• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Artists that seem to "drop off."

tall_guy1

tall_guy1

There's a lot of artists that seem to have kind of a limited lifespan on the radio. It seems like these artists have lackluster performances on the charts and are never heard from again. Here's some off the top of my head: Meghan Trainor (2014-16), Alessia Cara (2015-18), Tove Lo (2014-15, her 2016 singles barely had any traction at all), Daughtry (2007-2011). Is there a reason why artists just disappear? Do radio stations not want to play these artists anymore after a set of flops? I've checked and they all have released new music since.
 
Last edited:
There are many reasons. Some are simply "One hit wonders" where they make a song that becomes extremely popular because it's a bit of a fluke (I'm too Sexy by Right Said Fred, Gangnam Style by PSY) and that's all they're ever known for because it was just that - a fluke. In other cases an artist or group will have a song that becomes really popular and gets a lot of airplay, but nothing else they release reaches that popularity, either because it sounds too similar to their music that was already well-known or because their other releases just aren't as good. In other cases there are certain artists who's look and/or sound made them a very good fit for a certain era, but as musical tastes or the "sound" that's popular changes and evolves, they and their music get left behind.
 
It seems like this has always been true, which is where the term "one hit wonders" came from a long time ago.

An extreme example of this would be Debby Boone (Pat Boone's daughter). In 1977, she released a pop single ("You Light Up My Life") that went to number one and stayed there for 10 weeks. She had two more singles released within a year of that one, neither of which broke the Top 40, and never broke the Hot 100 again. There are plenty of similar stories out there from other decades, as well. I think it is the nature of the pop radio that it is song-driven more than artist-driven, and some artists just have a limited number of hits in them.
 
tall_guy1 said:
Do radio stations not want to play these artists anymore after a set of flops? I've checked and they all have released new music since.
Click to expand...

Fair question and as noted, there are lots of reasons. Typically what happens is an artist has some hits, goes on tour, and finds that most of their time and energy is spent on the tour. It's also where they make most of their money. So a couple years pass, the record label asks for the next album, and the artist hasn't had much time to work on it. As a result the follow-up is a flop. You can only go to the well so many times. The label releases the "long-awaited follow up," and if it doesn't get as much attention, they're viewed as a has-been. Pop music has a short shelf life. There are lots of new up & comers waiting to take your spot if your next song stinks.

Sometimes an artist only signs a short-term deal and the deal ends before they can have more hits. Or worse, there's a shake-up at the record label, so the team that signed and promoted the hits from the artist gets fired, and the new regime isn't as motivated to promote the new music. So the next album falls into a black hole.

But radio loves playing familiar artists if they deliver hits. If they don't have hits, radio looks for someone else. The artists can tour off those hits for the rest of their lives. In Meghan Trainor's case, she's also written hits for others. Sometimes a hit artist can continue to connect that way, by writing or producing hits for others.
 
In my post above I mentioned Gangnam Style by PSY. It should be noted that his personal take from sales, appearances, social media, live performances, etc. from that song alone was about $30M. That's obviously not typical, but yeah, the guy had a "one hit wonder" in his mid-30s but was then set for life financially if he wished to be. I think that sometimes happens with other bands and artists - They'll get in, crank out a good amount of hits, do some concerts and touring and then they don't really need to work after that if they don't wish to, or they're free to pursue other projects that are meaningful to them, or they may be interested in working in other areas of the business - writing, producing, etc,

There are a few smaller venues (casinos) near me that feature concerts by artists who peaked in the 80s and 90s, including some rock groups from back in the day. While some of those groups and singers may still be touring and performing because they need the money or have other reasons they must continue, I think others do it simply because they still enjoy it. They enjoy performing, they like the rush they get from working in front of a live audience, they get a kick out of the fact that people still line up for their autographs and as long as it's only maybe a few dozen dates or less per year, it's not a real burden on them, their families or their time. The set lists and choreography are most likely the same as they've used for years, so rehearsals most likely aren't needed often.
 
Last edited:
tall_guy1 said:
Do radio stations not want to play these artists anymore after a set of flops? I've checked and they all have released new music since.
Click to expand...
In general, radio stations don't "want" to play songs. They play them because they believe, due to research, sales, streams and other data, that their listeners want to hear them.

Some songs have a longer lifespan than others. Some are hits, and then listeners just don't want to hear them again. Novelty songs are the best example... who really wants to hear Gagnam Style today? But some other songs just have no long life and when tested by stations, show up as negative.
 
tall_guy1 said:
Tove Lo (2014-15, her 2016 singles barely had any traction at all),
Click to expand...

Tove Lo is primarily a Swedish artist. Her only US hit was "Habits," that peaked at #3. She's never had a US #1. During the two years you noted, she was an international artist, with her songs charting in US, Canada, Denmark, Australia, UK, Belgium, UK, and other European countries. Then she had vocal issues. In 2016, she did a duet with Nick Jonas that didn't even go Top 10. After that, her only airplay has been in Sweden. If you can't have a hit with Nick Jonas, perhaps there's a problem.

www.bbc.com

How Tove Lo survived a brush with death making her second album

Tove Lo is back with her second album after a "rollercoaster" two years, in which she shot to fame, lost her voice and had a brush with death.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
DavidEduardo said:
In general, radio stations don't "want" to play songs. They play them because they believe, due to research, sales, streams and other data, that their listeners want to hear them.

Some songs have a longer lifespan than others. Some are hits, and then listeners just don't want to hear them again. Novelty songs are the best example... who really wants to hear Gagnam Style today? But some other songs just have no long life and when tested by stations, show up as negative.
Click to expand...
Isn't there another issue here is that the music labels have to lower their median demo's every time. I know in recent years there has been more hype by the labels surrounding Billie Ellish, BTS and Olivia Rodrigo as part of a ploy to market their albums and concerts to Gen Z. Not sure how that will be viable for now but thats a wait and see for the rest of the decade.
 
tall_guy1 said:
There's a lot of artists that seem to have kind of a limited lifespan on the radio. It seems like these artists have lackluster performances on the charts and are never heard from again. Here's some off the top of my head: Meghan Trainor (2014-16), Alessia Cara (2015-18), Tove Lo (2014-15, her 2016 singles barely had any traction at all), Daughtry (2007-2011). Is there a reason why artists just disappear? Do radio stations not want to play these artists anymore after a set of flops? I've checked and they all have released new music since.
Click to expand...
Music labels have to lower the demo and find new talent to remain viable in the long term. This always happened. One can go back to the 2000's and the same thing happened Rob Thomas along with the Matchbox 20 crew they were big in the late 1990's to 2005, Michelle Branch she was big from 2001-2005, Norah Jones same time frame 2001-2005.

Although there are ones that defined the entire decade like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran,Katy Perry, Bruno Mars and Justin Bieber these five artists are ones that defined 2010's pop but that's a rare feat.

Alicia Keys, Train, Maroon 5 and Beyonce they defined pop in the 2000's.
 
TexasTom said:
It seems like this has always been true, which is where the term "one hit wonders" came from a long time ago.

An extreme example of this would be Debby Boone (Pat Boone's daughter). In 1977, she released a pop single ("You Light Up My Life") that went to number one and stayed there for 10 weeks. She had two more singles released within a year of that one, neither of which broke the Top 40, and never broke the Hot 100 again.
Click to expand...
She had brief (1978-80) success on country radio after that, including a No. 1 single in "Are You On the Road to Lovin' Me Again" and two others that made the top 15.
 
CTListener said:
She had brief (1978-80) success on country radio after that, including a No. 1 single in "Are You On the Road to Lovin' Me Again" and two others that made the top 15.
Click to expand...

Debbie Boone was signed by Mike Curb. He also owns a country label, so he was very loyal to her after her pop success ended. When Curb signed LeAnn Rimes in the 90s, he then had her sing "You Light Up My Life" as a country song. It stiffed in the 40s.
 
TheBigA said:
Debbie Boone was signed by Mike Curb. He also owns a country label, so he was very loyal to her after her pop success ended. When Curb signed LeAnn Rimes in the 90s, he then had her sing "You Light Up My Life" as a country song. It stiffed in the 40s.
Click to expand...
Debbie never seemed to find a spot in any top 40 station's recurrent or gold library
 
gr8oldies said:
Didn't we have a guy on here telling us Debbie should still be played on Classic Hits today because it was #1 for 117 weeks in 1977?
Click to expand...
Lol, if I'm not mistaken it was someone who thought every song that charted well back in the day should be considered for airplay on classic hits stations, and a few RD regulars listed a number of songs that were #1 for a time but that no one would most likely want to hear on the radio in 2022. You light up my Life I believe was on that list.
 
TheBigA said:
The testing is just atrocious. LeAnn was pretty hot in 1997 with her debut album and all the buzz around her. Recording "You Light Up My Life" as a country song stopped her momentum.
Click to expand...
I heard it once on a supermarket chain's background music, stopped my in my tracks. This would have been about five years ago. Could this song still be OK on Muzak-type playlists?
 
TexasTom said:
It seems like this has always been true, which is where the term "one hit wonders" came from a long time ago.

An extreme example of this would be Debby Boone (Pat Boone's daughter). In 1977, she released a pop single ("You Light Up My Life") that went to number one and stayed there for 10 weeks.
Click to expand...
That song is not lost. Someone put it away for a reason.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom