On The YouTube Charts [6/30/17–7/6/17]
[A weekly check-in on YouTube Top 20 songs in the United States, along with additional regional charts observations.]
- DJ Khaled (feat. Justin Bieber, Chance The Rapper, Lil Wayne, & Quavo) — “I’m The One” ( 14,570,995 Views) ( — )
- Bruno Mars — “That’s What I Like” (13,979,336 Views) ( — )
- DJ Khaled (feat. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller) — “Wild Thoughts” (13,162,038) (+4)
- Luis Fonsi (feat. Daddy Yankee) — “Despacito” (13,081,269 Views) (-1)
- Luis Fonsi (feat. Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber) — “Despacito (Remix)” (12,841,355 Views) (-1)
- Post Malone (feat. Quavo) — “Congratulations” ( 11,239,906 Views) ( — )
- Tee Grizzley — “First Day Out” (11,013,161 Views) (-1)
- Ayo & Teo — “Rolex” (10,801,572 Views) ( — )
- Ed Sheeran — “Shape Of You” ( 9,482,730 Views) (+1)
- Future — “Mask Off” (9,081,744 Views) (-1)
- French Montana (feat. Swae Lee) — “Unforgettable” ( 8,748,151 Views) (+2)
- Lil Uzi Vert — “XO Tour Llif3” (8,598,850 Views) (-1)
- Kendrick Lamar — “HUMBLE.” (8,152,130 Views) (-1)
- Migos (feat. Gucci Mane) — “Slippery” (6,376,641 Views) (+3)
- Rae Sremmurd — “Swang” (6,333,704 Views) ( — )
- Kyle (feat. Lil Yachty) — “iSpy” (6,232,569 Views) (-2)
- Migos (feat. Lil Uzi Vert) — “Bad And Boujee” (6,127,987 Views) ( — )
- Donald Glover — “Redbone” (5,791,105 Views) ( — )
- Playboi Carti — “Magnolia” (5,501,777 Views) ( — )
- YFN Lucci — “Everyday We Lit” (5,113,402 Views) (Debut)
[The #1 Spot] — The number one song this week is *massive eye roll* again “I’m The One.” I don’t have much to say on this overstuffed collaboration, except that Lil Wayne getting a #1 song in 2017 is great, and I hope he can soon get his career back on track after wondering the musical desert much of this decade. Also shout to Chance the Rapper!
[Tracking Pop’s Final Days] — Once again the number “Pop” songs on the charts I’d put at about 2.5. Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran, shout to Atlantic Records, are YouTube kings and I may devote an entire week to them if both were every to leave the charts. The only other vaguely pop song on the chart is DJ Khaled’s “Wild Thoughts,” which I only give half credit, because of Rihanna’s own fluid movement in and out of pop. The song samples Santana’s “Maria, Maria,” r&b’s best set of teeth Bryson Tiller does something on teh track,a nd the production certainly isn’t Top 40 pop. I hate giving into Spotify thinking about music, but honestly the genre this best fits under is “Summer Jams,” because the people blasting this on my block certainly aren’t stressed about what Wikipedia genre this is labeled — for the record Wikipedia tags it r&b.
[Closing Thought] — Boring Ass Week. Shout to YFN Lucci though!
Regional Hits
I’m lowkey annoyed that the white dude in the thumbnail for “Hurricane” isn’t Luke Combs, the white dude who actually sings the song. Besides this minor grip with YouTube’s algorithm being racist towards white guys, this is a fairly strong song to my ears. It’s fairly bland country pop, but goddamn the metaphor is on point and the cliches are all lined up in a way that I don’t find grating. There is also the fact that Luke Combs was born in my hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina and somehow in his first week sold only 9,000 less albums than Migos’s Culture, like in actual physical sales, not streaming equivalents. So shout to this bro, and I guess shout to Madison, Wisconsin, who does seem to like this track quite a bit. One of the fun details about hunting through cities is that country music does perform well with streaming, but usually it is over a longer period of time, which can make it hard for them to appear on these charts unless they’re fucking Sam Hunt.
When I started doing this column last month I was always hoping that I’d come across “With My Team” by the Balitmore group Creek Boyz, because it’s one of my favorite non-SoundCloud, non-rap radio songs of the year. Even without numerous national stars, Baltimore still holds a strong regional scene, so seeing these dudes sign with 300 and potentially breakout even more is fairly exciting. Also idk, it’s be cool if somehow these dudes could hope on Goldlink’s “Crew” or he and Shy Glizzy could return the favor and hop on this track. I say this because the Baltimore-to-DC connection of Lor Scoota (RIP) and Shy Glizzy on the “Bird Flu (Remix)” a few years back remains a favorite cross regional moment.
I’m gonna be blunt, I don’t particularly like this song. Cardi B’s stilted flow, when matched with biting Kodak Black drawl in words is not a combo that is particularly enjoyable and even more when over boring trap production. The reason I included the track was because the more I look at city specific charts I wish more and more I could get even more specific with my searches. Instead of just New York City, why not Brooklyn or Queens, or going even deeper into Bed Stuy vs. Crown Heights vs. Flushing. I’m sure YouTube can do that, but sadly with the data they put online I can’t. In place of that I’m constantly searching for towns and suburbs that might offer a similar more specific snapshot. That’s how I got to Mount Vernon, New York which is directly north the Bronx, Cardi B’s home, and it’s chart was fairly all over the place, but in a way that seemed to slightly better reflect the music coming out of the city that the greater New York City chart. I’m sure I’ll return to it again or maybe even compare and contrast it with NYC, idk, still messing with ideas here. So, as always if you did read this far and have feedback hit me up and let me know ways I could do better!
