Year-End Poll #73 (The Finale!): 2022

[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: Glass Animals, Harry Styles, The Kid Laroi, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Jack Harlow, Lotto, Justin Bieber, Kodak Black, Elton John and Dua Lipa. End description]

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And now we're at the final poll. Much like the previous years, many of the songs featured here are from previous years. This is mostly due to how Billboard calculates their hits and there are other methods of calculating the charts. But since this blog focuses in Billboard, that's the metric we're going with.

It's hard to know for certain which direction pop music is headed at this moment since we're still in it. Depending on how things go, it seems like TikTok is going to continue to be a taste maker when it comes to popular music. This could also account for why pop songs are getting shorter. The "verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus" format is not set in stone. In fact if you followed this blog since the beginning, you've seen the beginning and rise of this pop song format in the late 1950's.

Also from what I can see, it looks like pop music is taking a more meta direction, with overt influences and references to recent pop music history. This can be seen in both stylistic choices, such as the synth-pop influences in Harry Styles' As It Was, to the way samples are used. Jack Harlow's First Class samples previous poll entry, Fergie's Glamorous, and Latto's Big Energy samples Mariah Carey's Fantasy -- which samples The Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love.

The charts are admittedly in an awkward place right now. I'm looking at the Hot 100 right now and I'm having trouble putting together a narrative (other than "wow, people forgave Morgan Wallen fast lol"). Between the lockdown, shifting tastes and listening habits of audiences, economic factors, and the splintering of the streaming industry, "pop music" doesn't mean the same thing it did fifty years ago. Or even twenty years ago. But between influences from the changing political climates, the rise and fall of different genres, developments in music technology, and the question over the cost of music, the one consistent thing about pop music is that it isn't consistent.

Thank you to everyone who took part in these polls. I'll post a follow-up post shortly wrapping things up and discussing the future of this blog.

Idan-Ha Hotel

Billboard USA Exclusion Zone Episode 15 (06/10/2023)

Before we start on our regular programming, I would like to congratulate Yoasobi for getting the first #1 hit from Japanese act in Billboard Global Excl US this week. Yeah it's because of the English version but hey this marked the first song that became #1 that didn't appeared on Spotify Global Chart. Anyways back to the show.

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26. "Dance The Night" by Dua Lipa

I'm kinda scared about Dua Lipa prospect as a pop diva. Because this song is just another nu-disco stuff that we heard for the past three years. I just want for her to at least make the sound refreshing even if this song is good.

42. "Hits Different" by Taylor Swift

Yeah this song really just doesn't fit the album at all and somehow it sounded more basic that most of Midnights and yes I include Karma. This sounds like The Man but with that hints of Midnight sound. And the lyrics is kinda just doesn't make sense within the context of the album at all. Look it's still decent, but damnit Taylor you should just push Cruel Summer to radio and we all be fine with it.

54. "BZRP Music Session, Vol. 55" by Bizarrap & Peso Pluma

It's bound to happen really this collab. But I'm sorry this is just trash. Like I don't think adding autotune to Peso Pluma was a good idea especially with this production which is kinda worse when you make it using program. And then out of nowhere it just became an EDM mix of the corrido sound and WHY WASN'T THAT ONE THE MAIN SONG?

83. "Night Dancer" by imase

Okay even as someone who listened to a lot of J-Pop, this kinda caught me off guard with the sound. It's like a mix of dance pop and city pop mixed with some of the best vocal performance I heard? This will grew on me probably but for now it's great.

89. "Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard's Wife" by LE SSERAFIM

WHERE DID THIS COMING FROM??? First of all great title there (maybe One Piece reference?), secondly this production is fire. It's like if you mix drum and bass, jersey club, and k-pop and klsdjlksdjklds this song is great I just lsdjlkdsj.

94. "Bye" by Peso Pluma

If you remove the fucking trumpets I think this song would be fine.

147. "What Is It (Block Boy)" by Doechii ft. Kodak Black

This was debuted on the global chart before this one and I heard that Kodak basically ruined this song, And yep he's very much off beat in this one lmao.

155. "Phir Aur Kya Chahiye" by Arijit Singh & Sachin-Jigar

Man this song from an Indian movie sure does exist doesn't it?

171. "Friesenjung" by Ski Aggu, Joost & Otto Waalkes

You know, I think y'all need to listen to this song right now after reading this. Like I couldn't described what this song is about and you have to listen this for yourself.

MULTI-PLATINUM RAP STAR LIL TECCA’S NEW ALBUM TEC BOWS AT #4 ON BILLBOARD TOP RAP ALBUMS CHART & #5 ON TOP R&B/HIP-HOP ALBUMS CHART - Multi-platinum sensation Lil Tecca returns to the top of the charts with his highly acclaimed third studio album, TEC—out now via Galactic/Republic Records. It made a notable entrance, reaching the Top 5 of both the Billboard Top Rap Albums Chart and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart. Additionally, it marked his fourth consecutive Top 15 debut on the Billboard 200. It has also already amassed 56 million streams and counting. His singles “500lbs” and “HVN ON EARTH” feat. Kodak Black also entered the Billboard Hot 100, marking his 11th and 12th appearances on the chart. The album has garnered widespread acclaim. GQ raved, “At a tight 16 tracks, TEC is already armed with one of the best singles of the year—“Hvn on Earth” with Kodak Black—and the rest of the album is smooth and fast paced,” and HYPEBEAST praised how “the 21-year-old rapper does a majority of the rapping on the 16-track project, sticking to his signature sound but with more elevated production.” The FADER proclaimed, “TEC by Lil Tecca is an excellent album from start to finish, complete with deliciously hermetic song transitions,” and Complex noted, “Further distinguishing himself from the teen sensation he once was and formally introducing the young man he is in his early 20s, Lil Tecca is dropping his latest project, aptly titled TEC.” https://wp.me/p1PuJR-5Dvr Please Reblog!

i can’t believe how much kodak billboards date a movie now

Kodak

"You can’t plan out or perfectly schedule the big moments in your life. They just happen to you when they happen, sometimes because you made them happen and sometimes because you couldn’t stop them from happening."

Moments of Peter and MJ caught on film

Part 1 of These Billboards We Pass

@spideychelleweek Day 4: Friends to Lovers

21 Savage: I Could Beat Lil Uzi Vert, Kodak Black, G Herbo, or Anybody in My Freshman Class in a ‘VERZUZ’

‘Her Loss’ has 21 Savage feeling like a winner!

The chart-topping rapper may currently be enjoying the out-of-the-box success tied to his new joint album with Drake, but his hi,tmaking resume before the LP’s November 4release speaks volumes.  In addition to amassing four Billboard 200 top 10 albums since 2017 (two of which hit #1), the 30-year-old has also collected six Hot 100 top 10 smashes (including two #1s) and charted over 60 songs on the same tally.

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Easily making him one of the era’s most popular emcees, Savage believes his lengthy list of hits towers leagues above many names in the Rap game – especially those that shared space with him on XXL’s coveted ‘Freshman Class’ list in 2016.

So much so, he even called them out by name in a recent interview.

Hot on the promo trail in support of ‘Her Loss,’ Savage said he’d win any showdown between himself and any challenger from his freshman class that included Lil Uzi Vert, Denzel Curry, Kodak Black, G Herbo, Lil Yachty, Anderson .Pakk, Dave East, Lil Dicky,and Desiigner.

“That Freshman cover, nobody can beat me, nobody,” 21 boasted (as heard above) in a Clubhouse interview Saturday (November 5).

When the interviewer started naming some of the alums from the class, the Atlanta-reared rapper doubled down on his belief that he would be victorious if he engaged any of them in a VERZUZ battle.

“Oh, so you can beat Lil Uzi?” asked a moderator before 21 quickly hit back, “Hell Yeah.”

Uzi – one of the best-selling rappers of the last decade – was a clear standout from the class as he’s accumulated six Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits (including one #1 smash), charted 85 songs, had three top 10 hits on the Billboard 200 (including two #1s), and outsold everyone in the 2016 freshman class.

Alas, while Twitter erupted in debate on if the GRAMMY-winning emcee is right, none of the would-be contenders have responded to the boastful claim…yet.

[photo credit: Getty/Twitter/XXL]

Your thoughts?

Jeremy Biddle (born April 4, 1994) known professionally as Yung Bleu or Bleu is a rapper and singer. He is known for his 2020 single “You’re Mines Still”, which peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 after it was remixed by Canadian rapper Drake.

He was born and raised in Mobile. He started making music in 2013, releasing a string of mixtapes that had his name circulate throughout the Southern scene, and signed a deal with Columbia Records through Bad Azz Music Syndicate.

In 2017, he came back on the scene with the singles “Miss It” and “Ice on My Baby” from the mixtape Investments 4, which featured a guest appearance from YoungBoy Never Broke Again. In 2018, he released a remix for “Miss It” and for “Ice on My Baby”.

In 2020, he released the mixtape Inv 5 and the EP Bleu Vandross, which were his last releases under Columbia Records and Bad Azz Music. He signed a deal with Empire Distribution and a management deal with Dream Chasers Records. He released the EP Love Scars: The 5 Stages of Emotions, which included the single “You’re Mines Still”. A remix for “You’re Mines Still” was released through OVO Sound (2020). The remix peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100, which helped Love Scars: The 5 Stages of Emotions to enter the Billboard 200 chart.

In 2021, he released the singles “Thieves in Atlanta”, “Baddest”, and “Way More Close (Stuck in a Box)”. All three songs appeared on his debut album Moon Boy. The album features guest appearances from Drake, Gunna, Big Sean, Kehlani, Chris Brown, 2 Chainz, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Moneybagg Yo, H.E.R., and Kodak Black.

On September 16, 2022, he released “Love in the Way”, the lead single from his second studio album Tantra (2022). The album includes guest appearances by Fivio Foreign, Lucky Daye, Ty Dolla $ign, Ne-Yo, Zayn, Kelly Rowland, and Lil Wayne. He released Love Scars II, a sequel to his 2020 EP, with guest appearances by Ty Dolla $ign, Tink, and Chris Brown. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence