Thanks to promotional support from iHeartMedia and general radio enthusiasm, Justin Bieber’s “What Do You Mean?” scored significant opening day airplay at pop radio.
According to Mediabase, Bieber’s “What Do You Mean?” received 1,647 pop radio spins on Friday, August 28. That tally positions “What Do You Mean?” at #30 on the building airplay chart, which accounts for the first six days of the August 23-29 tracking week.
“What Do You Mean?” also appears at #32 on Mediabase’s rolling pop airplay chart, which accounts for airplay for the seven days between August 22-28.
Collectively, the building (6 days of the current tracking week) and rolling airplay (trailing 7 days) positions paint an optimistic portrait regarding the song’s debut on the official airplay chart. Insofar as it will receive another solid dose of airplay on Saturday and benefit when two songs in the Top 20 transition to recurrent status, an official Top 30 debut seems highly probable.
Measuring airplay between August 23-29 — and thus the first two days of the Bieber tune’s availability — the official Mediabase chart will be issued Sunday evening.
— As part of the iHeart “World Premiere” promotion, “What Do You Mean?” was spun hourly on iHeartMedia’s network of pop stations.
While that campaign deserves significant credit for the song’s impressive opening day airplay total, it is worth noting that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Downtown,” which also received hourly iHeart support, earned 1,251 plays in its opening day.
The opening day “What Do You Mean” airplay, therefore, exceeded what would be guaranteed for an iHeartRadio “World Premiere” song.
