HOT AC, 2012 (Who & What Will Make it?)

What songs do you believe will make the Hot AC charts by mid 2012?

Is it possible that any of the following could become hits on the majority of Hot AC's nationwide?

+ Usher & David Guetta - without you
+ Rihanna & Calvin Harris - we found love
+ Cobra Starship ft Sabri - We found love
+ Selena Gomez & The Scene - love you like a love song

And could "blackout" by Breathe Carolina make it to Hot AC the same way "Let it rock" by Kevin Rudolf did?

Could Jessie J's "Domino" make it? And will there be any hip hop Hot AC crossovers this year? Does Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, or Drake have what it takes to pull a B.O.B. in 2012?

Will any of Madonna's newest hits to come make it, or is her time up for US radio?

WMYI in Greenville, SC runs premium choice Hot AC overnights - they're playing "Without You" and "We Found Love", and have been for several weeks.

I believe the Cobra Starship song you are referring to is "You Make Me Feel?" Premium Choice Hot AC has been playing that, as well.

KDM 7000 said:

And could "blackout" by Breathe Carolina make it to Hot AC the same way "Let it rock" by Kevin Rudolf did?

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What the heck happened to Kevin Rudolf? He had his big hit in '08 with "Let It Rock" and then another big hit in '10 with "I Made It (Cash Money Heroes)". Did he really "make it" or did he just fade away after 2010? LOL

KDM 7000 said:

Will any of Madonna's newest hits to come make it, or is her time up for US radio?

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I'd love to see any new music by Madonna make it to the airwaves.

new_friends_gr said:

KDM 7000 said:

And could "blackout" by Breathe Carolina make it to Hot AC the same way "Let it rock" by Kevin Rudolf did?

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What the heck happened to Kevin Rudolf? He had his big hit in '08 with "Let It Rock" and then another big hit in '10 with "I Made It (Cash Money Heroes)". Did he really "make it" or did he just fade away after 2010? LOL

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I meant "make it" as in one of those artists who puts out a hit that does well, but not well enough to become a classic. Who knows how far "blackout" will go. For some reason I feel it will do well, but not well enough to become a chr classic (the same way Kevin Rudolf did).

And... is it possible for Bruno Mars ft Eminem & Royce Da 5'9 "lighters" to defy the no rap rule on Hot AC? Is that song big enough? Overall, did it chart better than "love the way you lie" or not?

KDM it seems like you want Hot AC to play all pop/dance - I'd just listen to CHR or Rhythmic (like you probably already do)

If all those songs you mentioned were big Hot AC hits, there'd be no point to the format (nothing to differentiate it from CHR)

Some of the CBS CHR's....er, Hot AC's played "Lighters." I know WQAL in Cleveland did. WBZZ in Pittsburgh still plays "Super Bass" (they also play Flo-Rida's "Low", among other tracks), as did WWMX in Baltimore.
I guess anything's possible.

Very little differentiates the CBS Hot AC's from adult CHR, IMO.

The local Hot AC where I live has been playing "Without you", "We found love", "Love you like a love song", and "Domino" for a few months now, so I don't think they will still be playing those through mid 2012. They seem to be very aggressive on new music and do play a lot of pop/dance stuff, but they don't touch what's considered Hip Hop.

They also played a chopped up version of "Lighters" mainly with the Bruno Mars vocals, and a short rap by Eminem. That one sounded weird. This station also dayparts a lot. It starts off slow in the mornings like a mainstream AC and gets hotter as the day goes on, sounding like an adult CHR at night, so I wonder how that formula will work in the ratings.

The Hot ACs that are playing LMFAO, Cobra Starship, and everything Rihanna releases seem to be chasing their local CHR. Hot AC is a very flexible format that can be adjusted market by market based on competition and demographics.

The CBS Hot ACs sound like CHRs, just like many CBS ACs lean very Hot ACish.

LMFAO was/is heard on most Hot AC's, even relatively conservative ones. Same for most Rihanna.

I think the David Guetta / Usher track is fine for Hot AC. Same for Cobra Starship.

carolinaradio said:

LMFAO was/is heard on most Hot AC's, even relatively conservative ones.  Same for most Rihanna. 

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Well KMXP must REALLY, REALLY be conservative. A lot of local people complain about it, but I could somewhat understand why they are the way they are. Not only do they remain high in ratings, but they also don't blend in with many of the other local chr's on the dial. You'd think that based on the amount of stations trying to take a stab at the huge rhythmic chr audience, they'd go more Adult Top 40-ish to chr-ish, but at the same time, why try to be the fifth one trying to go there when you could just go the other way, maintain high numbers, and be original?

carolinaradio said:

LMFAO was/is heard on most Hot AC's, even relatively conservative ones. Same for most Rihanna.

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I wouldn't really say that's true - LMFAO was played on about 2/3 of the country's Hot ACs, and the most conservative ones still didn't touch it - and the only Rihanna song from this era to really be played on "most Hot ACs" was Only Girl In The World

atlantaboy said:

carolinaradio said:

LMFAO was/is heard on most Hot AC's, even relatively conservative ones. Same for most Rihanna.

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I wouldn't really say that's true - LMFAO was played on about 2/3 of the country's Hot ACs, and the most conservative ones still didn't touch it - and the only Rihanna song from this era to really be played on "most Hot ACs" was Only Girl In The World

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I guess I should have left out the part about conservative ones- by that, I meant the ones that aren't playing this extremely rhythmic/rap type stuff that's been on a lot of the CBS Hot AC's...

Both WMYI/Greenville and WLNK/Charlotte play LMFAO, even though both report as "AC" (I think they both sound Hot AC, especially WMYI, and even more so after 7pm)

Lol at "AC" stations playing Party Rock Anthem ;D

KBIG here in Los Angeles was playing Sexy And I Know It at 12:23am when I was leaving work. Talk about werid. Its the beat to the song that makes it out of place.

atlantaboy said:

Lol at "AC" stations playing Party Rock Anthem ;D

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Now these stations are playing "We Found Love" by Rihanna, especially The Link - I can't believe what some stations are getting away with reporting as...

...And there it is. That was the whole purpose of this entire topic; to put more direct focus on the music and formatting and point out how it's all changing with the times. We all tend to get comfortable and used to things being a certain way then are shocked when what we were used to begins to modernize or change.

I remember back when rap & hip hop were still rather new to chr top 40 and every time a new hip hop hit that I thought was edgy crossed over into chr top 40 play, I used to think "Seriously? Are they REALLY playing that song on THIS station?" Now, those same songs that I once thought were "out of the norm" for certain formats are actually recurrents, or normal sounding old school hits on many chr stations.

So, how does this correlate with Hot AC's playing modern hits? Well, Rihanna "we found love" and things from LMFAO, Black Eyed Peas...etc. are really not out of the norm and it's really no surprise that it could make HOT AC. In about a year or two, Some of Rihanna and Lmfao's current music will sound straight up Hot AC material, the same way some of Lady Gaga's music now fits Adult Contemporary. Did Hot AC ever play "missing" by Everything But The Girl, "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred, "Wild Thang" by Tone Loc, or anything by Will Smith? Do we consider all that normal now because we are used to it?

Well, the same thing will happen to today's chr crossover hot ac hits. You'll hear Rihanna "we found love" and things like that on Hot Ac and it will sound "all adulty" and pop rock-ish, the same way Tupac, 50 Cent, Dr Dre, and Notorious BIG now sound "soft" on a Top 40 station. Today's sound is really not all that different from when Hot Ac's once played Cher or Madonna style music.

KDM 7000 said:

...And there it is. That was the whole purpose of this entire topic; to put more direct focus on the music and formatting and point out how it's all changing with the times. We all tend to get comfortable and used to things being a certain way then are shocked when what we were used to begins to modernize or change.

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We're talking about AC playing Party Rock Anthem and We Found Love - not Hot AC

Isn't The Link in Charlotte reporting as talk, thats according to the ratings.

As for Charlotte, is K 104.7 playing We Found Love? I would think not.

No. WLNK reports as AC.

atlantaboy said:

KDM 7000 said:

...And there it is. That was the whole purpose of this entire topic; to put more direct focus on the music and formatting and point out how it's all changing with the times. We all tend to get comfortable and used to things being a certain way then are shocked when what we were used to begins to modernize or change.

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We're talking about AC playing Party Rock Anthem and We Found Love - not Hot AC

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OH, hmmmm, well................... then that's.... well, I don't know what to say.

"We found love" sounds like it can be appropriate depending on how you think of it. It does seem like something that's good enough to appeal to the AC crowd. The song is rather meaningful and has the popularity strength to cross over. Only difference between that song and something similar to Cher is that it has a much more modern sound.

"Party Rock Anthem" on the other hand,.... well, I don't even think the instrumental for that song alone without the lyrics belongs on AC.

By the way, does anyone remember back when The Macarena used to briefly be played on AC's?

KDM 7000 said:

"We found love" sounds like it can be appropriate depending on how you think of it. It does seem like something that's good enough to appeal to the AC crowd.

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On one level I guess it's similar to, say, a Madonna song from the 80s - but then it has that long pitch-bending sequence and repeats the same lyrics over and over...

I think it sounds fine on most Hot ACs, though