Week of September 11, 2021 - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber (1)

Hi, everyone! We actually had a pretty fantastic week this week. We have an awesome new #1, there were some great debuts, and a lot of good jumps too. Here are our exits for this week.

Songs We're Saying Goodbye To

New Normal (Remix) - Khalid/DallasK (#24) [#24] {3 weeks}

Our Song - Anne-Marie/Niall Horan (#7) [#3] {14 weeks}

Last Week's #1: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran (5)

#30: Hurricane - Kanye West (DEBUT) [1 week in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#29: Love Tonight - Shouse (-) [#29] {3 weeks}

#28: I GUESS I'M IN LOVE - Clinton Kane (DEBUT) [3 weeks in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#27: I am not a woman, I'm a god - Halsey (+3) [#27] {3 weeks} *new peak*

#26: Need To Know - Doja Cat (+2) [#26] {2 weeks} *new peak*

#25: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish (+2) [#25] {4 weeks}

#24: Rumors - Lizzo/Cardi B (+2) [#20] {4 weeks}

#23: everything sucks - vaultboy (-) [#23] {4 weeks}

#22: @ my worst - blackbear (-) [#22] {3 weeks}

#21: Summer of Love - Shawn Mendes/Tainy (+4) [#21] {3 weeks} *new peak*

#20: traitor - Olivia Rodrigo (+1) [#20] {2 weeks} *new peak*

#19: Skate - Silk Sonic (+1) [#12] {6 weeks}

#18: People Watching - Conan Gray (-1) [#17] {7 weeks}

#17: 90s Kids - Jax (-4) [#12] {17 weeks}

#16: Memory - Kane Brown/blackbear (-) [#15] {8 weeks}

#15: Don't Go Yet - Camila Cabello (-1) [#10] {7 weeks}

#14: Fancy Like - Walker Hayes (+5) [#14] {5 weeks} *new peak*

#13: good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo (-4) [9 weeks at #1] {16 weeks}

#12: A-O-K - Tai Verdes (-4) [#8] {14 weeks}

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

#10: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd (-) [#10] {11 weeks}

#9: You - Regard/Troye Sivan/Tate McRae (-3) [#4] {21 weeks}

#8: Beggin' - Måneskin (+7) [#8] {5 weeks} *new peak*

#7: INDUSTRY BABY - Lil Nas X/Jack Harlow (+11) [#7] {6 weeks} *new peak*

#6: Saturday - Twenty One Pilots (-1) [#5] {8 weeks}

#5: Take My Breath - The Weeknd (+7) [#5] {5 weeks} *new peak*

#4: Leave Before You Love Me - Marshmello/Jonas Brothers (-1) [#2] {16 weeks}

#3: Love Again - Dua Lipa (+1) [#3] {8 weeks}

#2: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran (-1) [5 weeks at #1] {11 weeks}

#1: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber (+1) [1st week at #1] {9 weeks} *new peak*

Last Year's #1: Moral of the Story - Ashe/Niall Horan [4/6 weeks at #1]

Countdown Extra: Sheesh! - Surfaces/Tai Verdes

So our first debut, at #30, pulled a Sunday Best this week. It's Hurricane by Kanye West, The Weeknd and Lil Baby. I talked about this last week, so I don't really feel the need to go into too much detail here, but this song is great. The Weeknd sounds amazing here, Lil Baby's verse is actually quite good, and Kanye also sounds pretty good here too. The production's pretty good and does a good job of tying the whole song together. Overall, this is a great song, and I'd love to see it do well here.

Lastly, we have Clinton Kane getting his second song on the Weekend Countdown with I GUESS I'M IN LOVE debuting at #28 this week. I've been a big fan of Clinton Kane's music, both Fix It to Break It and CHICKEN TENDIES were great, and this song is definitely no exception. It's another ballad, except this time with happier lyrics. I think Clinton sounds amazing throughout this song, and the production's evolution throughout the song is just incredible. By the end, when all the instruments have kicked in, it makes for a breathtaking last chorus. I have no criticisms here, this is just an amazing song that deserves to be here.

Best Debut: I GUESS I'M IN LOVE - Clinton Kane (but it's very close)

Biggest Drop: 90s Kids - Jax, good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo & A-O-K - Tai Verdes (-4): Wow. I'm surprised 90s Kids is still here, as two songs have gone through the complete One to Watch cycle since it was the One to Watch. As for good 4 u, it was great, and had an amazing run here, so I'm not too disappointed that it's leaving. A-O-K was never good, so I'm glad it's dropping (unless they switch to the 24kGoldn remix next week. Then I might change my mind).

Biggest Jump: INDUSTRY BABY - Lil Nas X (+11): Hey, nice to see this getting a good jump again. I'd love for this to stay in the top 10 for a while.

Countdown Ranking

0 - Awful:

#30: Fancy Like - Walker Hayes

#29: Love Tonight - Shouse

1 - Bad:

#28: A-O-K - Tai Verdes

2 - Mediocre:

#27: Need To Know - Doja Cat

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

#25: Summer of Love - Shawn Mendes/Tainy

3 - Decent:

#24: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd

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

#22: People Watching - Conan Gray

4 - Good:

#21: 90s Kids - Jax

#20: I am not a woman, I'm a god - Halsey

#19: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish

#18: everything sucks - vaultboy

#17: Arcade - Duncan Laurence

#16: Don't Go Yet - Camila Cabello

#15: Memory - Kane Brown/blackbear

#14: Beggin' - Måneskin

5 - Great:

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

#12: Skate - Silk Sonic

#11: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

#10: Hurricane - Kanye West

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

#8: traitor - Olivia Rodrigo

#7: good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

#6: Take My Breath - The Weeknd

#5: Rumors - Lizzo/Cardi B

#4: @ my worst - blackbear

#3: Love Again - Dua Lipa

#2: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber

#1: Saturday - Twenty One Pilots

Overall Score: 113/150 = 75%

5 Oldest Songs

#5: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd & Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran {11 weeks}
#4: A-O-K - Tai Verdes {14 weeks}
#3: good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo & Leave Before You Love Me - Marshmello/Jonas Brothers {16 weeks}
#2: 90s Kids - Jax {17 weeks}
#1: You - Regard/Troye Sivan/Tate McRae {21 weeks}

#1 Recommendation for Hits 1: Giants - Imagine Dragons

My Favourite Song Last Year: Mood - 24kGoldn/iann dior

My Least Favourite Song Last Year: Moral of the Story - Ashe/Niall Horan

Most Missed Countdown Song: Born This Way - Lady Gaga

Hit-Bound

Record Player - Daisy the Great/AJR [1]

Cold Heart (Remix) - Elton John/Dua Lipa/PNAU [5]

Girls Want Girls - Drake/Lil Baby [2]

Ghost - Justin Bieber [3]

Chasing Stars - Alesso/Marshmello/James Bay [1]

justified - Kacey Musgraves [2]

One Day - Monsta X [1]

Don't Go - Skrillex/Justin Bieber/Don Toliver [1]

Shivers - Ed Sheeran [1]

Change My Clothes - Dream/Alec Benjamin [4]

Angel Baby - Troye Sivan [1]

Sheesh! - Surfaces/Tai Verdes [2]

Drive You Home - Jackson Wang/Internet Money [4]

Reckless - Madison Beer [4]

Well, this first Hit-Bound debut was awfully unexpected. About two weeks ago, AJR remixed a song from 2018 called The Record Player Song by Daisy the Great, and now this new song is just called Record Player. I've really taken a dive into AJR's discography since All My Favorite Songs debuted Hit-Bound a while ago, and now I'm pretty familiar with all of their songs, and I'd call them one of my favourite bands. So yeah, I really like this song. I don't think it's quite as good as the aforementioned song, as I'm not a huge fan of Daisy the Great here, but the song's ridiculously catchy, Jack's verses are great, and the production is really cool. Overall, I'd love to see this become a hit, although I doubt it will.

Next up, we have Alesso, Marshmello and James Bay all on one song together called Chasing Stars. The last time James Bay was on Hits 1 was with Let It Go, I believe. Anyways, this is a solid song. I think James Bay sounds great here, and the slower verses really suit his voice here. My only issue with this song is that the drop doesn't fit the song whatsoever. It sounds like a Marshmello drop that would fit better in something like Come & Go rather than this Midnight-esque song. Other than that, though, the song's decent.

Remember Monsta X? They've had a couple Hit-Bound dropouts now, one from 2019 and one from 2020. Will this new song, One Day become their dropout from 2021? Yeah, probably. Now, I'm not at all saying that this is a bad song, in fact, I think the song's pretty great, but I doubt it'll become a pop hit. Anyways, moving on to the actual song, this is pretty much a better version of the song I just talked about. It's got slower verses, but it picks up a lot in the chorus with some bigger instrumentation. All the guys from Monsta X sound pretty great here, and I really love the chorus, and the instrumentation in it's pretty great. My one and only issue with it is that I think it's about a minute too short. It could've used a bridge and another chorus, but it's fine.

The last time Skrillex worked with Justin Bieber was on Where Are U Now from 2015, I think. Anyways, today, they return with Don Toliver on a song called Don't Go. Yeah, I'm not loving this song. My biggest issue with it is that I find the chorus kind of annoying. I don't think Justin Bieber sounds bad here, but I just don't think the hook fits with his voice. On top of that, Don Toliver's verse isn't that good. I've never really liked Don Toliver, and Lemonade was really just a fluke, as Internet Money just made an instrumental that meshed really well with his voice. As for the production, it's not enough to save the song. I'd prefer if this didn't become a hit.

Ed Sheeran releases the third song from his upcoming album = this week, this one being called Shivers. This song is so good. I genuinely think that this could be the next Shape of You. It's just so catchy and fun, with a freaking amazing instrumental. The strings here compliment the song so well that without them, the song would feel empty. Throw in Ed Sheeran's great voice, and you just have an amazing song that deserves to be a huge hit. I have no doubts that this will debut very soon.

Our last new Hit-Bound song this week is Angel Baby by Troye Sivan. I just want to address something before I get into the actual song, that single cover is making me uncomfortable. Anyways, this song's fine. It's kind of forgettable, but I'd say it's a good song with some good melodies right until the point when it does the "my angel, angel, baby, angel" part. I'm not sure why, but I just can't stand that part. Troye Sivan still sounds quite good here though, so overall, this is decent.

Reckless by Madison Beer re-entered Hit-Bound this week, which kind of sucks, because it's started to fade on me, and we probably could've had some other, better songs come take its spot instead.

We lost five Hit-Bound songs, Essence, Another Song About Tequila, t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l (again), seaside_demo and Sweet Dream (again). I'm not too disappointed that Essence is gone, because it's kind of forgettable. I never expected Another Song About Tequila to debut, but I kind of thought it would last more than one week in Hit-Bound. t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l is still getting played outside of Hit-Bound, so I'm not convinced that it's gone. seaside_demo was decent, but kind of forgettable, so I don't care that it's gone, and Sweet Dream was good, but it was past its peak in pop radio, so this makes sense.

Best Hit-Bound Debut: Shivers - Ed Sheeran

Hit-Bound Ranking

0 - Awful:

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

1 - Bad:

#13: Don't Go - Skrillex/Justin Bieber/Don Toliver

2 - Mediocre:

#12: Sheesh! - Surfaces/Tai Verdes

#11: Girls Want Girls - Drake/Lil Baby

#10: Reckless - Madison Beer

3 - Decent:

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

#8: Change My Clothes - Dream/Alec Benjamin

#7: Chasing Stars - Alesso/Marshmello/James Bay

#6: Angel Baby - Troye Sivan

4 - Good:

NONE!

5 - Great:

#5: justified - Kacey Musgraves

#4: One Day - Monsta X

#3: Record Player - Daisy the Great/AJR

#2: Ghost - Justin Bieber

#1: Shivers - Ed Sheeran

Overall Score: 44/70 = 63%

And Darlin', This Is More Than Any Blurbs I Felt Before

We lost two songs this week, New Normal and Our Song. New Normal was great, but it was never destined to be a hit, so I don't care that it's gone. As for Our Song, I feel like it had a better run that it probably should've. But, I mean... we all know why that was. Oh, yeah! I just remembered! This is the first time we haven't had a One Direction member on either the Countdown or Hit-Bound since over two years ago, August 31st, 2019.

I definitely expected I am not a woman, I'm a god to jump a lot more than it did, but hey, it's only its second week.

Yeah, I've decided that I actually like Happier Than Ever now, especially because there's a radio edit on Spotify now that edits out the first half of the song.

Bruh, why is Rumors still so low? I know that it jumped, but it's still way too low for how big a hit it is.

I'm kind of surprised that @ my worst hasn't moved at all since its debut, but hey, it's not dropping.

Oh, no. Fancy Like is actually becoming a hit. It's now in the top 10 on the Hot 100, it debuted on the Pop Songs chart on Billboard, and now it's at #14 on the Countdown. Why?

Ooh, Beggin's at #8 though. That's awesome, I didn't really expect it to do well here.

Saturday dropped out of the top 5 after entering it last week, which kind of sucks, but it's only at #6, so that's fine (also, that concert that tøp did on Alt Nation yesterday was awesome).

Well... we have a new #1. And it's STAY! This becomes both artist's first #1s. Yeah, you heard that right. This is Justin Bieber's first #1 on the Weekend Countdown. That's long overdue if you ask me. Anyways, I'm super happy that this is at #1, because it definitely deserves it, and it isn't one of the three artists that they've had at #1 this year (if you don't count the #1 runs that were in both 2020 and 2021). I hope that this manages to stay (haha) at #1 for quite a while... or, at least, until Love Again gets there.

One thing that I went into last week's post with every intention of mentioning before I completely forgot is that Imagine Dragons released a new album called Mercury - Act 1 last week. In my opinion, this is the best album they've released since Smoke + Mirrors. Every song is so different and unique, and it's awesome. Some of my favourites are #1, Giants, No Time For Toxic People, My Life and Wrecked. This is a great album that I highly recommend you listen to. It's entirely probable that you won't like it, though, and that's fine.

How Hits 1 Songs Are Doing on the Hot 100

#1: Butter - BTS

#2: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber

#3: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

#4: good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

#5: Kiss Me More - Doja Cat/SZA

#6: Hurricane - Kanye West

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

#8: Levitating - Dua Lipa

#9: Fancy Like - Walker Hayes

#13: deja vu - Olivia Rodrigo

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

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

#19: Essence - WizKid/Justin Bieber/Tems

#21: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd

#23: Heat Waves - Glass Animals

#24: Need To Know - Doja Cat

#25: Take My Breath - The Weeknd

#29: Leave The Door Open - Silk Sonic

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

#32: Rumors - Lizzo/Cardi B

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

#34: Heartbreak Anniversary - Giveon

#35: Beggin' - Måneskin

#38: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish

#39: traitor - Olivia Rodrigo

#44: Arcade - Duncan Laurence

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

#48: Late At Night - Roddy Ricch

#56: A-O-K - Tai Verdes

#57: Skate - Silk Sonic

#64: I am not a woman, I'm a god - Halsey

#66: Love Again - Dua Lipa

#71: Wild Side - Normani/Cardi B

#75: Memory - Kane Brown/blackbear

#85: Summer of Love - Shawn Mendes/Tainy

#86: Motley Crew - Post Malone

#89: Don't Go Yet - Camila Cabello

Top 10 on the Hunger Games Countdown

#10: Essence - WizKid/Justin Bieber/Tems

#9: Permission to Dance - BTS

#8: Dinero - Trinidad Cardona

#7: Jalebi Baby - Tesher/Jason Derulo

#6: Sucks Being Sober - Annika Wells

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

#4: Skate - Silk Sonic

#3: F***BOY - Dixie

#2: Say So - Masked Wolf

#1: PMA - All Time Low/Pale Waves

Top 10 If the Countdown Made Sense

#10: Rumors - Lizzo/Cardi B

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

#8: Love Again - Dua Lipa

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

#6: Take My Breath - The Weeknd

#5: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd

#4: Arcade - Duncan Laurence

#3: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

#2: good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

#1: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber

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