One is a five-piece girl group. One is a five-piece boy band. Both have songs racing towards the top 40 at pop radio.
Fifth Harmony’s new single “Sledgehammer” reaches #45 on Mediabase’s official pop radio airplay chart this week. The song, which was #60 last week, hits the new peak courtesy the 665 spins it received during the November 9-15 tracking period.
That play count is the result of a 488 week-over-week spin gain, which ranks as the third-highest among songs in the #41-50 portion of the pop airplay chart.
Rising even faster? One Direction’s new single “Night Changes.” The follow-up to “Steal My Girl” opens at #47 courtesy the 565 first-week spins it received during the aforementioned tracking period. The recipient of high-profile spins, the song’s weekly audience impression count clocks in at a healthy 5.61 million. Of the songs in the #41-50 group, only Lillywood & Robin Schulz’ #42 “Prayer in C,” which received an additional 347 spins this week, reached a larger audience (7.61 million).
But the greatest gainer in the #41-50 segment comes from neither a girl group nor a boy band. It comes from OneRepublic, whose “I Lived” reaches #44 this week. It does so thanks to 716 weekly spins, which is the result of a weekly gain of 606.