Two years ago, Hit Radio failed to take full advantage of this week’s most-streamed song on Spotify. As recording artist Djo, Stranger Things star Joe Keery’s two-year-old “End of Beginning” blew up on Spotify and TikTok in 2024, sitting in the top 50 for months. That song was a top 10 request on Liveline throughout the spring and #1 at Alternative, but only #13 at Hot AC and #14 on Top 40. Even then, every data point showed that this was a strong, unique and broad appeal song with passionate fans.
Now, he’s back for round two, and pop radio should not be so tentative. “End of Beginning” has always been a strong recurrent request on Liveline. Pop radio completely abandoned it after two months. But the listeners didn’t! Though the song doesn’t ever actually appear in Stranger Things at all, it brings a sense of nostalgia and closure, which the song captures effortlessly. It’s huge everywhere again, also being our 8th most-requested song last week (and #13 the week before). This week it is #1 on Spotify with 11,375,000 streams.
Ella Langley – “Choosin’ Texas”: When it was released in October, the well-known industry account @ShittyPD encouraged Country PDs to add this song, rather than waiting for callout, or a spot for a female artist—a ridiculous but decades-long issue within the Country format. Not only is “Choosin’ Texas” now Top 5 in Country airplay after 10 weeks, but it has also fully crossed over to the mainstream audience, and everyone seems to be on board except for… pop radio!
I’m not an active country music fan. I host a Top 40 show that plays today’s hits and pop songs from the last 25 years. I’m 24 and don’t know the Country format well. But I do know the Pop Radio lifestyle, music and trends. We have been getting huge requests for this song for over a month. The week before Christmas, it debuted in our Top 20. In the following weeks, it jumped to #18, #12 and now #9. It’s been in the Spotify Top 10 since the end of November (if you subtract all the Christmas songs) and it’s currently #4. Pop Radio is strongest when it feature the best hits from all genres and is not just “the Sabrina Carpenter format.”
When you look at all the songs surrounding Choosin’ Texas, it becomes clear that this is not just built on passionate country music fans. It’s a solid hit, with the same numbers and appeal that Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” had before radio picked up on it (a month too late). Morgan Wallen is the only other country artist with a song in the Spotify Top 50 (“I Got Better”). Langley’s other song “weren’t for the wind” is also #26 and that actually came out November 1, 2024, now with 243 million streams.
For those who think the song is too “yee-haw” for pop radio, I think about all of the Shania Twain Country classics which were top ten Pop Radio hits and are still mad popular at every wedding and club (yes, to this day), and superstar artists like Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan and Luke Combs who Top 40 rarely acknowledge.
In a time where there’s a massive shortage of solid, great new hit music, we need to reach into other formats, take a piece of their audience, and make Pop radio their secondary format. But even if this were a high point for Top 40 with lots of big hits and dominant ratings, I’d still make a case for this song. It’s simple: A lot of people love it and it’s better than the majority of the music being played on radio right now. The data is there. Liveline Pop Radio listeners request it nightly, by the dozens.
