American Top 40 (Hot AC) - April 4, 2009

[Adam (UTR)]

OFF:
39. (05) Britney Spears – Circus

40 40 (05) The Veronicas – Untouched
36 39 (85) Colbie Caillat – Bubbly
00 38 (01) O.A.R. – This Town[/b]
29 37 (49) 3 Doors Down - It's Not My Time[/b]
34 36 (46) Natasha Bedingfield - Pocketful Of Sunshine
31 35 (70) Lifehouse – Whatever It Takes
35 34 (02) Lily Allen – The Fear
33 33 (27) Leona Lewis - Better In Time
37 32 (03) Thriving Ivory – Angels On The Moon
32 31 (84) Finger Eleven – Paralyzer
38 30 (02) Natasha Bedingfield – Soulmate[/b]
30 29 (11) Eric Hutchinson - Rock & Roll
28 28 (42) Kid Rock - All Summer Long
25 27 (21) Saving Abel - Addicted
23 26 (49) Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
27 25 (17) Missy Higgins - Where I Stood
26 24 (80) Sara Bareilles – Love Song
22 23 (08) Beyoncé - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
20 22 (32) Lifehouse - Broken
16 21 (45) Gavin Rossdale - Love Remains The Same
24 20 (17) Kevin Rudolf featuring Lil' Wayne - Let It Rock
13 19 (22) 3 Doors Down - Let Me Be Myself
15 18 (29) Pink - So What
17 17 (41) Coldplay – Viva La Vida
21 16 (07) Theory Of A Deadman – Not Meant To Be
19 15 (04) Katy Perry – Thinking Of You
18 14 (08) Jason Mraz featuring Colbie Caillat – Lucky
10 13 (35) O.A.R. - Shattered (Turn the Car Around)
11 12 (36) Daughtry - What About Now
14 11 (10) Lady GaGa featuring Colby O'Donis and Akon - Just Dance
12 10 (06) Plain White T’s – 1, 2, 3, 4
08 09 (46) Jason Mraz – I’m Yours
07 08 (24) Katy Perry - Hot 'N Cold
09 07 (11) The All-American Rejects - Gives You Hell
06 06 (21) David Cook - Light On
03 05 (24) Nickelback - Gotta Be Somebody
02 04 (16) Taylor Swift - Love Story
05 03 (09) Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You
04 02 (10) Pink - Sober
01 01 (16) The Fray - You Found Me (5 weeks at #1)

[at40forever]

I really hope Bubbly leaves the chart next week. It has really overstayed its welcome long enough.

[Battle601]

AT40 BREAKOUTS/EXTRAS

Hour 1: Hoobastank - So Close, So Far (between #33 and #32)*
Hour 2: Leona Lewis - I Will Be (between #22 and #21)

OPTIONAL EXTRAS (in order played, and same as CHR):
Jesse McCartney - Leavin'
Secondhand Serenade - Fall For You
Mariah Carey - Shake It Off
Taylor Swift - Teardrops On My Guitar

* AT40 Extra - Already featured as a Breakout last week

[KelownaGuy20]

Actually, it looks like the Optional Extras could be different this week. I have it listed as:

Hour 1: Taylor Swift - Teardrops On My Guitar
Hour 2: Secondhand Serenade - Fall For You
Hour 3: Mariah Carey - Shake It Off
Hour 4: 3 Doors Down - It's Not My Time

[Battle601]

How is it possible that the Optional Extra for Hour 4 is exactly the same song at #37 on this week's AT40?

[KelownaGuy20]

Apr 4, 2009 20:36:25 GMT -5 Battle601 said:

How is it possible that the Optional Extra for Hour 4 is exactly the same song at #37 on this week's AT40?

I'd call it carelessness within the AT40 family. Either somebody wasn't paying attention to the chart and scheduled the song to run a second time (lord, I hope not), or someone wasn't paying attention when they put together the cue sheet.

Now I'm interested... I'm gonna have to look into this when I get into work on Monday.

[Hervard]

The last optional extra was indeed "It's Not My Time" by 3 Doors Down. Here is why: Ryan read a letter from a listener who said she'd had a baby back in August and was wondering what the number one song in the country was that week. While over on Pop it was "Leavin'" by Jesse McCartney, the number one song at Hot AC the week her kid was born was "It's Not My Time" by 3 Doors Down. I guess they didn't want to wait for the song to fall off the chart (because who knows when that's gonna be). However, they could have mentioned the 3 Doors Down song and then played "Leavin'", maybe saying in passing that it was debuting on the chart that week (because on the only chart on which "It's Not My Time" was number one, the song was indeed making its first appearance). Or they could have had him reading the letter going into #37, and just played "Leavin'" as Hour 4's optional extra without any dialogue.

Anyway, we should probably expect the song to be the biggest mover on the chart in the next few weeks.

[The Party Captain]

How the heck is Paralyzer still on there? :/

[Hervard]

^AC stations are still playing it enough for it to register on the charts. Not sure if they've had a new single since then, but even if they haven't, enough is enough.

There have been a few songs by Colbie Caillat since "Bubbly", but Hot AC stations just assumed that everyone wanted to hear "Bubbly" over and over again after it went recurrent and, hence, her newer songs didn't get as much exposure as they deserved.

[Battle601]

Besides "Paralyzer", I think "I'll Keep Your Memory Vague" would have been a great follow-up single for Finger Eleven from their recent album. Being less upbeat and loud from"Paralyzer", this single could have performed well like it did in Canada and at the very least, have the same level of success as "One Thing" did in 2003. Can anyone confirm this single ever charting inside the Top 40 or Top 50 on Hot AC? And if so, where did it peak?

With Colbie, I agree. "Realize" didn't do too badly that it was able to reach Top 5 but after peaking, it quickly faded. "The Little Things" didn't have the same luck - it started out fast but then peaked too quickly and fizzled, even though it reached Top 20 on Hot AC. One can only go so long wanting to hear "Bubbly" - it's almost going to be two years now since it first came out, and my station barely plays it anymore - at most, once a week.

And on the subject of songs overwelcoming their stay, the same effect with Colbie Caillat appears to be happening with Sara Bareilles. Presumably, "Love Song" is still getting numerous spins even under recurrent status. Her follow-up single "Bottle It Up" went on to become a Top 20 hit on Hot AC. Like "Realize", it lasted long enough on the charts to get recurrent honors, but of course, didn't come close to matching the success of "Love Song".

But sooner or later, all these three songs have to leave the chart someway, somehow.

[Topay]

Interesting story about Jesse/3DD. I think it could have worked a little differently as well.

Rick Dees would have just aired the segment and called "Leavin" #1 that week (perhaps even with the song still on the countdown - heck, I'll never forget how they put "Bright Lights" in 2 spots on one of the Year-Ends).

AT20 wouldn't play a countdown song a second time as a fan letter, so they'd either air the letter right before the countdown song or play "Leavin" and mention it "was the #1 song on the Pop chart".

[Battle601]

Apr 5, 2009 23:12:37 GMT -5 Hervard said:

The last optional extra was indeed "It's Not My Time" by 3 Doors Down. Here is why: Ryan read a letter from a listener who said she'd had a baby back in August and was wondering what the number one song in the country was that week. While over on Pop it was "Leavin'" by Jesse McCartney, the number one song at Hot AC the week her kid was born was "It's Not My Time" by 3 Doors Down. I guess they didn't want to wait for the song to fall off the chart (because who knows when that's gonna be). However, they could have mentioned the 3 Doors Down song and then played "Leavin'", maybe saying in passing that it was debuting on the chart that week (because on the only chart on which "It's Not My Time" was number one, the song was indeed making its first appearance). Or they could have had him reading the letter going into #37, and just played "Leavin'" as Hour 4's optional extra without any dialogue.

Anyway, we should probably expect the song to be the biggest mover on the chart in the next few weeks.

I was looking back at the charts from previous months on this thread, and this is what I found:

For the week of August 16-17, 2008 "It's Not My Time" was the #1 song on the Hot AC version of the AT40. It was #1 for only that one week. Also, "Leavin'" debuted at #38 on that very same chart while it was #1 on CHR.

As I understand it, these optional extra segments air on both (Hot AC and CHR) versions of the AT40 (but again not all stations choose to play the songs selected), usually at the bottom of the hour, and the same exact songs during the four hours. So on Hot AC, "Teardrops on My Guitar" was played in Hour 1, whereas over on CHR, it was played during Hour 4. The other songs in Hour 2 and 3 stayed the same. The optional extra for one of the hours was reserved for that #1 song (in CHR and Hot AC) during the week in question. Over on CHR, "Leavin'" was played in Hour 1, while on Hot AC, "It's Not My Time" got pushed back to Hour 4 since it was still charting at #37 and it would be odd to hear the song played twice during the same hour.

I remember when my station used to play optional AT40 extras whenever there was time at the bottom of the hour, Ryan would read requests from listeners, where they are from and on the station that they are listening to the countdown. My station has since stopped doing this opting for inserts of other songs to fill the remaining airtime available, but I digress...

The way I see it, that all depends on where the listener is from, the station in her area carrying the AT40, and which version.

If her station carries the Hot AC chart, then like others have suggested, they should have aired the segment going into #37 with "Leavin'" reserved for Hour 4 without dialogue in order to avoid hearing the same song twice during the countdown.

Or they could have stuck with the same order of optional extras like CHR, and at the end of Hour 1, before playing the song, not only briefly mention that "Leavin'" was the #1 song on CHR, but also add the following insert: "It's Not My Time" by 3 Doors Down which you just heard back at #37 was the #1 song on Hot AC, so we'll be playing the #1 song on CHR which was "Leavin'", etc."

If her station airs the CHR version, then however it aired this weekend is fine, since "Leavin'" is no longer on the chart.

I'm not entirely sure about Rick Dees, since I haven't heard his whole countdown in its entirety for quite some time, but I recall his tendency to skip a song or two if it's falling down.

[Hervard]

Apr 6, 2009 14:03:26 GMT -5 Battle601 said:

Besides "Paralyzer", I think "I'll Keep Your Memory Vague" would have been a great follow-up single for Finger Eleven from their recent album. Being less upbeat and loud from"Paralyzer", this single could have performed well like it did in Canada and at the very least, have the same level of success as "One Thing" did in 2003. Can anyone confirm this single ever charting inside the Top 40 or Top 50 on Hot AC? And if so, where did it peak?

With Colbie, I agree. "Realize" didn't do too badly that it was able to reach Top 5 but after peaking, it quickly faded. "The Little Things" didn't have the same luck - it started out fast but then peaked too quickly and fizzled, even though it reached Top 20 on Hot AC. One can only go so long wanting to hear "Bubbly" - it's almost going to be two years now since it first came out, and my station barely plays it anymore - at most, once a week.

And on the subject of songs overwelcoming their stay, the same effect with Colbie Caillat appears to be happening with Sara Bareilles. Presumably, "Love Song" is still getting numerous spins even under recurrent status. Her follow-up single "Bottle It Up" went on to become a Top 20 hit on Hot AC. Like "Realize", it lasted long enough on the charts to get recurrent honors, but of course, didn't come close to matching the success of "Love Song".

You know, I had forgotten that "Realize" did so well on the charts. I think maybe I was thinking of both "The Little Things" and "Bottle It Up", although the latter is by a different artist. It's just that both "Love Song" and "Bubbly" were such monster hits by new artists and I got the two blurred together.

[johnnywest]

Apr 6, 2009 18:48:47 GMT -5 Battle601 said:

I'm not entirely sure about Rick Dees, since I haven't heard his whole countdown in its entirety for quite some time, but I recall his tendency to skip a song or two if it's falling down.

A few weeks ago, Rick Dees stopedplaying optionals and now he was something called "bonus tracks" (usually former #1 songs). Since then, he hasn't skipped over any songs.