After collaborating on the #1 Mediabase pop airplay and #2 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Problem,” Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea are now pushing new, separate singles at Top 40 radio.
Both tracks are making furious early runs up the airplay chart, but as of press time, Grande’s new song is moving faster.
Her “Break Free,” which features Zedd, was pop radio’s 32nd-most-played song for the seven days ending July 12. According to Mediabase, it garnered 2,209 spins and 17.02 million audience impressions over that period.
Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow (featuring Rita Ora)” appears at #33 on the latest Mediabase rolling pop airplay chart. It scored 2,180 spins and 14.18 million audience impressions over the seven days ending July 12.
Thanks to a week-to-week gain of 1,622 spins, “Break Free” ranked as the format’s second-biggest gainer. “Black Widow” was pop’s sixth-fastest-riser on the strength of a 1,080 week-to-week increase in spins.
Both songs officially impacted the format on July 8, but “Black Widow” was available–and receiving support from major pop stations–weeks before the “Break Free” release on July 2. While that might explain why the new Grande track enjoyed a more explosive week-to-week airplay gain, it also amplifies the song’s accomplishment in scoring more total weekly spins and audience impressions than “Black Widow.”
“Problem,” the aforementioned Grande-Azalea collaboration, is currently #2 on Mediabase’s pop radio airplay chart. Iggy Azalea is also represented by her #5 song “Fancy (featuring Charli XCX),” while her current collaborator Rita Ora is also #31 on the chart via “I Will Never Let You Down.”
