Triple A Chart - January 16th, 2004

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Looks like my prediction on 'Moses' was pretty close. I think I predicted somewhere like #16... this is assuming it doesn't go higher? Or did I predict #8?

Has anyone heard Norah Jones yet? She's the highest entry at #23.

[singingsparrow]

Counting Crows got their first published week at #1 (three non-consecutive weeks at #1) and it sure will be interesting to see whether they go four weeks or Howie Day re-surges, or possibly even Sarah McLachlan suddenly re-claim the top spot after over a month away from #1.

Guster and Five For Fighting are challenging for the next top spot it appears, but can Norah Jones' anticipated sophomore release shoot her single past them first?

"Moses" may sure become the next "Closer To You". The Wallflowers couldn't get their third single from "Red Letter Days" into the Top 10, nevertheless it has had astounding longevity and remains the #1 recurrent at an amazing 244 spins on Sunday's update. In fact, "Closer To You" is probably the strongest single from that album, as though it peaked the lowest out of their three singles ("When You're On Top" and "How Good It Can Get" both peaked at #2) they both plunged sharply and failed to become memorable recurrents.

Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" can sure become a hit with lots of staying power.

Hey, whatever happened to R.E.M's "Animal"? And when is Pete Yorn going to release a third single? ("Pass Me By" or "Burrito" should be it, though "Committed" would also be radio-friendly)

Sincerely,
Noah Eaton

[Radical347]

Actually, Howie Day gets his second week at #1. The Counting Crows got to #1 on the update after the final one I think.

While I am happy that my favorite song of the past 52 weeks is at #1, I have to note that it is an extremely weak #1. It barely had over 400 spins, and right now on mediabase #1 has 388. Certain stations seem to be pulling the plug on both Howie Day and The Counting Crows, so I say that next week anyone who's in the Top 5 has a chance at being #1. (Though 4 and 5 don't have as much of a chance.)

I like "Animal" a lot better than "Bad Day" but I'm not surprised that it's flopping, because it isn't very radio friendly. Pete Yorn's "Burrito" was released to Alternative last August. I think he's long overdue for a third single and if they release one by now it will probably flop.

[j]

Ouch! Sheryl Crow falls 5-12.

391 spins for #1 is the lowest I've seen in a year. Maybe I'm too used to seeing Clocks at 600+ spins per week.

[singingsparrow]

k said:

Ouch! Sheryl Crow falls 5-12.

391 spins for #1 is the lowest I've seen in a year. Maybe I'm too used to seeing Clocks at 600+ spins per week.

They haven't really reduced their panel much either for this format. All they lost were one or two Alternative-leaning stations. I suppose some stations just want to have more variety to their playlists. No shame there, but it will hurt the format.

Sincerely,
Noah Eaton

[EvanJ]

SingingSparrow said:

No shame there, but it will hurt the format.

How? Whether the Number 1 Triple A song has 400 spins or 600 spins won't make a big difference on the Billboard Hot 100.

[Radical347]

SingingSparrow said:

They haven't really reduced their panel much either for this format. All they lost were one or two Alternative-leaning stations. I suppose some stations just want to have more variety to their playlists. No shame there, but it will hurt the format.

Sincerely,
Noah Eaton

I think the primary reason is that a few Triple A's are doing their entire library from A-Z with no or few repeats. (KMTT and KPRI come to mind... there might be a few others too.)

The panel lost KAEP and WKOC, which were alt-leaning, and I don't think the monitored panel has gained any new reporters since KBAC. The thing with the alt-leaning stations is that they usually give their #1 song about 40-50 spins, so that's a big chunk off right there. And they also lost KBAC, which is sort of an interesting story.

Albuquerque had 2 Triple A stations (KTZO and I forget the other one) and within the last 2 years (I think) both of them flipped. So, Clear Channel started simulcasting KBAC/Santa Fe in Albuquerque, and soon after they did that, they "genericized" the playlist to hell and back because they were trying to make themselves more accessible to a much larger market. (I heard it before and after... and it really was a huge difference.) Everyone complained, so Clear Channel listened :o and returned KBAC to its "roots," but that meant dropping the Albuquerque signal. But in its place, they put in KABQ, a generic AAA station similar to what KBAC was for the past few months.

[singingsparrow]

HowieDayFan said:

I think the primary reason is that a few Triple A's are doing their entire library from A-Z with no or few repeats. (KMTT and KPRI come to mind... there might be a few others too.)

The panel lost KAEP and WKOC, which were alt-leaning, and I don't think the monitored panel has gained any new reporters since KBAC. The thing with the alt-leaning stations is that they usually give their #1 song about 40-50 spins, so that's a big chunk off right there. And they also lost KBAC, which is sort of an interesting story.

Albuquerque had 2 Triple A stations (KTZO and I forget the other one) and within the last 2 years (I think) both of them flipped. So, Clear Channel started simulcasting KBAC/Santa Fe in Albuquerque, and soon after they did that, they "genericized" the playlist to hell and back because they were trying to make themselves more accessible to a much larger market. (I heard it before and after... and it really was a huge difference.) Everyone complained, so Clear Channel listened :o and returned KBAC to its "roots," but that meant dropping the Albuquerque signal. But in its place, they put in KABQ, a generic AAA station similar to what KBAC was for the past few months.

Interesting. KBCO-FM, the mother of Triple A radio in Boulder, Colorado, currently is in its annual A-Z run. Never knew other Triple A stations did that also.

OK, that pretty well explains the low peak numbers, still it will have to take a single like "Clocks" to break 500 spins in a week now without those two stations that tend to play songs more each week. Compare it with KBCO-FM, which usually the #1 song is played 31-32 times a week.

Sincerely,
Noah Eaton

[insect2]

EvanJ said:

How? Whether the Number 1 Triple A song has 400 spins or 600 spins won't make a big difference on the Billboard Hot 100.

Except that I don't think many Triple A listeners care much about how well their favorite songs are doing on the Hot 100.

I only found out about KMTT's A-Z event the day it concluded. They said what the last few songs they played were, too and it made me even more frustrated. (They were "The Zephyr Song", "Ziggy Stardust", "Zombie" and another Z song)

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

So these stations are playing every song they have? :O

[EvanJ]

insect2 said:

Except that I don't think many Triple A listeners care much about how well their favorite songs are doing on the Hot 100.

I know, but he said it would hurt the format and the only place I can think of where it would hurt Triple A relative to other formats is the Billboard Hot 100. Triple A stations wouldn't have specials if they knew it was going to hurt their ratings. I guess it would mean less songwriting royalties for the writers of the songs on chart if they didn't also write the songs getting A-Z or whatever airplay, but the amount of songwriting royalties is not released to the public.

[j]

I agree - I don't see how losing a station or two (even on the small Triple A panel) can hurt the format in any way, especially if those stations were leaning Alternative in the first place.