An explosive riser from the get-go, Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” ultimately ran into the powerhouse roadblock known as “All About That Bass” on its road to #1 on the pop radio airplay chart.
Meghan Trainor’s phenomenon left “Shake it Off” waiting in the wings until the Mediabase’s official airplay update on October 12. It was on that day–eight weeks after the song’s August 18 launch–that “Shake it Off” finally cemented its status as the #1 song on US pop radio.
An eight week run to the top is still enormously impressive.
Consider that when recognizing that follow-up single “Blank Space,” based on its current rate of growth, is set to achieve the feat in seven weeks.
First spun by radio in conjunction with the October 27 release of Swift’s album “1989” (which actually came two weeks before the song’s official radio impact), “Blank Space” is expected to easily dethrone Maroon 5’s “Animals” on this week’s edition of the Mediabase pop radio chart.
If that ascent to #1 is confirmed on the December 14 chart, it will reflect a seven-week journey to the peak of pop radio.
Per Tuesday’s rolling Mediabase airplay chart, #2 “Blank Space” received 16,198 spins during the week between December 2 and 8; Maroon 5’s chart-topping “Animals” received 16,912 during that window. Insofar as Swift’s song is adding to its weekly total by an average of more than 300 per day and Maroon 5’s song is losing spins at a rate of more than 50 per day, a changing of the guard indeed looks imminent.