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