I've just wondered how regardless of 'Into The Blue' is being constantly played by capital, not many people think it's going to fare that well past its first week. It led me to wonder if Airplay is the key factor in a song's success or does it have to connect with audiences.

 

A recent example could be 'Happy' which has been constantly played by radio but as a result, it's still top 3.

 

However, songs like Disco Love by the saturdays had bad pre orders, airplay and only had promotion to keep it noticed, however that debuted at #5 with over 50,000 sales.

 

Then you get songs like Work b*tch which had no airplay and suffered as a result.

 

This lead me to think that Some songs may not need airplay to Do well whereas some do (maybe because they don't connect with audiences well?)

 

What do you think?

I've just wondered how regardless of 'Into The Blue' is being constantly played by capital, not many people think it's going to fare that well past its first week. It led me to wonder if Airplay is the key factor in a song's success or does it have to connect with audiences.

 

A recent example could be 'Happy' which has been constantly played by radio but as a result, it's still top 3.

 

However, songs like Disco Love by the saturdays had bad pre orders, airplay and only had promotion to keep it noticed, however that debuted at #5 with over 50,000 sales.

 

Then you get songs like Work b*tch which had no airplay and suffered as a result.

 

This lead me to think that Some songs may not need airplay to Do well whereas some do (maybe because they don't connect with audiences well?)

 

What do you think?

 

For acts with large fanbases, airplay is not crucial in terms of peak position - however, it *is* needed for sustained sales, which is why older established acts usually struggle on that score.

Basically as above, airplay is vital for any kind of longevity. But lots of things also come into play, like promo and of course strength of song.

Use on an advert is also a massive boost

Airplay is almost always important. It's not for every song but I think it's better to get played and gain some attention from other listeners (maybe that's why some songs are "overplayed" and some are "underplayed"?).

 

Connecting with the audience / future buyers / fans is probably a different thing. With the social media/online, you likely do not need airplay to be successful (e.g. Dapper Laughs 'Proper Moist', M.A.D. 'Toyboy' and 'Fame & TV').

Edited February 28, 201411 yr by FM11

Radio airplay wouldn't make slightest difference to me buying a record since the only time I listen to the radio is if I get in someone's car or a Taxi and they have a pop station on. That doesn't happen much either.

I fell out big time with radio when they did away with local sales charts, plus when they separated stations into two - creating a top 40 station and classic one, which got shunted to AM radio.

There's lots of different ways to promote a song, but radio airplay is definitely the best one, since it gets the songs heard by millions, and more importantly, they will usually hear the song multiple times. Artists that have a big fanbase can usually get in the charts off their fanbase alone, but can't maintain sales without further promotion of some sort.