Billboard Hot 100 Highlights February 24th, 2018

And the album bombs keep coming. Not that this one in any way surprises me, but it is unique in that it's a soundtrack album with various artists. I haven't seen Black Panther yet, planning on that tomorrow. So if this music has anything to do with the movie I'm not gonna know it. Also Drake or something. Highlights.

Top 20

1. God's Plan by Drake (1)
2. Perfect by Ed Sheeran (2)
3. Finesse (Remix) by Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B (3)
4. Havana by Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug (4)
5. Rockstar by Post Malone ft. 21 Savage (5)
6. Look Alive by BlocBoy JB ft. Drake (New)
7. Meant To Be by Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line (9)
8. New Rules by Dua Lipa (6)
9. All The Stars by Kendrick Lamar & SZA (31)
10. Stir Fry by Migos (8)
11. Pray For Me by The Weeknd & Kendrick Lamar (7)
12. Let You Down by NF (12)
13. Love. by Kendrick Lamar (13)
14. Him & I by G-Eazy & Halsey (15)
15. Thunder by Imagine Dragons (11)
16. Bad At Love by Halsey (10)
17. The Middle by Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey (22)
18. MotorSport by Migos, Nicki Minaj & Cardi B (14)
19. I Fall Apart by Post Malone (18)
20. No Limit by G-Eazy ft. A$AP Rocky & Cardi B (16)

Fell Off Top 20

23. Bartier Cardi by Cardi B ft. 21 Savage (20)
25. Bodak Yellow (Money Moves) by Cardi B (19)
31. Say Something by Justin Timberlake ft. Chris Stapleton (17)

Big Gains (10+)

9. All The Stars by Kendrick Lamar & SZA (31)
38. King's Dead by Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Future & James Blake (69)
43. Wait by Maroon 5 (55)
61. Dura by Daddy Yankee (81)
75. Whatever It Takes by Imagine Dragons (87)

Moderate Gains (5 - 9)

17. The Middle by Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey (22)
22. Mine by Bazzi (29)
35. River by Eminem ft. Ed Sheeran (42)
47. You Make It Easy by Jason Aldean (52)
53. New Freezer by Rich The Kid ft. Kendrick Lamar (60)
68. Legends by Kelsea Ballerini (75)
85. Hardaway by Derez De'Shon (90)
89. Singles You Up by Jordan David (94)

Big Losses (10+)

31. Say Something by Justin Timberlake ft. Chris Stapleton (17)
39. Too Good At Goodbyes by Sam Smith (28)
65. End Game by Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran & Future (45)
77. Keke by 6ix9ine, Fetty Wap & A Boogie Wit da Hoodie (67)
79. Echame La Culpa by Luis Fonsi & Demi Lovato (68)
83. This Is Me by Keala Settle & The Greatest Showman Ensemble (63)
87. One Foot by WALK THE MOON (65)
88. Beautiful Trauma by Pink (78)
90. Filthy by Justin Timberlake (34)
99. IDGAF by Dua Lipa (88)
100. Rewrite The Stars by Zac Efron & Zendaya (85)

Moderate Losses (5 - 9)

16. Bad At Love by Halsey (10)
25. Bodak Yellow (Money Moves) by Cardi B (19)
42. Gucci Gang by Lil Pump (36)
45. 1-800-273-8255 by Logic ft. Alessia Cara & Khalid (40)
56. El Farsante by Ozuna & Romeo Santos (49)
58. Narcos by Migos (50)
64. Yours by Russel Dickerson (58)
69. Betrayed by Lil Xan (64)
93. Codeine Dreaming by Kodak Black ft. Lil Wayne (86)

Dropouts

• The Champion by Carrie Underwood (56, 47, 2 weeks)
• Like I Loved You by Brett Young (66, 46, 20 weeks)
• Losing Sleep by Chris Young (71, 60, 20 weeks)
• Man Of The Woods by Justin Timberlake (73, 73, 1 week)
• Diplomatic Immunity by Drake (83, 7, 3 weeks)
• BBO (Bad Bitches Only) by Migos ft. 21 Savage (89, 48, 2 weeks)
• Mayores by Becky G ft. Bad Bunny (91, 74, 16 weeks)
• Corazon by Maluma X Nego do Borel (96, 87, 6 weeks)
• Sick Boy by The Chainsmokers (97, 65, 3 weeks)
• A Girl Like You by Easton Corbin (98, 98, 1 week)
• Supplies by Justin Timberlake (100, 71, 2 weeks)

Returning Entries

76. For You (Fifty Shades Freed) by Liam Payne & Rita Ora
97. When We by Tank

New Entries

6. Look Alive by BlocBoy JB ft. Drake
49. X by ScHoolboy Q, 2 Chainz & Saudi
62. Plug Walk by Rich The Kid
63. The Ways by Khalid & Swae Lee
67. Paramedic! by SOB X RBE
71. Big Shot by Kendrick Lamar & Travis Scott
72. Friends by Marshmello & Anne-Marie
91. Black Panther by Kendrick Lamar
96. I Like Me Better by Lauv

New and Returning Entries Ranked

1. The Ways

This is the song from Black Panther that had my attention the most. You have a crooner like Khalid, and a member of Rae Sremmurd. And, well, they met in the middle. And it paid off. The beat's straight up reggae R&B with some pops, nice guitar grooves, and tropical percussion. It sounds great, especially Swae Lee's verse, believe it or not. His falsetto is actually great here, probably thanks in part to the autotune. And of course Khalid is good as always. Yeah, color me surprised, this turned out much better than I expected.

2. For You (Fifty Shades Freed)

I guess the movie got released. I wasn't really paying attention to that. But hey, I think I was too harsh on this before. It's pretty good. Energetic and suits both performers quite well. And one of the best Fifty Shades songs period. This should be a hit.

3. Black Panther

The opening track from the soundtrack of the same name. That's a little weird to me that a curated soundtrack needs an opening track like this. But hey, it's not bad for what it is. Dark and twisted jazz rap that's been Kendrick's forte for a while now. Though I don't think it's gonna stick with me unless I listen to it a bunch.

4. X

Kendrick does the hook on this so I don't know why he isn't credited. Ah well. Creepy beat with some out of tune guitars hits a sweet spot for me sometimes. Especially wHen ScHoolboy Q grips the mic. Yeah, Saudi's okay, but that Q boi! After that, 2 Chainz just can't compete. Okay that's mean, he's still serviceable. Decent song with a good cast.

5. Paramedic!

So apparently SOB x RBE is a hip hop collective. But considering they don't have a Wikipedia page, I doubt I'm really gonna remember that. Still, the members who perform are pretty good. Though the beat is something to be desired. A little too much treble with the bells and lack of strong melody. A little irritating, but something I can look past. Also it ends abruptly with a gunshot.

6. Big Shot

Okay, pan flutes don't work well for Kendrick, unfortunately. They kinda encourage him to get as obnoxious and stilted with as flow as he dare go. There are hints of some cool moments, but most of this is just kinda annoying. Though surprisingly, Travis Scott isn't bad here. His jovial attitude fits this more somehow, as he's less annoying than Kendrick. Bleh.

7. When We

Oh jeez this is back. Likely because of the remix with Trey Songz and Ty Dolla $ign. So, might as well critique that version now. I may not like the original, but Trey Songz crooning all over it is really offputting and makes it much worse. This isn't the kind of song that demands this much passion. I was kinda hoping Ty would save it, but his verse incorporates luxury porn and his autotune is just off. Overall, I'd just stick with the solo Tank version if you need to listen to it, because this remix misses the point of the original.

8. Friends

The title on YouTube proudly promotes this as a friendzone anthem. Baaaaaaaad sign going in. Even the fact that it's from the perspective of the girl who's friendzoning the guy doesn't save it. If you were truly friends you wouldn't be this big of a bitch. Also there's just too much polish and bombast on this, like with most Marshmello songs. God bless Anne-Marie for trying her best with this, because technically she's not even that bad. But even she's not able to save this from being annoying as hell.

9. Look Alive

OH COME ON! I don't expect Drake to be interesting anymore so that doesn't surprise me, but he should know better than to endorse flavor-of-the-week WORLDSTARHIPHOP trash. Yeah, the beat is a generic, monotonous piano melody, and BlocBoy sounds derivative. Make no mistake, this debuted in the Top 10 because of Drake and not on its own merits. Only thing worth remembering is when Drake acknowledges his half year hiatus saying "people acting like I died". I mean...you're dead to me, even after coming back. Overall...it's not the worst thing ever, but please don't let this stick around. There's nothing of substance here.

10. Plug Walk

Not so tough without Kendrick, are you? The beat is paper thin and uninteresting, wasting a perfectly good buildup at the beginning that could've lead to something hard. Instead it's the same tricks Rich used to fill up space in New Freezer, where he just took long pauses. Yeah, not interesting. It's already bad enough we gave space to New Freezer, we don't need this too.

11. I Like Me Better

So, my friend Charlotte came up with the useful term "Instagram pop". Mostly refers to music that stinks of millennialism and polish. And I'd probably apply that label to this, because it is much less slick than it thinks it is. The guitars are brittle to a fault, the vocals are willowy and unimpressive, and the drop sounds like it's writhing in agony. It's not good, and the central line "I like me better when I'm with you" is kinda cringey. Just embarrassing all around.