HRD Radio Report – Week Ending 2/27/16

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 2/27/16.  All exclusive HRD content is featured below the chart:

TOP 135 HARD ROCK SONGS 2015

TOP 50 ACTIVE ROCK SONGS (by spins) OF 2015

TOP 30 OCTANE BIG ‘UNS COUNTDOWN SONGS OF 2015

CHART	CHART	ARTIST	SONG TITLE	RADIO
POSITION	POSITION			SPINS
THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK			THIS WEEK
1	1	SHINEDOWN	“State Of My Head”	1863
2	2	POP EVIL	“Ways To Get High”	1820
3	3	FOO FIGHTERS	“Saint Cecilia”	1697
4	5	DISTURBED	“The Sound Of Silence”	1655
5	4	NOTHING MORE	“Here’s To The Heartache”	1478
6	6	3 DOORS DOWN	“In The Dark”	1391
7	8	MUSE	“Reapers”	1301
8	7	HIGHLY SUSPECT	“Bloodfeather”	1273
9	9	BRING ME THE HORIZON	“Happy Song”	1048
10	10	TRIVIUM	“Until The World Goes Cold”	992
11	12	SAINT ASONIA	“Let Me Live My Life”	939
12	13	RED SUN RISING	“Emotionless”	933
13	14	FROM ASHES TO NEW	“Through It All”	796
14	15	PAPA ROACH	“Falling Apart”	774
15	17	DEFTONES	“Prayers/Triangles”	675
16	16	SHAMAN’S HARVEST	“In Chains”	654
17	19	FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH	“My Nemesis”	629
18	11	CAGE THE ELEPHANT	“Mess Around”	588
19	18	ADELITA’S WAY	“Bad Reputation”	544
20	20	THE STRUTS	“Kiss This”	468
21	21	ROB ZOMBIE	“Well, Everybody’s…in a UFO”	453
22	22	SLIPKNOT	“Goodbye”	420
23	24	STITCHED UP HEART	“Finally Free”	369
24	26	FAILURE ANTHEM	“Paralyzed”	339
25	30	DEVOUR THE DAY	“Lightning In The Sky”	312
26	28	WOLFMOTHER	“Victorious”	306
27	29	MEGADETH	“Dystopia”	305
28	27	LACEY STURM	“Impossible”	263
29	23	ESCAPE THE FATE	“Alive”	263
30	38	GHOST	“From The Pinnacle To The Pit”	237
31	44	HALESTORM	“Mayhem”	220
32	32	ANDREW WATT	“Ghost In My Head”	212
33	36	KILLSWITCH ENGAGE	“Hate By Design”	198
34	35	FOALS	“Mountain At My Gates”	193
35	33	PUSCIFIER	“The Remedy”	175
36	40	ANTHRAX	“Breathing Lightning”	156
37	31	DROWNING POOL	“By The Blood”	151
38	42	THROUGH FIRE	“Stronger”	146
39	43	CILVER	“I’m America”	140
40	39	BLACK STONE CHERRY	“In Our Dreams”	140
41	47	BARONESS	“Shock Me”	126
42	45	FILTER	“Take Me To Heaven”	126
43	41	MONSTER TRUCK	“Don’t Tell Me How To Live”	125
44	48	SMASHING SATELLITES	“Gamblin’ Man”	91
45	0	THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH	“Running With Giants”	85
46	46	WAYLAND	“Bloody Sunrise”	75
47	70	HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES	“As Bad As I Am”	73
48	65	CANDLEBOX	“Vexatious”	70
49	51	TWENTY ONE PILOTS	“Ride”	68
50	52	BOBAFLEX	“A Spider In The Dark”	64

PUBLISHER’S PICK OF THE WEEK (by Adam Waldman)

HELLYEAH – “Human”

With the mileage that Hellyeah got out of their 2014 release, Blood For Blood, it feels like the band never really went away (which is a good thing for their fans, and Active Rock radio for that matter). This past week, Hellyeah released “Human,” the first single off of their upcoming album, and they are picking up right where they left off. Not that there should have been any doubt after Blood For Blood, but this one-time “supergroup” is not only a full-fledged band, but one that deserves to be mentioned in the rarefied air of the elite groups in hard rock and metal today.

“Human” once again showcases the raw emotions that frontman Chad Gray wears on his sleeve, much like he did with “Hush” and “Moth” the last time around. With a unique ability to deliver angst-ridden, yet melodic, vocals, Gray continues to distinguish himself amongst his peers. Lyrically, “Human” takes things up a notch with clever word play that comes off as natural, never forced. It should be noted that Gray has the advantage of working with a powerful group of musicians whose chemistry continues to evolve in an impressive manner. If you’ve ever seen Hellyeah in a live setting, you’d understand that, as intense as the band sounds on record, they take it to another level in concert. There is no doubt that “Human” will reach the upper echelon of the Active Rock radio chart. The only thing that remains to be seen is if it gets enough support to climb to #1 in the not-too-distant future.

 

 

HRD SPIN CONTROL (by Adam Waldman and Jon Loveless)

Each week, we will share the songs that we think should be added to rotations, alongside the songs that we feel should be dropped from rotations, either because they are a bad fit for the format, or because they have run their course and it’s time for a new single from the artist.

SPIN IT…

SOTO – “FreakShow”

EVANS BLUE – “iGod”

UGLY KID JOE – “Bad Seed”

VEER UNION – “Defying Gravity”

HANDS LIKE HOUSES – “Colourblind”

ART OF DYING – “Tear Down The Wall”

 

DROP IT…

Twenty One Pilots – “Ride”

Cage The Elephant – “Mess Around”

Foals – “Mountain At My Gates”

The Struts – “Kiss This”

Pucifier – “The Remedy”

 

 

THE BREAKDOWN by Jon Loveless

KING OF THE HILL

Shinedown survives declining airplay to claim a fifth week at #1 on the Mediabase Active Rock airplay chart.  Pop Evil also fell back slightly, preventing them from reaching the top, and remains at #2 (at least for the moment).  Foo Fighters still sit at #3.  The big mover of the week is Disturbed’s cover of the Simon & Garfunkel classic, “The Sound Of Silence,” making a jump from #4 to #1 at least in the realm of possibility next week.

 

 

NOTABLE CHART MOVEMENT

Aside from a few position swaps, movement was fairly scarce this week.  The Top 29 songs have exactly the same membership as a week ago; only the order has changed…

Ghost joins the Top 30 with a solid week of airplay gains…

Halestorm’s latest single, “Mayhem,” leads a trio of songs breaking into the Top 40…

Surprisingly, given the lack of movement above, there are actually five songs making their Top 50 debut this week, the strongest being “Running With Giants,” the first official single from the forthcoming Thousand Foot Krutch album.

 

 

THREE UP & THREE DOWN

MOVING UP

Disturbed – “The Sound Of Silence”

Deftones – “Prayers/Triangles”

Halestorm – “Mayhem”

 

DROPPING DOWN

Shinedown – “State Of My Head”

Cage The Elephant – “Mess Around”

Escape The Fate – “Alive”

 

 

TRENDS AND OBSERVATIONS

At the top of the chart, the unpredictable nature of things gets highlighted once again.  Pop Evil’s radio support for “Ways To Get High” did show some signs of weakening prior to the official weekly chart being published, but I really thought that there would be enough of a bump to get them to #1.  The top of the chart is still attainable for them, but at this point, it would have to be a concerted effort on the part of one (or more) chains to get them there.  Short of that happening, it may be down to a Foo Fighters vs Disturbed fight for king of the mountain.

At the bottom of the chart the number of spins needed to break into the Top 50 continues to fall lower and lower.  Six months ago, cracking the published chart required 90+ spins nationally (nearly 50% more airplay than was needed this week).  That’s a sign that playlists may be getting even narrower than usual.  However, there is at least a chance that some of the low threshold at this point is seasonal.  To my surprise, a look back to the same week in 2015 revealed numbers that are very similar in the lower reaches of the chart this year.

 

WRAP-UP

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