Is Top 40 Radio "Back On Top" in 2009?

This Chicago Tribune columnist thinks so. There are a variety of factors behind this supposed resurgence of Top 40 radio:

• The inherent appeal of Top 40 music (the publisher of Radio Ink says "You play the hits. You play ‘em to death. A lot of people object to that, but the masses listen to it")
• The iPod ("because digital music buyers pay for singles rather than albums")
• American Idol (it "launched hit-makers with crossover appeal," including "Since U Been Gone," a key moment)
• Potential audience members opting-out of the commercial radio market (a VP of Edison Research says "There is probably a ton of virally generated music that Top 40 programmers know nothing about. But those kids (listening to those songs) have self-selected themselves out of the radio audience, and the kids who are left are the ones who are happy to listen to Pink and Kelly Clarkson with their moms")
• The recession (the program director for an Illinois Top 40 station says "“People are looking for something to take their mind off their troubles")

Sorry if this is more properly posted in an existing thread. I saw a number of Top 40/pop-type threads, but I wasn't sure if this fit squarely in those discussions. It seemed different to me, at least.

My golden age is your age of decadence.

Uhhh... when exactly was Top 40 Radio ever NOT "on top"?

Well, just given its nature, I'm sure it is always "on top." But it can go through periods where it is stronger (pre-internet days, for example, where there were less options available to people) and weaker (today's fractured audience, which can choose to ignore radio altogether without really losing much in the way of choice, music-discovery options, and available platforms to hear music). I do think it's a bit surprising if Top 40 radio is getting stronger now.

American Top 40 radio will remain crap until middle America manage to reinstall variety in Top 40 pop. Europe has long since gotten over this R&B/hip-hop thing, but it seems to stick in the US.

I think I am going to agree with Geir here, but not for the reasons he may think. I would love a little more diversity in the top of the charts here in America, Kings of Leon and Owl City just ain't cutting it for me.

Top 40 Radio is just a reflection of mainstream America's tastes, and Americans don't want to hear anything else. We want pop, rap, and country, and that's it.

Was Top 40 Radio much more diverse in, say, the 70s, 80s, or 90s?

I mean, I remember a lot of country-rock/yacht-rock, classic rock and pop/disco in the late 70s.

1992 not looking so bad here with Nirvana, Amy Grant, TLC, G 'n' R, Mariah, Madonna, etc. Not much country, I guess. But they got the novelty songs the columnist pines for: Sir Mix A-Lot and Right Said Fred

http://mp3fiesta.com/billboard_top_100_1992_album88926/

We want pop, rap, and country, and that's it.

R&B isn't pop, R&B is R&B.

yeah snrub as if there was any rap in top 40!! Also stfu geir

Shanice - "I Love Your Smile"

oh man I loved this song

Liking the idea of "virally generated music".

you obviously haven't heard enough of it, then

wait they only want $2.50 for all 100 of those mp3s??????? I might do that even though I hate like 10% of that list (fuck you, The Heights and Billy Ray Cyrus)

Worth $2.50 for Baby Got Back alone.

And yeah, f--k you, Billy Ray Cyrus.

http://mp3fiesta.com/billboard_top_100_1969_album88903/

Hmm, you can download "Get Back" the Beatles here...

"mp3feista" doesn't seem like the best place to hand your credit card over to. 128 kbs!

http://mp3fiesta.com/publication/legal.html

Seems sorta allofmp3-ish.

i do not by any means love everything on the current top 40, but it seems plenty diverse if that's the concern. lotta country, lotta r&b/hip-hop, lotta rock, good smattering of teen-pop.

also you can get these old-ass songs for free anywhere else and spend your money on like, food or something

xp

OLD-ASS SONGS?!?

Yeah, I guess they are.

OH FOR THE GLORY DAYS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc5Sm4iRtxs

Indeed. In what other era could you hear The Breakfast Club, Rockwell and Sheila E play back-to-back-to-back on the radio?

It was, truely, a "Golden Age."

But now you can hear Brad Paisley, Lady Gaga, and Jay-Z-Rihanna back to back.

xp - oh my GOD
was that the video for that song? i remember the song well but clearly have never seen the video. whoa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s05jcrJw0as

don't mess

To be fair, the article says the prior Golden Age was the 70s, so you'll have to do a little better than The Breakfast Club to hit the mark.

Firefall, perhaps?

I could hear "Right On Track" on an endless loop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1DtQldf66E

blam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r0n9Dv6XnY

lol someone got their hands on Video Toaster

Dan is posting songs adducing the claim that Top 40 radio was once the realm of rampant faggotry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHkAQh_lglc

I would go back to this decade in a heartbeat tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwrYMWoqg5w

IN A HEARTBEAT

(shameful confession: I was convinced T'Pau was lead by twins, mostly because of this song and video)

I would go back to this decade in a heartbeat tbh

Me too, some days. Nostalgia is strong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj_aMkOZYyE

<3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ke0FIViNDE

Whispering words that SCREAM of outrageous sin.

But now you can hear Brad Paisley, Lady Gaga, and Jay-Z-Rihanna back to back.

This is probably the case of living in one of the biggest markets in the U.S. and hence having more stations to choose from, but there's no way I'm going to hear Brad Paisley anywhere but on the country station. Taylor Swift, sure, Carrie Underwood, maybe -- but not Paisley or Kenny Chesney or Sugarland.

and really, thank fucking God for that

lol. No Brooks & Dunn on Top 40 stations, these days?

No Top 40 station is complete without Boot Scootin' Boogie on the playlist.

Maybe outside of urban areas.

Country songs routinely land in the top 40, but they have a hard time breaking into the top 20 unless they manage to cross over, usually into "adult Top 40" territory. ("Before He Cheats" is a good example of this.) Paisley's most successful single on the Hot 100 was "He Didn't Have to Be," which peaked at #25, followed by "Alcohol" and "Then" (both #28).

Screw you, Dan. Brad Paisley is great.

you can have him and his terrible music, I don't mind

Lots of songs chart in the top 40 of the Hot 100 that never ever get played on stations with a "Top 40" format.

I don't know about American top 40 but now that WBS no longer updates Rolling UK Pop/Chart/"Few people would dispute that Elbow have given us the album of the year" Thread 2009 I have no idea what is going on with the britisher top 40. Got the feeling that if Swygert no longer cares, then truly there most be no-one left who does.

Swygart has a full-time job and a website to run.

Never stopped him before, he had them threads going for years.

i think the quality of the charts got to him

Brad Paisley's latest album is his best, in large part because he has a song called "The Pants."

The "variety" argument makes me laugh -- "we've only got five songs in heavy rotation, but one's a country song and two are by black people!"

Was Top 40 Radio much more diverse in, say, the 70s, 80s, or 90s?

Well, I guess American Top 40 Radio was more dominated by AOR than here, but there would still be a lot of so-called "new wave" in the 80s, and that was a diverse genre in itself, as it contained everything from punk via modern powerpop through synthpop/new romantics.

You can't fuck with 80s Top 40.

Interestingly, the article says that the "Golden Age" for Top 40 radio was the 70s (not the 80s).

Why must a "golden age" denote "diversity"?

It doesn't have to. The article, however, equates the terms.

You cannot fuck with teh Squeeze:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0UYIfdgNzU

The drummer taking the clock hands and using them as drumsticks!
The bending guitar neck!
The guitarist going upside-down a la "Leave It" by Yes!
The mirror turning into a pool of water!

Interestingly, the article says that the "Golden Age" for Top 40 radio was the 70s (not the 80s).

It probably was if you are into "classic rock".

I guess. I remember a lot more Yacht/Country-Rock and Pop/Disco on 70s Top 40 Radio.

Sample Playlist (in my head): Sky-High; Wildfire; We Just Disagree; I Was Made for Dancin'; Sometimes When We Touch; On and On. Like that.

The drummer taking the clock hands and using them as drumsticks!
The bending guitar neck!
The guitarist going upside-down a la "Leave It" by Yes!
The mirror turning into a pool of water!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJGiBuFA8cQ

Holy shit that video is amazing!!

The bicep pops like a balloon!!!!!!

It really is a piece of work.

We Just Disagree

explain?

We Just Disagree was a 1977 hit for Dave Mason, which has since become a "staple of Oldies and Adult Contemporary radio playlists." It was all over Top 40 radio in the late 70s, tho.

Not sure I'm answering your question.

You have indeed.

The only song I know of that title was by Anal Cunt, which was funny enough in the context of their usual song titles. I didn't know it was a 'pastiche' of an existing song.

lol. Very different, I imagine. Dave Mason's song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8_FOQ7-P30

This song screams Top 40 radio for a brief few months in the late 70s.

From Styx to Nickelback...American top 40 rock through the years