NEW MUSIC FRIDAY: Releases For The Week of March 8, 2019

Race around the WRLD.

It’s a juicy week for fresh releases and the flavor combination is undeniable. What treat packs the top taste? These are all the notable albums and singles hitting the market this Friday:

JUICE WRLD – Death Race For Love (iTunes)
Features: the pre-release songs “Hear Me Calling” and “Robbery”, as well as a collaboration with Young Thug

MAREN MORRIS – Girl (iTunes)
Features: the title track, currently in the top 30 on the Country radio chart

Notable albums out this week: BamSavage‘s Yesterday’s Tomorrow (iTunes), David Gray‘s Gold In A Brass Age (iTunes), Dido‘s Still On My Mind (iTunes), Foals‘s Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1 (iTunes), Gesaffelstein‘s Hyperion (iTunes), James Morrison‘s You’re Stronger Than You Know (iTunes), New Kids On The Block‘s Hangin’ Tough (30th Anniversary Edition) (iTunes), Sigrid‘s Sucker Punch (iTunes)

Notable EPs out this week: Aaron Taos‘s Birthday Boy (iTunes), Alesso‘s Mixtape – Progresso, Vol. 1 (iTunes), Call Me Loop‘s Drama (iTunes), Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine‘s 8:47 (iTunes), Kat Saul‘s …From Unit 408 (iTunes), Mark Diamond‘s Hummingbird One (iTunes), Myylo‘s I’m A Nice Boy (iTunes), Patrick James‘s What We’re Fighting For (iTunes), Super Duper‘s Vessels (iTunes), Tomorrow x Together‘s The Dream Chapter: Star (iTunes), Upsahl‘s Hindsight 20/20 (iTunes)

New digital singles that you can buy this week include:
“Antisocial Socialites”, Kyan Palmer & nicopop. featuring Yuri Joness (iTunes)
“Are You Like Me”, New Dialogue (iTunes)
“Big Blue” / “Sunflower”, Vampire Weekend (iTunes)
“Blind (Acoustic)”, PRETTYMUCH (iTunes)
“By The River”, Klingande featuring Jamie N Commons (iTunes)
“Cut My Teeth”, James Droll (iTunes)
“Dancing With A Stranger (Cheat Codes Remix)”, Sam Smith & Normani (iTunes)
“Dollar To A Diamond”, Maya B (iTunes)
“Favorite Sound”, Audien x Echosmith (iTunes)
“Feelings”, John Newman (iTunes)
“Ghost Of Ohio”, Andy Black (iTunes)
“Gloria”, Tierra Whack (iTunes)
“Go Easy”, Matt Maeson (iTunes)
“Good For Me”, Paul Rey (iTunes)
“Goodbye Boy”, Peg Parnevik (iTunes)
“GTFO”, Cubbi (iTunes)
“Have Mercy”, YBN Cordae (iTunes)
“Here With Me”, Marshmello featuring CHVRCHES (iTunes)
“Hit Your Heart”, Dagny x Steve Aoki (iTunes)
“Honest”, PUBLIC (iTunes)
“Honestly”, Jai Waetford featuring Carmouflage Rose (iTunes)
“House Of Glass”, Cage The Elephant (iTunes)
“How It’s Supposed To Be (Kid Froopy Remix)”, Mike Posner (iTunes)
“Hypersonic Missiles”, Sam Fender (iTunes)
“I’m Not Sorry”, Hardwell & Mike Williams (iTunes)
“IDK”, Bruce Wiegner (iTunes)
“Insomnia”, Daya (iTunes)
“It Only Gets Better”, WILD (iTunes)
“Kiss & Tell”, Mokita (iTunes)
“Kombucha”, Winnetka Bowling League (iTunes)
“Like It Was”, Denny White (iTunes)
“Lil Boat (Remix)”, 88GLAM featuring Lil Yachty (iTunes)
“Lo/Hi”, The Black Keys (iTunes)
“Love Someone (Piano Demo)”, Lukas Graham (iTunes)
“Mama (Tiësto’s Big Room Remix)”, Clean Bandit featuring Ellie Goulding (iTunes)
“My Bad”, Khalid (iTunes)
“My Man”, Delacey (iTunes)
“No Such Thing”, Sara Bareilles (iTunes)
“Nobody”, Mac DeMarco (iTunes)
“Plan On You”, Adam Melchor (iTunes)
“Pretty Shining People (Jack Wins Remix)”, George Ezra (iTunes)
“Pushing 20”, Sabrina Carpenter (iTunes)
“Recognise”, Lost Frequencies featuring Flynn (iTunes)
“Rise”, Jonas Blue featuring IZ*ONE (iTunes)
“Running Scared (Desert Song)”, The Strumbellas (iTunes)
“Sidelines”, Wallows (iTunes)
“So Am I”, Ava Max (iTunes)
“Sweater Collection”, Lo Lo (iTunes)
“Tell Me”, Prince Fox featuring Ellise (iTunes)
“Temporary Love”, Ben Platt (iTunes)
“The King”, Conan Gray (iTunes)
“Timekeeper”, Greyson Chance (iTunes)
“Two Of Us”, Louis Tomlinson (iTunes)
“Why Did You Run?”, Judah & The Lion (iTunes)
“Wish You Were Gay”, Billie Eilish (iTunes)
“With You”, Jay Sean & Gucci Mane featuring Asian Doll (iTunes)

Next week, look out for new albums and EPs from Greyson Chance, Johnny Orlando and more. For Adam’s personal picks of the week, listen to the PGTC Friday Faves list on Spotify!

ADD LIB — Brace For (CHR) Impact (July 24, 2018)

Welcome to Add Lib, your Tuesday report on POP! Goes The Charts that’s mad about CHR/Top 40 adds, based on the station data provided by Mediabase 24/7 and Add Board. This week: it’s a holy hit session, led by the newest single by Ariana Grande. How’s the rest of the pop world looking? It’s time for the musical miracle of analyzing adds, so let’s read on and add ’em up:

WONDER “WOMAN”: Flying high at #1 on this week’s Top 40 report is “God Is A Woman” by Ariana Grande, which comes just about a week after “No Tears Left To Cry”, the lead single from Sweetener, topped the published chart. It’s new at 88 stations; look for it to continue its huge gains and upward movement throughout the next few weeks. The album arrives on August 17. (Get ready for a bible full of bops, at least if “God” commands you to listen.)

The rest of the top five is packed with recent Urban crossovers and additional impacting singles, like “Eastside” by benny blanco, Halsey and Khalid, which climbs from sixth to third place with 48 new stations this week. That collaboration is well on its way to top 40 status, as is Charlie Puth‘s “The Way I Am”, tied for fourth place with 37 new stations on the latest report. Meanwhile, the current single from Imagine Dragons, titled “Natural”, sneaks into the top ten with 16 new stations, tied for sixth place. No adds date has been set for the hit at this format, but it pulled in 43 stations at Alternative radio (second place) and 37 stations at Hot AC radio (first place) during this week’s Monday and Tuesday sessions.

Next week, look out for a couple of notable duets to score some solid numbers, performed by Cheat Codes and Little Mix (“Only You”) and Zedd and Elley Duhé (“Happy Now”), while Childish Gambino goes it alone for “Summertime Magic”.

MOST ADDED — THIS WEEK’S TOP TEN
1. ARIANA GRANDE, “God Is A Woman” (Republic)
2. DRAKE, “In My Feelings” (YMCMB/Republic)
3. BENNY BLANCO, HALSEY & KHALID, “Eastside” (Friends Keep Secrets/Interscope)
4-T. CHARLIE PUTH, “The Way I Am” (Artist Partner/Atlantic)
4-T. JUICE WRLD, “Lucid Dreams” (Grade A/Interscope)
6-T. BEBE REXHA, “I’m A Mess” (Warner Bros.)
6-T. IMAGINE DRAGONS, “Natural” (KIDinaKORNER/Interscope)
6-T. TIESTO & DZEKO featuring PREME and POST MALONE, “Jackie Chan” (Casablanca/Republic)
9-T. JONAS BLUE featuring JACK & JACK, “Rise” (Capitol)
9-T. KYGO featuring MIGUEL, “Remind Me To Forget” (Ultra/RCA)

Check out our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages for more adds coverage and commentary.

RADIO ACTIVE — A Weekly Chart CHRonicle (July 22, 2018)

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. We have the newest report Taylor-made for your viewing pleasure, so let’s check out this week’s top pop results:

A REPUTABLE NUMBER ONE: Well, as much as I thought Ariana Grande would be spending a second week atop the pop list with “No Tears Left To Cry”, it wasn’t meant to be, as she falls from 1-4 on the current chart. Of course, that means we have a new #1 song this week, performed by another female soloist: “Delicate” by Taylor Swift, making a leap from 5-1. (That move isn’t a record, but it’s still a big one!) This is Swift’s tenth #1 song at the format and the second from her Reputation album, following the one week for “Look What You Made Me Do” in October of last year. The release also chalks up its fourth consecutive week at #1 on the Hot AC survey, her longest stay at the top since the six-week run for “Blank Space” in December 2014 and January 2015. (Its first two weeks there fell within the holiday freeze period.) Back on the Top 40 list, look out for Maroon 5‘s “Girls Like You”, featuring Cardi B, to make a run at the top next week, given its significant gain this week over last week.

“THE WAY” TO CHART SUCCESS: With four former top 40 titles purged from the chart this weekend, there’s a ton of action to cover on the survey. Leading the four entries into the top 40, Drake makes an enormous move from 42-20 with the third pop single off his Scorpion album, “In My Feelings”. It’s his 24th top 40 hit at the format since 2009. Performers Ella Mai, Juice WRLD and Abir all score their first top 40 singles this week, Mai with “Boo’d Up” (44-35), WRLD with “Lucid Dreams” (49-36) and Abir with a feature on Cash Cash‘s “Finest Hour” (43-40), respectively, which also becomes the trio’s third top 40 tune since 2014. Other radio formats have been supporting all three songs prior to their debuts here: “Boo’d” and “Lucid” have been pulling in substantial airplay at the Rhythmic and Urban formats, while “Finest” remains at #1 on the Dance chart.

A total of five songs are new to the top 50 this week, including three that are going for adds this Tuesday: Ariana Grande‘s “God Is A Woman” (#41), Charlie Puth‘s “The Way I Am” (#43) and Benny Blanco, Halsey and Khalid‘s “Eastside” (#49). The Add Lib recap is the place to find those results and more of the Most Added tracks of the week, which goes up at 7PM (EDT) that evening. Of the five soloists on those three entries, only one is new to the survey: producer and songwriter Blanco, who has previously composed big records for performers like Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Maroon 5. This week’s update also marks the debut of “Broken” by Lovelytheband at #46, a recent six-week #1 on the Alternative list. Finally, at #48, Khalid appears on yet another collaboration called “Ocean”, this time around with Martin Garrix. Next week should be equally as hectic, with several songs being removed due to declining spins and, for at least one of them, age of it. Who will land a new song on the chart? Find out a week from today.

Check out our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages for more chart coverage and commentary.

ADD LIB — Brace For (CHR) Impact (July 17, 2018)

Welcome to Add Lib, your Tuesday report on POP! Goes The Charts that’s mad about CHR/Top 40 adds, based on the station data provided by Mediabase 24/7 and Add Board. This week: will the juicy jam from Juice WRLD leap over the current hits by Drake and Justin Timberlake to take the Most Added title, making his “Dreams” a reality? Time to wake up and add ’em up:

TRYIN’ TO GET THE “FEELINGS” AGAIN: No, Barry Manilow won’t be making a surprise comeback to the Top 40 survey anytime soon. (You know, he hasn’t charted here since 1984 for a reason… although, I do enjoy a little bit of “Read ‘Em And Weep” now and again. Shhh!) Drake‘s “In My Feelings” leads the week’s Top 40 report for the second consecutive week, following its tied finish with Justin Timberlake‘s “SoulMate” last week. Drake grabs 53 new stations, while Timberlake takes another 40.

The best-performing song out of the small bunch of impacting titles this week is “Lucid Dreams” by newcomer Juice WRLD, new at 34 stations for a third place finish. The track is building nicely on the Rhythmic and Urban surveys, as the streaming totals for it remain impressive across the major services.

Some of next week’s impacting songs entered the top five on the current adds update, as “The Way I Am” by Charlie Puth (fourth place, 27 stations) and “Eastside” by benny blanco, Halsey and Khalid (sixth place, 25 stations) are off to a very strong start. It should be a similar story next Tuesday, when both future hits should repeat in the region with larger sums. Of course, those singles will be competing against the new one from Ariana Grande, “God Is A Woman”, which is also on the schedule. Can this trinity of tunes lead to a divine top three? Stay tuned.

MOST ADDED — THIS WEEK’S TOP TEN
1. DRAKE, “In My Feelings” (YMCMB/Republic)
2. JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, “SoulMate” (RCA)
3. JUICE WRLD, “Lucid Dreams” (Grade A/Interscope)
4-T. BEBE REXHA, “I’m A Mess” (Warner Bros.)
4-T. CHARLIE PUTH, “The Way I Am” (Artist Partner/Atlantic)
6. BENNY BLANCO, HALSEY & KHALID, “Eastside” (Friends Keep Secrets/Interscope)
7. ELLA MAI, “Boo’d Up” (Interscope)
8-T. CLEAN BANDIT featuring DEMI LOVATO, “Solo” (Big Beat/RRP)
8-T. KYGO featuring MIGUEL, “Remind Me To Forget” (Ultra/RCA)
10. TIESTO & DZEKO featuring PREME and POST MALONE, “Jackie Chan” (Casablanca/Republic)

Check out our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages for more adds coverage and commentary.

RADIO REPORT: What’s Popping At Top 40 Radio This Week (July 16-17, 2018)

It’s time once again to analyze the airwaves and find out if your favorite new releases will be lighting up your local station’s playlist this week. Which tunes will climb to the top and which ones will hit a stop? Only one new release is impacting this week at the Top 40 format:

Juice WRLD – “Lucid Dreams” (Grade A/Interscope)
Album: Goodbye & Good Riddance (2018)
Past T40 History: Already well into the top 20 on the Rhythmic chart, this track marks the performer’s first release at this format.

Next week: Hot new singles from Ariana Grande, Charlie Puth and others look to score big call letters during a busy week.

Which of these new songs would you like to see top the charts? Let me know!

Check out our Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify and Twitter pages!

RADIO ACTIVE — A Weekly Chart CHRonicle (July 15, 2018)

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. Which artists are driving their singles down the field toward the goalposts at the top? This may not be the World Cup, but the sport of chart-watching is important too. Let’s kick it:

TEARIN’ UP THE TOP: As Bazzi‘s “Mine” falls from 1-2 after one week at the summit, pop star Ariana Grande prances toward the pop peak, scoring her fourth #1 at the format with “No Tears Left To Cry”. It climbs a notch, passing the 16,000 spin mark in the process. Notably, this is Grande’s first #1 track that isn’t a collaboration with another artist: “Problem” featured Iggy Azelea, “Bang Bang” included Jessie J and Nicki Minaj, and Minaj joined Grande once again as a featured artist on “Side To Side”. Her latest #1 should have no problem spending a second week there, though it will face some competition in the weeks after that. Grande’s also in top 40 as a featured artist on “Bed”, another collaboration with Minaj, which leaps from 27-22, while “God Is A Woman”, the second radio single from her upcoming Sweetener set, debuted on Friday. Though it has some early airplay, its impact date is next Tuesday.

THE FEELING IS RIGHT: After a huge video campaign on social media, which saw fans and celebrities #DoTheShiggy, the latest single from superstar Drake storms onto the survey at #42, “In My Feelings”. This is the third pop radio release from Scorpion, still at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, which unexpectedly replaced the Michael Jackson-assisted “Don’t Matter To Me” following what occurred with the aforementioned challenge results. As “Feelings” charts just below the top ten on the Rhythmic and Urban lists this weekend, another of the proven hits at those formats is now making a run in the pop world. “Boo’d Up” starts at #44 this week, done by newcomer Ella Mai. A new remix of the song, featuring appearances by Nicki Minaj and Quavo, debuted earlier this month. A third and final entry comes in at #49, which is also receiving airplay at the same formats, though this song was a streaming breakout well before it was serviced to radio. 19-year-old newcomer Juice WRLD continues to broaden his base with “Lucid Dreams”, which samples Sting‘s “Shape Of My Heart”, a single that picked up some small airplay at the AC format during the spring of 1994, but did not chart. (Craig David‘s collaboration with Sting that also sampled it, “Rise & Fall”, suffered the same fate at the CHR/Pop format in the summer of 2003.)

Check out our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages for more chart coverage and commentary.

NEW MUSIC FRIDAY: Releases For The Week of May 25, 2018

When you’re ready, bop away.

Memorial Day calls for some music that reaches the beaches, and you can’t go wrong with a number of the selections below. These are the notable digital and physical releases headed into the market this Friday:

SHAWN MENDES – Shawn Mendes (iTunes)
The self-titled release from this Canadian singer and songwriter shall make all the young girls scream and stream with joy. The first single off it, “In My Blood”, is still gaining nicely at several U.S. radio formats, and a handful of other instant grat tracks have reacted well across the many digital services, including the Khalid-assisted “Youth”. Unless Post Malone‘s recent album decides to challenge it, you should expect Mendes’s set to be a strong contender to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200.

A$AP ROCKY – Testing (iTunes)
After two #1 solo albums in 2013 and 2015, respectively, this Harlem performer is hoping to score his third with a set that features several interesting collaborations, including artists like Lauryn Hill and Moby. With a streaming advantage, could it blow past Mendes’s album to become the top release in the land, or will it fall just short of the prize? Stay tuned.

Notable albums out this week: CHVRCHES‘s Love Is Dead (iTunes), J Balvin‘s Vibras (iTunes), Janine‘s 99 (iTunes), Jessie J‘s R.O.S.E. (iTunes), Jonathan Davis‘s Black Labyrinth (iTunes), Juice WRLD‘s Goodbye & Good Riddance (iTunes), Pusha T‘s Daytona (iTunes), Snow Patrol‘s Wildness (iTunes), Thunderpussy‘s Thunderpussy (iTunes), Welshly Arms‘s No Place Is Home (iTunes)

Notable EPs out this week: LOVA‘s Scripted Reality (iTunes), Matthew Young‘s Fruit (iTunes), Sj‘s Calabasas (iTunes), Taylor Phillips‘s Six Strings Attached (iTunes), YUNGBLUD‘s 21st Century Liability (iTunes)

New digital singles that you can buy this week include:
“Actual Pain”, Good Charlotte (iTunes)
“Against The Wall (Acoustic Version)”, Seether (iTunes)
“American Nights”, The Night Game (iTunes)
“Bracelet” and “Paranoid”, Lauv (iTunes)
“Broken Love”, The Him featuring Parson James (iTunes)
“Call Me Sir”, Train featuring Cam and Travie McCoy (iTunes)
“Castles”, Brother Oliver (iTunes)
“Cheat”, Emily Burns (iTunes)
“Come This Far”, Chloe Kohanski (iTunes)
“Deep Down Below”, Andreas Moss featuring Yacht Money (iTunes)
“Deep End”, KREAM (iTunes)
“Do You Feel This Way”, Kailee Morgue featuring Whethan (iTunes)
“Drink About (MOTi Remix)”, Seeb & Dagny (iTunes)
“Entertainer”, Zayn (iTunes)
“Fallingwater”, Maggie Rogers (iTunes)
“February 3rd”, Jorja Smith (iTunes)
“Feeling You”, Harrison Storm (iTunes)
“Forget To Forget”, SHY Martin (iTunes)
“Girl”, Donna Missal (iTunes)
“Happier (Acoustic)”, Ed Sheeran (iTunes)
“Have It All (Acoustic)”, Jason Mraz (iTunes)
“High Hopes”, Panic! At The Disco (iTunes)
“I Could Be Wrong”, Lucas & Steve x Brandy (iTunes)
“Icon (Remix)”, Jaden Smith featuring Nicky Jam (iTunes)
“Let Me Down Slowly”, Alec Benjamin (iTunes)
“Like I Love U”, The Moffatts (iTunes)
“Live It Up (Official Song 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia)”, Nicky Jam featuring Will Smith & Era Istrefi (iTunes)
“Longer Than I Thought”, Loote featuring Joe Jonas (iTunes)
“Love Alone”, Mokita (iTunes)
“Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way”, U2 x Cheat Codes (iTunes)
“Love The Lie”, Call Me Loop (iTunes)
“Low”, Lenny Kravitz (iTunes)
“Medicine”, Spazz Cardigan (iTunes)
“New Compassion”, HAERTS (iTunes)
“Not About You”, Glades (iTunes)
“Only Can Get Better”, Silk City featuring Daniel Merriweather (iTunes)
“Rise”, Jonas Blue featuring Jack & Jack (iTunes)
“Rosanna”, Weezer (iTunes)
“Run Into You”, Leland (iTunes)
“Screws”, DREAMERS (iTunes)
“Sleepwalking”, Elderbrook (iTunes)
“Solo (Wideboys Remix)”, Clean Bandit featuring Demi Lovato (iTunes)
“Streets Of You”, Eagle-Eye Cherry (iTunes)
“Take This Ride”, Vigiland (iTunes)
“Tearing Down The Walls”, Elias (iTunes)
“Time Of Our Lives”, Brynn Elliott (iTunes)
“Toast To Our Differences”, Rudimental featuring Shungudzo, Protoje & Hak Baker (iTunes)
“Us”, James Bay & Alicia Keys (iTunes)
“Wasted Time”, CLOVES (iTunes)
“Water On The Bridge”, Chelsea Cutler (iTunes)
“What You Want”, Belly featuring The Weeknd (iTunes)

Next week: look out for new albums from the Ben Howard, Kanye West and more. For Adam’s personal picks of the week, listen to the PGTC Friday Faves list on Spotify!