Carly Rae Jepsen (7) - Week of July 14, 2012

We’re starting to see some signs of an imminent shake-up at the top.  Flo Rida guest hosted this week’s countdown, so guess what happened to his song’s ranking????  As is always the case when Spyder Harrison takes the weekend off, the show is far less enjoyable to listen to.  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.

• Kelly Clarkson - Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)
• Katy Perry - Part of Me

The Countdown:

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

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

3. Katy Perry- Wide Awake (#7)

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

5. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#3)

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

7. Flo Rida- Whistle (#18)

8. Ellie Goulding- Lights (#21)

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

10. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#9)

11. Usher- Scream (#14)

12. Linkin Park- Burn It Down (#15)

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

14. Alex Clare- Too Close (#17)

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

16. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#11)

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

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

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

20. One Direction- One Thing (#19)

21. Rihanna - Where Have You Been (DEBUT)

22. Imagine Dragons- It's Time (#27)

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

24. Pink - Blow Me (One Last Kiss) (#39)

25. Sammy Adams- Only One (#20)

26. Rita Ora- How We Do (Party) (#27)

27. The Wanted- Chasing the Sun (#26)

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

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

30. Train- Drive By (#31)

31. Cher Lloyd- Want U Back (#23)

32. Andy Grammer- Fine By Me (#37)

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

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

35. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#8)

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

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

38. The Cab- La La (#45)

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

40. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#40)

41. B.o.B- So Good (#44)

42. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (#43)

43. Pitbull- Back in Time (#34)

44. Gavin DeGraw- Sweeter (RE-ENTRY)

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

Biggest DDDDRRRRROOOOPPPP!!!!....of the week: One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful (-29)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Pink – Blow Me (One Last Kiss)

The completely unnecessary resurrection of the mediocre Gavin DeGraw – Sweeter means that we’re left with just one new entrant this week.  Unfortunately, they don’t come much worse than Rihanna – Where Have You Been.  The song starts off decently enough….honestly, the first minute pretty good.  Then things get weird and terrible.  Rihanna follows up that minute with strange techno sounds that don’t really fit all that well.  The rest of the song is mostly just a few repeats of the lyrics of the first minute, accompanied by techno beats that get stranger and less pleasant as it goes along.  But you don’t need me to tell you any of this.  You’re probably going to get exposed to this song so much over the next few months (evidenced in part by its debut all the way up at #21) that you can form your own opinion of whether the song is just plain regular awful, or superlatively so.  I’m in the latter camp.  And here we thought We Found Love was repetitive.  Yeesh.

Predictably, Flo Rida – Whistle is a new entrant to the Top 10, but less predictable was the rise of Ellie Goulding – Lights.  That one’s growing on me a bit, and it’s doing significantly better than I thought it would.  Katy Perry – Wide Awake is the next song to have a go at the Top 5, and this one I really don’t get.  It’s almost like she can put out whatever music she wants and it’ll do well on the countdown.  Wide Awake is decent-ish, but definitely not Top 5 material.

I am still looking for a week here where we’re going to have 4+ new songs, as one gets the impression we aren’t far away from that.  There’s plenty of music on this list that’s super tenured.  And super not-played-that-often-anymore.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Pink – Blow Me (One Last Kiss)

2) Maroon 5 – Payphone

3) Usher – Scream

4) Karmin – Brokenhearted

5) Ellie Goulding – Lights

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

Carly Rae Jepsen (5) - Week of June 30, 2012

In which the wheels completely come off.  The Golden Age is over, and we (probably) haven’t seen a debut from a Top-45-of-the-Year song in over a month.  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:

• Lucas Prada Ft. Lenny B - First Night of My Life
• M83 - Midnight City
• The Black Keys - Lonely Boy
• David Guetta Ft. Nicki Minaj - Turn Me On

Ouch.  That’s difficult to replace.  

The Countdown: 

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

2. Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa- Payphone (#3)

3. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#9)

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

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

6. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#2)

7. Katy Perry- Wide Awake (#7)

8. Pitbull- Back in Time (#10)

9. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#8)

10. Gym Class Heroes feat. Ryan Tedder- The Fighter (#14)

11. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#20)

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

13. Linkin Park- Burn It Down (#14)

14. Usher- Scream (#17)

15. Alex Clare- Too Close (#11)

16. Chiddy Bang feat. Icona Pop- Mind Your Manners (#15)

17. One Direction- One Thing (#27) [Biggest Rise]

18. Sammy Adams- Only One (#26)

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

20. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#6)

21. Cher Lloyd- Want U Back (#13)

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

23. Imagine Dragons- It's Time (#29)

24. Rita Ora- How We Do (Party) (#25)

25. Breathe Carolina- Hit and Run (#31)

26. Flo Rida- Whistle (DEBUT)

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

28. The Wanted- Chasing the Sun (#21)

29. Andy Grammer- Fine By Me (#18)

30. B.o.B feat. Taylor Swift- Both of Us (#32)

31. Ellie Goulding- Lights (DEBUT)

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

33. Gavin DeGraw- Sweeter (#22)

34. Kimbra feat. Mark Foster & A-Trak- Warrior (#28)

35. The Cab- La La (#16) [Biggest Drop]

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

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

38. Katy Perry- Part of Me (#35)

39. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#23)

40. Train- Drive By (#24)

41. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#37)

42. B.o.B- So Good (#43)

43. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (#40)

44. Calvin Harris- Feel So Close (#39)

45. The All-American Rejects- Walk Over Me (#38)

Biggest DDDRRRRROOOOOPPPPP!!!!!!!......of the week: The Cab – La La (-19)

Biggest Jump of the Week: One Direction – One Thing (+10)

Unfortunately, the new entrants don’t even make a reasonable effort to replace the dearly departed.  All four new entrants are worse than all four DTHNOBs.  We’ll kick it off with Flo Rida – Whistle, which takes over for Madonna – Like a Prayer for least subtle song ever on its subject matter.  The song itself is reasonably catchy but it’s not one that you’re going to want to hear three weeks from now.  Typically, I’ve heard all new entrants at least once before their countdown debut, and I only give just one extra token listen to each on YouTube before writing a mini-recap here.  However, for We Are the In Crowd – Kiss Me Again, I made a special exception to the one-listen-only part.  I YouTubed it zero times.  There’s no way I’m subjecting myself to something so breathtakingly disinteresting by my own choosing.

I would call Ellie Goulding – Lights the most unique new entrant.  Admittedly, at first, I thought it had a fair amount of potential to be a good new song that this countdown sorely needs, but a few extra listens made me think otherwise.  Still, it’s the best of this weak crew.  Calvin Harris Ft. Ne-Yo – Let’s Go is (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) a song that isn’t noticeably good or bad when you first hear it, which, when combined with a pop music station that plays the same 40-ish songs on repeat all week, is a song that you never want to hear again after about a fortnight, because there’s nothing to hook you into it.  Calvin Harris, please stop making music, you insufferable David Guetta wannabe.

If you asked me last week to predict this week’s Biggest DDDDDRRRRROOOPPP!!!!! and Biggest Jump, I probably would have gotten both right.  One Thing is definitely destined for a reasonable run in the low teens / high single digits at least.  Meanwhile, I’m not sure how La La lasted so long in the teens, but it’s been a nice run for a pretty good song.

There’s two saving graces to this week’s countdown.  For one, look at those top 5 songs.  Karmin – Brokenhearted replacing fun. Ft. Janelle Monae – We Are Young has cemented this as the best Top 5 since probably around 2009 when I started listening to this countdown show.  Though not as top-heavy as the Owl City – Fireflies / Miley Cyrus – Party in the U.S.A. top 5 from years ago, I’d say it’s in the conversation of the best we’ve ever had.  Mostly because there’s usually at least one bad song mucking it up.

The second saving grace is that there’s one hell of a good song on Hit-Bound in Owl City Ft. Carly Rae Jepsen – Good Time.  Please hurry to your countdown debut.  Please.

We had an excellent 4-month run on the countdown, and fittingly, it ends with the first half of the year, on June 30^th.  We’re probably stuck in crapville for a little while, as the sub-par recent new entrants run their course and the good songs that debuted in February and March get beaten to death more than necessary.  Here’s hoping for a rebound in the coming weeks.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Maroon 5 – Payphone

2) Rita Ora – How We Do (Party)

3) Karmin – Brokenhearted

4) Imagine Dragons – It’s Time

5) Usher - Scream

Carly Rae Jepsen (4) - Week of June 23, 2012

In which we see harbingers of an impending shake-up at the top.  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.

• Adele - Set Fire to the Rain

The Countdown:

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

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

3. Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa- Payphone (#9)

4. Gotye feat. Kimbra- Somebody That I Used to Know (#2)

5. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#3)

6. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#14)

7. Katy Perry- Wide Awake (#11)

8. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#12)

9. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#7)

10. Pitbull- Back in Time (#18)

11. Alex Clare- Too Close (#21)

12. David Guetta feat. Sia- Titanium (#16)

13. Cher Lloyd- Want U Back (#13)

14. Linkin Park- Burn It Down (#31)

15. Gym Class Heroes feat. Ryan Tedder- The Fighter (#8)

16. The Cab- La La (#15)

17. Usher- Scream (#25)

18. Andy Grammer- Fine By Me (#17)

19. Demi Lovato- Give Your Heart a Break (#22)

20. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#10)

21. The Wanted- Chasing the Sun (#34)

22. Gavin DeGraw- Sweeter (#19)

23. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#5)

24. Train- Drive By (#6)

25. Rita Ora- How We Do (Party) (#26)

26. Sammy Adams- Only One (#32)

27. One Direction- One Thing (#29)

28. Kimbra feat. Mark Foster & A-Trak- Warrior (#20)

29. Imagine Dragons- It's Time (#25)

30. Havana Brown feat. Pitbull- We Run the Night (#28)

31. Breathe Carolina- Hit and Run (#37)

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

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

34. Chiddy Bang feat. Icona Pop- Mind Your Manners (DEBUT)

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

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

37. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#45)

38. The All-American Rejects- Walk Over Me (#40)

39. Calvin Harris- Feel So Close (#23)

40. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (#27)

41. Lucas Prata feat. Lenny B- First Night of My Life (#41)

42. M83- Midnight City (#42)

43. B.o.B- So Good (#43)

44. The Black Keys- Lonely Boy (#44)

45. David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj- Turn Me On (#39)

Biggest DDDDRRROOOPPP!!!!!!....of the week: Train – Drive By (-18)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Linkin Park – Burn It Down (+17)

New entrant this week is Chiddy Bang – Mind Your Manners.  Considering the alternatives clogging up Hit-Bound over the past month, I’ll live with it.  I’m actually pretty fond of the chorus, which is sung by a bunch of kids.  My mind hasn’t really changed on Chiddy Bang.  I don’t care much for their rap, but they put interesting other elements into their songs, such as the kids singing in this song, the opening of Ray Charles, and the underlying melody of Opposite of Adults.  Mind Your Manners should be a mediocre countdown mainstay for weeks to come.  As if we had a dearth of those lately or something.

I’m actually pretty impressed with the relative lack of new entrants over the past month.  Over the last 4 weeks, we’ve only had 4 new songs, so kudos to the voters for realizing that there hasn’t really been much on Hit-Bound worthy of promotion.  Particularly, we dodged a bullet on Nelly Furtado – Big Hoops, which was removed from Hit-Bound this past week.  My goodness, one spin of that song could make you beg to listen to Rihanna Ft. Calvin Harris – We Found Love on repeat for hours on end instead.

In other news, Maroon 5 – Payphone ascended to its highest-ever rank this week at #3.  I think it has a fair amount of #1 pull, and it could turn out to be the eventual successor to Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe.  Also significant was the Top-10 debut of Katy Perry – Wide Awake.  No, that song isn’t that great, but that never stopped Katy Perry from hitting #1 before.  The other possible successor I see is perhaps Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know.  There’s a chance that it randomly jumps a few slots to the top before its impending fall from grace.  The thing with not having too many debuts lately is that we also don’t see a lot of future #1s jump on either.  Unless Payphone or Wide Awake puts the clamps down on that slot, it’s easy to see how we could have a rotating cast of randoms hit #1 for a little while, similar to early this year.

Something tells me that Carly Rae Jepsen has a 5^th week in her, however.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Maroon 5 – Payphone

2) Rita Ora – How We Do (Party)

3) M83 – Midnight City

4) Karmin – Brokenhearted

5) Imagine Dragons – It’s Time

Carly Rae Jepsen (3) - Week of June 16, 2012

In which we experience an infusion of “meh”.  Fittingly with respect to said infusion, The Wanted guest-hosted the countdown this week, giving my man Spyder Harrison the weekend off.  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 - Not Over You
• Chris Rene - Young Homie
• September - Party In My Head

The Countdown:

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

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

3. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#3)

4. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#8)

5. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#5)

6. Train- Drive By (#2)

7. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#10)

8. Gym Class Heroes feat. Ryan Tedder- The Fighter (#13)

9. Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa- Payphone (#7)

10. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#16)

11. Katy Perry- Wide Awake (#12)

12. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#6)

13. Cher Lloyd- Want U Back (#19)

14. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#9)

15. The Cab- La La (#14)

16. David Guetta feat. Sia- Titanium (#15)

17. Andy Grammer- Fine By Me (#20)

18. Pitbull- Back in Time (#29)

19. Gavin DeGraw- Sweeter (#22)

20. Kimbra feat. Mark Foster & A-Trak- Warrior (#26)

21. Alex Clare- Too Close (#28)

22. Demi Lovato- Give Your Heart a Break (#25)

23. Calvin Harris- Feel So Close (#11)

24. Imagine Dragons- It's Time (#30)

25. Usher- Scream (#24)

26. Rita Ora- How We Do (Party) (#23)

27. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (#18)

28. Havana Brown feat. Pitbull- We Run the Night (#17)

29. One Direction- One Thing (#27)

30. B.o.B feat. Taylor Swift- Both of Us (#31)

31. Linkin Park- Burn It Down (DEBUT)

32. Sammy Adams- Only One (#21)

33. Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (#40)

34. The Wanted- Chasing the Sun (DEBUT)

35. Katy Perry- Part of Me (#36)

36. Gym Class Heroes feat. Neon Hitch- Ass Back Home (#33)

37. Breathe Carolina- Hit and Run (DEBUT)

38. Adele- Set Fire to the Rain (#39)

39. David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj- Turn Me On (#35)

40. The All-American Rejects- Walk Over Me (#40)

41. Lucas Prata feat. Lenny B- First Night of My Life (#45)

42. M83- Midnight City (#42)

43. B.o.B- So Good (#41)

44. The Black Keys- Lonely Boy (#44)

45. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#32)

Biggest DDDDRRRRROOOOPPPPP!!!!!!...of the week: The Wanted – Glad You Came (+13)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Pitbull – Back in Time (+11)

I unfortunately did not hear The Wanted announce their own song as the Biggest DDDDRRRRROOOPPPP!!!!!...of the week, as I imagine that would have been amusing.  Historically, the guest hosts of the countdown have seen their song experience countdown progress that week.  That theory wasn’t exactly disproven this week, as The Wanted had a new entrant on the countdown, Chasing the Sun.  It’s better than Glad You Came, which is sort of like being a TV show that’s more exciting than an infomercial.  I’m concerned that I’m going to be done with this one rather quickly, but for now, it can have a temporary “thumbs-up”.

The best new entrant, not by a huge margin, is Linkin Park – Burn It Down.  They still aren’t the Linkin Park of old, but this one’s significantly better than their more recent entries.  Finally, Breathe Carolina showed up with their follow-up to long-time countdown mainstay, Blackout.  Hit and Run falls well short of Blackout, but it’s still OK.  So we lost three pretty good songs and gained 3 songs that probably won’t sniff my personal Top 5 for more than a week or two.  We knew the end of the Golden Age was coming, everyone.  Fortunately it’s giving way to mediocrity rather than if, say, Nelly Furtado, Rihanna, Calvin Harris, or Marina and the Diamonds were involved.  But that still looms as a distinct possibility while they sit with songs on Hit-Bound, waiting to pollute the airwaves regularly from a slot in Hits-1’s rotation. 

Biggest news of the week is Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know ascending to its highest-ever rank on the countdown, at #2.  One gets the feeling that it’s been around too long to supplant Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe, but it could happen.  If anything, I’m disappointed that this development happened so late in the countdown career of that song.  As much as I love Somebody That I Used to Know, I’ve tired of it in recent weeks, as evidenced by it dropping off my Editor’s Picks list.

As the calendar flies towards the end of June and approaches July, I’ve begun to think about what my Top 45 for the year is going to look like.  As of right now, I’m a bit worried, because although since mid-to-late February, the average quality of countdown songs has been top-notch, there haven’t been any really great songs that I’ve liked as much as last year’s Top 3.  As much as I’ve hyped certain songs, I’ve done so mostly out of relief that there’s finally something good to replace the crap that we were stuck with from November through January.  There hasn’t been a 30 Seconds to Mars – Closer to the Edge, Carlos Santana Ft. Chris Daughtry – Photograph, or even a Katy Perry – Last Friday Night.  Hit-Bound is a cesspool of songs that are either a) garbage or b) not-so-good follow-up songs from artists that recently succeeded with a significantly better song.  At this point, it’s time to hope that something comes out of nowhere.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Maroon 5 – Payphone

2) Rita Ora – How We Do (Party)

3) Karmin – Brokenhearted

4) M83 – Midnight City

5) Linkin Park – Burn It Down

Carly Rae Jepsen (2) - Week of June 9, 2012

just which we In change everything of the order new and call it.  No songs leavin’ the countdown for the second straight week.  

The Countdown:

1. Carly Rae Jepsen- Call Me Maybe (#3) (2nd week at #1)

2. Train- Drive By (#2)

3. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#1)

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

5. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#4)

6. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#10)

7. Maroon 5- Payphone (#5)

8. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#8)

9. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#7)

10. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#9)

11. Calvin Harris- Feel So Close (#11)

12. Katy Perry- Wide Awake (#14)

13. Gym Class Heroes feat. Ryan Tedder- The Fighter (#20)

14. The Cab- La La (#15)

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

16. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#17)

17. Havana Brown feat. Pitbull- We Run the Night (#28)

18. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (#19)

19. Cher Lloyd- Want U Back (#27)

20. Andy Grammer- Fine By Me (#13)

21. Sammy Adams- Only One (#23)

22. Gavin DeGraw- Sweeter (#22)

23. Rita Ora- How We Do (Party) (#25)

24. Usher- Scream (#16)

25. Demi Lovato- Give Your Heart a Break (#21)

26. Mark Foster, A-Trak & Kimbra- Warrior (#30)

27. One Direction- One Thing (#32)

28. Alex Clare- Too Close (#24)

29. Pitbull- Back in Time (#18)

30. Imagine Dragons- It's Time (#26)

31. B.o.B feat. Taylor Swift- Both of Us (#31)

32. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#34)

33. Gym Class Heroes feat. Neon Hitch- Ass Back Home (#33)

34. Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (#40)

35. David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj- Turn Me On (#37)

36. Katy Perry- Part of Me (#36)

37. Gavin DeGraw- Not Over You (#35)

38. Chris Rene- Young Homie (#41)

39. Adele- Set Fire to the Rain (#38)

40. The All-American Rejects- Walk Over Me (#29)

41. B.o.B- So Good (#45)

42. M83- Midnight City (#44)

43. September- Party in My Head (#43)

44. The Black Keys- Lonely Boy (#42)

45. Lucas Prata feat. Lenny B- First Night of My Life (#39)

Biggest DDDDRRRROOOOPPPPP!!!!!....of the week: Tie between Pitbull – Back In Time and The All-American Rejects – Walk Over Me (-11)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Havana Brown Ft. Pitbull – We Run the Night (+11)

Call Me Maybe, as expected, keeps its stranglehold on the #1 spot.  This week it just passed Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know on the Billboard Hot 100 for the #1 spot.  Somebody That I Used to Know held the title for the previous 8 weeks.

I could list off all the songs that held off DTHNOBbing for another week, and just how grateful I am for that, but that seems pointless because it’s Friday, and I know of at least 2 new entrants already on this weekend’s countdown based on weekday airtime.  So it’s the last week on the countdown probably for You-Know-What-Song-I’m-Getting-At (::sniff::).  But that’s okay, because I’ve been saying it for weeks, so we’ll call it a win.

Moving up on my personal charts this week is Usher – Scream.  I have always liked this one, but it’s forcing itself onto the Editor’s Picks this week, as it gets better the more I hear of it.

I was disappointed to see Maroon 5 – Payphone drop out of the Top 5 this week.  Maybe it’s not the powerhouse that I once thought?

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Maroon 5 – Payphone

2) Karmin – Brokenhearted

3) Rita Ora – How We Do (Party)

4) Usher – Scream

5) M83 – Midnight City

Carly Rae Jepsen - Week of June 2, 2012

In which it wasn’t broke, so it wasn’t fixed, and we experience one of the least shocking #1s in recent memory.  No songs leavin’ the countdown this week.  Given the alternatives, that’s a very, very good thing.

The Countdown: 

1. Carly Rae Jepsen- Call Me Maybe (#3) (New #1)

2. Train- Drive By (#9)

3. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#1)

4. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#2)

5. Maroon 5- Payphone (#5)

6. Gotye feat. Kimbra- Somebody That I Used to Know (#7)

7. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#6)

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

9. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#10)

10. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#11)

11. Calvin Harris- Feel So Close (#32) (Biggest Jump)

12. David Guetta feat. Sia- Titanium (#14)

13. Andy Grammer- Fine By Me (#15)

14. Katy Perry- Wide Awake (#24)

15. The Cab- La La (#17)

16. Usher- Scream (#8)

17. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#23)

18. Pitbull- Back in Time (#28)

19. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (#27)

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

21. Demi Lovato- Give Your Heart a Break (#22)

22. Gavin DeGraw- Sweeter (#13)

23. Sammy Adams- Only One (#20)

24. Alex Clare- Too Close (#19)

25. Rita Ora- How We Do (Party) (#29)

26. Imagine Dragons- It's Time (#25)

27. Cher Lloyd- Want U Back (#18)

28. Havana Brown feat. Pitbull- We Run the Night (#16) (Biggest Drop)

29. The All-American Rejects- Walk Over Me (#21)

30. Mark Foster, A-Trak & Kimbra- Warrior (#26)

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

32. One Direction- One Thing (#33)

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

34. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#37)

35. Gavin DeGraw- Not Over You (#41)

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

37. David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj- Turn Me On (#40)

38. Adele- Set Fire to the Rain (#39)

39. Lucas Prata feat. Lenny B- First Night of My Life (#34)

40. Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (#31)

41. Chris Rene- Young Homie (#38)

42. The Black Keys- Lonely Boy (#43)

43. September- Party in My Head (#44)

44. M83- Midnight City (#45)

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

Biggest DDDDDRRRROOOPPP!!!!...of the week: Havana Brown Ft. Pitbull – We Run The Night (+12)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Calvin Harris – Feel So Close (+21)

This is one hell of a Top 5.  Sure, I’m totally sick of Flo Rida Ft. Sia – Wild Ones, but I try as hard as I can to remember that at its core, it’s still pretty good.  Train – Drive By randomly jumping back to #2 was pretty welcome and downright unexpected.  I’d put its chances of ascending one spot at pretty close to zero, but stranger things have happened.

This is the beginning of the Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe / Maroon 5 – Payphone era, and that’s something everyone can be excited about.  The one issue here is that both songs jumped onto the countdown on the same week, and Call Me Maybe should have a stranglehold on the #1 spot for the foreseeable future, so Payphone might never get its due.  Still, if we wind up with a top 3 of Call Me Maybe / Payphone / Drive By, I’ll be unlikely to complain if the order doesn’t change.

This seems like the end of the potential #1 bid for Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know.  It’s unfortunate really, because that song is awesome, and it seems like everybody and their brother is doing a cover of it.  I guess that’s what 243,698,454 hits on YouTube is good for.

I’m still nervous about a mass DTHNOBbing. M83 – Midnight City, Chris Rene – Young Homie, B.O.B. – So Good, and September – Party In My Head are all firmly on the chopping block.  I haven’t heard any of these played outside of the countdown in weeks, and I don’t really want to see any of them leave.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Maroon 5 – Payphone

2) Karmin – Brokenhearted

3) Rita Ora – How We Do (Party)

4) Imagine Dragons – It’s Time

5) M83 – Midnight City