One Direction (2) - Week of March 24, 2012

This first part of this week’s installment is almost too painful for me to type, but I suppose I’m grateful it didn’t happen weeks ago, as it easily could have.  Before we get on to this week’s Fresh 45, here’s a list of all the songs we’re saying good-bye to this week.

• Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa Ft. Bruno Mars – Young, Wild & Free

The Countdown: (Source: Wikipedia)

1. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#1) [Second Week at #1]

2. Flo Rida- Good Feeling (#6)

3. Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (#3)

4. Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris- We Found Love (#9)

5. Adele- Set Fire to the Rain (#5)

6. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#10)

7. Katy Perry- Part of Me (#8)

8. Gavin DeGraw- Not Over You (#7)

9. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#4)

10. Outasight- Tonight Is the Night (#12)

11. David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj- Turn Me On (#2)

12. The Cab- La La (#17)

13. Gym Class Heroes feat. Neon Hitch- Ass Back Home (#11)

14. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#23)

15. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#18)

16. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#29)

17. Calvin Harris- Feel So Close (#22)

18. The Black Keys- Lonely Boy (#19)

19. Childish Gambino- Heartbeat (#16)

20. Skrillex feat. Sirah- Bangarang (#27)

21. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#30)

22. Gotye feat. Kimbra- Somebody That I Used to Know (#21)

23. Lucas Prata feat. Lenny B- First Night of My Life (#20)

24. The All-American Rejects- Beekeeper's Daughter (#14)

25. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#43) 

26. M83- Midnight City (#37)

27. Chiddy Bang- Ray Charles (#26)

28. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (#32)

29. B.o.B- So Good (#36)

30. Train- Drive By (#25)

31. K'naan feat. Nelly Furtado- Is Anybody Out There? (#24)

32. Bruno Mars- It Will Rain (#34)

33. Coldplay & Rihanna- Princess of China (#33)

34. Katy Perry- The One That Got Away (#31)

35. David Guetta feat. Usher- Without You (#13)

36. Selena Gomez & the Scene- Love You Like a Love Song (#28)

37. Pitbull feat. Chris Brown- International Love (#42)

38. Adele- Someone Like You (#15) 

39. Gym Class Heroes feat. Adam Levine- Stereo Hearts (#35)

40. Foster the People- Don't Stop (Color on the Walls) (#39)

41. September- Party in My Head (DEBUT)

42. Hot Chelle Rae feat. New Boyz- I Like It Like That (#45)

43. Mac Miller- Knock Knock (#40)

44. Toby Keith- Red Solo Cup (#41)

45. LMFAO- Sorry for Party Rocking (#38)

Biggest DDDDDRRRRRROOOOOOPPPPPP!!!!!!.....of the week: Adele – Someone Like You (-23)

Biggest Jump of the week: Karmin – Brokenhearted (+18)

One new song to speak of.  Going straight from high school to the NBA this week was September – Party In My Head.  I am definitely liking this one so far.  Good beat, good energy.  I like the odds of it remaining an above-average mainstay on the countdown for months to come.

Unfortunate return of Flo Rida – Good Feeling and Rihanna Ft. Calvin Harris – We Found Love to the Top 5 this week.  We’ll try to get this corrected by next week.  Sorry everyone.

After another week of spins, I think I jumped to conclusions a little too quickly on B.O.B. – So Good.  It’s definitely better than I initially gave it credit for.  Similarly, I was a little too quick to judge K’Naan Ft. Nelly Furtado – Is Anybody Out There.  Initially I liked it, but soon after discovered that it wears on your ears pretty quickly.

All in all, not a ton going on this week.  We’re probably only a few weeks away from being done with the whole LMFAO-having-a-song-on-the-countdown thing.  Until then, I’ll just sit and hope….

Editor’s Picks: Top 5 Songs

1) M83 – Midnight City

2) Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know

3) Pitbull Ft. Chris Brown – International Love

4) September – Party In My Head

5) Train – Drive By

One Direction - Week of March 17, 2012

Spyder Harrison was in an unfortunate motorcycle accident, so there was another guest host on the countdown this week, the guys from One Direction.  Maybe this had something to do with the #1-ness of their song this week?  Before we get on to this week’s Fresh 45, here’s a list of all the songs we’re saying good-bye to this week:

•  Jessie J – Domino
•  Big Time Rush Ft. Mann – Music Sounds Better With U
•  Maroon 5 Ft. Christina Aguilera – Moves Like Jagger (Former #1)

The Countdown: (Source: Wikipedia)

1. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#13) [New #1]

2. David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj- Turn Me On (#2)

3. Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (#1)

4. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#26)

5. Adele- Set Fire to the Rain (#3)

6. Flo Rida- Good Feeling (#6)

7. Gavin DeGraw- Not Over You (#5)

8. Katy Perry- Part of Me (#10)

9. Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris- We Found Love (#4)

10. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#7)

11. Gym Class Heroes feat. Neon Hitch- Ass Back Home (#24)

12. Outasight- Tonight Is the Night (#8)

13. David Guetta feat. Usher- Without You (#14)

14. The All-American Rejects- Beekeeper's Daughter (#15)

15. Adele- Someone Like You (#17)

16. Childish Gambino- Heartbeat (#16)

17. The Cab- La La (#29)

18. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#18)

19. The Black Keys- Lonely Boy (#23)

20. Lucas Prata feat. Lenny B- First Night of My Life (#20)

21. Gotye feat. Kimbra- Somebody That I Used to Know (#27)

22. Calvin Harris- Feel So Close (#36)

23. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#31)

24. K'naan feat. Nelly Furtado- Is Anybody Out There? (#19)

25. Train- Drive By (#9)

26. Chiddy Bang- Ray Charles (#22)

27. Skrillex feat. Sirah- Bangarang (#21)

28. Selena Gomez & the Scene- Love You Like a Love Song (#33)

29. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#19)

30. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#43)

31. Katy Perry- The One That Got Away (#40)

32. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (DEBUT)

33. Coldplay & Rihanna- Princess of China (#32)

34. Bruno Mars- It Will Rain (#37)

35. Gym Class Heroes feat. Adam Levine- Stereo Hearts (#12)

36. B.o.B- So Good (DEBUT)

37. M83- Midnight City (#25)

38. LMFAO- Sorry for Party Rocking (#38)

39. Foster the People- Don't Stop (Color on the Walls) (#35)

40. Mac Miller- Knock Knock (#41)

41. Toby Keith- Red Solo Cup (#39)

42. Pitbull feat. Chris Brown- International Love (#45)

43. Karmin- Brokenhearted (DEBUT)

44. Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa feat. Bruno Mars- Young, Wild & Free (#34)

45. Hot Chelle Rae feat. New Boyz- I LIke It Like That (#11)

Biggest DDDDRRRROOOOPPPP!!!!!!......of the week: Hot Chelle Rae – I Like It Like That (-34)

Biggest Jump of the week: The Wanted – Glad You Came (+22)

Guess that having a guest host didn’t prevent a little volatility this week.  That’s three quality songs exiting the countdown, so the new entrants have their work cut out for them.  Even though we’re losing Domino, the news isn’t all bad because we’re gaining an eerily similar song in Karmin – Brokenhearted.  Next up is B.O.B. Ft. (nobody) with So – Good.  Wait a minute…..”Ft. (nobody)”???

..

……

Everyone knows the rule…..all of B.O.B.’s famous songs need to be featuring someone way more talented than him.  Hayley Williams.  Rivers Cuomo.  Yes, even freakin’ Bruno Mars.  He was in Price Tag too, but we can cut him a break because that’s actually Jessie J’s song, not his.  So this is 100% B.O.B.????  I mean…wow.  He made a song all by himself!  I’d give him props except that without someone else to sing all the good parts, the song falls kind of flat.  The weird thing is that I don’t dislike it that much.  I actually kind of like it enough to make me worry that I just have anti-B.O.B. prejudice.  Nonetheless, it does seem like a song that I’m going to be done with a week or two from now.

Hot Chelle Rae – Honestly is the final new entrant.  I’ve thought quite a lot about my opinion on Hot Chelle Rae.  I liked Tonight Tonight a good deal at first, but man, talk about an easy song to get sick of.  Then they came out with I Like It Like That, and it was so similar to Tonight Tonight, only with (somehow) even dumber lyrics that I couldn’t stand it after a week of airtime on Hits-1.  At that point I wrote them off as pretty uncreative/talentless/bad.  Their new song, Honestly, at least at this point, has me reconsidering.  The song has by far the best vocal performance of the three and has some back-up singing that adds a fresh new dimension.  The lyrics are still pretty dumb though, but hey, at least they’ve got a niche, right?

The big story this week, of course, is the random (controversial?) jump of One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful to #1, all the way up from #13.  I’ve been a pretty vocal supporter of the song since its debut on the countdown and am happy to see them defy expectations and hit the top spot.  In doesn’t-make-much-sense land, The Wanted – Glad You Came jumped all the way to #4.  It’s been steadily climbing Ryan Seacrest’s list too, and I really don’t understand the infatuation with this bland, average-y song.  But in any case, it’s still the best “worst” song of the Top 5 in a long time, so I guess that’s progress.  The top of the countdown is certainly tolerable again.

Two of my top 3 “Editor’s Picks” took significant dips while the other one jumped a bit, so despite One Direction’s coup, it’s kind of a bittersweet week.  I checked the Billboard Hot 100 this morning and f.u.n. Ft. Janelle Monae – We Are Young was #1.  So I guess we’ve got another song with #1 potential floating around up there. 

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) M83 – Midnight City

2) Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa Ft. Bruno Mars – Young, Wild & Free

3) Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know

4) Pitbull Ft. Chris Brown – International Love

5) Karmin - Brokenhearted

Kelly Clarkson (2) - Week of March 10, 2012

Demi Lovato was this week’s guest host on the countdown, and per usual on Spyder Harrison’s weekends off, we’ve got our usual dose of low turnover and low volatility.  To wit, the biggest jump of the week was a tie between this week’s #34 and #35 songs.  Before we get on to this week’s Fresh 45, here’s a list of all the songs we’re saying good-bye to this week:

• Kelly Clarkson – Mr. Know It All (DTHNOBx2)
• Cobra Starship – You Make Me Feel (Former #1, Most Tenured Song)

The Countdown: (Source: Wikipedia)

1. Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (#1) [Second Week at #1]

2. David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj- Turn Me On (#6)

3. Adele- Set Fire to the Rain (#3)

4. Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris- We Found Love (#2)

5. Gavin DeGraw- Not Over You (#11)

6. Flo Rida- Good Feeling (#8)

7. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#9)

8. Outasight- Tonight Is the Night (#10)

9. Train- Drive By (#16)

10. Katy Perry- Part of Me (#7)

11. Hot Chelle Rae feat. New Boyz- I Like It Like That (#5)

12. Gym Class Heroes feat. Adam Levine- Stereo Hearts (#4)

13. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#12)

14. David Guetta feat. Usher- Without You (#17)

15. The All-American Rejects- Beekeeper's Daughter (#20)

16. Childish Gambino- Heartbeat (#15)

17. Adele- Someone Like You (#14)

18. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#21)

19. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#24)

20. Lucas Prata feat. Lenny B- First Night of My Life (#23)

21. Skrillex feat. Sirah- Bangarang (#13)

22. Chiddy Bang- Ray Charles (#27)

23. The Black Keys- Lonely Boy (#18)

24. Gym Class Heroes feat. Neon Hitch- Ass Back Home (#19)

25. M83- Midnight City (#30)

26. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#32)

27. Gotye feat. Kimbra- Somebody That I Used to Know (#33)

28. K'naan feat. Nelly Furtado- Is Anybody Out There? (#25)

29. The Cab- La La (#26)

30. Jessie J- Domino (#22)

31. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#28)

32. Coldplay & Rihanna- Princess of China (#36)

33. Selena Gomez & the Scene- Love You Like a Love Song (#35)

34. Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa feat. Bruno Mars- Young, Wild & Free (#44)

35. Foster the People- Don't Stop (Color on the Walls) (#45)

36. Calvin Harris- Feel So Close (DEBUT)

37. Bruno Mars- It Will Rain (#37)

38. LMFAO- Sorry for Party Rocking (#42)

39. Toby Keith- Red Solo Cup (#43)

40. Katy Perry- The One That Got Away (#39)

41. Mac Miller- Knock Knock (#38)

42. Big Time Rush feat. Mann- Music Sounds Better With U (#29)

43. Nicki Minaj- Starships (DEBUT)

44. Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera- Moves Like Jagger (#41)

45. Pitbull feat. Chris Brown- International Love (#34)

Biggest DDDDDRRRRROOOOPPPPP!!!!!!!......of the Week: Big Time Rush Ft. Mann – Music Sounds Better With U (-13)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Tie between Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa Ft. Bruno Mars – Young, Wild & Free and Foster the People – Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls) (+10)

Two new entrants this week.  The first is Calvin Harris – Feel So Close.  I honestly don’t think Calvin Harris had much of a chance in my eyes after collaborating with Rihanna on the mindlessly repetitive and indisputably awful We Found Love.  But I honestly don’t think first impressions would have mattered much here.  It’s a better song than We Found Love on pretty much every level, but mostly that just means it falls into the class of repetitively bland, rather than repetitively annoying.  The other new entrant, Nicki Minaj – Starships had so much potential.  Most of the song is pretty excellent, but it gets spoiled a bit by the weird and out-of-place techno-trance interlude between the verses.  The end product is still something that’s pretty good, but man, what it could have been.

I think I might have to bite the bullet on Pitbull Ft. Chris Brown – International Love.  I thought it had a great shot at a #1 bid, but dropping all the way to #45 this past weekend and being infrequently played during the week on Hits-1 is pretty much a death sentence.  The upside is that we resumed the de-terriblizing of the top 10 this week, with Gym Class Heroes Ft. Adam Levine – Stereo Hearts (clarification: not terrible, just old) and Hot Chelle Rae – I Like It Like That (clarification: terrible) dropping out.  David Guetta Ft. Nicki Minaj – Turn Me On jumped to #2, possibly set to fulfill that #1 potential that I saw in it long ago when it debuted on the countdown.  Gavin DeGraw – Not Over You made a big jump into the Top 5, while almost out of nowhere and after toiling in the 20’s for quite some time, Train – Drive By made its move as well.

Young, Wild & Free has been one of the bottom eight songs on the countdown since January 14^th, so maybe this week signaled a possible return to relevance.  I’m not holding my breath given its infrequent play on the station, but I honestly thought there was little chance it would still be here this week, so I’ll take it.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) M83 – Midnight City

2) Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa Ft. Bruno Mars – Young, Wild & Free

3) Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know

4) Pitbull Ft. Chris Brown – International Love

5) Childish Gambino - Heartbeat

Kelly Clarkson - Week of March 3, 2012

This is not progress.  Before we get on to this week's Fresh 45, here's a list of all the songs we're saying good-bye to this week.

•          LMFAO – Sexy and I Know It (!!!!!!!!!)
•          Matt & Kim Ft. Soulja Boy – I’m a Goner
•          The Fray – Heartbeat

The Countdown (Source: Wikipedia)

1. Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (#5) [New #1]

2. Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris- We Found Love (#2)

3. Adele- Set Fire to the Rain (#1)

4. Gym Class Heroes feat. Adam Levine- Stereo Hearts (#4)

5. Hot Chelle Rae - I Like It Like That (#22)

6. David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj- Turn Me On (#6)

7. Katy Perry- Part of Me (#12)

8. Flo Rida feat. David Guetta and Adele - Good Feeling (#9)

9. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#13)

10. Outasight- Tonight Is the Night (#10)

11. Gavin DeGraw- Not Over You (#8)

12. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#3)

13. Skrillex feat. Sirah- Bangarang (#16)

14. Adele- Someone Like You (#32)

15. Childish Gambino- Heartbeat (#17)

16. Train- Drive By (#24)

17. David Guetta feat. Usher- Without You (#38) 

18. The Black Keys- Lonely Boy (#20)

19. Gym Class Heroes feat. Neon Hitch- Ass Back Home (#31)

20. The All-American Rejects- Beekeeper's Daughter (#18)

21. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#21)

22. Jessie J- Domino (#7)

23. Lucas Prata feat. Lenny B- First Night of My Life (#19)

24. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#37)

25. K'naan feat. Nelly Furtado- Is Anybody Out There? (#42)

26. The Cab- La La (#28)

27. Chiddy Bang- Ray Charles (#27)

28. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#34)

29. Big Time Rush - Music Sounds Better With U (#14)

30. M83- Midnight City (#39)

31. Kelly Clarkson- Mr. Know It All (RE-ENTRY)

32. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#25)

33. Gotye feat. Kimbra- Somebody That I Used to Know (#26)

34. Pitbull feat. Chris Brown- International Love (#11)

35. Selena Gomez & the Scene- Love You Like a Love Song (#30)

36. Coldplay & Rihanna- Princess of China (#29)

37. Bruno Mars- It Will Rain (RE-ENTRY)

38. Mac Miller- Knock Knock (#23)

39. Katy Perry- The One That Got Away (#36)

40. Cobra Starship feat. Sabi- You Make Me Feel... (#35)

41. Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera- Moves Like Jagger (#40)

42. LMFAO- Sorry for Party Rocking (#33)

43. Toby Keith- Red Solo Cup (#43)

44. Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa feat. Bruno Mars- Young, Wild & Free (#44)

45. Foster the People feat. Cee Lo Green - Don't Stop (Color on the Walls) (RE-ENTRY)

Biggest DDDDDRRRRROOOOOPPP!!!!!!.....of the week: Pitbull Ft. Chris Brown – International Love (-23)

Biggest Jump of the Week: David Guetta Ft. Usher – Without You (+21)

#1 song, one year ago this week: Ke$ha – We R Who We R

Alright then, checking out the new entrants……wait….what?  There aren’t any?  Oh right, because the countdown decided to set a record for most resurrections in a week.  So we’ve got no new music.  I guess it was too good to be true last week when Bruno Mars – It Will Rain got knocked off, but I checked the Hits-1 page and it was lurking at #46, so I guess the re-entry is little surprise.  This is not progress.  But hey, the “loss” of Sexy and I Know It basically cancels out this re-entry.  Kelly Clarkson – Mr. Know It All is decisively a mediocrity (or worse) and doesn’t have much business being brought back from the land of DTHNOB.  This is not progress.  And finally, returning for a second farewell tour is Foster the People – Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls), a resurrection I couldn’t possibly have less strong feelings about in either direction.

As predicted 4 weeks prior when it debuted, Kelly Clarkson – Stronger inevitably rose to the #1 spot.  I just had no idea it would happen so fast.  Hitting the #1 spot on a song’s 5^th week on the countdown is possibly unheard of (will have to check that out sometime).  However, what happened with the rest of the top 10?  Katy Perry – Part of Me was both a welcome and inevitable addition, but were the demotions of Jessie J – Domino, Gavin DeGraw – Not Over You, and Pitbull Ft. Chris Brown – International Love really all that necessary?  This is not progress.  The countdown voters have historically had a serious crush on Pitbull, so Chris Brown must be dragging down the popularity….or something?  It’s not like he’s committed any violent crimes or anything…..  In any case, the biggest drop of the week is a little harsh.

In addition, why are Gym Class Heroes Ft. Adam Levine – Stereo Hearts and especially Hot Chelle Rae – I Like It Like That still top-5 songs?  This is not progress.  My feelings on Rihanna Ft. Calvin Harris – We Found Love are well-documented, so you can understand why I’m disappointed, collectively, by the Top 5.  This is not progress.  Here’s hoping for turnover amongst that group next week.

Two more blurbs:

1) Outasight – Tonight is the Night has occupied the #10 spot on the countdown for 5 straight weeks.  Fittingly, it is a pretty good, but not great, song that (relatively) isn’t all that easy to get sick of.  Props to the countdown voters for handling a song correctly for a change.

2) Adele – Rumour Has It is on Hit-Bound.  This is significant because it’s the first song ever to enter Hit-Bound after having a prior stint on the countdown.  Generally, songs can come back onto the countdown after getting DTHNOBbed (as was overly evident this week), but it’s never happened before via the Hit-Bound route. 

This is not progress.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) M83 – Midnight City

2) Snoop Dogg Ft. Wiz Khalifa & Bruno Mars – Young, Wild & Free

3) Gotye – Somebody I Used to Know

4) Pitbull Ft. Chris Brown – International Love

5) Childish Gambino - Heartbeat