Madonna on Hot AC

Madonna is currently tied with Sheryl Crow for most charted hits on the Hot AC format (Mediabase). Each have 18 charted hits. Can Madonna break the tie with “4 Minutes?”.  Earlier this week I thought so, but now the growth of the song has slowed down considerably. At the time of this writing, Madonna was around #45. With songs being removed to recurrent this week, she might make it to #43 or so. “4 Minutes” isn’t exactly a Hot AC friendly song, but it should play well on those HAC stations that lean pop.  Personally, I’m rooting for her, but I’m not sure.

Even if she does, Sheryl is only on her first HAC hit from her new cd, so I’m sure she will rack up at least one more hit.

In case you’re wondering, the act with most hits on HAC is Rob Thomas, whose solo work and Matchbox Twenty work have given him 19 top 40 hits.

Is it 2008 or 1989?

We seem to have entered some sort of time warp on the charts, as we have some of 1989’s biggest female acts charting once again in 2008:

Taylor Dayne: In 1989 Taylor scored top 10 hits on the pop chart with “Don’t Rush Me” and “With Every Beat of My Heart.” In 2008 she peaked in the top 30 of the AC chart with her latest, “Beautiful”.

Janet Jackson: In 1989 Janet stormed the charts with her pop #1 “Miss You Much.”  This year she scored a pop top 30 hit with “Feedback”.

Madonna: Madonna scored 4 pop top 20 hits, 2 of which hit #1, “Like a Prayer” and “Cherish”. She storms into the pop chart this week, debuting in the top 30 with “4 Minutes”.

Paula Abdul: The American Idol judge  had 4 pop top 2 hits in 1989, including #1s such as “Straight Up.” In 2008 she made it onto Billboard’s Hot 100 with “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow.”

Syndicated Shows and the Hot AC Spectrum

On last week’s American Top 20, a tribute was done for the late Jeff Healey. The show did not play his biggest hit, the top 10 “Angel Eyes”. In my opinion, that should have been a requirement for a tribute. The song reached the top 10 on the pop and AC charts back in 1989, and the song should still fit in well on current HAC stations. Why didn’t AT20 play it? My educated guess is that they were afraid of offending affiliate stations who would balk at playing the song. It seems that lately stations have been dropping AT20 (some in favor of AT40). Since HAC currently varies from AC leaning to Alternative leaning to even pop leaning, it will be hard to please them all. Thus I guess that the producers of the show are paranoid about losing more stations, so they choose not to play the song. It’s too bad that the show has to result to such solutions. Really, how many listeners are going to change the station immediately because “Angel Eyes” is played?

On the flip side of things, you have the Rick Dees Hot AC show. As discussed previously in this blog, Rick often plays songs that are never or rarely played on Hot AC. Take his #1 hits special. Many of the songs never charted on Hot AC, let alone hit #1. I guess Rick’s producers are not afraid or don’t care about what affiliate stations think about playing those songs.

Since AT20 and Dees do not list how many affiliates they have, I can’t compare how risky it would be for Rick vs. AT20. The networks do not release the affiliate information. Given the attitudes of the shows’ producers, I would say that Rick is safer.

3/16/08 HAC Chart: Lots of old songs, top 10 facts

For the 3/16/08 Mediabase Hot AC chart, several songs look to be removed to recurrent status soon. We should lose “I Don’t Want to Be in Love” and “Love Like This”. We might lose “The Way I Am” and “Into the Night”.

So who’s waiting in the wings to replace these songs? Duffy is waiting with “Mercy”, Collective Soul has “All That I Know”,  and the Jonas Brothers may join fellow tween sensation Miley Cyrus in the top 40, as their song “When You Look Me in the Eyes” is near the top 40 as well.

Meanwhile, in the top 10, Daughtry moves to #3 with “Feels Like Tonight”. This is Daughtry’s 4th top 5 hit, meaning all of the group’s first four songs have all made it to the top 5. This is not unheard of on HAC, but it’s not a common occurrence either. Other groups to have done this include Creed, the Goo Goo Dolls, Hootie & the Blowfish, 3 Doors Down, and Third Eye Blind. Notice a pattern? Most all are rock bands.  Maroon 5 enter the top 10 as well, making “I Won’t Go Home without You” their 6th consecutive top 10 hit on Mediabase’s HAC chart.

Comprehensive Singles Chart?

Billboard publishes a Comprehensive Albums chart, a chart that ranks the sales of albums, no matter how hold they are. For example, this week “Thriller” by Michael Jackson is in the top 10 of that chart, but the album’s re-release is not allowed to chart on the Billboard 200 due to the age of its content.  Why doesn’t Billboard create a chart that would do the same for the Billboard Hot 100? This week, a 10 year old song debuts at #1 on the Digital Songs chart. Where would this song rank on the Hot 100 if it were eligible? No article about the song even tries to guess. I’d also be curious as to how songs like “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey would rank (the song is currently in the top 100 on Itune’s sales chart).  How about it Billboard?

New songs on AT20

On this week’s AT20, 2 current songs that are below #20 are used as the “Optional Extras” during the show.  I think this is a great idea, as this exposes the songs to listeners who might not otherwise get to hear them on their stations. This week the songs were by Lenny Kravitz and Emerson Hart, so the songs should fit in well with most Hot AC stations anyway. The only problem of course is that these segments are optional as their name implies (stations can choose to air additional commercials instead). Hopefully most affiliates air these extra segments.  I hope AT20 keeps this up in the future.

Finally some movement on Hot AC

For this week’s Mediabase Hot AC chart, we finally see some action in the top 20 part of the chart. Two songs move into the top 10 this week, “Whatever It Takes” and “Feels Like Tonight”.  The group Daughtry now are 4 for 4 for songs making the top 10 on Hot AC. Meanwhile Lifehouse’s latest cd, “Who We Are”, is their first to have 2 top 10 singles on the format.
Meanwhile, Three Days Grace enter the top 20 this week. The past few weeks have seen no new songs in the top 20, so American Top 20 will finally see a debut next week. The top 20 songs still have some tight competition, as less than 300 spins separate numbers 7 and 11.

When is a station not Hot AC?

Radio formats are a continuous spectrum, like a rainbow.  Some stations may just barely be Hot AC while bordering on CHR or AC, but you have to draw a line somewhere. Different radio monitoring companies (BDS, Mediabase) have different rules on what stations report to which chart. Those rules are not available to the general public, such as myself. However, I believe that there should be one criteria that will move a station from Hot AC to CHR: rap. Hot AC evolved in the 1990s, in part, from CHR stations that played “Today’s Hits without the Rap”.  That’s what HAC should still be today, IMHO. Where would I go to get current music without rap? AC? Not likely, as AC is too slow and based on older established hits. CHR is filled with rap. Thus HAC should be the middle ground.

If a station plays Eminem, Kanye West, etc, they should go to the CHR panel. Some stations labeled as HAC are really more well rounded CHR stations that should be reporting to CHR. CHR used to be about playing all types of music, not just focusing in on Rhythmic material.

I once was listening to a local HAC station that played a version of “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse with a rap interlude. Why? Why risk alienating listeners when there is a perfectly good version without the rap?