I am sort of curious about small songs which amass a lot of views on streaming platforms. For example the Halsey song Colors was a very small hit in the US and has amassed over 200 million views on Youtube, potentially from other countries. But it makes me wonder if these songs are truly "hits" on streaming or if people's music habits match radio listening habits.
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Smaller songs and streaming.
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
That makes sense. There must be other countries where people listen to it more though. Prayer in C (a smaller 2015 song) has 739 million which I don't think is thought of much in the US as do a lot of EDM songs.
There has to be some basis besides YouTube views, because that can be manipulated. The statistic we know is that Colors didn't chart on Billboard's Hot 100, but it reached #8 on the "Bubbling Under the Hot 100." As we've said, the Hot 100 is based on all streaming, not just YouTube.
That could be. Not sure how a number so high could be manipulated though besides a lot of repeat views. My only theory is that the songs were being watched in other countries.
All we know factually is that the only country where that song charted was Australia, and it peaked at #99.
But as I've already pointed out, we have a song that is currently #1 in the Hot 100, and is being ignored by most CHR stations.
I find it interesting that in today's ratings, the country station in Chicago was #1 in 18-34. Not CHR.
Since the USA has only about 4% of world population, and even discounting people who have no internet access or whose culture would exclude that kind of song, that is a relatively small number.
I think that is because so few people are listening to terrestrial radio for CHR, Churban and Urban. In those demos and formats, listeners know where to hear all the hits, uncensored.
I looked at Chicago's 18-34 person's rating and it is down 14% since last September. The cume rating in that demo is just 2.7, meaning only 2.75 of persons in that demo are listening, on average, M-Sun 6 AM to Midnight.
Still, 74% of all 18-34's listen during the week (Note: the correct term is really "hear" and not "listen" as the PPM does not measure listening; it measures hearing). But they listen only about 4 hours and 30 minutes total during the week.
Although, as we've discussed, the Hot 100 has been filled with country songs, rather than pop songs, and the Hot 100 is not burdened with the issues of FM radio. So perhaps that's more of an indication about the current interest of people 18-34.
But that has always been an issue with record industry charts that are not format specific. We've many times had lulls in the quality and quantity of songs in specific formats, but those industry charts don't segregate by who plays the songs. That is why it is vastly better to use
Note. Edited to correct error in naming MediaBase.
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Seems to me SoundScan only measure sales and not streaming.
Sorry... my bad. Meant MediaBase. Too many newfangled names to remember!
According to an article, the US has the second most Youtube users behind Indiam When I watch EDM videos though I notice a lot of comments from international users.
Remember, USA is the largest English as a primary language nation. India has more speakers, but many/most are secondary to Indian languages. Same in a number of other nations.
That said, there are stations in non-English speaking nations that play lots or all English music. My first internship in Mexico City included a station that played 50% US pop and 50% Mexican Top 40. At my first station in Ecuador, we played about 30% music in English. When I worked at an FM in Lima (Peru, not Ohio or the bean) of about 22 FMs around 17 played all or mostly music in English, from AC and oldies to rock and Top 40.
That is interesting, but I wonder if many in Mexico City understood the lyrics.
No, they didn't and still don't. But they like the music.
I'm not terribly fluent in French or Italian, but I have as many favorite songs from the 60's through the 80's from France and Italy as I do from the US/England/Canada/Australia. And since the 90's I have loved Brazilian sertanejo music, going back to artists like Camargo & Luciano and now, Michel Telo... yet I have difficulty with Brazilian Portuguese and can't follow most songs at all!
The United States is one of the most xenophobic nations in the world, musically*. There are lots of history-based reasons, but much of the world has a huge appreciation for music in other languages.
* I won't even touch the social and cultural aspects of this aspect of American life!
Which causes some interesting problems when you realize two of the largest record labels are based in France and Japan, with another major (BMG) in Germany. For many years, those labels owned the masters for many of US musical legends, including Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, and Bruce Springsteen. Only recently have the rights to those recordings reverted to the artists. Prior to that, they were the custodians of a lot of American culture.
And interestingly, the three you mention are among the least interesting and marketable artists internationally.
Some comments on EDM songs are different languages as well. I am thinking those large numbers can be attributed primarily to countries outside of here.
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