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.

TOP 100 HARD ROCK SONGS OF 2016

TOP 50 ACTIVE ROCK SONGS OF 2016 (by spins)

TOP 30 OCTANE BIG ‘UNS COUNTDOWN SONGS OF 2016

The following is the Active Rock Mediabase Chart for the week ending 4/15/17.  All exclusive HRD content is featured below the chart:

CHART	CHART	ARTIST	SONG TITLE	RADIO
POSITION	POSITION			SPINS
THIS WEEK	LAST WEEK			THIS WEEK
1	1	PAPA ROACH	“Help”	2085
2	2	KORN	“Take Me”	1716
3	5	SEETHER	“Let You Down”	1633
4	3	STARSET	“Monster”	1567
5	6	POP EVIL	“If Only For Now”	1324
6	7	INCUBUS	“Nimble Bastard”	1275
7	8	MASTODON	“Show Yourself”	1269
8	4	BREAKING BENJAMIN	“Never Again”	1217
9	11	VOLBEAT (f. DANKO JONES)	“Black Rose”	1085
10	12	SKILLET	“Back From The Dead’	1043
11	13	NICKELBACK	“Feed The Machine”	821
12	15	THROUGH FIRE	“Breathe”	773
13	16	ALL THAT REMIANS	“Madness”	725
14	10	BLEEKER	“Highway”	703
15	17	AVENGED SEVENFOLD	“God Damn”	694
16	18	ALTER BRIDGE	“My Champion”	584
17	14	PRETTY RECKLESS	“Oh My God”	573
18	21	MISSIO	“Middle Fingers”	516
19	19	AVATAR	“New Land”	490
20	20	TWENTY ONE PILOTS	“Heavydirtysoul”	488
21	22	LETTERS FROM THE FIRE	“Worth The Pain”	425
22	24	GODSMACK	“Come Together”	411
23	26	RADKEY	“Dark Black Makeup”	401
24	23	MOTIONLESS IN WHITE	“Loud”	398
25	28	AS LIONS	“Aftermath”	366
26	27	A DAY TO REMEMBER	“Bullfight”	362
27	25	DED	“Anti-Everything”	350
28	29	CITIZEN ZERO	“Lure And Persuade”	271
29	31	BIFFY CLYRO	“Howl”	257
30	33	IMAGINE DRAGONS	“Believer”	215
31	32	RAG N BONE MAN	“Human”	208
32	35	LIKE A STORM	“Pure Evil”	188
33	36	SEPTEMBER MOURNING	“20 Below”	187
34	34	HELL OR HIGHWATER	“I Want It All”	183
35	38	BLACK MAP	“Run Rabbit Run”	175
36	30	BADFLOWER	“Animal”	175
37	42	BLACK STONE CHERRY	“Cheaper To Drink Alone”	173
38	39	ORWELLS	“They Put A Body In The Bayou”	166
39	40	STITCHED UP HEART	“Catch Me When I Fall”	164
40	49	KINGS OF LEON	“Reverend”	146
41	44	THE REVIVALISTS	“Wish I Knew You”	141
42	41	MANAFEST	“Stones”	136
43	48	THRICE	“Hurricane”	125
44	5	SHALLOW SIDE	“Can You Hear Me”	125
45	47	DREAMERS	“Sweet Disaster”	113
46	43	RACHEL LORIN	“I Hate You”	105
47	46	CAGE THE ELEPHANT	“Cold Cold Cold”	104
48	50	COVER YOUR TRACKS	“Striking Matches”	95
49	53	BASEMENT	“Promise Everything”	93
50	56	RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS	“Goodbye Angels”	86

 

 

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

ALTER BRIDGE – “My Champion”

From the first notes of “My Champion,” you can feel the positivity flowing before the lyrics even kick in.  Not only is the vibe of the song uplifting, but the lyrics are as well.  Myles Kennedy’s vocals are stellar as usual, as he delivers a song of hope and inspiration (something that many people can use nowadays).  The riffs, the leads, the vocals, the harmonies, the lyrics.  Everything just works on “My Champion.”  It’s the kind of song that makes you feel better with each listen.  Often times on the HRD Radio Report, we question why Octane seems to pick up on songs that Active Rock radio doesn’t.  In the case of “My Champion,” the opposite is (somewhat) true.  Although the song does get played on Octane, it has hardly appeared on the Big ‘Uns Countdown.  Admittedly, I’m biased, and would be happy to see any Alter Bridge song played on the radio, but this song deserves more recognition than it gets (at least on Octane).  The song hit #16 this week, but looks like it may have peaked.
 

 

 

PUBLISHER’S PREDICTIONS (by Adam Waldman)

As predicted last week, Seether’s momentum propelled them past Starset into the top 3.  Korn looked like it would spend some time in the top 2 (and possibly battle for the top spot), but its reversal this week makes it a virtual lock that they will be passed by Seether next week.  As long as Seether keeps the momentum going, reaching #1 looks more like a matter of when (not if).  The only song showing strength in the top 10 at the moment (outside of the top 3) is Mastodon, but they have a wide gap to cover to make a run.
 

 

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…

HELLYEAH – “Love Falls”

BLACKLITE DISTRICT – “Living In A Nightmare”

DEMON HUNTER – “Died In My Sleep”

ART OF DYING – “All Or Nothing”

THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH – “Lifeline”

BOBAFLEX – “Hey You”

THROW THE FIGHT – “Bury Me Alive”

ANTHRAX – “Carry On Wayward Son”

 

DROP IT…

Cage The Elephant – “Cold Cold Cold”

Rag N Bone Man – “Human”

Imagine Dragons – “Believer”

Biffy Clyro – “Howl”

Twenty One Pilots – “Heavydirtysoul”

Orwells – “They Put A Body In A Bayou”

Dreamers – “Sweet Disaster”

Revivalists – “Wish I Knew You”

 

 

 

THE BREAKDOWN by Jon Loveless

KING OF THE HILL

Papa Roach spends a third week on top of the Mediabase Active Rock Airplay chart, but they might want to start looking for a new home. Seether narrowly missed overtaking Korn for the #2 slot this week, and seems to have their sights clearing set on the top of the chart. Starset slips back to #4, but shouldn’t be counted out entirely just yet either
 

 

NOTABLE CHART MOVEMENT

Volbeat and Skillet both officially achieve Top 10 status this week…

Missio regains some momentum and returns to the Top 20…

Two songs move into each of the Top 30, Top 40, and Top 50 … but aside from Black Stone Cherry reaching #37 this week…well, Mama told me if I didn’t have anything nice to say that I should probably not say anything.
 

 

THREE UP & THREE DOWN

RISING

Seether – “Let You Down”

Mastodon – “Show Yourself”

Volbeat (f. Danko Jones) – “Black Rose”

 

FALLING

Breaking Benjamin – “Never Again”

Bleeker – “Highway”

Pretty Reckless – “Oh My God”
 

 

 TRENDS AND OBSERVATIONS

Around a dozen songs on this week’s Active Rock chart are also on the Alternative airplay chart. Of those, 10 are pretty clearly more Alt than Active Rock. That’s been an issue for quite some time now, but it’s been a while since it was as obvious as it is this week. Times like this, I get downright nostalgic for the days when it seemed a lot more attention was paid to format identity (and what station figured into which chart).

 

WRAP-UP

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