Intro | 100-91 | 90-81 | 80-71 | 70-61 | 60-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1
70. Chained To The Rhythm - Katy Perry feat. Skip Marley
Peak: 4 (March 4); Weeks on chart: 15; December 30 position: NR
Oh, Katy Perry, trying so desperately hard to stay relevant. Be it with her 20th new hairstyle of the year or her VMAs hosting flop, it's safe to say the gimmicky California Gurl is long past her prime. The former chart-topper had only one song from her album Witness to spend significant time on the Hot 100; "Chained" barely spent a quarter of the year on the chart. Perhaps Perry should go the route of Lady Gaga and Kesha, and leave the gimmicks in the past. Actually, the reason she is still so eccentric is maybe because she knows she can't rely on raw talent alone.
69. Rolex - Ayo & Teo
Peak: 20 (June 17); Weeks on chart: 25; December 30 position: NR
Speaking of gimmicky acts, the mask-clad Ayo & Teo had a summer hit singing all about their preferred watch brand. The duo's Billboard debut reached number seven on the rap and hip hop chart, only peaking slightly lower on the Hot 100. I think these brothers, originally made famous by their internet dance covers, can transcend the theatrics and really let their talent shine. No matter what, 2017 will not be the last we hear of these young rap stars.
68. Caroline - Amine
Peak: 11 (January 7); Weeks on chart: 28; December 30 position: NR
I honestly forgot about this track, despite my positive review of it in last year's countdown. "Caroline" did slightly better this year than in 2016, reaching its peak in the first chart of the year. It spent the first eight weeks of 2017 in the top 20, out of its 14 total weeks in that range. In many ways, this song's Hot 100 performance is unique; most songs that appear in my year-end countdowns two years in a row are within the top 50 songs of at least one year's list. However, Amine jumped from 79 last year to just 68 in 2017. His only Hot 100 single to date is definitely worth another listen.
67. Passionfruit - Drake
Peak: 8 (April 8); Weeks on chart: 20; December 30 position: NR
Compared to 2016, last year's CU:BS Artist of the Year had a minuscule impact on the Hot 100 in 2017. His latest mixtape, dropped in March, lit up its first eligible weekly chart as Drake projects typically do; only two songs spent any significant time on the Hot 100 afterward. "Passionfruit" was the last track from More Life to fall off the charts. Remarkably, when this song left the Hot 100 on the August 26 issue it marked the first time since 2009 that an issue of the chart did not include Drake anywhere as either a primary or featured artist.
66. Side To Side - Ariana Grande feat. Nicki Minaj*
Peak: 4 (two weeks in 2016); Weeks on chart: 28; December 30 position: NR
In case you were wondering, I still love Ariana Grande. The former Nickelodeon star gradually disappeared from the public eye over the year (although she recently shared one video of her beloved Nonna to her recently-dormant Snapchat story), but rest assured Grande still made up five percent of my 100 most-played songs playlist. She didn't release any top 50 singles in 2017 either, but she still gets a representative on the #Top100of2017. Her Nicki Minaj-featured fourth Dangerous Woman single ended 2016 as Ari's best-performing single from the album. "Side to Side" continued its Hot 100 run into late March of this year.
65. Let Me Love You - DJ Snake feat. Justin Bieber
Peak: 4 (five weeks in 2016); Weeks on chart: 33; December 30 position: NR
Like the previous song on the list, "Let Me Love You" reached the four spot in multiple charts near the end of 2016. The DJ Snake/J-Biebs collaboration spent two more weeks on the Hot 100 than "Side To Side," helping it finish just ahead of Ariana and Nicki once again (for those not keeping track, this song was 26 on the #Top100of2016 and "Side" was the 33rd ranked single of the year). As I said last year, "Love You" is a solid track, but I find it to be no more unique than any typical pop song of recent times.
64. Young Dumb & Broke - Khalid
Peak: 22 (December 9-16); Weeks on chart: 22; December 30 position: 32
One of the great stories in music this year was that of Khalid. The 19-year-old Texan burst onto the hip-hop scene in 2017 with his ethereal track sounds, soothing vocals, and simple but deeply relatable lyrics. One of his more upbeat tracks is his second single to reach the Hot 100; "Young Dumb & Broke" is an excellent take on the idea of struggling through high school as an impoverished teen. Khalid adequately represents for his hometown of El Paso; it's obvious that wherever his music takes him he'll always find his way back home to the town that raised him.
63. Gucci Gang - Lil Pump
Peak: 3 (December 2-9); Weeks on chart: 14; December 30 position: 4
To further prove that America's taste in music is deteriorating, I'll just link the lyrics to this song. Did you read through a line or two? Good, glad you're back. Just a reminder, this was one of the three biggest songs in our country at the start of December. Go ahead, read those lyrics again. One more reminder, THIS WAS ONE OF THE THREE BIGGEST SONGS AT THE START OF DECEMBER. Gracious.
62. What About Us - P!nk
Peak: 13 (November 4); Weeks on chart: 19; December 30 position: 57
There was a time, we'll say five to 10 years ago but honestly you could argue even further back, when P!nk was like, super edgy. Now, she's the artist played by what I'll call "white moms radio" (you know the genre, they usually have names like "Lite" or "Mix" or sometimes even "Lite Mix") so those stations can advertise that they play current hits. There's nothing wrong with this, I just think it's funny how P!nk's specific sound has evolved over time from something rebellious teens loved to mainstream and "family-friendly." Anyway, the "Lite Mix" song of the year reached the top 15 this fall and will likely remain on the Adult Contemporary chart for the rest of time.
61. Now Or Never - Halsey
Peak: 17 (July 29-August 5); Weeks on chart: 20; December 30 position: NR
I mentioned yesterday about the unique taste Halsey has as a musical artist. Since I really never got into her lead single from Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, I'll just spend the rest of this paragraph talking about my favorite track from the album. "Strangers" was one of my 20 most-played songs of the entire year, and there's a reason for it. Never minding the progressive use of same-gendered pronouns, the song is an excellent pairing of voices and a profound tale of love no longer felt. The catchy guitar riff also brings to mind some of the great rock songs of the late '80s and early '90s; if you can tell me the specific song it reminds me of I'll be forever grateful because it's been more than half a year and I can't figure it out myself.
Remember Migos? They're back again tomorrow, plus several of my favorite songs on the list make their appearances.
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