James' Top 70 - March 2, 2017

This week will be the last week that we see the chart as a Top 70. I have ultimately decided to change the positioning number to...100?

Yeah, I said about month or two ago that the chart was going to be swung into a Top 50 due to the dead zones around the chart. As I was preparing the transition, to make things smoother, I decided I was going to start cutting the losses of the dead zones and start dropping those songs, and that is when it hit me: why not just do this all the time? If a song doesn't do much for weeks and looks done, why keep hanging on to the fact that it might rebound? So basically, I will be retooling my chart again. This is kind of like the transition I made when I took play counts out of the formula. By retooling, I don't mean that I will be removing songs ultimately from the chart right away, but there is definitely going to be a lot more activity going on. There have been a lot of songs that have been freefalling since I made the Top 50 announcement, and that practice will likely stick in order to keep the chart fresh. Basically, the new songs that will pop up in the bottom regions of the chart will be songs that are in my playlist and have a shot at breaking out. Debuting will be a lot easier, but there will be some high turnover rates. 

With the upgrade to 100, there will be some recurrent changes:

• Songs that fall 5+ positions for 3 consecutive weeks will be sent recurrent after those 3 weeks (same as before). The number will increase to +2 if the position drop goes 10+ (new!).
• Songs with 15 weeks under its belt and fall below the #61 range will be sent recurrent (previously #51 and below). The week number may change to 12 weeks in the future if I deem it necessary. If I do believe a song can turn it around, I will leave it alone (ex. "Take That" by: CRUISR).

Now, I know what y'all might be thinking: what about "Never Stop" and it's ridiculous 268 weeks (Crownnote won't be correctly updated on this) under its belt? I ultimately have decided it will retire next week and be sent to recurrency regardless of the new rule. There will be a gigantic memorial service for it. It did drop enough to go recurrent this week, but I saved it to #50 because I didn't want it to overshadow the memorial services in tact for "Burning House" and "Pause" this week. Even though it still sees quite a bit of action, I think the time has finally come for it to retire. 

Now for the final Top 70:

New #1!!! And 9 debuts!!!

Notes:

• We see a new #1 this week, as Acceptance puts "Diagram of a Simple Man" (3-1) in the top spot for their first career #1. Acceptance is coming off of a hot week, as their newly released album Colliding By Design scores 4 debuts this week, as well as everything else from the album appearing on On the Rise (and Re-Entry Watch for "Haunted"). This has a good shot at staying at the top for another week, but beyond that is questionable.
• "Old School" pushes into the Top 3 this week, as it moves 6-3 for a new peak. This is looking like it'll hit #1 soon, but it might not come next week. I imagine this can hit the top in two weeks from now. 
• "Mayday" (8-8) spends its 52nd week on the chart this week. It has spend an amazing 49 weeks in the Top 10 and counting. It doesn't look like it'll fall out for another few weeks, so this could spend 52 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 pretty soon. This is the happier of news for Cam, as "Burning House" falls off the chart this week (memorial service at the end).
• We have a very big debut this week coming from Calvin Harris. "Slide" debuts at #18 this week, with an outstanding 39 plays to start its run. Calvin hasn't had the greatest run of things for awhile now, but this will see him look like his glory days. This should go Top 10 very soon, and I actually think this has a great shot at #1 in the future.
• Our next debut is another decent-sized one, as Jason Derulo returns to the chart with "Swalla" at #35. Jason, similarly to Calvin, hasn't had a great run his past few singles, as they didn't really amount to much; his last two to chart couldn't break Top 40, while "Kiss the Sky" couldn't chart. This one is looking like it could be a big hit for him.
• It only took 20 weeks, but "Take That" finally surpasses its #48 peak it set back on October 13, 2016, as it rises 48-42 for a new peak. This has had one weird chart run, and it looks like it can keep going up a little bit. It will definitely run out of gas soon, but CRUISR shall enjoy this.
• As previously stated, Acceptance has a huge week, as four songs from Colliding By Design debut this week. The title track leads the way at #43, "Fire and Rain" (#53), "Come Closer" (#63), and "We Can Escape" (#68) follow the leader onto the chart. "Colliding by Design" and "Fire and Rain" look like they could chart for awhile, while the other two (and the rest of the album) will be merely on the chart while the album is hot. No singles have been sent to radio yet for some reason, so I might be forced to pick singles for this.
• As "Oxygen" (23-30) prepares to go recurrent next week, Dirty Heads follow up very quickly as "Freedom", off of their newly released EP Dessert, debuts at #46. Dessert is just a b-side EP to their self-titled album, so they might not be done with singles from it, but "Freedom" should be able to stick around regardless of what they choose next for radio. They should definitely be able to ride two concurrent singles as they did with "That's All I Need" (#5) and "Oxygen" last year.
• Bob Moses makes a comeback to the charts with "Before I Fall" at #61. I randomly decided to listen to their album Days Gone By this week and really enjoyed it. This one was incredibly good and I see it performing better than "Tearing Me Up" (#60) did. Speaking of, "Tearing Me Up" might actually see a return to the chart soon, as I got back into it while I was listening to the album lol.
• The final debut this week goes to Martin Garrix and Dua Lipa with "Scared to Be Lonely" at #69. It took me awhile to check out this song for some reason, despite knowing about it, and I wish I had heard it sooner. It is really good. I see this being a good hit on the chart, becoming both acts' biggest charter (well, Martin hasn't charted before, so this is by default lol).
• In Memoriam: this week, we say goodbye to two big charters: "Pause" and "Burning House". "Burning House" was the first song to chart by the new queen of the chart Cam, as it came in at #63 on December 23, 2015. It originally didn't look like it would amount to much, as a Top 50 peak was its original prediction, as it was a lot different than other songs on the chart (ballads don't do incredibly well here). But, week by week, it chipped away and kept rising before the Cam takeover started to really take place. On its 11th week, it placed at #37, then it saw its big jumps: 37-30-21-8-1. Before that, it was starting to stall in the 40s as previously predicted. The one week on top was more because "Mayday" was coming full throttle, so it only was able to score a week in. At 62 weeks, it definitely stayed on the chart for a long time, and this is the first taste of Cam that we received.
• In Memoriam 2: "Pause". Oh, what can I say? Despite peaking at #4, this might be one of the oddest chart runs ever. As "Burning House" did coincidentally, "Pause" also debuted at #63, but on February 11, 2016. This was an incredibly underwhelming debut for SafetySuit, who are arguably the greatest artist of all-time in terms of my chart (I mean, look at "Never Stop"!). Things didn't get much better from there either, again, for SafetySuit's history. It slowly rose over the long weeks, not really doing too much, but more just rising because it wasn't getting negative updates. Despite kind of acting as the follow-up to "Looking Up" (which is still charting lol), it never really broke out. It finally broke the Top 10 on October 6, 2016, an astounding 35 week trek (the current record), and only stayed for 1 week at the time. It re-entered a few weeks later once the album release started to come into effect and peaked at #4 5 weeks after its original Top 10 placing. Then, it just kinda slowly fell to where it lies to rest now.
• Let us make a toast to both "Burning House" and "Pause" as we lower their graves down. :sip2: (not in a shady way lol)
• Speaking of SafetySuit, their songs from their album are finally starting to get weeded out, as "You" (27-34) and "Better" (18-23) are starting to get sent to recurrency. The band has plans to release a new single to radio in the very near future, and if it so happens to be a song that was sent recurrent, I will gladly re-chart it. For now, "Beat of Your Heart" (4-5) and "Numbers or Faith" (7-7) will reside high on the chart. "Confused" (12-13) might start to follow in the footsteps of "You" and "Better" though in the near future.

On the Rise:
"Let You Down" by: Seether
"Goodbye" by: Acceptance
"73" by: Acceptance
"Sunset" by: Acceptance
"Breaking Free" by: Night Riots
"When I Was Cursed" by: Acceptance
"I Don't Wanna Dance" by: COIN
"Nimble Bastard" by: Incubus
"Golden" by: Acceptance

Re-Entry Watch:
"Haunted" by: Acceptance
"Tearing Me Up" by: Bob Moses

Dropouts:
"Absence" by: Talay Riley (from #43) Peak: 5 - RECURRENT
"Bubblegum" by: TOTEM & Aalias (from #44) Peak: 10 - RECURRENT
"Pause" by: SafetySuit (from #45) Peak: 4 - RECURRENT
"Burning House" by: Cam (from #47) Peak: 1 (1 week) - RECURRENT
"Vowels" by: Capital Cities (from #61) Peak: 44 - RECURRENT
"Cash Machine" by: D.R.A.M. (from #62) Peak: 49 - RECURRENT
"Loveblood" by: Sundara Karma (from #63) Peak: 63
"I Won't Let You Go" by: Switchfoot (from #66) Peak: 35
"I'm Gonna Love You" by: David Cook (from #69) Peak: 55