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

One Direction (5) - Week of May 26, 2012

In which our voters don’t fail us……………… 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.

• Taylor Swift – Eyes Open
• Flo Rida – Good Feeling
• Jennifer Lopez Ft. Pitbull – Dance Again
• Adele – Rumour Has It (DTHNOBx2)

The Countdown:

1. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#2) [Fifth Week at #1]

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

3. Carly Rae Jepsen- Call Me Maybe (#7)

4. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#1)

5. Maroon 5- Payphone (#8)

6. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#6)

7. Gotye feat. Kimbra- Somebody That I Used to Know (#3)

8. Usher- Scream (#9)

9. Train- Drive By (#5)

10. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#12)

11. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#10)

12. Gym Class Heroes feat. Ryan Tedder- The Fighter (#17)

13. Gavin DeGraw- Sweeter (#14)

14. David Guetta feat. Sia- Titanium (#27)

15. Andy Grammer- Fine By Me (#16)

16. Havana Brown feat. Pitbull- We Run the Night (#13)

17. The Cab- La La (#18)

18. Cher Lloyd- Want U Back (#15)

19. Alex Clare- Too Close (#22)

20. Sammy Adams- Only One (#29)

21. The All-American Rejects- Walk Over Me (#20)

22. Demi Lovato- Give Your Heart a Break (#27)

23. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#28)

24. Katy Perry- Wide Awake (DEBUT)

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

26. Mark Foster, A-Trak & Kimbra- Warrior (#34)

27. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (#35)

28. Pitbull- Back in Time (DEBUT)

29. Rita Ora- How We Do (Party) (DEBUT)

30. B.o.B feat. Taylor Swift- Both of Us (#43) 

31. Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (#23)

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

33. One Direction- One Thing (DEBUT)

34. Lucas Prata feat. Lenny B- First Night of My Life (#24)

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

36. Gym Class Heroes feat. Neon Hitch- Ass Back Home (#31)

37. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#33)

38. Chris Rene- Young Homie (#21)

39. Adele- Set Fire to the Rain (#32)

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

41. Gavin DeGraw- Not Over You (#44)

42. B.o.B- So Good (#26)

43. The Black Keys- Lonely Boy (#40)

44. September- Party in My Head (#45)

45. M83- Midnight City (#38)

Biggest DDDDRRRROOOOPPP!!!!!.......of the week: Calvin Harris – Feel So Close (-21)

Biggest Jump of the Week: B.O.B. Ft. Taylor Swift – Both of Us (+13)

It’s been two weeks since I first started panicking about the future of the countdown, but here we are two weeks later, after two straight weeks of the new entrants out-producing the exits.  Granted, this is in large part due to the voters DTHNOBbing the proper songs more so than the spectacular-ness of the new entrants (I certainly won’t miss Good Feeling, Dance Again, or especially, Rumour Has It).  But the other part is that despite the absolute glut of crap on Hit-Bound, the voters have managed to cherry-pick the cream of the crop.  There were 3 winners and 1 decent song (Train – 50 Ways to Say Goodbye) on Hit-Bound as of last week (out of 14-ish) and the voters graduated 2 of those winners this week.  Now only Goldhouse – The Moment remains on Hit-Bound as a song to get excited over.

Anyway, here’s what we wound up with, when all is said and done.  Feeling that Katy Perry was done cranking off songs of the album she seems to keep appending things to, I was very surprised to see another song from her, Wide Awake, go straight from high school to the NBA this week.  My first instinct was that it’s not the best, but better than Part of Me, The One That Got Away, and E.T.  However, I think that this might just be “shiny new toy” syndrome talking….I feel like this one’s easy to get sick of.

Men in Black 3 debuted in theatres last weekend, so appropriately, the theme song for the movie, Pitbull – Back in Time debuted on the countdown this week.  It’s not a complete and total failure, though my wife did accuse it of murdering the movie Dirty Dancing.  It would not have been my first choice to graduate from Hit-Bound, but I promise you, we could be way worse off.

Now for the winners.  One Thing is no What Makes You Beautiful, but it’s a pretty good tune from One Direction that is certainly better than most 2^nd singles that I see hit the countdown from new artists.  Nice to see they won’t be a one-hit wonder.  My favorite new entrant, however, is probably Rita Ora – How We Do (Party).  That one kind of snuck up on me, because I don’t remember liking it this much when it was on Hit-Bound.

It was only a matter of time, but the powerhouse new entrants that debuted on the week of April 21 both ascended to the Top 5 for the first time this week, and that’s a very, very good thing.  Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe and Maroon 5 – Payphone are both knocking at the door of the #1 spot, and neither one is bluffing (I’m looking at YOU, Train – Drive By).

The countdown continues to be in good shape, but we’re in even more danger than we were a couple of weeks ago.  Hopefully there’s low turnover until Hit-Bound funnels out some of the garbage that threatens to invade our Top-45.

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) Gotye - Somebody That I Used to Know

fun. (5) - Week of May 19, 2012

The imminent disaster facing this beloved list of 45 songs was delayed by a week.  Thankfully.  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:

• Skrillex Ft. Sirah – Bangarang
•  K’Naan Ft. Nelly Furtado – Is Anybody Out There
• Justin Bieber - Boyfriend

The Countdown: 

1. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#1) [Fifth Week at #1]

2. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#4)

3. Gotye feat. Kimbra- Somebody That I Used to Know (#5)

4. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#3)

5. Train- Drive By (#7)

6. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#6)

7. Carly Rae Jepsen- Call Me Maybe (#8)

8. Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa- Payphone (#16)

9. Usher- Scream (#12)

10. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#9)

11. Calvin Harris- Feel So Close (#10)

12. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#13)

13. Havana Brown feat. Pitbull- We Run the Night (#15)

14. Gavin DeGraw- Sweeter (#27)

15. Cher Lloyd- Want U Back (#20)

16. Andy Grammer- Fine By Me (#21)

17. David Guetta feat. Sia- Titanium (#26)

18. The Cab- La La (#18)

19. Gym Class Heroes feat. Ryan Tedder- The Fighter (#17)

20. The All-American Rejects- Walk Over Me (#14)

21. Chris Rene- Young Homie (#19)

22. Alex Clare- Too Close (#36)

23. Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (#2)

24. Lucas Prata feat. Lenny B- First Night of My Life (#22)

25. Imagine Dragons- It's Time (#38)

26. B.o.B- So Good (#45) 

27. Demi Lovato- Give Your Heart a Break (DEBUT)

28. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#32)

29. Sammy Adams- Only One (#24)

30. Taylor Swift- Eyes Open (#11)

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

32. Adele- Set Fire to the Rain (#40)

33. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#28)

34. Mark Foster, A-Trak & Kimbra- Warrior (DEBUT)

35. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (#18)

36. Katy Perry- Part of Me (#30)

37. Flo Rida- Good Feeling (#33)

38. M83- Midnight City (#44)

39. David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj- Turn Me On (#41)

40. The Black Keys- Lonely Boy (#34)

41. Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull- Dance Again (#35)

42. Adele- Rumour Has It (#25)

43. B.o.B feat. Taylor Swift- Both of Us (DEBUT)

44. Gavin DeGraw- Not Over You (#42)

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

Biggest DDDDRRRROOOOPPPP!!!!!....of the week: Kelly Clarkson – Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) (-21)

Biggest Jump of the Week: B.O.B. – So Good (+19)

So somehow when we’re teetering on the brink of…..crappy music, the new entrants out-produced the exits, with all due respect to Bangarang.  I’m glad Boyfriend is gone….that week it jumped into the teens scared me, but it got the standard countdown Justin Bieber treatment with a quick exit.  In that respect, the voters treat all of his songs the same, good or bad.

Anyway, new music.  Demi Lovato – Give Your Heart a Break was the best song on Hit-Bound for a few weeks after the graduation of M83 – Midnight City.  Then, about a month ago, it got kicked off Hit-Bound (TRMNOB!??!?!), which is typically the say-all-end-all for any song getting to see the countdown.  However, this week it thankfully hopped on, all the way up at #27.  Kimbra has done a successful job of convincing me she’s weird as hell.  Best known (so far) for her role as the female singer in Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know, Kimbra recently released an album of her own, and we’re seeing her first countdown song in the form of Warrior.  It’s manages to be modern and 80’sesque at the same time, and the result is pretty decent.  I’m liking this one so far. 

B.O.B. Ft. Taylor Swift – Both of Us is the last new entrant.  Step 1) B.O.B. and Taylor Swift decide to collaborate on a song.  Step 2) Everyone says “wow….that’s an unexpected combination”.  Step 3) Hype Hype Hype.  Step 4) We’re stuck with it for at least 3 months.  Seriously, has anyone actually listened to this song?  B.O.B. is not a good rapper.  Taylor Swift is generally pretty average and was incapable of saving this song.  Both of Us is terrible, and debuts as the worst song on the countdown. 

Whew….I need a little cool-down mini-paragraph here……

Ahhhh much better.

B.O.B.’s better song, So Good was the Biggest Jump of the Week.  That’s undoubtedly because a different B.O.B. song debuted at #43, so they had to move it far away from that slot on the countdown.  I don’t understand this rule that has existed for as long as I’ve listened to this countdown.  I understand their desire to not play 2 songs by the same artist too soon after one another, but it sort of messes up the integrity of the ranking system.

Honestly, all in all, not a bad week.  Maroon 5 – Payphone made its Top-10 debut, Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know continues to tease by jumping back up to #3, and Train – Drive By is back in the Top 5.  And hey, M83 – Midnight City unexpectedly survived.  Pretty solid.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Maroon 5 – Payphone

2) Karmin – Brokenhearted

3) Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know

4) Imagine Dragons – It’s Time

5) David Guetta Ft. Sia - Titanium

fun. (4) - Week of May 12, 2012

We’re still in our Golden Age, but let me tell you, that status is more precarious than it’s ever been.  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:

• Jessie J – Domino (DTHNOBx2)
• Hot Chelle Rae – I Like It Like That

The Countdown:

1. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#1) [Fourth Week at #1]

2. Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (#4)

3. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#7)

4. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#2)

5. Gotye feat. Kimbra- Somebody That I Used to Know (#3)

6. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#9)

7. Train- Drive By (#10)

8. Carly Rae Jepsen- Call Me Maybe (#11)

9. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#12)

10. Calvin Harris- Feel So Close (#16)

11. Usher- Scream (#39) [Biggest Jump]

12. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#13)

13. The All-American Rejects- Walk Over Me (#20)

14. Havana Brown feat. Pitbull- We Run the Night (#31)

15. Taylor Swift- Eyes Open (#22)

16. Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa- Payphone (#17)

17. Gym Class Heroes feat. Ryan Tedder- The Fighter (#21)

18. The Cab- La La (#15)

19. Chris Rene- Young Homie (#14)

20. Cher Lloyd feat. Astro- Want U Back (#19)

21. Andy Grammer- Fine By Me (#26)

22. Lucas Prata feat. Lenny B- First Night of My Life (#27)

23. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (#24)

24. Sammy Adams- Only One (#41)

25. Adele- Rumour Has It (#32)

26. David Guetta feat. Sia- Titanium (#23)

27. Gavin DeGraw- Sweeter (#28)

28. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#5)

29. Skrillex feat. Sirah- Bangarang (#42)

30. Katy Perry- Part of Me (#6)

31. K'naan feat. Nelly Furtado- Is Anybody Out There? (#37)

32. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#30)

33. Flo Rida- Good Feeling (#35)

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

35. Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull- Dance Again (#18)

36. Alex Clare- Too Close (DEBUT)

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

38. Imagine Dragons- It's Time (DEBUT)

39. Justin Bieber- Boyfriend (#43)

40. Adele- Set Fire to the Rain (#8) [Biggest Drop]

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

42. Gavin DeGraw- Not Over You (#40)

43. September- Party in My Head (#29)

44. M83- Midnight City (#38)

45. B.o.B- So Good (#25)

Biggest DDDDRRRROOOOPPPP!!!!....of the week: Adele – Set Fire to the Rain (-32)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Usher – Scream (+28)

Two newbies to talk about this week.  I am a big fan of Imagine Dragons – It’s Time.  I was not optimistic about all of the potential new entrants to the countdown, this week, but It’s Time took a big leap forward and surprised me.  It’s got a pretty unique sound.  Alex Clare – Too Close is so dull and useless, it’s in commercials for Internet Explorer 9!  Ha!  Nerd joke!  But seriously, it’s the first pure undeniably weak new entrant in quite some time.  The most disappointing part of it is that the first 30 seconds (of the full, non-radio version) make you think it’s going to be awesome.  But most of the song is uninteresting, and the chorus is particularly terrible.

Unfortunately, songs like Too Close might be the way of the future.  I had the (dis)pleasure of listening to Hit-Bound last weekend, and there’s a lot of crap on the way.  A couple of decent songs, but mostly crap.  If the song rotation during this week is any indication, we’re in for a lot of new entrants this upcoming weekend.  Normally it’s exciting to talk about new music, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a situation where I’m lamenting the loss of a few winners to make room for garbage.  That’s not a write-up to get excited over.

All three of last week’s new entrants got the typical “2^nd week boost” and then some, jumping 28, 17, and 17 spots.  At the very least.  Usher – Scream and Havana Brown Ft. Pitbull – We Run the Night seem to have some staying power, collecting votes from people who treat their car like a dance club.

I’m ready for the fun. – We Are Young era to end.  It’s a good song, and at 4 weeks at the top spot, I think it’s gotten its due and then some.  Ideally I’d hope that none of the Top 3 are still in the Top 3 next week (despite all being good songs), but I’ve learned that it’s a pipe dream to root for songs on the countdown that have run their course to make a quick exit.

I originally labeled Karmin – Brokenhearted as a clone of the recently DTHNOBbed (x2!) Jessie J – Domino.  I feel like that’s still an apt comparison, but I was wrong about which one is superior.  It’s definitely Brokenhearted.

I’ll use this last paragraph as an (prebituary?) apology to B.O.B. – So Good.  I hate to admit it, but B.O.B. managed to put something out there that I liked (all by himself!!!!!).  I think the difference is that he carries the singing parts in that song.  He’s a terrible rapper, but a decent singer.  I feel like this song is going to get kicked out shortly to make room for his new duet with Taylor Swift.  But we’ll get to that.  I feel like I might need 500 words to cover that one…..

Enjoy this rotation of Hits-1 music while it lasts, kids.  It’s all going to crap in the next few weeks.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Maroon 5 – Payphone

2) Karmin - Brokenhearted

3) Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know

4) Imagine Dragons – It’s Time

5) M83 – Midnight City