Welcome to Radio Active, a Sunday evening report from POP! Goes The Charts that gets to the chart of the matter: all the highlights from the CHR/Top 40 chart, as published by Mediabase 24/7 and Mediabase Research. To my dear readers and pop enthusiasts out there, if you ever find yourself having an interview with the New Yorker, would you refrain from calling me a pop paranoiac? I think you surely could use another phrase or word to describe me, right? Right? Anyways, don’t be a musical mooch and check out the top songs on this week’s list:
LEAVE IT TO BIEBER: He still has three songs in the top 40 as a featured artist, but only one of Justin Bieber‘s hits is at #1 for the fourth week on the Top 40 chart. Of course, that’s the remix of “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, which certainly looks good for a 12th week atop the Billboard Hot 100 tomorrow. It’s also up 12-11 at Hot AC radio and 33-29 on the AC chart, but at this point, you probably won’t be hearing anyone requesting it on Delilah anytime soon. Back on the pop survey, “Despacito” doesn’t have a bullet again this week, and could see some larger losses during rotation shifts in the middle of this upcoming week. Still, it’s a potent chart-topper that continues to show its strength.
Canadian singer and songwriter Shawn Mendes looks like he might cut the reign of the three amigos short, as his current single is up a fast three notches from 5-2. If “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” secures the top spot next week, it’ll be his first single to do so since “Stitches”, which spent two weeks at #1 in November 2015. Two of his main competitors get a boost into the top ten this week: DJ Khaled‘s “Wild Thoughts”, featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller, yells its way from 11-8, while Niall Horan‘s “Slow Hands” makes a handy 12-10 move. Stay tuned to see what happens!
WHAT’S “BETTER” THAN THIS?: With the removal of three records from the chart that were eligible for recurrent status, plus two other under-performing songs falling out of the top 40, a very exciting five new entries enter the region this week. Jumping up a very healthy 13 spots, from 48-35, is the 16th top 40 hit for Selena Gomez. “Fetish” features Gucci Mane, who has a featured slot on Fifth Harmony‘s “Down” (#24) as well. Major Lazer has their seventh chart single with “Know No Better”, rising 42-36. It’s a collaboration with three other artists, Travis Scott, Camila Cabello and Quavo, giving the latter one a total of four top 40 hits in a featured role this week. That’s a lot of raindrops and drop tops for one chart. One spot below that crew, up 41-37, is a female singer that has her second credited top 40 single: Julia Michaels and “Uh Huh”. Michaels just released a new set called Nervous System, featuring her current hit and her former #4 song, “Issues”, which recently went recurrent.
“Mama” lands Jonas Blue and featured artist William Singe their first top 40 entry at the Top 40 format, as it climbs 44-39. The song has already been a top ten hit in over a dozen countries, including top five peaks in Austria, Denmark, Germany and more. Not quite there yet, but still ranking on a number of national charts overseas, is the current single from former One Direction member Louis Tomlinson. He leaps onto the chart at #40 with “Back To You”, featuring Bebe Rexha and Digital Farm Animals. Back in March, Tomlinson hit #32 as the vocalist on Steve Aoki‘s “Just Hold On”, which was his only solo chart record until this week.
LEARN A NEW “SONG” (OR FOUR): This week’s super action on the pop radio survey also extends into the top 50, where four new songs make their way onto the chart. Leading the way is “Your Song” by Rita Ora, which makes its debut at #45. The single hit the top ten in Ireland, Scotland and the United Kingdom earlier this year. Ora last reached the top 50 here in the spring of 2015 on a Charli XCX song called “Doing It”, which got as high as #43 that March. Debuting at #46 is the first top 50 appearance in six years for the pop-punk quartet known as All Time Low. “Good Times” comes in five spots below the peak of “I Feel Like Dancin'”, which spent three weeks at #41 in June and July 2011. “Good” is already a solid top 40 hit on the Hot AC chart, so it’s capable of doing well here.
Breaking into the top 50 with her first chart entry is 15-year-old Skylar Stecker, starting at #49 with “Only Want You”. She’s had a pair of prior singles serviced to the format in the last two years, but neither of them received any significant adds from the panel. It’s an independent release with a low spin total, so if it goes much further, it’ll be crawling up the chart to its new peak. Entering at #50 is a song that should be moving up at a much quicker rate, “Subeme La Radio” by Enrique Iglesias featuring Sean Paul. In 2014, the two men appeared on the international hit “Bailando”, also billed as Iglesias featuring Paul, which peaked at #9 in September.
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