American Top 40 (Hot AC) - August 22-23, 2009

[Battle601]

I begin this week's posting with the following:

35 34 (100) Sara Bareilles - Love Song

SARA BAREILLES' "LOVE SONG" HAS OFFICIALLY REACHED 100 WEEKS!
:o ??? :)

It just seems so wrong, unusual, and yet exciting all at the same time posting something like this. As far as I know, not even a song on any chart, even the Billboard Hot 100 has carried on for this long. I still find this hard to believe but at the same time figured that it would eventtually happen. Personally, as glad as I am to see this song reach the century mark at last, and given how long we waited, I think it's time to let this song finally retire after this week.

It's going to be a while before someone else will at least tie or shatter this crazy record, although Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" could be the next in line to do so. Worth noting is that this song now holds the record for the most weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 at 70 weeks.

"Lovegame" is a breakout this week...yeah, it won't go far. I doubt that it will even move much. The song is already losing spins. And "99 Times" is an extra - three weeks later.

Rob Thomas earns a second week at #1 with "Her Diamonds".

AT40 is showing much of the same pattern we've seen over the past few weeks, with many of the recurrent songs in the #20s repeating that cycle of moving up a spot or two, then back down, then up, then down, whereas more of the new current charting songs that fall take a quick nosedive into the #30s and fall off the charts, although some have stalled. The #30s is also cluttered with songs that seriously need to leave (Love Song, Love Remains The Same, Gotta Be Somebody). Songs like "Smile" and "Already Gone" will be making an impact in the upcoming weeks.

Off this week's chart:
37 Beyoncé - Halo (9 weeks)
39 The Script - The Man Who Can't Be Moved (17 weeks)

LW TW Wks Title - Artist
EX 40 (01) Linkin Park - New Divide
33 39 (08) Coldplay - Life In Technicolor II
BR 38 (01) Jordin Sparks - Battlefield
34 37 (19) Carolina Liar - Show Me What I'm Looking For
38 36 (65) Gavin Rossdale - Love Remains The Same
32 35 (26) Plain White T's - 1, 2, 3, 4
35 34 (100) Sara Bareilles - Love Song
25 33 (13) Kelly Clarkson - I Do Not Hook Up
40 32 (02) Michael Franti & Spearhead - Say Hey (I Love You)
BREAKOUT (BR): Lady GaGa - Lovegame
36 31 (04) Collective Soul - Staring Down
OPTIONAL EXTRA: David Cook - Light On
29 30 (44) Nickelback - Gotta Be Somebody
31 29 (36) Taylor Swift - Love Story
30 28 (06) Safetysuit - Stay
28 27 (61) Coldplay - Viva La Vida
24 26 (44) Katy Perry - Hot 'N Cold
27 25 (30) Lady GaGa featuring Colby O'Donis and Akon - Just Dance
26 24 (55) O.A.R. - Shattered (Turn The Car Around)
23 23 (17) Lady GaGa - Poker Face
20 22 (29) Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You
EXTRA (EX): Kate Voegele - 99 Times
19 21 (66) Jason Mraz - I'm Yours
OPTIONAL EXTRA: Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats
18 20 (30) Pink - Sober
15 19 (27) Theory Of A Deadman - Not Meant To Be
21 18 (06) Green Day - 21 Guns
22 17 (03) Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling
17 16 (11) Parachute - She Is Love
14 15 (31) The All-American Rejects - Gives You Hell
10 14 (17) Miley Cyrus - The Climb
16 13 (15) Mat Kearney - Closer To Love
12 12 (36) The Fray - You Found Me
11 11 (11) The Fray - Never Say Never
OPTIONAL EXTRA: Rihanna featuring Jay-Z - Umbrella
13 10 (05) Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me
09 09 (07) Colbie Caillat - Fallin' For You
07 08 (10) Katy Perry - Waking Up In Vegas
08 07 (16) David Cook - Come Back To Me
06 06 (09) Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody
04 05 (18) Nickelback - If Today Was Your Last Day
05 04 (12) Daughtry - No Surprise
03 03 (18) Shinedown - Second Chance
OPTIONAL EXTRA: Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
02 02 (13) Pink - Please Don't Leave Me
01 01 (15) Rob Thomas - Her Diamonds (2nd week at #1)

[chartfreak]

I thought Madonna's Celebration would make an impact within the next two weeks, or am I not understanding the qualifications to be on the countdown?

[Hot AC Archiver]

"I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden spent 124 weeks on the Billboard AC chart. "Truly Madly Deeply" spent 123 weeks on. How long will it be before a song reaches these marks on AT40 HAC? :)

[Battle601]

Aug 22, 2009 12:55:13 GMT -5 chartfreak said:

I thought Madonna's Celebration would make an impact within the next two weeks, or am I not understanding the qualifications to be on the countdown?

Madonna's "Celebration" will eventually make an impact on the AT40. It just depends on how quickly it moves up the charts on Hot AC.

What happens here is that the AT40 chart heard each weekend is based on the official Mediabase charts from two weeks ago. It compiles the Top 40 songs on Hot AC, combining both the current songs with recurrents, which are ranked by individual spin totals. Hence, the reason why many songs with a run of 40+ weeks are still there.

Madonna's "Celebration" made its entry into the Top 50 this past week. The song will mark its first week on the Hot AC charts as of tomorrow somewhere in the mid-30s. In AT40 terms, that will be the first weekend of September.

But this is AT40 after all, and with recurrents filling out a portion of the countdown, that pretty much leaves out any current and upcoming songs sitting near or below the Top 25 (based on today's Mediabase update). This week's new AT40 entries from Jordin Sparks and Linkin Park are now making their way into the Top 20 on Mediabase, whereas two weeks ago they were in the mid-20s. This week's breakout from Lady GaGa and extra track from Kate Voegele are now in the mid-#20s whereas two weeks ago, they were in the high #20s. So even to make breakout status, a song would have to be at least above #30 on the chart.

Provided that Madonna continues to move up quickly in the next week or two at least into the Top 30, she could have the breakout track sometime early next month. Of course, it will still be quite the wait as she will have to get in line behind Uncle Kracker, Kelly Clarkson's new song, then there's Cobra Starship, Five for Fighting, Howie Day, and U2 among others given the two-week difference between charts and the long line of recurrents that are struggling to leave the chart.

[chartfreak]

Interesting, thanks for the detailed explanation. :)

[Battle601]

Aug 22, 2009 16:57:47 GMT -5 chartfreak said:

Interesting, thanks for the detailed explanation. :)

You're welcome!

BTW, just to get an idea of how the AT40 might look like next week, check out All Access by selecting Published (U.S.) for the panel, Hot AC for the format and 7-day report. Once the chart loads, select Currents & Recurrents and then sort them by this week's spins in descending order.
Notice that the published date is posted from one week ago.

Although several of the songs appearing there have since fallen from the AT40, the remaining songs more or less shape up what to expect on the chart. And notice that among the current songs, it only goes up to #23, with the rest of the chart being recurrent selections.

[musicfanpete]

Aug 22, 2009 19:26:46 GMT -5 Battle601 said:

Aug 22, 2009 16:57:47 GMT -5 chartfreak said:

Interesting, thanks for the detailed explanation. :)

You're welcome!

BTW, just to get an idea of how the AT40 might look like next week, check out All Access by selecting Published (U.S.) for the panel, Hot AC for the format and 7-day report. Once the chart loads, select Currents & Recurrents and then sort them by this week's spins in descending order.
Notice that the published date is posted from one week ago.

Although several of the songs appearing there have since fallen from the AT40, the remaining songs more or less shape up what to expect on the chart. And notice that among the current songs, it only goes up to #23, with the rest of the chart being recurrent selections.

Actually (though correct me if I'm wrong Purged) the previous week's Mediabase rankings would comprise next week's AT40 chart (8/29/09). The current rankings would comprise the AT40 chart for 9/5/09. And even with that in mind, this is not 100% accurate as I believe AT40 uses some sort of midweek chart. Notice how "I Gotta Feeling" moved to #17 this week. On the recurrent inclusive Mediabase Hot AC chart from two weeks ago, IGF was #19. The week after it moved up to #12. Therefore the data for the current AT40 chart was probably taken from one day in between the two Sundays the official Mediabase chart comes out. Nonetheless, the songs' peaks pretty much mirror the official charts.

[Battle601]

Aug 22, 2009 21:33:09 GMT -5 musicfanpete said:

Actually (though correct me if I'm wrong Purged) the previous week's Mediabase rankings would comprise next week's AT40 chart (8/29/09). The current rankings would comprise the AT40 chart for 9/5/09. And even with that in mind, this is not 100% accurate as I believe AT40 uses some sort of midweek chart. Notice how "I Gotta Feeling" moved to #17 this week. On the recurrent inclusive Mediabase Hot AC chart from two weeks ago, IGF was #19. The week after it moved up to #12. Therefore the data for the current AT40 chart was probably taken from one day in between the two Sundays the official Mediabase chart comes out. Nonetheless, the songs' peaks pretty much mirror the official charts.

Interesting...

If the AT40 applies a rolling chart during the week in between the two official Sunday Mediabase charts, that is actually news to me and you probably have it figured out a lot more than I do. Ever since I found out that the AT40 charts are based on Mediabase data and from two weeks ago, I always assumed they went with the official Sunday charts.

Indeed, last week's Mediabase rankings would comprise next week's AT40 chart whereas this week's would apply for the following week, hence the first week of September. I assume that later today, the published data will be for this weekend, as yesterday, it was still from last weekend.

With the recurrent songs included, one can compare and contrast the recent AT40 chart with the Top 50 Mediabase Hot AC chart. Then, by omitting mainly the recurrent songs that are no longer on AT40, that frees up few spots for other currents as potential breakouts/extras.

In the case of next week, only Uncle Kracker's single "Smile" appears so that leads me to believe it will be a breakout with "Lovegame" or "99 Times" entering with the other being an extra. And from there, "Life In Technicolor II" would automatically fall off, with "I Do Not Hook Up" being next in position.

[musicfanpete]

Aug 23, 2009 7:44:31 GMT -5 Battle601 said:

Aug 22, 2009 21:33:09 GMT -5 musicfanpete said:

Actually (though correct me if I'm wrong Purged) the previous week's Mediabase rankings would comprise next week's AT40 chart (8/29/09). The current rankings would comprise the AT40 chart for 9/5/09. And even with that in mind, this is not 100% accurate as I believe AT40 uses some sort of midweek chart. Notice how "I Gotta Feeling" moved to #17 this week. On the recurrent inclusive Mediabase Hot AC chart from two weeks ago, IGF was #19. The week after it moved up to #12. Therefore the data for the current AT40 chart was probably taken from one day in between the two Sundays the official Mediabase chart comes out. Nonetheless, the songs' peaks pretty much mirror the official charts.

Interesting...

If the AT40 applies a rolling chart during the week in between the two official Sunday Mediabase charts, that is actually news to me and you probably have it figured out a lot more than I do. Ever since I found out that the AT40 charts are based on Mediabase data and from two weeks ago, I always assumed they went with the official Sunday charts.

Indeed, last week's Mediabase rankings would comprise next week's AT40 chart whereas this week's would apply for the following week, hence the first week of September. I assume that later today, the published data will be for this weekend, as yesterday, it was still from last weekend.

With the recurrent songs included, one can compare and contrast the recent AT40 chart with the Top 50 Mediabase Hot AC chart. Then, by omitting mainly the recurrent songs that are no longer on AT40, that frees up few spots for other currents as potential breakouts/extras.

In the case of next week, only Uncle Kracker's single "Smile" appears so that leads me to believe it will be a breakout with "Lovegame" or "99 Times" entering with the other being an extra. And from there, "Life In Technicolor II" would automatically fall off, with "I Do Not Hook Up" being next in position.

Yeah that would make more sense to go with the Sunday charts, but apparently they don't. And as far as Kelly Clarkson being the next in position to drop off, well that will only serve to keep the likes of Sara Bareilles and other long running songs on even longer!

[Hervard]

Did Ryan mention (or has he mentioned in past weeks) how long "Love Song" has been on the chart?

[Battle601]

Aug 23, 2009 18:30:27 GMT -5 Hervard said:

Did Ryan mention (or has he mentioned in past weeks) how long "Love Song" has been on the chart?

Ryan mentioned about the run of "Love Song" on the chart a month ago when it broke Lifehouse's record, and again this weekend.