HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 4/25/15

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.

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 4/25/15.  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	3	ZAC BROWN BAND (f. Chris Cornell)	“Heavy Is The Head”	1995
2	2	PRETTY RECKLESS	“Follow Me Down”	1797
3	1	OFFSPRING	“Coming For You”	1782
4	4	BREAKING BENJAMIN	“Failure”	1613
5	6	SLASH	“Bent To Fly”	1331
6	8	THEORY OF A DEADMAN	“Angel”	1230
7	5	FOO FIGHTERS	“Congregation”	1187
8	9	BRING ME THE HORIZON	“Drown”	1123
9	13	THREE DAYS GRACE	“Human Race”	988
10	11	ROYAL BLOOD	“Little Monster”	933
11	7	HALESTORM	“Apocalyptic”	916
12	14	TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT	“Take It Back”	850
13	15	WE ARE HARLOT	“Dancing On Nails”	796
14	16	AWOLNATION	“Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)”	775
15	12	INCUBUS	“Absolution Calling”	716
16	18	OTHERWISE	“Coming For The Throne”	570
17	20	HELLYEAH	“Hush”	566
18	17	LIKE A STORM	“Wish You Hell”	545
19	21	THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH	“Unraveled Road”	479
20	22	DEVOUR THE DAY	“Faith”	462
21	28	NOTHING MORE	“Jenny”	448
22	23	MUSE	“Dead Inside”	385
23	24	10 YEARS	“Miscellanea”	374
24	25	APOCALYPTICA	“Cold Blood”	353
25	30	HIGHLY SUSPECT	“Lydia”	332
26	19	ALL THAT REMAINS	“This Probably Won’t End Well”	323
27	26	IN THIS MOMENT	“Sex Metal Barbie”	318
28	31	AMARANTHE	“Drop Dead Cynical”	280
29	29	FALLING IN REVERSE	“God If You Are Above”	271
30	27	MARILYN MANSON	“Deep Six”	239
31	33	SONS OF TEXAS	“Baptized In The Rio Grande”	216
32	38	ARANDA	“Don’t Wake Me”	213
33	34	OF MICE & MEN	“Never Giving Up”	211
34	39	FLYLEAF	“Thread”	197
35	37	STARS IN STEREO	“Fair-Weather Friend”	189
36	35	CAGE THE ELEPHANT	“Cigarette Daydreams”	172
37	42	MUSE	“Psycho”	170
38	36	KID ROCK	“First Kiss”	151
39	48	CROBOT	“Legend Of The Spaceborne”	149
40	56	MUMFORD & SONS	“The Wolf”	148
41	44	ADELITA’S WAY	“I Get Around”	147
42	43	TREMONTI	“Another Heart”	144
43	41	BRIDGE TO GRACE	“Bitch”	141
44	45	PERIPHERY	“Alpha”	135
45	51	RED	“Darkest Part”	117
46	53	YOUNG GUNS	“Rising Up”	107
47	55	KILL IT KID	“Blood Stop And Run”	97
48	47	DANKO JONES	“Do You Wanna Rock”	94
49	58	RIVAL SONS	“Electric Man”	85
50	54	ACIDIC	“Chicago”	84

 

PUBLISHER’S PICK OF THE WEEK by Adam Waldman

SONIC X – “Pray”

Thanks to SiriusXM’s Octane, bands like Sonic X have an opportunity to be exposed to an audience that is hungry to discover new music, but doesn’t get the chance to in most cases on traditional Active Rock radio stations.  Although “Pray” is far from being in heavy rotation, at least it is getting some attention from Octane.  Active Rock radio programmers would be wise to follow Octane’s lead and jump on this track to add a spark to playlists that have a tendency to remain stagnant at times.  This intense track hits you like a ton of bricks with its heavy bottom and driving rhythm, pulling back at times to add to the dramatic effect of its heavier moments.  Highlighted by nice vocal harmonies and guitar parts that are reminiscent of Five Finger Death Punch’s “Lift Me Up,” this track is a perfect fit on Active Rock radio.  If Sonic X was already a household name, there is no doubt that “Pray” would make a significant impact on Active Rock radio, while also making its presence felt on the Octane Big ‘Uns Countdown.

 

 

THE BREAKDOWN by Jon Loveless

KING OF THE HILL

As expected, Zac Brown Band (f. Chris Cornell) reaches the top of the Mediabase Active Rock Airplay chart this week with “Heavy Is The Head,”  which received a sizable boost in spins this week, while the former #1 (Offspring) slipped a bit, and The Pretty Reckless remained essentially flat.  All of this made what appeared likely in recent weeks come to pass.   A strong jump in airplay for Breaking Benjamin now clearly marks them as the next likely successor to the throne with “Failure.”

 

 

NOTABLE CHART MOVEMENT

Format core artist (Three Days Grace) and relative newcomers (Royal Blood) both crack the Top 10 this week, while Thousand Foot Krutch and Devour The Day climb into the Top 20…

The curious case of Muse continues this week, as they oddly have two different singles both climbing the chart simultaneously…

A total of six new arrivals in the Top 50 this week might suggest a major turnover to freshen the playlists as aging hits exit, however, appearances can be deceiving.  Only two of the departing songs were clear-cut “hits,” while the other four were only marginally (or barely) notable in terms of airplay nationally.   Still seven songs on the chart for 20 weeks or more, including one that’s now remained in play for 26 straight weeks, and another for 25 weeks.  Thankfully one of the departures finally exited after 30 weeks!

 

 

 THREE UP & THREE DOWN

MOVING UP

Zac Brown f. Chris Cornell – “Heavy Is The Head”

Breaking Benjamin – “Failure”

Nothing More – “Jenny”

 

 

DROPPING DOWN

Foo Fighters – “Congregation”

Halestorm – “Apocalyptic”

Incubus – “Absolution Calling”

 

 

FUTURES REPORT

A lengthy stay at the top seems likely for the current #1 song, with only the rabid radio support for the return of Breaking Benjamin to threaten it.  If not for that detail, a Foo Fighter-esque extended stay at the top seems like a distinct possibility, and even now, I might not rule that out.

 

 

WRAP-UP

That’s all for this week.  Tune in to HardRockDaddy.com every Tuesday for the HRD Radio Report. \m/