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Top 40 Ignoring Ella Langley

T

TheBigA

Radio Insight's Mason Keltner wrote about it two weeks ago, and now Barrett has a similar article. Why is Top 40 radio ignoring Choosin' Texas by Ella Langley? It makes no sense to me. The song has been #1 on the Hot 100 for weeks. Yes, I know the difference between the Hot 100 and the Airplay chart. But this is a time when radio needs to pay attention to the streamers. Choosin' Texas is a certified hit, and so is the follow up Be Her. It's not just the song. People love Ella and her story. Mason's observation is it's "adult-leaning." Guess what: The audience for CHR is adult leaning too. That's why stations are now playing so much 90s music. Here's a current song that fits the audience. Play it.

barrettmedia.com

Choosin' The Wrong Song: How Top 40 Radio Is Failing Ella Langley — And Itself

Every time you pass on Ella, you're actively choosing a lesser song, then wedging that lesser choice into an hour with 20 minutes of commercials, a weather report nobody needs because windows exist, and a traffic report nobody needs because we have Waze — and then wonder why your AQH is down.
barrettmedia.com barrettmedia.com

radioinsight.com

Mason’s Observations on Dominic Fike & Zara Larsson

View this post on Instagram
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com

I did the song analysis on Mediabase and found out why Choosin' Texas is underperforming in Top 40: Big city radio. The song is a smash in the south. The top spinner is in Charlotte. Of course it is. The biggest northern city playing this song in heavy is Pittsburgh. Where is Dallas and Houston? What's the name of this song? What am I missing?
 
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It's in the rotation at WGXL Hanover, NH, a Hot AC that is this market's de facto top 40 station. Last played 45 minutes ago, followed by songs by Ed Sheeran and Doja Cat. Looking at earlier songs played, I found Sam Hunt's "Body Like a Backroad." Guess that's in their gold library. Did it cross over to Hot AC or CHR when it was current?
 
CTListener said:
It's in the rotation at WGXL Hanover, NH, a Hot AC that is this market's de facto top 40 station. Last played 45 minutes ago, followed by songs by Ed Sheeran and Doja Cat.
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You bring up a good point: What about Hot AC? If the song is adult leaning, it should be doing better at Hot AC. So I looked, and it's Top 10 in Hot AC. But digging into the numbers, it's the same problem as CHR. It's regional. The top spinner is Lexington KY. No airplay at WNEW New York. But it is getting played at KHMX Houston.

CTListener said:
Did it cross over to Hot AC or CHR when it was current?
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Both. It peaked at #11 in CHR and was Top 10 Hot AC.
 
Perhaps programmers think it sounds "too country" for CHR. Remember the crossovers from yesteryear? Shania, Faith, and even FGL did not sound nearly as country as Ella.
 
AM-FM-DXer said:
Perhaps programmers think it sounds "too country" for CHR. Remember the crossovers from yesteryear? Shania, Faith, and even FGL did not sound nearly as country as Ella.
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That was addressed in the article I linked.

And let’s not pretend country is a Top 40 disqualifier. See Morgan Wallen. See Shaboozey, Jelly Roll, or Luke Combs.
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If anything, the guitar lick in that song may be too rock. That dueling lead guitar riff has roots with the Allman Brothers.
 
In Buffalo, WTSS our "hot AC" seems to be ignoring it. Our CHR Kiss has it in the rotation, just played it at 10:12. And of course it's getting a lot of spins on Country WYRK.
 
It probably leans a little too much on the traditional country side for Top 40 radio. I'm a little surprised with it's country airplay success, as I figured it was a little too country for most mainstream country radio stations. Here as an article about it from January from a website I like to visit as it was making it's way up the charts
savingcountrymusic.com

Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” Isn’t a Hit. It’s a New Phenomenon...

The "Choosin' Texas" phenomenon is now starting to break out of the country realm into the wide consciousness, and puncture the zeitgeist. This week, the song went Top 5 in the Billboard Hot 100.
savingcountrymusic.com savingcountrymusic.com
 
ac175 said:
It probably leans a little too much on the traditional country side for Top 40 radio. I'm a little surprised with it's country airplay success, as I figured it was a little too country for most mainstream country radio stations.
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My view on that is that radio has to be responsive to its audience and not be so wedded to format. Radio programmers shouldn't see themselves as musicologists. Country radio is more open to different sounds when it sees its audience will accept it. Thus, artists such as Jelly Roll, Hardy, Shaboozey, Kane Brown, and others are having careers in country, when they could have just as easily succeeded in other formats. Being open to different sounds is specifically what has led to the growth and success of country radio. It's not all one thing, and doesn't just play music that fits the format. If the audience wants it, they play it. That's why Ella Langley has become so huge. She is equally surprised, because she never expected to get country airplay.

We've had a discussion here about the Billboard Hot 100. Today it's primarily driven by streaming, and not so much airplay. But in my view, broadcasters can't ignore what its listeners are streaming. They have to do the work and find out what their audience wants, and if the pop audience is streaming Ella Langley. There are ways to do that, and if they don't know, they're not doing their job.
 
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It's currently #2 on Spotify. Last week it was #1 before Olivia Rodrigo took over the top spot.
 
Top 40 seems to be a much "cleaner" sounding format these days because it is pop first. Hot AC I'm not sure does as well and it sounds messier. It plays more country textures, rhythmic nostalgia, pop/rock, ect. in a blender. But top 40 has a more focused sound.
 
I’d say “ignoring” is a bit of an exaggeration. #20 on Top 40 radio, and WNKS in Charlotte has this in power rotation, along with adult CHR WBZZ near here. But the local CHR and Hot AC , WKST and WLTj respectively, don’t play it. Maybe only male country stars exist in Top 40’s mins LOL.
 
RandomUser said:
I’d say “ignoring” is a bit of an exaggeration. #20 on Top 40 radio, and WNKS in Charlotte has this in power rotation, along with adult CHR WBZZ near here. But the local CHR and Hot AC , WKST and WLTj respectively, don’t play it. Maybe only male country stars exist in Top 40’s mins LOL.
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Plus top 40 is filled to the brim with downtempo songs from its own universe. They just added One Republic, Olivia Dean is close to the very top, Bruno's new song is melodic. It doesn't need country right now.
 
TheBigA said:
Thus, artists such as Jelly Roll, Hardy, Shaboozey, Kane Brown, and others are having careers in country, when they could have just as easily succeeded in other formats.
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Country music has a long history of being a resting home to washed up or failed pop/rock artists. Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, Darius Rucker, Jelly Roll and to a lesser extent artists like Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock have tried moving into the country world when the hits stopped on the pop/rock charts.
We all know Shaboozey, Kane Brown, and Hardy aren't making any resemblance of country music. It's a case of "big fish in a little pond for them." They don't necessarily want to be considered "country artists" but can't or wouldn't be able to make it in the pop world.
Jelly Roll to me, is a Contemporary Christian artist who belongs on KLOVE
 
RandomUser said:
WKST and WLTj respectively, don’t play it.
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However, it's #1 on Audacy's WBZZ, which reports to Mediabase as a CHR.

ac175 said:
They don't necessarily want to be considered "country artists" but can't or wouldn't be able to make it in the pop world.
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The title of Hardy's latest album is "Country! Country! So perhaps he's amended his view on the subject.

ac175 said:
Jelly Roll to me, is a Contemporary Christian artist who belongs on KLOVE
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Agreed. There's a lot of that in country right now.
 
Surprised to see Justin Bieber's Beauty and a Beat #3 on Spotify charts right now in the US. But Lush Life has been added places like Z100 because Zara Larsson seems to be all over Spotify charts.
 
TheBigA said:
However, it's #1 on Audacy's WBZZ, which reports to Mediabase as a CHR.



The title of Hardy's latest album is "Country! Country! So perhaps he's amended his view on the subject.



Agreed. There's a lot of that in country right now.
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Audacy has decentralized its programming and cut a lot of staff over the last few years. In that market, the iHeart station is the one that leads them.
 


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