big hit

In the weeks before Justin Bieber’s headlining performance at this month’s Coachella festival — the 32-year-old teen-pop survivor’s first major concert after a lengthy stretch in the celebrity wilderness — speculation began to mount that he planned to play only songs from his recent “Swag” and “Swag II” albums.

And indeed, for 45 minutes or so last Saturday, it seemed like that was what he’d come to do as he sang new song after new song on Coachella’s giant main stage. But then he pulled out a laptop, fired up YouTube and started singing along with some of his old hits — a thrilling subversion of our expectations for a big festival set and a poignant act of self-examination by an artist who’s lived more than half of his life on our screens.

For the singer, Bieberchella was clearly a trip down memory lane. But it also offered the audience a chance to look back on a career that’s encompassed virtually every major shift in pop music over the last two decades.

Ahead of Coachella’s second weekend, then, here’s a list, ranked from worst to best, of every hit that Bieber has put inside the Top 10 of Billboard’s flagship singles chart, the Hot 100. Pop, of course, is an art as much as a science, meaning statistics get you only so far: Some important Bieber songs aren’t here, not least among them “Lonely,” which may be his finest vocal performance but stalled out at No. 12 on the chart. Other throwaways made it on the list thanks to Bieber’s gamesmanship or Billboard’s methodological quirks.

Yet these 27 songs tell a fascinating story about a boy, about a man, about a talent possibly more vital today than ever before.

27. ‘Never Say Never’ (peaked at No. 8 in March 2011)

Co-written and co-produced by the guy who would later top the Hot 100 with “Rude” by the band Magic, this booming kiddie-rap track was introduced as the theme song for Jaden Smith’s 2010 remake of “The Karate Kid” before Bieber used it in a 2011 concert film of the same title. The voice is high; the beat is blah.

26. ‘Monster’ (peaked at No. 8 in Dec. 2020)

Just a month after he dropped “Lonely,” Bieber returned to his teen-idol woes — far less movingly, alas — in this dreary duet with Shawn Mendes.

25. ‘Stuck With U’ (peaked at No. 1 in May 2020)

The nicest thing you can say about the doo-woppy “Stuck With U” is that Bieber and Ariana Grande donated the song’s proceeds to first responders navigating the early months of the COVID pandemic. Do not rewatch the video unless you want to be reminded of the smiley horrors of Zoom life.

24. ‘No Brainer’ (peaked at No. 5 in Aug. 2018)

We’ll get to Bieber’s convivial 2017 hook-up with DJ Khaled and friends. As for this shameless sequel, Khaled’s “another one” tag has never been less necessary.

23. ‘Cold Water’ (peaked at No. 2 in Aug. 2016)

Sleek. Pretty. Forgettable.

22. ‘As Long as You Love Me’ (peaked at No. 6 in Sept. 2012)

How high was Bieber riding as he prepared to release 2012’s “Believe” LP? High enough to swipe the title of the Backstreet Boys’ classic teen-pop ballad for this junior-dubstep jam. Stick around (or don’t) for Big Sean’s guest verse about needing “you” to spell both “us” and “trust.”

21. ‘Holy’ (peaked at No. 3 in Oct. 2020)

In which Bieber and Chance the Rapper preach about marriage like two horny youth pastors.

20. ‘Anyone’ (peaked at No. 6 in Jan. 2021)

What if Phil Collins had recorded “In Your Eyes” instead of Peter Gabriel?

19. ‘10,000 Hours’ (peaked at No. 4 in Oct. 2019)

Timed to commemorate his and Hailey Baldwin’s wedding among the salt marshes of South Carolina, Bieber’s crack at high-gloss country music was warmly welcomed by the Nashville establishment; it even spent two weeks atop Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. No surprise, really: To listen to earlier stuff by Dan + Shay, Bieber’s collaborators on “10,000 Hours,” is to hear how extensively white-soul singing had reshaped country by the early 2010s.

18. ‘I Don’t Care’ (peaked at No. 2 in May 2019)

Has any would-be song of the summer ever song-of-the-summered harder? Bieber and Ed Sheeran’s breezy dancehall bro-down was clearly modeled on the sound — and the success — of Sheeran’s “Shape of You.” (Call it “Shape of II.”) Yet the duo’s chemistry feels real enough to believe that all of these hooks — hey, they just happened.

17. ‘I’m the One’ (peaked at No. 1 in May 2017)

Bieber’s first Khaled collab has a merry bounce that softens the braggadocio from him, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne, whose verse opens pricelessly like so: “Looking for the one?/ Well, b—, you looking at the one.” Fun chart fact per Billboard: The week after “I’m the One” bowed atop the Hot 100, Bieber became the first artist ever to score new No. 1s back to back when his remix of “Despacito” replaced “I’m the One.”

16. ‘Boyfriend’ (peaked at No. 2 in April 2012)

A decade after Justin Timberlake stepped out from NSYNC, JB blatantly ripped JT’s “Like I Love You” for this heavy-breathing flirtation. “Baby, take a chance or you’ll never, ever know/ I got money in my hands that I’d really like to blow,” Bieber pants over a spacey, Neptunes-style beat. (Later, he suggests fondue.) In an ironic twist, given the song’s all-grown-up-at-18 energy, “Boyfriend” was blocked from No. 1 by “We Are Young” from Jack Antonoff’s old band, Fun.

15. ‘Ghost’ (peaked at No. 5 in April 2022)

A hurtling lost-love lament that doubles as a farewell to a departed grandparent (as in the song’s music video, which stars the late Diane Keaton).

14. ‘Let Me Love You’ (peaked at No. 4 in Oct. 2016)

In the final Top 10 hit of Bieber’s EDM era, a pleading tenderness in the singer’s vocals cuts appealingly against DJ Snake’s strobing Sahara Tent beat.

13. ‘Baby’ (peaked at No. 5 in Feb. 2010)

New puppy, old love.

12. ‘Yummy’ (peaked at No. 2 in Jan. 2020)

“Hop in the Lambo, I’m on my way/ Drew House slippers on with a smile on my face,” Bieber sings — not the last time he’d plug one of his or his wife’s brands in a lyric. A country remix with Florida Georgia Line adds shout-outs to Waffle House and Chick-fil-A.

11. ‘What Do You Mean?’ (peaked at No. 1 in Sept. 2015)

The path to Bieber’s first No. 1 on the Hot 100 was cleared by a better, more interesting song that reframed him as a dreamboat experimentalist. (More on that one in a minute.) But if “What Do You Mean?” deploys a more conventional tropical-house production, it’s still built around one of the singer’s loveliest vocals. And the fake pan flute still hits.

10. ‘Despacito’ (peaked at No. 1 in May 2017)

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s pop-reggaeton seduction had already found an enormous audience among Latin music fans when Bieber jumped on a remix after hearing the song in a Colombian nightclub. Yet the star’s presence — in a Spanish-language chorus whose lyrics Bieber learned phonetically over the course of a four-hour recording session — turned “Despacito” into a global juggernaut. In the U.S., the song became the first Spanish-language chart-topper since “Macarena” two decades earlier; it also became something of a protest tune amid the anti-immigrant rhetoric of President Trump’s first term in office. Said Scooter Braun, Bieber’s then-manager, in a 2017 interview with The Times: “A song in Spanish is all over pop radio in an America where young Latino Americans should feel proud of themselves and their families’ native tongue.”

9. ‘Essence’ (peaked at No. 9 in Oct. 2021)

Like “Despacito,” this slinky Afrobeats track was a hit before Bieber got involved. (Among its fans: President Obama, who put it on his best of 2020 list.) What distinguishes the version with Bieber is how gently he slides between the Nigerian singers Wizkid and Tems, who both joined him for a rendition of “Essence” at Coachella.

8. ‘Stay’ (peaked at No. 1 in August 2021)

At a mere 2 minutes and 22 seconds, this breakneck electro-pop duet with Australia’s the Kid Laroi (who also put in a cameo at Coachella) is the shortest of Bieber’s 27 Top 10 singles. Yet with 63 weeks on the Hot 100, it’s also his longest-lived chart hit — and his most-streamed song on Spotify.

7. ‘Intentions’ (peaked at No. 5 in June 2020)

“Stay in the kitchen cooking up, got your own bread/ Heart full of equity, you’re an asset.”

6. ‘Beauty and a Beat’ (peaked at No. 5 in Jan. 2013)

The most fondly remembered of Bieber’s teen-idol hits anticipates the EDM makeover to come even as it stays rooted in his squeaky-clean persona: “We’re gonna party like it’s 3012 tonight” is truly something only a kid would say. Seven months after “Beauty and a Beat” peaked on the Hot 100, Bieber was infamously caught on video urinating in a mop bucket in a New York City restaurant kitchen; this song would be his last Top 10 single for more than two years.

5. ‘Peaches’ (peaked at No. 1 in April 2021)

A sumptuous R&B jam about procuring one’s peaches from Georgia and one’s weed from California, this three-way joint with Daniel Caesar and Giveon was nominated for record and song of the year at the 2022 Grammys. (It lost both prizes to another sumptuous R&B jam in Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open.”) Extra props here for the vivid contrast among the singers’ voices and for the Kool & the Gang-ish synth solo at the end.

4. ‘Love Yourself’ (peaked at No. 1 in Feb. 2016)

A sick burn delivered oh so sweetly.

3. ‘Where Are Ü Now’ (peaked at No. 8 in July 2015)

Behold the dreamboat experimentalist. In search of a fresh sound after Bucketgate, Bieber found it with Skrillex and Diplo, veteran dance-music producers who took a morose piano ballad that Bieber and his frequent accomplice Poo Bear had demoed and turned it into a glimmering boudoir-rave fantasia. “I was like, ‘Diplo, Skrillex — I don’t really know if that’s, like, where I wanna go,’” Bieber later told the New York Times. “They did it, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is blowing my mind.’”

2. ‘Daisies’ (peaked at No. 2 in July 2025)

Is putting a nine-month-old song at No. 2 on this list an act of recency bias? Maybe. But what a song! Against a bracingly lo-fi guitar lick played by his pal Mk.gee, Bieber sings with beautifully understated soul about coming into an emotional maturity he admits he avoided for too long.

1. ‘Sorry’ (peaked at No. 1 in Jan. 2016)

A plea, a flex, a come-on — this delirious pop masterpiece contains multitudes. “Is it too late now to say sorry?” Bieber asks, and the trick of a song born from a branding problem is that it summons the sensation of endless ascent.

Don’t look now but Cleveland High in Reseda is surging in high school baseball with a nine-game winning streak, going from 1-8 to 10-8 on the season. The Cavaliers are surprisingly tied for first place in the West Valley League with 4-1 El Camino Real going into a series next week.

“We’re playing a lot better and it has has to do with things we weren’t sharp at, pitching, playing defense and productive offense,” coach Peter Gunny said.

All-City player Joshua Pearlstein has been contributing with his hitting and pitching. Sophomore pitcher Xander Guiley owns a win over Birmingham and the Patriots’ ace pitcher Carlos Acuna. Sierra Canyon transfer Shiloh Wickliffe has played in only four games but has already shown potential as a hitter. Ezra Preis has come through with some big hits. Freshman Elliot Schoenwald is the starting center fielder and also a relief pitcher.

Can Cleveland keep it up?

“The kids are playing well,” Gunny said. “They deserve it.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Two future high major-league draft picks, Anthony Murphy of Corona and Striker Pence of Corona Santiago, showed off their talents Tuesday. Corona rallied for a 9-7 victory.

Pence, who touched 99 mph, struck out Murphy for one of his six strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings. He left the game with a 3-2 lead. Then Murphy hit a home run off Pence’s replacement, Thomas Padilla, to tie the score. Murphy was on the mound in the seventh to strike out Pence and get the save. Pence finished with two RBI singles.

“Those are two amazing baseball players and what a treat for them to get after it,” Corona coach Andy Wise said.

Striker Pence of Corona Santiago gets excited against Corona.

(Craig Weston)

The two went to middle school together. Murphy, a senior center fielder, is shaping up as a potential first-round pick. Pence, a sophomore, might reclassify to be eligible for the 2027 draft.

Errors played a big part in the game. Corona committed three errors, making it 20 errors in its last three games. An error by Santiago opened the door for a six-run sixth by the Panthers. Danny De La Torre had the big hit, a two-run double.

Corona’s defense is expected to get a lot better come Friday when infielders Joseph Flores and Kobee Finnikin become eligible after the sit-out transfer period ends.

Southern California teams got their first chance to show how good Southern California baseball is during Wednesday’s opening games of the National High School Invitational in Cary, N.C. Three came away with dominant wins.

Orange Lutheran received 16 strikeouts from Gary Morse, tying a tournament record, in a 3-0 win over Colorado Regis.

Unbeaten St. John Bosco (8-0) got two hits and two RBIs from Jack Champlin in a 14-1 win over Tennessee Nolensville.

Harvard-Westlake took care of North Carolina Wakefield 16-0 in five innings. Justin Kirchner struck out 10 and Ethan Price had three hits.

In the quarterfinals on Thursday, Harvard-Westlake will play Florida Venice, Orange Lutheran will face Florida Trinity Christian Academy and St. John Bosco will take on Arizona Casteel.

Servite 11, Santa Margarita 2: Eli Rubel had a triple, double and three RBIs for the Friars.

Tesoro 2, Aliso Niguel 1: Corwin Allard threw a complete game with six strikeouts and one walk for Tesoro.

Newport Harbor 8, Edison 2: Keaton Anderson struck out four in six innings. Grant Horsley had two hits.

Huntington Beach 8, Edison 4: Dane Cunningham, Ely Mason and Jaxon Greer hit home runs for Huntington Beach. Cunningham had three hits.

Villa Park 13, Foothill 0: Aiden Young went four for four with five RBIs and Logan Hoppie threw the shutout.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 11, Crespi 1: AJ LaSota struck out five, walked none and gave up two hits in five scoreless innings. Troy Trejo and Benett Pace each had two hits and two RBIs. Freshman Anthony Daniel had three hits.

Bishop Alemany 5, St. Francis 1: Matthew Serrano gave up two hits in six innings and Alex Noble contributed three hits for the Warriors.

Sierra Canyon 11, Chaminade 2: Brayden Goldstein went three for three with three RBIs.

Hart 3, Ventura 2: Jaiden Chan had the walk-off hit for Hart. Malachi Wobrock threw a complete game.

West Ranch 11, Canyon 1: Blake Johnson hit a three-run home run for West Ranch. Josh Price had two hits and four RBIs.

Saugus 11, Valencia 2: Joey Nuttall finished with three hits for Saugus. Logan Feldman added four RBIs.

Simi Valley 11, Camarillo 1: Ryan Whitson and Kai Stones each had three RBIs for Simi Valley.

Rancho Christian 3, Valley View 2: Jake Brande struck out 10 in a complete game.

MIAMI — The victors erupted onto the field and into multiple dogpiles. Some wore national flags around their shoulders. Within minutes, the Venezuelans wore T-shirts that read: “The Best Baseball in the World.”

The players from the United States watched from their dugout. Within minutes, they trudged back onto the field so a silver medal could be draped around their necks. Not every player wore the medal all the way back to the dugout.

You can say all you want about how the World Baseball Classic has matured into a must-see event for fans and a must-play event for the game’s elite players. You can salute Venezuela for a spirited and thrilling victory, and the Venezuelan fans for nine innings of joyful delirium.

But you also can say this: A U.S. team billed as featuring a killer lineup could not hit, and the U.S. could not use its best pitcher because the San Diego Padres said so. The result: For the second consecutive World Baseball Classic, the U.S. lost the championship by a 3-2 score.

U.S. captain Aaron Judge looks across the field after striking out against Velezuela at the World Baseball Classic Tuesday.

(Lynne Sladky / Associated Press)

“I’m not OK with winning silver,” Bryce Harper said. “I don’t want to win silver.

“I want to win gold, just like anybody else. But, at the end of the night, they did it, they won, all the congratulations to them. They fought hard. I’ve got nothing but respect for them.”

By the time the eighth inning rolled around, the mighty U.S. offense had not gotten a runner into scoring position on Tuesday, and had gone scoreless for 18 of its previous 19 innings. With two out in the eighth, and Venezuela up 2-0, Bobby Witt Jr. walked, and Harper followed with a 432-foot home run, so monstrous that Venezuelan pitcher Andres Machado could only watch the flight of the ball and smile.

Harper stood and watched too, then he flipped his bat toward the dugout. At third base, he stopped to give a salute, then spotted the cameraman trailing him around the bases and pointed to the American flag on his left sleeve.

“Just enjoying the moment,” Harper said. “Super grateful for it.”

With the game tied 2-2 entering the ninth, the pitcher trotting in from the U.S. bullpen should have been Mason Miller, who had not given up a hit in the WBC and struck out 10 of the 14 batters he had faced.

Before the game, U.S. manager Mark DeRosa had said Miller would be available. After the game, DeRosa said he and Miller’s employers, the Padres, had agreed Miller would only be used to protect a lead.

Once the game entered the ninth, Miller would not be able to protect a lead, since the U.S. was the home team and there could be no save situation for him. DeRosa nonetheless declined to use Miller.

“Honoring the Padres,” DeRosa said.

This is not on DeRosa, but that is nonsense. If a closer cannot be used three times in five days — with another week to ease into the regular season by throwing bullpens or in structured B games, or taking a few days off, or whatever — then he should stay home.

Venezuela scored the winning run in the ninth off Garrett Whitlock, on a walk, stolen base and RBI double by Eugenio Suárez.

In its final five WBC games — after routs of Brazil and Britain — the U.S. scored more than five runs once, with a two-run win, a two-run loss, a two-run win, a one-run win, and a one-run loss. In the semifinal and final, the U.S. combined to bat .159 and strike out 25 times, and every run came on a home run.

That — not any attempt at small ball — is American baseball. And the U.S. was outslugged by six other teams, including Australia and Italy. For glory, as the U.S. team hoodies said.

“A lot of pop ups, a lot of just-missed pitches,” U.S. captain Aaron Judge said. “I wouldn’t say we tensed up. We just didn’t execute when we needed to.”

Said DeRosa: “I mean, surprised because of the names at the back of the jersey, but not surprised because of where they’re at in spring training.

“Yeah, that’s my answer. I really don’t have a rhyme or reason to why. I just think you’re either hot or not in a seven-game blast like this.”

American Bryce Harper celebrates at home plate with teammates after hitting a two-run home run during the World Baseball Classic Tuesday in Miami.

(Lynne Sladky / Associated Press)

The WBC absolutely was a blast. The Venezuelan fans delivered concert-level noise all night long, without needing a silly stadium host or scoreboard command to do so. The WBC allowed fans to bring in 16 “permissible instruments,” including bongos, cowbells, maracas and trumpets.

“There’s bands playing,” Judge said. “There’s chants going on. You don’t usually hear that too much in the World Series games. That’s amazing. So much fun.”

More Americans watched the U.S.-Dominican Republic semifinal than watched last year’s NBA All-Star Game, according to Fox. The championship game almost certainly will have drawn more viewers than at least one game of last year’s NBA Finals.

In the 10 minutes I spent along the concourse before Tuesday’s game, I counted fans wearing the jerseys of many national teams and 17 MLB teams, plus the late and greatly beloved Montreal Expos. Japan did not qualify for the final four, but I nonetheless counted 11 fans in Japan jerseys with Shohei Ohtani’s name on the back. The advertisers believed too: DeRosa spoke in front of a banner displaying the logo of nine corporate sponsors, eight of them Japanese.

After such a lively event, can these players get fired up to go back to spring training, and then for the grind of a 162-game season?

“I’m always fired up for the Yankees, but I’m still pissed about this,” Judge said.

“I’m looking forward to the next time we get a chance to throw on the red, white and blue and take care of business.”

That would be the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where Dave Roberts has expressed interest in managing Team USA at Dodger Stadium. The major leaguers are almost certainly coming, even if the details are still being worked out.

See you there, Bryce Harper?

“I hope so,” he said. “I really do.”