Throwing back to the week of May 17, 1955, we find a couple of repeats atop the Billboard chart in Perez Pablo’s ‘Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White‘ and Georgia Gibbs’ ‘Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower).’
In the #3 spot that week was Les Baxter’s version of ‘Unchained Melody,’ a short instrumental take with choral accompaniment. This is one of three versions of the song that bounced around the top ten in 1955 — the other two were by Al Hibbler and Roy Hamilton.
We round out the latest edition of ‘What the Kids are Listening To’ with one more track by Morgan Wallen — his third this week. Wallen is at #14 this week with ‘Just in Case,’ right behind Billie Eilish at $13 with ‘Birds of a Feather.’
‘Just in Case’ is the fourth single from Wallen’s album I’m the Problem (which drops today), and it’s less of a banger than the first three. This one is a heartsick ballad more in line with the pre-Wallen country landscape, but it demonstrates that he can score a hit in that space as well.
At #12 on this week’s Hot 100 is rapper Doechii with ‘Anxiety,’ a 2019 track that she re-recorded after it picked up steam on TikTok.
The track heavily samples Gotye’s 2011 ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ — so heavily that you’re 20 seconds in before you realize it’s a sample and not the actual song. I’m not a big fan of songs that rely so heavily on samples, especially of well-known tracks, but this one is decent.
I’m skipping over #9 and #10 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 because they’ve already been featured on the blog: Teddy Swims’ ‘Lose Control’ and Benson Boone’s ‘Beautiful Things.’ Those songs have been on this chart for quite a while, a record-breaking number of weeks in the case of ‘Lose Control.’
At #11 is a country/rap hybrid by Texan rapper BigXthaPlug, accompanied by Illinois country singer Bailey Zimmerman. This is the first foray into country music by BigXthaPlug and by far his most successful release, having peaked at #4. His next highest charter reached #63.
Morgan Wallen holds both the seventh and eighth slots in this week’s Billboard Hot 100. And spoiler alert: this isn’t the last time you’ll hear from him this week.
‘I Ain’t Comin’ Back’ is a promotional single from Wallen’s upcoming album, not to be confused with the four proper singles he has released. If you think five singles dropping in advance of a new album is too many, consider that the album has 37 tracks.
Meet Me In Montauk 