The Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 2017

The Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 2017

In the following few paragraphs, I take a look at the best year of the 2010s for the Hot 100 and examine why this year wasn’t the most well-liked year-end by others.

Hey folks, welcome back to Fire’s Flaming Hot Takes. And we’re starting with the top 10 worst hit songs of 2017!

It shouldn’t be a surprise at this point that I adore the 2017 Hot 100 year-end list. I’ve mentioned it in a positive light multiple times in other lists. I don’t just think it’s the most underappreciated year this decade, I’m going as far as to call it the absolute best year of the decade for the Hot 100, even if, without the rose-colored glasses, I do realize there are more holes than I once thought. It’s also definitely a bias of mine, since 2017 has by far been the best year of my life so far, particularly the summer of that year.

I think what the biggest turnoff was for critics in 2017 was that the music scene was completely overrun by the trap sound. And yeah, it left a few really bad lows for sure, but they really aren’t enough to hold back the truly excellent songs this year from shining through. It was such a colorful year for the Hot 100, maybe not nearly as diverse as 2013, but still, we got trap, EDM, pop, country, and even some rock and psychedelic soul on the Hot 100 this year!!

But we did get some bad songs, and definitely some atrocious ones, so I’d rather get the bad stuff of this year out of the way quickly so I can start praising this year to high heavens for my best list. There were 24 songs on the Hot 100 year-end list for 2017 - including 2016 repeats - that fell into my “mediocre tier” or lower. It is a bit more than most years, not entirely helped by the fact that the quality of the 2016 repeats fell all over the place. And none of those 2016 repeats will be making this list, because the rule is that the song had to debut on the year-end Hot 100 in 2017 in order to qualify - so congrats “Side To Side”, you’re still a bad song but you barely missed a worst list of mine altogether, seriously that was one of the last cuts from my worst list for 2016. So let’s take a look at the worst of a year that really wasn’t that bad, right? Well, let’s start with our dishonorable mentions.

DM #1: Luke Combs - Hurricane (YE: #76, PEAK: #31)

“Body Like A Back Road” will not be on this list. I know, definitely a bit of a shocker, given how much I’ve ragged on about bro-country being an absolute turd of a subgenre and that song is notoriously known for encapsulating the worst aspects of it. But...I don’t know, I really like the guitar tuning and melody, and at least it’s not trying to be fun and instead more chill, which it does accomplish, and I think it’s safe to say it’s the only bro-country song I actually like if I’m being embarrassingly honest. “Hurricane” on the other hand is a badly produced song with the chorus sounding so ridiculously overcompressed that has aged really badly. I remember not liking the country music that was charting in 2017 when I was first chart-watching, and I think it’s for the best that it didn’t really have a good showing this year.

DM #2: Jon Bellion - All Time Low (YE: #75, PEAK: #16)

This sounds like something coming straight out of the Blurryface era of Twenty One Pilots, and I’m not talking about the excellent songs that have stood the test of time like “Stressed Out” and Ride”, it more reminds me of the songs that haven’t aged well from the record like “Doubt”. And yeah, “All Time Low” is probably one of the worst aged hit songs of the 2010s. The pitch-shifting on the organ line, the incredibly awkward and offtempo beat, the odd belching noise as soon as the chorus hits, the lyric about Jon Bellion masturbating, and Jon Bellion saying the word “low” until the word becomes mush in your head, yeah this is bad.

DM #3: Khalid - Location (YE: #21, PEAK: #16)

I imagine that this is a bit of a more surprising entry on my list. But this is here because it’s just...so...boring. The production is oddly abstract, Khalid is a nonpresence on this song, and this song doesn’t go anywhere. It’s like a tiny fragment of a song that sounds super unfinished, not good.

DM #4: Gucci Mane f/Drake - Both (YE: #83, PEAK: #41)

One of the biggest examples of the slog that we got when trap broke through this year, “Both” is here because of how generic and boring it is. Gucci Mane’s verse is super forgettable and Drake’s rapping on this song is awful. Seriously, the last word of each of his lines is him going up in a higher octave, which is jarring and just sounds like trash in general. Now why is Certified Lover Boy smashing on the Spotify charts as of writing?

DM #5: Demi Lovato - Sorry Not Sorry (YE: #47, PEAK: #6)

And here’s another pop song from 2017 that hasn’t aged well at all. The production in particular, as noted by some critics, sounds like a clumsy blend between the worst aspects of the club boom and the more ambient pop from the latter half of the 2010s. Demi sounds super obnoxious on this, and everything about this song sounds painfully dated, especially those synthesizers. Terrible song, I’m sorry...not sorry.

DM #6: Cardi B - Bodak Yellow (YE: #24, PEAK: #1)

You know the funny thing? If I actually did this list back in 2017, this would’ve likely been my #1. It was the first song I actively rooted against for hitting #1 on the Hot 100 and I was so pissed off that it hit #1 because I loathed the song with every fiber of my being at the time. Now in hindsight, it’s not that bad. It’s still terrible, hence why it’s on this list. The production is a generic trap beat that gets old quite fast. But Cardi B actually has a bit of personality which I at least respect. But this is both a blessing and a curse, because she puts in too much personality and thus sounds obnoxious. Yeah, I might’ve softened my hate on this song and it may not be that bad 4 years later, but it’s still definitely very bad.

DM #7: Migos - T-Shirt (YE: #52, PEAK: #19)

I think I defend Migos more than the average person but I can’t defend this. The production is boring and sounds awful, just an awful synth and a trap beat that sounds super lethargic. And none of the Migos sound good on this at all. When it comes to Migos’ hits in 2017, “T-Shirt” is the one that has seemingly fallen out of conversation the most - hell I completely forgot about this song until I relistened to the year-end list - and for good reason.

Alright that was a...slightly worse start than I hoped, but now it’s time for the list proper!

10...Look, why are we giving this dude a pass from this list just because this song isn’t as awful as “Down In The DM”?

10. Yo Gotti f/Nicki Minaj - Rake It Up (YE: #53, PEAK: #8)

There’s really not much for me to say about this. At the very least, it’s better than “Down In The DM” because at least the bassline is admittedly kinda solid here. But that’s the thing, the bassline is the only thing I can hear in this song! There’s some fragments of a tune here, but it’s so painfully thin. Then we get Nicki Minaj, who, after rhyming China with itself several times, proceeds to rhyme China with vagina. And she sounds so horrible here. Then we get lines from Yo Gotti’s 3rd verse like “she bleed once a month” - oh what a lovely thing to talk about! This is terrible, such a noneffort joke of a song.

9...One thing that happened in 2017 was “Despacito”’s explosion and paving the way for reggaeton artists to see success on the Hot 100. Too bad so many of them were trash...

9. J Balvin & Willy William f/Beyonce - Mi Gente (YE: #50, PEAK: #3)

Yes, this managed to place on the list proper because of that painfully thin synth that sounds like a literal goat. The beat is uncomfortably heavy which makes the already atrocious synth sound even worse. Then J Balvin and Willy William, they are nothing special at all, which means instead all our focus is on the terrible production! If anything, this song is an omen to how lazy reggaeton artists would get in the following years. Seriously, these nonefforts of reggaeton songs manage to always rack up at least a billion views! And I don’t get it. What's the appeal in listening to the same tired production choices and the same mistakes done over and over and over again? The one positive thing I can say about this song is that Beyonce saved this from placing even higher.

8...2017 was such a glorious year for the Hot 100. Too bad such an awful song had to be the biggest song of that year...

8. Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You (YE: #1, PEAK: #1)

There are several songs on the 2017 year-end that remind me of the great times I had that year. Well, “Shape Of You” reminds me of my worst moments in 2017, I distinctly remember being the only person in my family that didn’t like this at all. It was so ridiculously overplayed and it’s so painfully basic. The acoustics are annoying, the beat is incredibly boring, the song is supposed to be a sex song and it just sounds like it was autogenerated and the furthest thing from sexy or lovestruck or anything of emotion! Then the lyrics - yikes. When you have lyrics like “now my bedsheets smell like you”, it’s a very bad sign. There’s another Ed Sheeran song on this year-end list that is genuinely fantastic - we’ll get to that for my best list - but “Shape Of You” was and still is the thoroughly basic gunk that sounds nothing more than autogenerated by a computer. Of course the general public loved this so much.

7...But going back to beyond painfully basic songs that for some reason the general public decided to eat the fuck up...

7. Liam Payne f/Quavo - Strip That Down (YE: #36, PEAK: #10)

It’s very interesting looking at how the One Direction members did after they split up. Harry Styles has had by far the most successful career, Niall Horan and ZAYN managed to score a few hits, and poor Louis Tomlinson couldn’t even get one hit, shame because he has genuinely excellent songs in his discography. Probably only right above him we have Liam Payne, who managed to score only one hit in 2017 with “Strip That Down”...and good god this is awful. The beat is a basic 2014 DJ Mustard production, it’s so ridiculously weak and oddly minimalistic. Now, that could possibly work given this song’s lyrics, it could work as a cool sex jam, only for Liam Payne’s incredibly lifeless personality to completely hurt this song. Quavo sounds super out of place here, the transition from his verse to the final chorus is so awkward. The song is the bland and inoffensive radio fodder that gets incredibly annoying very quickly at times, it’s super repetitive, incredibly lifeless, and just gross all the way through. And somehow we’ve managed to get a second entry in a row on this list with Ed Sheeran, because he provides the backing vocals on this song, man I expect so much better from you! Just let it sink in, we could’ve had “This Town”, “Too Much To Ask”, or “Back To You” all become hits, yet we got this.

6...You know, for as much of an unlikeable presence he tends to have at times, I don’t fully hate blackbear. And I really don’t know why. The list of things wrong with “Hot Girl Bummer” can stretch on for miles and yet I weirdly enjoy that song. But we also have it’s way cheaper prototype that came out three years prior, which is decidedly not good at all...

6. blackbear f/Gucci Mane - do re mi (YE: #98, PEAK: #40)

blackbear is so unlikeable, and “do re mi” really brings out the worst in him. The beat is super lazy, all it is is an overly thick bass, snaps, and an awful synth progression. blackbear sounds both whiny and bored, his falsetto is painfully thin, he can’t sell the anger that this song needs. And also, one more thing. This song is basically entirely built upon the “do re mi” nursery rhyme, with the chorus going “do re mi fa so fucking done with you girl”. And it’s not clever, it’s childish and immature, which only makes blackbear even more unlikeable. Trash.

5...I swear Drake, can you at least try with your music for once!?

5. Drake - Fake Love (YE: #37, PEAK: #8)

Even if this was a bigger hit than “Passionfruit” at the time, I have yet to find someone who prefers this to that song. Drake sounds ridiculously whiny on this song, he’s whining about how people don’t really like him, which I find a very hard time believing because Drake is literally a massive superstar, and I doubt that many people are faking their love towards Drake to the point where he would release not one, but two songs whining about the fame - the other coming in 2018 being “I’m Upset”. Beyond that, the rest of this production is super boring. The guitar strums are super sour, the beat is a complete mess, this is just super clunky. Yeah, easily one of Drake’s worst songs ever, and given his generic ass discography in the latter half of the 2010s...not a good sign.

4...As I’ve said, sometimes bad is measured by the least good, and this song is very much “least good”...

4. Amine - Caroline (YE: #60, PEAK: #11)

Apparently this has become a hip hop classic, which deeply concerns me, because this song is genuinely worthless. The production is so lazy, it’s just terrible synths, trap percussion that is staccato, and very awkward, and a damn cowbell. There’s no groove here, it sounds like a hangover of a song. It’s oddly lethargic and Amine doesn’t help things here at all. He has no charisma or energy, the odd cutting effects towards the end sound terrible. This is super boring and annoying, I don’t see how this is so well-received.

3...I’ve come to accept that I simply like the modern Maroon 5 more than everyone else does. I actually like even their most panned singles from the 2010s like “Girls Like You” and “Animals” just to name a few. And I’ll fully admit that I used to like this back in late 2016 or early 2017. But 5 years later, well...

3. Maroon 5 f/Kendrick Lamar - Don’t Wanna Know (YE: #38, PEAK: #6)

This has most of the same problems that “Strip That Down” has. The lazy production, Adam Levine’s incredibly lifeless vocals, everything about this sounds like it was generated by a literal AI. The beat is limp, the melody line is beyond generic, the keyboards are soulless, and Adam Levine proves that Maroon 5 indeed sold their souls to the music industry by not even bothering to add any power or energy to the song at all! Kendrick barely saves this song at all, he sounds super out of place here, he doesn’t match anything! At least he supplied a little bit of energy, I guess. This song is absolutely atrocious, and easily a career low for Maroon 5. Complete garbage.

2...I’ve dunked on this artist’s three hits in 2018, even if only one of those hits made the dishonorable mentions that year. But this is still the worst thing I’ve heard from him, and it remains an absolute headache to listen to in so many ways...

2. XXXTENTACION - Look At Me! (YE: #99, PEAK: #34)

This song’s production is so ugly, and if anything, it makes me want to look away. The bass is cranked up too heavy, the distorted riff is so creepy and it sounds awful, and by the end XXXTENTACION resorts to screaming in a 6ix9ine-esque style which sounds genuinely awful. Honestly, this song really gives me nothing to talk about, just three aspects that all sound hideous put together to make one even more hideous mess, blech.

1...This song is commonly regarded as one of the unholy trifecta of 2017. In that unholy trifecta, we have “Body Like A Back Road”, “Look What You Made Me Do”, and this. And I honestly like two of those songs, I’ll be completely honest. This one is insipid garbage in every way possible, and easily a song that is one of the biggest reasons that 2017 is so tainted in everyone’s eyes. It’s why so many critics are quick to call 2017 a bad year for music when it in fact was a glorious one. And there’s no more dancing around this either, let’s just talk about it...

1. Kodak Black - Tunnel Vision (YE: #55, PEAK: #6)

This song easily encapsulates the worst aspects of trap music. I won’t claim that I’m the biggest trap fan of all time or anything like that, but the term “mumble rap” has always made me cringe, because not only is it an awful generalization of rap music as a whole, it’s also used to dunk down on black artists, and people who still use that term in 2021 clearly haven’t listened to enough rap music. But if you point to this song as your evidence for “mumble rap”, I honestly wouldn’t blame you that much, because Kodak Black just mumbles through this entire song in some of the most lifeless rapping I heard on this year-end list. The song is already predominantly the hook, it’s so ridiculously lazy. The flutes are insufferable, the trap beat is super limp, and then we got the lyrics. There’s one line I wanna point out - “I get any girl I want, any girl I want”. If you look at the previous line, I can almost guarantee the line was supposed to be “I get any girl I want, I don’t gotta rape”. I think that should speak for itself. The song is super boring and definitely representative of the worst parts of trap, and yeah, “Tunnel Vision” by Kodak Black is the worst hit song of 2017. And let me highlight one more line - “I’m the shit, I need some toilet paper” - if this is insinuating that we should wipe and flush Kodak Black away to get rid of him, then I think I’d be fine with that.

So that’s the worst list for 2017. But as I said, 2017 was a fantastic year for the Hot 100, and the bad songs here weren’t enough to overshadow the true excellence that this year managed to yield. I hope I can get my best list out soon, look out for it, until then, have a great day!