Sorry for the delay friends, sometimes you just get caught up in that whole enjoying summer thing. While summer is fantastic I am looking forward to Fall just to see what the discussion about radio will be like then as it has been pretty great so far this summer. So thank you for reading and debating.
This week went pretty much how I thought It would last week. With Portugal. The Man squeezing into the #1 spot by a hair, it had no real strength to stay there. But really when we look back all that will matter to them is that It got to #1. This week Smith Westerns take the #1 spot. After that though things are a little hazy.
In the summer it is difficult to tell the contenders from the pretenders. Charging up the charts up to #3 is Bass Drum of Death. If you would of asked me 4 weeks ago if Bass Drum of Death would be a contender for #1 I would of flatly said no but anything goes in the summer. Speedy Ortiz jolts up the chart to #7 in its 2nd week on the charts and last weeks #1 most added Hunx and His Punx comes in at #9. So are all of these contenders for #1?
The last few weeks of summer #'1s compared to the spring or fall have been relatively weak, hovering around just over 50% of the stations. So that means it is a lot easier for a record to obtain #1 status. In Smith Westerns path to #1 as in most runs to #1 the record will debut high, then get a HUGE jump in stations the next week then level off with smaller jumps the next few weeks. Most records do not get a more than one big jump in stations in the summer. Of those above records It looks like the highest one Bass Drum of Death has the least chance to get the #1 spot having only climbed up the chart by gaining small amounts and having older records fall down past them. Speedy Ortiz is in the same sort of boat. They had their big jump of stations this past week and while it was enough to get them into the conversation they should sputter in the top five. Hunx and His punk though we talked about last week having the best chance for the next #1 are on the same path as Smith Westerns. They debut with just around the same amount of stations and so this next week will be important, however with the lack of high quality contenders for #1 I don't see that being a problem.
We had another 100+ add in Love Language this week but no debut on the charts in the same week. I am not 100% positive but I think records that debut on the add week have a much better chance of making a run at #1 than those that debut the next week. Now other factors come into play such as if it was mailed on time or how many copies were sent out but in general thats my thought, so the jury is out on Love Language being a contender.
I think when summer hits I can start going more in detail on the charts in regards to lower records again but for now we will continue to focus on the top of the charts. If you are not following me on twitter you missed out on a lovely debate with WZBT about the weight of stations. I won't rehash the whole debate but one thing every station should know is that the weight/ value of your station can change and it is up to you to change it. Just recently a highly weighted station was lowered to the 2nd lowest rank because they now have reduced impact on the community. When a station has more of an impact they tend to get bumped up. So feel free to let CMJ know when anything changes at your station so you can be reevaluated. My twitter again is @theanimalarrg
Lastly I had a smaller debate about ADDS on twitter yesterday because a station, a station that should know how ADDS work, ADDED a record that got sent to radio 8 weeks ago. So I wrote that it was pointless for that station to have added that record at that time because it helps no one. If you are going to add a record so late in the game you may as well not even do adds. And yes not doing ADDS is an option. I thought at one time there was a forum on CMJ that gave stations pointers on how ADDS work but apparently there is not. I would suggest anyone having questions with regards to how to do ADDS visit www.mediumrotation.com as there are many helpful people on the message boards. The good news is that less stations than ever mess up ADDS so its really become less of an issue. I just hate to see only 3 adds or ADDS on the wrong week as it really helps no one.
Thanks for reading, again hit me up on the twitters if you want to continue this discussion.
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