Billboard Hot 100 Highlights March 24, 2018

So, this week I'm trying something different. I'm listening to these songs on my way to work, hours before this post comes out. Hopefully this will help me save time and get a little more familiar with these songs so I can talk about them better. Hopefully it goes well. Though with a Logic album bomb and a mini-bomb from Lil Yachty, I feel like it can only go so well. Sigh...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. Meant To Be by Bebe Rexha ft. Florida Georgia Line (5)
5. Psycho by Post Malone ft. Ty Dolla $ign (4)
6. The Middle by Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey (8)
7. Havana by Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug (6)
8. Pray For Me by The Weeknd & Kendrick Lamar (9)
9. Look Alive by BlocBoy JB ft. Drake (7)
10. All The Stars by Kendrick Lamar & SZA (11)
11. Stir Fry by Migos (10)
12. Rockstar by Post Malone ft. 21 Savage (12)
13. Let You Down by NF (13)
14. New Rules by Dua Lipa (14)
15. Ric Flair Drip by Offset & Metro Boomin (16)
16. Never Be The Same by Camila Cabello  (19)
17. Mine by Bazzi (18)
18. Him & I by G-Eazy & Halsey (15)
19. Sad! by XXXTENTACION (17)
20. Thunder by Imagine Dragons (20)

Big Gains (10+)

24. Whatever It Takes by Imagine Dragons (34)
25. Plug Wank by Rich The Kid (48)
29. Everyday by Logic & Marshmello (43)
41. Friends by Marshmello & Anne-Marie (52)
46. 44 More by Logic (65)
75. Tell Me You Love Me by Demi Lovato (94)

Moderate Gains (5 - 9)

26. Say Something by Justin Timberlake ft. Chris Stapleton (32)
32. Wait by Maroon 5 (39)
36. Heaven by Kane Brown (42)
45. Broken Halos by Chris Stapleton (51)
51. Most People Are Good by Luke Bryan (57)
57. Singles You Up by Jordan Davis (62)
58. Love Lies by Khalid & Normani (66)
64. IDGAF by Dua Lipa (71)
71. X by Nicky Jam x J Balvin (80)

Big Losses (10+)

37. Love. by Kendrick Lamar ft. Zacari (26)
49. Top Off by DJ Khaled ft. Jay-Z, Future & Beyoncé (22)
52. Gummo by 6ix9ine (28)
59. Changes by XXXTENTACION (47)
67. No Excuses by Meghan Meghans (46)
69. Walk It Talk It by Migos ft. Drake (59)
81. Written In The Sand by Old Dominion (68)
85. River by Eminem ft. Ed Sheeran (61)
89. Booty by Blac Youngsta (73)
91. This Is Me by Keala Settle & The Greatest Showman Ensemble (60)
92. Narcos by Migos (74)
99. Echame La Culpa by Luis Fonsi & Demi Lovato (88)
100. Dark Knight Dummo by Trippie Redd ft. Travis Scott (85)

Moderate Losses (5 - 9)

33. Wolves by Selena Gomez x Marshmello (25)
40. MotorSport by Migos, Nicki Minaj & Cardi B (35)
61. Lemon by N*E*R*D & Rihanna (56)
70. Pick It Up by Famous Dex ft. A$AP Rocky (63)
79. Betrayed by Lil Xan (72)
80. No Smoke by YoungBoy Never Broke Again (75)
86. When We by Tank (79)
90. Beautiful Trauma by Pink (81)
94. At The Club by Jacquees x DeJ Loaf (86)

Dropouts

• Good Old Days by Macklemore ft. Kesha (50, 48, 20 weeks)
• The Champion by Carrie Underwood ft. Ludacris (70, 47, 3 weeks)
• Candy Paint by Post Malone (82, 50, 20 weeks)
• La Modelo by Ozuna x Cardi B (83, 52, 11 weeks)
• Rubbin Off The Paint by YBN Nahmir (87, 46, 16 weeks)
• Keke by 6ix9ine, Fetty Wap & A Boogie Wit da Hoodie (90, 43, 8 weeks)
• Stranger Things by Joyner Lucas & Chris Brown (91, 91, 1 week)
• Paramedic! by SOB x RBE (92, 65, 4 weeks)
• Get You by Daniel Caesar ft. Kali Uchis (95, 93, 3 weeks)
• Tempo by Chris Brown (96, 96, 1 week)
• Corazon by Maluma x Nego do Borel (97, 87, 9 weeks)
• Sativa by Jhene Aiko ft. Rae Sremmurd (98, 98, 1 week)
• Broken Clocks by SZA (100, 100, 1 week)

New Entries

54. Zombie by Bad Wolves
56. Indica Badu by Logic ft. Wiz Khalifa
60. Contra by Logic
63. NBAYoungboat by Lil Yachty ft. YoungBoy Never Broke Again
68. Overnight by Logic
73. 66 by Lil Yachty ft. Trippie Redd
74. Mignight by Logic
83. Wassup by Logic ft. Big Sean
84. Delicate by Taylor Swift
87. Yuck by Logic
88. Boom! by Lil Yachty ft. Ugly God
97. BoomTrap Protocol by Logic
98. Warm It Up by Logic

New Entries Ranked

1. Delicate

This is far and above my favorite charting Taylor Swift song from Reputation thus far. Granted I haven't listened to the full album yet. But Taylor's vocoder filtered performance is transcendent, the beat is synth heavy and soothing. And as the title implies, it feels very delicate. And the writing connects too, as Taylor expresses his love for someone then asks if that was okay to do, not wanting to overstep her boundaries. It's a nice sentiment. All around this is something I can imagine being on 1989. Though it doesn't quite reach the heights that album had to offer, with Reputation, I'll take what I can get.

2. Indica Badu

Easily my favorite from Bobby Tarantino II. Mostly because it gets less trap and more jazzy. Kinda. I dig the bass grooves and how Logic rides it. And of course, since it's a song about weed, Wiz Khalifa is there. And I don't mind him here too much. Fits the beat well and all. It's kind of an obligation to have him there. But Logic, you didn't need to say "If you don't know by now, I smoke weed!" 1. You actually have made an effort to stop doing drugs. 2. No duh. Still, despite the bad outro, it's a good song, and deserved to be the highest debuting Logic song this week.

3. Warm It Up

First off, this is credited as Logic ft. Young Sinatra. Which is pointless because Young Sinatra is an alter ego of Logic's. But, by channeling that ego, we got one of the best songs from Bobby Tarantino II. The beat is eerie here and Logic's more focused here than he is on the rest of the mixtape. It's decently enjoyable aside from the hook kinda just meandering. It's an okay song, but the guy's capable of better.

4. Zombie

It does kinda upset me that The Cranberries weren't able to rechart following Dolores O'Riordan's unfortunate death. I know they're not cultural phenomenons to this generation in the same way Linkin Park is, but their songs are still pretty iconic. As for this cover...eh. It's okay, I guess. Mostly I'm bothered by how this cover doesn't retain much of the melody of the original. The vocal melodies are there, but you can barely hear the bass groove or the haunting grace notes from the electric guitar. Plus, slowing this down and making it sludgier kinda turns it into another generic alternative metal song. Though it's louder, it's not as haunting as the original. Plus I think the changes to the lyrics to make it more modern kinda misses the point of the original. Apparently Dolores herself was supposed to be on this before she died, but honestly, I don't know if she would've made it any better. She didn't have a /metal/ voice. But, at the very least, it doesn't sound bad, and I can appreciate this as a tribute to a talented vocalist who died far too young. Rest in peace.

5. Wassup

Oddly enough, Big Sean kinda steals the show on this song. For one, the beat has that vocal bit from Mercy, and it's a beat that fits him better overall. But that's not to say Logic doesn't try, as he does his typical acrobatic flows. Decent stuff overall, though this is bogged down by the hook kinda dragging. Logic's performance feels too slow and his weaknesses as a vocalist really show when that happens. Still, not that bad as a whole.

6. Midnight

I guess this is Logic's attempt at God. by Kendrick Lamar. Like I said higher up, Logic slowing down really highlights his weaknesses as a vocalist, and that true here especially. Combined with the first half of the song having these weird, cheap sounding buzzing synths and you have something kinda bland. Though it does pick up in the second half where it basically becomes a different song. The beat gets more bounce and Logic himself improves. I do find that "moving silence" line to be pretty lazy though. I kinda wish the entire song was more like the second half. Still wouldn't be great, but it would've been kinda okay.

7. Yuck

Points for energy, I guess. But even still, Logic's bars on this song feel incredibly two-faced, sounding like he wants to diss people (without naming names) but also claim to be about that positivity. You can't really have it both ways. This is the same thing RiceGum tries to do with his beefs. Also the song feels oddly short, with only one verse. The song ends abruptly with a voicemail from Elton John congratulating him for his Grammys performance. Which is...weird, and doesn't really fit in with the song.

8. NBAYoungBoat

This is the Yachty debut whose appeal I understand the most here. It's got the most energy and the most interesting beat. And it's a song without a hook where Yachty and YoungBoy trade bars. Not that they're great bars, but the quality is higher than the other songs from this album I've heard. Still, there's some wack lines here, like Yachty saying he's gonna shoot you up like the Kennedys (not cool), and later saying he didn't finish nailing your girl because he got lazy. Which is just pathetic. Still, again, not his worst.

9. Contra

This is the Logic song I have the least to say about it. The content here isn't that offensive but it is the same arrogance that poisons the rest of the project. And the beat doesn't sound too good. The bass gurgles way too much. Just, kinda forgettable.

10. Overnight

I like the idea for this song, at the very least. Shutting down people who believe you just became famous overnight when in reality you worked hard and gradually gained a following. And it is true, yeah. But Logic's sing rapping gets really grating by the second verse. Combined with the fact that said verse is about dismissing haters as bad people since he's so positive. Following this up with theorizing that they're haters because of daddy issues or being bullied. That's...kinda not cool. Probably one of the worst moments I've heard from the guy, really. It's petty and someone really should've stopped him from saying it.

11. BoomTrap Protocol

First verse is decently constructed, but then Logic goes full Travis Scott and kinda ruins a decent beat with some eerie vocal samples. Simply put, this guy sounds horrific with autotune. Even though he doesn't have a good singing voice, he paradoxically doesn't benefit from using autotune. And once the first verse is over, this song becomes pretty much useless. Also, "I ain't heard no s**t like this in so long..." Yes you have. From Travis Scott. Don't lie.

12. Boom!

No more UOENO type beats! I really don't get the appeal of them. The hook here is really drab, with even Yachty sounding bored as he sounds like he's going through a list of clichés he's gotta stick with. His flow here bites pretty hard off of Migos as well, with nothing interesting to say. Also the first time I listened to this I didn't remember Ugly God was on it since the two sound almost alike on this song. Yep, this is boring.

13. 66

And if you thought Boom! was Yachty on autopilot, you have this. His hook is very mumbly and monotone, which doesn't fit against a beat that's supposed to be atmospheric and glossy. Though I guess it's kind of a good fit for Trippie Redd, even if he gets pretty annoying by the end of his verse. I don't like his upper range, as it turns out. And the content is generic as always. Just lovely.