Spring is officially here, but it’s been a rather dull week for great new music. In the next month we can expect to hear some early contenders for “Song of the Summer.” This edition of Mason’s Observations is a follow up on songs we’ve featured in recent weeks.
Doechii – “Anxiety”: Now out-performing “DENIAL IS A RIVER”, it’s #1 on Shazam in America and Global. It’s #5 on Spotify in the US and #4 Global. Two days ago (March 24), the song finished #3 in requests which is absolutely unreal for a new song. Meanwhile, “DENIAL…” ended Chappell Roan’s seven-week streak at #1 with “Pink Pony Club” and is #5 on Rhythmic and #21 on Top 40, while “Anxiety” is #30 on Pop and Rhythmic.
Drake – “NOKIA”: #2 on Spotify in America, all over TikTok and huge with Gen Z. Such an obvious banger: #16 on Rhythmic and #36 on Top 40, which desperately needs a party rap song right now. We have a lot of similar sounding female pop—great songs, but together they make the format too narrow, and they’re too much of the same even for the core. Just because a woman turns 30, doesn’t mean they only want to hear ballads and throwbacks.
Tate McRae – “Sports car”: Now a certified hit, with another one in the making. McRae’s “greedy” continues to test and stream well, plus is getting a decent number of requests after 18 months of consistent popularity. It’s hard to top a massive story like that, and “Sports car” is not yet of that magnitude, but it was #4 in requests last week and is currently #11 on Top 40 airplay and Spotify in America. “Revolving door” is the other track off her “So Close To What” album in the Top 50, trending up at #31.
Lady Gaga – “Abracadabra”: We haven’t seen this scenario often: It’s been seven weeks and the song has dropped in streams but picked up in requests. #48 on Spotify, but #2 in requests. It’s #12 on Top 40 this week. Pure dance music hasn’t been widely popular in America for over a decade, but seems like listeners want to hear more of that high-energy dance sound on air instead of just in their free time. Don’t get it twisted though – #48 is still good, especially for a dance song or anything by Lady Gaga other than “Die With A Smile” which has been #1 on Spotify Global since August. It’s the longest-running Global #1 on the platform’s history.
Benson Boone – “Sorry I’m Here For Someone Else”: We’re seeing something unusual with this song. So far, its calls are from pre-teens! In fact, those same kids still love “Slow It Down” and a few of his album cuts that were never radio songs. We try to keep really young sounding kids off the air, though some of them actually have intelligent thoughts and conversations. It’s important that kids still enjoy the radio and want to be involved. We do want to bond them to radio at a young age and make them lifelong fans (but not by playing kiddie music). This was most-added at Top 40 three weeks ago, where it’s now #14 in airplay, but it’s #171 on Spotify and hasn’t yet started generating older calls for us.
We’ve also had only one call for Teddy Swims – “Bad Dreams and none yet for Selena Gomez, Gracie Abrams – “Call Me When You Breakup.” And as Sexxy Red & Bruno Mars – “Fat Juicy & Wet” finally drops below No. 40 this week, it’s worth pointing out that we never got a single call for a song that pushed things too far lyrically the audience didn’t want to go.
Buried Treasures of the Week
Enrique Iglesias – “Hero”: One of the best ballads of this century, it worked both in the wake of 9/11 and played at so many weddings. Just because the song is from 2001, doesn’t mean it’s only loved by millennials. The reason we’re featuring the song is because of its recent spike in requests from people of different demos, men and women. It peaked at #3 on Billboard, #2 on Top 40 and #1 on Adult Contemporary where it was the biggest song of 2002 and #5 for the whole decade.
Owl City – “Fireflies”: This 2009 chart-topper just surpassed a billion streams on Spotify. It is one of our most-requested throwbacks of all time. The video is stunningly adorable and well done. Adam Young wrote the song about seeing fireflies in his hometown of Owatonna, Montana. It is really surprising that a song this popular, familiar and nostalgic is not a standard Gold on every Top 40 and Hot AC station in America.
It is shame that “Fireflies” never became a Pop radio staple, stunning and fresh song, a breath of fresh air back in the day. I believe it was perceived as a lowkey polarizing song. It deserves more exposure regardless.
“Fireflies” was one of the earliest of many “lowkey” left-field songs to break through streaming. (And for Ross On Radio readers with long memories, it also has echoes of Bruce Cockburn’s “Wondering Where the Lions Are,” a similar meditation by a spiritual but not Christian AC artist.
Fireflies always gets response, every time. Gotta love a hit and stand out song.