Week of December 18, 2021 - Ed Sheeran (9)

Hey, all! Well, 2021 is almost gone, which is just absolutely insane. But, that means that my Year-End posts will start coming out soon! I may have more free time than usual in January due to the new variant, so those posts shouldn't fall too far behind. Also, I'll be introducing three new Year-End posts: Hunger Games Countdown Top 30 of 2021, If the Year-End Countdown Made Sense and My Top 20 Small Hits of 2021! Keep an eye out for those. In addition, as of today, you only have eight more days to submit for the Hit-Bound Dropouts Rankdown, so make sure you do that if you're interested by then! If you think you need a few extra days, that's fine, just let me know in the comments. Here are our exits for this week.

Songs We're Saying Goodbye To

love nwantiti (ah ah ah) - CKay (#30) [#23] {9 weeks}

Bite Me - Avril Lavigne (#21) [#18] {4 weeks}

Let's go to Hell - Tai Verdes (#20) [#13] {5 weeks}

One Day - Monsta X (#12) [#12] {3 weeks}

Last Week's #1: Shivers - Ed Sheeran (8)

#30: SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY (Remix) - Amaarae/Kali Uchis/Moliy (DEBUT) [4 weeks in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#29: Male Fantasy - Billie Eilish (DEBUT) [1 week in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#28: Wandered To LA - Juice WRLD/Justin Bieber (DEBUT) [1 week in Hit-Bound] {1 week}

#27: It'll Be Okay - Shawn Mendes (-3) [#24] {2 weeks}

#26: Do It To It - ACRAZE/Cherish (+2) [#26] {2 weeks} *new peak*

#25: U Gurl - Walker Hayes (-2) [#20] {4 weeks}

#24: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber (+2) [6 weeks at #1] {23 weeks}

#23: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish (+4) [#21] {14 weeks}

#22: Smokin Out The Window - Silk Sonic (+3) [#19] {6 weeks}

#21: GHOST TOWN - Benson Boone (-2) [#19] {2 weeks}

#20: abcdefu - GAYLE (+9) [#20] {2 weeks} *new peak*

#19: For Tonight - Giveon (+3) [#18] {10 weeks}

#18: Oh My God - Adele (RE-ENTRY) [#18] {2 weeks} *new peak*

#17: Meet Me At Our Spot - THE ANXIETY (-3) [#14] {10 weeks}

#16: I Feel Good - Pitbull/Anthony Watts/DJ White Shadow (-3) [#13] {2 weeks}

#15: feel like s**t - Tate McRae (-) [#15] {2 weeks}

#14: Who's In Your Head - Jonas Brothers (-7) [#4] {13 weeks}

#13: Need to Know - Doja Cat (+5) [#8] {16 weeks}

#12: traitor - Olivia Rodrigo (-2) [#8] {16 weeks}

#11: One Right Now - Post Malone/The Weeknd (-) [#11] {6 weeks}

#10: Overpass Graffiti - Ed Sheeran (-1) [#9] {5 weeks}

#9: Moth To A Flame - Swedish House Mafia/The Weeknd (+7) [#9] {7 weeks} *new peak*

#8: Message In A Bottle (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift (+9) [#8] {4 weeks} *new peak*

#7: My Universe - Coldplay/BTS (-1) [#6] {10 weeks}

#6: Better Days - NEIKED/Mae Muller/Polo G (+2) [#6] {8 weeks} *new peak*

#5: Ghost - Justin Bieber (-) [#5] {12 weeks}

#4: THATS WHAT I WANT - Lil Nas X (-) [#4] {12 weeks}

#3: Easy On Me - Adele (-1) [#2] {9 weeks}

#2: Cold Heart (Remix) - Elton John/Dua Lipa/PNAU (+1) [#2] {13 weeks}

#1: Shivers - Ed Sheeran (-) [9th week at #1] {12 weeks}

Last Year's #1: Golden - Harry Styles [2/4 weeks at #1]

Countdown Extra: I AM WOMAN - Emmy Meli

So our first of four entrants this week (surprising for the end of the year, I know) is SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY by Amaarae, Kali Uchis and Moliy. Before you ask, yes, that's the real title of the song. And yes, the song is as bad as the title. It's definitely not the worst song here, Do It To It and U Gurl are both worse, but this song is plenty awful. For starters, everyone but Kali Uchis is singing way too quietly and sound very bad. On top of that, the production is bland as hell, and the song as a whole is extremely boring. This isn't interesting to listen to in the slightest, and I have no clue why it debuted. I hope it leaves soon.

Well, this is certainly a first. Billie Eilish has two songs on this week's Countdown that I consider good. Hunh. Anyways, this is because Billie debuts at #29 with her new song Male Fantasy from her album, Happier Than Ever. This song's essentially just Your Power, but 100x better. I don't think this is great, as Billie doesn't sound amazing in some parts of the song, but the song as a whole is honestly beautiful, and the simple guitar production fits the song really well. The melody in the chorus is great too. Overall, I'm totally fine with this being here, although I don't think it's gonna do too well here.

Next up is Juice WRLD scoring his third song on the Countdown, teaming up with Justin Bieber on Wandered To LA. This song's pretty great. I definitely don't think it's the best from Fighting Demons (although I only listened to the album once, so I can't actually tell you which songs I think are better), but it's definitely a solid song. Both Juice WRLD and Bieber sound great here, and mix surprisingly well. The guitars in the production are pretty fun, and I like the little licks of violin that come in sometimes. I don't necessarily expect this to do too well here, actually, I think the collaboration with SUGA from BTS will become a single and overshadow this, but I'm happy that this is here for now.

Yeah, so I completely forgot to talk about the exits last week, and I'll get to it a little later, but this next re-entry was one of them, Oh My God by Adele. I'm not so sure why this left last week in the first place, but I'm glad it's back, 'cause it's growing on me.

Best Debut: Wandered To LA - Juice WRLD/Justin Bieber

Biggest Drop: Who's In Your Head - Jonas Brothers (-7): It doesn't surprise me too much that this song kinda flopped on pop radio, because the JoBros didn't really try anything new, and I'm not disappointed that it's leaving, even though I think it's good.

Biggest Jump: abcdefu - GAYLE & Message In A Bottle (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift (+9): Wow, everyone, abcdefu is becoming huge. Without all the Christmas music on the Hot 100 right now, it would be sitting at #7. If I were you, I'd expect this song to jump huge again next week. As for Message In A Bottle, I'm glad it's doing well, but I wish Hits 1 would just pick up on All Too Well already.

Countdown Ranking

-5 - Possibly the Worst Song I've Ever Heard:

#30: U Gurl - Walker Hayes

0 - Awful:

#29: Do It To It - ACRAZE/Cherish

#28: Need to Know - Doja Cat

#27: SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY (Remix) - Amaarae/Kali Uchis/Moliy

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

1 - Bad:

NONE!

2 - Mediocre:

#25: Smokin Out The Window - Silk Sonic

3 - Decent:

#24: Overpass Graffiti - Ed Sheeran

#23: Oh My God - Adele

4 - Good:

#22: Male Fantasy - Billie Eilish

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

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

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

#18: Easy On Me - Adele

#17: abcdefu - GAYLE

5 - Great:

#16: feel like s**t - Tate McRae

#15: traitor - Olivia Rodrigo

#14: Meet Me At Our Spot - THE ANXIETY

#13: GHOST TOWN - Benson Boone

#12: My Universe - Coldplay/BTS

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

#10: Wandered To LA - Juice WRLD/Justin Bieber

#9: For Tonight - Giveon

#8: Shivers - Ed Sheeran

#7: Message In A Bottle (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift

#6: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish

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

#4: Ghost - Justin Bieber

#3: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber

#2: THATS WHAT I WANT - Lil Nas X

#1: It'll Be Okay - Shawn Mendes

Overall Score: 107/150 = 71%

5 Oldest Songs

#5: Ghost - Justin Bieber, THATS WHAT I WANT - Lil Nas X & Shivers - Ed Sheeran {12 weeks}

#4: Who's In Your Head - Jonas Brothers & Cold Heart (Remix) - Elton John/Dua Lipa/PNAU {13 weeks}
#3: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish {14 weeks}

#2: Need to Know - Doja Cat & traitor - Olivia Rodrigo {16 weeks}
#1: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber {23 weeks}

#1 Recommendation for Hits 1: The Good Part - AJR

My Top 10 Songs Last Year

#10: Monsters - All Time Low/Demi Lovato/blackbear (#3)

#9: Dynamite - BTS (#14)

#8: my ex's best friend - Machine Gun Kelly/blackbear (#7)

#7: Fallin' (Adrenaline) - Why Don't We (#8)

#6: HOLIDAY - Lil Nas X (#23)

#5: Bang! - AJR (#16)

#4: Levitating - Dua Lipa/DaBaby (#2)

#3: Monster - Shawn Mendes/Justin Bieber (#25)

#2: Mood - 24kGoldn/iann dior (#17)

#1: positions - Ariana Grande (#6)

Most Missed Countdown Song: One Last Time - Ariana Grande

Hit-Bound

WYD Now? - Sadie Jean [2]

Have Mercy - Chlöe [7]

I Hate U - SZA [2]

The Weekend - BIBI [9]

Bite Me - Avril Lavigne [1; 2nd time]

I AM WOMAN - Emmy Meli [3]

Crisis - Joshua Bassett [3]

Big Energy - Latto [2]

You Problem - Monsta X [2]

2011 - 5 Seconds of Summer [3]

More Than Friends - 24kGoldn [1]

Abyss

Dynamite - Sean Paul/Sia

edamame - bbno$/Rich Brian

Faking Love - Anitta/Saweetie

I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift/Chris Stapleton

Let's go to Hell - Tai Verdes

Life Goes On - Oliver Tree

love nwantiti (ah ah ah) - CKay

Soft Landing - JP Saxe

The Outside - Twenty One Pilots

This week sees a bunch of Hit-Bound/Abyss entrants from past Countdown songs, and I'll get to those later when I go over last week's exits and this week's exits.

Speaking of Abyss entrants, Soft Landing is back, which is great. I hope this can manage to debut.

So, 24kGoldn hits us with a brand new single this week, More Than Friends, which interpolates Biz Markie's song Just A Friend. I've always been a fan of 24kGoldn, I think he's a genius with melodies, and this song is definitely no exception to that. I know that a good chunk of the chorus isn't his own, but he uses it in a really great way. On top of that, 24kGoldn sounds great, as he usually does, and the production's super fun. Not much else to say, this is just a fun, feel-good song, and I hope it debuts.

So Hits 1 only played this song twice on Monday last week, but that technically qualifies it for the Abyss, even if they never play it again. Anyways, the song is I Bet You Think About Me by Taylor Swift and Chris Stapleton, which is another "Vault" track from Red (Taylor's Version). This is essentially just betty 2.0, which I'm fine with. The country-ish production sounds pretty good with Taylor's voice, and even though I'm not a huge fan of Chris Stapleton's voice, I have to admit that he adds a nice layer to this song. Overall, this is a good song. We'll probably never hear it again on this station, but that's alright.

Ayy, no dropouts!

Hit-Bound/Abyss Ranking

0 - Awful:

NONE!

1 - Bad:

#20: Life Goes On - Oliver Tree

2 - Mediocre:

#19: Dynamite - Sean Paul/Sia

3 - Decent:

#18: WYD Now? - Sadie Jean

#17: I AM WOMAN - Emmy Meli

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

#15: I Hate U - SZA

4 - Good:

#14: I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift/Chris Stapleton

#13: Faking Love - Anitta/Saweetie

#12: Crisis - Joshua Bassett

#11: 2011 - 5 Seconds of Summer

#10: edamame - bbno$/Rich Brian

5 - Great:

#9: Have Mercy - Chlöe

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

#7: The Weekend - BIBI

#6: Big Energy - Latto

#5: More Than Friends - 24kGoldn

#4: Soft Landing - JP Saxe

#3: Bite Me - Avril Lavigne

#2: You Problem - Monsta X

#1: The Outside - Twenty One Pilots

Overall Score: 80/100 = 80%

I Wandered to Blurb-A

Yeah, so as I mentioned, I forgot to review the exits last week. We lost Way 2 Sexy, the aforementioned Oh My God, The Outside, Fancy Like, INDUSTRY BABY and Life Goes On. I'm really glad that Way 2 Sexy and Fancy Like are gone, as they're both awful. The Outside is great, so I'm sad it's gone, but at least it's on the Abyss. INDUSTRY BABY was also great, and I will forever be salty that it never hit #1. As for Life Goes On, I wish it would just go away already and stop entering the Abyss.

As for this week's exits, we lost love nwantiti, Bite Me, Let's go to Hell and One Day. So the only one of these songs that's actually gone is One Day, which sucks, because it was a pretty good song. They held onto it too long in Hit-Bound, and it debuted after its pop radio peak. Oh, well.

Sadly, It'll Be Okay dropped after its debut last week. I never expected it to do well on radio, but I hoped it would do well here. It could still rebound.

On the other hand, U Gurl dropped, which is great. The sooner we get rid of this awful song, the better.

Bruh, how is STAY still here? I'm definitely not complaining, it's still a bop, but I'm just surprised that it's hung on at the bottom for so long.

Happier Than Ever got a rebound again, which is awesome. It's a great song.

I Feel Good dropped three spots off of its debut last week, which is... fine? I don't know, I don't really care how this song does here.

Wow, Moth To A Flame is somehow top 10 before One Right Now became top 10. I guess people are getting off the Post Malone/The Weeknd hype and realizing that Moth To A Flame's much better.

UGH why is Shivers still #1?? It was dropping in airplay all last week, and now it's rebounded in airplay. This is stupid, Lil Nas X should've been #1 for five weeks now.

How Hits 1 Songs Are Doing on the Hot 100

#1: Easy On Me - Adele

#4: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber

#7: I Hate U - SZA

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

#9: Heat Waves - Glass Animals

#11: Shivers - Ed Sheeran

#12: Need to Know - Doja Cat

#15: abcdefu - GAYLE

#16: Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

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

#29: good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

#31: Fancy Like - Walker Hayes

#33: You Right - Doja Cat/The Weeknd

#35: Essence - WizKid/Justin Bieber/Tems

#36: Kiss Me More - Doja Cat/SZA

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

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

#40: Ghost - Justin Bieber

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

#43: Beggin' - Måneskin

#46: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish

#47: Oh My God - Adele

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

#49: Wandered To LA - Juice WRLD/Justin Bieber

#50: THATS WHAT I WANT - Lil Nas X

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

#53: Meet Me At Our Spot - THE ANXIETY

#55: Girls Want Girls - Drake/Lil Baby

#59: My Universe - Coldplay/BTS

#63: Have Mercy - Chlöe

#64: Woman - Doja Cat

#69: Big Energy - Latto

#82: Message In A Bottle (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift

#85: For Tonight - Giveon

Top 10 on the Hunger Games Countdown

#10: Rumors - Lizzo/Cardi B

#9: Faking Love - Anitta/Saweetie

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

#7: Big Energy - Latto

#6: Signals - Regard/Kwabs

#5: Lifestyle - Jason Derulo/Adam Levine

#4: Soft Landing - JP Saxe

#3: I AM WOMAN - Emmy Meli

#2: abcdefu - GAYLE

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

Top 10 If the Countdown Made Sense

#10: Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish

#9: STAY - The Kid LAROI/Justin Bieber

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

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

#6: Ghost - Justin Bieber

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

#4: THATS WHAT I WANT - Lil Nas X

#3: Shivers - Ed Sheeran

#2: Need to Know - Doja Cat
#1: Easy On Me - Adele

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