billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 10, 2019 (VIDEO)

Okay, here we go - bit of a wonky episode, all things considered, but overall pretty good - enjoy!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 10, 2019

Am I the only one who thinks that this year has just felt like an extended cooldown from the chaos of 2018, where it felt like the chart was facing upheavals every other week? Of course, some of that stability on top has to trickle down, but some of it feels rooted in a summer that feels increasingly listless and bereft of impact releases, true album bombs to shake the charts - yeah, we got a few songs from Chance The Rapper this week, but not the tidal wave we would have seen last year.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 15, 2019 (VIDEO)

Okay, that was a long episode... and yet amazingly I'm ahead of schedule with it, go figure.

Anyway, next up is the equivalent of a double album, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 15, 2019

So this is one of those weeks that I'm just convinced whatever I review, I'm going to wind up pissing people off. And while I'd normally be able to skate by such thoughts on Billboard BREAKDOWN, given that it's in its own separate, equally annoying ecosystem... yeah, a quick glance at our new arrivals is telling me everything I need to know, there's no getting out of the stupid here.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - february 23, 2019 (VIDEO)

So yeah, I know it's a bit of a wild prediction that thank u, next won't quite last on the Hot 100... but I've seen enough album bombs to see exactly how Ariana Grande will fade, especially in the face of the projects in the wings coming.

Next up, we're talking Avantasia - stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - february 23, 2019

So everyone and their mother was going to predict that Ariana Grande would have an album bomb this week. That's not surprising, and I'm fully aware that me saying it last week was not blowing anyone's mind. I will say I'm a bit surprised that she broke through so high in the top 40, with only one song from the album not placing there. And what I find interesting here is that when you combine a relatively modest track length - we're only talking new songs from Ariana here - and only a few other breakthroughs around it, it leads to a week that didn't quite feel as disrupted as I expected. More just at the top than anything, and that gives me the impression that thank u, next as an album might suffer a steeper dropoff than Ariana's people are prepared to acknowledge. Hey, you make an album custom-built for streaming, you suffer the consequences!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - october 6, 2018 (VIDEO)

So this came together pretty damn quick... nice stuff.

Next up... you know, this Logic album is so damn long, I need to knock out an episode of the Trailing Edge soon, so we'll see what comes first!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - october 6, 2018

Okay yes, I'm very relieved it's a cooldown week... but look, in the era of the album bomb and with Logic and Lil Wayne set to do stupid numbers for next week, it's really not that much consolation that I get a breather here, especially if it comes at the expense of any analysis or predictions beyond 'well, Lil Wayne has a shot for a few top 10 debuts and maybe a shot at #1'.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 11, 2018 (VIDEO)

Hey look, the Hot 100 was crap enough that I completely forgot to update here, go figure.

Anyway, the more important update is...

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 11, 2018

You know, sometimes you just want to take the cooldown weeks when you can - given the streaming numbers I know Travis Scott has an album bomb coming for Astroworld, and while I haven't reviewed the record proper just yet, I can only imagine how big the impact will be on the rest of the Hot 100... joy.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - march 31, 2018 (VIDEO)

Heh, this turned out WAY more controversial than I expected... eh, it happens.

Next up, something way better than everything I'm talking about here - enjoy!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - march 31, 2018

You know, given how the past week has been it's been very tempting of me to just step up in here, say the Billboard Hot 100 shit itself inside out like most of the rest of this year - and let's not mince words, it's about as bad as I've seen it in the past few years - but hey, it could have been worse, right? We didn't get a full album bomb from XXXTENTACION, and while I sure as hell don't think our replacements are anything close to good, I have to keep reassuring myself with the thoughts that this could be a much more miserable experience than it is.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - february 3, 2018 (VIDEO)

So okay, up a little early this week... a little shorter too, but really, there was not much to say about this, I've said my piece on Drake too many times.

So okay, next up... hmm, probably close to having enough for Resonators, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - february 3, 2018

...okay, you know what? I'll say this for Drake: despite him being the biggest story of the week by a mile, there's a certain cold comfort in knowing it came from only two new songs and not twenty. And when Migos are coming next week with the sort of streaming numbers that indicate an album bomb, I'll take whatever the hell I can get!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 19, 2017 (VIDEO)

And here's an especially long episode of Billboard BREAKDOWN... man, this took a while to put together, as they always do...

But still not all tonight, stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 19, 2017

It's never the album bomb weeks that are actually interesting - it's the weeks that come after, the fallout period where you see the headlong rush to plug the holes. And considering the summer music season tends to have a dry spell in album releases, this is the time where songs that might not otherwise crossover have a shot for some traction, where the weird or strange stuff might bubble up.

video review: 'memories... do not open' by the chainsmokers

So apparently I forgot to post my video review of this here. Maybe because it's forgettable and terrible... yeah, I'll go with that.

And speaking of things I forgot...

album review: 'memories... do not open' by the chainsmokers

There's a part of me that thinks this is my fault.

See, I reviewed The Chainsmokers' second EP last year and I made the statement that the EDM duo would never release a full-length record, mostly because there was no need for it. After all, this was a duo of frat guys who treated music more like a marketing gimmick to get laid - freely admitting to being inspired by Jeremy Piven's character from Entourage - and project noxious ideas about women and relationships against their increasingly anonymous brand of EDM. Less artistic endeavor than calculation, it was the sort of utterly cynical and worthless music that would be gross and offensive to any sensibility if it bothered to have any distinct personality at all.

And yet it seems like in the build-up to this debut album, down to the subject matter of the singles, that The Chainsmokers were trying to blunt that reputation, or at least extend the long con they've run on the audience a little bit longer as their fifteen minutes tick down. They seemed to be trying to cultivate a more earnest and sincere image and shove their brand of ironic obnoxiousness down the memory hole - hell, look at the title of this album! And the depressing fact is that for most of the mainstream public it seems to be working - despite atrocious live performances and increasingly stale EDM drops, they're still selling records, and I'd put money on this project breaking a song or four onto the Hot 100 in a week or so, which is just peachy. Thankfully, I have a much longer memory, and yet while I don't think earnestness is the best fit for the band, their newest single with Coldplay isn't bad at all, so maybe something would be salvageable from Memories... Do Not Open?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - april 22, 2017 (VIDEO)

Oh wow, this week took a lot out of me... lot to say, and a fair bit of controversy too (because of course there was).

Beyond that... fuck, you know what's coming. Enjoy!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - april 22, 2017

I'm honestly not sure where to even start with this week - mostly because it seems overshadowed by the biggest story here, being the huge top ten debut that seems like the first serious threat that our top spot has faced in some time. But there's other stories about this week that deserve some consideration, including major shakeups in country and other disruptive singles. Also, Kodak Black happened for some ungodly reason, but we'll get to that.