This week, an exploding artist doubles her presence at radio, and a song that we’ve been playing since last September is finally entering the home stretch on the airplay charts. Also, why Drake isn’t cancelled (or Sisqo even).
Doechii – “Anxiety”: Four years ago, Doechii uploaded a YouTube video with her singing over the instrumental of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know”, one of the biggest songs globally of this century. In September 2023, rapper Sleep Hollow sampled her cover in the song “ANXIETY” which never charted but now has over 135 million streams on Spotify alone. Doechii’s version has been all over TikTok in recent months, prompting fans to beg Doechii for an official release.
After getting the instrumental and copyright cleared for sampling,
“Anxiety” was officially released this past Friday. The next day it debuted Top 5 on Spotify and is now #2. “DENIAL IS A RIVER”, Doechii’s other current song, is still on fire, streaming at #7 and finishing at #2 on Liveline last week. By comparison, it’s #22 at radio. Hopefully radio recognizes that the signs of true audience passion and real sales are there for BOTH. It really is one of the coolest songs we’ve heard in a while, with already a few requests coming in for it, which is rare for a brand-new song.
Chappell Roan – “Pink Pony Club”: Will Top 40 radio bring this song to #1? It’s been on the chart for 17 weeks and finally entering the top 5 this week. Liveline started playing the song in September due to huge audience requests and major streaming numbers. It’s been Top 20 in requests ever since, fresh off the success of “Good Luck, Babe!” and “HOT TO GO!”, though it was actually released 5 years ago. It blew up following her iconic Lollapalooza set last August in Chicago before 100,000 fans singing along. Since her Grammy performance last month, it’s been Top 10 on Spotify and #1 on Liveline for 5 weeks straight. Why radio ignored this and the two singles before it for so long is bizarre. It’s an absolute Pop anthem. Her new song “The Giver” debuted on Saturday Night Live in November and is officially released this Friday.
Drake – “NOKIA”: Released on February 14, PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake’s album “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U” includes 21 tracks, with the two biggest being “DIE TRYING” featuring Yebba and “NOKIA” which has been Top 10 on streaming for three weeks now. The notion that Drake has been “cancelled” or moved into the past are far from true. His old songs continue to get a lot of action, the tour is selling like crazy, and his new album is doing well. Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” diss track definitely left a scar, but it didn’t finish him. Interestingly, Rhythmic radio is playing Drake’s “GIMME A HUG” more than anything else off the album. It’s #14 in airplay, but #187 on Spotify. “NOKIA” is actually #42 on Top 40 this week, better than any of the others. San Francisco’s KYLD (67 spins) and KMVQ (46 spins) are leading in airplay, plus 21 spins on WKQI Detroit. It’s a really fun song that might be worth keeping an eye on, especially during this painfully slow time for great new music.
Buried Treasures of the Week
Neon Trees – “Everybody Talks”: Once high on the charts, now forever in our hearts. This 2012 classic peaked at #6 on Billboard, #3 on Top 40 and #1 on Hot AC. You don’t hear it much anymore, but lately listeners have been requesting it a lot. Probably because it has such great energy, punchy lyrics, it’s nostalgic and not heavily burned. Fun little story: 14 years ago Neon Trees were live in the studio on John Garabedian’s Open House Party when this song was new and I was actually able to call in and talk to them. What I said to them was extremely cringey, but it was the first time I talked to famous people. Even cooler, Liveline now originates from that same studio every night.
Sisqo – “Thong Song”: Often considered as a novelty song, this Y2K classic has never died in terms of getting requests. It’s a party favorite that guys and girls both love, despite its very direct and inappropriate lyrics. Somehow, his follow up single “Incomplete” peaked at #1 on Billboard, despite its relative lack of airplay–#34 on Top 40 and #12 on Rhythmic. I’ve truthfully never even heard the song before. “Thong Song” on the other hand, peaked at #3 on Billboard, #4 on Top 40 and #1 on Rhythmic. Sisqo is still the lead singer of Dru Hill.
“Thong Song” spent 7 weeks at #1 on Hot 100 Airplay! It didn’t top the Hot 100 because it was only available at retail as a 12-inch and the physical singles market was then still (barely) alive enough to be consequential to a hit song’s Hot 100 peak. “Incomplete” was released in CD and cassingle versions and thus was always going to be a bigger seller than “Thong Song” for that reason alone, but it was also helped along by “Thong Song” itself. Specifically, a “Thong Song” remix adding a Foxy Brown guest verse was on the CD version of the “Incomplete” single, its presence prominently announced on the cover. This clearly juiced the sales for “Incomplete” at retail to some degree, and it became a heavily sales-driven #1 hit. “Incomplete” is not a bad song and I know some folks like it — I hear it on Adult R&B stations sometimes — but it is also a bit plain, and I remember it striking me at the time as surprisingly subdued for a followup to the prior infectiously unserious smash.
I was a kid when those songs were hits. I remember bracing myself for parents and older family to scowl and say it was inappropriate for me when they heard it come on, but I can’t think of a single person who didn’t find it funny or at least amusing. It also has the best key change in a pop song this side of “My Heart Will Go On.” A classic!
Rooting for Doechii and Chappell! It has been weird hearing “Gimme a Hug” as the putative Drake focus track since it is kinda unremarkable and its sample usage a bit odd. “Nokia” is solid and interesting though!
One thing here that is incorrect. Sleepy Hallow – Anxiety DID chart on The Mediabase Rhythmic and Urban Charts. Hot Radio Maine up here had that song in rotation for a bit. It was like Top30 Rhythmic maybe, I do not remember the exact location where it peaked.