Hot AC stations shunning non CHR hits??

[ericNY2002]

There seems to be a growing trend of songs on the Hot AC chart that don't hit at CHR-top 40 peaking right around the teens on the hot ac chart. Some recent examples include Peace, The walker, Rebel Beat, and Come To Me. All these songs were doing well on the chart til they got to around the top 15, and then just died out. Other songs like Girls Chase Boys and Human managed to get into the top 10 after getting play from CHR stations. American Authors' Believer will be the next test. Its doing well now (at #12) but how far will they climb if the song doesn't catch on at Pop. I guess the mediabase/billboard hot ac panels may have some pop stations miscast as Hot AC stations, that won't play anything that's not a hit at CHR.
Train has been able to get to the top 10 with Angel In Blue Jeans will little pop help (they have been a core act of the format for years).
My question I guess is will there be anymore hot ac exclusive big hits? or will a song have to be a huge CHR/Top 40 hit to become a hot ac big hit? I would love to see more Hot AC stations have more variety of hits played than their pop counterparts.

[Libra]

No - I'd call it the format as a whole changing its identity from more of its own Hot "AC" to more of an Adult "Top 40"/Adult CHR. I use the chart names deliberately in stating that, because if you think about it...it fits what's happening exactly, does it not?

[Rumors]

Unfortunately, for us "older" HotAC listeners, this has been the trend for years. Train is a staple HotAC act that did have a pop hit two albums ago but it was a huge hit for them so I think they are still reaping the benefit of that on this format. What did Matchbox Twenty's first single from their last album peak at #7 maybe? It didn't stay there long and it wasn't released to pop yet they tried to make a very current pop/rock sound but it didn't go over that well. Next two singles did what you said - peaked in the teens/twenties. Rob Thomas will release a new album next year. He really is a core HotAC artist so we'll see if Hot AC gives the song any love at all. I think it will depend on how good the song his. I think he can get a hit if he comes out with the material. We'll see. The GGDs were you other example. They are pushing 50. I think their time may be up on HotAC.

[Hot AC Archiver]

I think Hot AC has evolved into more of a CHR format now than at any previous point in its history. Going by what HAC used to be 10 years ago, who would've thought a song like "Fancy" would've reached the top 20? (Interestingly, "Fancy" took 9 weeks to reach its peak of #19, but then fell off very quickly 19-25-32-37).

The acts that used to dominate HAC like mentioned above will have a harder time hitting the chart, but isn't that also true of older CHR acts on the CHR chart?

[Green Baron]

There used to be Active and Alt songs doing good on Hot AC.

I'd like to see them here instead of it becoming CHR-Lite.

I guess this is just what happens in the natural history, like how Alt morphed into mini-Active during the early 2000s.

[musicfanpete]

Great topic eric! I agree about this trend, but my hometown Hot AC station, WTMX has been trending far more CHR leaning the last few years anyway, happily embracing great "Hot AC" hits by Mackelmore, Iggy Azalea, Pitbull and Eminem. But, what does keep qualify them as a Hot AC station is that they do embrace some non-CHR hits. One of their biggest hits of the year (and by big, those that will probably finish as one of the top 50 most played songs on their station) is Imagine Dragons "On Top Of The World". This is a song that not only failed to make the Hot AC top 20, but had very limited CHR airplay as well. The Kongos, "Come With Me Now" is still in power rotation and will probably finish solidly within their year end top 40, while "The Walker" will probably finish in the top 50 despite being dumped from their playlist the last two months. That said, "Timber" and "The Monster" both look like they will easily finish in their year end top 10. Go figure!

Thankfully, Chicago does have three rim shot Hot AC stations that skew with a more traditional sound. The one closest to me, Lake County's WXLC will much more heavily embraces these mid-level Hot AC, non-CHR hits that have been discussed here. Fitz's "Out Of My League" is currently the 9th most played song of the year on this station, while "The Walker" is currently at #19. Both will easily finish within the year end top 30, if not higher. "I Choose You" by Sara Bareilles (very underrated judging by it's barely top 20 peak), is currently #42 for the year with a bullet, even ahead of Magic's "Rude" for the time being. "Sweater Weather" by the Neighbourhood is currently at #24 for the year despite very little airplay the last three months. And John Newman's "Love Me Again is currently #21, while the aforementioned Goo Goo Dolls are at #33 with "Come To Me". Two songs by Zedd, one song by Demi Lovato, and interestingly, Tiesto's "Red Lights" are all in the year-to-date top 50, and add a little flavor to their playlist. But these are all pop and EDM songs that appeal to adults, while steering away from the rap. This station never played, and probably never even considered playing "Fancy". And while they do play "Problem", they play a Hot AC edit without Iggy Azalea. In my opinion, WXLC still represents what a current day Hot AC station should sound like if their intention is to skew a bit more towards Adult CHR. They play the CHR hits that adults will like while staying away from songs that have no business being there, while still making their first priority Hot AC leaning and/or Hot AC exclusive songs.

An even better option for Hot AC would be to follow the example of such Modern AC leaning stations like Cities 97 in Minneapolis, or KLCK in Seattle. While perhaps a bit more CHR leaning now than when they both first came around a few years ago, they both still skew heavily Modern AC leaning, and give first priority to the non-CHR alternative "lite" type of songs, some which are only played on a handful of stations. Scanning their playlists, they certainly do play some interesting songs, many of which regularly reside within the bottom third of the Hot AC chart, but many of which deserve to be heard more. But as always, ratings will ultimately dictate what many of today's Hot AC stations play.

[Rumors]

I'm in a medium sized town in Kentucky but I can pick up the big HotAC station in Lexington. I would say that station is a fairly legit HotAC station. When I have it on in the car, it rarely plays a song that I'll change the station on (unless it is simply the artist that I don't like - I have 2-3 of them :|). However, the HotAC (103.7) in my hometown is much more my style. They still play an occasional alt rock song (Wonderwall by Oasis, REM, Pearl Jam, Push by Matchbox Twenty). I love it. These songs aren't played in heavy rotation but they are played during peak hours and not as part of a 90s playback hour. They will also play songs by HotAC acts (at least older HotAC acts) that weren't really pushed to the format. For example, I have heard Gasoline and Matches (Leanne Rimes and Rob Thomas) 4-5 times in the past 2 months. So this is a station following its own path. I think it is independently owned (not Cumulus or Clear Channel at least). I wish you big city folks still had more stations like this one.

[musicfanpete]

Aug 30, 2014 6:56:45 GMT -5 Rumors said:

I'm in a medium sized town in Kentucky but I can pick up the big HotAC station in Lexington. I would say that station is a fairly legit HotAC station. When I have it on in the car, it rarely plays a song that I'll change the station on (unless it is simply the artist that I don't like - I have 2-3 of them :|). However, the HotAC (103.7) in my hometown is much more my style. They still play an occasional alt rock song (Wonderwall by Oasis, REM, Pearl Jam, Push by Matchbox Twenty). I love it. These songs aren't played in heavy rotation but they are played during peak hours and not as part of a 90s playback hour. They will also play songs by HotAC acts (at least older HotAC acts) that weren't really pushed to the format. For example, I have heard Gasoline and Matches (Leanne Rimes and Rob Thomas) 4-5 times in the past 2 months. So this is a station following its own path. I think it is independently owned (not Cumulus or Clear Channel at least). I wish you big city folks still had more stations like this one.

Your hometown station sounds like an "old school" Modern AC. It would be nice if we had a station like that, but fortunately the internet allows me to listen to some good stations.

I did neglect to mention in my previous post that WXLC does still play one or two 80's songs, and maybe one or so 90's songs an hour. Nice to see that there are still stations that play a lot of variety like that.

[MostInterestingManInTheWorld]

This is interesting... I think there is greater convergence between CHR and HAC than anytime since the latter chart incepted back in 1994. Possible reasons?

1) The research is saying the two target audiences aren't that different.
2) There really isn't too much in the way of new & outrageous music - who is the new Eminem? The new Pitbull? The new Nicki Minaj... you get the idea.
3) The artists themselves are getting older - there aren't too many teen recording artists currently active. And ironically, the one noteworthy act which qualifies is Lorde, who appeals to many formats.

Oddly enough, at the same time, HAC and AAA are becoming more divergent. It still puzzles me why the Black Keys haven't been an HAC chart sensation.