One comes from a superstar band responsible for many #1 hits. One comes from one of 2015’s biggest breakthrough artists.
Per Mediabase/CMM callout data, neither song, however, is resonating well with pop radio listeners.
With a positive reception from 35.2% of listeners (#32 out of the 32 measured pop songs) and a negative reaction from 41.9% (highest-negative), Maroon 5’s “Feelings” actually holds the dreaded “net negative” reaction at pop radio. Its “net positive” score is -6.7; none of the other 31 pop songs featured in this week’s callout reports has a sub-zero net positive score.
The score for Halsey’s “New Americana” is closest to that mark. With a positive score of 49.1% (#31/32) and a negative score of 34.5% (third-greatest), the “BADLANDS” single holds a net positive reaction of only 14.6%.
Halsey’s song also holds a “favorite” score of 19.3%, which ranks as the 23rd-greatest of the 32 pop scores. The 6.7% “favorite” rating for Maroon 5’s “Feelings” is the lowest — and thus proof that the reaction to the Maroon 5 track is not simply “polarizing.” It is bad.
Familiar to 65.2% and 74.3% of listeners, respectively, the two songs can certainly achieve improved marks moving forward. Neither song, however, appears likely to end up with a particularly warm reception from pop radio listeners.
Just as strong callout scores do not assure success, low callout scores do not assuredly damn a song to failure. They are, however, capable of curtailing — or even eliminating — momentum.
