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