HRD RADIO REPORT
The HRD Radio Report showcases the weekly Active Rock Mediabase Charts (compiled by AllAccess.com), and appears every Tuesday on HardRockDaddy.com. The HRD Radio Report digs deeper into the weekly Active Rock charts, providing commentary, reviews, recommendations and predictions. It also features opinion pieces on chart action and the music business in general. Whenever possible, the HRD Radio Report will feature insight from radio and record industry people, in addition to interviews with hard rock artists about their music, tours and more!
Many of the artists featured on the Active Rock charts have already been reviewed on HardRockDaddy.com.
Click on the hyperlinked song titles to read song reviews, and the hyperlinked artist names to read album reviews.
The following is the Active Rock Mediabase Chart for the week ending 11/9/14. All exclusive HRD content is featured below the chart:
CHART POSITION THIS WEEK | CHART POSITION LAST WEEK | ARTIST | SONG TITLE | RADIO SPINS THIS WEEK |
1 | 1 | FOO FIGHTERS | “Something From Nothing” | 2194 |
2 | 2 | FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH | “Wrong Side Of Heaven” | 1720 |
3 | 3 | SLIPKNOT | “The Devil In I” | 1541 |
4 | 4 | ROYAL BLOOD | “Figure It Out” | 1489 |
5 | 5 | AC/DC | “Play Ball” | 1276 |
6 | 7 | SEETHER | “Same Damn Life” | 1270 |
7 | 9 | THREE DAYS GRACE | “I Am Machine” | 1199 |
8 | 10 | GODSMACK | “Something Different” | 1144 |
9 | 8 | VOLBEAT | “Doc Holliday” | 1105 |
10 | 6 | NICKELBACK | “Edge Of A Revolution” | 895 |
11 | 16 | POP EVIL | “Beautiful” | 829 |
12 | 12 | BLACK KEYS | “Gotta Get Away” | 820 |
13 | 15 | BUSH | “The Only Way Out” | 814 |
14 | 14 | HELLYEAH | “Moth” | 812 |
15 | 17 | ASKING ALEXANDRIA | “Moving On” | 696 |
16 | 24 | LINKIN PARK | “Rebellion” | 682 |
17 | 11 | KORN | “Hater” | 670 |
18 | 20 | IN THIS MOMENT | “Sick Like Me” | 640 |
19 | 21 | NONPOINT | “Breaking Skin” | 615 |
20 | 23 | NOTHING MORE | “Mr. MTV” | 572 |
21 | 18 | OTHERWISE | “Darker Side Of The Moon” | 518 |
22 | 27 | YOUNG GUNS | “I Want Out” | 464 |
23 | 19 | WEEZER | “Back To The Shack | 441 |
24 | 22 | DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 | “Trainwreck 1979” | 439 |
25 | 28 | THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH | “Born This Way” | 428 |
26 | 29 | SIXX A.M. | “Stars” | 426 |
27 | 26 | KONGOS | “I’m Only Joking” | 406 |
28 | 30 | MASTODON | “The Motherload” | 369 |
29 | 25 | ISLANDER | “Coconut Dracula” | 343 |
30 | 31 | MOTIONLESS IN WHITE | “Reincarnate” | 310 |
31 | 32 | SHAMAN’S HARVEST | “Dangerous” | 307 |
32 | 33 | THEORY OF A DEADMAN | “Savages” | 305 |
33 | 39 | CHEVELLE | “An Island” | 269 |
34 | 38 | LENNY KRAVITZ | “Dirty White Boots” | 258 |
35 | 0 | PAPA ROACH | “Face Everything And Rise” | 238 |
36 | 35 | FLYLEAF | “Set Me On Fire” | 236 |
37 | 41 | STARSET | “Carnivore” | 234 |
38 | 37 | ADELITA’S WAY | “Save The World” | 231 |
39 | 34 | LIVE | “Way Around Is Through” | 231 |
40 | 40 | NEW MEDICINE | “One Too Many” | 220 |
41 | 36 | FALL OUT BOY | “Centuries” | 201 |
42 | 42 | 3 YEARS HOLLOW | “For Life” | 188 |
43 | 48 | WE AS HUMAN | “Bring To Life” | 157 |
44 | 44 | REV THEORY | “Born 2 Destroy” | 148 |
45 | 43 | LETTERS FROM THE FIRE | “Zombies In The Sun” | 146 |
46 | 45 | BUCKCHERRY | “Say Fuck It” | 138 |
47 | 46 | LIKE A STORM | “Wish You Hell” | 131 |
48 | 51 | BRING ME THE HORIZON | “Drown” | 130 |
49 | 55 | OF MICE & MEN | “Feels Like Forever” | 128 |
50 | 71 | RISE AGAINST | “Tragedy + Time” | 124 |
PUBLISHER’S PICK OF THE WEEK by Adam Waldman
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH – “Wrong Side Of Heaven”
Most weeks, this space is reserved for songs that haven’t made a significant climb on the Active Rock charts, but this isn’t most weeks. If not for the Foo Fighters breakout track, Five Finger Death Punch would most certainly be at the top of the chart with “Wrong Side Of Heaven.” The song has also had an impressive run on the SiriusXM Octane Big ‘Uns Countdown recently. So why use this space to promote a song that clearly doesn’t need any assistance? It’s not the song; it’s the meaning behind it, and the good that is being done as a result of its success.
Today is Veteran’s Day in the United States. While many hard rock artists have written powerful pro-military songs, Five Finger Death Punch has taken it a step further. They put their money where their mouth is when it comes to helping out veterans who are suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Even if you have heard “Wrong Side Of Heaven” a thousand times, spend seven minutes or so watching this powerful video and make it 1001. Seven minutes may seem like a lifetime to sit and watch a music video for people who feel like there is never enough time in the day. However, the reason that we can go about our days complaining about not having enough time to get everything done is because of our military. They provide the invisible shield that lets us focus on the things that matter most to us on a personal level.
Even those of us who take the time to state our appreciation for the military are likely unaware of the sobering statistics about homeless veterans and the plight that many endure upon returning home when their time in the military is done.
Kudos to Five Finger Death Punch for doing whatever they can to help those who are directly responsible for the freedoms that we take for granted each day.
And to those who have served, or are currently serving in the military, thank you for putting your life on the line to protect the rest of us!
THE HRD RADIO REPORT EFFECT?
Ever since the launch of the HRD Radio Report back in August, we have included the weekly feature – “I CALL B#LL$HIT!” – to bring light the songs that simply have no place on Active Rock radio. Perhaps it is just a happy coincidence, but for the first time since the launch of HRDRR, every song listed in the I.C.B. section saw reduced spins this week. While there will certainly be more songs in the future that will need to be called out, for the moment, it looks like the Active Rock charts are about to go through a much needed cleansing process.
BEYOND THE HRD RADIO REPORT – MUSIC DISCOVERY MONDAY
In addition to staying on top of what shouldn’t be on the Active Rock radio charts, HardRockDaddy.com is taking a proactive approach towards highlighting deserving music that flies beneath radio’s radar. If you are interested in discovering music that doesn’t appear on the weekly Active Rock radio chart, check out Music Discovery Monday. Based on the enthusiasm surrounding yesterday’s launch, it is clearly filling a void that needed to be filled!
THE BREAKDOWN by Jon Loveless
Stagnation or stability? Or maybe it’s neither? A week where the (airplay) rich get richer, while nearly everyone else largely runs in place. That’s the main story for this week’s HRD Radio Report.
CHART TOPPERS
Four weeks on the Mediabase Active Rock chart, and a third week at #1 for Foo Fighters “Something From Nothing,” which saw its spin count grow another 13% week-to-week. Five Finger Death Punch’s “Wrong Side Of Heaven” solidified its grip on the #2 spot this week with a matching 13% increase in airplay. Slipknot enjoys (or endures) a fourth straight week at #3 with “The Devil In I.” Royal Blood holds onto the #4 spot with “Figure It Out,” and the legendary AC/DC remains at #5 with “Play Ball.” Notable that each of the last three songs in the top five had increased spin counts of 5% or less, meaning the gap between them and the top pair increased significantly.
CHART HIGHLIGHTS
I mentioned the word “stagnation” earlier. The remainder of the Top 10 illustrates why “Same Damn Life” by Seether climbs one spot to #6, “I Am Machine” from Three Days Grace is up two spots to #7 , and and Godsmack’s “Something Different” rises two spots to #8. Volbeat (“Doc Holliday”) slides two spots to #9 to make room for these tracks, while Nickelback’s recent #1 hit, “Edge Of A Revolution,” falls to #10. In other words, the Top 10 songs remain the same, in just a slightly different order.
Pop Evil made a nice move this week, up to #11 from #16 with “Beautiful,” while Linkin Park ascends to #16, up eight positions over last week.
Once again this week, the Top 50 sees four new arrivals, headlined by the new single from Papa Roach, “Face Everything And Rise,” which enters at #35. Joining them, in spots #48 – 50 respectively are, Bring Me The Horizon (“Drown” ), Of Mice And Men (“Feels Like Forever” ) and Rise Against (“Tragedy + Time” ).
RAPID RISERS AND FREEFALLERS
BIG GAINS
Foo Fighters “Something From Nothing” + 252 spins, +13% airplay
Five Finger Death Punch “Wrong Side Of Heaven” +201 spins, +13% airplay
Three Days Grace “I Am Machine” +182 spins, +18% airplay
Linkin Park “Rebellion” +6 spots, +215 spins, +46% airplay
Rise Against“Tragedy+Time” +21 spots, + 84 spins, +210% airplay
LOSING SPINS
Nickelback “Edge Of A Revolution” – 4 spots, -263 spins, -22% airplay
Korn “Hater” -6 spots, -307 spins, -31% airplay
Otherwise “Darker Side Of The Moon” -3 spots, -153 spins, -20% airplay
Weezer “Back To The Shack” -4 spots, -153 spins, -26% airplay
Islander “Coconut Dracula” -4 spots, -104 spins, -23% airplay
INSTANT REPLAY
This is one song that I enjoy hearing repeatedly right now…
“Moth” – HELLYEAH
Second singles aren’t necessarily supposed to be this good, but in the case of the latest release from supergroup Hellyeah, they found a sound that has become arguably one of my two favorites from their entire catalog (the other contender being their debut single,“You Wouldn’t Know” ). The song also features perhaps my favorite Chad Grey vocal performance to date, regardless of the band. Over two months after it’s release to radio, this song still draws me in time and again just like, well, “a moth to a flame.”
I CALL B#LL$HIT!
Same B.S.., different week. Decidedly not-active-rock songs have taken up five spots and thousands upon thousand of spins for over a month now. The descent of songs by Weezer, Black Keys, Death From Above 1979, Kongos and Fall Out Boy ever so slowly continues, but still wastes over 2,300 spins this week. Enough already!
WHAT THE HELL???
Aside from aforementioned I.C.B. entries, every now and then something happens – or doesn’t happen – on the charts, that leaves me wondering “What The Hell???” A prime example of this is this week’s exit of Black Veil Brides’ “Heart Of Fire” from the Top 50 altogether. I realize that the band has love/hate relationship with portions of the Active Rock fanbase. Perhaps the same thing exists with Active Rock radio with an emphasis on the hate. I’m not sure how else to explain the lackluster performance of what was assuredly their most radio-friendly (and mainstream) single to date. If anything, I expected it to fare better with radio than most of their work, while facing some backlash from their diehard fanbase. Instead, radio greeted the track with barely a yawn, while fans once again lifted to them to a debut in the #2 position on the Billboard Hard Rock Album Chart. What the hell???
JON’S THREE CENTS
In the header this week I posed a question about stagnation, stability, or neither. The Top 10 songs this week were unchanged, and there was relatively little movement for most songs throughout the entire Top 50. Is that a sign that radio is going into holiday hibernation earlier than usual? Or is it simply the byproduct of how various strong releases happened to fall? As a possible clue to the cause for this Groundhog Week effect, I offer up this bit of info: recent #1 songs (or even Top 5 songs for that matter) tend to take anywhere from 2 – 4 months to approach their peak. Nine of the current Top 10 singles are three months old or less, and half of them are two months old or less. While I’m a little uneasy about the impact of extremely rapid ascents creating a tiring sense of sameness for a prolonged period, it’s probably too early to be overly concerned. It may be nothing more than a week or two of the chart correcting itself. Time will tell…
FUTURES REPORT
Trends in this week’s chart suggest that we might see as many as three songs break into the Top 5 next week, with more than one new Top 10 song also a good possibility. We’ll also be watching to see if Papa Roach has the next song to surge into the upper echelon quickly, and whether there’s anyone able to break free from the pack and position themselves for a strong finish to 2014, when we meet again in the next HRD Radio Report.
IN HONOR OF VETERAN’S DAY…
On Veteran’s Day, HRD Music Scout, Rob Dell’Aquila, has submitted a special song to honor our nations veterans…
LIQUID HORIZON – “Last Stand”
In 2007, progressive metal band, Liquid Horizon released a concept album entitled Revolution, which took listeners on a ride through history with each song portraying a struggle for freedom for a particular group of people. The album closes with “Last Stand,” a song that highlights the American struggle, and the ideas embodied in the Declaration Of Independence.
WRAP-UP
That’s all for this week! Tune in to HardRockDaddy.com every Tuesday for the HRD Radio Report. \m/
Jon says
Reblogged this on Jon's Three Cents and commented:
Stagnant or stable? We explore that question about the Active Rock airplay chart in this week’s HRD Radio Report