CMJ ISSUE 1386 WEEK 13

I believe last week I mentioned it was about to get fun. Welcome to the fun.

This week was the kind of week I love if I am working one of the top 5 records. Sure its tough when you don't get #1 but the excitement and energy of going for it is so much fun. Checking CMJ every 10 min to see if you have gained stations or lost stations to whomever you are going against. I might be a tad competitive but I love it.

This week we knew going it it would be a battle.

For the last 4 weeks Father John Misty has held on to the #1 spot.  Every week a group of records has inched their way closer to to the top.  Dan Deacon, Purity Ring, Jose Gonzalez and joining the party this week Modest Mouse.

Early on I thought well here we go again. With 125 reporters FJM led the way with 83 stations.
Dan Deacon was next closest with 78. Purity Ring with 73, Jose Gonzalez and Of Montreal  with 61 and Modest Mouse with 67 were all within striking distance.


With 184 stations reporting the lead had expanded for Father John Misty up to 8 stations. But the lead was now over Purity Ring. Were they making a move? Dan Deacon was still there at 111 so it was too early to tell. Jose Gonzalez not ready to call it a day held its on at 93 while Of Montreal slipped down to 84. Modest Mouse remained in the hunt with 95 stations.


With 239 stations reporting Jose Gonzalez had begun to see its chance slip away coming in with 125 stations. Of Montreal lagged further behind at 116. Modest Mouse, only in their first full week on the charts looked to be in line for top five but that would be about it with 125 stations. It would come down to Purity ring at 144 stations, Father John Misty with 153 and Dan Deacon with 150.

This is where as a promoter for any of these records you start looking for people on Facebook, twitter, emailing again, calling again. Anyone that has not reported. You check the INVALID section of CMJ to see if there is anyone you can get to send in a chart.

 In the end there were 283 reporters. It was a close one.

Coming in at #5 Modest Mouse made a nice run for its first full week out there.

#4 Jose Gonzalez had a great run just never had enough to get over the hump.

Purity Ring moved up to #3 this week from #4 with only 8 less stations than the #1 So close.

The #1 and #2 records were close. It reminded me a lot of that week where I thought Decemberists were going to be #1 but in hindsight that was not close. This was close.

Lets look at the 2 contenders

Father John Misty  Vs Dan Deacon.

Both have been out there for a while now ( FJM has been out for just one week longer)
Both are nearing the end of any natural run on the top 200 charts, as it happens old gives way to new.

Lets look at JUST the numbers as I have not told you who is number one ( although I am sure most of you know)

Overall numbers
Record A--178
Record B-185

Record A--43 #1's
Record B--31#1's

So  you can already tell things are going to be close Record A has less stations but has more #1's


(6 weighted stations )

Record A- 1

Record B-2

(5 weighted stations )

Record A- 10

Record B-8

In looking at those groupings you could make the assumption that the one extra higher weighted station makes up for the lack in the 5 weighted stations.  So we have to look a bit closer. Both have 2 5's charting the record at #1 but Record A has one more in the top five. So I would still call these even.

(4 weighted stations )

Record A- 38

Record B-36

Talk about close.

Record A had 2 more #1's
Record B had 2 more in the top five.
Record A had 4 more in the top 10

So a slight edge in the 4's with Record A, Maybe even more than a slight edge. 2 more overall and you could say those 2 more are both #1's perhaps 2 stations have record A at #1 and don't have record B on at all? ( no that station does not exist)

(3 weighted stations )

Record A- 60

Record B-68

So just as we think we might be seeing Record A with a slight edge it looks like Record B has come to play.  More of the pivotal 3 weighted stations.  With 2 more #1's But with most of the gains coming in the 25-15 range. So not game breakers.


(2 weighted stations )

Record A- 38

Record B-39

How close can you get. Record A however has a significant lead in #1's here with nearly 10 more.
So you have to give the edge to Record A with the 2's

(1 weighted stations )

Record A- 31

Record B-32

Another close one. And something I saw again and again in the last few groupings there are more higher numbers for record A.

But every category was so close with just a few stations separating each one.

I have to go back to the 5 weighted stations. and the one extra in the top 5. Because in the end Record A is the one that grabs #1 and that record is Dan Deacon.

It looks to of come down to a handful of stations. I don't want to single out the single most important station out there because I don't think it exists. I think every one of the stations out there carefully crafting their chart had an impact at making Dan Deacon #1. Every category is so close that you could make the argument that if a station were to take off one or the other there could be completely different chart. I know we put a focus on those bigger stations but when the races are this tight every station matters.

I wanted to touch on the ADDS this week briefly because Sufjan Stevens lead most of the way if not all the way. Death Cab for Cutie came in 2nd but never really challenged.  I guess that answers my internal question of if Sufjan was still loved at college radio.  Further answering that question ... I noticed a pretty impressive debut from Sufjan at #32.  I was a sceptic coming in to this record going for adds but I think we are going to see a Modest Mouse / Sufjan  showdown in a few weeks.

What else is on the way that might contend?

I would say Purity Ring has an outside chance if the team behind it can do what AAM did this week with Dan Deacon. But the circumstances are different but it will be fun to watch.

I think Modest Mouse takes it easily next week. What do you think?

Leave a comment here or hit me up on twitter.!