Chicken077's Top 200 Songs of All Time (Video Link Posted)

[chicken077]

#166: R5 – Let’s Not Be Alone Tonight

Era: late 1, through 2, into very early 3
Peak: 33
Weeks in Top 100: 35
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 257319



One of those songs back in 2015 that never grew on me too much, but my local radio and SiriusXM ended up loving it that they didn’t drop it until September/October 2015 (released early on in 2015), probably why this scored a #166 position here. I just remember jamming out to this song whenever it comes up to the radio during Summer 2015, but I don’t think it ever meant anything special to me. I feel that every event that I relate this to is kinda better represented by another song, like Independence Day is much better represented by “Can’t Feel My Face” and a few others while nightly Friday trips to piano class back in freshman year was related back with many other songs that performed much better on my chart like “Wrapped Up”. I guess that’s why this song never entered top 30, but I still liked it the whole time. The video was very unique, the song is very bouncy, and is just corresponding to my happy feeling back in 2015. Again, in no ways is this a bad song, I just feel that it won’t be too important to my life going on out. And I think that’s pretty unlucky for this song because, well, it deserves the memories but sadly this might be the last time I’ll remember this song from here on out because there’s really nothing special here… This song became more or less of a pass by for all eras instead of something I really indulged over.

“Not wrong if you come on strong, 'cause life is too short
I like how we get along like snow and New York
All good if you change your mind, you know where I stand
Look back and I say to you I lost all my friends”

[chicken077]

#165: Five Seconds Of Summer – She Looks So Perfect

Era: 0 (Summer 2014), but managed to score on my chart because it regrew on me in very late era 0 and era 1
Peak: 26
Weeks in Top 100: 27
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 260239



Bam. What a song. Although I’m not a fan of boy bands, I’d got to admit this and “Amnesia” are just awesome. This song expresses a type of happiness and attraction that does not end up like generic boy band songs like “What Makes You Beautiful” and “Drag Me Down” ended up as. I don’t even know what makes it so special for me. Like most people would think this is like a generic song, and I wouldn’t judge you, because it might be the experience that makes me think this is not a generic song…

This reminds me of the first day of high school – first day of freshman year. Now you know why it’s not generic for me. It was the first day I walked into school where I was like, “ok, I have to care about my life now. In middle school, my policy of kindness in the last month didn’t quite work. But it worked in summer biology. So hopefully it’ll work now”. That day ended up to become the beginning of a whole new order. A new order with new people and new friends made that would be on the rise, lead to my happiness in 2015, make me become kinda (positively) popular in 2015 before finally falling in 2016. Heck, it was the day I met my crush. So what does “She Looks So Perfect” have to do with this? It’s not even related tbh, but because it was the only song I was reminded of that day, I relate this with that day. In 2nd period English class, I sat next to this one girl who was apparently a fan of 5sos. And that’s it. No seriously I’m not joking. I was only mildly into pop music at that time because of the one trip I talked about. I wouldn’t get every reference to pop music back then, but I heard “She Looks So Perfect” and felt it was pretty catchy and after seeing that reference to 5sos at school, I was like, hey, I’m getting along with society! (But lol, it was the only reference to music I saw that whole day; also maybe why the song’s so important). I believe that this happening is truly the first step to why I was motivated to continue pursuing pop music and my personal chart and would eventually lead to my membership on Pulse. It would also motivate me that hey, this may be a sign that my new life is going on the good side! So I really should continue with this! Overall, listening to this song makes me feel a sense of hope and “light on the other side of the tunnel” that motivates me to keep going… and that’s what I really need to get me through the stress of 2016.

“You look so perfect standing there
In my American Apparel underwear
And I know now, that I'm so down”

Yeah, after being reminded of the lyrics I gotta admit it’s pretty generic. But still, that memory changes everything for me.

[chicken077]

#164: Melanie Martinez – Cry Baby

Era: early to mid 5
Peak: 15
Weeks in Top 100: 19
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 262188



We go straight from the beginnings of high school to the beginnings of era 5, the era where I started posting my charts. This is pretty much the only Melanie Martinez song that I ever heard, mostly because I believe the weekend before Spring Break? (or was it after lmao) My mom took me on this drive along Highway 4 between Brentwood and Stockton (very desolate farms, levees, islands, etc), when the sun was setting under Mount Diablo. It was an awesome view and the memory is also tied to “Don’t Let Me Down” and “Sit Still, Look Pretty” (definitely look for those later on in this countdown!). But this day was the only day I heard “Cry Baby” on SiriusXM’s Friday YouTube 15 hosted by Jenna Marbles. I felt this song was very unique and makes it sound so deep yet so immature at the same time lol (Melanie’s style, I later learned), and the care Melanie put into singing this. A slight sadder feeling towards this song is very correspondent to the sunset and my feelings about life back then. So this immediately slammed into the top 50 of my chart, and although the only points it got after that day was personal listens, it managed to hit #15 before falling relatively quickly down my chart. Regardless, still a very interesting and memorable song. I didn’t get a chance to listen to the other songs by Melanie yet – keep on forgetting, and she didn’t really release anything new after the album “Cry Baby” (at least in my knowledge), but I definitely plan on looking at her old stuff because it looks very interesting!

“You're all on your own and
You lost all your friends
You told yourself that
It's not you, it's them
You're one of a kind
And no one understands”

[chicken077]

#163: Jess Glynne – Hold My Hand

Era: mid to late 2 and through 3
Peak: 26
Weeks in Top 100: 29
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 263447



You know what I said about “Let’s Not Be Alone Tonight”? Sadly, the same phenomenon occurred here. This song reminds me of a lot of great times, such as Independence Day Weekend, sophomore year registration, library nights after school doing homework, volunteering at Kaiser, etc. but are all overshadowed by more important and memorable songs for me. But this did manage to fare a bit well peak wise, reaching #26. This is most likely due to “Hold My Hand” actually getting minimal traction on the Billboard Charts, unlike “Let’s Not Be Alone Tonight”, which I believe didn’t even chart on Billboard. But sadly, this fell a little faster than the former, but for era 3 standards, 29 weeks is still great, so that’s probably why it managed to get a #163 position here. Otherwise, I really can’t think of any specific memory to go with this. Other than the fact that when this charted on Billboard, I always thought the album cover Billboard uses for their website made it look like Jess Glynne’s face was broken lmao. But again, it’s a sad thing that happens for certain 2015 songs… There’s just so many awesome songs and although there’s a lot of awesome memories as well, some songs just don’t “specialize” in one memory and end up becoming too broad for me to describe… And I think that’s what happened with this and “Let’s Not Be Alone Tonight”.

"I'm ready for this, there's no denying
I'm ready for this, you stop me falling
I'm ready for this, I need you all in
I'm ready for this, so darling, hold my hand"

I gotta run off for now. As long as physics homework doesn’t become too hectic tonight, look for more songs posted tonight! (I’m planning another 5 song set). And I may delay the second half of the story (high school segment) to Winter Break, because I really wanna get some songs posted before talking about the second half of my story, but it looks as if I may not have enough time for Thanksgiving Break, so yeah… I’m probably gonna have to talk about it towards the end of this countdown or maybe during the 2016 YE countdown, depending on how busy I get and hence how fast I decide to post the other songs…

Tags: @markg94 Leo ✔ Ice Cream 15 (Broccoli 2018) MTSChart21 Sambalada georgetherunner314 bboat11 fearlessarrow Mr. Thonk Eyes .indulgecountry born Xaprios
Anyone else want to be tagged or untagged, just tell me and I'll tag or untag you. :)

[Leo ✔]

Wild Things!

Also, Hold My Hand is one of my fav songs from 2015

[Ice Cream 15 (Broccoli 2018)]

Hold My Hand. Forgot about that song. I lived is here.

[georgetherunner314]

Californication and Wild Things are fantastic! Also really like Hold My Hand; it's a shame it didn't become a hit in the US.

[chicken077]

So I'm having some trouble with Microsoft Office, where I draft all of these descriptions. So I only managed to write 3 tonight. Looks like I may have to transfer everything to Google Drive for now before getting office fixed... and my internet is slow af... so Google Drive is gonna suck for now. Ugh... probably another aftereffect from that one time my computer crashed this summer and I had to re license my Office software to transfer it on my new laptop... (remember? That was a while back lol, like the first month or so I posted my chart here)

#162: Future featuring The Weeknd – Low Life

SPECIAL SONG – DID NOT CHART BECAUSE I FORGOT TO CALCULATE POINTS ON MY CHART BUT MADE IT ON COUNTDOWN
Era: early to mid 5
Peak: approximately 25
Weeks in Top 100: approximately 25
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 263921



So this is the first special song on this countdown out of two. The reasons I label them as special is different, but in this particular case, it’s because, well “Low Life” never charted on my chart. However, this song did get considerable traction on the Billboard Hot 100 (which counts towards points on my chart) and a few personal plays and talks about it at school. However, prior to summer 2016, I didn’t have last.fm to keep track of personal plays and I totally forgot about this song when making my charts. I suddenly remembered it this one week, but sadly, it was too late. I didn’t feel like debuting a song at #30 suddenly, so I decided that I would not chart this song but for all YE/all time lists, I would approximate it’s points for all weeks and add it up. So here it is! Enough points to score a #162 position on this chart!

As for a memory relating to this song, it occurred in one of the weeks during Summer PE this past summer and was when I realized I forgot to chart this song. It’s a very small memory, but I think worth noting – first time I forgot to chart a song. Every day, we have to do a run, but because the teacher doesn’t really care, we usually just walk most of it. This one day, however, the teacher timed us so we had to run a mile. We were all very tired after we ran, so we got to rest for an extended period of time as we chatted with the teacher. So I was sitting next to this one girl (who turned out to be kinda important to my life in 2016 in a good way although summer PE was literally when I met her – probably gonna talk about her in my story when I get there), and she went online and watched the “Low Life” video for fun. Meanwhile, I was watching a video of my own personal chart countdown (I believe it was Week 79, week ending 6/18/2016 because I remember “Rock Bottom” was in the 40s in that video and that was the only week where “Rock Bottom” was in that region). So she saw me and was like, “hey chicken077, what are you watching?” So I explained to her very briefly about my personal chart (I usually don’t tell people about it, but for some reason my PE class I felt closer with so I told her a little bit about my chart), and she’s like, “DO YOU HAVE LOW LIFE IN THERE?” And I was like, “I should, I mean it should get enough points from personal plays and the Hot 100 position”. So I looked through the video and yeah… no “Low Life”… And that’s how I realized that this whole time, I forgot to chart a song. So I guess this song brings back an interesting memory of Summer 2016.

"Always change my number and my phone line
Baby girl, I don't lie
Used to have no money for a crib
Now my room service bill cost your whole life" (Pretty much the only line other than the chorus that doesn't have profanity lmao, and I JUST realized it's not "Rapping for the low life"...)

[chicken077]

#161: Charli XCX – Break The Rules

Era: very late 0 through 1
Peak: 12
Weeks in Top 100: 19
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 266495



Another “origin” song… The #15 song on Week 1 of my chart… Charli XCX was kinda like the Kelsea Ballerini or Daya of today (except she sadly never got a #1 song, “Boom Clap” was blocked by “Take Me To Church”, but if I had a chart before Week 1, “Boom Clap” might have slipped a week or two in at #1 between “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space”), one of my favorite female singers. Sadly, she stopped releasing songs after a while, so she isn’t that prominent on the charts anymore. Since “Break The Rules” came out half a year after the May 16 Incident, I kinda relate with “breaking the rules” at school (since that’s what the song is about). I also love the teen rebel feeling to the song, stark contrast to “Boom Clap” yet Charli XCX still manages to handle it great. The electronic background music is one that truly makes you want to get up and dance, and it’s just one of the funnest songs of that time.

I remember this being mildly popular on SiriusXM, and the most notable time I heard this on the radio was during Winter Break (probably counting towards tracking week 3 (second week of Winter Break, because that’s when the song peaked at #12), when my parents took me to Tracy (around 20 miles east of home) to visit a very close friend of ours. I mean, we still visit them all the time, but the friends my parents have are really cool people and give me so much great advice (they have a child that graduated from college so they know the torturous life of a high schooler) and they kinda help me get through the May 16 Incident. I think this was probably important to me because it was the first time since I had a personal chart where I went on a trip that’s like above 10 miles so I’ll have an extensive listen to the radio. And this being the song I heard right before ascending the Altamont Pass (probably the most prominent landform between my house and Tracy, also talked about in the “This Girl” memory), the song really stuck onto me. Sadly, it didn’t really gain enough traction to crack the top 10, but it managed to score 19 weeks on my chart and a position on this chart. Regardless, this song will probably be remembered through the history of my chart despite being unlikely to chart on future all time charts. And I hope Charli XCX releases new material, because this song and “Boom Clap” were honestly some of my favorites and bring back some of the best memories of late 2014-early 2015.

"I don't wanna go to school
I just wanna break the rules
Boys and girls across the world
Putting on our dancing shoes"

[chicken077]

#160: Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman

Era: 5
Peak: 16
Weeks in Top 100: 20
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 268793



Another era 5 song! See what I mean? Era 5 songs this, “Cry Baby”, “Low Life”, “Wild Things” are all crammed together with absolutely no hint of era 4 or era 6 songs, and there are other areas where other eras are so prominent with no hint of era 5. We’ve also had a surplus of era 0/1 songs recently, so yeah, really proves that songs of similar eras tend to somewhat stick together on this chart. Interesting.

So “Dangerous Woman” was Ariana’s comeback after “Focus” flopped (“Focus” didn’t flop on my chart, but it didn’t do that well either tbh. That song had a really good memory to it, but sadly it didn’t get enough points to make it on this countdown…), and I loved this song from first listen! Ariana’s voice never fails to give shivers and touch my heart, and the melodies to her songs are always so blissful and great to listen to. Sadly, like most other Ariana songs, this dropped off too quickly to score high from its #16 peak. I don’t know, for some reason with the exception of “Into You”, Ariana’s songs always don’t stick around in my playlists for too long, but when they do, I literally fall in love.

The memory to this song happens in the Summer 2016 trip to Reno/Carson City/Mono Lake this June again, like the memory in “Wild Things”! Although local radio did kinda like the song, the true memory came in the hotel room. Since the trip fell on a Friday, I had to make next week’s countdown video for the chart in order to release my video properly on Saturday (it was when I first started posting these, so I didn’t want to slack off lol, unlike now). Since I took a hiatus from making videos between April (when I first started making videos on YouTube, but didn’t post them on Pulse) and June when I started posting my chart on Pulse, there were many songs that I had to download from YouTube, “Dangerous Woman” being one of them. Since I didn’t really have time in the hotel room to download everything, I only managed to get through “Dangerous Woman” and “Peter Pan”. So interestingly, “Dangerous Woman” is just one of two songs that I initially downloaded not from home, the other one being “Peter Pan”. “Dangerous Woman” still remains as the song that kinda reminds me of that hotel room we were in on that trip, and as from what I said back in “Wild Things” and what I will talk about in future posts, the trip was a pretty important era 5 event that opened up the solace of Summer 2016. “Dangerous Woman” is a major part of that, and will definitely be remembered even if this doesn’t look like it will make the next all time chart. Definitely look out for this song in 2016 YE and Mid 2016 to Mid 2017 YE!

"Nothing to prove and
I'm bulletproof and
Know what I'm doing
The way we're movin' like introducing
Us to a new thing"

[georgetherunner314]

Don't really like Break The Rules or 'Charlie random letters' (to reference a Pulse post). But, Low Life and Dangerous Woman are both pretty good! I think Focus still is Ariana Grande's highest peaking song on my chart though it had like zero longevity lol.

[Ice Cream 15 (Broccoli 2018)]

Those next 3 songs were great.

[chicken077]

#159: AronChupa - I’m An Albatraoz

Era: 1
Peak: 20
Weeks in Top 100: 22
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 271812



Probably one of the most unique songs I’ve heard since my personal chart started. I mean it’s just so hilarious that although there’s a lot to not like about this song, I just couldn’t find myself disliking this song. SiriusXM was not really in love with this song back in era 1, but they did play it multiple times, enough to allow it to grow on me and for some personal plays to be logged. It was able to barely crack the top 20, but sadly, as most super catchy songs do, fell off the charts relatively quickly, but still able to last 22 weeks on chart and enough to make a #159 position here.

This song was a pretty good representation of what era 1 was like for me. Overall, it was a pretty happy time; it was notable for being the months where I finally completely entered lightness from the darkness I call 2014. Since I heard this song quite a bit during that time, every time I listen to it again, I always relate it with the hope and looking forward to tomorrow feelings I had during that era. And that’s almost the opposite of what I feel now - like I really don’t want time to pass and I have no hope about life past today. So I kinda long for when there was still hope, back in era 1… And since this song was such an interesting representation that I was in love with back then, it always makes me nostalgic when I listen to it now.

"Dilory was a mouse in a big brown house
She call herself the hoe
With the money money blow
But fuck that little mouse 'cause I'm an albatraoz"

[chicken077]

#158: Disturbed - The Sound Of Silence

Era: late 5 to 6
Peak: 25
Weeks in Top 100: 24 (Still on)
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 272410



Another very current song! And completely shifting gears in that this song’s tone and feeling is almost completely opposite of “I’m An Albatraoz”, yet I love both songs. Actually, it was released a while back but it didn’t grow on me until this summer, when it started rising my chart to a #25 position this fall. It was actually never played on my local radio and SiriusXM only played it minimally. The only time I do remember SiriusXM playing it was back in the trip to Reno/Carson City/Mono Lake at the beginning of this summer. But that play only allowed it to chart, and didn’t allow it to truly rise. The one time I heard this that truly make it rise was at my SAT prep class this summer which I just got finished with a few months ago (that I still dislike). It was during my lunch break when I was watching music videos on YouTube, when “The Sound Of Silence” was recommended to me. After watching the video, I absolutely fell in love with the lead singer’s voice: it’s very rough yet he makes it sound sorta vulnerable at the same time. I also just LOVE the final scene in the video. The song also seems very nostalgic and longing of the past, kinda like “Stressed Out” but in a more melancholy way. Overall, just a very great song for thinking about the past. That was when this song finally gained traction on my chart due to personal plays, but sadly, because the song was so old and it didn’t get as much personal plays as some other songs like “Peter Pan” and “Heathens”, it didn’t manage to crack the top 20. Regardless, “The Sound Of Silence” received a substantial run and points, and we’ll see how many more points the rest of this song’s run can give it. Probably not much, but hopefully enough to nudge it up considerably. And I have a feeling that the very fact that this song is so nostalgic will make it so sad to listen to it when some time passes after it falls from my chart.

“The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls."
And whispered… in the sound of silence“

[chicken077]

#157: R. City featuring Adam Levine - Locked Away

Era: 3
Peak: 17
Weeks in Top 100: 24
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 274619



Honestly this song never grew on me at first. Since I didn’t know who R. City was, I always thought of this as an Adam Levine/Maroon 5 when this first came out and I felt that “This Summer’s Gonna Hurt” was a bit better. But as sophomore year started and I listened to this song more and more, I started getting emotional feels to this song although R. City and Adam Levine don’t really convey it through their voice directly. I also loved the lyrics to this song since I felt it kinda reveals something about people in society these days - people don’t really make friends/lovers for the emotional feelings, but just for materialistic benefits or very short term happiness. If long term flaws are shown or those materialistic benefits are taken away, I doubt many couples would “love [each other] the same”. I truly feel many people, including “Shawn” in my story, should really listen to this song and get something from it, because I think one of the keys to making society better lies in this song. And that’s what propelled this song to a #17 peak and having decent longevity with 24 weeks in the top 100.

SiriusXM loved this song back in era 3, so this was one of those songs I always listened to when I was doing homework after school at the school library back then, similar to “Bring It Back”. But this song, unlike “Bring Me Back”, is a bit more deeper in meaning and allowed me to really think about which direction life was going back in era 3 in the library. I remember hearing this song was when I finally felt that my peak was approaching and that things will go downhill soon. And that proved to be right in 2016… Although this song does remind me of first thoughts of life going downhill, I still think that the true meaning behind this song and the memories it brings back of nightly library homework sessions will mask the “life going downhill” “prediction” I guess you can say?

“If I showed you my flaws
If I couldn't be strong
Tell me honestly
Would you still love me the same?”

[georgetherunner314]

AND WHISPERED IN THE SOOOOUUUND OF SILENCE... fantastic cover; their live performances of the song are even greater than the video. Still sad pop radio rejected it  :'(

Locked Away was also amazing, but it got old really fast. I guess it didn't really have the longevity to match its quality.

Don't really like I'm An Albatroaz at all. The uniqueness of its production is interesting, but there's not much to find attractive in the song imo.

[Leo ✔]

I'm An Albatraoz lol is very catchy but stupid imo xD

[chicken077]

#156: Maroon 5 - Sugar

Era: mid to late 1 and early 2
Peak: 30
Weeks in Top 100: 36
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 278137



So the song right under “Sugar”, “Locked Away”, features vocals from Maroon 5’s lead singer Adam Levine, and here we have Maroon 5’s “Sugar” right above it! But still, this is not the coincidence that surprised me the most. There’ll be much interesting coincidences as we continue this countdown!

So I loved “Maps” and liked “Animals”, but I felt “Sugar” was a bit more boring and generic than their first two singles. I mean “Sugar” is still an awesome song and it gets me hyped up whenever I listen to it, but I find it a bit generic and repetitive. I guess another reason this song didn’t perform too well on my chart is because I kinda expected a lot from Maroon 5, and although this isn’t a bad song at all, I still much preferred “Maps” and “Animals”, and those two songs really took away from the streams this song was supposed to get. So sadly, this only barely made the top 30, but it did last for a pretty long time for era 1 songs, especially if you consider the fact that it didn’t have a high peak, lasting until late 2015, but much of its later run is spent in semi-recurrency (recurrent stage 1: below #50 and more than 26 weeks), so sadly it didn’t get too much points.

Nevertheless, this is still a very memorable song. Back in later era 1, although life was dominated by other songs such as “Thinking Out Loud” and “Uptown Funk” and “Style”, I still remember this song being played a lot, especially during weekly night drives from piano class in the South Bay back home on Friday - and because after piano class I would be happy to see the weekend coming, I would used to jam out to this song in the car. Although there’s nothing special about this song in general, it still brings back good memories of the happiness I experience every Friday during the drive home and knowing that I’m done with all the work for the week and have a weekend right ahead of me.

“Yeah, you show me good loving, make it alright
Need a little sweetness in my life
Your sugar, Yes, please
Won't you come and put it down on me?”

[chicken077]

#155: MAGIC! - Rude

Era: 0 (Summer 2014)
Peak: 11
Weeks in Top 100: 18
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 279046



Guys, this is probably THE song that got me into pop music. I know this song is hated by many people, but hey, it’s a good song at least for me. This might be my second favorite Billboard #1 back in 2014, right behind “Blank Space” (though I count “Blank Space” as a 2015 song, and “Shake It Off” would be a close third). It’s very laid back and fun to listen to yet MAGIC! somehow finds a way to put some emotionality into it. I also found it pretty unique for a pop song back then and just a different feeling - and a good one - from the genericness of what I thought pop music was back then with “All Of Me” and “Happy”. I immediately fell in love with this song when I first heard it back in summer 2014 and if I had a chart back then, it would’ve been in the top 10 since early June 2014 and hit number 1 in early to mid July 2014 and stay there until late August 2014, when “Shake It Off” was released and would’ve ousted “Rude” - so it would’ve been a very strong 6 to 7 week #1! It would’ve lasted in the top 10 for just under half a year until late December 2014. The first week it would’ve been not in the top 10 would be the first week of my current chart, hence why this song peaked at #11… it just dropped out of the top 10 when I started my chart… Sadly, with me getting so into pop music in Winter 2014-2015, older songs were rotated out quickly, and this song only managed to spend 18 weeks on my chart, and is definitely one of the songs that is largely screwed over by the fact that my chart started in December 2014 and that’s when so many songs grew on me.

I remember the most memorable time when I heard this song on the radio was when my mom took me on a drive right after Summer Biology class right before the second weekend of the class. It was weird because it was raining, something very uncommon in my area in the summer. Prior to this time, I liked the song, but didn’t feel it was as special as I would feel about it now. During that drive, my mom was talking to me about getting my permit next summer (Summer 2015) when “Rude” popped up on my local radio (I didn’t have SiriusXM back then). I still have NO IDEA why to this day, but I suddenly found some sort of appeal to that song during that drive, and I remember that being the first time I wanted to know the name of a song on the radio since like “Cups” back in 2013. After downloading the song, this was probably my favorite song for the entire summer and I loved it when local radios in Washington played it during my trip there later in the summer. Definitely the song that best represents Summer 2014, the summer of atonement and right before the “new order” of my life began right as freshman year started in August - kinda corresponding to “Shake It Off” debuting and beginning a new era in music, the Taylor Swift 1989 era. Both the “new order” and my school and the 1989 era are just recently waning for me… But more on that later in my future posts of the second half of my story.

“You say, I'll never get your blessing 'til the day I die
Tough luck, my friend, but 'No' still means 'No'!
Why you gotta be so rude?
Don't you know I'm human too?”

[chicken077]

#154: Tori Kelly - Nobody Love

Era: mid to late 2 to 3
Peak: 36
Weeks in Top 100: 39
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 281665



As you can probably tell from the stats (lower peak, but high longevity for a non top 30), this is another one of those songs like “Let’s Not Be Alone Tonight” and “Hold My Hand” where there are so many memories tied with this song across eras, but each are better represented by another song(s)... This is the song with the lowest peak in this entire countdown, but it had some pretty impressive longevity for a non top 30 AND an era 1/2/3 song, debuting way back in late era 1 and lasting all the way to mid era 3. I mean, this is still a good song and all that, but I didn’t find this song as sentimental and melodically pleasing as “Should’ve Been Us” (which had a higher peak but didn’t have enough longevity) and especially “Hollow” (that song is the best I’ve heard from her and one of my faves back in era 4. So watch for that song!). So sadly, this didn’t go too high. However, SiriusXM did hold on to this song across 3 eras, so that might be why it charted for so long. Probably the best I can do with memories of this song would be relating it back with Summer Precalculus back in 2015, since there was a guy in my class that was a fan of Tori Kelly and this song was popular on SiriusXM back then, but honestly, this song isn’t that memorable to me, and is another unlucky song on my chart. Luckily for Tori, however, she’s got “Hollow” in front of her and that song is absolutely AWESOME and fitting for my mood in era 4.

“I should be more cynical and tell myself it’s not okay
(To feel this good when I’m with you)
I try my best to fight it, say I hate you but I always stay”

[chicken077]

#153: AJR - Infinity

Era: mid to late 1 to early 2
Peak: 18
Weeks in Top 100: 22
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 283059



Another awesome song that’s so memorable in era 1 and early era 2! This song is one of the most emotional songs and is so mildly sorrowful that it makes me cry each time I hear it. This song was on SiriusXM’s hitbound all the way until later era 1 and early era 2, and through the time it was on hitbound, SiriusXM loved it and it touches my heart every time. Although I was more or less of a happy guy back in era 1 retrospecting, I didn’t know how much life was going well for me back then (going to talk about this in my story), so I liked mildly sorrowful songs that convey so much sentiment in them. The video was so awesome as well and really makes me emotional. So this had a pretty decent peak of #18, but as era 2 approached, I knew that life was going to be really happy over the next few months, so I kinda let go of this song the same time as SiriusXM stopped loving it. So this dropped off relatively quickly, spending 22 weeks on my chart.

My memory to this song probably goes to piano class again. Back in Spring Break 2015, I went to China, but my mom actually went there a week earlier than me, so I had to spend a week by myself and my dad at home. So he had to send me to piano class once. I remember on the way back home, SiriusXM played this song right after class. And for some awkward reason, just like “Rude” reminds me of that one drive, “Infinity” reminds me of the week my dad had to send me to everything. I think it’s kinda because one of the AJR singers look a bit like my dad, and the AJR singers are in the music video. So probably this song reminds me of my super close relation with my dad, and hence the time he had to send me to class… Definitely a song that is incredibly memorable and sentimental, and it kinda got unlucky as well in that it dropped fast only because my life was getting better… Since this got quite a bit of plays from me this week because of this countdown, this song may actually rechart. I doubt it, but hopefully this’ll get enough points this time around that it can make the next all time countdown, since this song is so damn emotional and memorable.

“All our troubles gone
Like when we were young
Take me back to where we all began”

[chicken077]

#152: Marlon Roudette - When The Beat Drops Out

Era: 2 to early 3
Peak: 22
Weeks in Top 100: 34
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 286121



Another pretty memorable song from the later half of era 2 and early era 3. I remember SiriusXM loving this song back in that time, and I felt that this song was a pretty decent song with a relaxing vibe. The song would always calm me down during that time. And since era 2 and 3 were the happiest times of my life, “When The Beat Drops Out” usually makes me calm down from the happiness and take consideration of what I’m actually facing in life. That’s honestly part of why this song was so memorable in late era 2 and early era 3. I heard this song multiple times around sophomore year registration back in August 2015. I was hyped for the year because freshman year ended off in such a good note and summer precalculus was so fun. But this song somehow made me calm down from this fun and think about the practicalities of taking so many hard classes as a sophomore. And I believe it was at that time when I first thought, “well, maybe this uphill trend will not continue forever. Maybe there will be a time, I don’t know when, that life is going to flatline and eventually drop off again”. It was just a slight feeling back then, as even number grades/years always seemed to be bad for me. But I was happy back then. So I was like, “nah, I gotta shake that feeling off”. But every time I hear this song, I get that feeling! It’s like some kind of prophecy to me that proved to come true as we have seen how 2016 wasn’t that great for me! But of course, I wanted to really enjoy life back then, so this peaked early at #22 and fell off with moderate speed during era 3. But looking back at it, it’s truly the song that first got me thinking into, “what will I do if life goes bad again?” - something that turned out to be very true. So I refer to this song as the “prophecy song”. Interestingly, this song actually came out way back in summer 2014, when I first really got into music, but not really charts yet.

“Baseline, after all the great times,
I just wanna know that feelings in your heart...
When the beat drops out, and the people gone
We still be there, still be there, for me child”

[chicken077]

#151: Justin Bieber - Sorry

Era: Late 3 through 4
Peak: 15
Weeks in Top 100: 26
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 287993



We end off the first quarter of this countdown with an interesting song. This song, along with Adele’s “Hello”, will be forever remembered as “the songs that screwed up and ended the ‘Golden Age’ of the Hot 100 that started with ‘Rude’ reaching #1 and peaked in the last week of the golden age, when ‘The Hills’, ‘Stitches’, and ‘Wildest Dreams’ were all in the top 5”. Truly, ever since “Hello” and “Sorry” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100, all the good songs do not reach #1 while most songs that are mediocre at best rise to the summit (with the exception of “Can’t Stop The Feeling” and maybe “Panda”). Songs with great longevity don’t do that great anymore and some get screwed by the 25/52 rule. Just overall, the Hot 100 became not so awesome for me anymore, and that’s when I really started focusing more on my personal chart. It’s also when my personal chart really started deviating from the Hot 100. I also consider this the first hints of my life going downhill. Although when they debuted, life was still awesome, not too long later, life started seeing its first hints of downhill-ness - and that’s during “Hello”’s run at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Finally, time seems to go MUCH faster ever since this event. Honestly, it doesn’t even seem that long since “The Hills” was atop the Hot 100, but it seemed like forever between “Blank Space”’s reign and “The Hills”’s reign. But honestly, the two time gaps are around equal. Overall, “Hello” and “Sorry”’s debuts was pretty much the turning point of my life, music as it means to me, and even time.

Since the turning point is towards a downhill trend, I am, of course, negatively biased towards this song and “Hello”. I’ve got to admit, however, that “Sorry” is genuinely a great song and would be one of my favorites from Bieber if it didn’t screw over the Hot 100. But of course, I’m biased against it, so it turned out to have a slow rise on my chart, peaking only at #15 and dropping out much quicker than expected, saying bye bye by early era 5. It’s actually much more relevant to talk about this in the post for “Hello”, but this is truly what I relate “Sorry” the most with - with it and “Hello” both being the turning point of my life, and it is this bias that truly prevented it from performing at full potential on my chart. Looking back on it, I really might have treated this song unfairly - would’ve been a decently sized top 10 hit and MUCH higher on this countdown. Maybe not outperforming “What Do You Mean?”, but still much better than it did now. Justin Bieber, is it too late now to say sorry?

“I know you know that I made those mistakes maybe once or twice
And by once or twice I mean maybe a couple of hundred times
So let me, oh, let me redeem, oh, redeem, oh, myself tonight
'Cause I just need one more shot, second chances”

[chicken077]

So by the end of Thanksgiving Day, we're done with a quarter of this countdown. Although I am very behind (I should be at around #120 right now), I've had a great time writing up all these descriptions and counting down as well. Hopefully you've got to learn a bit more about these first 50 songs, how I feel about them, and hopefully you guys are all enjoying this so far. But the fun has just begun. There are still 150 more songs that did better on my chart than "Sorry". What could they be?

Also, note that because I'm finding that it is a bit too time consuming to write super long descriptions as I do now, I might shorten my descriptions a bit to conserve a bit of time. But given my personality, the length of my descriptions are probably going to go back to super long after a day or two lmao :)

Tags: @markg94 Leo ✔ Ice Cream 15 (Broccoli 2018) MTSChart21 Sambalada georgetherunner314 bboat11 fearlessarrow Mr. Thonk Eyes .indulgecountry  born Xaprios
If anyone wants to be tagged or untagged, feel free to tell me. :)

[Leo ✔]

Yay Tori Kelly

[born]

Btw, I'm not ignoring this thread, I just want to read the posts all at once :')

[chicken077]

#150: Selena Gomez - The Heart Wants What It Wants

Era: very late 0 to early/mid 1
Peak: 14
Weeks in Top 100: 18
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 290186



Another coincidence! The previous song, “Sorry”, was by Justin Bieber, and here we have a Selena Gomez song right after! And like many other songs of that time, “Heart Wants” is really cheated from a higher position simply because I didn’t have a chart up until it almost reached its peak. When SiriusXM started playing this a lot in November 2014, I really liked how much sentiment Selena put in her voice as well as the soothing feeling this song has to it. It was just so relaxing to hear this song and it gives me the chills every time. Overall, this is probably my favorite song from Selena, but sadly, it lost half its points because it’s rise was before my chart started, so sadly, although it peaked pretty high at #14, it only lasted for 18 weeks, most of which is spent dropping. I just remember hearing this song one January night coming back from piano class and the feeling of this song is very correspondent to the dark and (kinda) lonely freeway we were taking home. This still makes me so emotional when I listen to it and brings back the nostalgic feeling for Winter 2014-2015, when my personal chart first started.

"The bed's getting cold and you're not here
The future that we hold is so unclear
But I'm not alive until you call
And I'll bet the odds against it all"

[chicken077]

#149: Rixton - Hotel Ceiling

Era: 1 to early 2
Peak: 16
Weeks in Top 100: 25
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 294627



Another song that gives me chills when listening to it! “Me And My Broken Heart” was part of the opening generation of pop songs I listened to along with “Rude”, but I felt that it was a bit generic in that it sounded too much like certain pop songs that were popular prior to the May 16 Incident. So I never got into Rixton’s songs until “Hotel Ceiling” became part of SiriusXM’s playlist. From first listen, I absolutely fell in love with this song. It’s just so emotional and this song is melodically a masterpiece. The baseline allows this song to have a sort of nostalgic and regretful feel to it. Definitely the most underrated single from them. It gained enough traction on my chart, however, to rise up to #16 in mid era 1, but SiriusXM dropped this song out pretty quickly sadly, but it still managed to last 25 weeks on my chart into era 2. I remember talking a lot about driving home from Friday piano classes in the Silicon Valley back home at night, but “Hotel Ceiling” reminds me of the drive there. I remember falling asleep in the car right after ping pong and heading to piano, and when I woke up, we were at Santa Clara already, and “Hotel Ceiling” just started playing on the radio. I was just waking up and I would usually not be paying attention, but “Hotel Ceiling” sounded so well to me, and I believe that was the listen that propelled this song to its #16 peak. Unfortunately, it was around time SiriusXM dropped the song, so after staying for a while in the low teens, it dropped off a bit, spending most of its time in the bottom half of my chart. Overall, it’s just such a sentimental song, and makes me very nostalgic about drives to piano class back in freshman year when my chart just started.

“I've been staring at the hotel ceiling,
Drinking everything I've found this evening,
Trying to hold on to the sweetest feeling,
So I'll never let you go, don't you leave me lonely.”

[chicken077]

#148: MKTO - Bad Girls

Era: Late 2 to early 3
Peak: 18
Weeks in Top 100: 21
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 298351



So after MKTO’s “Classic”, which I quite enjoyed but didn’t chart too high since it only got some residual points, and their smash hit (for me, not on BB lol) “American Dream” (watch for that later on!), I really started to like MKTO and how they could take on more upbeat songs like “Classic” and deeper songs like “American Dream”, while incorporating rap into their songs without ruining their awesome melodic composition (one reason I don’t really like Drake lmao, most of his songs have little to no melody in them). Then “Bad Girls” came out, taking “Classic” to another level… and it was quite awesome! It gets me so hyped up and happy about life, especially because life was really great back then. SiriusXM loved this song like they did “American Dream”, and I turned to love it as well. The video was also very unique and although it takes on a sorta deep subject matter, it still makes me so happy and want to laugh. Sadly, with all the competition of that era and the fact that it’s not “American Dream” (still remains my fave from MKTO), it only barely cracked top 20 and lasted for 21 weeks on my chart, falling off as life started peaking in late era 3. But still, such an awesome song, and if you’re the guy that loves hip hop or upbeat songs, definitely a great listen even though it’s more pop oriented!

So I was one of those guys that took a year to learn how to drive. I got my permit in late summer 2015 and got my licence in summer 2016 (“Make Me…” is tied to my driving test lol). So back when I got my permit, while driving to the local DMV, “Bad Girls” came up on the radio, and it was the listen that really got me liking this song! I guess it’s kinda relevant as well, because I was going to get my permit and there was no stress on the way there unlike my driving test a year from then. So overall, such an important song for me! I guess it was kinda the final song that truly grew on me before I started experiencing how it felt like to actually drive!

“Cause I love them bad girls doing bad things
Lookin' hot with an attitude
Love them bad girls like a bad dream
Shouldn't want them, but I do”

[chicken077]

#147: Ariana Grande featuring The Weeknd - Love Me Harder

Era: Very late 0 to 1
Peak: 22
Weeks in Top 100: 25
Weeks in Top 10: N/A
Points: 301689



Welcome to the 300k point club! We’ve been in the 200k’s since almost the beginning of this countdown (only "This Girl" and "Magnets" failed to make 200k but made this countdown), and we’re gonna be in the 300k’s for awhile. But once we enter the 400k’s, point values will start increasing at faster rates! And yes, there will be songs in the 1m club! And there’s quite a few! Will there be songs in the 2m club? You’re gonna have to wait to find out!

Anyways, this song was another one of those songs that grew on me with the “Take Me To Church” generation, the inaugural generation of my chart - the generation that grew on me because my parents bought a new car that came with SiriusXM free trial because of a discount for 2014 Black Friday (haha kinda relevant, it’s Black Friday season now), causing me to really get into music and eventually led to my interest in Billboard and make my own personal chart. I felt that “Love Me Harder” was a very unique song when I first heard it, with a very modern feel to it and COMPLETELY different from the female/duo love songs I heard on local radio (which tended to be like “Say Something”, and of course, those songs bring back really bad memories of life before May 16, ESPECIALLY “Say Something”, that’s why I strongly dislike that song). I loved Ariana and The Weeknd’s voice from first listen, and I loved the way the song flowed through its verses. Like many other songs, it gave me the feeling of driving on a lonely road at night, a type of vibe that looks like I really like. So that plus the modern feel to this song made me fall in love with it, and would’ve barely cracked top 10 if I had a chart prior to December 20, 2014. Sadly, like most other Ariana songs, it fell off me relatively quickly as my personal chart began, but had a bit of a revival in the first weeks of my chart, rebounding to #22 before dropping to the 40s and lasting for quite a while there - all the way up to mid era 2! Truly another song that makes me nostalgic about the origins of my personal chart and my first listens to SiriusXM (didn’t hear this song on the day we got the car, but a few days later) and although it didn’t get enough points to make it super high on this countdown, definitely one that will last through the ages. What a way to start the 300k club!

Also notable about this song, This song is my first exposure to The Weeknd, an artist that will prove to be dominant over the next years of my chart. The Weeknd would become just the second artist on my chart to score three #1 hits (after Taylor Swift) with “Can’t Feel My Face”, “The Hills”, and “Starboy”. He also has a few other top 10 hits that are memorable. Definitely to expect more Weeknd over the rest of my countdown!

“'Cause if you want to keep me, you gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, got to love me harder
And if you really need me, you gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, got to love me harder”