Intro | 100-91 | 90-81 | 80-71 | 70-61 | 60-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1
100. Slippery - Migos feat. Gucci Mane
Peak: 29 (July 22); Weeks on chart: 21; December 30 position: NR
Meet Migos, the Atlanta-based hip-hop group that took over the nation in 2017. Featuring Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff, this trio has been performing together since 2009, but scored their first four top 40 singles this year. Just scratching the #Top100of2017 is "Slippery," a track featuring fellow Georgian Gucci Mane. "Slippery" was the third of Migos' four charting singles, earning significant play throughout the summer months.
99. Million Reasons - Lady Gaga
Peak: 4 (February 25); Weeks on chart: 20; December 30 position: NR
It's been an interesting past few years for Mother Monster. The immensely talented Gaga has tried reinventing herself a couple different times, releasing a jazz album with Tony Bennett and her most recent effort, Joanne. Her late-2016 release was much more raw and less overproduced than the Lady G of old, and her promotional tour was exceptionally lowkey as well (I even got a chance to meet her before her Nashville show; it was really awesome). Lady Gaga performed a solid, yet underwhelming, set at halftime of the Super Bowl in February; it was after this that "Million Reasons" hit its Hot 100 peak.
98. Bad Liar - Selena Gomez
I love Selena Gomez. I'm not the biggest fan of her music, and the on-again-off-again with Justin Bieber is frustrating (she can do so much better!), but it's immensely hard to root against the 2017 Billboard Woman of the Year. Her continued fight against lupus and uplifting messages of perseverance not only transcend music, but are incredibly important for the divisive times we are living in today. Selena's sole entry on the #Top100of2017 is "Bad Liar," a song which won't remembered as one of her best. Somehow I don't think that won't bother Gomez, given her otherwise highly-significant year.
97. Water Under The Bridge - Adele*
Peak: 26 (February 11); Weeks on chart: 22; December 30 position: NR
In my humblest of opinions, "Water Under the Bridge" is the most underrated single Adele has ever released. Somehow never cracking the top 25, this song is just poppy enough that it is easy to enjoy without sounding over-produced. Adele delivers her usual heartfelt lyrics without being incredibly woeful as she is in many other songs. Overall, I loved the song while it was popular, but it was off the charts before becoming annoyingly ubiquitous (a complaint I had about "Send My Love" in 2016). When I heard it for the first time in several months this November, I once again fell in love with it.
96. Love Galore - SZA feat. Travis Scott
Peak: 32 (October 14); Weeks on chart: 20; December 30 position: NR
Thanks to her recent performance on SNL, I learned that newcomer SZA pronounces her name "Sizza." Other than that, I know next to nothing about the 27-year old Missourian (thanks to Wikipedia for that new information). She's had some minor success this fall. Her critically claimed debut LP Ctrl was nominated for a Grammy and her single "The Weekend," which I think I prefer slightly better than this tune, missed out on #Top100of2017 placement by 20 or so spots. "Love Galore" features Travis Scott, who you may remember from 2015's "Antidote," and was the only song to make this year's list despite peaking outside the top 30.
95. This Town - Niall Horan
Peak: 20 (January 14); Weeks on chart: 22; December 30 position: NR
Of the four members of the currently-hibernating One Direction, Niall is by far my favorite. The Irishman is likely the most musically talented of the group, which is why I was quite excited last October when his debut solo single came out. "This Town" is a sweet tune that never was going to reach much popular success; nevertheless, it did well enough on the Hot 100 to crawl into the bottom of the #Top100of2017. Because of that, Niall is the only current or former One Dee-er with two songs on this list.
94. Magnolia - Playboi Carti
Peak: 29 (July 8, July 29-August 5); Weeks on chart: 20; December 30 position: NR
Of all the new trap songs to come out this year, "Magnolia" was one of them. I'm not sure what sets this song apart from most of the others in its subgenre, other than I think it was part of a Snapchat filter at some point this year. Another Atlanta native, Playboi Carti scored his first Hot 100 single with this track, released as part of his self-titled debut mixtape in April. At only 22 years of age, Carti has much room to grow as an artist. As he continues his career, I'm sure he'll find his own sound and eventually stop blending in with the crowd.
93. Loyalty. - Kendrick Lamar feat. Rihanna
Peak: 14 (May 6); Weeks on chart: 26; December 30 position: NR
One of the most poignant albums of 2017 was Kendrick Lamar's highly-acclaimed DAMN. The Grammy-nominated project is responsible for three #Top100of2017 tracks; the only of the three songs with a featured artist got supporting vocals from the legendary Rihanna. "Loyalty." peaked in its first week on the Hot 100, and received a boost in the charts after its official video was released in late July. In contrast to the previous song on this list, "Loyalty." has a unique sound, highlighted by the respective vocal styles of both Kendrick and Rihanna.
92. Treat You Better - Shawn Mendes
Peak: 6 (two weeks in 2016); Weeks on chart: 39; December 30 position: NR
By this point, anyone who's been a patron of CU:BS for more than a year knows how I feel about this disastrously overrated excuse for a musician. If you're new to the blog, that previous sentence should tell you all you need to know. Despite having its biggest success in the latter half of last year, this effort of the talentless white boy who I guess got famous from Vine(?) had some residual chart appearances in 2017. Sadly, I'll have to discuss another "song" by this "artist" later on in the countdown.
91. What Ifs - Kane Brown feat. Lauren Alaina
Peak: 26 (November 4); Weeks on chart: 23; December 30 position: NR
In case you somehow weren't aware, 2017 was a huge year for people of color in music. It should come as no surprise, then, that a decidedly uncharacteristic-looking country star had a hit this year too. Nothing about Kane Brown's physical appearance screams "country," from his non-Aryan skin tone to his hairstyle and abundance of tattoos. His voice, however, is another matter. One of just three country songs on the list this year, "What Ifs" features Brown's twangy baritone with a backing vocal from Lauren Alaina that adds practically nothing to the generic-sounding bro-country track. Ultimately, Kane Brown belongs in the country music genre, which may anger some traditionalists but is definitely a good thing.
Tomorrow, I unveil this list's first four songs that are still in their Hot 100 tenures. Are you ready for it?
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