Fall Out Boy - Week of November 23, 2013

Bit of a sudden rise to the top, as Fall Out Boy - Alone Together took just 2 weeks to ascend from #18 to #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.

• Krewella - Live For The Night (DTHx2)
• Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Same Love (DTHx2)

The Countdown:

1. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#4) [First Week at #1]

2. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#1)

3. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#6)

4. Katy Perry – Roar (#3)

5. Lorde – Royals (#2)

6. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#5)

7. Lady Gaga – Applause (#8)

8. MKTO – Classic (#7)

9. Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night (#15)

10. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#9)

11. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#16)

12. Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster (#19)

13. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#12)

14. Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie - This Is What It Feels Like (#27)

15. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#14)

16. Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber (#41)

17. Katy Perry – Unconditionally (#18)

18. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#17)

19. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#20)

20. One Direction - Story Of My Life (#28)

21. Lady Gaga Ft. R. Kelly - Do What U Want (#23)

22. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#10)

23. Icona Pop – All Night (#13)

24. OneRepublic - Counting Stars (#34)

25. Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness (#11)

26. New Politics – Harlem (#22)

27. John Newman – Love Me Again (#31)

28. Panic! At The Disco - Miss Jackson (#36)

29. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (#25)

30. Capital Cities – Safe and Sound (#30)

31. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#33)

32. Maroon 5 – Love Somebody (#38)

33. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#29)

34. Paramore – Still Into You (#32)

35. Serebro - Mi Mi MI (#35)

36. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#26)

37. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#37)

38. The 1975 – Chocolate (#40)

39. Flo Rida - How I Feel (DEBUT)

40. Cher Lloyd – I Wish (#24)

41. Wax – Rosana (#21)

42. Pink – True Love (#42)

43. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – White Walls (DEBUT)

44. Bruno Mars – Gorilla (#44)

45. Zedd Ft. Foxes – Clarity (#39)

Biggest DDDDDRRRRROOOOOPPPP!!!!...of the week: Wax - Rosana (-20)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber (+25)

Parts of Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - White Walls (including the chorus) have a beat with very similar pacing to that of Phil Collins - Home.  Those are the parts of the song that work best, but the remainder is something of a letdown.  My first impression of Flo Rida - How I Feel is a positive one, though Flo Rida's recent past renders any optimism fairly cautious.  Therefore, I'm not going to put a snap judgement on this one.  Flo Rida is somewhat guilty of making the verses sound pretty similar across his songs, but his trademark quick flow ("flo?") is slowed down a little bit for How I Feel, and that, coupled with the more-interesting-than-usual background music, gives me at least some hope that the relative uniqueness here will make it a winner long-term.

Third Degree Blurbs

- Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Same Love and Krewella - Live For the Night were apparently resurrected for a one-week-only farewell tour.

- Spyder Harrison abandoned his "songs we're saying good-bye to" in favor of "songs leaving" this week.  I'm not sure I've heard him do that before.  This is the sort of hard-hitting, need-to-know news that you come here every week to read.

- Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay The Night is our lone new Top-10 song this week...it's growing on me a bit and seems to be doing so as well with the Wutchuwant crew.

- Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster seems poised to begin an extended stay in the Top 10.

- From all 1 of us here at the Sirius XM Hits 1 Weekend Countdown Review, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Editor's Picks - Top 5 Songs

1) Hunter Hayes - I Want Crazy

2) Imagine Dragons - Demons

3) Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber

4) Lady Gaga Ft. R Kelly - Do What U Want

5) Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay The Night

Avicii (4) - Week of November 16, 2013

One still gets the feeling that things are about to turn around, but for the time being, we’re still waiting.  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.

• Labrinth Ft. Emeli Sande - Beneath Your Beautiful
• Taylor Swift Ft. Ed Sheeran - Everything Has Changed
• Jesse McCartney - Back Together
• Avril Lavigne - Rock and Roll
• Tegan and Sara - Closer (DTHx2)

The Countdown:

1. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#2) [Fourth Week at #1]

2. Lorde – Royals (#1)

3. Katy Perry – Roar (#4)

4. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#18)

5. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#8)

6. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#3)

7. MKTO – Classic (#6)

8. Lady Gaga – Applause (#9)

9. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#11)

10. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#10)

11. Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness (#17)

12. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#20)

13. Icona Pop – All Night (#21)

14. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#12)

15. Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night (#43)

16. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#7)

17. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#31)

18. Katy Perry – Unconditionally (#15)

19. Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster (#33)

20. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#22)

21. Wax – Rosana (#23)

22. New Politics – Harlem (#28)

23. Lady Gaga Ft. R. Kelly - Do What U Want (#35)

24. Cher Lloyd – I Wish (#24)

25. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (#29)

26. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#14)

27. Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie - This Is What It Feels Like (#39)

28. One Direction - Story Of My Life (#26)

29. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#37)

30. Capital Cities – Safe and Sound (#16)

31. John Newman – Love Me Again (#19)

32. Paramore – Still Into You (#5)

33. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#41)

34. OneRepublic - Counting Stars (DEBUT)

35. Serebro - Mi Mi MI (#25)

36. Panic! At The Disco - Miss Jackson (DEBUT)

37. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#13)

38. Maroon 5 – Love Somebody (#34)

39. Zedd Ft. Foxes – Clarity (#27)

40. The 1975 – Chocolate (#38)

41. Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber (DEBUT)

42. Pink – True Love (#36)

43. Krewella – Live For The Night (RE-ENTRY)

44. Bruno Mars – Gorilla (#42)

45. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Same Love (RE-ENTRY)

Biggest DDDDRRRRRROOOOPPPPPP!!!!!....of the week: Paramore – Still Into You (-27)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams – Stay the Night (+28)

Two resurrections this week, Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Same Love and Krewella – Live For The Night are both back, so three newbies.  I am surprised that this the first time Panic! At the Disco has appeared on the countdown (at least since I started following it in late 2009), given that they seem fairly popular.  I thought upon seeing the title that Miss Jackson was going to be a reboot of the Outkast tune to some degree, but instead it turned out to be a unique, Fall Out Boy-esque tune.  It’s passable.

OneRepublic has churned out a lot of famous pop music despite a general lack of catchiness or general interestingness inherent in their tunes.  For the most part, their music is lethargic and there’s not all that much life to Ryan Tedder’s singing voice.  Counting Stars struck me as something of a surprise because it was a little bit more upbeat and had a little more bounce and rhythm to it.  I can’t really peg a long-term look on it yet, but it’s probably grabbed my attention more than any other song they’ve produced.  Even if I want it to go away 30 spins later, it’s still a step in the right direction for a band sorely in need of changing their sound.

Pitbull and Ke$ha teamed up to produce our third new entrant, Timber.  Timber is a harmonica-laden jam that gets some bonus points for uniqueness.  Ke$ha is featured on the chorus, and given my usual disdain for Pitbull, I kind of assumed that it would be one of those situations where I could just tune out for the verses, but I think they actually put together a decent, cohesive piece of work on this one.  Approval.

Blurbage Disposal

- Fall Out Boy – Alone Together ascended to the Top 5.  I’ve reversed course on my original impression of this one, but that’s not to say I think it should reach the heights that it has.

- Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight also strikes me as a somewhat surprising new entrant.  I don’t listen to mainstream radio all that much, but I can’t imagine that this one’s getting spun all that often outside of Hits-1.  I’ve never heard it anywhere else.

- Early signs are that Serebro – Mi Mi Mi isn’t going to catch on, but an early drop like this can be misleading.  I sure hope not.

- Neighborhood – Sweather Weather and Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness are knocking on the door of the Top 10, which is great, because I’ve been saying for weeks now that the top of the countdown could use an infusion of boring.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy

2) Imagine Dragons – Demons

3) Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha – Timber

4) Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie – This Is What It Feels Like

5) Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams – Stay the Night

Lorde - Week of November 9, 2013

Those big changes that were on the horizon?  They’re here.  Lorde sits atop the countdown for the very first time.  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.

• Daft Punk - Get Lucky (DTHx2)
• Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Same Love
• Britney Spears - Work B**ch
• Robin Thicke - Give It 2 U
• Krewella - Live For The Night

The Countdown:

1. Lorde – Royals (#3) [First Week at #1]

2. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#2)

3. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#40)

4. Katy Perry – Roar (#1)

5. Paramore – Still Into You (#7)

6. MKTO – Classic (#10)

7. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#11)

8. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#8)

9. Lady Gaga – Applause (#4)

10. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#14)

11. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#12)

12. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#20)

13. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#6)

14. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#9)

15. Katy Perry – Unconditionally (#17)

16. Capital Cities – Safe and Sound (#5)

17. Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness (#25)

18. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#24)

19. John Newman – Love Me Again (#13)

20. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#36)

21. Icona Pop – All Night (#15)

22. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#16)

23. Wax – Rosana (#18)

24. Cher Lloyd – I Wish (#22)

25. Serebro - Mi Mi MI (DEBUT)

26. One Direction - Story Of My Life (#33)

27. Zedd Ft. Foxes – Clarity (#35)

28. New Politics – Harlem (#34)

29. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (#29)

30. Labrinth Ft. Emeli Sande – Beneath Your Beautiful (#31)

31. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#23)

32. Taylor Swift Ft. Ed Sheeran – Everything Has Changed (#28)

33. Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster (DEBUT)

34. Maroon 5 – Love Somebody (#38)

35. Lady Gaga Ft. R. Kelly - Do What U Want (DEBUT)

36. Pink – True Love (#42)

37. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#32)

38. The 1975 – Chocolate (#44)

39. Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie - This Is What It Feels Like (DEBUT)

40. Jesse McCartney – Back Together (#30)

41. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#39)

42. Bruno Mars – Gorilla (#26)

43. Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night (DEBUT)

44. Avril Lavigne – Rock N Roll (#19)

45. Tegan & Sara – Closer (#41)

Biggest DDDDRRRRROOOOPPPPP!!!!....of the week: Avril Lavigne – Rock and Roll (-25)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Imagine Dragons – Demons (+37) (not a typo)

There are bad songs that enter the countdown, like Enrique Iglesias – Turn the Night Up, and then there are songs that truly make me weep for the future of mankind, like Serebro – Mi Mi Mi.  No, that isn’t the device that Professor X uses to locate other mutants, it’s a girl group from Russia that’s showing up here….to increase noise pollution, I guess?  Mi Mi Mi has some explicit lyrics, but a sing-songy melody that's tailor-made for children who like obnoxious music.  There's a great combination.

Last time Eminem and Rihanna teamed up, we got one of the best songs of 2010 in Love the Way You Lie.  Their latest, The Monster, doesn’t quite hit that height, but it’s good, and it’s a welcome relief after the disaster that was Berzerk.  Apparently Eminem feels he has a lot in common with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.  Who knew?  For the moment, anyway, I’m not over the top in love with Lady Gaga Ft. R. Kelly – Do What U Want (heh….this whole “you” = “U” thing sure is fascinating to today’s pop artists), but it does put the classic, addictive Gaga singing voice and pacing back on display, something we haven’t seen in quite some time.  And hey, R. Kelly is alive!  So there’s that.  Unfortunately, his contribution to Do What U Want is the worst part of the song, except for that last bit that makes for an excellent transition to a chorus.  Thanks for The World’s Greatest, though.  That was a cool thing to give to the planet.

Dutch DJ Armin van Buuren debuted this week with This Is What It Feels Like, featuring Trevor Guthrie.  There’s nothing really objectionable about it….lively beat, pretty melodious on the whole, but I have trouble seeing it hold value long-term, because it really lacks any semblance of a “high point”.  The same piano-esque line is played throughout the song, and it switches off accompanying it with an underlying beat, but there’s not a lot of room for variety.  By the time the song ends, it feels repetitive even though you’ve only heard it once.  I’ve dismissively called songs “repetitive” here before, but usually they don’t sound quite as good as This Is What It Feels Like.  For that reason, judgment really needs to be withheld on this one for the time being.

Those who are over-the-top sick of Clarity might find themselves pretty disappointed to find out that Zedd has parlayed his breakout hit into another countdown entry, Stay the Night, featuring Hayley Williams of Paramore.  As mentioned on HitBound, the lyrics were literally written in a day by Hayley Williams, and it was the day before the song was recorded.  This is how easy it is for these people to make music that winds up on the charts.  Yikes.  Stay the Night is somewhat staccato in places, and I’m not sure that really works all that well.  However, much like he did with the relatively unknown Foxes, Zedd did a pretty good job with the voice of the star-keeps-rising Williams.  Any sort of apples-to-apples comparison to Clarity is pretty much impossible at this point since Stay the Night is new and I’ve heard Clarity like 200 times, but we’ll do our best in a month and a half when it’s time to decide on such things.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Blurbs

- So my words last week about big changes were true.  But look!  Tegan and Sara – Closer is still here!  

- The big news this week is clearly the out-of-nowhere ascent of Imagine Dragons – Demons all the way to the Top 3.  At this point it should be clear that I find this to be a very welcome development.

- Demons moving into the Top 3, of course, necessitated Radioactive being bumped out of the Top 10, because we all know how the countdown doesn't allow songs by the same artists to be anywhere close to each other on the countdown.  You can sort of see the same thing happening with Fall Out Boy right now.

- Sometimes Hits-1 seems to either be far ahead of, or far behind the more mainstream charts, but this time they seem to be right on target with Lorde – Royals, which hit #1 for the first time the very same week that it did so on the American Top 40.

- Despite my generally positive thoughts on 4 of the 5 new entrants, none of them have really grabbed my attention enough to merit a spot on my personal Editor’s Picks.  For the time being.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy

2) Imagine Dragons – Demons

3) Avril Lavigne – Rock and Roll

4) New Politics – Harlem

5) Jesse McCartney – Back Together

Katy Perry (6) - Week of November 2, 2013

Bit of a transition week here.  Not much going on, but some big changes look to be on the horizon, and that’s more than welcome.  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.

• Eminem - Berzerk

The Countdown:

1. Katy Perry – Roar (#2) [Sixth Week at #1]

2. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#1)

3. Lorde – Royals (#7)

4. Lady Gaga – Applause (#4)

5. Capital Cities – Safe and Sound (#9)

6. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#34)

7. Paramore – Still Into You (#5)

8. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#8)

9. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#3)

10. MKTO – Classic (#6)

11. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#37)

12. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#10)

13. John Newman – Love Me Again (#14)

14. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#15)

15. Icona Pop – All Night (#22)

16. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#17)

17. Katy Perry – Unconditionally (#33)

18. Wax – Rosana (#19)

19. Avril Lavigne – Rock N Roll (#31)

20. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#19)

21. Daft Punk – Get Lucky (#20)

22. Cher Lloyd – I Wish (#38)

23. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#24)

24. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#11)

25. Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness (#16)

26. Bruno Mars – Gorilla (#25)

27. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Same Love (#12)

28. Taylor Swift Ft. Ed Sheeran – Everything Has Changed (#13)

29. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (#28)

30. Jesse McCartney – Back Together (#27)

31. Labrinth Ft. Emeli Sande – Beneath Your Beautiful (#40)

32. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#32)

33. One Direction - Story Of My Life (DEBUT)

34. New Politics – Harlem (#35)

35. Zedd Ft. Foxes – Clarity (#18)

36. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#23)

37. Britney Spears – Work B**ch (#26)

38. Maroon 5 – Love Somebody (#42)

39. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#30)

40. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#29)

41. Tegan & Sara – Closer (#41)

42. Pink – True Love (#44)

43. Robin Thicke – Give It 2 U (#43)

44. The 1975 – Chocolate (#21)

45. Krewella – Live For The Night (#36)

Biggest DDDDDRRRRROOOOPPPP!!!!....of the week: The 1975 – Chocolate (-23)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (+28)

The lone new entrant is from a group putting their 7^th song on the countdown since November of 2011, One Direction.  Story of My Life is one of their better ones, they strayed from the typical “boy band” sound and actually cooked in some decent instrumentals.  When I first heard it, I was disappointed, but I think that’s mostly because this is a group that’s conditioned me for that particular emotion since the heights of What Makes You Beautiful.

Breaking Blurb

- Even Spyder Harrison’s call-in guest DJ acknowledged how ridiculous it was that I Need Your Love made it’s huge leap back into the Top 10

- It looks like we’re not far away from Lorde – Royals taking over the countdown, though I’ve been wrong about such impressions before.

- Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light ‘em Up) made just as ridiculous a leap as I Need Your Love.  I really don’t want to dislike that song, but Hits-1 is making that goal increasingly difficult

- I genuinely had a very pleasant experience listening to HitBound this past weekend….there’s some decent stuff that could make the jump in the next couple weeks.  Maybe it was refreshing to hear something new and interesting for a change.  Then again, maybe it’s not the “new”-ness of it all that was refreshing….after all, there’s been a relatively decent rate of turnover on the countdown lately.

- We’ve entered November and there haven’t been any over-the-top spectacular songs on the countdown in 2013…..it certainly seems at this point that my #1 song of the year will dip in quality for the 2^nd straight year, but who knows what the rest of this month has in store.  I also go on a major listening binge towards the end of the year to make sure I’ve got my rankings right, and sometimes that makes me realize the hidden value of some of the stuff you see here.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy

2) Imagine Dragons – Demons

3) MKTO – Classic

4) Avril Lavigne – Rock and Roll

5) New Politics - Harlem

Avicii (3) - Week of October 26, 2013

We are not heading in a good direction here, everyone.  Times are tough.  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:

• Mika Ft. Ariana Grande - Popular Song
• Phillip Phillips - Gone Gone Gone
• Train Ft. Ashley Monroe - Bruises
• Karmin - Acapella (DTHx2)
• Awolnation - Sail (DTHx2)

The Countdown:

1. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#1) [3rd Week at #1]

2. Katy Perry – Roar (#2)

3. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#3)

4. Lady Gaga – Applause (#4)

5. Paramore – Still Into You (#7)

6. MKTO – Classic (#10)

7. Lorde – Royals (#9)

8. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#8)

9. Capital Cities – Safe and Sound (#5)

10. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#21)

11. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#11)

12. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Same Love (#16)

13. Taylor Swift Ft. Ed Sheeran – Everything Has Changed (#12)

14. John Newman – Love Me Again (#23)

15. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#17)

16. Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness (#14)

17. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#20)

18. Zedd Ft. Foxes – Clarity (#6)

19. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#22)

20. Daft Punk – Get Lucky (#29)

21. The 1975 – Chocolate (#15)

22. Icona Pop – All Night (#27)

23. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#26)

24. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#13)

25. Bruno Mars – Gorilla (#31)

26. Britney Spears – Work B**ch (#32)

27. Jesse McCartney – Back Together (#28)

28. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (DEBUT)

29. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#33)

30. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#34)

31. Avril Lavigne – Rock N Roll (#39)

32. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#40)

33. Katy Perry – Unconditionally (DEBUT)

34. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#38)

35. New Politics – Harlem (DEBUT)

36. Krewella – Live For The Night (#36)

37. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#30)

38. Cher Lloyd – I Wish (DEBUT)

39. Wax – Rosana (DEBUT)

40. Labrinth Ft. Emeli Sande – Beneath Your Beautiful (#37)

41. Tegan & Sara – Closer (#42)

42. Maroon 5 – Love Somebody (#41)

43. Robin Thicke – Give It 2 U (#18)

44. Pink – True Love (#19)

45. Eminem – Berzerk (#25)

Biggest DDDDDDDRRROOOPPPPP!!!!!....of the week: Tie between Robin Thicke – Give It 2 U and Pink – True Love (-25)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Selena Gomez – Slow Down (+11)

As one might have guessed from my rather dour intro, we’re not looking at a great smattering of new music this week.  After Turn the Night Up, I was most certainly horrified at the prospect of another Enrique Iglesias song jumping into my life.  You don’t expect bad things to happen to you, but here we are.  Heart Attack is no disaster, but it’s relatively flavorless and will shortly descend into station-changing fodder once whatever novelty it has wears off.  My wife has turned off Wax - Rosana every time it has come on the radio, so I had to YouTube it today to actually learn what it sounds like.  Rosana is oft-obnoxious and probably about as explicitly vulgar as any music you’ll ever hear on a pop radio station.  I thought I’d over-the-top hate it (and let me be clear here, I don’t think it’s good), but I can sort of relate to why people like it (I mean, for it to appear on the countdown, supposedly someone, somewhere must like it).  It’s got a somewhat catchy hook that likely bailed it out of Bottom-5-of-2013 status.

I’ve been exposed to a lot of Katy Perry’s new album, and it unfortunately looks like Roar is going to the best of the bunch.  Sorry folks.  On Hits-1, she mentioned Unconditionally being her favorite song off of Prism.  So at least one person likes it.  Unconditionally is remarkably bland...the quality of Katy Perry’s natural singing voice is easily the weakest aspect of her music, and this song is built off of showcasing it.  Given her complete lack of ability to perform any of her songs live at anywhere near album-quality, I truly pity anyone in the audience when she belts this one out in concert.

Cher Lloyd – I Wish is going to give the wrong idea to a lot of impressionable young people.  But I suppose the headline: “BREAKING: Pop Music Star Not a Good Role Model” won’t blow a lot of minds.  As far as a “how does it sound” perspective goes?  Actually not too bad at all.  But those lyrics are pretty much prohibitive to me giving it any sort of endorsement.  I probably like New Politics – Harlem the best out of any of the new entrants, as it’s been running through my head for most of this week, but look around….is this really any sort of compliment?

Blurbs of Engagement

- I could get used to this whole Robin Thicke – Give It 2 U fading from existence thing.  Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.  Or do.  I don’t care.

- In other “good riddance” news, Eminem – Berzerk slipped all the way to #45. 

- I’m seriously (::yawn::) bored….this entire list needs an overhaul at this point.  And we’re...uh...ummm.

- Selena Gomez – Slow Down entered the Top 10 for the first time this week, which uh…reflects a…flects a….uh…..323dfselfj2iho2

(::audible snoring::)

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) 2oi3jaof32kjf’23fsdfasdf

2) 2hoiuf2f3foi;23’1132prw2

3) ijkdslfakjdsvndvavfsadfa

4) aflkj;sfa’wefwearw23rfs

5) 43-itop;gtalkg;sfdsadfadsf

Avicii (2) - Week of October 19, 2013

The list of “songs that have been kicked off the countdown since Awolnation – Sail has been at least #40” grows by just one.  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.

• Demi Lovato - Made in the USA

The Countdown:

1. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc - Wake Me Up (#1) [Second Week at #1]

2. Katy Perry - Roar (#2)

3. Imagine Dragons - Radioactive (#6)

4. Lady Gaga - Applause (#4)

5. Capital Cities - Safe and Sound (#3)

6. Zedd Ft. Foxes - Clarity (#17)

7. Paramore - Still Into You (#8)

8. Olly Murs - Dance With Me Tonight (#13)

9. Lorde - Royals (#18)

10. MKTO - Classic (#11)

11. Fall Out Boy - Alone Together (#14)

12. Taylor Swift Ft. Ed Sheeran - Everything Has Changed (#5)

13. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz - Rough Water (#19)

14. Lana Del Ray Ft. Cedric Gervais - Summertime Sadness (#12)

15. The 1975 - Chocolate (#10)

16. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Same Love (#7)

17. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki - A Light That Never Comes (#16)

18. Robin Thicke - Give It 2 U (#43)

19. Pink - True Love (#9)

20. The Mowgli's - Say It, Just Say It (#28)

21. Selena Gomez - Slow Down (#21)

22. Neighborhood - Sweater Weather (#20)

23. John Newman - Love Me Again (#31)

24. Mika Ft. Ariana Grande - Popular Song (#15)

25. Eminem - Berzerk (#24)

26. Hunter Hayes - I Want Crazy (#40)

27. Icona Pop - All Night (#33)

28. Jesse McCartney - Back Together (#23)

29. Daft Punk - Get Lucky (#35)

30. Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light 'em Up) (#32)

31. Bruno Mars - Gorilla (#34)

32. Britney Spears - Work B**ch (#27)

33. Imagine Dragons - Demons (#38)

34. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us (#41)

35. Phillip Phillips - Gone Gone Gone (#30)

36. Krewella - Live for the Night (#29)

37. Labrinth Ft. Emeli Sande - Beneath Your Beautiful (#36)

38. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding - I Need Your Love (#39)

39. Avril Lavigne - Rock and Roll (DEBUT)

40. Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell and T.I. - Blurred Lines (#22)

41. Maroon 5 - Love Somebody (#42)

42. Tegan & Sara - Closer (#45)

43. Train Ft. Ashley Monroe - Bruises (#26)

44. Karmin - Acapella (#37)

45. Awolnation - Sail (#44)

Biggest DDDDRRRROOOPPPP!!!!...of the week: Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell and T.I. – Blurred Lines (-18)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Robin Thicke – Give It 2 U (+25)

A lot of people think all of Chad Kroeger’s (of Nickelback) songs sound the same.  I however, think it’s his wife, Avril Lavigne, that at least of late, produces songs that sound the same.  At the very least, it seems like the quality range is pretty thin.  My reaction to pretty much all of Lavigne’s songs is, “Heh, that’s catchy.  I don’t love it, but I want to listen to it more.”  This is pretty much how I feel about Rock and Roll.  I need to remember to bookmark this so I can copy/paste this description the next time she comes out with something “new”.

Les Miserblurbs

- I was wondering when Lorde – Royals would finally make its way into the Top 10.

- Demi Lovato – Made In the USA becomes the latest victim of a swift countdown exit, lasting only 4 weeks. 

- So Robin Thicke – Give It 2 U is gonna be a thing now, huh.  Winter is coming……

- Train Ft. Ashley Monroe – Bruises has somewhat quietly descended all the way to the bottom of the countdown after surging all the way up until #12 a couple weeks ago.  I unfortunately doubt it has another surge in it.  This certainly feels like the end of the line.

- Other than the aforementioned Bruises and Rock and Roll, it’d be mighty nice if they somehow just axed everything else #34 and below before next weekend.  I am a greedy person.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Train Ft. Ashley Monroe – Bruises

2) Imagine Dragons – Demons

3) MKTO – Classic

4) Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy

5) Avril Lavigne – Rock and Roll

Avicii - Week of October 12, 2013

Not too much beating around the bush for Avicii and Aloe Blacc, spending only one week in the Top 5 before grabbing the crown from Katy Perry.  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.

• Florida Georgia Line - Cruise
• Bonnie McKee - American Girl
• Cody Simpson - Pretty Brown Eyes
• Bruno Mars - Treasure

The Countdown:

1. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc - Wake Me Up (#2) [First Week at #1]

2. Katy Perry - Roar (#1)

3. Capital Cities - Safe and Sound (#29)

4. Lady Gaga - Applause (#6)

5. Taylor Swift Ft. Ed Sheeran - Everything Has Changed (#16)

6. Imagine Dragons - Radioactive (#3)

7. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Same Love (#4)

8. Paramore - Still Into You (#7)

9. Pink - True Love (#14)

10. The 1975 - Chocolate (#10)

11. MKTO - Classic (#9)

12. Lana Del Ray Ft. Cedric Gervais - Summertime Sadness (#13)

13. Olly Murs - Dance With Me Tonight (#23)

14. Fall Out Boy - Alone Together (#15)

15. Mika Ft. Ariana Grande - Popular Song (#11)

16. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki - A Light That Never Comes (#39)

17. Zedd Ft. Foxes - Clarity (#8)

18. Lorde - Royals (#18)

19. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz - Rough Water (#22)

20. Neighborhood - Sweater Weather (#20)

21. Selena Gomez - Slow Down (#35)

22. Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell and T.I. - Blurred Lines (#28)

23. Jesse McCartney - Back Together (#21)

24. Eminem - Berzerk (#17)

25. Demi Lovato - Made in the USA (#19)

26. Train Ft. Ashley Monroe - Bruises (#12)

27. Britney Spears - Work B**ch (#24)

28. The Mowgli's - Say It, Just Say It (#37)

29. Krewella - Live for the Night (#30)

30. Phillip Phillips - Gone Gone Gone (#25)

31. John Newman - Love Me Again (#32)

32. Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light 'em Up) (#5)

33. Icona Pop - All Night (#26)

34. Bruno Mars - Gorilla (#27)

35. Daft Punk - Get Lucky (#40)

36. Labrinth Ft. Emeli Sande - Beneath Your Beautiful (#34)

37. Karmin - Acapella (RE-ENTRY)

38. Imagine Dragons - Demons (DEBUT)

39. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding - I Need Your Love (#38)

40. Hunter Hayes - I Want Crazy (DEBUT)

41. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us (#36)

42. Maroon 5 - Love Somebody (#41)

43. Robin Thicke - Give It 2 U (DEBUT)

44. Awolnation - Sail (#45)

45. Tegan & Sara - Closer (#42)

Biggest DDDDRRRROOOPPPPP!!!!....of the week: Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light ‘Em Up) (-27)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Capital Cities – Safe and Sound (+26)

We got ourselves a resurrection from Karmin – Acapella, so continuing the pattern of the last couple weeks, there’s only 3 new songs replacing the 4 exits.  Imagine Dragons – Demons has been around for a little bit and is excellent for plenty of reasons besides the absurdly catchy way that Dan Reynolds sings the words “kingdom come”.  If It’s Time was the song that helped get Reynolds out of depression, Demons hints at the lingering issues that likely caused it in the first place, without getting into too many specifics.  Demons feels a little bit like a good Coldplay song (yes, those are real).  Come to think of it, I think Reynolds actually sounds a good deal like Chris Martin during the verses of Demons.  Has anyone ever seen them in the same place!?!??!??!?!!!!1111!!!?!  Imagine Dragons has now produced 3 pretty good countdown songs (even if Radioactive got pretty stale when beaten to death) and all of them are pretty unique.  They’re cementing themselves as one of the better pop groups out there.

Hunter Hayes failed to crack the countdown after a previous foray into HitBound, but this time around he broke through with I Want Crazy.  Hayes is a country singer by trade, but pieces of this song feel like they were influenced by Irish music.  I Want Crazy is joyfully upbeat and will keep me coming back for more.  It’s a keeper.  ”Accomplished” “musician” “Robin Thicke" had that one song that did sorta good, so now he can make whatever he wants as a follow-up and it’ll get sorta popular because this is how the world works.  Give It 2 U actually resembles an actual song, unlike Blurred Lines, but outside of the semi-melodious chorus, it’s pretty much a waste.  Oh, and we didn’t want to spell out the last two words of the title, because it’s much kewler this way, amirite???

Once Upon a Blurb

- So just as Capital Cities – Safe and Sound looks like it’s on its way out, it gets launched all the way to #3, higher than it’s ever been on the countdown.  Isn’t logic great?  Sometimes you gotta love just how little sense these weekly rankings really make…they’re fickle as all hell.

- I’m a little sad about the short tenure of my Guilty Pleasure of 2013, Bonnie McKee – American Girl.  I guess the countdown gods wanted to appease my loss by bringing back another guilty pleasure to replace it in the form of Acapella.

- So….Awolnation – Sail and Tegan and Sara – Closer are just gonna float around the bottom 5 of the countdown forever, huh?  We’re all just gonna look the other way on that one?  Cool.  16 songs have been kicked off the countdown since Sail last saw #40.

- From the Dept. of “Big Fat Sack of “NO!!”, Taylor Swift Ft. Ed Sheeran – Everything Has Changed not only jumped into the Top 10 for the first time, it's at #5.

- Also in the Top 10 for the first time is Pink – True Love.  Though at least a little better than Everything Has Changed, it remains one of the worst-written songs of the year.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Imagine Dragons – Demons

2) Train Ft. Ashley Monroe – Bruises

3) MKTO – Classic

4) Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy

5) Karmin - Acapella