ARIA Singles Chart top 20 Ranked: Summer 2019. (Feb 17)
crowdiegal Top 20 ranked (Summer 2019)Trying to do this season’s edition of top 20 ranked has been difficult…not just due to time constraints but because a lot of the songs in the top 20 are songs that are still very much from 2018 and the Ariana Grande album bomb of a few weeks ago however I am going to go back to the week of 17 th February and base my ranking on that chart week.
Let’s begin with the total garbage
Awful
20. “Sicko Mode” by Travis Scott feat. Drake
I think I have made my hatred of this song clear and the fact some people are labelling it a modern hip hop classic is an absolute slight to hip hop that has actual quality and bars to go with it. Ugh.
19. “7 Rings” by Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande cooing over a trap beat is not something I have any desire to hear again and interpolating “Favourite Things” makes it even worse. Sadly, the next single isn’t good, and I was starting to LIKE YOU, ARIANA!
Bad
18. “Without Me” by Halsey
I am actively now sick of Halsey writing melodramatic bad relationship songs without anything that would make what she is trying to sell remotely interesting. Also G-Eazy was (unfortunately) a vacuous boring thing before you arrived on the pop scene, Halsey, you weren’t the one to put him there.
17. “Happier” by Marshmello and Bastille
I really don’t understand the appeal of this song at all. Bastille sounds better on their own tracks rather than braying over this electronic mess. We eventually need to start asking questions about when Marshmello is going to release music of a good quality because at this point I’m getting to where I don’t care.
Meh
16. “Thank U, Next” by Ariana Grande
This song is okay but I’ve generally forgotten about it five minutes after having heard it. Not the most memorable number one that Australia has ever had if I am going to be blunt.
15. “Middle Child” by J Cole
I have never really cared or taken much interest in J Cole’s music and this song doesn’t spark any interest in checking out this guy’s music. It’s tolerable but not anything that makes me want to go and see what else he has done.
14. “Wow” by Post Malone
Hey Post, Fall out Boy have no idea what ‘rock’ is so I am not sure what album you were listening to you when you wrote “Rocking out to Fall out Boy” line. I like to think Posty was listening to “Uma Thurman” while writing this song. It’s got a good beat but the lyrics kind of suck.
Decent
13. “7 Minutes” by Dean Lewis
So “Be Alright” has faded on me hard, that song just makes me want to throw things now and this one is kind of better in terms of the framing where Dean Lewis is berating himself for losing this girl and is working out how he let her down and all these memories he has of their time together. The only issue with this song is how painfully repetitive that chorus is.
12. “Waiting” by Kian
A song I am surprised that has stuck around but Kian has shown plenty of promise as a song writer so yeah, all in all “Waiting” is a pleasant listen and I don’t change the station if this song comes on the radio. That guitar line is good and Kian has a pretty strong vocal presence, just wish that the hook was a little better.
11. “Confidence” by Ocean Alley
This is high up because of how good that hook is and not much else because to be honest, I find Ocean Alley’s music to be sleepy surfer rock but “Confidence” works on that person to person level for me that most of Ocean Alley’s other music, but that hook is probably why it topped the hot 100
Good.
10. “Eastside” by Benny Blanco feat. Halsey and Khalid
This is the only GOOD song Benny Blanco has released so far. I am not going to repeat my thoughts on this song that I wrote in a previous edition of top 20 ranked
9. “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee
I finally decided to stop lying to myself and admit that this song is actually pretty good. Post Malone sounds great and Swae Lee can sound like The Weeknd if you really squint hard. Really, I can’t explain what clicked for me but yeah, I admit I like this song a lot.
8. “Better” by Khalid
Why is Khalid moving away from this kind of sound? “Better” is the sort of song that suits him more than the increasingly grating “Talk”. The “SunCity” EP was excellent and this was one of the best songs from it, a delicious slice of moody R ‘n’ B where Khalid is meeting up with this girl he has made a connection with and how nothing feels better than when he is with her. It’s a good song and really deserved to be the hit that “Talk” looks like being.
7. “Sweet but Psycho” by Ava Max
You know when you hear a song where the lyrics get more ridiculous the more you think about it but somehow the song overcomes the ridiculousness by being insanely catchy and full of hooks that you are left singing along? Well yeah, that’s the appeal of “Sweet but Psycho” to me, it’s just a silly song that arrived at a time when we do with some fun and kind of stupid songs on the chart.
Great.
6. “Bury A Friend” by Billie Eilish
This song is so creepy, and the video just adds to that but its just dark and twisted enough to suck you in, it’s Billie talking to that monster lurking under her bed. There’s just enough groove and energy to keep the song moving, it’s one of the more twisted songs that Billie has written but it’s also one of her best.
5. “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” by Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus
My heart breaks knowing this song isn’t the huge world wide smash that it deserved to be. Miley sounds fantastic over the music provided by Mark Ronson with its country sounding groove that sounds better than anything out of Nashville in the last six months. Oh well, at least I know I can rest easy with the idea that it will make the ARIA year end chart for 2019.
4. “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper
It’s taken awhile but the song connected for me in the last couple of months. Bradley Cooper is surprisingly good but Lady Gaga really does steal the show with her vocals, she just sounds amazing and I am so happy that this song finally became a number one hit in the US. Will be a decade defining classic in the years ahead. Nice one, Lady Gaga and Bradley!
3. “Shotgun” by George Ezra
Keeping this short because I’ve already talked about this song and how good it is. Great song from George Ezra. So happy he got it to number one last year deserved.
2. “Dancing With a stranger” by Sam Smith and Normani
Sam Smith and Normani have a surprising amount of chemistry for a song that uses all its elements well with that fizzy crack of a beat and just enough guitar to keep things moving. Also Sam Smith sounds amazing on this song as song as he sounded on “Promises”, can he keep going on dance songs, please?
So that leaves the number one and this doesn’t surprise me one little bit considering how much I have listened to it and loved it
.
1. “Leave Me Lonely” by Hilltop Hoods
This is the kind of hip hop I love, one that makes me smile and want to jump around with it’s prominent guitar rollick and the Hoods rapping about how they’d rather be left alone than hearing bulls*** talk and that line “Me and my friends, we aren’t here for your BS” (have to paraphrase that last word!) is just ridiculously catchy and slipping in a line or two about Paul Manafort is priceless. If you haven’t checked out the Hilltop Hoods and their new album “The Great Expanse” than please do so because its excellent.
Final score: 63/100
Comment: Wow. I didn’t realize how good the chart was a few weeks ago. Obviously that score may well have come down a little since but yeah despite the bad, there’s a lot of good to great. Feeling pretty optimistic about this year.