The Importance Of A #1 Country Song … Or Not

Every week, Country radio programmers are faced with it. As the week progresses, with that particular week’s “#1 push” – there’s that drive to get a song to the top of the Country charts. Before I get into this, though, I have seen how important a #1 song is from the artist point of view … and that’s not confined to new artists. I have experienced the joy from many an established artist for achieving another #1!

On the radio side, the push to #1 for a song is a necessary weekly “evil” in the Country programmer’s life, plain and simple. But as much as that #1 song benefits the label and the artist, what does it really do for the radio station?

The only way you can measure the benefit of a #1 song for a radio station is if it continues to play on that station well after its chart life. Several years back, during my programming days at WGH-FM/Norfolk, VA and, later, at WKDF/Nashville, we periodically checked just that. At both stations we went back seven or eight years (we allowed two years for currents and recurrents), and took a period of five years to see the percentage of #1 songs we were still playing. These are tunes that have survived various music tests, callout and national research and continued to be played.

In both Norfolk and Nashville, the results were almost the same. From 2007 to 2012 at WGH-FM, of the #1 songs during that time, we were still playing 42% of them in 2015. From 2012 to 2017 at WKDF, of those #1 songs during that time, we were still playing 45% of them in 2019 into 2020.

Radio stations are not even playing half of the songs that reached #1. Not a glowing testament to getting to #1 on the chart, is it?

Honestly, how many times is there a push for #1 on a song because it’s the natural progression and NOT because it’s a huge hit? And how often do we see a song get to #1 and the following week drop eight or nine positions on the chart?

Occasionally, there IS the real #1. Case in point most recently, Jason Aldean’s “Trouble With A Heartbreak.” I will bet that Country radio will still be playing that song in five years.

I’m not here to belittle the #1 song by any means, but I am here to say what a lot of us in programming are thinking – it’s not as crucial to us as it is to everyone else in the format. As a matter of fact, it’s possible it could be taking the place of a better song in the rotation – possibly 50% of the time!

On top of all this, how many #1s were there in 2021? Out of 52 weeks, there were 40 #1s. Thankfully, 2021 was a year of the most multiple week #1s (five) in quite some time.

Country is the only format I have been part of that holds that #1 position in such high esteem. In my past experiences with CHR, a hit was a hit and chart position was secondary. What would happen if we let a song move organically up a chart without any influence? I would bet we would have a lot more multi-week #1s and a lot more lasting hits.

Are we devaluing the #1 song with this weekly push? Are we devaluing our own station playlist in the process? It’s a question the principals in our format need to answer honestly and completely, and address together!

“Taking Your Radio Presence To The Next Level. Be it an artist, radio programmer or on-air talent. Coaching and mentoring down to your foundational level”

Contact me:
John Shomby
Owner/CEO Country’s Radio Coach
jshomby@countrysradiocoach.com
757-323-1460
https://countrysradiocoach.com