Billboard Global Excl US Top 20 Ranking (Fall 2024): Sabrina Carpenter, Linkin Park, LE SSERAFIM, Chappell Roan

 

2024 has been a blast in terms of the chart and pop music as a whole. We have so many events that impacted the chart in a significant matter. Album bombs after album bombs, Kendrick Lamar & Drake beef where Kendrick came out on top as usual, the rise of queer pop from Chappell Roan and even the TikTok hits, Sabrina Carpenter in general having a breakout year, and overall great music just keep flowing in. As a pop music watcher seeing that not only these events are happening outside of my sphere, but also that it drove the pop culture as a whole making 2024 probably one of the best years for pop music this century. 

As time went on though, all things must come to an end and with the leaves turning the color that symbolized decompose, we are now looking at what's replacing these hits. I mean I'm hopeful that it won't be that bonkers because this is the season that you should be for relaxing and- wait Linkin Park just recruited a new lead vocal that might have connection to Scientology making an uproar in the fandom? Megan Thee Stallion collaborating with RM over phonk style melody? And Lady Gaga with Bruno Mars made a comeback with 70s rock throwback?...Welp I guess we just jump straight to it (why this year doesn't want to stop?). Oh and also I am skipping songs that I have talked twice or more than 25 weeks on the chart and also no old songs unless they didn't become a hit in at least 5 countries. I really cannot wait to talk about this week's chart because I do believe that it has gotten better and better. So much so that the lowest rated song here is just mid aka 5/10...and sadly two songs that are on this category are all have BTS members on it.

20. Who by Jimin

Don't get me wrong, this song is only on here due to sheer disappointment. I like Jimin's solo songs quite fondly over the past year or so, especially with Crazy. But Jimin didn't really stand out in terms of the vocal and also the performance. So maybe work with Jon Bellion, the artist that I could say is the Ryan Tedder of the 2010s (he's actually a good producer okay!) maybe that could bring something out of the limited performer Jimin. And...well it's half working. I love the 2000s throwback feels with the guitar and the percussion and I also like the lyrics of the longing for someone but doesn't know her name it's cute. But why does Jon Bellion thought it would be a good idea to mixed the song like ass? Like the vocal is processed to shit and I wouldn't mind that per say. but the production of the song is very teeny and the drum clipped in the mix that the melody got suffocated by the song. It's very unfortunate because there's a seed of a great song in this especially in the 2000s nostalgia circuit. As it is, it's just something that I will forget soon after this song is out of the chart.

19. NEVA PLAY by Megan Thee Stallion ft. RM

I don't know who should I blame for this song being not as good as Mamushi (which yes it is kinda novel but I just love how Megan spoke Japanese (I'm a weeb oh my god)). Is it the production that are half baked with Megan's usual production hang up mixed with that phonk style synth melody that just doesn't go anywhere. Is it RM's vocal production that's very compressed to hell I'm surprised how sloppy it was. Or is it RM's delivery resembling Rich Brian's voice and you just remembered that his last album was released in 2018. Or maybe counting in a rap song will never worked or sounding more like you just ran out of idea for lyrics and went for the lazy route. Whatever it is, it makes this song ranked lower to me than Post Malone and Morgan Wallen's whining session.

18. I Had Some Help by Post Malone ft. Morgan Wallen

Even though the placement here, this song has grown on me a little bit. Part of the reasons why this song just kinda clicked with me is that the melody here has to be one of the best from this year. One thing I would give credit to Louis Bell is always finding great melodies in any genres and this is one of them. Another reason why this kinda works is because of the nature of the song as a duet, this gave me headcanon that they're both are singing to each other not with each other. And seems like a lot of people are taking that headcanon and run with it so I'm just following. It's kinda impressive that this song stayed this long due to sheer power of Post Malone. 

17. UWAIE by Kapo

Most genres will probably have their own evolution of sounds to either a very abrasive or a very chill sounding one. The bops vs the vibes as one hooded piano player have said. And I believe in reggaeton this year, we are seeing the genre becoming more spacious and reverb heavy. It really started with Dakiti and then when both Bad Bunny and Karol G are making any other songs beside reggaeton this year, artists like Cris MJ, Feid, and Kapo capitalized on that by making their songs very airy and perfect to relax to. I definitely prefer the more bombastic reggaeton but these new crop of reggaeton song (apart from the ones from Cris MJ) are cool if you are in the mood for it.

16. A lot of these songs are still good and all but my god I'm sick of this now.

16. Stargazing by Myles Smith

I really thought that this sound was novel enough for me to love it. But no, this song has definitely shrunk on me. After listening to a lot of old folktronica hits, I have come to the conclusion that this song while it's breezy and very easy to listen to, just felt unfinished. I mean yeah sure it has complete structure...somewhat. But what I love about the folktronica at that time is the incorporation of the folk instruments with the drop. Here, the EDM flourishes are just that. I think what might sealed this song as just decent is the fact that this song charted not on the EDM chart, but the rock and alternative chart. Now maybe that sounds a bit innocuous because it's just a chart placement and that's usually being done by the label themselves and genre itself are obsolete nowadays in a democratize streaming era. And in this case that might be true, but I just missed that sound and yeah some of which are nostalgia and I really have to come to terms with that at some point. Anyways this is very half assed and the millennial woop saved this song.

15. Unforeseen circumstances are always occurring especially in life in general. One of which is a death of someone. Someone you know just passed away without you even noticed till it was too late. Speaking from personal experience, it can be very harsh and very bitter pill to swallow for someone you know passed away and you can't really do anything about it. You just there helping the funeral and wondering what's your purpose in life. Now imagine that but with your band mate and not just any band mate, the one that have such distinct voices with lyrics that can cut through your bone and where everyone can relate to. And then after that you replaced your band mate and you know it's gonna be controversial and for that your comeback singles is basically a deflection of a lot of things that the fans might have gripe on...including Chester Bennington estate.

 

15. The Emptiness Machine by Linkin Park

 

Yeah not gonna escaping this one especially after it came out that the replacement for Chester have supported a serial assaulter Matty Matherson (that one have been addressed) and might still have ties with Scientology. And if there's one thing that Linkin Park fans don't like it's probably Scientology especially if they're on the internet during that time. Even Chester Bennington estate have condemned and felt betrayed with the move by Mike Shinoda to hire  Emily Armstrong. Even removing all of that, I know that replacing Chester with anyone will be very tough. Especially when Mike Shinoda have been really shitty to the legacy of the band itself (we still not forgetting you using AI on Lost music video). So did Emily Armstrong at least came close to recapturing Chester here?

Honestly while I do still believe she has a lot to improve especially with the vocal tamber, she performed really well. Granted all I can think of when listening to this song is not Linkin Park, but early Paramore. That really doesn't distract me from liking the song fully. My biggest drawback is the production and instrumentation. I have a best friend who's tapped in to the modern rock scenes and he's always playing songs from Bring Me To Horizon and the resemblance here is kinda uncanny. The structure of lowkey instrumentals then rise to full band without filters is what BMTH are doing. Even though I do love the second chorus with Emily and the rock instrument and some nice melody. It left me kinda empty and maybe that's the intention. But I'm still skeptical about this endeavor. Well let's see the album then.

14. One thing that I haven't mentioned yet about me is my deep obsession with Just Dance the game. Ever since I was like 13 I'm very much hooked with Just Dance games after PewDiePie played it. I have been following the game after that and it's very cool to see some artists that appeared on Just Dance went on to have very successful career. Lizzo made her debut a year after she got featured in Just Dance 2019. There's another artist that I will be talking about that I knew of because Just Dance, but let's talk about the girl that had her song in the game and went on to be one of the biggest artists of our time...

14. Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter 

Till this day it's very crazy that the girl who did Thumbs will be the new pop girlie six years later. But hey that's pop music for you. Anyways she notched four songs on this ranking and I have talked about this song in depth. It's low on here not because of overplay and it shrunk on me, but the newcomers here even the Sabrina Carpenter songs (we'll get to it soon), all of them have been fantastic. For now all I can say is that you know that Nintendo Switch is really popular that it got referenced in one of the biggest pop songs of this year. Though knowing Sabrina she will probably referenced Virtual Boy and make it about I don't know how superficial this guy is. I mean her friend literally pulled out Nintendo DS during like a photoshoot or something (I'm kinda bumped that I can't talk about Band4Band again).

13. You know, even though the summer chart was great and all, I am kinda disappointed that the chart looked like Hot 100 chart. Like this is Global 200 that excluded US all together and most of the songs are also on Hot 100 as well. I'm glad to inform you reader that finally we have a lot of global hits that are actually great and very varied country wise. This is still the lowest ranking one but it's still good nonetheless. 

13. Big Dawgs by Hanumankind ft. Kalmi

It's rare to get any rap songs that came out of Asia that aren't K-pop or some J-rap stuff that can cross over (see Mamushi and Bling-Bang-Bang-Born from this year) to broke through. But because the chart is bonkers right now, we have an Indian rapper who grew up in Texas scored a rap hit in a great rap year. Heck after Not Like Us (which sadly missed this ranking again), this is probably one of the most popular rap song this year. At one point it is the most listened to rap song in the world. Yes the popularity of the song came from Tiktok, but like it's still cool to see  a South Asian rapper broke through. The song itself is good with that buzzy synth and the outro that's basically a chopped n screwed mix (chopped n screwed and Memphis rap are having a great year btw). Yeah his flow is your basic southern rap, but the fact that this is here is just amazing to me. Who knows maybe Rich Brian could get a solo hit of his own again (he just needs to release new music man cmon it's been like five years now). 

12. Kpop has been very weird this year for good and bad reason. Good in a way that there's more experimentation with the sound like hyperpop with aespa, house and drum n bass with NewJeans, and using other dance subgenre like Jersey Club, pluggnb, and even delved into anime music. But the bad cannot be ignored as well like NewJeans basically want to quit because of Heejin getting the boot while South Korea in general are having crisis in gender war. It's very much a futile year for Kpop and you can see on the chart as well. BTS hiatus because of the military conscription really has done damage now than it was last year. Anyways that really left a lot of vacuum that only being filled by some of the most inane and pure slop I think I've ever heard. Anyways here's LE SSERAFIM

12. Crazy by LE SSERAFIM

Okay low blow aside, I do think that some of the people are being too hard of LE SSERAFIM. Yes they're being built under the rubble of GFriend's disbandment. But, to their credit they have done some good song here and there. This is one of them but it could be better. I do think that we are having the Y2K revival that people are talking about especially on TikTok. I haven't really seen the Y2K aesthetic a lot in pop music in the west at least in USA. The fact that people still milking the 80s or disco it's kinda tiring let's be honest here. I think my main hangup from the song is that it's very sporadic and weird for the sake of being weird. NewJeans is still my go to when it comes to Kpop band doing Y2K aesthetic well. What they have done is taking dance subgenres like Jersey Club or Drum n Bass and really put their sheen into it without losing what makes those subgenres special to begin with. With Crazy on the other hand, it's not as tight and also just don't really trying to fit the house sound well with the ethos of LE SSERAFIM whatever that is. I still like the song but yeah the fact that this song is the highest ranking Kpop song this week is telling how weird this year is for the genre.

 

 11. Another genre that were awfully quiet this year is afrobeats. Their South African cousin amapiano were having a better time than afrobeats this year. I really thought that afrobeats might have the same longevity as dancehall was back in the 2000s and even then it wasn't as barren as this year. There's one exception to that rule and even then it's kinda all over the place.

11. Move by Adam Port, Stryv & Malachii

If there's one thing I love about Global Excl US chart is the dynamic of the chart being replaced from US to European, Asia, and Canada. What this mean is that oddities that charted on Europe and Asia will somehow charted and charted big. Like this song for example which is a mix between afrobeats from Malachii and melodic house from Adam Port and Stryv. I do love the sound that these two make with the chill vibe that's definitely a perfect for summer to fall transitional period. It's only here because it kinda end abruptly, the percussion can be louder than the melody, and that hook is kinda annoying. Still this song is something I would love to listen to while on the beach drinking wine to.

10. It's still kinda wild that it has been three years since Bruno Mars released a new album (with Silk Sonic) and even wild that Chromatica was four years ago. I know they both have either tour or film to content to, but it's kinda weird how their absence are not talked enough. Even when they collaborated and making 70s rock it didn't leave much impact

10. Die With A Smile by Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars

This was so close to be great that it's frustrating. Lady Gaga loves the theatrical and the old glamour of 70s while Bruno is the pastiche merchant. So this should work like ease, but it really didn't panned out that way. I think my real issue with this song is how basic it is? Yeah it sounded great with the lush instrument and very much dignified productions. That guitar solo before the last chorus was perfect. And the lyrics is cool essentially If The World Was Ending but less juvenile. But I don't know because most of the 70s rock I love have more complexity and details that you won't hear it the first time you listen to it but it added to the replayability of songs that you wanna keep coming back to. With this song it didn't happened for me at least. After I listened to it a couple of times, I already got what I want and was satisfied with it...and that's it. Sure I would love to listen to this on the radio, but I probably won't seek it out that much. But when it hit, oh yeah it really hitting.

9. Last year, one of the worst hit songs that came out of the uneventful 2023 is Thinkin' Bout Me by Morgan Wallen. What made that song very revolting is how Morgan Wallen seems to don't get over the relationship while she did. And because Drake was big last year and also he had that co-sign, he stalked the girl and even if he didn't stalked her, he concern trolled her that you swear that you were listening to that one manosphere podcast ranting about how women are the problem. However if you are like those guys you have one question "would you think that it's better when the POV is switched?" And my answer is a resounding maybe...

9. Taste by Sabrina Carpenter

Look it might be hypocritical of me that I prefer this type of shitty behavior versus others if the gender was flipped. But I do think the reason why I don't mind Taste and still angry at Thinkin Bout Me is probably because of the artist themselves. This is what I do like about music as a medium because the way you sing it or the way you wrote the song can be tied to your personality and how you live. Thinkin' Bout Me didn't worked because of how Morgan Wallen acted like a jackass and you believe him because of what he had done on the record and off the record. Meanwhile Sabrina Carpenter whole personality is being goofy girl that could be your friends. Because of that, her talking about how her ex will taste her when he kissed another girl you would think it's jokey. The bridge also really solidified the point that yes she didn't really meant it as serious but she still might have some feelings towards the ex. Also the fact that the production here isn't desaturated trap country. In the end though I still think that it can be very icky when you believe this whether you are a guy or a girl. And I do think this can shrink on me. But for now, I do like this song...but it isn't my favorite from that album. 

8. Si Antes te Hubiera Conocido by Karol G

Karol G is just a great artist isn't she? Like sure you have ROSALIA and maybe Bad Bunny that might have better albums, but Karol G is I think the most consistent out of all of them. Even with her recent experiment with other genres like cumbia or this one with merengue, She really has her way to be fitted in the song effortlessly. This song is a ton of fun especially with the party vibe in the last chorus. Even if the lyrics is kinda pathetic and basically Jealous by Nick Jonas, the light-hearted nature of the song really just make this song a ton of fun. Another banger from Karol G and as always screw Anual AA...Did you know he's a Trump supporter now? Yeah figured.

7. Please Please Please by Sabrina Carpenter

So this song didn't grew on me nor does it shrink on me. I think the fact that it's a very steady and moving song that I don't really have any new observation of the song that will increase or decrease the enjoyment of the song. I guess one observation that I could get about the song that's new is how very paranoid Sabrina is on the song. Like the fact that she begged her partner to tell everyone that whenever he acted out in a different way that he should tell her friends that it's just her culture. It's that kind of self awareness that can be annoying from her but eh still not gonna make me hate this one immediately so yeah.

6. 2014-15 was like the middle of the end of the blog era for pop music and during those times, there were some people that making music that based on the internet culture as a whole. One of which was Vaporware which is a genre of music with a certain kinds of aesthetic that heavily inspired by city pop and just late 80s neon lights settings. People were very confused about the concept with the aesthetic or how the songs sounded like a mix between indie, 80s synthwave, and post irony of Gen Z at the time. People really thought that it was a joke and yet that kind of aesthetic is still there but more widespread till the point that it's just an 80s nostalgia. Maybe that's why what A.G. Cook and SOPHIE (rest in love) were doing was kinda out of the blue and again making people at the time confused. Like pop music that was pushed to the absolute limit of artificiality and bubblegum was such an alien concept even during the beginning of poptimism era. People back then called these type of music as PC Music (also the name of A.G. Cook label) because it's something that could only be created with the help of the internet. Now imagine telling those guys that the girl that made a soundtrack hit for a John Green film adaptation would teamed up with A.G. Cook and his protege to make these type of song and make it popular enough that it was referenced by Democrats as part of the campaign? Oh also don't forget to tell them that the Apprentice guy also gonna be the President as well.

6. Guess (Remix) by Charli XCX ft. Billie Eilish

It's still surreal to me as someone who have listened to hyperpop since Charli worked with SOPHIE seeing Brat, an album that was a culmination of Charli's journey into pop as a whole, became one of the most popular albums of the year. I knew that hyperpop might be the sound of the future but the fact that not only this one debuted at the top 10 of the chart, but now there are a lot of acts that wanna try out these type of sounds (I can think of some kpop acts that trying to emulate the sound). Now this isn't really fully hyperpop, as a matter of fact it's straight forward French House song with some hyperpop elements to it. And bringing in Billie Eilish after her own successful album was the correct move especially with her own house experiment on La A'mour De La Vie which is probably my favorite of the album. Billie brings some swagger on the song which is about well underwear. Love the banter with this two especially when Billie said "Charli likes boys but she knows I can hit it". God what a great year for queer pop and all we need is Kanye West sacrifical #1 to just woke people up to actual good music. 

5. BIRDS OF A FEATHER - Billie Eilish

Oh speaking of Billie. It's another baffling thing that this lowkey of an album will probably have more hits than her two previous albums. I thought that it would do like Happier Than Ever number based on early numbers but nope. I'm glad though because Hit Me Hard and Soft is probably my favorite Billie album. It has everything that I love about her two previous albums but with more personal and sometimes intimate storytelling that sometimes I could relate hard. Chihiro is actually gotten better for me as the theme of mystery and how someone's changed does resonate with me. This song also has gotten better especially with how I can feel Billie's frustration with her love ones but trying to feel optimistic about it. Even at rock bottom you have to be optimistic.

4. A Bar Song (Tipsy) by Shaboozey

Yup the best song on last ranking is now at #4. If it's not a sign that this season is awesome, I don't know what is. Just like Birds of a Feather, this song didn't grew on me or shrunk on me. But like the last entry, I feel like I have made one more observation from the song. Seems like the recession pop that we got in 2008-2012 is back but in the country form. There are some country songs from that era that touched on the topic of the hardship in a "mature way". Songs like Need You Now is a prime example of that tackling the topic of alcoholism. But with this song, the front and center topic of the song is that this working class guy going to a bar to have a good time while he has no way of getting himself up from the 9 to 5 jobs. This is definitely a new territory for recession pop to tackle and I can't wait to hear more of this. 

3. Short n' Sweet was a good pop album but I'm glad that they made the one about calling sex a "bed chem" a hit from that album.

3. Bed Chem by Sabrina Carpenter

You guys remember Versace on the Floor by Bruno Mars? Yeah this is like the cheeky more unserious sister of that song and it's still awesome. This song just oozed with glamous while also being ridiculous as fuck. Which is perfect because she's doing 90s RnB with a sheen of TRL teen pop with that twinkling keys, the liquid guitar, and again how goofy this song is. And yet, this song is kinda hot as hell especially because of Sabrina's performance here. It's just a perfect combo of tounge and cheek with a hint of sensuality. I don't really have much to say really this song is great y'all should listen to it.

2. As a music enjoyer, you will always have a hipster moment where you listen to a musical act and a few years later, that artist will reached their popularity in like a few years later. It happened to me with Twenty One Pilots, it happened to me with Lizzo, and in our big 2024, it happened to Sevdaliza.

2. Alibi by Sevdaliza, Pabllo Vittar, & Yseult

I have to come clean with myself, I really love Just Dance game series. I just love how this game just bringing people together and also to me at awe on how these dancers are dancing with heels. Now in Just Dance 2022, there are two artists that were prominent on the game. Both are Pabllo Vittar (Flash Pose and Sua Cara) and Sevdaliza (Human). Three of these songs are a hit especially Human being a contemporary experiment. Now flash forward to now and they're both collaborating with a French singer Yseult to create a song based on a Colombian song called Toto la Momposina. The fact that this song charted for a month on Hot 100 is still baffling because it was sung in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French. The song is a mixed between reggaeton and Brazilian funk with the emphasis of how dangerous it is to hook up or having a great time in this club or place. But with the power of TikTok, this song became a worldwide smash and that fact is also amazing. Because this song is queer as fuck and not to mentioned Pabllo Vittar being here. I heard that Pabllo has been a punching back in Brazil so I'm glad he can broke through with this song even if Sua Cara was a bit of a massive hit. 

1. Well I did highlight this song last time out but the fact that Chappell Roan is like the biggest artist right now is insane.

1. Good Luck, Babe! by Chappell Roan

I only knew Chappell Roan because Mark from Spectrum Pulse put two songs on his best list (those two songs became a minor hit in their own right) and I was thinking "she's definitely has a potential but she might have the same success as MUNA". Now skip to the time of writing this election day 2024 and not only has Chappell Roan became a phenomenon of the year, she also brings some baggage that I do wanna touch upon, how fame is handled by celebrities. For decades now, when you become like a pop divas you have to expect a lot of scrutiny by people who trying to control you. What would you do in this situation? Well you might wanna do media training and god forbid if you wanna try to have emotional response towards critics you'd be branded as "not ready" for fame. I always called that bullshit and I'm so glad that Chappell Roan agreed with me on this. I hate it when people said that she isn't ready for fame because of what she has done to protect herself from parasocialism and paparazzi. When you consider that yeah her songs really are prime for pop fame and this is one of them.

I still can't believe that lesbianism in pop was relegated to either flirtation or just fetishization. With the new crop of songs from sapphics women they felt more real and also really well put together. You got Lunch by Billie Eilish where it's explicitly about she wanna eat her out and not in a cannibalistic way. Boyfriend by Dove Cameron about this girl having the chance of living out her wlw dreams after her crush was alone without her boyfriend. And now this a song about comphet and it's as tragic as you like it to be. This is definitely one of the most important songs to came out this decade and I hope that her impact will inspired more people to make art that felt like themselves.

That was our fall ranking and I have to say that 2024 has been a wonderful year for pop music and definitely needed especially what happened at the time I'm writing this. List season is definitely coming up soon and yes I will make a proper worst list this time out. In the meantime see you all on the worst list.

Billboard Global Excl US Top 20 Ranking (Summer 2024): Eminem, Billie Eilish, aespa, Sabrina Carpenter

 

 

You know something that I realized during the chaos that was May and early June for the chart? Sometimes, you really are sick of songs that lingered on the chart for more than a year. Last year was almost the final straw with how a lot of the songs are just from 2022 and even older just squatting the chart that you have to go through one eights of the chart just to fill up the songs for the ranking. Now, after all of the chaos cleanse the chart for good, the chart has never feel more fresh than ever before. And also the fact that the points for the chart has gotten even stronger with people actually listening to new music (just look at the Spotify chart) only filled me with joy that I've been a part of this historic moment. 2024 did scared me one bit when Vultures had an album bomb and you see all the discourse if this song is worse than that Jason Aldean song or whatever. But, after Megan Thee Stallion released HISS, there's no coming back from that. I hope that all of this momentum will lead to something that's very much 2020s thing, but for now let's enjoy this things while it's still good. You know your chart is fresh when I only had to cut one song from the previous ranking and I only have to talk about five songs repeating from last ranking. Unfortunately we will start with one of those repeats as I do think Beautiful Things is legit top five worst songs of the year material.

20. Beautiful Things - Benson Boone

Yeah this song actually shrank on me after I made the ranking because of other songs I have to listen to from this guy revealed something a bit sinister about his success. Normally I would have that feeling whenever some artists have been found or alleged to have done bad things (see Artemas with some of his accusations he received on twitter or Lizzo now), but Benson Boone is the one that really didn't passed my arbitrary vibe check. I don't know whether it's from the lyrics from his songs that came off at best being pushy to downright manipulative and toxic at worst or his productions which are reeks of the stale overwrought indie rock or even tepid hair metal. There's something greater that I can't quite put my finger on that's very off about this guy. I guess we'll see about that when the list season starts, but suffice it to say that I'm not a fan of this guy at all.

19, Gata Only - FloyyMenor & Cris MJ

Last time I talked about this song, I wasn't go into depth about my feeling or my thoughts about this song because I have to catch a deadline, but I was on a high about the chart being as bonkers as it is that I just overlooked the song. My real opinion about this song is that I think they wanna try to make a copy of Dakiti. From the ethereal synth, to the atmosphere, and even having two artists on it. But while Dakiti really commit to the atmosphere and creating one of the best reggaeton song of the 2020s so far, this song is just trying to create that atmosphere with the help of heavy reverb. And when that melody synth and that awful percussion production, it became a chore to listen to and it's kinda a shame that this will be the biggest reggaeton song of 2024 while other genres are thriving...while we are on a topic of genres that started slow this year...

18. 2023 was the breakthrough of UK rap all over the world with Sprinter being a massive hit worldwide and the success of Central Cee and Dave just cemented it as one of the movement to be reckon with. 2024 meanwhile...not so hot. Heck before this ranking, I was surprised that there's no breakthrough UK rap song that were globally recognized. Well finally we have that crossover UK rap hit and it even cracked the US market for the first time since Jnr Choi...It's still not that good but we move I guess.

18. BAND4BAND - Central Cee ft. Lil Baby

I think the funniest part of the song is that because it hits the perfect run time for me to listen to this fully while on Spotify shuffle, while simultaneously thinking that this is just a little bit of a cat piss. The production definitely hard carried the song with the ominous synth and that muted bass and percussion. That's it really with the compliment I have because holy shit these two rappers hasn't changed a lot since their breakthrough. It's kinda sad though that Lil Baby now has to pray for the clout of Central Cee to get back in the limelight when he was one of the big rappers in 2020. I just realized as I writing this that not a lot of rappers coming out of 2019 and 2020 didn't have much staying power and floundering this year and the last one. From Dababy, Roddy Ricch, and even Lil Nas X, all of them have hard times following up their big 2019-2021 from either flamming out or just being asshole. The only one that I can think of that survived this is Megan Thee Stallion and even then I bet if it wasn't for her starting the rap beef of 2024, no one will care enough to listen (see her previous singles before HISS). That's really worrying for me and should ring an alarm bell in the rap world. We'll see if next year they all make a comeback, but I'm not holding my hopes up.

17. After two years of country dominance in the western world, we finally have some country songs in this chart. Unfortunately one of them is just a Hootie & The Blowfish song tribute with some twang and also Morgy Worgy.

17. I Had Some Help - Post Malone & Morgan Wallen

The fact that his Pokemon performance would actually dictate Post Malone's next career path is kinda crazy to me. And the fact that his singer songwriter era isn't really off to the good start he wants you to think. This song is actually a very decent country rock song with some competent productions especially with that guitar. But, I have to say that Morgan Wallen is the better part of the song. Yeah he's doing his Morgan Wallen thing especially with the content of the song (which I wish it's about each other), but his vocal production is probably the best that he has ever been. Maybe he should just ditch the usual producers like Joey Moi and work with Louis Bell instead. But the biggest let down is Posty here. The way he delivered his verse is kinda cynical? I don't know but he seems off in this one. And that's why this song is just doesn't go beyond decent to me. Especially after Posty were still making songs with trap production last year. I mean we'll see about that next album, but I don't have high hopes.

16. Never Let Go - Jungkook

So Jungkook is the last member of BTS that's going to mandatory military service before their reunion. I am wondering about how BTS reunion is like because so far most of the songs made by individual members have been very varied. from hip-hop, to straight pop, to RnB, and even some EDM and rock. As someone who have experienced their favorite boyband going on military hiatus, It doesn't really go well after they all served in the military. The biggest challenge that the BTS will have is maintaining relevancy while most of the members are away for military. And none were up to challenge than Jungkook arguably the biggest star from the band thus far. Even though he's not my favorite member (I still prefer RM), he's at least have great knack for melody at least. Now this new song here...I'll be honest it's probably his weakest singles yet. I think as a send off for fans before his military service, it's very much serviceable. But, that chorus kinda grate on my nerve especially the last one. Beside that it's a decent pop flavored RnB song that definitely crept from Major Lazer production of mid 2010s. Let's see what happened next year when all of them reunited.

15. You know I can see some readers here looking at the placement of this song on the ranking and gonna get angry at me. Especially when some annoying people are already making strawman arguments that our generation want to cancel this guy. I do still have a problem with this song, but yeah at least Eminem isn't doing shit like Revival again.

15. Houdini - Eminem

Look, I know people have dunked on the lyrics of the songs and how tired it is that Em is still doing Slim Shady bit in 2024. But, to play the devil's advocate here, I think Eminem is trying to bury his Slim Shady persona for good with this and probably his upcoming album (I was right at the time I'm writing this). I think what he said on this record is to drive the point that yes this persona is cringe and maybe we should left this behind. I'm already on board with this concept than any other albums of his after Marshall Matters LP 2. I'm more mad that the production is straight ass. I don't know why him and his producer thinks that this type of electro-swing is a good fit for Eminem. Yeah I know it's a magic themed with that Houdini on the title. But like sampling Abracadabra by Steve Miller Band? Really? This is almost as bad as any Demon Dice song but with more competent white rapper. Look, I will be listening to the album and this song is again not bad, but man I hope the production in the album doesn't sound like this.

14. I like the way you kiss me - Artemas

Well this is a shrinker. I still like the song but the flaws that the song has just shined more after repeated listens. The chorus is very repetitive, the flow in the verse very much stilted against this dense darkwave beat, and again this song is only two and a half minutes long. With how chaotic the chart is right now and after UMG has sorted its deal with TikTok which meant that their songs are back on the app, this song has been forgotten to the wayside. And honestly I don't blame them.

13. Hey, remember when both of these artists traded #1s in the 2017 and that's basically the passing on the guard of old star vs new star? Well they are making a song together produced by Jack Antonoff that sounds like the worse version of her song from her previous album and the better version of Austin...not the song tho.

13. Fortnight - Taylor Swift ft. Post Malone

I am making a prediction that Taylor might hit her ceiling and it's probably time to try new stuff. I know that her Reputation (Taylor's Version) is coming soon, but her album while it's good, lacked that wow factor that Midnights have. That wow factor is the interpersonal writing and tight production. Let's compare this first singles with the first singles of Midnights, Anti-Hero. What I love about Anti-Hero is how it was personal to her but there's still an universality behind the writing about being this person that wanna do things right, but still feeling as though she's being attacked. Meanwhile, Fortnight is a bit more tense as the content of the song is very personal again, but it's personal just for her. Even with the inclusion of the backing vocals of Post Malone doesn't changed the fact that this song is only personal to Taylor. There's some distance that I really can't get into and that's really sucks because I do love when she's playing someone based on her lived in experience that you could relate to. I still like the album but it's definitely more personal and closed off than Midnights which while I respect it, it's not the album that I would return to. 

12. 2024 has been eventful as it is, and yet the one story that will be the big narrative of this year beside Kendrick Drake beef that sadly missed the eligible ranking is the rise of Sabrina Carpenter.

12. Espresso - Sabrina Carpenter

Popheads on Twitter has already calling Sabrina Carpenter "the real main pop girl of the 2020s". Now while it's true that her brand of pop has been a great change of pace for the chart, it's not like Olivia has beaten to her despite Sabrina got that head start (I still remember Thumbs y'all). But I know that Olivia brand of pop is rooted in Avril Lavigne, Hayley Williams, and 90s girl rockers. Meanwhile Sabrina really trying to bring more personality to the pop music which it has gotten stale lately. Though you won't hear it through this song though because it's basically the same type of nu-disco that has been everywhere since Future Nostalgia. While I do like the content and the lyrics of this song more than the song that inspired it (Say So - Doja Cat), it's still something that's very much serviceable on the radio while not alienating the new listener because apparently Nonsense is a step too far for the listening public. Thankfully her next singles will rectified that mistake, but yeah this is just good I guess.

11. Ohhhhhh a lot of people will hate me that I put it so low on this ranking.

11. Chihiro - Billie Eilish

Billie just released her third album called Hit Me Hard And Soft and it was great. It's a culmination of the Billie ethos that was built from the two albums with more fuller productions and even better lyrics talking in depth about her sexuality, her place in the pop music, and even a lot of introspection that was just enough to be universal but also very intimate at the same time. I'm giving that album probably 8.5/10 but this could grow on me. 

Now let's talk about the third worst song of the album. This has come down to the production to be honest with you. The content once again tackled what was being said which is the heartbreak and the catharsis of moving on especially with the title being a Spirited Away reference of the titular character and the theme of the movie of moving on. But, the production wasn't lush or something like that, it's stilted and awkward. I could see that being the point especially with the arc of Chihiro in the movie, but that bass could've been pulled back in the mix. Also this song being five minutes long didn't helped. Look there will be two more Billie songs on the album and all of them are great, but this song alongside The Diner were the reasons why the album is not something special.

10. TikTok era of pop music so far has been a mixed blessing at best. You either get established artists in the underground getting the recognition they deserved even for just one or two song or a nobody that got the fluke hit and then being signed to a label never to be seen again. This is what separate your Kali Uchis to your StaySolidRocky. Now with this artist...it's kinda both. Let me explain!

10. Million Dollar Baby - Tommy Richman

Meet Tommy Richman. He's from Virginia, He's in the RnB and Hip-hop genre. He's affiliated with Brent Faiyaz. And that's all you need to know from this guy...

Anyways this song is good and addicting and little else. My favorite part of the song is the sound of it is very southern. You can hear all the influences from the southern hip-hop like the chopped and screwed voice, the thick atmosphere of the Memphis hip-hop, and him repping his home state (which we probably need more of). Again this song is definitely for the vibe than lyrical dexterity or other else. I do say that I love the lo-fi unrefined VHS version that's actually trending on TikTok. So yeah this song is good.

9. We would never know what was lost when Avicii tragically passed away in 2018. I have been listening to 2013 and 2014 Billboard Year-Ends and you can see how Avicii just blew everyone out of the water with his brand of folk and EDM (Hey Brother is just so underrated). With the amount of the electronica subgenres like trance and DnB, we need to bring back these type of sound even if it's a bit generic...I'll take what I can get

9. Stargazing - Myles Smith

We wouldn't get this song charted if it wasn't for the revival of folk pop and country worldwide. This song sounds like it was plucked from the mid 2010s folktronica but without the drop that made this song not just a pastiche. Sure this song might be generic to some people, but a lot of people have biases and mine is definitely folktronica. I know this song has lyrics, but the lyrics are a window dressing in these type of song because the productions carried this one. It's lush, free flowing, and just all around mystical. What can I say, I'm a sucker of these type of song and this song being this high is the reason why.

8. Magnetic - ILLIT

Yeah this song has grown on me...but because this season is so stacked that this one is around the same area as it was last season. If you want an in depth talk about this song, you should check out my Spring ranking. One thing I want to add about this song is about how impactful GFriend was for the formation of Gen 4 sounds. For those who don't know, GFriend was a girlband that have unique knack of influence for their sound. When most of Gen 3 girlband were aiming for more bombastic sound or the more sugary one, GFriend were pulled their influence from new jack swing, more strings, and even some soft rock. They're your favorite band's favorite band. Even Uzi became a fan of them. Sadly they disbanded in 2021 and now we can see their influence in a lot of new girlband songs from Gen 4. So yeah check out GFriend please. 

7. Oh hey speaking of Gen 4 girlband, NewJeans is back and after the gorgeous Y2K pastiche of Get Up, they're now doing 90s pop throwback!

7. How Sweet - NewJeans

It's funny how if this song was released in the two previous years I would actually put it at the top 3 max. It really is a testament of how great this chart has been. But yeah NewJeans are trying their best to become like the K-pop version of Bruno Mars where their first couple of singles was trying to set their own identities, but after the success of Ditto (a throwback to Baltimore Club sound) there's no coming back from the pastiche even if OMG tried to pulled it back in. This time however, NewJeans has picked an interesting dance subgenre that might be inappropriate to some people. They chose to do Miami Bass pastiche. If you don't know about this, Miami Bass is a subgenre of hip-hop where it originated in the clubs and cookouts. One of the more popular acts from this subgenre is 2 Live Crew, a rap group known for songs like Throw The D and Me So Horny. Again they don't use the lyrical theme associated with this subgenre but they do take influence of Miami Bass. Those 808s, the bass, and the atmosphere are definitely Miami Bass. My favorite part of the song is actually the chorus which what I would consider "a controlled mess". I'm so glad that NewJeans kept the nostalgia run going especially in subgenres of dance and hip-hop that aren't mainstream anymore. 

6. Though if you want bombastic but also a modernized sound of the Gen 3 girlband sound...well here you go

6. Supernova - aespa

Aespa is one of the girlband that I missed when I was on hiatus listening to anything k-pop related. And when I listened to their biggest hit Black Mamba like around 2021 I wasn't that impressed. I thought they're like just another girlband that was spat out of SMEnt that's basically a B team to Red Velvet's A team. But with this one, holy shit I am surprised by how much I love it. This is probably one of the few K-pop songs I heard tackling futurist theme and honestly they're not bad at conveying that idea with this fierce performance by the quartet. But again with all of these girlband, the best part is the production and this is just top tier. Yes that synth can sounds like reverse fart, but cut through that crunch of the snare and that heavy synth on the chorus with samples of the synth from Planet Rock of all songs, it just clicked with me the vision of the song, which is futurist space camp that this scene desperately needed in my opinion. I heard that the producer was inspired by hyper-pop and I can see that. The bombast of the song is definitely more akin to ITZY's deepcut 24HRS (which was co-produced by SOPHIE) than Blackpink. God imagine if SOPHIE is still with us today, what would she do with the talents like NewJeans and aespa is just a big what ifs now. 

5. Y'know in the pantheon of 80s nostalgia that we got over the years, there hasn't been any nostalgia about the more "folksier" part of 80s synth pop. These type of songs were using folk or singer songwriting type structures but with synthetic production. 80s Fleetwood Mac and Kate Bush came into mind with this. Well after the success of both two years ago, we finally got that sound to be back.

5. Please Please Please - Sabrina Carpenter

This song has won me over Sabrina Carpenter in a heartbeat. When I listened to this song for the first time I had to double check because I would never thought that she's capable to make songs as lush as this. One of my main issues about her is that her voice didn't matched a lot of the production most of the times. The closest we did get is Feather and it's just good not great. But Jack Antonoff really get what her voice should fit in. The guitar, the crisp synth and that percussion is just evoke that sound of 80s Fleetwood Mac. The lyrics are also a big improvement over a lot of her songs which sometimes can be a bit too cheeky for my taste. In here though it's very earnest while also having that moment of self awareness that could be her signature writing style. Espresso is the fun time but this is the real time where you can here the desparation and the experience that she went through breakup after breakup. The swearing here is apt because again she just doesn't want to be disappointed again and again with guys who should know better than to embarrass her. It's the package that made me realized her potential and man I can't wait to hear more of that.

4. As of writing this on Fourth of July, we have two songs about cunnylingus charting on Hot 100. One is Casual by Chappell Roan that tackled the sad reality of the casual dating that should be more than that, but just to be let down by her partner that didn't see it as such. Meanwhile this song tackled the fun part of casual relationship and the more popular one.

4. Lunch - Billie Eilish

The fact that there are still some people that questioned Billie experimentation with eating pussy on this song is baffling to me. The fact that there are not a lot of songs about that subject matter within the hetero sphere let alone the gay one before Lunch and y'all are still not convinced? Well anyways I'm glad that she can experiment more of her sounds on that album even if it's just another transition of her sound. One prop that I should give is FINNEAS because it seems like that the production quality has gone through the roof because this one is immaculate. This song sounds more fuller than any of her songs with a rock tinge especially that bass line and that drum. This song also has a lot of elements of the dance rock that was famous in the 2000s and it made for a good dance jams. 

3. Too Sweet - Hozier

This song just grow on me a lot that I don't really have that much to say about it. The fact that Hozier has this one at number one while being more tuneful, more raunchy, and even more anthemic than Take Me To Church is still one of the best thing about pop music this year. Well speaking of that...

2. While Lunch is fun and all, the best Billie song is the one that will cut through the bullshit and be as earnest as she wants to. And this is probably one of her best songs to date.

2. Birds Of A Feather - Billie Eilish

This is just beautiful and all I can praise about this song could get personal so I'll keep this brief. The productions evoke the sounds that I haven't heard in quite sometimes which is these type of singer songwriter type that was popular in adult alternative crowd. The big drum juxtapose with the beautiful synth, the plucky guitar, and the bass just enhanced the song's theme about love and your relationship with the person or partner you love even if it's not gonna last long. She wishes that the relationship last longer, but hey let's just stay here for the ride even if it's just fleeting. That feeling and the warm production is why I love the song and you could say that this would be my favorite song on this ranking...well.

 

1. I'm a country fan ever since 2015 and around that time I saw a lot of transformation and the rise or decline for the genre in the mainstream. I have experienced when country would only have three songs on the year-end, I have experienced Lil Nas X discourse, the tomato-gate, the undeserved success of Morgan Wallen, and now the rise of country in the mainstream. But all of this are contained to America and America alone and I'm using this chart in particular to get more of a worldwide perspective of pop music as a whole. If you want to chart worldwide however, you need the right time and the right place to pull it off. And this one I'm the most happy with crossed over. 

 

1. A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozey

 

If I have a nickel every time a song interpolated or even cover Tipsy this year, I would have two nickels (check out the clipping. version if you want like more of an industrial version of the song). I still can't believe the success of this song and how it reached global audience. Shaboozey is a Nigerian-American who makes country rap and rnb music in a more and more of a polarized place than usual after a certain someone said the n word. But with the cosigned from Beyonce from her southern style album Cowboy Carter, this song became more popular than anything from that album thanks to TikTok. 

The fact that it's this song of all people that broke the US barrier along with inferior Austin by Dasha really meant something here. Try as Nashville might, they can't stop the popularity of both Shaboozey and Dasha in the world stage and you can see why this song just catch on. The acoustic guitar that opened like Wonderwall, the stomp and the booming percussion, and the strings that really stick this song together. This song would've been great as it is but the lyrics and the atmosphere just catapulted the song into something special. It's very populous about the struggle of the common man and how only the bar is where you can have a sense of community at all is just beautiful but also moving. Especially with what's going on in pop music and just pop culture in general and how it got very sterile and corporate day by day, this song bucked that trend and giving us a sense or comraderie that could at least motivate us to do things better than yesterday. And that's why this is my favorite hit of Summer and it'll be my song of the summer.

 

Now before we end the ranking, I'm going to highlight songs that were below on the top 20 that deserved some recognition or just missed it but basically everyone has talked about it and I missed that overton window. Such as this one you might've heard of...

 

 1. Not Like Us - Kendrick Lamar (Pk 7 Tw 23): This one just barely missed the ranking (again just goes to show how strong the charts are). The victory walk of Kendrick Lamar after he masterfully baited Drake into responding to what he had to say on Euphoria. The fact that this song is played on the radio still baffled me. Like wasn't last year the same radio bumping to Search & Rescue by Drake? Now they are blaring the song that insulted Drake by calling him a pedophile and a colonizer. If there's any other qualifiers why this song is great...well the fact that it's still high here and not any of the Drake songs before or during the beef said something really.

2. Good Luck, Babe! - Chappell Roan (Pk 55 Tw 55): I think the time of quick viral marketing artists that was indicative of early 2020s is over. All of those artists that caught virality on TikTok has either retrieved back to obscurities or being fuck by their labels or even both. Two of the biggest rising artists this year came from artists that was making music in the previous decade and just getting their flowers after opening to big artists (very old school in a way). Sabrina was with Taylor Swift, meanwhile this act Chappell Roan was with Olivia Rodrigo and honestly I vastly prefer the latter. The success of Chappell Roan as an out and about lesbian singer making songs about the sapphics experience un-apologetically queer, horny, camp, while also somber, and even reflective at points. Her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess has been given a lot of praise for good reason, but it's her off singles that took off and for a good reason. I wanna gush this song more but I'll save that for end of the year. For now though, we have to live with the fact that queer arts are now thriving more than ever and that's a good thing.

3. Pink Skies - Zach Bryan (Pk 92 Tw 103): This is even more surprising than any of the country songs that charted here because most of them are either from big artists or TikTok virality. Zach Bryan on the other hand is only popular in America with modest success in English speaking countries. And yet, his cult status catapulted this song that really sounded like the indie country stuff I would expect from Jason Eady and out of the US market is staggering. This song has practically no chorus, relied on the southern touches like the banjo and harmonica, and the subject matter about a family get together for a grandparent funeral and how that memories of that house that was there for all the time till they died. And yet because of the power of the chorus and the emotionality of the song just forced its way to greatness. 

4. 360 - Charli xcx (Pk 141 Tw 141): Brat was an awesome album and this opener is a great encapsulation as to why. The hyperpop production with the synth and the bass piercing through Charli husk but well bratty voice. The lyrics that's very light but also has this kind of melancholy feeling especially that sewer slut reference from the hyperpop artist Sewerslvt and if you know about her story, you just realized that we are in a more of a personal album here. I won't say it's a 10 like some critics are, but it is definitely what Charli career has lead up to this moment. And I'm so glad that this one has got so many attention as the brat herself and in all of us, deserved. 

5. Guilty as Sin? by Taylor Swift (Pk 17 Tw 144): This is my favorite song from TTPD that charted this week (Florida!!! is my favorite overall). This has to be at least released as a singles because of the song's universality. I like the album but sometimes it can be a bit TMI if you don't follow Taylor Swift or a fan of her. I'm of the former and yeah it can get a bit exhausting at times. But, this song is a perfect middle ground of the lyricism of TTPD and the Midnights style productions. That drum machine really carried the song with the synth and the light touches of guitar. And the blunt lyricism that's just enough to not make it wince worthy. Definitely the highlights of the album.

6. T.B.H - QWER (Pk 117 Tw 150): Well it's finally here. After years and years of South Korea making manwhas and vtubers, now they have their own rock band that was formed with some members being former idols. For those who don't know, QWER is basically a collaborative efforts by four people that are either social media influencers or former idols from idol group. From this song alone it's very apparent that it's very much anime songs inspired especially the structure of the song. It's a novel idea and I think they succeeded in that. Moreover, I'm glad that K-pop has experimented with this concept and other concepts that only charted on this chart because they added Melon into their equation.

That's it for the recommendation. Thank you for reading this one. This ranking really just helped me a lot with bringing back my drive to write again and especially when I'm still looking for a job. Your girl want to get themselves occupied alright! Anyways the 2004 retrospective is still in the work but I am not announcing the release date yet but it's soon. Anyway if you excuse me I'm gonna try to maybe review anime again.

Billboard Global Excl US Top 20 Ranking (Spring 2024): Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Creepy Nuts.

You know I actually have tried and make the ranking for this season from the usual start of the Spring season and I was talking about how boring the chart is and kinda suck the chart is right now. But as I tried to write that draft...popular music went batshit insane and we haven't got that new Taylor Swift album. Not only there were album bomb galore, not only that this chart is probably the most fresh that I have covered thus far, but also we got rap beef, Hozier comeback hit, a darkwave song almost hit #1, and two new girl bands that came out of nowhere. And the fact that we got rid of the discourse out of the way (well we still have the rap beef). This chart became the most interesting than it has ever been. Let me put things in perspective, On the day that I'm writing this a year ago, the most streamed song on the planet according to Spotify is Ella Baila Sola with 6.8 million streams. This year the most streamed song I Like The Way You Kiss Me by Artemas has 9.4 million streams. People are now listening to more music than ever before and we can see the effect here. I really want to gush this chart more to be honest...unfortunately the number one song here is probably the worst song out of the top 20.

 

 

20. Beautiful Things by Benson Boone

 

 

I'm not a religious person myself but I think this song is kinda sacrilegious? First of all, this song sounds horrible from the jump. The beginning sounds admittedly like the best Lewis Capaldi song to never exist. But then the switch up happened and all I can think of is Lukas Graham doing Christian Rock and the thought of that would sends shivers down your spine. But what this song as a whole reminded me of is late period Weezer after 2014. Tacky, lyrically inept, and just enough rock production to make it sounds like Green Album but with less groove than the TikTok Rizz Party. Oh by the way have I not talk about the lyrics yet because they're kinda bad. The religious trapping of the song about you have this affection for this girl is beyond childish. I might read too much into this, but he released Cry aka one of the worst songs based solely on the lyrics. And I think that really says it all really about this guy. Just because you pray god everyday, doesn't mean you can escape the asshole allegations.

19. The one thing that's kinda not good to see in 2024 thus far is the lack of latin hits on the chart right now. Sure we have some latin songs here but that has to do with Natanael Cano doing his promo for his new project of sort. Bad Bunny still on tour, Peso Pluma also still on tour, Karol G has just released her album last year. So what left of all this is just a backwash like this.

19. Gata Only by FloyyMenor & Cris MJ

I tried to like this one because some of the elements in the productions here are really good. The vibe is there, I love the ghostly synth, and even the percussion is textured and mixed properly for once. But I'm sorry all I heard from this song is Bad Bunny's C-side and nothing about the performers here intrigued me especially with a bargain barrel writing and content. The fact that this song might become one of the biggest latin hit at all is kinda sad really. Let's hope that Natanael Cano bring something to the table here (yes this is foreshadowing).

18. And that's it, these two songs are the only one that I don't like at all. Now I still have some problems with these songs but I won't be turning off the radio when they are playing at least. Anyways let's talk about LE SSERA- *gunshot* Oh this will be a disaster.

18. Smart by LE SSERAFIM

Now, since I am only a passive fan of K-Pop as a whole, I was amused by the animosity that LE SSERAFIM got in my circle of music twitter. That's because my first impression of them is Fearless which is an awesome song and after that they released one of my favorite songs of last year with Eve, Psyche, & The Bluebeard's Wife (yeah this group is already bold with their song titles shall we say). But seems like after Easy (which just barely missed the cut), the backlash seems to set in especially with some say that this group was the reason why GFriend disbanded. Now the whole GFriend disbanded saga missed me entirely (all I know is that Lil Uzi Vert is a fan and they weren't pleased by the announcement) but the gist of it is that LE SSERAFIM got all the resources that GFriend didn't have. Which...I'm gonna call bullshit especially with the situation that has been going on with HYBE and their subsidiary aka LE SSERAFIM label ADOR which is more likely the fault of ADOR CEO to be honest. Even though K-Pop was having its best year last year, between Fifty Fifty sudden disbanded and the power struggle between HYBE and ADOR as BTS members are still in the military, It's no wonder that some people are put off by the genre entirely this year.

And even with this song there's another controversy about how one of the members who are underage were dancing sexually in the music video. I'm not gonna touch that but what I do wanna touch on is that this song is inspired/lifting from afrobeats. I'm not African so I don't want to say that this is cultural appropriation or anything like that. But, what I can call this one is very limp pale imitation of the real deal. The melody is basic, the percussion is beyond stock, and the lyrics are just generic enough to get the vibe right which is why I don't hate this song as much. But yeah this song really reminded me of how there's cod reggae, I'm calling this type of limp afrobeats made by non African artists as tilapia afrobeats, yes this is just a name of common fish in West Africa plus afrobeats.

17. Well at least this one doesn't have any discourse...beside his label doing sales manipula-

17. Lose Control by Teddy Swims

I think we are in a big boy era for pop music. Jelly Roll opened the floodgates and then we have Teddy Swims. To be honest I don't have much to say about this song because this is the definition of a radio fodder that's also have a lot of passive listening...did you know that this song went to #1 in the US? Yeah me neither.

16. Luna by Feid ft. ATL Jacob

The quintessential reggaeton song that was produced by rap producer. I do wish rap producers make a reggaeton song though.

15. As I am writing this on May 11, 2024 I think I'll just gonna say a sentence or two with these songs

15. Deja Vu by TxT

I still think that TxT is very much overrated but this is fine I guess.

14. Madonna by Natanael Cano ft. Oscar Maydon

Can we please stop with naming your songs after a famous singer it has gotten tiring now.

13. SHEESH by Babymonster

We will get a kpop band titling their songs with brainrot word like Skibidi mark my word.

12. BZRP Music Session, Vol. 59 by Bizarrap ft. Natanael Cano

Look, these songs might grew on me and heck it might probably be on my best list. But with what happened on the chart after I picked the week I'm ranking in which we will get to, I think that these songs don't really add much that I can say and I don't wanna pretend that I care for these songs even if they are decent. It's really something that was hard for me while making this type of ranking even last year. Pop music is an ever changing genre of music and one popular thing could be dated or not cool anymore by the year's end. Again I started writing this when Taylor's album bomb hasn't happened yet and again there's one big elephant in the room that I will get to. It's just something that I need to pay attention to at least as a pop music critic.

11. While we are at it let's talk about song that lingered from earlier this year as well.

 

11. Stick Season by Noah Kahan

 

I do love the fact that this is probably the biggest song out of the indie folk revival, meanwhile the topic of the song you wouldn't hear it at that time.  I mean there are few songs that became hit that tackle heartbreak by being a very deeply annoying prick. But most of them have this air of ironic detachment while simultaneously being sincere about it. But here, Noah basically just said that yes I'm a fuck up what you wanna do about it with a practically spare productions. It's something that's new about this trend now and I think I prefer this over stuff that are trying to play it coy.

10. I do feel bad for Ariana Grande to be honest with you. I do think the album is good and a decent dive into Ariana's personal life during 2021-2024. But sadly the singles has been a bit disappointed and this is probably her most forgettable #1 hit of her career.

10. We Can't Be Friends (Wait For Your Love) by Ariana Grande

Now I don't say that this song is bad or anything. If anything this song is like one of the best ones from Eternal Sunshine because it focused on more of the heartbreak and how she cope with that and I do resonate with some of the conceit of the song. How after a breakup you need to move on and you might move on, but you still get the lingering feelings that you can have that one single spark again and everything will be back. That's really something I can relate to without being too personal. My problem is that this song sounds like if Ariana did Midnights and succeeding 78 percent. The strings do add some glamour as does the synth, but everything else seems so muted and subdued to the point that it doesn't really match the content. And the percussion being this weak doesn't helped either. Overall I do think the song is good, it's might need some time to grew on me, that's all.

9. You know this year is stacked that Beyonce doing country music is like a footnote at this point.

9. TEXAS HOLD 'EM by Beyonce

I listened to Cowboy Carter and I think it did the job that Beyonce was trying to achieved here, mainly making a country album to say to the establishment in country that yes I can do this. I do think it's cool that Beyonce invited a lot of black country artists and basically gave them the spotlight they deserved. But also, I know that Beyonce and even myself included are tourists that do love country music and want to change the landscape of country music. But let's face facts especially with this lead off singles that this might be a one off. Like sure this is definitely one of the country song of all time. But unlike Renaissance where she took the genre of house and EDM as a whole and reclaim that title from those pesky Europeans, I do feel like she made this album because country music is the biggest thing in America right now. I don't know maybe I'm being cynical here and we'll see if my assessment is correct five years down the line. But, as of now I still think that Renaissance is the better album here.

8. If you do the fantasy music league that Todd and a lot of people did and put your money on Dua Lipa this year...I'm sorry.

8. Training Season by Dua Lipa

I feel like we are seeing the downfall of the Dua Lipa empire...if you live in America. Dua Lipa probably knows that her time in America might be numbered because her whole album is very much catered towards that side of worldwide pop scenes that made Ava Max, Bebe Rexha, and even Rita Ora. This song for example didn't really do well in America, but with using this chart you can tell that this has the same success as at least her previous singles before New Rules. The sound of the singles here is very much cater to more of a UK and worldwide audience with the rollicking guitar, some prominent bass, and that build up to the anti-drop is cool while gimmicky. I also love the lyrics talking about how Dua has experienced these heartbreak and calling it as her training season and it's all over now, it's time to face the real world. So yeah I don't expect Dua to be popular again on the main Hot 100 and for once I'm okay with that.

7. Remember when False Alarm got released and it doesn't do well because people are not really into darkwave yet? Well here's the diet version of the song.

7. i like the way you kiss me by Artemas

Purely on the production alone this is a 10/10. It's just so cool to hear this scrappy DIY darkwave sound with the chunky guitar riff, the dense synth, the atmosphere, and all of this wrapped under two and a half minutes. It's just a shame that this guy can't really sings? I don't know if it because of the higher register or his normal register that kinda bothered me. Especially when his vocals are drowned in reverb. Also the lyrics are not good. Basically this is the fuckboy rap but somehow more douchy. Those two hold it back for me. But, when that bridge hit oh man what a magical moment.

6. Houdini by Dua Lipa

This song has really grown on me so much so that I thought that this might be on the best list this year...well let's just say that this is at number seven for some reason. A lot has changed since even March that this song might even missed the honorable mention. Which kinda sucks because this is probably the best produced song of her career. Looking forward for this song to be in the next Just Dance btw.

5. One of the most peculiar thing that happened in pop music during the 70s is the prevalent of actors that's also have hit singles. John Travolta was the biggest example basically all of his movies have influenced mid to late 70s with disco and musical. Now we don't really have that kind of actors turned to musicians anymore now that Disney Channel machine has ruled that market, but sometimes with the right person and a right TikTok virality, it finally happened...even though the actor in question came from Strangers Things.

5. End of Beginning by Djo

Now for some spoilers but from this point on, we are going on the best list territories here so I might kept some of these brief (probably not). Now for those who don't know, Djo is a pet project from Joe Keery of Stranger Things fame. And just like Stranger Things, this song is a synth pop throwback to that era but not the ones that's very obvious. With the guitar, the bass, and that glimmering synth keys, this is definitely paying homage to the laid back 80s new wave that came from former post punk acts like The Cure. And just like those songs, the lyrics as well evoke some sort of elegance while also being somber enough to not being cheesy. This song is as tight as it can be and this song is the first sign of how 2024 is a great year for pop music.

4. Seems like Kpop are moving from the bombast of the rap and dubstep of the 2010s and Gen 3 as a whole to a more dance oriented genres that's more of a vibe than a banger. NewJeans continuing their 2000s nostalgia conquest while LE SSERAFIM is doing jersey club which I think still their best song. Heck the newcomers are also trying to take a stab at this, for example.

4. Magnetic by ILLIT

So remember Watch This? A demo by Lil Uzi Vert that got released unofficially with a pluggnb remix by a nobody? Well seems like HYBE really like that song and just pluggnb in general that they wanna capitalized on that success. Enter Illit with their breakthrough singles Magnetic. This song made me realized at how much pluggnb is very much perfect for bubblegum pop as a whole. the gleaming synth with the heavy 808s and trap snares sounds perfect with the cooing performance of the group. Nothing much else to say about this one because it's just a well put together pop singles. 

3. You gotta love how your anime series got picked up for another season just because the anime opening went so hard that it broke streaming records.

3. Bling-Bang-Bang-Born by Creepy Nuts

I think after Just Wanna Rock, I became a sucker for jersey club. A lot of my most played songs on my 2023 Spotify Wrapped are in that sound. I think it's just the feral nature of the genre and the fact that you can do anything with the genre if there's that drum pattern. So yeah this is why it's so high on the ranking. But also like we need more anime opening like this one? I am grew tired of either moe anisong or generic j-rock song becoming the opening in these shonen anime. It's refreshing to hear rap songs that's actually good and made by competent rap group to become an opening for a shonen anime. It's still such a novel concept that I don't mind that this song has the Some Cut bed squeak samples. I haven' t watched Mashle but also you don't need to watch the anime to get this song. This is basically a brag rap song but with the elements of the anime that enhanced that bragging. This is that turn off your brain shit song and I couldn't be happier to hear it more and more.

2. We don't really know if it's gonna stay like this till the end of the decade, but I feel like the rock revival has lost it steam a bit. The fact that Olivia's rock songs from Obsessed are being thrown by radio promoters says a lot about how fickle the rock revival was. Because of that we need someone to bring rock back to the chart...Wait what do you mean Hozier finally got his #1 hi-

2. Too Sweet by Hozier

I'm still kinda baffled at how this song became so popular and Hozier would probably agree. This is a song from an EP that he released basically as a B-Side of the main album last year. And the fact that the EP might outstreamed the main album, but also that this song finally get Hozier his #1 spot before the Taylor's album bomb. It's probably one of the most satisfying pop story of the year.

It also helped that the song is great. The chunky bass, the liquid guitar, and that drum fill in with the church bells and Hozier's cleaner voice made this go over the top. And that's the point of the song, the fact that it's over the top while also having some cocky ass lyrics. For those who only listened to his big hits would say that this song is typical for him. A raunchy song with a lot of metaphor and all that jazz. Well if you follow the trajectory of Hozier especially the fandom, you know that this song is actually targeted at his newer listener that likes stuff from Wasteland, Baby! but a bit put off by his self titled. He knows that these people prefer the PG stuff, but when time comes at the right place, sometimes his new audience might prefer to be more...let's say heated conversation. The second verse really solidified it for me as she compared the mouth of this girl like Heaven's Gate and I think he got away with that because the nature of the song and even the nature of Hozier's pathos as an artist. Every time I listened to this, I found new ways that this song surprised me and that's a great thing.

1. It's a no surprise that 2023 was probably one of the most uneventful years for rap music rarely seen since probably early 2010s. It was so bad that one of the biggest rap songs of 2023 is from UK. Suffice to say that it was bleak. And then something happened this year and it all started with...Megan Thee Stallion. She released one of the best songs of the year with HISS and in that song she dissed a lot of people. A lot of people cared more about her jab at Nicki Minaj and it was a one sided beef in reality. But, outside of the Nicki beef, Megan also threw shots at Drake, the same shots that a certain someone will reiterated two months later, when Future and Metro Boomin dropped their album WE DON'T TRUST YOU.

1. Like That by Future & Metro Boomin ft. Kendrick Lamar

Talking about this song after...the whole month of May is like talking about what happened before October 7th. I will have a lot more to say at the end of the year, so I'll save that for December for now. But, I have one observation about this song. This song is literally raised the bar for pop songs this year. Because of this song, the cutoff number for the year end list has been raised more and more and making the chart stronger. This song and the event after the release of the song has made not only rap relevant again, but also pop music in general. TOTC did a great job at covering this so check out their twitter account about how this song raised the bar for pop music so much so that even songs that was previously locked got knocked out. That's really the power of rap beef to be honest and I hope to talk about this one in depth along with...other songs soon.

That was the ranking and yup I really love this year's popular music more than I was in between winter and spring. Let's hope it will keep up the pace till fall. Now before I leave you all, I'm gonna try and recommend some songs that just missed the ranking the week I'm charting that need some highlights.

1. Bansanka (Dinner Song) - tuki. (Pk 63 Tw 102) : My favorite part of looking at Global Excl US chart is that because of the absence of America, we got more J-Pop and K-Pop songs on the chart. J-Pop right now is in the middle of a transitional period between the streaming and the music buying public. Because of that the chart itself has became some sort of a wild west where any artists can breakthrough. The fact that a somber ballad made by a 15 year-old hit #1 in the country, but also that it's her first singles as well and yet seems to have more experience it's crazy. Do check out the acoustic version though because it legit sounds like Fast Car. 

2. Type Shit - Future & Metro Boomin ft. Travis Scott & Playboi Carti (Pk 26 Tw 64): This is one of the best songs of the album just because of the controlled vibe it got. The bells carried this song definitely with that synth and the crunchy 808s. But also this song lightly dissed Drake as well especially with the Megan Thee Stallion line. Also Travis Scott will not be on another Drake album ever again huh?

3. Obsessed - Olivia Rodrigo (Pk 31 Tw 76): It's baffling how Olivia's team seems to just can't promote the rock side of her because I would bet that younger people want a woman rock star like P!nk or even Avril Lavigne. But I do get why they didn't market her as such because there's still universal or more broad topics that Olivia has hit before and worked. I don't think her sophomore album is a slump for her but I do believe especially with Obsessed that she really wants to be that rock star she really imagined to be.

Alright that's it for me, you can follow my twitter here if you need some pop updates from me and if you don't have twitter or have deleted yours, I have my Bluesky account as well. Till next time I will see you all the same place as usual.