Billboard Overview - Week of 9/8/18

Hi everyone. This was actually a pretty interesting week for all the charts. Let's not waste any time and get right into it:

Hot 100
Out of the top 20:
25. Taylor Swift - Delicate (#19) [-6]
23. Drake - Nice For What (#17) [-6] {8 Weeks At #1}
22. Ed Sheeran - Perfect (#20) [-2] {6 Weeks At #1}

20. YG/2 Chainz/Big Sean/Nicki Minaj - Big Bank (#24) [+4]
19. Selena Gomez - Back To You (#23) [+4]
18. Post Malone/Ty Dolla $ign - Psycho (#16) [-2] {1 Week At #1}
17. Drake - Nonstop (#18) [+1]
16. Lil Baby/Drake - Yes Indeed (#14) [-2]
15. 5 Seconds of Summer - Youngblood (#15) [=]
14. Ariana Grande - no tears left to cry (#7) [-7]
13. Ella Mai - Boo'd Up (#13) [=]
12. DJ Khaled/Justin Bieber/Quavo/Chance The Rapper - No Brainer (#12) [=]
11. BTS/Nicki Minaj - IDOL (DEBUT)
10. Ariana Grande - God is a woman (#8) [-2]
9. Khalid/Normani - Love Lies (#11) [+2]
8. Tyga/Offset - Taste (#10) [+2]
7. Travis Scott - SICKO MODE (#9) [+2]
6. Juice WRLD - Lucid Dreams (#6) [=]
5. 6ix9ine/Nicki Minaj/Murda Beatz - FEFE (#4) [-1]
4. Post Malone - Better Now (#5) [+1]
3. Cardi B/Bad Bunny/J Balvin - I Like It (#3) [=] {1 Week At #1}
2. Maroon 5/Cardi B - Girls Like You (#2) [=]
1. Drake - In My Feelings (#1) [=] {8th Week At #1}

~Delicate drops out, it has a few more weeks left in it, and I'm pretty sure it's going to make the year-end list. Nice For What is a pretty big one, finally falling down, and it's declining kinda quickly so I'm not sure how much longer it'll be charting. And oh. My. God. Four spots until Perfect is gone. We can do it. Please.

~Before I talk about our entrants, In My Feelings won the song of the summer competition Billboard holds every year.

~Big Bank is back, and Back To You debuts, in the top 20. I've already talked about both these in other posts so let's get right into the big one....

~BTS is back. Because apparently America hates me. I tried to go into this with an open mind, but oh my God this song is awful. First of all, those synthesized trumpets are so grating. If you've got me thinking I would rather listen to the introduction of I Like Me Better then something is very, very, very wrong. Next, let's get into the lyrics, which Genius has kinda translated:

You can call me artist
You can call me idol

Will we still be calling you "idol" in three years when most people think a "BTS" is a pharmacy?

Whatever the reason for your criticism is

Oh shit who invited BTS to our Discord channel?

Keep on chit-chatting, saying this and that

"Song of the century" here folks.

You can't stop me lovin' myself

This line brings up the question: what differentiates BTS's lyrics from the lyrics of a brag-rapper? I'm serious, I think these guys could collab with Migos and I wouldn't be able to tell which group wrote the lyrics.

Oh-oh-owoah
Dunkiduk kungduruhruh
Ulssu

As this was not translated, I can only assume that whoever was writing this song fell asleep on their keyboard and BTS just decided to go with it.

I love myself, I love my fans

Well of course you love your fans they're the one reason anyone's ever heard of you guys.

Billboard 200:
Out of the top 10:
190. Aretha Franklin - 30 Greatest Hits (#6) [-184]
37. Cole Swindell - All of It (#7) [-30]
21. Young Thug - Slime Language (#9) [-12]

10. Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy (#10) [=] {1 Week At #1}
9. Juice WRLD - Goodbye & Good Riddance (#9) [=]
8. XXXTENTACION - 17 (#25) [+17]
7. Ozuna - Aura (DEBUT)
6. Post Malone - beerbongs & bentleys (#5) [-1] {3 Weeks At #1}
5. Nicki Minaj - Queen (#3) [-2] {0 Weeks Ahead of ASTROWORLD)
4. Ariana Grande - Sweetener (#1) [-3] {1 Week At #1}
3. Drake - Scorpion (#4) [+1] {5 Weeks At #1}
2. Travis Scott - ASTROWORLD (#2) [=] {2 Weeks At #1}
1. BTS - Love Yourself: Answer (DEBUT)

~All expected losses this week. Aretha crashes hard, Cole Swindell has a big drop and likely only has a couple more weeks with this album, and I don't think anyone really cares about Slime Language or Young Thug for that matter.

~XXXTENTACION's debut album jumps back into the top 10 because America hates good music apparently (just look at our #1).

~There's some albums where after listening to them I feel like "that was awful". Then there's the albums where I'm just have nothing to say and begin to ponder how it managed to debut top 10. That's kinda how I feel about Ozuna's Aura. I really can't give it a full review, all I can say is don't listen to it, it sucks.

~And now for realistically the only reason anyone is reading these posts, more BTS reviews. Yay? First of all, this is a 26 track album with only 9 new songs, one of which is a remix of another new song on the album. This brings up two questions:
1. Who wants to listen to one hour and forty-five minutes of BTS???? (for the record, I only listened to the new tracks, as I had heard many of the other ones before)
2. Who wants to listen to the same 17 awful tracks from the previous two albums??

So, I also want to take this opportunity to complain about BTS's beyond obnoxious fanbase. A few days ago, Nicki Minaj say that she wants to "punch Travis Scott in the face" because Queen didn't debut at #1. Frankly, not surprising from her at this point, but that's not what I'm trying to say. The "barbs" obviously defended her, but you know who else did? The fucking BTS army. Because she did a terrible remix of an already bad song with them. They commented things like "Good idea, he deserves to be punched for something like that".

And now, after nearly 200 words, I can finally talk about the quality of the actual music. It sucks. No surprises there. BTS has their typical mix of screeching, synthesized instruments with their incredibly processed voices over it. Jesus, it's no surprise that all the BTS fans I know are also AJR fans. Next up are the lyrics and oh my God they're terrible. You already saw my rant about IDOL earlier. Next, let's take on another song by the title of FAKE LOVE. I have heard "army" members call the lyrics "deep" and "meaningful" and say that "they really put all their heart into writing". Let's see for ourselves, shall we?

For you, I could pretend like I was happy when I was sad
For you, I could pretend like I was strong when I was hurt

One of the members of BTS found a thesaurus and looked up "antonyms".

This next section is what I like to call "8th Grade English Class Emo-Poetry":
I wish love was as perfect as love itself
I wish all my weaknesses could be hidden
I grew a flower that can't be bloomed in a dream that can't come true

This next part.... I laugh everytime I read the last line:
I wanna be a good man, just for you
I gave the world, just for you
I changed everything, just for you
But I dunno me, who are you?

I don't think I need to explain why these next lines suck:
I even became quite unsure of who I was
Try babbling into the mirror, who the heck are you?

Next is my personally favorite:
Love? What the heck is love? It's all fake love

I think I've done enough for now.

Artist 100
Out of the top 10:
44. Cole Swindell (#8) [-36]
27. Aretha Franklin (#2) [-25]

10. Ed Sheeran (#12) [+2] {11 Weeks At #1}
9. Cardi B (#10) [+1] {1 Week At #1}
8. Nicki Minaj (#6) [-2]
7. Imagine Dragons (#7) [=] {1 Week At #1}
6. XXXTENTACION (#13) [+7] {2 Weeks At #1}
5. Post Malone (#4) [-1] {2 Weeks At #1}
4. Ariana Grande (#1) [-3] {3 Weeks At #1}
3. Travis Scott (#5) [+2] {2 Weeks At #1}
2. Drake (#3) [+1] {31 Weeks At #1}
1. BTS (#9) [+8] {2nd Week At #1}

~I really wanted to put BTS in orange. I really did. But I couldn't quite bring myself to do it with another act who re-entered the top 10 this week...

~I've actually been enjoying some of Ed Sheeran's slightly older work (Sing, Don't) a lot recently so it's nice to see him back in the top 10.

~God dammit. I was not looking forward to awarding a best and worst week. BTS really should get best week. They got a #1 album, a #11 debut on the Hot 100, and took the top spot on the artist chart. But nope I'm giving to Drake as In My Feelings won Billboard's song of the summer competition. And frankly people will still remember In My Feelings in two years, and I can't say the same for BTS. Worst week goes to Nicki Minaj as Chun-Li exited along with her hopes of having a song on the year-end list.

Genres
Mainstream Top 40:
5. Selena Gomez - Back To You (#5) [=]
4. Cardi B/Bad Bunny/J Balvin - I Like It (#4) [=]
3. Khalid/Normani - Love Lies (#3) [=]
2. Maroon 5/Cardi B - Girls Like You (#1) [-1] {5 Weeks At #1}
1. Post Malone - Better Now (#2) [+1] {1st Week At #1}

~Better Now unsurprisingly takes the top spot as it rules pop radio. But I doubt it'll be here for very long as is appears to possibly peaked on radio already.

Hot Rock Songs:
Out of the top 5:
OUT. Imagine Dragons - Whatever It Takes (#5) [17 Weeks At #1] {!!!}

5. lovelytheband - broken (#6) [+1]
4. Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still (#4) [=] {5 Weeks At #1}
3. Imagine Dragons - Believer (#2) [-1] {29 Weeks At #1}
2. Imagine Dragons - Thunder (#3) [+1] {24 Weeks At #1}
1. Imagine Dragons - Natural (#1) [=] {3rd Week At #1}

~We finally lost Whatever It Takes due to recurrents as it fell out of the top 5. I would like to see all songs not in green suffer the same fate very soon.

Hot Latin Songs:
Out of the top 5:
6. Becky G/Natti Natasha - Sin Pijama (#5) [-1]

5. Daddy Yankee - Dura (#4) [-1]
4. Nicky Jam & J Balvin - X (#3) [-1] {3 Weeks At #1}
3. Ozuna - Unica (#8) [+5]
2. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber - Despacito (#1) [-1] {53 Weeks At #1}
1. Way Too Many Artists - Te Bote (#2) [+1] {11 Weeks At #1}

~Despacito must leave now please.

~While listening to Unica for this post, at multiple points and I zoned out and forgot what I was listening to. That should give you a good idea of how I feel about the whole album.

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs:
5. Juice WRLD - Lucid Dreams (#5) [=]
4. 6ix9ine/Nicki Minaj/Murda Beatz - FEFE (#3) [-1]
3. Post Malone - Better Now (#4) [+1]
2. Cardi B/Bad Bunny/J Balvin - I Like It (#2) [=] {1 Week At #1}
1. Drake - In My Feelings (#1) [=] {8th Week At #1}

~FEFE, please keep falling.

Hot Dance/Electronic Songs:
Out of the top 5:
OUT. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay - Something Just Like This (#5) [25 Weeks At #1] {!!!}
6. Clean Bandit/Demi Lovato - Solo (#4) [-2]

5. Kygo/Miguel - Remind Me To Forget (#6) [+1]
4. Marshmello/Bastille - Happier (#7) [+3]
3. Tiësto & Dzeko/Preme/Post Malone - Jackie Chan (#3) [=]
2. Calvin Harris/Dua Lipa - One Kiss (#2) [=]
1. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey - The Middle (#1) [=] {31st Week At #1}

~Solo fell because it's flopping in America. And Something Just Like This finally left due to recurents. I still like the song, but it had been very overdue.

~I've never really given Remind Me To Forget a full review so here we go: it's a bit of a re-hash of It Ain't Me, not quite as good, still enjoyable.

~Happier is here now because Marshmello is an annoyingly big name in EDM now.

Hot Country Songs:
Out of the top 5:
8. Brett Young - Mercy (#4) [-4] 

5. Luke Bryan - Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset (#7) [+2]
4. Jason Aldean/Miranda Lambert - Drowns The Whiskey (#3) [-1]
3. Florida Georgia Line - Simple (#5) [+2]
2. Dan + Shay - Tequila (#2) [=]
1. Bebe Rexha/Florida Georgia Line - Meant To Be (#1) [=] {40 Weeks At #1}

~Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset is a cute, catchy song. I'm not dying for it to be a hit, but I wouldn't mind if it became one.

Best Chart: Mainstream Top 40 (only chart with 5 greens)
Worst Chart: Hot Latin Songs (bad #1, old #2, bad #3)