Defaze

Christ, this is nauseatingly trend-chasing. Although I do love Sean Paul, I hope this flops miserably.

+5 Little Mix feat. Stormzy – Power +4 Sigala & Ella Eyre – Came Here For Love +3 Maggie Lindemann – Pretty Girl [Cheat Codes x Cade Remix] +2 French Montana feat. Swae Lee – Unforgettable +1 Calvin Harris feat. Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry & Big Sean – Feels -1 Jonas Blue feat. William Singe – Mama -2 Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber – Despacito [Remix] -3 DJ Khaled feat. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts -4 Liam Payne feat. Quavo – Strip That Down -5 Rita Ora – Your Song

I think 'Your Song' might legitimately be my least favourite song of the year. It's an inferior 'Shape of You', which is already trash. Yas at LM managing another week top 10. I quite like 'Pretty Girl' too; it's generic as all hell and the lyrics are questionable, but it's so infectious!

The new Demi song is horrendous; shame because I love both 'No Promises' and 'Instruction'. I pray it doesn't overshadow the latter. Yas at this though.

Fantastic achievement. Despite all its faults, it's certainly an enjoyable MV (probably the one I return to most actually). Also, what on earth is with the incessant 'promote them' nonsense in the comments section? I detest their Twitter fanbase.

+5 Little Mix feat. Stormzy – Power +4 French Montana feat. Swae Lee – Unforgettable +3 Maggie Lindemann – Pretty Girl [Cheat Codes x Cade Remix] +2 Jonas Blue feat. William Singe – Mama +1 Calvin Harris feat. Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry & Big Sean – Feels -1 Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber – Despacito [Remix] -2 David Guetta feat. Justin Bieber – 2U -3 DJ Khaled feat. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts -4 Rita Ora – Your Song -5 Liam Payne feat. Quavo – Strip That Down

'Chasing Highs' is incredible -- beyond happy to see it finally enter.

Is it though? It's currently #5 on the rolling airplay chart; plus it's had numerous performances, a discount, and the video has already been released. I'm not sure what else is left to propel it up the charts. It looks set to enter this week, but only because of the new streaming rules. I'd definitely class it as an underperformance, unfortunately. I'm still salty at 'Best Behaviour' flopping. What a bop.

Up to 6 in the midweeks!

+5 Little Mix feat. Stormzy – Power +4 French Montana feat. Swae Lee – Unforgettable +3 Jonas Blue feat. William Singe – Mama +2 David Guetta feat. Justin Bieber – 2U +1 DJ Khaled feat. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts -1 Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber – Despacito [Remix] -2 Liam Payne feat. Quavo – Strip That Down -3 DJ Khaled feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper & Lil Wayne – I'm The One -4 Rita Ora – Your Song -5 Artists For Grenfell – Bridge Over Troubled Water

I forgot it even existed when considering 5th single choices. Admittedly it's a bit of a bop (there's a mashup of it with Cheap Thrills somewhere on YT and it's insanely good), but I do feel it'd squander all the goodwill they've built up from the GP. It's far too cheesy/uncool/Meghan Trainor-esque.

I'd understand the need for a 5th single if 'Oops' had gone ahead as planned, and one of NMSS or Power had yet to receive the single treatment. At this point though, there's no huge standout track that everyone is insistent on being released (in the same vein as say, 'Nothing Feels Like You' from the Salute era).

Such a silly rule. Fair enough if it was solely album tracks they were restricting, but excluding singles from the singles chart is just bizarre. In fairness though, I suppose there is an element of ambiguity as to what constitutes a single nowadays. I'm in awe all four are charting simultaneously though. Queens of longevity.

Yeah, it seems the most likely choice if this casting call is real. I don't think it's a bad song by any means -- and it works really well in the context of the album -- but it sounds a bit cheesy and limp otherwise. It's probably too MOR for the GP, similar to NMSS, and if that struggled, then I can't see any fate beyond a major flop for NEM. I suppose they're in the lucky position where a single's poor performance won't do them any detriment, but it just seems so extraneous to me.

Yeah, it's as simple as this for me. I'd usually be all for squeezing out another single, but I feel any other track would tarnish the perfect run of 'Black Magic' through to 'Power' (both in terms of quality and chart performance). End the era on a high point, just as they did with 'Salute' and 'Hair'.

http://i64.tinypic.com/o78rra.jpg This has been doing the rounds on Twitter. What do we reckon? If true, I dont think it's a good idea at all. Just... why? 'Private Show' is the only thing within touching distance of the four singles quality-wise imo, but from the description, that seems really unlikely. I've seen 'Nothing Else Matters' and 'Your Love' banded around quite a bit, but they're the exact epitome of 'album track' to me, and I can't help but feel they'd flop horribly. 'Down and Dirty' has grown on me massively after the live performances, and I love the verses, but that chorus and drop is unforgivable. The best choice would be 'Oops'. It's shit, but the public seemed to react well to it, and it'd be an easy Gold certification. Honestly though, I'd much rather it be the lead single from a re-release.

+5 Little Mix feat. Stormzy – Power +4 French Montana feat. Swae Lee – Unforgettable +3 Jonas Blue feat. William Singe – Mama +2 Ariana Grande - One Last Time +1 DJ Khaled feat. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts -1 Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber – Despacito [Remix] -2 David Guetta feat. Justin Bieber – 2U -3 DJ Khaled feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper & Lil Wayne – I'm The One -4 Liam Payne feat. Quavo – Strip That Down -5 Artists For Grenfell – Bridge Over Troubled Water (apologies if this seems heartless, but the cover itself is truly rancid)

Yeah, I really ought've added 'for 2016/2017 standards', since pretty much all the other #1's have had mammoth chart runs (the only other that I can think of that wasn't that impressive is 'Pillowtalk'). It's sort of odd how much streaming has shifted expectations; I actually remember being really impressed with LM's Wings' longevity when I first joined, and I believe that only managed 11 or so weeks. To SOTT's credit though, it is still top 40 on sales alone.

43) Harry Styles - Sign Of The Times 10 weeks top 40. This has performed kinda' horribly for a number 1. Yas @ Little Mix having all 4 'Glory Days' singles in the top 100.

07 Wings 07 DNA 05 Change Your Life 08 How Ya Doin' (feat. Missy Elliott) 08 Move 03 Little Me 09 Word Up! 08 Salute 08 Black Magic 09 Love Me Like You 04 Secret Love Song (feat. Jason Derulo) 10 Hair (feat. Sean Paul) 10 Shout Out To My Ex 07 Touch 09 No More Sad Songs (feat. MGK) 11 Power (feat. Stormzy) Videos aren't really their strong suit, but Power is amazing. I have a huge soft spot for Hair despite it not being all that exciting, and SOTME is visually stunning. Little Me and SLS are both pretty horrendous (the latter stings the most due to its potential).

Belated 'yaaaaaass'. Was genuinely convinced they'd be #11. What an era! Edit: I really am quite gobsmacked they remained top 10 considering Niall was at #14. They were only slightly ahead on iTunes and behind on Spotify all week -- it definitely must've been close.

Rita's releasing her video later today, so probably. I honestly can't see them discounting this either.

I wasn't expecting them to be ahead of Niall. 'I'm the One' will probably overtake since it was deleted on Saturday, but I hope they can hold on to #9 or #10.

To be fair, it only fell to #18 because of 'Wild Thoughts', which was always going to go top 10 easily. It'll be close for sure. I can see it being between them and Charlie Puth/Rita Ora for the #10 spot, although they're still pulling away from the latter despite her discount.

I go back and forth between them constantly -- it all depends on my mood really. I voted 'Power' since I've just been hammering it at the gym. They're still both 10/10s.