100 Plays Later is a series that is exactly how it sounds. I try to explain how I’ve managed to reach a century of plays on songs you may not even recognise. Or explain what it’s like to listen back to my favourite songs for the 238th time. 

Down (Feat. Lil Wayne) – Jay Sean – 109 Plays

One of the very first posts on this blog was about the surprising global success of this breakout hit for Jay Sean. Following a summer of rising up the chart it became #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in a moment that baffled both those stateside and here in the UK where Jay Sean has never managed the same feat. In fact, for me it was interesting to note that Down is one of just a handful of songs from a UK act to reach the top spot overseas and not here.

The song itself sounds pretty much identical to the other big hits of the late 00s, with a catchy hook, a Lil Wayne guest verse and succeeds in being a pure pop hit disguised as an RnB track. On release I was still in Sixth Form, a time when I was rinsing albums on my newly acquired iPod. The album that Down appears on, All Or Nothing managed to get away with featuring the hits from his previous UK only release as well as the new US leaning hits and I was listening to it constantly. It’s appearance with as many plays as some of the best songs of the last decade may be jarring to some, but for me it just takes me back to a time when I went from being a casual music fan to the crazed chart fanatic I remain today.