CMJ RECAP ISSUE 1291

I really do love this time of year. Every week is PACKED with so many good releases. Talking to a lot of the Music Directors out there and hearing that ADDS are really difficult for them recently. It should continue like this for the next 3 or 4 weeks and perhaps a bit longer. But in 3 or 4 weeks a lot of the stations will be going on summer break/ exams and every label wants to have their record out there before this happens as they think summer time means no one is around. While this was once very true, where fall would see some 500+ stations report, most stations now are year round and so is the student body. But since the industry is run by old white men a lot of them have not realized that times have changed and thus still rush to put out records before summer.

Because every week has been so packed we are starting to see some craziness up at the top of the chart.  Last week I went over possible outcomes but no single record stood out to having a clear path to that number one spot.  If they wanted it you had to go out there and get it. This week that is exactly what Devendra Banhart did. I always liked what the record was doing as far as the weekly progression, and thought they were just missing out on higher spots each week.  This week with only 48% of the stations they were able to take the top spot. But up until the last 20 min it really could of been anyone. Youth Lagoon was right there, WAVVES and Strokes were as well. But in the end Devendra had more of the larger stations and thats what set them apart.  With the percentage being so low and the gap between 1-4 being so small I really don't see how they keep it for a second week.   Black Angels made a big move up to #6 from #13,  Phosphorescent up to #9 from #12, and Telekinesis barely missed out on top 10 coming in at #11.  If I were in charge of pushing any of these records I would make this next week my #1 push week.  With the train of huge records coming in there could be a lot of one and dones.  I think ultimately Wavves takes it next week as they have the rare combo of big stations and mass appeal needed to get there.  I think any other time of year you could see any of these other record make it to #1 but I just don't see it happening.

The biggest debut of the week comes from Bleached, last weeks 5th most added record beating out last weeks #1 most added Postal Service ( #24) Generationals ( #4 most added last week in at #28) Cold War kids ( #3 most added in at #40) and Caveman ( the #2 most added in at #46)  we will get more into this a bit later and we have talked about it before, it is interesting to see how the ADD spot did not translate directly into a higher debut for Cavemen.  This week we saw 26 debuts a little off our pace of 30+ a week.  The record thats been on the chart the longest is Tame Impalla with an impressive 24 weeks.

While the top 4 race for #1 was very exciting to watch this week, THE most exciting thing was watching what was going on with adds.  As I like to do I check the ADDS first thing Monday morning to get a feel as to what the trends are. You can't always tell what will end up at the top but you can see if you are in some early trouble or if you are off to a good start. This Monday while checking I figured James Blake was going to most likely end up in the top 5 for adds so I would start there.  Out of 40 something stations they had around 10 adds( he ended up at #2 most added) . Pretty good. I next checked Thee Oh Sees and was blown away as they had close to 26 adds out of the 40. I thought for sure I did something wrong so I checked again and sure enough they were steamrolling the competition.  And they never looked back. with an impressive 62% of stations adding Thee Oh Sees they captured #1 most added with 176 ADDS. The most this year by 20 something ADDs. It got me thinking how long has it been since we have seen an ADD week that impressive. The most adds last year on a record was Grizzly Bear with 165 adds. In 2011 Fleet Foxes had the most with  172 ADDS.  In 2010 it was Hot Chip with 167 adds for the most in the year and to find a record with more adds than this week you have to go back to 2009 when the Decemberists had 191 ADDS.
While I was looking up all of these numbers it reminded me how getting #1 most added, no matter how impressively done, does not equal a number one record.  That Decemberists record did well but never got to the number one spot. ( It was blocked by Neko Case that only 2 weeks before then had racked up 202 adds)   So what does this mean for Thee Oh Sees? Well I think it has a good shot at #1 in 2 weeks depending on where they go on the charts next week, it also depends on what happens on ADDs this week. Perhaps something will do even better?  In either case I think it makes anyone that thinks they have a shot at #1 want to get it sooner rather than later.

Thanks for reading, If there are any questions feel free to hit me up on twitter @theanimalarrg. If there is something you want me to cover or look into let me know. Something I can do better please share.  Until next time!