fun. (5) - Week of December 15, 2012

I’m in major crunch mode for all the upcoming year-end activity for this blog, but I suppose this doesn’t relieve me of my weekly duties.  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.

• PSY - Gangnam Style

The Countdown:

1. fun. - Some Nights (#1) [Fifth Week at #1]

2. Ke$ha - Die Young (#2)

3. Maroon 5 - One More Night (#3)

4. Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were Trouble (#7)

5. Imagine Dragons - It's Time (#5)

6. Flo Rida - I Cry (#6)

7. Lumineers - Ho Hey (#11)

8. Bruno Mars - Locked Out of Heaven (#8)

9. One Direction - Kiss You (#15)

10. Ne-Yo - Let Me Love You (#16)

11. Bridgit Mendler - Ready or Not (#13)

12. Pitbull - Don't Stop The Party (#10)

13. OneRepublic - Feel Again (#9)

14. Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child (#36)

15. Owl City Ft. Carly Rae Jepsen - Good Time (#4)

16. Sam and the Womp - Bom Bom (#12)

17. Olly Murs - Troublemaker (DEBUT)

18. Nicki Minaj - Va Va Voom (#14)

19. Maroon 5 - Daylight (#25)

20. Rihanna - Diamonds (#22)

21. JTX - Seven Day Weekend (#21)

22. Josh Baze - She's Gold (#20)

23. Rolling Stones - Doom and Gloom (#19)

24. Cher Lloyd Ft. Becky G - Oath (#24)

25. Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks (#23)

26. Carly Rae Jepsen - This Kiss (#30)

27. Phil Phillips - Home (#39)

28. Megan & Liz - Bad for Me (#26)

29. The Script Ft. will.i.am - Hall of Fame (#37)

30. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#32)

31. Alex Clare - Too Close (#41)

32. One Direction - Little Things (#28)

33. Emeli Sande - Next to Me (#31)

34. Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa- Payphone (#40)

35. Timomatic - Set It Off (#34)

36. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#33)

37. Pink - Blow Me (One Last Kiss) (#17)

38. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#35)

39. Carly Rae Jepsen- Call Me Maybe (#44)

40. Adele - Skyfall (#43)

41. Rudimental Ft. John Newman - Feel the Love (#38)

42. Ellie Goulding - Anything Could Happen (#29)

43. One Direction - Live While We're Young (#42)

44. Ed Sheeran - The A Team (#45)

45. Enrique Iglesias Ft. Sammy Adams - Finally Found You (#27)

Biggest DDDDDRRRROOOOPPPP!!!!....of the week: Pink – Blow Me (One Last Kiss) (-20)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Swedish House Mafia – Don’t You Worry Child (+22)

Our only new song this week comes courtesy of Olly Murs, who is apparently a bigger deal than I previously thought.  After all, this is his 3^rd countdown song of the year, and he collaborated on it with Flo Rida.  The song, Troublemaker, is nothing to write home about (though its debut rank of #17 indicates that there are people who disagree).  It’s best asset is its catchy pacing, but I can’t get the thought out of my head that it sounds like a lesser Maroon 5 song.  It’s very easy for me to imagine Adam Levine singing this song instead.  Maybe a weird comparison, but I think a sound one.

Stray Blurbservations

- Nice little exit path for PSY – Gangnam Style.  #6 -> #18 -> DTHNOB.

- On the other hand, Taylor Swift – I Knew You Were Trouble has a chance at fastest ever ascent to #1, taking the #33 -> #7 -> #4 path.  When someone finds out what’s worthwhile about that song, could you please let me know what it is?

- SPOILER ALERT – How far has JTX fallen since Love In America?  I was quite excited during my first 10 or so listens of Seven Day Weekend (which came during its long, long Hit-Bound tenure), but let me tell you, friends.  The staying power….it is not there.  It’s telling that I pulled 70 songs from the year for consideration in my year-end rankings and Seven Day Weekend was not among them.

- Lumineers – Ho Hey in the Top 10….I could live with this situation.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) The Script Ft. will.i.am – Hall of Fame

2) Swedish House Mafia – Don’t You Worry Child

3) Maroon 5 – Daylight

4) Ke$ha – Die Young

5) Lumineers – Ho Hey