What's up everyone? This is the Chart Critic wishing you all Happy Holidays! Last week's Billboard Breakdown saw a review of The Weeknd's Starboy, a brand new Top 20 songs of the week, and a rant about Beyonce's Lemonade album becoming overrated. This week, we're reviewing the Hamilton Mixtape (the most recent #1 on the Billboard 200), we're giving another new Top 20 songs of the week, and we're discussing the loads of drama going on with Fifth Harmony. Let's get to it, starting with All About Albums.

All About Albums: The Hamilton Mixtape by Various Artists

So in case you haven't heard, the broadway musical Hamilton has been taking over the country throughout the past two years. The mastermind behind the production is Lin-Manuel Miranda, who has actually been working on this project for over seven years. In fact, Miranda first envisioned Hamilton as The Hamilton Mixtape, and for a while now Miranda has been hinting that a "mixtape" of sorts was being created with songs from the musical. Well, he was certainly not messing around, as The Hamilton Mixtape was released early this month and is a compilation of 23 skits and songs featuring all-star artists like The Roots, Busta Rhymes, Nate Ruess, Nas, Usher, Sia, Kelly Clarkson, Alicia Keys, Ashanti, Andra Day, Wiz Khalifa, John Legend, Common, Chance The Rapper, Lin-Manuel Miranda himself, and many more. These artists either covered songs from Hamilton traditionally or took part in a remix.

I have to say, this project is awesome. As a whole. this is unlike any album or mixtape that you'll listen to all year, and that's because there's so many different sounds throughout the 23 skits/songs. If you want to hear rap, there's The Roots, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Dave East, and Lin-Manuel Miranda featured within the first two songs. If you want to hear great vocals, Sia, Kelly Clarkson, Alicia Keys, and Andra Day provide that throughout the middle. If you want to hear interesting collaborations, Ashanti and Ja Rule reunite for a track, and Jimmy freakin' Fallon joins The Roots for a legitimate singing feature. This mixtape almost has it all, and it does the main thing that makes a good album, which is it doesn't miss. There'll always be songs that you like more than others (for me, "My Shot," "Wrote My Way Out," and "That Would Be Enough" are some of my favorites), but the best albums are the ones where you don't have to skip songs, and I really think this project accomplishes that task.

I also think this project accomplishes the difficult task that compilation albums face, which is having the right artists be a part of the right songs. For example, Kelly Clarkson is the perfect person to sing "It's Quiet Uptown," just like Nas and Dave East are perfect for "Wrote My Way Out," just like Wiz Khalifa is perfect for "Washingtons by Your Side," and just like Watsky is literally the only guy I can see performing "An Open Letter (interlude)" (side note: props to Watsky for going from rapping on YouTube to being a part of a Billboard 200 #1).

What I would like to do with each album that I review is to name one song that I would choose if I had to try and convince someone to give the artist and album involved a listen. Essentially, I am picking my favorite track, but also the one I think defines the artist and the album the best. Normally this is a hard decision, but for this project, "My Shot" really sticks out to me as the defining track. It captures the hip-hop focus of Hamilton, it features some exceptional verses, and it has a hook that will be stuck in your head for a couple of days. If I can go a step further, I would also have you check out Lin-Manuel Miranda's performance of "My Shot" on Saturday Night Live, where he throws another twist on the song in a way that shows just how talented he is, and how this song can relate to so many different topics and people.

Top Tracks: My Favorite Songs of the Week

What I would like to do with the Top Tracks portion of the Billboard Breakdown is to present my favorite songs from the week's Hot 100 Chart. In order to do this, I make sure that I have listened to each song on the chart, and then I break it all down in a way where I can find my Top 20 songs. I like to do this with the Hot 100 because it keeps me listening to all genres of music, and what and who is currently popular within them. So, without further adieu, here are my favorite songs (in no particular order) from the week of December 24th, 2016:

#1 - "Redbone" (Childish Gambino)
Gambino, who also happens to rap, do stand-up comedy, write television, and star in his own television show, gives us a great sounding single unlike any other that's in the Hot 100
#2 - "Starboy" (The Weeknd)
The "I'm a motherf*ckin starboy, look what you've done" lyric not only sets the tone for "Starboy" the song, but it also does it for Starboy the album
#3 - "Million Reasons" (Lady Gaga)
I knew Gaga's vocals were good, but I'm really glad she's getting to show it off in a studio album with Joanne.
#4 - "Scars To Your Beautiful" (Alessia Cara)
The success of this song makes me happy because the fact is so many people can benefit from this type of song being mainstream
#5 - "Bad Things" (Machine Gun Kelly x Camila Cabello)
It's feels different listening to this song after everything that's recently gone down with Cabello, but I'll still hit the replay button for this track
#6 - "Closer" (The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey)
I'm STILL not ready to let go!
#7 - "Party Monster" (The Weeknd)
This song simply is a jam, and it strikes me as such every time I listen to it around the end of the verses
#8 - "24K Magic" (Bruno Mars)
It's a little too electronic for me, but it's still a great follow-up to "Uptown Funk"
#9 - "Say You Won't Let Go" (James Arthur)
I think I've said this before, but I like this song more and more each week
#10 - "Ride" (twenty one pilots)
There's some underappreciated songwriting in this track, and that's what keeps me from losing interest despite its slide down the charts
#11 - "Song For Another Time" (Old Dominion)
You never really know what you're going to get with Old Dominion, but I'm glad I got this Hot 100 song from them within 2016
#12 - "Heathens" (twenty one pilots)
Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun continually mix real and electronic sounds in awesome ways, and "Heathens" is no exception
#13 - "I Feel It Coming" (The Weeknd)
This song sounds great on its own, but it's even better when considering how it rounds out the story that Starboy tells
#14 - "Die For You" (The Weeknd)
I know it's another Weeknd song, but "Die For You" is slowly emerging as one of my favorites from his recent project
#15 - "Home" (gnash ft. johnny yukon)
I was really happy to see a new song from gnash on the Hot 100, and this track did not disappoint by any means
#16 - "False Alarm" (The Weeknd)
It's The Weeknd again! Some people think this song doesn't really fit The Weeknd, but I think he kills it here
#17 - "What They Want" (Russ)
It combines both typical rap bars and conscious rap bars, making it one of my favorite Hot 100 rap songs of the year
#18 - "True Colors" (The Weeknd)
Look, I wouldn't have so many songs from The Weeknd in my Top 20 if they weren't good, so don't take this as overkill, especially because "True Colors" is an awesome track
#19 - "Fresh Eyes" (Andy Grammer)
I just can't help but feel better about life after listening to this song
#20 - "Black Barbies" (Nicki Minaj x Mike WiLL Made-It)
Nicki does have some typical bad lines on here, but she does spit some sweet bars and puts a nice spin on "Black Beatles," which you'll here if you can get past the first line

Rant.: The Fall Apart of Fifth Harmony

The rant section of these Billboard Breakdown's is where I take a recent news story in music and give my reaction in the form of once sentence. By keeping it to one sentence, I challenge myself to get my viewpoint across quickly. This week, we're talking about Fifth Harmony, and all the drama they've faced in the past week.

"Not only did Fifth Harmony make the news this week when Lauren Jauregui was cited for marijuana possession at an airport (which was unjustly reported as a much bigger deal than it appeared to be), but they lost their first member when Camila Cabello left the group a couple of days ago, subsequently putting an unnecessary amount of focus and negative attention on a group of five girls (all under the age of 23) that should really be celebrating an amazing year in which they established themselves as some of the more powerful women in pop music."

That's all the Chart Critic has for this week! Check back next time to see a new album review (hint: there's no features), a new Top 20 song list, and another quick rant. Happy holidays!