So I was predicting that this week would actually be a little slower going in – after all, it didn’t look like the top ten was shifting at all, there wasn’t any major album releases on the horizon, we’d have another week in a holding pattern… and yet that’s not what we got, pretty much thanks to the record that never hit my schedule and that I would have had no interest in covering if it had. Yep, folks: this is the week of Bryson Tiller, accounting for half of the new arrivals… joy.
But before we get to that, let’s talk about our top ten – which as I said, barely shifted at all. Most of this seems to be a factor of nothing really breaking through the margins: ‘Despacito’ by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and the remix courtesy of Justin Bieber is holding #1 thanks to sales and streaming, and with its continued airplay fortunes, it seems secure at the top. And yet where I kept predicting that ‘That’s What I Like’ by Bruno Mars would fall off, it’s still at #2 on sales gains and airplay that’s hasn’t quite collapsed the way everyone predicted. I’d still say it’s vulnerable to ‘I’m The One’ by DJ Khaled and crew, but it’s still at #3 as radio traction is slow and it actually slipped on streaming despite a sales pickup. Granted, it’s not like ‘Humble’ by Kendrick Lamar is going to pass it at #4 – it also had a good sales week and I’m still amazed how strong its radio is, but overall on streaming it’s not quite the titan it used to be. What surprises me more is that ‘Shape Of You’ by Ed Sheeran still hasn’t fallen off here from #5 – yes, it had a decent sales week, but it’s still losing in every category… it’s just that the airplay margin it has is so large it prevents easy mobility. I still think ‘Mask Off’ by Future has a shot, though at #6 – streaming is stronger than ever, it picked up good sales… and yet the radio remains unstable. Then there’s ‘Stay’ by Zedd and Alessia Cara at #7 – no surprises, it’s got solid traction on radio and sales, I don’t see this moving. What I do see moving is ‘Something Just Like This’ by The Chainsmokers and Coldplay, holding #8 on good sales despite radio peaking and streaming only getting worse. But again, it’s holding over ‘XO Tour Llif3’ by Lil Uzi Vert at #9, which actually slipped on streaming this week despite monstrous YouTube. And finally – something which everyone thought I was going to get so angry about – our new #10 is ‘Congratulations’ by Post Malone and Quavo. And look, I don’t like Post Malone at all, I think he makes lifeless, lazy trap bangers that only highlights how mediocre of a rapper he is, but I honestly can’t see him sticking around much longer once the sales peter out, given that he has no radio traction, and I’d give more credit to Quavo pushing this up than anything else.
So on that promising note, losers and dropouts, and there aren’t really that many in the latter category worth mentioning: ‘At My Best’ by Machine Gun Kelly and Hailee Steinfeld, ‘Any Ol’ Barstool’ by Jason Aldean, and yet most surprisingly, ‘Chained To The Rhythm’ by Katy Perry and Skip Marley. In fact, this was a really bad week for Katy Perry all around, as ‘Bon Appetit’ with Migos crashed to 96 and ‘Swish Swish’ fizzled off its debut to 78 – none of which is a good sign for that album dropping in a few days. Granted, debuts and previous gains had a bit of a rough week here: ‘Bad Liar’ by Selena Gomez fell hard to 45, ‘Crying In The Club’ by Camila Cabello went to 61, and ‘Strip That Down’ by Liam Payne and Quavo lost to 65, although given the – in my opinion, unfair – buzz that last song got, I’m not surprised. Beyond that, the only other loser is ‘ELEMENT.’ by Kendrick Lamar continuing down to 96 – again, I’m surprised it lasted this long.
Then we cut to our gains and returning entries… and at least in the latter category, I’m not surprised, as the album boost lets ‘Me Enamore’ by Shakira return to 83 and ‘Peek A Boo’ by Lil Yachty and Migos rebound to 80, although given their critical reception I can’t say how long they’ll last. The gains are a little more odd here, though: sure, ‘Felices Los 4’ by Maluma going to 70, you expect that because of how well ‘Despacito’ is doing, but the rest of these? For one, why is ‘Weak’ by AJR gaining any traction at all to 86, or out of nowhere we got a boost for ‘Everyday We Lit’ by YFN Lucci and PnB Rock to 47. ‘Rolex’ by Ayo & Teo I get, we finally got the video, but with ‘Slow Hands’ by Niall Horan with the big boost to 33… I dunno, I still dig the song, I’m just surprised it picked up as much as it did, it’s not that good.
But really, everyone is here for me to talk about Bryson Tiller… but we aren’t getting to that yet in our new arrivals, starting instead with…