Flashback: 1992

Here’s an interesting chart flashback: Name the song that reached top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and Casey’s Top 40 (Radio and Records’ CHR chart) but did not chart on American Top 40 with Shadoe Stevens…

The answer is “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. The song did not reach the top 40 portion of the Hot 100 Airplay chart, the chart AT40 was using at the time. However, as noted above, it made the top 10 on the Radio and Records’ Pop (CHR) chart, which is also based on airplay. Back in 1992 Hot 100 Airplay was not the all-encompassing chart it is now. It too focused on Pop airplay, but the chart was based on the number of people listening to the song (audience impressions). The R&R chart was based on the number of times a song was played, as reported by the radio stations.

So why the discrepancy?  I honestly do not have the definitive answer. Was it because the song was mainly played on stations that did not have a huge audience? Was it because pop stations inflated the number of times they actually played the song? What do you think?

By the way, the song made the top 10 on the Hot 100 due to the number of singles sold.

Slow climber to #1

“Love Song” by Sarah Bareilles may reach #1 this week on the Mediabase Hot AC chart. If it does, it will be a new record for slowest climb to #1. The 2/24/08 chart week will be her 26th week on! The current record holder is 25 weeks by “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” by Five for Fighting.

Is this yet another sign that the format is slowing down, ala AC?

Newcomers at Number One

“Apologize” by Timbaland/OneRepublic climbs to #1 on this week’s Mediabase HAC chart and finally ends Colbie Caillat’s run at the top. The song is OneRepublic’s first song to make the top 40 on HAC. Newcomers hitting the top of the charts has been a trend for at least the past couple of years. For 2007 and 2008 so far, there have been 9 number one songs on the Mediabase HAC chart. Of those 9, 4 have been by newcomers with their first hit. If you look back to 2006, a similar trend can be seen.

Thanks to Mediabase

I just wanted to thank Mediabase for providing us chart fans free access to music charts. Through their partnership with All Access, you can get full charts for formats that are updated a few times per day. As far as I know, no other company allows that. Billboard/BDS offer full charts, but only once per week, at the Radio and Records site.

Before you ask, I have no affiliation with Mediabase whatsoever. When American Top 40 was using an unpublished Mediabase chart back in 2000, Mediabase would not release the chart rules for that. I wasn’t a proponent of them at that time. However, they have since become more open with chart data, and have thus earned my support.

Time for another #1 on Hot AC

For the chart dated February 10, 2007, “Bubbly” by Colbie Caillat is at #1 for the 17th week on Mediabase’s Hot AC chart. This means the song is bigger than huge HAC hits such as “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls and “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne. If the song doesn’t leave soon, it will be joining the ranks of megahits such as “Wherever You Will Go” by the Calling and “Unwell” by Matchbox Twenty. While “Bubbly” is a nice little song, is it really worth that many weeks at #1? Is the Hot AC format slowing down even more and turning into AC?

The top 20 songs are really competitive still, so I don’t think HAC is quite turning into AC just yet. However, the format needs to watch out and keep things fresh (in HAC terms at least) lest it gets too boring. Start giving some of the songs below #20 a chance, such as the latest by Vanessa Carlton, Collective Soul, and even Miley Cyrus.

What’s Up with Dees’ Hot AC Top 40?

This is my first blog post – so please be patient with my writing style…

I’ve been listening to the Hot AC version of the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 2007 year-end countdown. I’m unhappy, but not surprised, with how the show disregards it’s Hot AC format and continuity in its own show.

First let me say that I’ve enjoyed listening to the WT40 for 20 years (whenever I have a chance to listen). I’m not a fan of current Top 40 (CHR) music, so I listen to the Hot AC version. It should not be that hard to produce a year-end chart based on the subscriber station’s playlists, especially when charts are compiled electronically these days. Why then does the Hot AC year-end look like the CHR version with the rap songs removed? Why do they reuse sound bites from the CHR version that completely contradict what happened on the weekly show? Rick will say something like “and that song spent 5 weeks at #1 this year”, but the song never made the top 10 on the weekly chart. Also, there are several songs that are on the year-end chart that never charted on a weekly chart.

Are the staff of the show being lazy? Are they being directed to cut costs by reusing as much as they can from the CHR show? I’d like to know. I would rather they use a correct chart but use less of Dees’ voice if they have to. They did something like this in 2005. It’s not great, but it’s sure better than being completely wrong with a lot of information. There are other shows with examples like this, such as the #1s Special. Most of those songs never made #1 on Hot AC, and again many did not even chart.

So, Rick, I like your show, so please try harder to make it a quality product.