Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten (2018)

although that song would be much better if she stamped her feet, hollered and demanded more than a compromise

i don't really like the middlol. a bit confused that people seem to think of it as anything more than a rewrite of zedd's previous hit "stay", which was also merely fine. i suspect the overdrawn search for the right demo-vocal imitator, which was heavily publicized following the song's release, has lent it a little extra appeal over the prior iteration. since the nyt put out a feature about its creation, similar to the one they did on "where are ü now" a couple years back (altho i actually love that song), it has seemed nearly assured that this will be among the token 'pure pop' cuts that centrist-poptimist critics will be voting into pazz & jop (if it still exists) come year-end.

its definitely “stay” with a less paper-mothy vocal

"the middle" is so middle of the road, i would be shocked if it did well in pazz & jop or eoy lists generally

new to the top 10 since last update to this thread:

drake "nonstop"
drake "in my feelings"
drake "i'm upset"
drake "emotionless"
drake feat. mj "don't matter to me"
6ix9ine feat. nicki minaj & murda beatz "fefe"
tyga feat. offset "taste"
dj khaled feat. justin bieber, chance the rapper & quavo "no brainer"
travis scott "sicko mode"
travis scott "stargazing"
ariana grande "god is a woman"

almost all of them either debuted in the top 10 due to heavy streams right out of the gate (either as an album cut or, in the case of "fefe" and "no brainer", as standalone singles) or due to a massive streaming boost during the release week of a top-tier star's album ("god is a woman", "i'm upset"). the one exception is tyga's "taste" which steadily rose to the region based on strong streams and solid airplay gains courtesy of rap and crossover, but not pop radio.

many of those new top 10s would not stick around, with two of them ("emotionless" and "don't matter to me") having already fallen off the hot 100 entirely. of the ones that are likely sticking around, only "in my feelings" has been fully embraced at radio, with "fefe" and "sicko mode" still in the early-breaking stages, buoyed by their comfortable perches near the top of the streaming lists. ("no brainer" quickly became a bona fide radio hit but is not likely to stick around for long, as its sales and streaming stats are a bit tepid compared to last year's #1 hit "i'm the one", which had nearly the same artist roster.) "nonstop", which departed the top 10 immediately after its entry, is also seeing solid airplay gains and could return.

so what's actually gonna rise into, rather than debut in, the top 10? it wasn't tswift's "delicate", which stopped at #12 even tho it nearly topped the all-format airplay chart. no, nowadays you actually have to have decent streams (sales are nearly negligible).

right below the current top 10 is "love lies" by khalid and normani. it's been pulling respectable streaming numbers ever since its release back in february but was nearly ignored by radio for months and consequently spent the first 3 months of its charting career below the top 40. early in the summer crossover radio got firmly on board, with pop radio (surprise surprise!) holding out for another 2+ months after that. now that the airplay picture is finally in place and its streaming numbers remain as solid as they ever were, it may at long last get its chance to sneak into the top 10. this is its second week at #11.

other strong contenders: 5 seconds of summer's "youngblood" is #15 right now. who would have thought that they would actually get another hit, much less the biggest of their career? like "love lies", it had good streaming numbers from the get-go, but only took like 2 months to break at pop, compared to 6 months for "love lies".

"eastside" by benny blanco, khalid & halsey is #31. it too is aimed at pop radio, though still in early stages of breaking, and is already pulling strong streams. you may remember benny blanco as the dr. luke protege who co-wrote/-produced hits like "teenage dream" during the luke heyday.

yg's "big bank" reached as high as #16 so far and is currently #24. its commercial picture is similar to that of tyga's "taste" and i think it could rebound. tbh i'm rooting for it!

"breathin" by ariana debuted at #22 this week. it seems to be the public's fav from her new album based on streaming stats and is apparently being pushed to radio now even tho current single "god is a woman" is not fully established there.

i find myself wondering how far recent edm tunes to have hit the hot 100 will go. the calvin harris/sam smith collab "promises" has just debuted at #65, plus "jackie chan" (yes that one does rhyme its title with japan smfh), "solo" and "side effects" are all posting solid gains. particularly interested in the latter (which i actually kinda like!) because basically all of the chainsmokers' many singles have bombed since last year's coldplay collab. but honestly if "one kiss" could only reach #26, the ceiling for these might not be that much higher. who knows!

love these posts

jackie chan is very bad lyrically and someone should write skylar spence a check for its beat

oh great eminem as a new song in the top ten

two of them!

i think this album is more likely to spawn hits with actual longevity than his last few that failed to do so. his team must have finally gotten the memo that even eminem's white-rapper fanbase would prefer to hear him do a contemporary-sounding rap album rather than reiterate the skylar grey/alex da kid formula from like 10 years ago

Listened to the new Eminem song. Realized that every time I hear about the latest dumb-Alt-Right thing, Eminem is rapping somewhere in my subconscious.

I guess 8 out the top 10 songs are rap songs and that's completely normal now? wow!

i thought “lucid dreams” was the new twenty one pilots song when i first heard it

what an incredibly mean thing to say about JUICE WRLD

i gotta be me

conversely the new 21 pilots album is good and i can't see anything from it really ascending the charts

Juice WRLD is only a little bit better than 21 Pilots

xp

its success is unsurprising but i don't like "lucid dreams", it's meandering and adolescent and not even in a ~compelling way

now that radio has gotten on board it has finally reached a new (#2) peak. given that it still has a lot of room to grow in airplay it could rise all the way to the top. its early streaming momentum hasn't let up either, as it has returned to #1 on the streaming songs list.

post malone has just released a video for "better now" so its significant airplay advantage + the inevitable streaming spike could also catapult it to the top -- it's #3 now.

so basically, two songs that have basically the exact same aesthetic are next in line.

or "mona lisa" from lil wayne's album could crash in at the top, depending on just how huge its first-week streams ended up being.

i am kinda surprised that 21 pilots had no big hits before releasing their album! like i am not surprised "jumps00t" et al didn't connect in the long run but i figured they would have at least one surefire hit up their sleeve given how much they blew up with their last album.

of all the potential edm crossovers to go pop that i mentioned in an earlier post, it looks like none of them is going to really take off. it turns out the winner is marshmello's "happier" w/ bastille. it's getting, only semi-surprisingly for 2018, a lot of alternative play in addition to top 40 play. its sentimental dying-dog video has given it a big boost too.

i guess that song and imagine dragons new screamer ("natural") will be the representatives for 'rock' in the upper echelons of pop culture this fall. sorry 21 pilots :(

trying to catch up on this. i think i've fallen out of step with pop - nothing in the top ten is really grabbing me. but i was one of those who similarly tried and failed to hear the chart-topping qualities of "bodak yellow." "uproar" at least has some energy but it's all borrowed from "special delivery."

Weird how TAKI TAKI is the top 50 global song on spotify but in the hot 100 it’s all the way down in 27.

I predict one or two songs from the “a star is born” soundtrack will break into the top 10 in the following weeks. Probably “shallow”. They’re very different to current top radio but the movie has been getting oscar buzz and it has been doing quite alright in the box office.

“Taki Taki” is great! I think we should decide on which thread it belongs in.

Latin / reggaeton?

Sure, you’d think that would be the most logical place for it, but that thread has never been very pop/reggaeton-oriented (and has barely seen 10 posts this year). Maybe that should change.

I was also thinking of Rolling Pop. Posting it in both then.

(The song’s video actually dropped today - it might hit the US top 10 yet)

How about just using the soca or dancehall thread for pop-oriented reggaeton?

Doesn’t seem very logical to me? They are different genres?

Unless you’re thinking of creating a Rolling pan-Caribbean Pop thread - was it you or rob who advocated merging the dancehall and soca threads next year?