Each year, the songs added to major Classic Hits radio stations bring two revelations. One is that stations are continuing to be aggressive about pushing into the ’90s and ’00s, particularly when there are Alternative and Hip-Hop titles involved. The other is that most of those seeming provocations are, of course, 20 years old or sometimes a lot more.
“Mr. Brightside” by the Killers (new to WROR Boston this year) is more than 20 years old. Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” (WMXJ Miami) nearly 25. Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody” (KRQV Tulsa, Okla.) is 28 years old. “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette (WLS Chicago) and “Creep” by Radiohead (KOLA Riverside, Calif., plus both WMXJ and WROR) are both more than 30 years old, but it has taken that long for even a few stations to think of them texturally appropriate for Classic Hits.
Ross on Radio takes an annual look at a cross-section of stations in major and medium markets, trying to get a sense of the Classic Hits format’s ongoing evolution. Earlier this year, we also took a first-time look at those songs that hadn’t lasted an entire year, particularly at WOGL (Big 98.1) Philadelphia, which had delved heavily into ’00s Hip-Hop and R&B the year before, then backed off. This year, WOGL’s one add was “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People — practically a recurrent at only 15 years old.
Our last look at “What Classic Hits Stations Added” was in early May 2025, meaning that some stations added music shortly thereafter and some of the “adds” we show here are close to a year old. (That also means you’re seeing the songs that made it for a whole year, as opposed to some that might have been added and pulled or bicycled out.) A few stations seem to have added music in two or even three waves.
Some successful stations, particularly WEAT (Sunny 107.9) West Palm Beach, Fla., did not add any brand-new songs this year. Then again, because our methodology is looking at those songs that got their first Mediabase spin at a given station since last May, we’re not measuring older songs that might have tested back onto a radio station. That means most of the brand-new titles are ’90s, ’00s, or beyond, but some stations are still playing catchup on an ’80s song, or two.
Here’s a survey of songs added to Classic Hits stations over the last year. Typically, we looked for songs receiving at least three spins this week and with a significant number of spins since being added, in hopes of steering clear of countdown titles, special programming, etc.
KCMO is the Classic Hits station that has most successfully hewed to the ’70s and ’80s. It has recently given 1-2 spins a week to a handful of ’90s titles, only one of which has cleared three spins (last week):
- Goo Goo Dolls, “Slide”
KOLA Riverside, Calif. (Anaheim Broadcasting)
- Adele, “Rolling in the Deep”
- Bruno Mars, “Grenade”
- Bruno Mars, “Locked Out of Heaven”
- Mark Ronson f/Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk”
- Mary J. Blige, “Family Affair”
- Mary Jane Girls, “All Night Long” — an ’80s old-school staple that didn’t cross pop at the time
- Radiohead, “Creep”
- Alanis Morissette, “Head Over Feet”
- Destiny’s Child, “Jumpin’ Jumpin’”
- Green Day, “Time of Your Life”
- Jennifer Lopez, “Waiting for Tonight”
- Lenny Kravitz, “American Woman”
- Lenny Kravitz, “Fly Away”
- Martika, “Toy Soldiers”
- No Doubt, “It’s My Life”
- No Mercy, “Where Do You Go?”
- Third Eye Blind, “Semi-Charmed Life”
- TLC, “Baby-Baby-Baby”
- UB40, “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”
KQQL (Kool 108) Minneapolis (iHeart)
- Outkast, “Hey Ya” — the only other recent new title was Live’s “Lightning Crashes,” which played 2x last week
KRTH (K-Earth 101) Los Angeles (Audacy)
- Alien Ant Farm, “Smooth Criminal” — also added to sister KXSN (Sunny 98.1) San Deigo
- Green Day, “Basket Case”
- Hozier, “Take Me to Church”
- Outkast, “Ms. Jackson” — only two spins last week and relatively fewer than other adds over the last year, but did clear the bar at Sunny as well.
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Otherside”
- Timbaland f/Onerepublic, “Apologize”
- Twenty One Pilots, “Heathens”
- Shakira, “Hips Don’t Lie” — another station trying to take a more cautious stance this year
- Smash Mouth, “I’m a Believer”
- Ace of Base, “Don’t Turn Around”
- Adele, “Rolling in the Deep”
- Alanis Morissette, “You Oughta Know”
- Backstreet Boys, “I Want It That Way”
- Christine Aguilera, “Genie in the Bottle”
- Coldplay, “Viva La Vida”
- Coldplay, “Yellow” — received 19 spins last week; powers are at around 30x
- Jimmy Eat World, “The Middle”
- New Radicals, “You Get What You Give”
- Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
- Pink, “Just Like a Pill”
- Tina Turner, “The Best” — played 15x last week
We also looked at WAKY Louisville, Ky., which has successfully held to a ’60s/’70s-based model, with a longer playlist. Only two newer adds cleared the three-spin mark last week: Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” and T’pau’s “Heart and Soul.” WAKY does older-skewing weekends, so while Michael Jackson’s “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” got a first spin last week, so did 1965’s Beach Boys-soundalike “I Live for the Sun” by the Sunrays.
(WAKY’s recently rebranded sister, WKRP [The Oasis] Cincinnati isn’t monitored, but an ROR reader recently created a program to measure the number of unique titles played and counted more than 1700. You can see a few of them here.)
The station has freshened its music considerably for each of the last several years. This year’s adds include:
- Ace of Base, “All That She Wants”
- Cher, “Believe”
- Cure, “Love Song”
- Foo Fighters, “My Hero”
- Gin Blossoms, “Hey Jealousy”
- Gotye, “Somebody That I Used to Know”
- Jon Bon Jovi, “Blaze of Glory”
- Killers, “Mr. Brightside”
- Killers, “Somebody Told Me”
- New Order, “Blue Monday”
- Outkast, “Hey Ya”
- Pink, “Just Like a Pill”
- Radiohead, “Creep”
- TLC, “No Scrubs”
WTWV (The Wave) Norfolk, Va., has been adding titles since its segue from AC to “Yacht Rock”-driven softer Classic Hits early this year. The station’s music is continuing to take shape, but a few of the newer titles include:
- Eagles, “One of These Nights”
- Joe Jackson, “You Can’t Get What You Want”
- Jimmy Buffett, “Fins”
- Journey, “I’ll Be Alright Without You”
- Pablo Cruise, “A Place in the Sun”
- Paul Davis, “I Go Crazy”
The “Yacht Rock” influence has surfaced at WMJI (Majic 105.7) Cleveland, which didn’t have any outright adds this week but did have a handful of recent spins on appropriate titles, including Steely Dan’s “Black Cow” and Christopher Cross’s “Never Be the Same.”
Last year, a reader asked us to include both Waterloo’s KBPA (Bob FM) Austin, Texas, and Midwest’s WCJK (Jack FM) Nashville. Those stations were both established as Adult Hits, but are essentially the Classic Hits stations for their markets as well. Perhaps because that format always delved into the ’90s and early ’00s, each had only one add. WCJK’s was “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson. KBPA had the ’80s freestyle hit “Silent Morning” by Noel.
Finally, there are those Classic Hits stations that lean newer than the format overall — starting their musical window in the ’80s without the contingent of ’70s that many format outlets still have. Griffin’s KRQV (The River) Tulsa, Okla., has evolved newer. Although many ’80s mainstays remain, The River has added a lot of ’90s/’00s music steadily over the last year. Some recent adds include:
- Aaliyah, “Are You That Somebody”
- Alice Deejay, “Better Off Alone.”
- Beck, “Where It’s At”
- Janet, “All for You”
- Nelly, “Hot in Herre”
- Nelly f/Tim McGraw, “Over and Over” — “Country Grammar” and “Dilemma” as well
- Sheryl Crow, “Soak Up the Sun”
- Weezer, “Undone (The Sweater Song)”
Connoisseur’s WGTZ (Z93) Dayton, Ohio became an instant industry favorite last fall by swapping the syndicated version of “Jack FM” for throwback CHR, also starting in the ’80s and with more recent and/or rhythmic titles than many of its counterparts. Because the station was already ’80s/’90s-based, there have been fewer brand-new significant rotation adds than you might expect, but those tell a story:
- Bell Biv Devoe, “Do Me”
- Fleetwood Mac, “Everywhere”
- Jon Secada, “Just Another Day”
- Kris Kross, “Jump”
- Lionel Richie, “Hello”
- Mariah Carey, “Vision of Love”
- New Kids on the Block, “Step by Step”
- Notorious B.I.G., “Big Poppa”
- Soundgarden, “Black Hole Sun”
- Tiffany, “I Think We’re Alone Now”
Quite shocking that “All Night Long” never made the Hot 100 in 1983 – over here it was a bona fide mainstream hit. (Also telling that Wikipedia says “the general public” when it means “straight white males”.)
I’ve noticed while WCBS in NY added a bunch of 2010s songs last year like Poker face, uptown funk and rolling in the deep they’ve mostly phased them out. They seem to have added back more 70s songs as well.