lil Nas X/Jack Harlow (+13): Ayy, nice to see this song all the way up at #11. I hope this can hit the top 10 somewhat soon.

Countdown Ranking

0 - Awful:

#30: Fancy Like - Walker Hayes

1 - Bad:

#29: A-O-K - Tai Verdes

2 - Mediocre:

#28: Wild Side - Normani/Cardi B

#27: You - Regard/Troye Sivan/Tate McRae

3 - Decent:

#26: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish

#25: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd

#24: People Watching - Conan Gray

4 - Good:

#23: Leave Before You Love Me - Marshmello/Jonas Brothers

#22: Iko Iko (My Bestie) - Justin Wellington/Small Jam

#21: Essence - WizKid/Justin Bieber/Tems

#20: deja vu - Olivia Rodrigo

#19: everything sucks - vaultboy

#18: Arcade - Duncan Laurence

#17: Beggin' - Måneskin

#16: 90s Kids - Jax

#15: Don't Go Yet - Camila Cabello

#14: Memory - Kane Brown/blackbear

5 - Great:

#13: New Normal - Khalid

#12: INDUSTRY BABY - Lil Nas X/Jack Harlow

#11: Our Song - Anne-Marie/Niall Horan

#10: Skate - Silk Sonic

#9: Demeanor - Pop Smoke/Dua Lipa

#8: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

#7: Shy Away - Twenty One Pilots

#6: Take My Breath - The Weeknd

#5: good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

#4: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber

#3: Rumors - Lizzo/Cardi B

#2: Love Again - Dua Lipa

#1: Saturday - Twenty One Pilots

Overall Score: 119/150 = 79%

5 Oldest Songs

#5: Our Song - Anne-Marie/Niall Horan {12 weeks}
#4: Leave Before You Love - Marshmello/Jonas Brothers & good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo {13 weeks}
#3: 90s Kids - Jax {14 weeks}
#2: You - Regard/Troye Sivan/Tate McRae {18 weeks}
#1: Shy Away - Twenty One Pilots & deja vu - Olivia Rodrigo {19 weeks}

#1 Recommendation for Hits 1: 3 O'Clock Things - AJR

My Favourite Song Last Year: Bang! - AJR

My Least Favourite Song Last Year: Heather - Conan Gray

Most Missed Countdown Song: Heavy - Linkin Park/Kiiara

Hit-Bound

Need To Know - Doja Cat [2]

Change My Clothes - Dream/Alec Benjamin [1]

seaside_demo - SEB [6]

Summer of Love - Shawn Mendes/Tainy [1]

Drive You Home - Jackson Wang/Internet Money [1]

t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l - WILLOW/Travis Barker [8]

@ my worst - blackbear [3]

I GUESS I'M IN LOVE - Clinton Kane [1]

Cold Heart (Remix) - Elton John/Dua Lipa/PNAU [2]

Visiting Hours - Ed Sheeran [1]

Love Tonight - Shouse [2]

Reckless - Madison Beer [2]

i hope ur miserable until ur dead - Nessa Barrett [2]

HIT IT - Black Eyed Peas/Saweetie/Lele Pons [1]

Say So - Masked Wolf [2; 2nd time]

Returning to Hit-Bound this week, we have Need To Know by Doja Cat, which only spent one week in Hit-Bound before being replaced by You Right. I'm not entirely sure why this is here, as it was mainly a promotional single, and I'm still not a huge fan of the song.

So... Dream is on Hits 1 now. If you're unaware of who Dream is, he's one of the biggest Minecraft content creators out there, and I guess he's doing music now. I'm 99% sure that this song, Change My Clothes is only here because Alec Benjamin is on the song. This song's decent. Alec Benjamin's definitely the better singer on here, but Dream isn't a bad singer. Alec just sounds really good on his hook and bridge. The production's cool, and I quite like it, but the song as a whole isn't very interesting and is pretty forgettable. I don't really see this becoming a hit, but Hits 1 likes to surprise me sometimes, so it definitely could be.

Shawn Mendes returns for the first time since late last year, when he gave us Monster, this time with a song called Summer of Love with producer Tainy. I tend to like Shawn Mendes, all of his stuff from the past couple of years was quite good, but I'm not quite feeling this one. It's just not very interesting. I get that he's going for a more chill vibe here, and Tainy's production pulls that off pretty well, but Shawn doesn't sound that great here. He's kind of whisper-singing, and it doesn't work with his voice at all. I wish there was more happening here too, because I get quite bored about halfway through. I'm sure this will be somewhat of a hit, but I wouldn't really care either way.

Internet Money score their second song on Hits 1 this week after Lemonade with a collaboration with Jackson Wang, Drive You Home. I'm not loving this song right off the bat, but it could definitely grow on me. Internet Money's production is great here, and Jackson Wang sounds decent, but I don't love the melodies here that much. The verses just aren't that interesting, and I feel like the chorus should have less breaks in between the lines. I don't know if that's just me or not, but my opinion on it could change. I guess I'd be fine if this debuted soon.

Clinton Kane returns this week with his third song on Hit-Bound, I GUESS I'M IN LOVE. I've really loved Clinton Kane's songs so far, and this definitely isn't an exception. It's weird, I've never been that into ballads, but there's just something about Clinton Kane that I can't get enough of. I love his voice here, the simple piano at the start is great, and it evolves really nicely, and the writing's also amazing. Overall, this is a great song (probably better than Fix It to Break It, but not quite as good as CHICKEN TENDIES) and I'd love to see it be a hit here.

Ed Sheeran brings his second single from his upcoming album, =, after Bad Habits (weird side note, but I'm glad the album cover for that was changed), and this new one's called Visiting Hours. It's another ballad, and, as I feel with most of Ed's ballads, I really like it. Ed sounds great here, and the production evolves really nicely. The lyrics also hit pretty hard, as it's about somebody he knew that passed away. I don't really see this being a huge hit, but I'm still glad it's here.

Finally, we have HIT IT by the Black Eyed Peas, Saweetie and Lele Pons. I haven't loved BEP's new sound, and I'm very glad that Hits 1 decided to skip out on their song GIRL LIKE ME with Shakira, as that was just a truly awful song, but unfortunately, they didn't do the same with this song. I don't like this song at all. I honestly question some of the production decisions here, they're just really weird. Honestly, the only good part of this song is Saweetie's verse, which is saying something, because I hated Tap In and wasn't too much of a fan of her verse in Best Friend. I'd rather not have this debut.

We lost a bunch more Hit-Bound songs this week, Sweet Dream, traitor, Psycho, Kiss My (Uh Oh) and til the end of time. I'm not convinced at all that Sweet Dream, traitor and Psycho are gone, and they'll probably all end up debuting the Countdown somewhat soon, which is good, because they're all good. As for Kiss My (Uh Oh), it was fantastic and deserved an actual shot here. til the end of time was fine, and was actually starting to grow on me, but I never expected it to even get close to debuting, so I'm not disappointed.

Best Debut: I GUESS I'M IN LOVE - Clinton Kane

Hit-Bound Ranking

0 - Awful:

#15: Love Tonight - Shouse

#14: Cold Heart (Remix) - Elton John/Dua Lipa/PNAU

1 - Bad:

#13: HIT IT - Black Eyed Peas/Saweetie/Lele Pons

#12: t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l - WILLOW/Travis Barker

2 - Mediocre:

#11: Need To Know - Doja Cat

#10: Summer of Love - Shawn Mendes/Tainy

3 - Decent:

#9: Reckless - Madison Beer

#8: Drive You Home - Jackson Wang/Internet Money

#7: Change My Clothes - Dream/Alec Benjamin

#6: seaside_demo - SEB

4 - Good:

NONE!

5 - Great:

#5: Visiting Hours - Ed Sheeran

#4: Say So - Masked Wolf

#3: i hope ur miserable until ur dead - Nessa Barrett

#2: I GUESS I'M IN LOVE - Clinton Kane

#1: @ my worst - blackbear

Overall Score: 43/75 = 57% (Holy crap, that score dropped a lot from last week)

All the Blurbs Are True, Yeah

We had six Countdown exits this week, NDA, Motley Crew, working, Renegade, Lil Bit and Butter. I'm quite happy that NDA and Lil Bit are gone, as they were both quite bad. Motley Crew was decent, and I don't really understand why it wasn't bigger than it was. Both working and Renegade got totally robbed and should've been much bigger hits here. As for Butter, I was starting to get quite tired of it, so I'm not disappointed at all that it's gone.

People Watching really deserves to be doing better than it is, because it's quite good. Also, I thought Hits 1 liked Conan Gray?

All of our debuts from last week got pretty big boosts this week, with Beggin' jumping up four spots to #23, Take My Breath jumping up eight spots to #22 and Fancy Like jumping up five spots to #18. I'm glad Beggin' got the jump, because it's pretty good, and I'm very happy that Take My Breath got a good jump, because I really like it. As for Fancy Like, why is this becoming a thing?

Speaking of songs that got big jumps, Demeanor finally jumped up into the top 20. I hope it can stick around, because I like it a lot.

For whatever reason, Iko Iko's at #13. This really doesn't need to be a hit, that's okay. Even though I like it, it feels like it's just taking up space that could be filled by... oh, I don't know... traitor?

Bruh, how is 90s Kids still here? We've gone through one and a half One to Watch cycles since it stopped being the One to Watch. I guess I'm not complaining, I'm just really confused.

Unfortunately, A-O-K is up at #9. This kind of sucks, because I still don't really like the song. I'd seriously rather not have this be a big hit here.

Love Again's up to #6, which is great, but did it really have to kick Saturday down to #7?

Wow, I can't believe it's been a full year since Bang! debuted the Countdown. I actually still listen to this song on the daily. It's still #3 on my most played songs on Spotify this month. This song was just a great introduction to a great album and still remains as my favourite AJR song to date. I honestly kind of regret only giving it #3 on my Year-End list sometimes, but then I re-listen to Come & Go and Blinding Lights and I realize that those songs are amazing too. Just wanted to take a moment to appreciate one of my all-time favourite songs.

How Hits 1 Songs Are Doing on the Hot 100

#1: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber

#2: good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

#3: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

#4: Kiss Me More - Doja Cat/SZA

#5: Levitating - Dua Lipa

#6: Take My Breath - The Weeknd

#7: Butter - BTS

#8: INDUSTRY BABY - Lil Nas X/Jack Harlow

#9: MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) - Lil Nas X

#10: deja vu - Olivia Rodrigo

#11: Save Your Tears (Remix) - The Weeknd/Ariana Grande

#12: Peaches - Justin Bieber/Daniel Caesar/Giveon

#13: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish

#14: Leave The Door Open - Silk Sonic

#15: Fancy Like - Walker Hayes

#16: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd

#17: Heartbreak Anniversary - Giveon

#18: Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

#19: Leave Before You Love Me - Marshmello/Jonas Brothers

#20: Need To Know - Doja Cat

#25: RAPSTAR - Polo G

#26: Late At Night - Roddy Ricch

#27: Lil Bit - Nelly/Florida Georgia Line

#28: WITHOUT YOU - The Kid LAROI

#29: Thot S*** - Megan Thee Stallion

#30: Astronaut In The Ocean - Masked Wolf

#31: Heat Waves - Glass Animals

#33: traitor - Olivia Rodrigo

#35: Skate - Silk Sonic

#36: Beautiful Mistakes - Maroon 5/Megan Thee Stallion

#37: telepatía - Kali Uchis

#41: Arcade - Duncan Laurence

#42: my ex's best friend - Machine Gun Kelly/blackbear

#44: Essence - WizKid/Justin Bieber/Tems

#48: Motley Crew - Post Malone

#50: Beggin' - Måneskin

#55: Permission to Dance - BTS

#60: Wild Side - Normani/Cardi B

#61: You - Regard/Troye Sivan/Tate McRae

#62: A-O-K - Tai Verdes

#63: Love Again - Dua Lipa

#64: Memory - Kane Brown/blackbear

#66: Don't Go Yet - Camila Cabello

#77: NDA - Billie Eilish

#88: i hope ur miserable until ur dead - Nessa Barrett

Top 10 on the Hunger Games Countdown

#10: Say So - Masked Wolf

#9: Dinero - Trinidad Cardona

#8: Don't Go Yet - Camila Cabello

#7: I Like That - Bazzi

#6: Your Power - Billie Eilish

#5: 2Drunk - Nick Jonas

#4: Rumors - Lizzo/Cardi B

#3: til the end of time - almost monday

#2: Sucks Being Sober - Annika Wells

#1: positions - Ariana Grande

Top 10 If the Countdown Made Sense

#10: Take My Breath - The Weeknd

#9: Love Again - Dua Lipa

#8: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd

#7: You - Regard/Troye Sivan/Tate McRae

#6: Arcade - Duncan Laurence

#5: Leave Before You Love Me - Marshmello/Jonas Brothers

#4: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber

#3: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

#2: deja vu - Olivia Rodrigo

#1: good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

Kwaheri, everybody! See you all in the next one.