A Special Hits-1 Post: The Top 45 Songs of 2013

Finally, it's the moment you've all been madly refreshing this page waiting for, here's the Top 45 Songs of 2013.  As you could probably gather from a lot of my comments here lately, 2013 was something of a letdown for pop music compared to 2012, so keep that in mind.  I'll try to have the negativity end there, as this should generally be one of the happier posts that I get to make each year.  Those who have been following my weekly "Editor's Picks" list might not be too shocked by anything that appears here, but as a reminder, those lists are just the 5 songs that I want to hear most at a given time.  Now that all songs up for consideration have been around for long enough, it's a little bit easier to identify the winners with the "shiny new toy" aspect having worn off.

Once again, I'm going to dive into the "rules" of these rankings to make clear what songs are, and are not, eligible for consideration.

• First, I am only considering songs that appeared on the Sirius XM Hits-1 Weekend Countdown.  No songs were considered that never aired on Hits-1.  If a song appeared on HitBound or Hits and Misses with Pete Wentz or various special shows Hits-1 had throughout the year, but not the countdown, it was discarded.
• Second, no songs that appeared on the Top 45 rankings for a previous year were considered for this list.  Here is a list of the songs that were most significant in 2013 that are not eligible for this reason:
• Olly Murs - Dance With Me Tonight
• Lumineers - Ho Hey
• Maroon 5 - Daylight
• Ke$ha - Die Young
• Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks
• Third, songs that first debuted on the countdown very late in the year (mid-December or later, basically) are being deferred for consideration until 2014.  The following songs are not eligible for this list, nor were they considered for my previously-released "Bottom 5 Songs of 2013"
• Justin Timberlake - Drink You Away
• Sara Bareilles - Brave (truly absurd that this one debuted as late as it did)
• Passenger - Let Her Go
• Midnight Red - Hell Yeah
• Bruno Mars - Young Girls
• Katy Perry Ft. Juicy J - Dark Horse
• A Great Big World - Say Something

OK.  I think we're ready now.

45) Britt Nicole - Gold - Just making the cut is Christian pop artist Britt Nicole's first mainstream single about self-worth.  I won't soon forget how she was actually asked to explain the meaning of one of the most transparent songs ever written in an interview.

44) Redfoo - Bring Out the Bottles - This was axed from the countdown in March, but I still have "It's gon, it's gon' be poppin'" stuck in my head.  I pretty much couldn't stand LMFAO, but it seems that uncle Redfoo did himself a service by breaking away from nephew SkyBlu, as Break Out the Bottles turned out shockingly melodious in places (with some help from our good friend Auto-Tune).

43) The Wanted - We Own The Night - A catchy instrumental melody headlines The Wanted's best song yet.

42) DJ Pauly D Ft. Jay Sean - Back to Love - Yeah, that Pauly D.  While some credit here obviously goes to Jay Sean, I was pretty surprised to hear a tune this harmonious from Pauly D, especially after the more-hilarious-than-good Beat Dat Beat.

41) Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster - This song serves as yet another reminder that Rihanna's fantastic voice can sometimes be used to produce music that isn't complete crap.

40) Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber - Pitbull definitely winds up on my naughty list more so than in my good graces, but toss in a harmonica and a solid chorus contributed by Ke$ha and boom, something that doesn't suck.

39) Katy Perry - Roar - The most worthwhile song off of the supremely disappointing Prism.

38) Mariah Carey - #Beautiful - With a solid contribution from Miguel, Mariah Carey's voice shines through in this unique R&B hit.

37) Drop City Yacht Club - Crickets - This solid smooth jam is the first ever single for new artist Drop City Yacht Club, and I hope to hear more from them in the coming years.  More like "Hold On City Yacht Club", amirite?  Oh c'mon......nothing?.....nothing?  What's that I hear chirping?

OK, I'll stop.

36) Daft Punk - Get Lucky - It was something of a competition between this song and Blurred Lines for song of the summer, and even if Get Lucky fell short in that particular popularity contest, at least it can hang its hat on being the superior tune.

35) Demi Lovato - Heart Attack - Demi Lovato is spectacular at hitting the high notes, and perhaps never better than at the beginning of the last chorus of Heart Attack.

34) Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie - This Is What It Feels Like - It's nothing if not consistent.  Also, based on its relative performance on the charts, this is living proof that Canada does exist, and it's voting for Hits-1 music.

33) Avril Lavigne - Here's to Never Growing Up - I feel like there's a pretty narrow quality range for songs that Avril Lavigne puts on the countdown.

32) Avril Lavigne - Rock and Roll - I feel like there's a pretty narrow quality range for songs that Avril Lavigne puts on the countdown.

31) Paper Route - You and I - As of this writing, the music video still doesn't have 125,000 views on YouTube.  Odd that it appeared on a countdown professing to play the biggest songs in North America....maybe there's a segment of North America that doesn't have YouTube?  Nonetheless, this is exactly the type of song that makes the Sirius XM Hits-1 Weekend Countdown more interesting, because you probably don't get songs like this anywhere else and I'm glad I had the opportunity to hear You and I.

30) JTX - Summer Lover - I'd ding JTX more for his lyrics if his songs weren't so much fun.  Summer Lover fits right in with the rest of his energetic music.

29) Paramore - Still Into You - Paramore's re-entry into the countdown universe was a highly upbeat jam.  I thought the tempo was used pretty well throughout the song to support the meaning behind the words.

28) Lorde - Royals - This was a surprisingly mature and sophisticated take on the music industry for a pop artist, let alone a 16-year old pop artist.  That, combined with some catchy pacing makes Royals one of the standout songs of the year

27) Twenty One Pilots - Holding On To You - One of the more unique songs to grace the countdown in 2013, Holding On To You is mostly high-pitched pseudo-rap and seems a little like what Eminem would sound like with some more musical accompaniment.  

26) Captial Cities - Safe and Sound - This song was almost great, but that damn trumpet that doesn't fit with the rest of the song is just overwhelming.  Safe and Sound was released all the way back in 2011, so it took its sweet time hitting the mainstream.

25) Lady Gaga Ft. R Kelly - Do What U Want - Some of Lady Gaga's earlier work, such as Lovegame and Paparazzi, had absurdly catchy pacing and Do What U Want brought the focus back to that aspect of her music, even if it wasn't successful to the same level.

24) Jesse McCartney - Back Together - Jack-of-all-trades McCartney decided to focus on music again and released this single this year.   He is also apparently going to tour with The Backstreet Boys (makes sense) and DJ Pauly D (....what?).

23) Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night - Hayley Williams doesn't have one of the stronger female voices in pop music but she's certainly talented and Zedd does a great job with her in a song that was apparently written the day before it was recorded.

22) Pink Ft. Nate Reuss - Just Give Me A Reason - I looked back on this song a lot more fondly than I did when it was getting regular airplay.  It's fun to contrast this song's lyrics with those of True Love....Reuss clearly helped out a lot here.  It's a nice duet.

21) Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc - Wake Me Up - One of the more popular songs of the year utilized an effective mix of electronic dance and a folksy acoustic guitar melody.  So I guess that's possible after all.

20) OneRepublic - Counting Stars - I'm probably repeating myself for those who have read other recent entries, but I'm shocked that I have a song by OneRepublic on my Top 45.  Counting Stars was surprisingly energetic, and it's nice to see something interesting from a band that's sounded pretty damn lifeless for years.

19) fun. - Carry On - Of the three songs that fun. has put onto the countdown, Carry On probably has the most lasting value.  It's close between it and Some Nights, but the latter was beaten to death so ruthlessly that I might not even be able to judge that impartially.

18) Jason Derulo - The Other Side - Probably the best I've heard from Jason Derulo...he took things a step further with that hook, whereas in prior songs he may have fallen flat.

17) Krewella - Alive - So...many....high notes.  I'm not head-over-heels in love with the intense electronic portion that succeeds each chorus, but the vocal (albeit modified) performance is great.

16) MKTO - Classic - I was really disappointed when I saw MKTO perform this song live (well, on television).  The vocals were pretty far off of the album-quality version that airs on Hits-1.  Still, I'm ranking that album-quality version, and there's few songs I've heard this year with better chemistry between the singing and accompanying music.

15) Ellie Goulding - Burn - I was relieved that this song made it onto the countdown just in the nick of time to qualify for these rankings.  You'll notice that there's not much here from the latter portion of the year, and Burn was certainly one of the songs working towards slowing the complete landslide of pop music in late 2013.

14) Karmin - Acapella - "We hit that Olive Garden....my Little Italayyy."  One of the weirdest songs you'll ever hear, Acapella stood out for its infectious beat.  Just ignore the part where Amy Heidemann does it "in falsetto".

13) Kelly Clarkson - Catch My Breath - This is Kelly Clarkson's finest work in a fine career.  Catch My Breath is a fantastic, uplifting song.  I love the melody of the verses and she does a great job of hitting all the right notes on the chorus.

12) Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Thrift Shop - This song, pretty much without question, had the hook of the year.

11) Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child - Let's just say this makes up for the unfathomably boring Save The World from a couple years back.

10) Bonnie McKee - American Girl - This is truly my #1 guilty pleasure of 2013.  I'm not proud of it, but there was a stretch of time during the year where this is the song I most wanted Hits-1 to spin.

9) Zedd Ft. Foxes - Clarity - Probably the decision for which I'm most likely to catch flak.  First off, I'll state that although it took a long time, I finally started to hear the "obnoxious" in this song late in the year that many around me believed was always there, but that was probably after I'd heard the thing (without exaggeration) about 150 times.  I may have soured on it a little bit after all that overplay, but I can't ignore that Clarity is (or was) great.  Foxes didn't even have a Wikipedia page when Clarity debuted on the countdown.  You've come a long way, baby.

8) Ke$ha - C'mon - This represents some of Ke$ha's best work and trumps the predecessor Die Young.  The chorus trumps pretty much everything she's done since Tik Tok.

7) Muse - Madness - This isn't Muse's greatest song, but they're so much more talented than the vast majority of other artists that appear on the countdown that even a second-rate effort from them is going to rank pretty highly.  Fun fact: it was the theme song for the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

6) Imagine Dragons - Demons - I might have guessed that Coldplay was behind Demons if I just heard it once with no prior information.  The catchy melody belies lyrics that are surprisingly deep for Top 40 music, and Dan Reynolds's performance is outstanding.

5) Hunter Hayes - I Want Crazy - The country singing Hayes scored big with this remarkably lively song.  It's certainly errs more towards the side of pop than traditional country, but aside from any perceived notion that Hayes sold out, there's really nothing not to like about this song -- the tempo, instrumentals, vocal performance, everything is done exceptionally well.

4) The Script Ft. will.i.am - Hall Of Fame - No, that isn't a typo, I meant to type will.i.am there.  Somehow, the universe found a song and role in which he actually could deliver a solid performance.  The use of the piano is excellent in this upbeat, superb song.  Prior to this song, The Script had already been on a tear, churning out quality tune after quality tune.  Pardon the terrible writing, but this song cements The Script in the Hall of Fame of countdown artists.

3) Train Ft. Ashley Monroe - Bruises - Preliminarily tabbed as the #1 of the year, Bruises was dinged a bit for mediocre (not bad) lyrics.  Despite that, Bruises packs sentimentality and one of the top melodies of the year into the near-best 4 minutes you could spend this year listening to a pop station.  It's hard to put into words just how excellent country singer Ashley Monroe is in this song.  I don't know what led to Train teaming up with her, but the chemistry between her and Pat Monahan is near perfect.

2) The 1975 - Chocolate - 2013 breakout band The 1975 put their first ever song onto the countdown in the form of Chocolate, which has the most addicting instrumental melody since M83 - Midnight City.  I've heard the songwriting described as everything from awful to brilliant.  I lean closer to the latter camp, but certainly not all the way.  Chocolate is about the difference between how we perceive our own actions and how others perceive them.  The song specifically references police evasion and drug use, but it's kind of interesting to extrapolate that.  There's a lot of stuff we all do that might seem a little messed up, but to our own weird selves, these might just "smell like chocolate".

1) Passion Pit - Take A Walk - First, a little housekeeping...I'm aware this song came out in 2012, but I was unable to rank it last year because it didn't debut on the countdown until 2013.  The superlatively great Take A Walk was, without question, the best-written song of the year to grace the Sirius XM Hits-1 Weekend Countdown with its presence.  The song employs an upbeat melody, but really it's all about immigration to the United States and dealing with the associated hardships with being a newcomer to a capitalist society.  Take A Walk was not the most addicting song to hit the countdown this year (to wit, it never ranked #1 on my Editor's Picks list), but it certainly was the best.

A Special Hits-1 Post - 2013: A Year In Review

First, a shameless plug.  At some point today, I expect to cross the 200,000 pageview threshold.  Thank you all.  You are truly wonderful.  Or bored.

This is my second annual installment of a (not-so) quick recap of all the activity we've seen during this past year on the Sirius XM Hits-1 Weekend Countdown.  In a short while, I'll be back with another post with the Top 45 Songs of 2013.  I've had a full staff working 12 hour days with no bathroom breaks analyzing all of the candidates to death so you can be assured that when the rankings are published, they're as accurate as they can possibly be.

Once again, the current year marked a notable contrast in quality from its predecessor.  I'm more than a little relieved that 2013 is coming to a close because quite frankly, I can't figure out whether it or 2011 was the worst year to endure since I became a Hits-1 listener in 2009.  A few of 2011's great songs (there since hasn't been any countdown songs as good as the Top 3 from that year) might give it the slight edge, but then again, 2011 had some true disasters that dominated the top of the countdown and were spun to death by Hits-1.  The quality of the #1's in 2013 was certainly a notch higher.

Speaking of those #1 songs, this is the time to honor those songs that, for better or for worse, spent at least 1 week at the top of the Sirius XM Hits-1 Weekend Countdown.  Here is 2013's #1 Parade:

• Imagine Dragons - Radioactive (x8)
• Katy Perry - Roar (x7)
• Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up) (x6)
• Ke$ha - Die Young (x4)
• Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were Trouble (x4)
• Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Thrift Shop (x4)
• Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc - Wake Me Up (x4)
• Pink Ft. Nate Reuss - Just Give Me A Reason (x3)
• Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us (x3)
• Maroon 5 - Daylight
• Maroon 5 - Love Somebody
• Olly Murs - Troublemaker
• Lorde - Royals
• Fall Out Boy - Alone Together
• Olly Murs - Dance With Me Tonight
• Imagine Dragons - Demons
• OneRepublic - Counting Stars
• Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber

I'd like to keep as much negativity as possible out of my Top 45 Songs of 2013 post, but at the same time, what year would be complete without recognizing the worst of the worst?  Pop music pumps out plenty of duds almost by default, and 2013 was certainly no exception.  I started a tradition last year to rank the Bottom 5 songs of the year and despite my current desire to expand that to 10, I'm a sucker for consistency.  Due to the absurd amount of garbage music in 2013, disasters such as will.i.am Ft. Britney Spears - Scream and Shout, Pitbull Ft. Christina Aguilera - Feel This Moment, Milan and Phoenix - Istanbul (Not Constantinople), and Ariana Grande - The Way are getting something of a free pass.  Any one of those songs would have been the 3rd worst of 2012 had it been released a year earlier.  But enough about that, onward with the pit of despair, with #1 being the worst.  I don't accompany these rankings with comments because it should be pretty obvious why they're here.

Bottom 5 Songs of 2013
5) Enrique Iglesias - Turn the Night Up
4) PSY - Gentleman
3) will.i.am Ft. Justin Bieber - #thatPOWER
2) Serebro - Mi Mi Mi
1) Kelsi Luck - That's What I Like

Unlike in 2012, there were actually some quality songs that spent awhile on Hit-Bound, but never made the jump to the countdown.  For the unfamiliar, Hit-Bound is Sirius XM Hits-1's new music show during which they air songs that have (usually!) not made their weekly Top 45 rankings yet, but are up for consideration to join the countdown in the near future.  The majority of songs that appear on the countdown (at a given time) were once on Hit-Bound.  In this space I like to honor the best song that aired on Hit-Bound during the year with the Lights Over Paris Hit-Bound Hero Award, given to the best song to air on Hit-Bound that for one reason or another never received the distinct honor of being announced by Spyder Harrison on the weekend.

2013 Lights Over Paris Hit-Bound Hero Award Winner: Youngblood Hawke - We Come Running

SiriusXM Hits-1 has something of a reputation for omission of certain songs from their countdown that "make it big" and are otherwise widely accepted as being among the most popular in (at the very least) the United States at a given time.  Justin Timberlake and Drake are probably the artists that get pointed to the most (even though the former does get some Hits-1 airplay) in this argument, but there are others as well.  Likewise, Hits-1 does give exposure to some songs and artists that aren't heard all that often elsewhere, and even if this does sort of cloud the concept that this truly is a list of the 45 biggest songs on the continent, it does make me appreciate the station a lot more for introducing me to music I might not hear elsewhere.  Anyhoo, before I jam any more arguably misplaced parentheticals into my writing, I'll go ahead and introduce a new award that I'll hand out annually to the "biggest" song that Hits-1 failed to put on the countdown, the Biggest Whiff of the Year.  There were plenty of good candidates for this (Rihanna - Stay and Justin Timberlake - Mirrors come to mind), but the following song took the cake for having a somewhat notorious music video and topping the American Top 40 chart for three straight weeks.

Biggest Whiff of 2013 - Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball

Finally, we come to our tenure trophies, handed out to the songs with longest and shortest stints on the countdown during 2013.  There were a number of songs that lasted three weeks this year, but only one that lasted just two....

Shortest Tenured Song of 2013: Rihanna Ft. David Guetta - Right Now

The longest tenured song of 2013 is still hanging around, but made its countdown debut all the way back on February 9th.

Longest Tenured Song of 2013: Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up) 

I sincerely hope that things get better in 2014....it's a lot more fun to do something like this when you can muster some semblance of enthusiasm for the music itself.  Those moments were unfortunately few and far between in 2013.  Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the Top 45 songs of the year.

Pitbull - Week of December 28, 2013

I’m not exactly shocked that there was no turnover during a holiday week during which Hits-1 mainly aired pre-recorded shows.  No songs leavin’ the countdown this week.

The Countdown:

1. Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber (#2) [First Week at #1]

2. OneRepublic - Counting Stars (#1)

3. Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster (#4)

4. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#3)

5. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#6)

6. Lorde – Royals (#7)

7. Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night (#8)

8. Passenger - Let Her Go (#14)

9. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#11)

10. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#5)

11. One Direction - Story Of My Life (#24)

12. Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie - This Is What It Feels Like (#13)

13. MKTO – Classic (#9)

14. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#10)

15. Katy Perry Ft. Juicy J - Dark Horse (#38)

16. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#12)

17. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#15)

18. Paramore – Still Into You (#19)

19. Lady Gaga Ft. R. Kelly - Do What U Want (#21)

20. Justin Timberlake - Drink You Away (#20)

21. Flo Rida - How I Feel (#23)

22. Sara Bareilles - Brave (#22)

23. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – White Walls (#16)

24. The Wanted - We Own The Night (#42)

25. Ellie Goulding - Burn (#18)

26. Midnight Red - Hell Yeah (#27)

27. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#29)

28. Panic! At The Disco - Miss Jackson (#25)

29. Serebro - Mi Mi MI (#41)

30. Capital Cities - Safe and Sound (#44)

31. Wax – Rosana (#26)

32. Katy Perry – Roar (#17)

33. Rihanna - What Now (#37)

34. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#28)

35. Lady Gaga – Applause (#33)

36. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#34)

37. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#35)

38. Bruno Mars - Young Girls (#36)

39. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (#45)

40. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#32)

41. John Newman – Love Me Again (#31)

42. A Great Big World - Say Something (#40)

43. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#43)

44. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#30)

45. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#39)

Biggest DDDDRRRRRROOOOPPPP!!!...of the week: Katy Perry – Roar (-15)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Katy Perry Ft. Juicy J – Dark Horse (+23)

I have enough countdown-related things to do in the next day or so, so we’re gonna have to live without the blurbs this week.  Sorry.

The Top 45 Songs of 2013 According to Hits-1

Here is Hits-1’s Top 45 songs of 2013.  As a reminder, this isn’t particularly interesting because it’s just a ranking of how many times they played a given song during the calendar year.  

I’m very puzzled about how they determined which songs that debuted in 2012 were eligible for this list.  For example, Ke$ha – Die Young came out somewhere in the fall of 2012, but appears at #10 due to play count / hitting #1 a few times in 2013.  OK, makes sense.  And The Script Ft. will.i.am – Hall of Fame [#21] came out last year in December.  OK, makes sense, it was pretty significant in the early months of 2013.  But then you have Swedish House Mafia – Don’t You Worry Child, which debuted the same week as Hall of Fame last year and is nowhere to be seen, despite the fact that it almost certainly was played more often in 2013 than the aforementioned Hall of Fame (it hung around the countdown for about 4 more months).

The other problem is that songs that debuted later in the calendar year (e.g. Lorde – Royals [#35], OneRepublic – Counting Stars [not even ranked], Imagine Dragons – Demons [ditto]) are at a serious disadvantage because they haven’t run their course yet and might catch up in 2014 (playcount-wise) to songs on this list that have been gone for awhile.  I don’t know if there’s a great way to get around that issue without converting to a more subjective ranking system.

So I guess here’s the list, if you’re curious.

1. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up)

2. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive

3. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Thrift Shop

4. Olly Murs - Troublemaker

5. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us

6. Zedd Ft. Foxes - Clarity

7. Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell and T.I. - Blurred Lines

8. Capital Cities - Safe and Sound

9. Pink Ft. Nate Reuss - Just Give Me A Reason

10. Ke$ha - Die Young

11. Maroon 5 - Love Somebody

12. Florida Georgia Line - Cruise

13. Katy Perry - Roar

14. Hot Chelle Rae - Hung Up

15. Icona Pop - I Love It

16. Maroon 5 - Daylight

17. Paramore - Still Into You

18. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc - Wake Me Up

19. Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were Trouble

20. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding - I Need Your Love

21. The Script Ft. will.i.am - Hall of Fame

22. Demi Lovato - Heart Attack

23. Ke$ha - C'mon

24. The 1975 - Chocolate

25. fun. - Carry On

26. Lady Gaga - Applause

27. Selena Gomez - Come & Get it

28. MKTO - Classic

29. Pink - Try

30. Anna Kendrick - Cups

31. Daft Punk - Get Lucky

32. Bruno Mars - Treasure

33. Little Mix - Wings

34. Taylor Swift - 22

35. Lorde - Royals

36. Bruno Mars - When I Was Your Man

37. Pitbull Ft. Christina Aguilera - Feel This Moment

38. Avril Lavinge - Here's To Never Growing Up

39. Labrinth Ft. Emeli Sande - Beneath Your Beautiful

40. Tegan and Sara - Closer

41. Fall Out Boy - Alone Together

42. Jason Derulo - The Other Side

43. Olly Murs - Dance With Me Tonight

44. Awolnation - Sail

45. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Ft. Mary Lambert - Same Love

OneRepublic - Week of December 21, 2013

T’was the night before Christmas for this weekly music critique

And the #1 song changed for the 8^th straight week

Before we get on to this week’s Fresh 45,

Here’s a list of all the songs that are no longer alive.

• Katy Perry - Unconditionally
• Icona Pop - All Night
• New Politics - Harlem
• Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais - Summertime Sadness

The Countdown:

1. OneRepublic - Counting Stars (#3) [First Week at #1]

2. Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber (#2)

3. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#1)

4. Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster (#7)

5. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#8)

6. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#5)

7. Lorde – Royals (#6)

8. Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night (#12)

9. MKTO – Classic (#13)

10. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#15)

11. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#9)

12. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#11)

13. Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie - This Is What It Feels Like (#10)

14. Passenger - Let Her Go (#30)

15. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#19)

16. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – White Walls (#14)

17. Katy Perry – Roar (#4)

18. Ellie Goulding - Burn (#35)

19. Paramore – Still Into You (#17)

20. Justin Timberlake - Drink You Away (#40)

21. Lady Gaga Ft. R. Kelly - Do What U Want (#27)

22. Sara Bareilles - Brave (#38)

23. Flo Rida - How I Feel (#29)

24. One Direction - Story Of My Life (#28)

25. Panic! At The Disco - Miss Jackson (#26)

26. Wax – Rosana (#41)

27. Midnight Red - Hell Yeah (#36)

28. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#42)

29. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#23)

30. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#24)

31. John Newman – Love Me Again (#25)

32. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#20)

33. Lady Gaga – Applause (#16)

34. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#33)

35. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#31)

36. Bruno Mars - Young Girls (DEBUT)

37. Rihanna - What Now (#37)

38. Katy Perry Ft. Juicy J - Dark Horse (DEBUT)

39. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#18)

40. A Great Big World - Say Something (DEBUT)

41. Serebro - Mi Mi MI (#21)

42. The Wanted - We Own The Night (#34)

43. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#32)

44. Capital Cities - Safe and Sound (RE-ENTRY)

45. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (#43)

Biggest DDDDDRRRRROOOPPPP!!!!...of the week: Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (yes, again) (-21)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Justin Timberlake – Drink You Away (+20)

We got a quick resurrection of Capital Cities – Safe and Sound

So there’s only three fresh new songs hanging around.

We’ve got Dark Horse from Katy Perry Ft. Juicy J

It’s no wonder Unconditionally so soon went away.
The chorus is solid, the background music is catchy

But the quality of the verses is unfortunately rather sketchy

Bruno Mars was surprisingly on some kind of tear

It actually stopped bothering me that he breathes the air

But Young Girls reminded me of the feelings I had before

As Bruno created a song that I completely abhor

Young Girls is rather dull, and renders me somewhat sleepy

Plus, the dude’s already 28, at what point is this song creepy?

After that grossness, it’s time song #3 was unfurled,

It’s Say Something by A Great Big World

A song with solid work on the piano, and a great deal of emotion

Is sadly too slow and repetitive for me to give any sort of promotion

Pop artists, you should know that if you wish to keep your career soaring

The worst thing you can do is produce a song that is boring

The Twelve Blurbs of Christmas

- The #1 songs lately can’t quite seem to circle the wagons

- The latest victim was, unfortunately, Imagine Dragons

- Eminem and Rihanna’s The Monster is new to the Top 5

- While The Wanted – We Own The Night was just lucky to survive

- So One Republic – Counting Stars completed its coup

- While a fondness for that song within me grew

- It’s surprising, because that band usually has me beating my skull

- This is the first thing they’ve produced that wasn’t utterly dull

- Pitbull and Ke$ha’s Timber holds at #2, and is eyeing the crown

- While for Dance With Me Tonight things are looking quite down

- I hope your holidays are full of the greatest delight

- Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy

2) OneRepublic – Counting Stars

3) Ellie Goulding – Burn

4) Lady Gaga Ft. R Kelly – Do What U Want

5) Justin Timberlake – Drink You Away

Imagine Dragons - Week of December 14, 2013

Biggest shake-up at the top we’ve seen in a good while here on the Sirius XM Hits-1 Weekend Countdown.  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.

• Capital Cities - Safe and Sound
• Zedd Ft. Foxes - Clarity
• Maroon 5 - Love Somebody
• Pink - True Love

The Countdown:

1. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#2) [First Week at #1]

2. Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber (#11)

3. OneRepublic - Counting Stars (#24)

4. Katy Perry – Roar (#3)

5. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#4)

6. Lorde – Royals (#7)

7. Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster (#13)

8. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#22)

9. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#1)

10. Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie - This Is What It Feels Like (#9)

11. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#14)

12. Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night (#15)

13. MKTO – Classic (#20)

14. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – White Walls (#21)

15. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#12)

16. Lady Gaga – Applause (#6)

17. Paramore – Still Into You (#5)

18. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#45)

19. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#8)

20. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#10)

21. Serebro - Mi Mi MI (#25)

22. Katy Perry – Unconditionally (#18)

23. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#36)

24. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#28)

25. John Newman – Love Me Again (#23)

26. Panic! At The Disco - Miss Jackson (#16)

27. Lady Gaga Ft. R. Kelly - Do What U Want (#17)

28. One Direction - Story Of My Life (#34)

29. Flo Rida - How I Feel (#19)

30. Passenger - Let Her Go (DEBUT)

31. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#40)

32. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#27)

33. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#32)

34. The Wanted - We Own The Night (#37)

35. Ellie Goulding - Burn (#35)

36. Midnight Red - Hell Yeah (DEBUT)

37. Rihanna - What Now (#41)

38. Sara Bareilles - Brave (DEBUT)

39. Icona Pop – All Night (#39)

40. Justin Timberlake - Drink You Away (DEBUT)

41. Wax – Rosana (#29)

42. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#26)

43. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (#33)

44. New Politics – Harlem (#44)

45. Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness (#43)

Biggest DDDDRRRROOOOPPPP!!!!.....of the week: Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (-16)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (+27)

So I guess here’s one for all the people on the Hits-1 Facebook page that complain about the lack of Justin Timberlake on Hits-1, as Drink You Away busted its way onto the countdown this week.  The multi-talented Timberlake sort of scores here…(I’m probably in the minority that thinks his acting is better than his music), as Drink You Away makes use of actual musical instruments (!!!) in lieu of his typical synth’d stuff.  It caught me a bit off guard, and in a good way.  The music video for Passenger – Let Her Go was published on July 25, 2012 and has been played pretty regularly on other Hits-1 stations (The Pulse comes to mind) for awhile now, so this one isn’t exactly new.  Let Her Go is a nice little song with pretty solid lyrics about our tendency to only really appreciate things when we don’t have them.  It’s not the type that’s dependent on sucking you in with a catchy hook or something, so it’ll take more time for me to have a fully formed opinion on this.  For what it’s worth, I’m optimistic.

Katy Perry – Roar Sara Bareilles – Brave is an uplifting song that pre-dates its sound-alike that has been #1 on this countdown 7 times already.  This one came out first, so if there is a copycat, we know who it is.  Brave was released in May or thereabouts, so it’s odd to see it debut this late in the year, but here we are.  I suppose I don’t need to tell you which one is lyrically ahead of the other.  Midnight Red – Hell Yeah has various catchy components….the beat during the verses is a serious plus, but the chorus unfortunately gets away from that, presumably to give more focus to the singing.  It’s a boy band, so I guess that’s to be expected.  I sort of get the feeling that the whole is less than the sum of its parts here, but reasonable minds can disagree.  Also: the lyrics are downright Hot Chelle Raeian.  It’s a boy band, so….oh right, right…mustn’t repeat myself.

Blurbaholics

- Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha – Timber and One Republic – Counting Stars have both jumped into the Top 3, which was especially surprising for Counting Stars.  Most One Republic songs tend to do this well at some point, and I’m nowhere near as upset about Counting Stars reaching this height as I have about its predecessors.  Counting Stars is downright interesting, which has made me pinch myself as a reality check on more than one occasion given who produced it.

- I will not be considering any of the songs that debuted this week for the year-end rankings.  This is the cutoff point.

- If we could stop bouncing Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love all over the place from week to week (except, of course, OFF the countdown), that would be just swell.

- Kind of odd that Imagine Dragons’sseszes breakout song (and best song) is the only one of the three to never top the Sirius XM Hits-1 Weekend Countdown.  Not that I’m complaining, Demons is plenty worthy of the crown.

- I’ve been listening to 2013’s music pretty relentlessly over the past month or so (I know, yuck), gearing up for the flurry of year-end activity that we’re going to see around these parts in the next 2 weeks.  Stay tuned!

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy

2) Ellie Goulding – Burn

3) Lady Gaga Ft. R Kelly – Do What U Want

4) Passenger – Let Her Go

5) Imagine Dragons - Demons

Olly Murs - Week of December 7, 2013

This countdown never ceases to surprise me.  That’s a key difference between this and, say, the American Top 40 – sometimes you never really do know what you’re going to get, and sometimes a song that got bounced a year and a half ago hits #1.  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.

• The 1975 - Chocolate
• Bruno Mars - Gorilla
• Cher Lloyd - I Wish

The Countdown:

1. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#3) [First Week at #1]

2. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#4)

3. Katy Perry – Roar (#1)

4. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#2)

5. Paramore – Still Into You (#8)

6. Lady Gaga – Applause (#5)

7. Lorde – Royals (#6)

8. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#7)

9. Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie - This Is What It Feels Like (#11)

10. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#10)

11. Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber (#9)

12. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#12)

13. Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster (#13)

14. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#14)

15. Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night (#18)

16. Panic! At The Disco - Miss Jackson (#17)

17. Lady Gaga Ft. R. Kelly - Do What U Want (#28)

18. Katy Perry – Unconditionally (#16)

19. Flo Rida - How I Feel (#20)

20. MKTO – Classic (#19)

21. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – White Walls (#22)

22. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#23)

23. John Newman – Love Me Again (#36)

24. OneRepublic - Counting Stars (#27)

25. Serebro - Mi Mi MI (#30)

26. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#25)

27. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#15)

28. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#29)

29. Wax – Rosana (#24)

30. Capital Cities – Safe and Sound (#33)

31. Zedd Ft. Foxes – Clarity (#38)

32. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#31)

33. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (#26)

34. One Direction - Story Of My Life (#21)

35. Ellie Goulding - Burn (DEBUT)

36. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#32)

37. The Wanted - We Own The Night (DEBUT)

38. Maroon 5 – Love Somebody (#39)

39. Icona Pop – All Night (#40)

40. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#44)

41. Rihanna - What Now (DEBUT)

42. Pink – True Love (#37)

43. Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness (#42)

44. New Politics – Harlem (#35)

45. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#34)

Biggest DDDDDRRRRROOOOPPPPP!!!!....of the week: One Direction – Story of My Life (-13)

Biggest Jump of the Week: John Newman – Love Me Again (+13)

Long-time Hit-Bound veteran Ellie Goulding – Burn is one of the more interesting songs of the recent past.  Ellie Goulding contrasts well-sung, rhythmically-smooth verses with a more intense chorus with a pretty good accompanying beat.  The silent pause just before the last chorus is a nice touch as well.  Consistently frustrating-but-talented Rihanna is back with another frustrating song, What Now, that might otherwise earn high marks if it wasn’t for a completely disastrous chorus that ranks among the worst of the year.  Rihanna tries to make the chorus “epic”, but fails miserably, and it’s fun to contrast this song with Burn, which accomplishes that feat with much less (perceived) effort.  The Wanted has put 3 songs onto the countdown, and they’ve steadily improved with each passing effort.  Their best is the newly debuted We Own the Night.  It boggles my mind that the lifeless Glad You Came was their breakout hit, but I guess the payoff was worth it.  We Own the Night has been on HitBound for about 372 weeks (I’ll have to check that figure, but it’s something like that), so it’s far from a “new” song.

And We Gonna Let It Blurb Blurb Blurb Blurb

- Imagine Dragons – Demons has hit their to-date peak, and I really wouldn’t mind seeing that get itself at least one #1 bid, especially since the inferior Radioactive got eight.

- I’m pretty relieved that Burn and We Own The Night are here, not only because they’re good, but because I’m familiar with them and feel comfortable ranking them in 2013.  This is pretty big, because I was looking at the crop of songs I have to rank, and it’s a struggle to come up with 45 I actually like.  Shades of 2011, only without the big winners.

- So I recently found out that the lead singer of Neighbourhood is male.  This was quite the revelation.  You’ll have to pardon me for not paying more attention when they first showed up on the countdown.  Their song wasn’t worth the time.

- It seems that the Wutchuwant Crew and I had pretty similar appreciation patterns for New Politics – Harlem.  Seems like they’re done with it after some mild interest, and I am too.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy

2) Ellie Goulding – Burn

3) Lady Gaga Ft. R Kelly – Do What U Want

4) Imagine Dragons – Demons

5) Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber

Katy Perry (7) - Week of November 30, 2013

In a move designed to make the show as unentertaining as possible, Britney Spears guest-hosted the Thanksgiving Weekend Countdown, and I bet it will be a total shock to you all to learn that she was monotone, robotic, and generally completely and totally awful at it.  As one might expect from a short week (the countdown began airing Thursday) and a guest host, no songs leavin’ the countdown this week.

The Countdown:

1. Katy Perry – Roar (#4) [Seventh Week at #1]

2. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#2)

3. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#6)

4. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#3)

5. Lady Gaga – Applause (#7)

6. Lorde – Royals (#5)

7. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#10)

8. Paramore – Still Into You (#34)

9. Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber (#16)

10. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#11)

11. Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie - This Is What It Feels Like (#14)

12. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#15)

13. Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster (#12)

14. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#13)

15. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#18)

16. Katy Perry – Unconditionally (#17)

17. Panic! At The Disco - Miss Jackson (#28)

18. Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night (#9)

19. MKTO – Classic (#8)

20. Flo Rida - How I Feel (#39)

21. One Direction - Story Of My Life (#20)

22. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – White Walls (#43)

23. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#1)

24. Wax – Rosana (#41)

25. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#22)

26. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (#29)

27. OneRepublic - Counting Stars (#24)

28. Lady Gaga Ft. R. Kelly - Do What U Want (#21)

29. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#19)

30. Serebro - Mi Mi MI (#34)

31. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#36)

32. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#33)

33. Capital Cities – Safe and Sound (#30)

34. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#37)

35. New Politics – Harlem (#26)

36. John Newman – Love Me Again (#27)

37. Pink – True Love (#42)

38. Zedd Ft. Foxes – Clarity (#45)

39. Maroon 5 – Love Somebody (#32)

40. Icona Pop – All Night (#23)

41. The 1975 – Chocolate (#38)

42. Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness (#25)

43. Bruno Mars – Gorilla (#44)

44. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#31)

45. Cher Lloyd – I Wish (#40)

Biggest DDDDRRRROOOPPPP!!!!....of the week: Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (-22)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Paramore – Still Into You (+26)

A Blurb in the Hand Is Worth Two in the Bush

- Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha – Timber snuck into the Top 10 in just its third week on the countdown

- I never in a million years would have expected Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight, the song that randomly had a 1-week stint on the countdown back in April, 2012, would be #3 on the countdown in December, 2013.  Just curious, has anyone actually heard this song in a forum other than Hits-1?  How this is ranked 3^rd and like, Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball is nowhere to be seen makes me wonder who really pulls the chains in determining which songs get to break into the Hits-1 rotation.  Because it’s pretty clear that it’s not rooted completely in “which songs are currently biggest in North America.”

- I expect a good amount of new entrants next week, though for purposes of year-end rankings, they might need to be deferred until 2014, depending on how long they’ve been around.

- I’d like to see Daughtry – Waiting for Superman to hit the countdown….that guy can flat out sing.

- Hits-1 is conducting a variety of “Best of” polls on their website for the year….if you feel so compelled, I’d hop on over to their website (http://www.siriusxm.com/hits1) and participate

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy

2) Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha – Timber

3) Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams – Stay the Night

4) Lady Gaga Ft. R Kelly – Do What U Want

5) Imagine Dragons - Demons

Fall Out Boy - Week of November 23, 2013

Bit of a sudden rise to the top, as Fall Out Boy - Alone Together took just 2 weeks to ascend from #18 to #1.  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.

• Krewella - Live For The Night (DTHx2)
• Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Same Love (DTHx2)

The Countdown:

1. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#4) [First Week at #1]

2. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#1)

3. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#6)

4. Katy Perry – Roar (#3)

5. Lorde – Royals (#2)

6. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#5)

7. Lady Gaga – Applause (#8)

8. MKTO – Classic (#7)

9. Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night (#15)

10. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#9)

11. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#16)

12. Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster (#19)

13. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#12)

14. Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie - This Is What It Feels Like (#27)

15. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#14)

16. Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber (#41)

17. Katy Perry – Unconditionally (#18)

18. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#17)

19. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#20)

20. One Direction - Story Of My Life (#28)

21. Lady Gaga Ft. R. Kelly - Do What U Want (#23)

22. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#10)

23. Icona Pop – All Night (#13)

24. OneRepublic - Counting Stars (#34)

25. Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness (#11)

26. New Politics – Harlem (#22)

27. John Newman – Love Me Again (#31)

28. Panic! At The Disco - Miss Jackson (#36)

29. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (#25)

30. Capital Cities – Safe and Sound (#30)

31. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#33)

32. Maroon 5 – Love Somebody (#38)

33. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#29)

34. Paramore – Still Into You (#32)

35. Serebro - Mi Mi MI (#35)

36. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#26)

37. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#37)

38. The 1975 – Chocolate (#40)

39. Flo Rida - How I Feel (DEBUT)

40. Cher Lloyd – I Wish (#24)

41. Wax – Rosana (#21)

42. Pink – True Love (#42)

43. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – White Walls (DEBUT)

44. Bruno Mars – Gorilla (#44)

45. Zedd Ft. Foxes – Clarity (#39)

Biggest DDDDDRRRRROOOOOPPPP!!!!...of the week: Wax - Rosana (-20)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber (+25)

Parts of Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - White Walls (including the chorus) have a beat with very similar pacing to that of Phil Collins - Home.  Those are the parts of the song that work best, but the remainder is something of a letdown.  My first impression of Flo Rida - How I Feel is a positive one, though Flo Rida's recent past renders any optimism fairly cautious.  Therefore, I'm not going to put a snap judgement on this one.  Flo Rida is somewhat guilty of making the verses sound pretty similar across his songs, but his trademark quick flow ("flo?") is slowed down a little bit for How I Feel, and that, coupled with the more-interesting-than-usual background music, gives me at least some hope that the relative uniqueness here will make it a winner long-term.

Third Degree Blurbs

- Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Same Love and Krewella - Live For the Night were apparently resurrected for a one-week-only farewell tour.

- Spyder Harrison abandoned his "songs we're saying good-bye to" in favor of "songs leaving" this week.  I'm not sure I've heard him do that before.  This is the sort of hard-hitting, need-to-know news that you come here every week to read.

- Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay The Night is our lone new Top-10 song this week...it's growing on me a bit and seems to be doing so as well with the Wutchuwant crew.

- Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster seems poised to begin an extended stay in the Top 10.

- From all 1 of us here at the Sirius XM Hits 1 Weekend Countdown Review, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Editor's Picks - Top 5 Songs

1) Hunter Hayes - I Want Crazy

2) Imagine Dragons - Demons

3) Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber

4) Lady Gaga Ft. R Kelly - Do What U Want

5) Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay The Night

Avicii (4) - Week of November 16, 2013

One still gets the feeling that things are about to turn around, but for the time being, we’re still waiting.  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.

• Labrinth Ft. Emeli Sande - Beneath Your Beautiful
• Taylor Swift Ft. Ed Sheeran - Everything Has Changed
• Jesse McCartney - Back Together
• Avril Lavigne - Rock and Roll
• Tegan and Sara - Closer (DTHx2)

The Countdown:

1. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#2) [Fourth Week at #1]

2. Lorde – Royals (#1)

3. Katy Perry – Roar (#4)

4. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#18)

5. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#8)

6. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#3)

7. MKTO – Classic (#6)

8. Lady Gaga – Applause (#9)

9. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#11)

10. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#10)

11. Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness (#17)

12. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#20)

13. Icona Pop – All Night (#21)

14. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#12)

15. Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night (#43)

16. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#7)

17. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#31)

18. Katy Perry – Unconditionally (#15)

19. Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster (#33)

20. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#22)

21. Wax – Rosana (#23)

22. New Politics – Harlem (#28)

23. Lady Gaga Ft. R. Kelly - Do What U Want (#35)

24. Cher Lloyd – I Wish (#24)

25. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (#29)

26. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#14)

27. Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie - This Is What It Feels Like (#39)

28. One Direction - Story Of My Life (#26)

29. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#37)

30. Capital Cities – Safe and Sound (#16)

31. John Newman – Love Me Again (#19)

32. Paramore – Still Into You (#5)

33. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#41)

34. OneRepublic - Counting Stars (DEBUT)

35. Serebro - Mi Mi MI (#25)

36. Panic! At The Disco - Miss Jackson (DEBUT)

37. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#13)

38. Maroon 5 – Love Somebody (#34)

39. Zedd Ft. Foxes – Clarity (#27)

40. The 1975 – Chocolate (#38)

41. Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber (DEBUT)

42. Pink – True Love (#36)

43. Krewella – Live For The Night (RE-ENTRY)

44. Bruno Mars – Gorilla (#42)

45. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Same Love (RE-ENTRY)

Biggest DDDDRRRRRROOOOPPPPPP!!!!!....of the week: Paramore – Still Into You (-27)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams – Stay the Night (+28)

Two resurrections this week, Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Same Love and Krewella – Live For The Night are both back, so three newbies.  I am surprised that this the first time Panic! At the Disco has appeared on the countdown (at least since I started following it in late 2009), given that they seem fairly popular.  I thought upon seeing the title that Miss Jackson was going to be a reboot of the Outkast tune to some degree, but instead it turned out to be a unique, Fall Out Boy-esque tune.  It’s passable.

OneRepublic has churned out a lot of famous pop music despite a general lack of catchiness or general interestingness inherent in their tunes.  For the most part, their music is lethargic and there’s not all that much life to Ryan Tedder’s singing voice.  Counting Stars struck me as something of a surprise because it was a little bit more upbeat and had a little more bounce and rhythm to it.  I can’t really peg a long-term look on it yet, but it’s probably grabbed my attention more than any other song they’ve produced.  Even if I want it to go away 30 spins later, it’s still a step in the right direction for a band sorely in need of changing their sound.

Pitbull and Ke$ha teamed up to produce our third new entrant, Timber.  Timber is a harmonica-laden jam that gets some bonus points for uniqueness.  Ke$ha is featured on the chorus, and given my usual disdain for Pitbull, I kind of assumed that it would be one of those situations where I could just tune out for the verses, but I think they actually put together a decent, cohesive piece of work on this one.  Approval.

Blurbage Disposal

- Fall Out Boy – Alone Together ascended to the Top 5.  I’ve reversed course on my original impression of this one, but that’s not to say I think it should reach the heights that it has.

- Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight also strikes me as a somewhat surprising new entrant.  I don’t listen to mainstream radio all that much, but I can’t imagine that this one’s getting spun all that often outside of Hits-1.  I’ve never heard it anywhere else.

- Early signs are that Serebro – Mi Mi Mi isn’t going to catch on, but an early drop like this can be misleading.  I sure hope not.

- Neighborhood – Sweather Weather and Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness are knocking on the door of the Top 10, which is great, because I’ve been saying for weeks now that the top of the countdown could use an infusion of boring.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy

2) Imagine Dragons – Demons

3) Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha – Timber

4) Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie – This Is What It Feels Like

5) Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams – Stay the Night