Justin Bieber’s “What Do You Mean?” did not emerge until the sixth day of the August 23-29 tracking period. It nonetheless amassed enough spins to debut at #27 on Mediabase’s official pop radio airplay chart.
The song, which is the lead single from his forthcoming album, received ~2,204 plays within the parameters of that tracking week.
Undoubtedly impressive, the count was boosted by an iHeartRadio “World Premiere” promotion. The promotion provided “What Do You Mean?” with hourly opening day airplay on iHeart’s network of pop stations.
But in a testament to enthusiasm for the song, it debuts higher than Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Downtown,” which received the same hourly promotion but launched one day earlier. “Downtown” received ~1,974 spins across its first three days and debuts at #30.