This is a pretty straightforward song: Chris Janson lists things he wants in the verses, but in the chorus he clarifies that all he needs is you. The melody is simple and there's a lovely string arrangement, and if it was a slow song I'd probably be bored to tears, but instead it's a nice brisk song that wraps up in two and a half minutes. Chris Janson's best single before this was a goofy thing called "Buy Me A Boat," but perhaps I'd underestimated him. One of the things he wants in the first verse is "Waylon on the radio again," and I get a little tired of contemporary country hits referencing the cool old outlaw country guys, but he's got a rich, voice and commanding delivery that could pull off a Waylon Jennings song. Here's the 2023 singles Spotify playlist I update every month. 

"Nonsense" was kind of a sleeper hit, the 5th single from Emails I Can't Send peaking on the charts 10 months after the album's release. Around the same time, she released a deluxe version of the album, and one of those new tracks, "Feather," feels like a nice down-the-middle dance pop song to solidify her hitmaker status while still retaining a bit of Carpenter's personality and sense of humor, I hope it does great. 

A few years ago, the music industry seemed really set on Dominic Fike being the next zoomer alt-pop savior who would tap into the zeitgeist and become a huge star like Billie Eilish. That didn't happen with his first album, and when Fike was cast in the second season of "Euphoria," it seemed to backfire when he sang a song in the season finale, and the show's entire viewership hated it and regarded it as a waste of valuable minutes of their favorite show. So I was getting pretty comfortable with dismissing Fike as an overhyped failure when I found myself loving his first Hot 100 hit, "Mona Lisa," which is just incredibly catchy and well put together. "Mona Lisa" has 5 producers, including respected underground rap guy Kenny Beats and the Norwegian mega hitmakers Stargate, so this is still probably more a triumph of the music industry's faith in Fike than anything else, but I'll concede this as a win for him. 

BTS has had enormous, historic chart success in America, but even their English language singles have tended to have an uncanny valley resemblance to American pop, as much as I like "Butter." And after BTS went on hiatus, it seemed for a while there that K-Pop was quickly losing all the ground it gained in the American charts, and even now the solo songs from members of BTS are outperforming the rest of the genre in the U.S. "Seven" really sounds more natural on Top 40 radio than any previous K-Pop crossover hit, though, despite the UK garage vibe of the beat. Again, this victory was achieved with a whole gang of seasoned hitmakers (Jon Bellion, Andrew Watt, Cirkut, one of the R. City guys), but a good song is a good song, I don't really care who it comes from. 

Anytime Drake appears on a rap album, it's usually the de facto single. Young Thug's Business Is Business had 2 Drake features, and the one that opened the inferior first version of the album, "Parade On Cleveland," was fucking awful. So I'm pleased that the other one won out and became a radio hit, "Oh U Went" has a great beat. 

Josh X has been kicking around the industry for quite a while, he did hooks on Cardi B's early mixtapes, but this is the first time I've seen him on the R&B charts as a solo artist and I really like this, hope he becomes a star. 

I didn't think I was gonna enjoy this song, because "Clout" had kind of bad vibes, and it seems like Offset and Cardi never stop publicly fighting and accuse each other of cheating and shit, they're really tiresome as a celebrity couple. But "Jealousy" goes pretty hard, I like it. I kind of hope sampling Three 6 Mafia never goes out of style, it's a cheat code but the songs almost always go hard. 

Not too long ago, Sam Hunt seemed like the country star most likely to attain the massive crossover success currently enjoyed by Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs. But Hunt lost a lot of momentum, releasing only one album in the last 8 years, and "Outskirts" could be his second single in a row to miss the Hot 100 entirely. I think that's kind of a shame, because I think I like his music more now than when he was on the verge of superstardom.

Isis Spisis is a star and her whole rise to fame has been charming and entertaining, but I haven't really enjoyed many of her Billboard hits as much as that first viral song I heard by her, "No Clarity," to me that's still the best example of her in her own lane. She's got a great flow on "Deli" though, I'd much rather listen to this than the other recent clubby rap hits like "I Just Wanna Rock" and "Shake Sum." 

Every few years OneRepublic has a giant hit and roars back to pop radio dominance, but I tend to enjoy some of their minor hits the most, and I like "Runaway" a lot more than the Top Gun: Maverick smash "I Ain't Worried." 

Some people are still dicks about southern rap and think everybody with a southern accent is a "mumble rapper." I will say, though, Lil Baby's Alabama sidekick Rylo Rodriguez genuinely raps like he has a mouth full of glue and I'm amazed that there are people that enjoy listening to him. His biggest single to date was released a couple months after Bobby Caldwell died and interpolates "What You Won't Do For Love" but they really should've left his song alone, this is not good.