Earlier this week, Def Jam confirmed that it is now pushing Rihanna’s “Needed Me” as an official single at pop radio.
The format’s support for the song has, unsurprisingly, risen over the past seven days.
Over the past seven days, San Francisco’s 99-7 NOW (20 spins over the past seven days), Rochester’s 98PXY (13 spins), Albany’s Fly 92.3 (9 spins), Philadelphia’s 96.5 AMP (7 spins), Indianapolis’ RadioNOW (6 spins), and Daytona Beach/Orlando’s 101.9 AMP (6 spins) have all begun providing meaningful airplay. Some other new supporters played the song once or twice during the past seven days.
The song is, meanwhile, still receiving ample airplay from early pop supporters like Boston’s 103.3 AMP (34 spins over the past seven days, +1), New York’s 92.3 AMP (33, -2), Dallas’ Hot 93.3 (26, +10), Miami’s Power 96 (25, -3), Raleigh’s The Pulse (21, +3), Louisville’s 98.9 Radio Now (21, +7), San Diego’s Channel 933 (9, +3), Tulsa’s 92.1 The Beat (9, +3), Trenton’s 94.5 PST (7, +2), and Melbourne/Space Coast’s KISS 95.1 (7, +4).
“Needed Me” is receiving the growing support — and official single confirmation — as “Kiss It Better” begins to fade. “Kiss It Better,” which was a promotional focus at pop radio while “Needed Me” was prioritized at urban radio, is down received 1,849 spins during the first six days of the May 15-21 tracking week. The count trails last week’s mark by 35.9% and has “Kiss It Better” down to #29 on Mediabase’s building airplay chart.
If indeed done rising, “Kiss It Better” will have peaked at #23 on the official Mediabase pop listing.
While well received by fans and instantly viewed as a leading candidate to represent “ANTI” at mainstream radio, “Kiss It Better” has not resonated nearly as well as “Needed Me” when it comes to sales and streams. That was true prior to their official launches at radio — “Needed Me” had established a presence on the Billboard Hot 100 while still an “ANTI” album track — and it remained true as the songs received exposure from airplay and their video releases.
— Rihanna is also represented at pop radio as a featured artist on Calvin Harris’ “This Is What You Came For.” The song, which was #14 on last week’s official pop airplay chart, should be up to #12 this week.
