Week of November 6, 2021 - Ed Sheeran (3)

Hey, all! I'm sorry that this is so late, but that's just how things go sometimes :shrugs:. I have an announcement this week however, and it's that I'll be hosting the 2021 Hit-Bound Dropouts Rankdown this year! It's gonna be a ridiculously long list of songs, so I look forward to doing that with you guys. The Rankdown will open the last weekend of November, so keep an eye out for that. Here are our exits for this week:

Songs We're Saying Goodbye To

justified - Kacey Musgraves (#21) [#21] {6 weeks}

Love Again - Dua Lipa (#20) [#3] {15 weeks}

Last Week's #1: Shivers - Ed Sheeran (2)

#30: Faking Love - Anitta/Saweetie (DEBUT) [0 weeks in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#29: Angel Baby - Troye Sivan (-) [#29] {2 weeks}

#28: love nwantiti (ah ah ah) - CKay (-) [#23] {4 weeks}

#27: Better Days - NEIKED/Mae Muller/Polo G (-) [#27] {2 weeks}

#26: edamame - bbno$/Rich Brian (+4) [#24] {3 weeks}

#25: Hurricane - Cheat Codes/Grey/Tyson Ritter (-) [#25] {3 weeks}

#24: Moth To A Flame - Swedish House Mafia/The Weeknd (DEBUT) [2 weeks in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#23: Meet Me At Our Spot - THE ANXIETY (+1) [#20] {4 weeks}

#22: Way 2 Sexy - Drake/Future/Young Thug (+4) [#22] {7 weeks} *new peak*

#21: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran (-5) [5 weeks at #1] {19 weeks}

#20: Paralyzed - Sueco (+2) [#20] {5 weeks} *new peak*

#19: For Tonight - Giveon (+4) [#19] {4 weeks} *new peak*

#18: My Universe - Coldplay/BTS (+1) [#18] {4 weeks} *new peak*

#17: Ghost - Justin Bieber (-2) [#15] {6 weeks}

#16: Need to Know - Doja Cat (+2) [#16] {10 weeks} *new peak*

#15: Beggin' - Måneskin (-1) [#8] {13 weeks}

#14: Take My Breath - The Weeknd (-11) [#3] {13 weeks}

#13: Who's In Your Head - Jonas Brothers (-3) [#10] {7 weeks}

#12: Memory - Kane Brown/blackbear (+5) [#12] {14 weeks} *new peak*

#11: THATS WHAT I WANT - Lil Nas X (+2) [#11] {6 weeks} *new peak*

#10: traitor - Olivia Rodrigo (+2) [#8] {10 weeks}

#9: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd (+2) [#7] {19 weeks}

#8: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber (-1) [6 weeks at #1] {17 weeks}

#7: Saturday - Twenty One Pilots (-1) [#2] {16 weeks}

#6: A-O-K - Tai Verdes/24kGoldn (+3) [#6] {22 weeks} *new peak*

#5: Fancy Like - Walker Hayes (+3) [#5] {13 weeks} *new peak*

#4: Cold Heart (Remix) - Elton John/Dua Lipa/PNAU (-2) [#2] {7 weeks}

#3: Easy On Me - Adele (+1) [#3] {3 weeks} *new peak*

#2: INDUSTRY BABY - Lil Nas X/Jack Harlow (+3) [#2] {14 weeks} *new peak*

#1: Shivers - Ed Sheeran (-) [3rd week at #1] {6 weeks}

Last Year's #1: Falling - Harry Styles [5/6 weeks at #1]

Countdown Extra: Life Goes On - Oliver Tree

For our first debut this week, we have a song that never made it to Hit-Bound, but spent a considerable amount of time in the Abyss. The song is called Faking Love by Anitta and Saweetie. This is a pretty good song. Both Anitta and Saweetie sound great here, and they each do a really good job with their respective parts. The chorus is also pretty catchy, and the song as a whole flows nicely. My only real issue with this is that the production feels just a little too minimalistic for my liking. It doesn't take away too much from the song, though, which is good. Overall, I'd be happy if this became a hit.

I'm honestly a little surprised that this next song actually managed to debut, considering The Weeknd had yet another huge release this weekend. However, the release of that song (which I'll get to in a bit) doesn't seem to have impacted Moth To A Flame with Swedish House Mafia too much, seeing as it debuts at #24 on this week's countdown. I love this song. Abel sounds amazing throughout the song, and Swedish House Mafia did a great job of handling the darker production that often comes with The Weeknd's music. On top of that, the chorus is extremely catchy, and the album cover looks extremely cool (no, seriously. I mean, just look at that thing). I'd love to see this become a hit here.

Best Debut: Moth To A Flame - Swedish House Mafia/The Weeknd

Biggest Drop: Take My Breath - The Weeknd (-11): This was bound to happen eventually, but I kinda wish it had happened just a bit later, because I feel like this song deserves that.

Biggest Jump: Memory - Kane Brown/blackbear (+5): I really didn't expect this song to do that well on its second try, but boy has it been proving me wrong. No complaints here.

Countdown Ranking

0 - Awful:

#30: Fancy Like - Walker Hayes

#29: Way 2 Sexy - Drake/Future/Young Thug

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

1 - Bad:

#27: Need to Know - Doja Cat

2 - Mediocre:

#26: A-O-K - Tai Verdes/24kGoldn

#25: Paralyzed - Sueco

3 - Decent:

#24: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd

#23: love nwantiti (ah ah ah) - CKay

#22: Angel Baby - Troye Sivan

4 - Good:

#21: Faking Love - Anitta/Saweetie

#20: Who's In Your Head - Jonas Brothers

#19: Hurricane - Cheat Codes/Grey/Tyson Ritter

#18: Beggin' - Måneskin

#17: Memory - Kane Brown/blackbear

#16: edamame - bbno$/Rich Brian

#15: Meet Me At Our Spot - THE ANXIETY

5 - Great:

#14: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

#13: traitor - Olivia Rodrigo

#12: Easy On Me - Adele

#11: My Universe - Coldplay/BTS

#10: Take My Breath - The Weeknd

#9: Shivers - Ed Sheeran

#8: Better Days - NEIKED/Mae Muller/Polo G

#7: For Tonight - Giveon

#6: Ghost - Justin Bieber

#5: Moth To A Flame - Swedish House Mafia/The Weeknd

#4: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber

#3: Saturday - Twenty One Pilots

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

#1: THATS WHAT I WANT - Lil Nas X

Overall Score: 112/150 = 75%

5 Oldest Songs

#5: Memory - Kane Brown/blackbear & INDUSTRY BABY - Lil Nas X/Jack Harlow {14 weeks}
#4: Saturday - Twenty One Pilots {16 weeks}
#3: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber {17 weeks}
#2: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran & You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd {19 weeks}
#1: A-O-K - Tai Verdes/24kGoldn {22 weeks}

#1 Recommendation for Hits 1: If You Ever Leave, I'm Coming With You - The Wombats

My Favourite Song Last Year: Levitating - Dua Lipa/DaBaby

My Least Favourite Song Last Year: Heather - Conan Gray

Most Missed Countdown Song: ME! - Taylor Swift/Brendon Urie

Hit-Bound

Boyz - Jesy Nelson/Nicki Minaj [3]

Toxic - BoyWithUke [1]

Dynamite - Sean Paul/Sia [3]

Let's go to Hell - Tai Verdes [1]

TWINNEM - Coi Leray [1]

i hope ur miserable until ur dead - Nessa Barrett [10]

Smokin Out The Window - Silk Sonic [1]

Overpass Graffiti - Ed Sheeran [2]

Have Mercy - Chlöe [1]

The Motto - Tiësto/Ava Max [1]

MAMMAMIA - Måneskin [5]

Telepath - Conan Gray [1]

One Right Now - Post Malone/The Weeknd [1]

The Weekend - BIBI [3]

Alone - Trevor Daniel [7]

Life Goes On - Oliver Tree [2]

In the Abyss

Essence - WizKid/Justin Bieber/Tems

Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish

I Feel Good - Pitbull/Anthony Watts/DJ White Shadow

justified - Kacey Musgraves

One Day - Monsta X

Wildest Dreams (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift

Our first new Hit-Bound song is from a new artist, called BoyWithUke. He brings his new song Toxic to Hits 1 this week, and it's... not great. Literally the only part I like about this is the melody of the chorus. Other than that, I'm not loving BoyWithUke's voice, the verses are strange, and the production doesn't do enough to save the song. Overall, I'd rather not have this become a hit here.

Tai Verdes returns this week with his second solo song, Let's go to Hell. Alright, Tai, fine. I'll let you have this one. A couple more songs like this and I can forgive you for A-O-K and Sheesh!. Anyways, this is an amazing little song. Tai Verdes genuinely sounds great throughout most of the song, and the chorus is so stupidly catchy that even if I wanted to hate this, I couldn't. In addition, the production here compliments the song extremely well, just adding to the overall energy of the song. Overall, fantastic song, I'd love for it to do well.

Well, that was short-lived. We're jumping right back into the bad music, as next up is TWINNEM by Coi Leray. Let me get one thing straight before I start: the verses are fine. Coi sounds decent in them, and the big, thumpy bass isn't that annoying. But that chorus... it's so freaking annoying that I don't think anything could save this song from it. I'd really rather not hear that chorus one more time, but I know that that's asking a lot, so... how about we compromise, Hits 1, and it just doesn't debut the Countdown?

Moving on, we have a new Silk Sonic song before the release of their album tomorrow, with this one being called Smokin Out The Window. Yeah, Skate is still my favourite Silk Sonic song, and I don't think that that's gonna change anytime soon. This song goes back to the croony vibe of Leave The Door Open, which is not my favourite, and doesn't fit very well on the radio. That being said, Bruno and Anderson's voices save the song from being bad (or even mediocre, for that matter), but it's still super boring. I'd be okay if this doesn't get as big as LTDO.

Next, we have Have Mercy by Chlöe (of Chloe x Halle). I know I gave this a "red" rating in my ItCMS post last week, but I gave it another listen, and realized that it's actually quite a good song. The sample fits really well with the song, and Chlöe sounds great throughout this song, especially in the rapping bit. The beat is pretty good, and fits the song well. Overall, this is a pretty great song, and I'd love to see it do well here.

We see Ava Max make a Hits 1 return this week after My Head & My Heart from early this year. She teams up with Tiësto on this new song, called The Motto. This song's fine. I'm not so sure Ava's voice works that well with Tiësto's thumpy* EDM production, but she still sounds good, and the chorus is pretty catchy. I'd say that this is a good song, however, I don't really see it doing that well here or anywhere.

*Did I seriously use the word "thumpy" twice in this post?

Conan Gray returns again with another super upbeat song to join Maniac and Overdrive this week. This new song's called Telepath, and it's just as good as those two songs. Actually, I think it falls somewhere in the middle (better than Maniac, slightly worse than Overdrive). It's a super fun song, and Conan sounds great throughout it, with the upbeat production complimenting his voice really well, but I don't find it ridiculously memorable. I'm sure this'll debut anyways, though.

Alright, everyone, we've made it to the big release of the week. Post Malone and The Weeknd teaming up on a new song called One Right Now. This is a good song, but it could've been much better, in my opinion. Personally, I think it would've worked better as a darker song, but the upbeat vibe still works. Post and Abel mesh pretty well together, which doesn't really surprise me, and the production's fun, but again, this had the potential to be much better than it is. I'm sure it'll still be a big hit, though.

justified dropped out of the Countdown this week and found its way to the Abyss. Will this re-enter? Probably not. In fact, I see it leaving completely in the next week or two.

As for dropouts, we lost U Gurl, Present, Signals, Darling and MONEY from Hit-Bound, and HIT IT, Hurricane and Love Tonight from the Abyss. I know for a fact that U Gurl isn't gone, as it's already started to get spins, which absolutely sucks. Present and Signals both only lasted a week here, and were super forgettable, so I don't care about either of them. Darling was great, but not a single, so whatever, and MONEY was pretty bad. As for our Abyss exits, I'm happy two of them are gone, and pretty sad that the other is gone. Take a wild guess as to which is which.

Best Hit-Bound Debut: Let's go to Hell - Tai Verdes

Hit-Bound/Abyss Ranking

0 - Awful:

#22: Toxic - BoyWithUke

1 - Bad:

#21: TWINNEM - Coi Leray

#20: Life Goes On - Oliver Tree

2 - Mediocre:

#19: Boyz - Jesy Nelson/Nicki Minaj

#18: Alone - Trevor Daniel

3 - Decent:

#17: Dynamite - Sean Paul/Sia

#16: Smokin Out The Window - Silk Sonic

#15: Overpass Graffiti - Ed Sheeran

4 - Good:

#14: The Motto - Tiësto/Ava Max

#13: I Feel Good - Pitbull/Anthony Watts/DJ White Shadow

#12: Essence - WizKid/Justin Bieber/Tems

#11: MAMMAMIA - Måneskin

#10: One Right Now - Post Malone/The Weeknd

5 - Great:

#9: Have Mercy - Chlöe

#8: justified - Kacey Musgraves

#7: The Weekend - BIBI

#6: One Day - Monsta X

#5: Telepath - Conan Gray

#4: Wildest Dreams (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift

#3: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish

#2: Let's go to Hell - Tai Verdes

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

Overall Score: 80/110 = 73%

But Does He Know You Call Blurbs When He Sleeps?

Our other Countdown exit this week is Love Again. I really liked that song, but it had a pretty good run here, so I'm not ridiculously sad.

edamame got a nice rebound after its drop from last week, which is good to see.

Unfortunately, Way 2 Sexy also jumped quite a bit... this can leave... please.

Bad Habits is either on its last or second-last week here, which I'm fine with, because it did very well here.

Ayy, I'd love to see For Tonight become a hit!

Maybe not Need to Know, though.

THATS WHAT I WANT is sitting right outside the top 10, which is fantastic. I'd love for it to do well here, because it's a great song.

Both A-O-K and Fancy Like jumped three spots to #6 and #5, respectively. I'm okay with A-O-K for now, just as long as it leaves relatively soon, but this is high enough for Fancy Like. I don't even know why it's still here, let alone in the top five... it is better than U Gurl, though, so I'll give it that.

INDUSTRY BABY is #2! Come on. Just one week at #1 before Easy On Me dominates it for 10+ weeks in-a-row. Please.

How Hits 1 Songs Are Doing on the Hot 100

#1: Easy On Me - Adele

#2: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber

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

#4: Fancy Like - Walker Hayes

#5: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

#6: Way 2 Sexy - Drake/Future/Young Thug

#7: Shivers - Ed Sheeran

#8: good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

#9: Need to Know - Doja Cat

#10: Levitating - Dua Lipa

#11: Essence - WizKid/Justin Bieber/Tems

#12: Kiss Me More - Doja Cat/SZA

#13: Heat Waves - Glass Animals

#14: Beggin' - Måneskin

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

#16: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd

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

#19: traitor - Olivia Rodrigo

#20: My Universe - Coldplay/BTS

#23: Meet Me At Our Spot - THE ANXIETY

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

#26: Girls Want Girls - Drake/Lil Baby

#27: Moth To A Flame - Swedish House Mafia/The Weeknd

#29: THATS WHAT I WANT - Lil Nas X

#31: love nwantiti (ah ah ah) - CKay

#32: Take My Breath - The Weeknd

#33: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish

#35: Better Days - NEIKED/Mae Muller/Polo G

#37: Ghost - Justin Bieber

#40: A-O-K - Tai Verdes

#42: Leave The Door Open - Silk Sonic

#46: Wild Side - Normani/Cardi B

#51: Have Mercy - Chlöe

#55: Hurricane - Kanye West/The Weeknd/Lil Baby

#59: Memory - Kane Brown/blackbear

#63: Woman - Doja Cat

#66: Love Again - Dua Lipa

#83: For Tonight - Giveon

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

#86: Get Into It (Yuh) - Doja Cat

#90: MONEY - LISA

#93: Who's In Your Head - Jonas Brothers

#98: Life Goes On - Oliver Tree

Top 10 on the Hunger Games Countdown

#10: Dinero - Trinidad Cardona

#9: Paralyzed - Sueco

#8: Reckless - Madison Beer

#7: jump - Against The Current

#6: Skate - Silk Sonic

#5: Permission to Dance - BTS

#4: Don't Go Yet - Camila Cabello

#3: Summer of Love - Shawn Mendes/Tainy

#2: Change My Clothes - Dream/Alec Benjamin

#1: Lifestyle - Jason Derulo/Adam Levine

Top 10 If the Countdown Made Sense

#10: THATS WHAT I WANT - Lil Nas X

#9: Shivers - Ed Sheeran

#8: Easy On Me - Adele

#7: Need to Know - Doja Cat

#6: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

#5: traitor - Olivia Rodrigo

#4: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd

#3: Beggin' - Måneskin

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

#1: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber

Kwaheri, everybody! See you all in the next one (which may or may not be tomorrow... special surprise? We'll see).