Adam Lambert - Whataya Want From Me

[StarSprinkles]

IIHY and Sleepwalker are Adam's best shot at a Top 5 IMO. Anything between Top 20 and Top 5 for WWFM would be a victory for WWFM, especially considering he was coming off of FYE, and also considering that it will probably be the most airplay an openly gay man has likely ever received on pop radio, until Adam tops himself again ;)

I actually think that "Down the Rabbit Hole" would have been amazing on the radio, but it's a bonus track unfortunately. You can hear it here:

Adam Lambert - Down the Rabbit Hole

[Libra]

Jan 18, 2010 12:44:34 GMT -5 StarSprinkles said:

IIHY and Sleepwalker are Adam's best shot at a Top 5 IMO. Anything between Top 20 and Top 5 for WWFM would be a victory for WWFM, especially considering he was coming off of FYE, and also considering that it will probably be the most airplay an openly gay man has likely ever received on pop radio, until Adam tops himself again ;)

In the modern era, anyway...

[onefrayedrepublic]

Jan 17, 2010 18:10:21 GMT -5 P!nkch TheO™ said:

This is a future #1 hit on pop radio. no worries.

You can get sent to mental hospitals for saying stuff like that.

[StarSprinkles]

Well I thought Party in the USA was the most wretched song ever written, and it got to #2 on Pop. Anything is possible.

[Kworb]

Quickly climbing up again on iTunes, #35 now (was #43 earlier). And Oprah's still to come :)

[Rurry]

Yeah, but Party in the USA is much more radio-friendly than this and it was coming from an artist who just had a top 5 hit, not a new artist trying to redeem themselves from a flop first single. This would have to randomly start smashing up the charts to go to #1, which I don't see happening. It's having enough trouble managing to crack the top 30, nevermind hitting #1...

[kaetsa]

Jan 18, 2010 12:18:50 GMT -5 foxxden said:

I'm surprised the one OHP spin last night didn't help more in today's update as it received 0 OHP spins last week.

OHP had 11 stations listed last night at 10:30 when they played WWFM, not the 25-30 spins from a Saturday night.

Jan 18, 2010 13:27:58 GMT -5 Rurry said:

Yeah, but Party in the USA is much more radio-friendly than this and it was coming from an artist who just had a top 5 hit, not a new artist trying to redeem themselves from a flop first single. This would have to randomly start smashing up the charts to go to #1, which I don't see happening.

So if I'm reading this thread correctly, Adam's a new artist when it comes to a possible hit song with radio, however, when it's time to slam album sales, he's coming off AI and can't be considered a new artist and sales should be compared to established artists. It really gets confusing for a newbie to know when it's proper to refer/compare him as a new artist and when to refer/compare him to established artists. Any help here would be appreciated.

[StarSprinkles]

I'm glad to see it stabilizing on iTunes. It was in the 80's last week and it's been in the 30's (and a couple of times at #40) all this week. That's a great jump! The music video certainly did its' job and then some.

[Rurry]

Jan 18, 2010 13:32:44 GMT -5 kaetsa said:

Jan 18, 2010 12:18:50 GMT -5 foxxden said:

I'm surprised the one OHP spin last night didn't help more in today's update as it received 0 OHP spins last week.

OHP had 11 stations listed last night at 10:30 when they played WWFM, not the 25-30 spins from a Saturday night.

Jan 18, 2010 13:27:58 GMT -5 Rurry said:

Yeah, but Party in the USA is much more radio-friendly than this and it was coming from an artist who just had a top 5 hit, not a new artist trying to redeem themselves from a flop first single. This would have to randomly start smashing up the charts to go to #1, which I don't see happening.

So if I'm reading this thread correctly, Adam's a new artist when it comes to a possible hit song with radio, however, when it's time to slam album sales, he's coming off AI and can't be considered a new artist and sales should be compared to established artists. It really gets confusing for a newbie to know when it's proper to refer/compare him as a new artist and when to refer/compare him to established artists. Any help here would be appreciated.

CHR is different than album sales, it's all about previous hits & momentum on CHR. The more hits you have, the more credibility you have and the more willing they are to jump on your songs. Obviously, Idol contestants have an advantage over most new artists though because people already know who they are, but that doesn't mean CHR will play your songs based off your name (although they did for some Idols, but that wasn't the case for any of this year's crop).

But when it comes down to it, they're all new artists, they just have a sales advantage for the first few weeks because of their Idol fanbase. After that, they have to appeal to the public just like any other new artist would.

[P!nkch TheO™]

Jan 18, 2010 13:12:51 GMT -5 onefrayedrepublic said:

Jan 17, 2010 18:10:21 GMT -5 P!nkch TheO™ said:

This is a future #1 hit on pop radio. no worries.

You can get sent to mental hospitals for saying stuff like that.

yeah? i am looking forward to quote this again in a couple of months. :)

[StarSprinkles]

Yeah and a lot of times radio hits don't necessarily move albums. See Sean, Jay and Clarkson, Kelly. Great radio artists, but for as much radio play as they have, they can't move albums to save their life.

[Rurry]

Yeah Jay Sean's problem is obviously the opposite of Adam, radio loves him but he doesn't have a set following to help him move albums.

[Kworb]

I think what hurt Kelly was that My December was such a bad album. Coming off the 6x platinum masterpiece Breakaway, her fans were probably really disappointed with that one. And she hasn't yet regained their trust. IDNHU this era also didn't help.

[poptartz]

WWFM is good enough to crack the Top 10 imo. It's just a question of how much Adam's sexuality will hold him back. It's concerning that Cumulus hasn't jumped on this yet.

[Kworb]

If it stalls, I don't think we can blame his sexuality. That might've been an argument if it peaked outside of the top 50. But the song has a legitimate shot now.

[StarSprinkles]

Radio is still run by heterosexual males, and that won't change. We can't ever know how well he will or won't do, as there really is no precedent for him-MAYBE Ferras, but that's it.

Does anyone know where on Pop "Hollywood's Not America" peaked? I know where it peaked on the Hot 100, but not on airplay

IMO, I think that the WWFM video was extremely clever. RCA managed to make an Adam music video about a relationship without ever showing his lover, therefore avoiding showing his "gay."

[jink]

Jan 18, 2010 14:32:33 GMT -5 StarSprinkles said:

Does anyone know where on Pop "Hollywood's Not America" peaked? I know where it peaked on the Hot 100, but not on airplay

www2.uta.edu/hunt/charts/ferras.htm

[StarSprinkles]

Wow. WWFM is very close to surpassing Hollywood's Not America in chart position. Interesting. Also interesting is that Adam and Ferras are very close friends.

This is from about a week ago:

[poptartz]

Jan 18, 2010 14:21:23 GMT -5 Kworb said:

If it stalls, I don't think we can blame his sexuality. That might've been an argument if it peaked outside of the top 50. But the song has a legitimate shot now.

Yeah but when you have an entire block of stations ignoring a song that appears to fit in with their playlists perfectly, you have to wonder.

Now granted, Cumulus isn't the be all, end all, but having them on board would help.

[brb]

Jan 18, 2010 14:21:23 GMT -5 Kworb said:

If it stalls, I don't think we can blame his sexuality. That might've been an argument if it peaked outside of the top 50. But the song has a legitimate shot now.

That's not true, just because there are PDs that are smart enough to recognize the quality of this song and spin it and add this as they should, doesn't mean there aren't other PDs out there that won't add this song even when it enters the top 20 only due to his sexuality. Adam is the first openly gay artist and I think the radio still doesn't know how to accept that and still hasn't given him the chance he desevers, but hopefully this will change soon.

Jan 18, 2010 12:18:50 GMT -5 foxxden said:

I'm surprised the one OHP spin last night didn't help more in today's update as it received 0 OHP spins last week.

Many stations like WIHT spin OHP during Sundays only in the first two hours. By the time OHP spinned WWFM less stations remained, so I personally think most of the update yesterday comes from stations spins and not from OHP.

[Maximillian]

Jan 18, 2010 13:51:33 GMT -5 StarSprinkles said:

Yeah and a lot of times radio hits don't necessarily move albums. See Sean, Jay and Clarkson, Kelly. Great radio artists, but for as much radio play as they have, they can't move albums to save their life.

Kelly is moving albums just fine... maybe not as much as her 6x platinum debut, but none the less, shes not going anywhere anytime soon. Its like Britney Spears... look at her album sales and they have steadily dropped. Her company relies on her selling singles now and booking sold out tours more then anything else.

The person WHO REALLY IS IN TROUBLE is Jordin Sparks. Poor thing, i love her personally, but she cant sell an album if her life depended on it. Shes sold 1.2m copies of Battlefield (single) which is great, but has only sold 162k copies of her new CD... pathetic. She might get another album out, because of strong single sales, but if she doesnt do better shes done for....

[Kworb]

Jan 18, 2010 14:41:19 GMT -5 poptartz said:

Jan 18, 2010 14:21:23 GMT -5 Kworb said:

If it stalls, I don't think we can blame his sexuality. That might've been an argument if it peaked outside of the top 50. But the song has a legitimate shot now.

Yeah but when you have an entire block of stations ignoring a song that appears to fit in with their playlists perfectly, you have to wonder.

Now granted, Cumulus isn't the be all, end all, but having them on board would help.

Cumulus is pretty much right in the middle when it comes to Top 40 radio. WWFM is not even top 30 yet, there's hardly anything suspect about them not having added it. Also, that Ferras song got a lot of support from Cumulus, though I don't think anyone knew he was gay back then.

[StarSprinkles]

Ferras has always been openly gay. He never hid it.

[P!nkch TheO™]

Jan 18, 2010 15:05:20 GMT -5 StarSprinkles said:

Ferras has always been openly gay. He never hid it.

the difference is that nobody knows who the guy is. :)

[grey]

Nobody will ever convince me that PD's are sitting around saying "I won't add WWFM because Adam is gay".

[Ragin]

Jan 18, 2010 16:42:13 GMT -5 grey said:

Nobody will ever convince me that PD's are sitting around saying "I won't add WWFM because Adam is gay".

Really? I wasn't aware of a block of stations that didn't play Elton John. Culture Club, or Erasure.

Have you ever considered there is a fair number of people that just don't like his music?

And if you sense opposition to Adam, I'd suggest it has more to do with his lude behavior on stage and less to do with his sexual orientation.

You might have a point with someone like Clay where is target audience isn't very receptive to that, but in the Pop world, that just isn't an issue.

[grey]

Jan 18, 2010 16:47:20 GMT -5 Ragin said:

Jan 18, 2010 16:42:13 GMT -5 grey said:

Nobody will ever convince me that PD's are sitting around saying "I won't add WWFM because Adam is gay".

Really? I wasn't aware of a block of stations that didn't play Elton John. Culture Club, or Erasure.

Have you ever considered there is a fair number of people that just don't like his music?

And if you sense opposition to Adam, I'd suggest it has more to do with his lude behavior on stage and less to do with his sexual orientation.

You might have a point with someone like Clay where is target audience isn't very receptive to that, but in the Pop world, that just isn't an issue.

Your reply has me confused because I said I DO NOT believe that Adam's sexual preference is the reason PD's haven't added. I DO believe opposition may exist due to his lewd stage act. And I am of the opinion that there are plenty of people who just don't like his music and this is also why not all stations are adding or spinning. But your first comment regarding a block of stations contradicts everything else.

[Ragin]

Jan 18, 2010 16:55:11 GMT -5 grey said:

Jan 18, 2010 16:47:20 GMT -5 Ragin said:

Really? I wasn't aware of a block of stations that didn't play Elton John. Culture Club, or Erasure.

Have you ever considered there is a fair number of people that just don't like his music?

And if you sense opposition to Adam, I'd suggest it has more to do with his lude behavior on stage and less to do with his sexual orientation.

You might have a point with someone like Clay where is target audience isn't very receptive to that, but in the Pop world, that just isn't an issue.

Your reply has me confused because I said I DO NOT believe that Adam's sexual preference is the reason PD's haven't added. I DO believe opposition may exist due to his lewd stage act. And I am of the opinion that there are plenty of people who just don't like his music and this is also why not all stations are adding or spinning. But your first comment regarding a block of stations contradicts everything else.

Wow. Sorry, I totally misread that. So many of his fans and quite frankly, Adam himself seem to want people to buy into that and I responded. My mistake.

My first comment was that there was NOT a block of stations that refused to play those artists, and I suspect there is not a block of stations now that won't play him just because of sexual orientation.

We are in agreement, I just misread your post.

sorry.

[grey]

haha, ok gotcha. Yes, we ARE on the same page.

[StarSprinkles]

It'll be interesting to watch Melissa Etheridge's climb on the charts with her new song out "Fearless Love", and compare it to that of Adam's chart rise. I'm actually looking forward to that. Hers was the last big radio hit any openly gay artist has had, and that was 14 years ago now. WWFM and Fearless Love are both charting right now on HAC.