Chart Chatter

So... when you debut at #1... is it REALLY a good thing?

Sure, it grabs headlines and makes history.

But then what?

Quite honestly, I don't know, because it's never been done before. Normally, a single builds momentum, and familiarity, and you hear it on the radio for weeks and it gets stuck in your head until you have to go buy it. And then it peaks - at whatever position it's lucky enough to hit - and then it goes away. Not entirely away, if it was a big enough song, it might move to a station's recurrent, or power recurrent, category, and get a few spins a week, and then they release the next single to do it all over again.

But do you really want "More Than A Memory" to go away already?

The problem, of course, with this #1 feat, is that it was done by stunt scheduling on Day 1. All those stations that played it every hour, or every 98, or 103, or whatever their frequency was minutes, didn't do it that way for the other 6 days of the week. So chances are, that it's going to take a huge nose dive in week #2.

Stunt scheduling it not unusual, nor is it new. It just usually comes a little later in the single's life. For instance, when an artist is pushing for #1, they'll do a satellite tour, sitting in a studio somewhere calling radio stations around the country, giving an interview in exchange for an extra spin. Do that for four hours one morning, boom, your single has a big boost.

The good news to come out of this Garth-gantuan feat, in my humble, optimistic, opinion, is that we're going to get single #2 before the CD comes out in November. I suspect it's going to be "Working for A Living" although I'm still hoping it will be "Midnight Sun."

To answer some questions that have been thrown at me:

- Chart week is Monday to Sunday. New chart is published on Tuesdays (but we usually hear how things went on Monday nights.) You'll recall, MTAM was released at Midnight Sunday / Monday -- to get maximum spins on Day 1 of release - which not so coincidentally was Day 1 of the new chart week.

- There are still two charts, but Billboard and R&R merged last year. Lon Helton, who was the Nashville Bureau Chief for R&R started his own publication, called Country Aircheck, which also publishes a chart.

- R&R uses BDS tracking, and weights it based on audience size for their chart. So for instance, a spin on US99 in Chicago (market #3) counts for more "audience impressions" than a spin on WXCL in Peoria (market 3 digit something). In BDS spin count, "More Than A Memory" was the 4th MOST PLAYED song last week, but based on audience impressions, was the MOST HEARD song. Less spins, but more ears listening, if that makes sense.

- Country Aircheck uses Mediabase tracking. Each chart has a slightly different panel of reporting stations, and different criteria for how they choose their monitored station.

If all this is confusing to you, don't worry, you're not alone. I'm constantly asking Jon Anthony to explain and re-explain things to me, and just when I think I've got it figured out, they change the rules on me!

What really counts here, is that Big Machine ROCKS! I have a lot of friends over there, and I'm so excited for them. In fact, I'm trying to come up with something clever to send over to them as a Congratulations.

Now... equal time... they need to get Mrs. Brooks to the top of the charts next!