billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - february 17, 2024

Why did I get the feeling that this week was going to be more eventful than it is? Granted, there’s some post-Grammys aftermath, and with Universal escalating its cold war with TikTok by yanking its catalog off that platform and delaying major album release dates to protect their promotional bottomline, there was going to be a slowdown… and frankly, I’m not sure who caves first in this scenario. But in the meantime… let me put it like this, I prefer this brand of normalcy compared to what’s likely coming in a week or two - if you’re familiar with the… yeah, blitzkrieg is the appropriate word here, for what music critics have been facing, you already know.

But before we get to that, let’s get to our top ten, where as predicted ‘Lovin On Me’ by Jack Harlow is back at #1. Again, this isn’t surprising - streaming may have taken a slight dip, but his radio margin is so strong that it barely matters. And to be honest, I don’t think ‘Lose Control’ by Teddy Swims is set to topple him soon from #2 - the streaming is only decent, but the radio margin is so wide that I don’t see him making a serious play, at least not yet. What might have a better shot - and man, I’m not happy about it - is ‘Beautiful Things’ by Benson Boone up to #3. The radio has been very slow to get onboard - which is what happens when you don’t have big name recognition - but he took the top spot on streaming and… good lord, can we not have a repeat of Lukas Graham nearly getting to the top in 2024, I feel like that’s a bad omen! But it got over ‘Cruel Summer’ by Taylor Swift at #4, which had an okay week on streaming but is absolutely on its way out as radio is dumping it. That’s not quite the case for ‘Snooze’ by SZA - thank the Grammys for a bump here, especially on streaming, which vaulted it back to #5 and right over ‘I Remember Everything’ by Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves at #6, where the streaming is still rock solid but the radio has never given it a proper chance. It did hold over ‘greedy’ by Tate McRae down to #7 - an okay streaming week balancing the rotation out on radio - and then the second rebound into the top ten thanks to the Grammys and a streaming boost, ‘Fast Car’ by Luke Combs; not the only time this song will come up, we’ll get to it. And that jumped over ‘Agora Hills’ by Doja Cat at #9 - which actually had a really good week on the radio but just can’t get streaming going at all, which is again in contrast to another Grammy bump for ‘Flowers’ by Miley Cyrus, putting it back at #10 because we just can’t get rid of this.

That takes us neatly to our losers and dropouts, which in the latter category… not really any worth mentioning, which is more of a barb than I think I need to say… which flows naturally into the losses and the big story here being ‘Hiss’ by Megan Thee Stallion falling back to 13. And again, this isn’t a surprise - it’s a great song, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a diss track with no hook, I’m frankly shocked that it stuck around this high, compared to its competition which didn’t stay on the Hot 100 at all. But also on the topic of debuts losing we had ‘Spin You Around (1/24)’ by Morgan Wallen fall back to 51 and ‘Think U The Shit (Fart)’ by Ice Spice at 52, and in the category of continued losers we still have 21 Savage, with ‘all of me’ at 88, ‘n.h.i.e.’ with Doja Cat at 89, and ‘should’ve wore a bonnet’ with Brent Faiyaz at 90. There’s a few other continued losses here - ‘Igual Que Un Angel’ by Kali Uchis and Peso Pluma at 53 and ‘FTCU’ by Nicki Minaj at 54 - and finally ‘Monaco’ by Bad Bunny at 77, which is probably going to make the year-end list but seems like it’s just done way less than one would have expected, at least stateside.

This takes us naturally to our returns and gains, where in the former group we can move past ‘Where It Ends’ by Bailey Zimmerman clawing back to 100 and ‘Sensational’ by Chris Brown, Davido and Lojay at 94, the real story is the big return of ‘Fast Car’… by Tracy Chapman. Yes, you can thank the Grammys for this, but in all due seriousness to ride some excellent sales, I’m happy the original is getting another chance to shine at 42, even if it’s just for a week, that’s a great thing. But we did have a lot of gains, and while I’ve already mentioned a few thanks to the Grammys, there’s a bunch more: ‘What Was I Made For?’ by Billie Eilish at 20, ‘vampire’ by Olivia Rodrigo at 29, ‘On My Mama’ by Victoria Monet at 33, and I guess I should put the two Travis Scott gains with ‘FE!N’ with Playboi Carti at 69 and ‘MY EYES’ at 85. Outside of those… kind of a weird list, ‘The Painter’ by Cody Johnson is doing well at 30, ‘exes’ by Tate McRae is getting a radio push to 34, ‘Standing Next To You’ by Jungkook is sticking around at 81, and then we have the two pickups off last week’s debut that did surprise me. The first is ‘One Call’ by Rich Amiri at 64 - apparently its streaming is picking up - and then there’s ‘Praise Jah In The Moonlight’ by YG Marley at 60; I know it’s a worldwide hit, I shouldn’t be surprised, but the streaming is there for this too… on name recognition and pedigree alone, I can imagine this making a run, it wouldn’t surprise me!

But from here we have a pretty reasonable list of new arrivals, might keep this episode a little shorter, starting off with…

98. ‘Scared To Start’ by Michael Marcagi - you know, when it comes to relatively unknown singer-songwriters that chart out of nowhere with a boost from TikTok, it’s interesting to start digging a bit. So enter Michael Marcagi, who is signed to Warner and has as of recording one EP with five songs… and nine million monthly listeners on Spotify which tells me someone went viral and got playlisted. And it’s not hard to see why: Marcagi is clearly chasing Noah Kahan with his vocal tone, softer guitars balanced against the pianos, no tangible groove to speak of, and choral sing-along hook that with all of the reverb drenching the mix sounds like something that would have been dropped in the early 2010s and promptly forgotten. I guess if there’s something to recommend is the challenge inherent in the hook - are you scared to give this heartbroken girl a proper chance given the ups and downs ahead - but the larger issue is that the song can’t build any momentum, make the actual adventure on the horizon come to the forefront, so the song becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy! Look, I have more time for this sound than I probably should, and this guy doesn’t annoy me as much as Noah Kahan can… but this isn’t that interesting or special, let’s move on.

87. ‘A Cold Sunday’ by Lil Yachty - Maybe it’s expecting too much for Lil Yachty to continue going into psychedelic prog - I saw him live last year at a festival, his bangers got a way better reception from crowds than any of his more interesting experimentation, which had to be depressing as hell and is probably why an extended verse he dropped on TikTok was built more for chart crossover. But to his credit, this feels like a middleground, with a old 60s R&B sample flip for more textured and lo-fi percussion - it’s a more relaxed instrumental that I actually liked! Shame that it’s Yachty on top of it - I’ve never thought his flow was that good, he struggles to get in the pocket well here, and the content is girl troubles and brand name porn. What feels most consistent is the assertion that Yachty has grown up and he wants respect more than anything - and sure, this sort of mature backdrop is a way to get it - but all we got here was a verse that feels like a throwaway on a song that’s not even two minutes long. It’s certainly listenable on production alone, I just wish there was more to it.

68. ‘Get In With Me’ by Bossman Dlow - This is another case of a relatively obscure rapper getting a massive viral boost off of one song, but at least for Bossman Dlow there’s a bit more to discuss - he’s a Florida rapper, he put out two albums last year, which got him signed to Alamo, and this is a short single not tied to either. And… I mean, with that bass clipping through the mix around the cheap trap percussion, hazy synth and piano and Bossman Dlow having some tangible swagger, I get why some folks will get onboard, but as a rapper I’m not impressed. His flow is barely onbeat, the flexing feels bog-standard, and midway through the one verse he defaults to an even more basic flow that makes the entire two minute track feels basically unfinished. At least with Yachty I liked the sample… this didn’t get there for me, not a fan.

62. ‘Turn The Lights Back On’ by Billy Joel - I don’t know what the general popular consensus is around Billy Joel anymore - he’s got more than enough hits and as a legacy act he has staying power, I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised that his first solo single since 1993 would chart decently well. And given that I don’t think I’ve ever spoken publicly on my thoughts, I think his piano rock has its wild and weird ups and downs but he’s got a healthy stack of classics and his gift for melody has kept more than a few songs in my regular rotation. That said, I had heard the comeback single was pretty rough, so I wasn’t looking forward to it… and honestly, I’m kind of mixed as a whole, mostly because the subtext of being a letter to old fans to reopen his career does some heavy lifting emotionally for me; he’s good at structuring a melodic hook and the sentiment feels decently realized. But dig even a little deeper and I can recognize just how much this is pulling on nostalgia to cover up some major issues in execution, specifically the vocal mix which feels weirdly flat as he belts, with the sort of touch-ups to sound more grand in the mix as the strings and drums come in but they feel hemmed-in and underpowered and a little too tasteful. It reminds me a lot of Broadway cast album mixes where the budget restrictions are more obvious than they should be, but this is Billy Joel, that shouldn’t be a factor. I’ll be honest, I was very negative on this the first time I heard it - very ‘what is this schlock, you’re better than this’… I still don’t think this is particularly good, but it’s not that bad… I guess if you’re going to wait so long to turn those lights back on, it should be worth it.

38. ‘Bandit’ by Don Toliver - God, this week has been thoroughly mediocre, and I guess I’m praying that Don Toliver of all people can save it, with the lead-off single for his next album that’s reportedly a sequel to his 2021 project… so it’s just our luck that I don’t think this is good at all! That painfully canned melody where any individual instrument feels crushed into mush - I think it might be a guitar, given this song is sampling and chipmunking Tame Impala - around the cheap trap percussion a mix that’s wildly overcompressed and some gruesome vocal mixing, as Don Toliver squawks and raps over a mix that does nothing to amplify his strengths as a singer and sounds awful on that outro! And he’s trying to sell intensity, play up the Travis Scott-esque debauchery which has to be the only reason he referenced Marilyn Manson on his hook alongside women who take Percs like Plan B, but the production gives him no explosive power outside of him yelling ‘Bust it’, so the entire track just feels painfully flat. Look, I get why Don Toliver made this - I’m sure it’ll work at a festival - but this is not at all what I want to hear from him… can’t recommend at all.

And yeah, this week wasn’t that good - ‘Bandit’ by Don Toliver is getting the worst here, but best… I think it’s a tossup between Yachty and Billy Joel, where I think Joel has the slight edge if only on song construction and decent enough songwriting - it’s much more narrow than many will admit. But hey, it’s probably gonna get much worse next week, so stay tuned for that…