- Mariah Carey Ft. Miguel - #Beautiful
- Chris Brown - Fine China
- Drop City Yacht Club - Crickets
- Little Mix - Wings
- Emeli Sande - Next to Me
- MKTO - Thank You
- Jennifer Lopez Ft. Pitbull - Live It Up
I
think at this time we must pause for an obituary.
Emeli
Sande – Next to Me
made its countdown debut on October 20th, 2012. It lived a
debatably-good 9-month life for some reason. Never aspiring for
greatness, Next to Me became a shining example of “be happy what you
have”. It never ascended higher than the #24 spot on the countdown.
Though it was never loved enough to see the countdown’s top half, it never once
complained. This lends credence to the idea that a positive attitude has
a definite impact on longevity. The Hits-1 voters never over-the-top
appreciated it, and quite frankly neither did I, but a very modest number of
people apparently consistently loved it for what it was. Isn’t that all
any of us aspire for? Its lasting presence on the countdown did not go
unnoticed, as a certain Hits-1 countdown recapper dedicated some of his
precious Blurb space each week to discuss amazement at how it lasted so
long. I won’t go so far as to say Next to Me will be missed.
In fact, it certainly won’t be. But we now find ourselves in a world in
which there’s one fewer thing that doesn’t make any sense and can’t be
explained by human logic, and well, that quite frankly ruins some of the magic
of being alive. Good-bye Next to Me. It’s been real.
The Countdown:
1.
Imagine Dragons - Radioactive (#1) [Third Week at #1]
2.
Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell and T.I. - Blurred Lines (#14)
3.
Maroon 5 - Love Somebody (#2)
4.
Zedd Ft. Foxes - Clarity (#3)
5.
Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light 'em Up) (#30)
6.
Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us (#5)
7.
Pink Ft. Nate Reuss - Just Give Me a Reason (#19)
8.
Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding - I Need Your Love (#16)
9.
Selena Gomez - Come & Get It (#6)
10.
Jason Derulo - The Other Side (#7)
11.
Avril Lavigne - Here's to Never Growing Up (#4)
12.
Icona Pop - I Love It (#9)
13.
Capital Cities - Safe and Sound (#13)
14.
Ke$ha Ft. will.i.am - Crazy Kids (#11)
15.
Bruno Mars - Treasure (#12)
16.
Emblem 3 - Chloe (#18)
17.
Florida Georgia Line - Cruise (#8)
18.
Daft Punk - Get Lucky (#26)
19.
The Summer Set - Boomerang (#25)
20.
Nikki Williams - Glowing (#33)
21.
Awolnation - Sail (#10)
22.
Anna Kendrick - Cups (#15)
23.
Classified Ft. David Myles - Inner Ninja (#24)
24.
Paramore - Still Into You (#27)
25.
Olly Murs - Troublemaker (#28)
26.
JTX - Summer Lover (DEBUT)
27.
Ke$ha - Die Young (#40)
28.
The 1975 - Chocolate (#23)
29.
Ariana Grande - The Way (#31)
30.
Michael Buble - It's a Beautiful Day (#21)
31.
Karmin - Acapella (DEBUT)
32.
Hot Chelle Rae - Hung Up (#37)
33.
Twenty One Pilots - Holding On To You (DEBUT)
34.
Demi Lovato - Heart Attack (#35)
35.
Sammy Adams Ft. Mike Posner - LA Story (DEBUT)
36.
Cody Simpson - Pretty Brown Eyes (DEBUT)
37.
Kelsi Luck - That's What I Like (#17)
38.
MKTO - Classic (DEBUT)
39.
Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child (#36)
40.
Train Ft. Ashley Monroe - Bruises (DEBUT)
41.
Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Thrift Shop (#39)
42.
fun. - Some Nights (#32)
43.
Tegan & Sara - Closer (#29)
44.
Labrinth Ft. Emeli Sande - Beneath Your Beautiful (#34)
45.
Bruno Mars - Locked Out of Heaven (#38)
Biggest
DDDDDDDRRRRRRRROOOOOOPPPPPPPP!!!!!....of the week: Kelsi Luck – That’s What
I Like (-20)
Biggest
Jump of the Week: Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light
‘em Up) (+25)
As
it turns out, this week was fantastic for reasons besides the end of my
obsession with the constant presence of an overly mediocre song and Kelsi
Luck’s unspeakably awful song getting slapped straight in the face in the
rankings. We have ourselves the best class of new entrants in quite some
time. So sit back, relax, and enjoy some positivity from yours truly,
which has been sorely missing on the whole from these weekly installments
lately.
JTX
is
kind of like what Hot Chelle Rae would be if their music was good.
Neither of those things can write anything worth a damn, but the difference is
that JTX produces music that can be fun and addicting, while the
descriptive adjectives towards Hot Chelle Rae’s music generally are
synonyms of “tired”, “boring”, or “annoying”. JTX debuted this
week with Summer Lover, and while it’s no Love In America, it’s
plenty delightful and should run its course as an above-average countdown
song.
Oh
my goodness is Karmin – Acapella strange. This song is going to
enrage and annoy many persons with its presence over the next few months, and
before I say the sentence-after-next, everyone must understand that I
completely get and appreciate that. Those who find this song bothersome
are completely justified and there is nothing wrong with you. However, I
find myself constantly wanting that song to come on the radio. I could do
without the part where Amy Heidemann does it “in falsetta”, as that’s
probably the only piece that gives me any shame about liking this song, but
besides that, it’s been weirdly infectious. Don’t look at me like that,
I’ve liked songs like this before, and you know it. However I will note
that I’ve listened to this song a good deal over the past 2 weeks and a good
amount of what I guess you would call luster has worn off. It’ll be
interesting to see whether it’s an asset or an annoyance in a month. Karmin
is turning out to be far from the Jessie J clone that I thought they
were when they released Brokenhearted.
Of
all the new entrants, Twenty One Pilots – Holding On To You is probably
the one I had the most unfavorable initial reaction to and the one that I’ve
probably listened to the most. Fortunately, that initial reaction was
borne more out of my general attitude towards much of 2013’s music and the lack
of surface-level catchiness. This is an all-around solid tune. Fun
tidblurbs: 1) I could see it being used in commercials. I don’t know why
this makes sense to me. 2) The singer sounds like the guy from Paper
Tongues, and I had to Wikipedia this to make sure that it wasn’t the same
dude.
Mike
Posner hasn’t
been around in a long time and I find that kind of strange from a guy that had
publicly aspired to have Lady Gaga-level fame and popularity in
music. He’s along for the ride in Sammy Adams’s song L.A. Story.
If I had to rank the 7 new entrants, this one would firmly be in 6th,
but fortunately that isn’t much of an insult in this group. I think the
duo work together pretty well in this song, and the net product is something
that’s worth having around. If this were most groups of 7 songs, the
modestly catchy Cody Simpson – Pretty Brown Eyes wouldn’t be the least
interesting new entrant / bottom song on the totem pole, but this isn’t, and it
is.
Oh
my, this is already a mile long and I still have two songs to go. This is
not a typical week. MKTO noticed that Thank You was on the
outs in the countdown rankings, so they worked hard to get Classic in
there ASAP to replace it. Classic is the superior song of the two,
with an infectious upbeat melody and a solid singing performance. Call me
old fashioned (heh…) but I enjoy the lyrics in this one very much as well.
Finally,
we come to Train Ft. Ashley Monroe – Bruises. This song is pretty
fantastic, in no small part due to the performance of the country-singing Monroe,
whose voice is a perfect complement to that of Pat Monahan. You
may find better songs that come across the Sirius XM Hits-1 Weekend Countdown,
but they don’t come much more melodious than Bruises. It may be
the lowest-ranked new entrant on the countdown, but it’s the top ranked one on
my list and the early favorite for next weekend’s Biggest Jump.
Blurbday
Wishes
-
Unfortunately, the two songs that I know as of right now that are locks to
debut next weekend are worse than all 7 of this weekend’s new entrants.
This dims the excitement a little bit, because all indications are that this
week isn’t going to spur a long run of success.
-
The other big development this week was the ascension of Robin Thicke Ft.
Pharrell and T.I. – Blurred Lines to the #2 slot. It seems like the
likely successor to Imagine Dragons – Radioactive.
-
Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love is probably second
to only That’s What I Like in terms of songs on the countdown that make
me change the station fastest. Its ascension into the Top 10 this week is
nothing shy of disturbing.
-
All of my Editor’s Picks are from this class of new entrants because it’s about
damn time we heard some new stuff that actually works.
Editor’s
Picks – Top 5 Songs
1)
Train – Bruises
2)
Karmin – Acapella
3)
JTX – Summer Lover
4)
MKTO – Classic
5)
Twenty One Pilots – Holding On To You
