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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2006 > December > 21 > Entry
12/22: Taylor has zero radio airplay
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I earlier reported Taylor (No. 2 debut, 298K), Carrie (No. 6, 199K, 4.19 mil total), Fantasia (No. 19, 133K) and Chris (No. 7, 181K, 795K total) stats. Here are some more, courtesy of the man with the SoundScan stats, Ken Barnes at Idol Chatter, plus additional stats I gleaned off Mediabase 24/7 radio airplay. While radio airplay doesn’t correlate as strongly to sales anymore, they still matter to a significant degree in terms of keeping a record in the public’s eye.
Kellie Pickler keeps chugging along, moving up to 52 from 56 and another 45K sold. She’s now sold a respectable 274K. Clay is up to 119 from 124 with 19K sold and 460K total. He’ll reach 500K but not much more than that at this stage with no radio airplay and no major tour forthcoming. Ruben, even with a No. 1 R&B AC single, looks like he’s in trouble, ranked at No. 192 and 9,700 sold for a total of 166K. It’ll be interesting to see what his second single will be (if there is even a second single) to help revive his sales hopes.
On the singles chart (according to Mediabase 24/7), Daughtry’s “It’s Not Over” (in less than a month) jumps to No. 27 on the top 40 charts, No. 19 on Hot AC, No. 28 on active rock, No. 47 on alternative and No. 22 on mainstream rock charts. Top 40 is clearly embracing the song and it’s on a trajectory for an easy top 10. Star 94 has given it 29 spins in the past week while Q100 has given it 34 in its first week out on that station. It’s a far better song than, say, “The Real Thing,” Bo Bice’s single, which cracked the top 20 earlier this year. If the momentum keeps up, Daughtry’s CD will see its sales fly well past 1.5 million by March and two million by June.
Taylor doesn’t have a single out for some odd reason. I guess there’s no place to place his music. He’s getting seriously zero airplay from his current CD—not a single track from his CD was traced at all on any radio station that Mediabase 24/7 keeps up with the past week. And that’s probably hurt his first-week sales and may mean he will have trouble selling much more than 1 million copies. Will his label find a home for one of his songs somewhere? I think “Runaround” could go to AC and Hot AC.
Kellie’s single “Red High Heels” edges up to No. 19 on the country chart from 20, with 1,734 spins, up from 1,601 a week earlier. The single has been out about three months and has a passable chance of going top 10. She’s the third Idol to hit the top 20 on the country chart after Carrie and Josh Gracin. Kicks played it 13 times, down from 16 a week earlier and has spun it 155 times since Sept. 12. If the single keeps gaining strength, 400K is not out of the question for her. And its success virtually guarantees the label will support a second single.
Fantasia’s “Hood Boy” moves up to 24 from 27 on the urban charts (963 spins, up from 916 a week earlier) and 52 from 62 on rhtyhmic top 40 (that’s like 95.5/The Beat). It’s showing steady progress and could go top 10. V-103 played it 13 times, down from 20 a week earlier (112 total spins since October 30). Hot 107.9 played it only twice. If the single builds, Fantasia’s sales won’t drop off the way Clay’s and Ruben’s have. I expect she’ll get a second single and video.
Ruben’s single “Change Me” has been spun 12 times by 102.5 and 4 times by V-103 the past week. V-103 has played it about 200 times since July while 102.5 has done the same since August. The song peaked out on the urban charts a few weeks ago at No. 30 and is down to 42. He is still at No. 1 on the less influential urban AC charts (1628 spins vs. 1613 a week earlier).
Comments
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By rocker
December 22, 2006 8:22 AM | Link to this
Not surprising……That’s not a rip to Taylor, but it’s just that his style doesn’t fit into any of the prefab niches that corporate radio has become. He’s too country for pop, too rock for country….and not pop enough for either one —- There is just no radio format for a blues/soul/country/rock performer these days…..same reason you rarely here great artists like Delbert McClinton, John Hiatt, Steve Earle, etc. on the radio. In my opinion Taylor’s best bet (if he wants to be a major star) would be to go the country route – he might make it there if he skewed his music in that direction.
By Tim in Augusta
December 22, 2006 9:42 AM | Link to this
Rodney - I agree with you that “Runaround” would work just fine on Adult Contemporary stations, especially since it reminds people of 80’s/Billy Joel tracks. Even people who don’t care for Idol or know or respect Taylor would probably dig this tune if they heard it on AC.
I’ve noticed at GrayCharles.com, if anyone calls “Runaround” “the first single”, we are reminded that the single hasn’t been chosen yet. I can’t imagine why that is. They really should have released it weeks ago (it has been available streaming for a while now on Hicks’ Myspace page) to promote the release of the album - and since he was singing that all over the TV talk-show circuit, that seems like perfect synergy to me. Also, with the national tour tickets now selling, they could have provided AC radio stations with sets of tickets, thus getting it talked up and probably some airplay as well.
I am probably naive, but I believe Taylor when I hear him say he’s just happy to have the record out and to be going on tour (implying that numbers and financial success aren’t as important). However, I just can’t believe that he wouldn’t understand that getting his music played on the radio and his CD sold would get more people excited abotu seeing him live (now and for years to come).
By Tim in Augusta
December 22, 2006 10:12 AM | Link to this
…as I catch up on my RSS feeds from the last 36 hours, I came across a GrayCharles.com post officially stating that there will be no single for Taylor in 2006. http://www.graycharles.com/index.php/2006/12/21/singles-going-steady/
“The Holidays are simply too difficult a time to do an effective job with this.” OK, Gray, whatever you say.
By Caroline
December 22, 2006 10:16 AM | Link to this
Taylor should consider an alternative/blues direction. Forget about the teeny boppers and move into a more rarified albeit smaller niche. That way, he can still make the music that he likes and find the right, albeit smaller, audience for where he wants to go.
By No Suprises Here
December 22, 2006 11:45 AM | Link to this
Is anyone ACTUALLY surprised???!!!! Middle-aged dumb*sses everywhere voted for him out of popularity and NOT the ability to market his music!! It sucked then. It sucks now. Is anyone surprised at Chris’ success???!!! Shouldn’t be. But thank god he didn’t win AI or he would be doing cheesy music. It ruined Bo Bice. But then again…did it really? Bo was another artist who appealed only to middle agers because that was the genre he sang best…70’s rock! ROCK ON CHRIS!!!
By Idol
December 22, 2006 2:36 PM | Link to this
I think Taylor’s label might be deciding on a single and waiting until after Christmas to release it because right now radio stations aren’t doing much adding of new songs, and they are playing a lot of Christmas music. I believe Daughtry’s single was released 2 weeks after the album dropped.
Every song on Daughtry is great and it’s rocking the charts. Should remain a best selling pop/rock album through 2007.
Every song on Kellie’s Small Town Girl is great and 400K sounds like an early or conservative estimate. Should remain a best selling country album through 2007.
By American Mother
December 22, 2006 7:01 PM | Link to this
I love Taylor AND Chris and wish them both the best and Kellie too!!!! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!!!