Almost everyone listens to music; whether you have something playing throughout the day or occasionally listen to a few favorites, music is something that everyone has in common.

I started listening to music on repeat during my freshman year of high school and it has been a major part of my life ever since. Because I am practically always listening to something, I thought it’d be appropriate to make a review of the top 9 songs on the Billboard charts from this week. 

#1) Adele – Easy On Me

Adele’s Easy On Me has been sitting in the number one spot on the Hot 100 Billboard charts for a couple of weeks now. Adele had been on a six-year hiatus from creating music, so people had been eagerly awaiting the next release and were convinced that her future music would be perfect. Adele stated in interviews that she wanted to use this song as a way to explain to her child why she divorced and left her ex-husband, Simon Konecki, and had to abandon her child. The song begins with just a piano and transitions into a slow, chord-heavy song. On top of a beautiful instrumental, Adele’s vocals add just what is needed to fully enjoy Easy On Me.

Personal rating: 8/10

#2) The Kid LAROI, Justin Bieber – Stay

The collaboration between LAROI and Bieber shows two sides of a coin. On one side, LAROI uses the track to wish for his lover’s forgiveness. On the other side, Bieber uses the track to show his admiration for his significant other. Stay has been sitting at the number two spot for a couple of weeks now, only being beaten by Adele’s Easy On Me for the number one spot. The song provides 2:21 minutes of constant and aggressive energy with complementary lyrics coming from both artists. Compared to previous tracks by LAROI, his lyricism and vocals have both improved significantly on this song. Although the genre of this song is not necessarily my cup of tea, I can appreciate the quality of the work provided by both of these artists.

Personal rating: 6.5/10

#3) Glass Animals – Heat Waves

Heat Waves provides listeners with high energy mixed with a melancholy tone from the main singer. The song is used by the artist to talk about the vulnerable moments in their lives and how they had to stay strong through these moments. The song also encourages the idea of embracing the fact that you are vulnerable, despite vulnerability typically being seen as a “weak” attribute. Despite this good message being put into the song, the overall sound of the track does not fit what Glass Animals are usually known for: releasing experimental and funky electronic tracks since being found in Oxford in 2010. This latest track just doesn’t feel right with the rest of their discography. It seems as if the band is trying to show a different side of them by releasing something that isn’t conventional for them, but for me, it doesn’t hit the mark.

Personal rating: 3.5/10

#4) Carolina Gaitan, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz & Encanto Cast – We Don’t Talk About Bruno

A song coming off of the latest Disney movie Encanto has smashed Disney’s previous soundtrack popularity record held by Let It Go from the Frozen movie back in 2014. This song is also heavily featured in a lot of TikToks, which partially explains why this song is so high up on the charts. The combination of the beat and lyrics makes this song incredibly catchy and hard to stop listening to. Even though it is just a movie soundtrack, it is handcrafted to perfection by Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Hamilton and writer of the popular track How Far I’ll Go from Moana.

Personal rating: 8/10

#5) Ed Sheeran – Shivers

On one of his latest tracks, Shivers, Sheeran talks to the audience about the things in his life that give him the feeling of butterflies in his stomach, or as he calls it in the song, “shivers.” To recreate this uneasy feeling throughout the track, it begins with staccato strings that continue throughout the entirety of the song. This is contrasted by Sheeran’s vocals and signature acoustic guitar with a chorus full of energy. This track displays his true creativity while being able to branch out to a different style of music. Although Sheeran isn’t necessarily an artist that will be found on my Spotify playlists, it is hard to not appreciate the sound of this track in particular.

Personal rating: 5.5/10

#6) Kodak Black – Super Gremlin

Kodak’s Super Gremlin has been consistently climbing the charts this month, now finding itself in the number six spot. The track is used by Kodak to talk about his past friendship with a childhood friend and lost bonds and betrayals. He talks about how he used to reminisce with this particular person about becoming superstars together, but this dream eventually came to an end because this person had betrayed him. Ignoring all the weird things Kodak has done in the previous year and the fact he is struggling with some addiction problems, it’s hard to say that I don’t like this song. It’s way better than anything Kodak has created in the past and is easier to listen to.

Personal rating: 6/10

#7) Gunna, Future ft. Young Thug – Pushin P

Pushin P has taken over the Billboard top 100 rankings and is now sitting at a comfortable number seven spot. You might’ve seen people using the phrase “pushin p” on social media recently, and the definition of the phrase has been described by Gunna himself to mean “to keep it real.” The barely two-minute-long song features Gunna and Future trading lyrics over a beat made by Juke Wong and Wheezy. Young Thug is used to close out the track by shouting out his partner for “being a real one.” The combination of great lyrics and great production come together to establish this song as a must-listen.

Personal rating: 8/10

#8) Doja Cat – Need To Know

Doja Cat’s Need To Know is surprisingly underwhelming. Her vocals are significantly worse than any of her other recent music and the song is just insanely boring to listen to. There is no real meaning behind the track compared to other songs on this list. The worst part of the song is the basic flow that makes it an even worse listen. Even despite this, the artist still manages to not keep up with it and make it sound even worse than it could have. The best part of the track is the mediocre production, but that is the most that this song will get out of me. There’s still more to hear from Doja Cat on her most recent album Planet Her, but Need To Know is one of her worst tracks yet.

Personal rating: 2/10

#9) GAYLE – abcdefu

GAYLE’s abcdefu is a song about a breakup the artist went through and is used to express her anger at the person that dumped her. Unfortunately, this artist does not make any attempt to move away from being an Olivia Rodrigo impersonator. The song just feels like it was created by an industry plant and was only released with the purpose of becoming popular in order to make a lot of money. Unsurprisingly, at least six remixes of this song have been released at this point in time, making GAYLE seem even more like an industry plant. I would suggest skipping over this one as there is absolutely nothing special here.

Personal rating: 0/10