RIME's Billboard Impressions

Lately I've been following Billboard's Hot 100 chart, and while the charts admittedly don't change too much each week, I decided to make it easier for others to keep track of by keeping record of new and returning songs each week along with sometimes my impressions of them. I've also marked if I've taken the dive and listened to the whole song. Here goes!

Bold indicate songs currently in Hot 100

1/4/14
I Hold On / Dierks Bentley

Mine / Beyonce feat. Drake

(Full Listen) The Fox (What Does the Fox Say) / Ylvis - To quote Todd on Sexy and I Know It: "'But it's funny!' But it's not!". Why this was successful I'm not sure...maybe the ending scat, I hope?

Paranoid / Ty Dolla $ign feat. B.o.B.

Survival / Eminem

Waiting for Superman / Daughtry

Worst Behavior / Drake

Old School Love / Lupe Fiasco feat. Ed Sheeran

Everybody's Got Somebody But Me / Hunter Hayes feat. Jason Mraz

Bounce It / Juicy J. feat. Wale & Trey Songz

Perfume / Britney Spears

(Full Listen) Talk Dirty / Jason Derulo feat. 2 Chainz - Something about this reminds of that Burlesque song. Actually, this one's just cheesy enough, and the beat is good enough that I find myself liking it...that is, without 2 Chainz' verse, which is just crude and stupid. The Spanish pronunciation also causes me a bit of physical pain. With a DDR cut, it might be pretty good though.

Honest / Future

Bound 2 / Kanye West

See You Tonight / Scotty McCreery

All That Matters / Justin Bieber

H*lluva Life / Frankie Ballard

(Full Listen) Do I Wanna Know? / Arctic Monkeys - It's a bit indie, but the harmonies and the distorted guitar are quite nice.

Best Song Ever / One Direction

Alone Together / Fall Out Boy

Sunny and 75 / Joe Nichols

Up Down (Do This All Day) / T-Pain feat. B.o.B.

Underneath the Tree / Kelly Clarkson

(Full Listen) Berzerk / Eminem - The key sample ("and go berzerk!") does not work with the beat. Points for using The Stroke though, and this is one of the coolest of Eminem’s “funny” songs.

Let It Be / Tessanne Chin & Adam Levine

Compass / Lady Antebellum - One of the most fun of the country songs so far this year.

TKO / Justin Timberlake

We Were Us / Keith Urban & Miranda Lambert

I Luv This S*** / August Alsina feat. Trinidad James

Radio / Darius Rucker

Love Me Again / John Newman - Again, a unique sound. I think the orchestration is interesting. It’s a shame that the charts ended up rejecting it despite its slow climb.

Slow Down / Selena Gomez

The Language / Drake

Up All Night / Jon Pardi

(Full Listen) XO / Beyonce - This really deserves better, especially since it's the most friendly of the songs charting from Beyonce's latest album. Maybe it'll be right at home to rechart in the summer. (Oh, and there is most likely a DDR in the video!)

Friday Night / Eric Paslay

Little Drummer Boy / Pentatonix

Hey Brother / Avicii - It's not often that you hear long trumpet section in a midtempo dance song.

Don't Let Me Be Lonely / The Band Perry

(Full Listen) Let It Go / Demi Lovato - Sorry, you can't beat Idina in my mind. Funny how the movie version is doing better than the radio friendly version, and I see why. The key used here is less appealing, and her voice for (especially) the verses just seems too clean and almost bored. A couple of vocal effects don't help.

HeadBand / B.o.B. feat. 2 Chainz

Animals / Martin Garrix - I don’t know why choruses lately in Electro hits have been going minimalist (See “Thinking About You”), but I hope that trend changes soon. Still, this track is nice, and it’s cool to see a DJ this young make it big.

Bottoms Up / Brantley Gilbert

When She Says Baby / Jason Aldean

That's My Kind of Night / Luke Bryan - Country, but at least it has some energy

All of Me / John Legend

(Full Listen) Let it Go / Idina Menzel - Loved her in Wicked and Chess (2009); love her voice here as well, and the Disney instrumentation is great; reminds me of The Wizard and I from Wicked. To be honest, I'm surprised the music crew is more related to Avenue Q and Book of Mormon rather than the aforementioned musical; they definitely suceeded in evoking it, and I give special props to them for making an awesome lead in to the final verse.

Chillin' It / Cole Swindell - Country filler, eh.

Sweet Annie / Zac Brown Band

I Have Nothing / Tessanne Chin

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree / Brenda Lee - Well, it's a Christmas classic that recharts. Nothing to say.

(Full Listen) Replay / Zendaya - I swear, the chorus is a ripoff of The Other Side...why would you rip that off?

(Full Listen) Who You Love / John Mayer feat. Katy Perry - Acoustic? Katy Perry? It doesn't work as expected, with some of her mannerisms negatively influencing the song (autotunish harmonies on her verse). The horn bridge is nice, though the chorus is pretty repetitive. By the way, thanks to your music video, your acoustic initially got dismissed by me as country; are you trying to be ignored?

Carolina / Parmalee - Country? Nickelback-ish? Why?

Wasting All These Tears / Cassadee Pope

The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) / Nat King Cole - See the first song.

Best Day of My Life / American Authors - This one grew on me; it's got a good beat and whistle choir. I might step it eventually.

Drunk Last Night / Eli Young Band - It's country. On these charts, it just feels like filler.

(Full Listen) Safe and Sound / Capital Cities - This one also is pretty catchy with a fun video. It was fun to step.

(Full Listen) Marry Me / Jason Derulo - Sorry, but this relatively standard R&B beat and his falsetto do not work for me.

Whatever She's Got / David Nail - Some energy, but ultimately filler.

(Full Listen) Sail / AWOLNATION - Too abrasive for my taste, though I can see the appeal. I like the first half of the bridge along with the ambient harmonies and guitar, though the electro bass and lead vocals take away from it.

(Full Listen) Rap God / Eminem - I know I shouldn't think so, but I think it kind of works, except for the second verse and the length.

All Me / Drake feat. 2 Chainz & Big Sean - The featured artists don't give hope to listen to the whole thing, but at least the chorus sounds okay.

It Won't Stop / Sevyn Streeter feat. Chris Brown - Sounds standard

(Full Listen) Brave / Sara Bareilles - Grown on me; nice to see it rise up the pop charts

Drink a Beer / Luke Bryan - It's droll and it's country. ~yay~

Gas Pedal / Sage the Gemini feat. IAMSU! - It's droll and it's rap. ~yay~

Love More / Chris Brown feat. Nicki Minaj - Why does he keep doing dirty sexy songs, again?

(Full Listen) Radioactive / Imagine Dragons - It has some good energy, plus it's really popular around here.

Stay / Florida Georgia Line - I get Shinedown vibes from this; not sure how to feel

Show Me / Kid Ink feat. Chris Brown - New Year and Chris Brown is already in 3 hits. Even if I liked his music, oversaturation would happen regardless.

(Full Listen) Holy Grail / Jay Z feat. Justin Timberlake - This felt immature, especially the end of verse 3. There's also the whole issue that both Jay Z and Justin are very successful and are in no danger of being ruined like those they name drop, but everyone's already pointed that out.

(Full Listen) Blurred Lines / Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharell - Grg, how this was a hit last year...the beat's repetitive, and the lyrics are bad.

All I Want for Christmas is You / Mariah Carey - See “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”

(Full Listen) Applause / Lady Gaga - Love the energy in this one, so I naturally already stepped it.

My Hitta / YG feat. Jeezy & Rich Homie Quan - I correctly suspected from the beginning the radio version was censored, and it has a lot of "My Hitta" in it. Methinks I'll pass.

Unconditionally / Katy Perry - I can't get over the fact the chorus cheats on syllable emphasis with un*con*di*tion*ally.

Stay the Night / Zedd feat. Hayley Williams - Good beat, but I'm noticing I only like Hayley in Paramore. It’s almost as if Hayley the guest performer and Hayley the front of Paramore are separate entities.

(Full Listen) Pompeii / Bastille - Great chorus sample, though the lead singer's accent is quite off-putting.

(Full Listen) 23 / Mike Will Made-It feat. Miley Cyrus, Wiz Khalifa, & Juicy J. - Uh oh, guy responsible for a lot of songs I hate is trying to (sort of) make it on his own. Of all his singles, the only one I liked were Body Party and We Can't Stop, and both only for their instrumentals. As for the song, I have a few comments: what's with Mike's obsession with lowered pitch vocals? Only a few songs I've heard from the guy and I'm already tired of it. I also don't feel like this is the mood this was meant to evoke, since both Wiz and Miley are too "lightweight" to sell the idea of them being gangster and the cool, dark group that "you can't hang with", yet the music is trying, and ends up simply creating a dissonant tone.

(Full Listen) White Walls / Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. ScHoolboy Q & Hollis - Must not get confident for new artist...honestly I can already sense a downward trend. Then again, Can't Hold Us is a hard act to follow. I remain cautiously optimistic.

Team / Lorde

Sweater Weather / The Neighbourhood - Unique sound, if a little droll.

(Full Listen) Do What U Want / Lady Gaga feat. R. Kelly - Great beat, crass lyrics.

(Full Listen) Burn / Ellie Goulding - Not her best, but her voice still shines through.

(Full Listen) Dark Horse / Katy Perry feat. Juicy J - A bit odd, but mostly nice. I plan to step this in the future.

(Full Listen) Hold On, We're Going Home / Drake feat. Majid Jordan - The beat's nice with its ambience, and I can somehow extrapolate a positive meaning from the lyrics

Drunk in Love / Beyonce feat. Jay Z

Roar / Katy Perry - Bleh, it got overplayed and I definitely got sick of it.

Story of My Life / One Direction

(Full Listen) Wrecking Ball / Miley Cyrus - Well, the instrumental's got power? Cyrus' voice doesn't match it. She does try though, and I'll give her credit for that. For the record, I never really minded her singing voice.

(Full Listen) Wake Me Up! / Avicii - This one's fun. Aloe Bacc's vocals, the electro melody...it's all so catchy.

Let Her Go / Passenger - Ugh, that high pitched voice...

Demons / Imagine Dragons - Shouldn't have been a single, because, while anthemic, the music and lyrics just don’t match. Radioactive works because of its grim tone along with the little musical fringes that give a sense of desolation.

(Full Listen) Royals / Lorde - I think I understood the right message for this one without hypocrisy, and the song is a good minimalist type

(Full Listen) Say Something / A Great Big World feat. Christina Aguilera - Falls for the same trap as Too Close from 2 years back: a deep-sounding song about a mediocre breakup: "I don't feel experienced, and I should have you, but I shouldn't. Reply otherwise, or goodbye." It also reminds me of Let Her Go with its "love that's felt past the breakup" theme, and that's not a good sign.

(Full Listen) Counting Stars / OneRepublic - Very fun song with a great breakdown segment.

(Full Listen) Timber / Pitbull feat. KE$HA - Pretty fun beat, though a bit repetitive and the gag is pretty corny. It’s at least better than “Wild Wild Love” in that it has more energy and actually ties in to its gimmick.

(Full Listen) The Monster / Eminem feat. Rihanna - The chorus is a bit too radio-friendly, but the verses are great.

1/11/14
Lolly / Maejor Ali feat. Juicy J. & Justin Bieber

(Full Listen) Neon Lights / Demi Lovato - Long hair, o--o--o vocal beats, neon fringed hair and lips, and singing about you and a lover "shooting stars passing by"...wow, you're being very upfront about ripping off "Starships", aren't you? And just like "Replay" when it ripped off "The Other Side", I have to ask: WHY?! In any case, her teen vocal stylings don't do the song justice in this case, feeling like filler.

The Heart of Dixie / Danielle Bradbery

(Full Listen) Gorilla / Bruno Mars - I love the instrumentation of this one, though the lyrics really do suck at times.

Heart Attack / Enrique Iglesias

For the First Time in Forever / Kristen Bell & Idina Menzel

(Full Listen) Do You Want to Build a Snowman? / Kristen Bell, Agatha Lee Monn, & Katie Lopez - Not a bad song at all, but I have to be curious how this has had chart success. This is very much a story song, as opposed to the other Frozen songs on Billboard.

(Full Listen) Turn Down for What / DJ Snake & Lil' Jon - Nice Hindi-esque sound, not so nice Jon sound. The instrumentation's weird enough except for the somewhat plodding ending, and Lil Jon doesn't do much other than the title drop though, so it's pretty tolerable to be honest. It's a little repetitive, but a DDR cut would do it well.

(Full Listen) Adore You / Miley Cyrus - Why do the good instrumentations get wasted on her voice (except for the drum beat; that could be a decibel or 2 lower)? It gets close at points, but keeps getting taken down by Autotune twinges and standard Cyrus-isms.

1/18/14
Happy / Pharrell Williams - Verse 1 -> Chorus -> Verse 2 -> Chorus -> Bridge -> Chorus (x2) -> Bridge -> Chorus. Notice a little problem here? This song would be much better if the ending were less drawn out with the chorus.

19 You + Me / Dan + Shay

Young Girls / Bruno Mars

Drink to That All Night / Jerrod Niemann

Work B**** / Britney Spears

Love Don't Die / The Fray

The Man / Aloe Bacc - Nice to see him get another solo hit, though I don't think it could've happened without the Wake Me Up controversy. I like it.

1/25/14
Ride / SoMo

How I Feel / Flo Rida - I shouldn’t like this, but the sample and beat are pretty nice.

She Knows / J. Cole feat. Amber Coffman & The Cults

Give Me Back My Hometown / Eric Church

Get Me Some Of That / Thomas Rhett

Goodnight Kiss / Randy Houser

Partition / Beyonce

You Sound Good to Me / Lucy Hale

2/1/14
Oceans (Where Feet May Fall) / Hillsong United

Everything I Shouldn’t Be Thinking About / Thompson Square

Take Me Home / Cash Cash feat. Bebe Rexha

Thinking About You / Calvin Harris feat. Ayah Marar

Doin’ What She Likes / Blake Shelton

Rewind / Rascal Flatts

Loyal / Chris Brown feat. Lil’ Wayne & French Montana/Too $hort - “All the bull’s for the birds and you’re just a vulture” v.s. “Oh, these - ain’t loyal”...same message, same repugnance, and somehow even more simple and banal.

(Full Listen) Can’t Remember to Forget You / Shakira feat. Rihanna - I can't help but feel Rihanna is redundant in this song (since she's only a parallel/expy to the "narrator"), but it has a great beat. *Really* awkward video though, especially the butt-to-wall competition (?).

2/8/14
They Don't Know / Rico Love

Chocolate / The 1975

Collard Greens / ScHoolboy Q feat. Kendrick Lamar

Na Na / Trey Songz

Invisible / Hunter Hayes

El Perdedor / Enrique Iglesias feat. Marco Antonio Solis

Man Of The Year / ScHoolboy Q

Mmm Yeah / Austin Mahone Featuring Pitbull - This one’s unabashedly goofy, yet its confidence is endearing.

2/15/14
On Top of the World / Imagine Dragons

Can't Raise a Man / K. Michelle

A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young / Eric Church

m.A.A.d City / Kendrick Lamar feat. MC Eiht - Wow, this song has been around for exactly 1 week per year for 3 years straight: once during the album launch, second for some reason in the fall of 2012, and now thanks to the awesome collaboration medley with Radioactive.

Cop Car / Keith Urban

Confident / Justin Bieber feat. Chance the Rapper

Midnight Memories / One Direction

Follow Your Arrow / Kacey Musgraves

Odio / Romeo Santos feat. Drake

2/22/14
Beat of the Music / Brett Eldredge

Human / Christina Perri

The Worst / Jhene Aiko

3/1/14
Explosions / Ellie Goulding - I prefer Halcyon, but this is almost as good.

Classic / MKTO

You’re Mine (Eternal) / Mariah Carey

This is How We Roll / Florida Georgia Line feat. Luke Bryan

Achy Breaky 2 / Buck 22 feat. Billy Ray Cyrus

Stoner / Young Thug

Automatic / Miranda Lambert

Everything is AWESOME!! / Tegan & Sara feat. The Lonely Island - I know this has an undercurrent of sarcasm as the song, while uplifting, is about conformity, but the corny exterior essentially guaranteed it wouldn’t get major chart success.

3/8/14
Lettin’ the Night Roll / Justin Moore

Ordinary Love / U2

La La La / Naughty Boy feat. Sam Smith - Sam Smith is this year’s Emeli Sande, a British upstart singer able to carry other obscure (in US) Britpop artists to success. This one felt quite creative, and I genuinely love the falsetto.

Part II (Back on the Run) / Jay Z feat. Beyonce

Glory and Gore / Lorde - Let this be a lesson: songs that thrive by the ad campaign die by the ad campaign.

3/15/14
Sleeping With a Friend / Neon Trees - This seems like it would’ve been perfect for DDR; a rock-pop group making a dance-rock single after their success; it would’ve been able to attract casuals while not seeming unfit for the game.

Ain’t it Fun / Paramore - Of the rock trio of this week, this has been the most successful, and I’m quite glad.

The Walker / Fitz and the Tantrums - The indie sound at first seemed like it was trying too hard, but the song grew on me fast. I plan to step it in the near future.

Wild Wild Love / Pitbull feat. G.R.L.

Not a Bad Thing / Justin Timberlake - I wish it got a proper music video, but I guess this short documentary contributes to the song’s chart success.

#SELFIE / The Chainsmokers - Meh, it’s kind of funny, and the chorus synth is pretty catchy. Can’t say I’m quite as annoyed with it as other joke songs.

3/22/14
Adrenalina / Wisin feat. Jennifer Lopez & Ricky Martin

Fancy / Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX

The Devil is a Lie / Rick Ross feat. Jay Z

Sanctified / Rick Ross feat. Kanye West & Big Sean

Trophies / Young Money feat. Drake

Raging Fire / Phillip Phillips

Magic / Coldplay

3/29/14
Latch / Disclosure feat. Sam Smith

Move That Doh / Future feat. Pharrell, Pusha T., & Casino

I Luh Ya Papi / Jennifer Lopez feat. French Montana

Red Lights / Tiesto

Or Nah / Ty Dolla $ign feat. Wiz Khalifa & DJ Mustard

Slow Me Down / Sara Evans

Headlights / Eminem feat. Nate Ruess

Play it Again / Luke Bryan

Who Do You Love? / YG feat. Drake

Love is an Open Door / Kristen Bell & Santino Fontana - I honestly thought “In Summer” would chart first, but this is fine, especially since it made a top 50 debut! In hindsight though, I can why this is quickly tanking (#49 -> #84 -> #90) : It’s a love song with the villain, which I can’t imagine most people would want to hear. Personally, I like it for the jovial tone.

We Might Be Dead By Tomorrow / SOKO - Ooh, this one’s weak. It’s so weak that I’m pretty sure that the streamers who got it this high (Apparently the song owes 96% of its points to streams of the FIRST KISS video) don’t even realize that this is an actual song, much less the name of either the artist or song. Not surprised it is now the biggest drop of the Hot 100 ever.

4/5/14
Beating Heart / Ellie Goulding

Lookin’ for That Girl / Tim McGraw

Summer / Calvin Harris

4/12/14
Whiskey in My Water / Tyler Farr

Beachin’ / Jake Owen

John Doe / B.o.B. feat. Priscilla

Me and My Broken Heart / Rixton

Fever / Black Keys

G.U.Y. / Lady Gaga - It’s a tad disappointing to see Lady Gaga debut this low despite a full week of sales. If it spikes next week, then that may be somewhat normal, but otherwise, it looks like Lady Gaga is no longer the hitmaker.

Empire / Shakira - This was a surprise to see as the Hot Shot, and I guess it’s okay.

35% of the original list is still on the Hot 100
199 songs have appeared in this list

CURRENT HOT 100 ORDER

COMING SOON!

ITEMS OF NOTE

-Turn Down for What is the new #10, kicking out Drunk in Love. Counting Stars and The Man swap places, and the rest of the top 10 remains static.

-Loyal makes a giant jump from #31 -> #14, and Not a Bad Thing enters the top 20.

-A string of recurrents are in danger of falling off the chart next week: Brave (#45), Roar (#46), & Wrecking Ball (#47).

-Human finally enters the top 50 and Play it Again enters after 2 weeks.

-It surprises me that Shakira beat out Lady Gaga as the Hot Shot, and neither of them actually cracked the top 50.

RE-ENTRIES (ALREADY ON LIST)

Slow Me Down / Sara Evans

REMOVED SONGS

Can’t Raise a Man / K. Michelle
Compass / Lady Antebellum
Drink a Beer / Luke Bryan
Hold On, We’re Going Home / Drake feat. Majid Jordan
I Luh Ya Papi / Jennifer Lopez feat. French Montana
Latch / Disclosure feat. Sam Smith
Love Me Again / John Newman
Or Nah / Ty Dolla $ign feat. Wiz Khalifa & DJ Mustard

Looking for more? Have a complete data sheet with all the placements of every song so far!

UPDATE: The new Hot 100 for 4/12/14 information is up!