Reviewing #1s on YEs - 2014 and Past

What I would like to address with this post is that these recent years were actually pretty good times for music on Hits 1. Here, I will show you my opinion on the #1 song of each Year-End Chart from 2014 to 2018. I will grade a year using the same model as my Top 20 Review but multiplied by 10 (Crap = 0, Bad = 10, etc.). Speaking of which, the color code is the same as Top 20. The total of all charts can be a "Flexible Total" of 250 points. It's called a "Flexible Total" because 20 points are awarded for each song that is #1 and my favorite song on that chart. This adds to an "Absolute Total" of 350 points. If you do not know my Top 20 coloring, here is a reminder that will apply to this post.

Worst of the Year - 0
Crap - 0
Bad - 10
Mediocre - 20
Decent - 30
Good - 40
Great - 50
Best of the Year - 70 

Are we ready? Let's start with 2014.

#1 Song of 2014 - OneRepublic - Counting Stars

Yes. We're only in 2014 yet already earned 70 instant points. Honestly I feel like this song was a masterpiece. I first heard about this guys very early in 2013 when I first heard about their collab with Timbaland on Apologize. I heard the song and I liked it mainly because of OneRepublic. Later after that, I was pretty hyped when I saw Counting Stars was a thing. I clicked the video and loved both the song and the video. I love the production behind Ryan's voice and the lyrical content about being thankful and open. Once I started hearing this on radio I was thrilled that my favorite song was already on radio. And even with the overplay and popularity on most pop and for some reason a few alt channels, I never got sick of this. Not even once. I think this is the best song OneRepublic has ever released and nothing compares to this masterpiece. Kids? No. Wherever I Go? No. This was such a great song and it's sad to see this be a very unpopular opinion in the community but I don't care what anyone says.

#1 Song of 2015 - Walk the Moon - Shut Up and Dance

I want to cover something early about this song. I don't really hate this song. It's just that it was good at first, overplay nearly everywhere absolutely killed this song (tying with Shake It Off's record with 12 weeks at #1) and it rose very quickly and I got sick of it pretty quick because of how much I would hear it in the car. Nicholas did good with the vocals and the production was fine. I heard this song reached several alt stations and did very good there too which makes sense. Later on they came to release album What If Nothing with very improved songs such as One Foot. So do I think this is their best? Of course not. But is it horrible? No. It felt mediocre due to overplay so it did cease me.

#1 Song of 2016 - Twenty One Pilots - Stressed Out

I first heard about Twenty One Pilots when Hits 1 started playing Tear In My Heart. I found that song pretty bad but Stressed Out is an easy improvement. I noticed that with the former, they were trying to go with a hard rock style and didn't play out well for them. After they played Stressed Out, I was impressed. Tyler improved his vocals by a landslide and the production is better as Tear In My Heart sounded like Tyler hired 50 people to all play horns, piano, drums, and electric guitar simultaneously. I can see why someone wouldn't like this song but I really loved it. For those unaware, this is about the fact that life is more enjoyable in your childhood and when you're older, life becomes harder. I understand this cycle no matter who you are so this is great songwriting to me. This is easily the best thing Twenty One Pilots has released so far and this is a great song that deserved the recognition it got.

#1 Song of 2017 - Ed Sheeran - Shape of You

Yes, Ed's strong return to the mainstream radio. He came in with album ÷ and this was included in it. As expected, this became massive nearly everywhere because, well, it's Ed Sheeran. What did you expect? This was a neat return for him but after a while this became extremely overplayed and I don't enjoy it as much as I used to. Don't get me wrong, it's still good. It was just played a lot and it grew out of me a little. Anyway, his vocals improved from his previous songs. The acoustic guitar enhances the experience too but it could have been better. This was a great song that got on the mainstream but it got overplayed and faded on me. Nice song though, would love to see Ed Sheeran make a return yet again. Speaking of returns, I noticed Taylor Swift... changed some stuff on her Twitter account. Hmm.

And finally...

#1 Song of 2018 - Zedd & Maren Morris ft. Grey - The Middle

If you've been following the Hits 1 blogging community for the past year, my opinion on this won't be surprising. This song is crap. If there are worse producers than Marshmello then they have to be Zedd and Grey. There are way better producers that could have made this better like Diplo, Chainsmokers, and NOTD. And here's this: Maren Morris sucks. 80s Mercedes and some other songs off of that album are her only good things; everything else is at most mediocre. Oh yeah and Grey sucks too. Maren did especially horrible in this song. As to those who think Happy Now is Zedd's worst and haven't heard this abomination, I dare you to listen to this. He went extremely generic with this and he had way more original songs in the past. I don't want every EDM and dance producer to go the route Zedd and Marshmello have already taken. For now though, I'll stick to songs like Beautiful Now and Clarity. I actually remember being a literal stan but now Zedd is extremely putrid. For short though this is my Body Like A Back Road of 2018. Also fun fact: this is the only song with multiple artists featured in this review.

OVERALL POINTS
2014: OneRepublic - Counting Stars
2015: Walk the Moon - Shut Up And Dance
2016: Twenty One Pilots - Stressed Out
2017: Ed Sheeran - Shape of You
2018: Zedd & Maren Morris/Grey - The Middle

Total: 70 + 20 + 50 + 40 + 0 = 180/250 (72% - B)

So that's it! Feel free to use this type of post in your blog but make sure you credit me. I also want to use this space to advertise my rankdown; find it at the pagebar on the top of the blog, it is due in two weeks and we only have three participants as I write this. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next weekend post which should be out by Sunday based on my recent timing.