Carly Rae Jepsen (6) - Week of July 7, 2012

The nice thing about only one song entering the countdown is that even if the pool of possible new entrants is mostly crap, sometimes you can get lucky and have a net gain.  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.

• Gavin DeGraw - Sweeter

The Countdown:

1. Carly Rae Jepsen- Call Me Maybe (#1) [Sixth Week at #1]

2. Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa- Payphone (#2)

3. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#3)

4. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#6)

5. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#5)

6. Gotye feat. Kimbra- Somebody That I Used to Know (#4)

7. Katy Perry- Wide Awake (#7)

8. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#20)

9. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#9)

10. David Guetta feat. Sia- Titanium (#12)

11. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#11)

12. Gym Class Heroes feat. Ryan Tedder- The Fighter (#10)

13. Demi Lovato- Give Your Heart a Break (#19)

14. Usher- Scream (#14)

15. Linkin Park- Burn It Down (#13)

16. Havana Brown feat. Pitbull- We Run the Night (#22)

17. Alex Clare- Too Close (#15)

18. Flo Rida- Whistle (#26)

19. One Direction- One Thing (#17) 

20. Sammy Adams- Only One (#18)

21. Ellie Goulding- Lights (#31)

22. Chiddy Bang feat. Icona Pop- Mind Your Manners (#16)

23. Cher Lloyd- Want U Back (#21)

24. Calvin Harris feat. Ne-Yo- Let's Go (32)

25. We Are the In Crowd feat. Alex Gaskarth- Kiss Me Again (27)

26. The Wanted- Chasing the Sun (#28)

27. Imagine Dragons- It's Time (#23)

28. Rita Ora- How We Do (Party) (#24)

29. Breathe Carolina- Hit and Run (#25)

30. B.o.B feat. Taylor Swift- Both of Us (#30)

31. Train- Drive By (#40)

32. Kimbra feat. Mark Foster & A-Trak- Warrior (#34)

33. Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (#36)

34. Pitbull- Back in Time (#8)

35. Katy Perry- Part of Me (#38)

36. Gym Class Heroes feat. Neon Hitch- Ass Back Home (#37)

37. Andy Grammer- Fine By Me (#29)

38. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#39)

39. Pink - Blow Me (One Last Kiss) (DEBUT)

40. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#41)

41. The All-American Rejects- Walk Over Me (#45)

42. Calvin Harris- Feel So Close (#44)

43. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (#43)

44. B.o.B- So Good (#42)

45. The Cab- La La (#35)

Biggest DDDDDDRRROOOOPPPPP!!!!....of the week: Pitbull – Back in Time (-26)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Nicki Minaj – Starships (+12)

There just aren’t that many songs that debut in a given year, so saying that it’s been awhile since we’ve even seen a Top-45 song of 2012 debut is pretty depressing.  Fortunately, help came from an unexpected source and we got just that in Pink – Blow Me (One Last Kiss).  Going straight from high school to the NBA, it’s a real winner with outside #1 potential.  I was a fan of Raise Your Glass, at least for awhile, but this one is better. 

So Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe is officially to 2012 what Katy Perry – Last Friday Night was to 2011 and Ke$ha – Tik Tok was to 2010, the deserving #1 that lasts 6+ weeks at the top of the countdown.  Is it the best song that’s come out in the past few months?  I certainly don’t think so.  But it’s a good song that gets everything right.  It most certainly has mass appeal, and since it’s pop music we’re talking about, that’s the name of the game.  It’s pleasant when the most popular song on the continent is something you want to hear, rather than something that makes you want to gouge your eyes out.

Based on the music rotation during this week, I think we’re in trouble this upcoming weekend.  We’ll probably see a lot of turnover.  Particularly alarming is that Rihanna has a grotesque piece of horse dung in store for our eardrums in the coming months.

I want to clarify something regarding the below Editor’s Picks.  I do not think that Blow Me (One Last Kiss) is the best song on the countdown.  It’s just that it’s been so long since we’ve seen something interesting, and I’ve been slowly getting sick of the ones that have appeared on this list week after week.  So the new blood is the song that I currently want to hear most.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Pink – Blow Me (One Last Kiss)

2) Maroon 5 – Payphone

3) Usher – Scream

4) Rita Ora – How We Do (Party)

5) Karmin -- Brokenhearted