.
12. Maroon 5 feat. Cardi B - "Girls Like You"
"Girls Like You" might be the least memorable #1 hit of all time. It's not offensively terrible or anything, it's just an entirely unmemorable song with absolutely nothing interesting to latch onto. It's a pop song that sounds like it was written in a lab to achieve the most amount of chart success possible. Levine's vocals are soulless, the beat is a boring amalgation of 50 other tropical house hits, Cardi B's verse seems shoehorned in, it's one of the most corporate-sounding hits in quite some time, and it's easily my least favorite #1 hit of the year. Maybe my least favorite song of the year.
11. Ed Sheeran - "Perfect"
I've got nothing wrong with Ed Sheeran, and I have to admit that he obviously has a whole lot of talent. He wrote this song entirely by himself, which is really cool, but it's a perfect case of talent not amounting to anything interesting. "Perfect" may be better than "Shape of You", but it replaces that songs ill-fitting sexuality and sensuousness with a maudlin string section, and a cloying, faux-emotional melody.
10. Drake - "God's Plan"
Outside of "Nice for What" (which I'll get to later), Drake's #1 hits seem to be his worst songs. I love songs like "Hold On, We're Going Home", "Marvins Room", and "Passionfruit", but all of those missed out on the #1 spot, leaving us with boring hits like "One Dance", "In My Feelings", and the immensely tedious "God's Plan". Drake's delivery is incredibly lethargic, and the beat is staggeringly bland.
9. XXXTENTACION - "Sad!"
I don't hate "Sad!" as much as the other songs from XXXTENTACION's ? album, but I'm still not a fan at all. Like I mentioned in the worst albums list, I somewhat appreciated XXX's hard-hitting trap songs, but this alt-R&B/emo rap style doesn't sit well with me at all. On "Sad!", the late rapper beckons his audience to sympathize with his relationship troubles. Knowing what he did, that's nearly impossible.
8. Drake - "In My Feelings"
"In My Feelings" is yet another snoozer from the superstar Canadian rapper. The bounce-influenced beat is itself pretty solid, but the songwriting is lame and Drake's performance is easily one of his weakest. Despite all this, I was still sad when "Girls Like You" took its #1 spot on the charts.
7. Camila Cabello feat. Young Thug - Havana
I'd probably rank this higher if Young Thug, one of my favorite rappers, was given more to do here, but even with is fairly lackluster verse this is a pretty decent pop song. Cabello is a solid vocalist, easily one of the best out of Fifth Harmony, and the chorus is delightful, the combination of the deep bass and the lilting piano melody makes for one of the best hooks of the whole year. Despite all this, the video is still about fifteen times better than the actual song.
6. Post Malone feat. Ty Dolla $ign - "Psycho"
As much as it pains me to say this, I like Post Malone. As an unabashed hip hop head I despise his comments about the genre and it's pretty obvious that he's only working within the genre because it's a cash cow, but he's genuinely a pretty excellent pop songwriter. Malone's entire discography is filled to the brim with excellent hooks, and outside of 2016's "Congratulations", "Psycho" probably contains his best hook to date. Post's verse is pretty lame, I won't deny that, but the hook is undeniable and Ty Dolla $ign does a great job.
5. Cardi B, Bad Bunny, & J Balvin - "I Like It"
The immense success of "Bodak Yellow" had many people, including me, wondering if Cardi B was going to end up a one-hit wonder. The track is solid, sure, but nothing about it screamed staying power. At the end of 2018, with three number one hits and a number one album under her belt, she's a superstar, and "I Like It" is her best single. Cardi's performance is charismatic and bursting with personality, and the Latin-infused beat is absolutely infectious.
4. Childish Gambino - "This Is America"
After a brief, well-recieved detour into funk with Awaken, My Love, boasting the single "Redbone", Childish Gambino is back to hip hop with the dark, gritty, politically charged "This Is America". It seems silly to talk about this song without mentioning the accompanying video, because the two coexist so perfectly it seems reductive to talk about one or the other. The striking, violent visuals accompanied with the dizzying, dark trap beat evokes a really guttural reaction. It's a feeling of anxiety, and a feeling that, as a country, we really need to do something. Despite the song itself not being incredible, the
3. Ariana Grande - "Thank U, Next"
While I would have preferred the fantastic "No Tears Left to Cry" as a #1 hit, "Thank U, Next" is definitely a really good pop song from one of pop music's shining figures. Reeling from the death of her ex Mac Miller and her breakup with SNL star Pete Davidson, "Thank U, Next" is a breakup anthem, but not in a typical way. It's a breakup anthem that sees Grande as thankful for her exes, and thankful that she's able to lay down the groundwork to move forward in a productive way. It's a really positive method, and the song is a total bop.
2. Drake - "Nice for What"
"Nice for What" is easily Drake's best solo single of the year, and my favorite single of his save for "Hold On, We're Going Home". His performance is absolutely infectious, delivering some of the best verses he's had since the If You're Reading This It's Too Late mixtape, but the production is absolutely the star of the show. Built of a Lauryn Hill sample, Murda Beatz' beat is a bounce-influenced masterpiece, effortlessly danceable while still retaining a certain bit of dreaminess.
1. Travis Scott feat. Drake, Swae Lee, & Big Hawk - "Sicko Mode"
"Sicko Mode" is quite possibly the most daring, experimental song to top the charts. Scott has carved out a name for himself as one of the most visionary figures in trap rap, but his previous hit songs ("Antidote" and "Goosebumps") are still fairly standard, albeit fairly psychedelic and out-there. "Sicko Mode" sees Scott fully indulge in all of his most experimental tendencies. The song contains three radically different beats; chopped up vocals from Swae Lee, Big Hawk, Uncle Luke, and the Notorious B.I.G.; one of Drake's best verses in years; and some of Scott's most straightforward rapping to date. It's one of the weirdest songs to ever top the charts, and most importantly, it's really, really good.
