When it arrived at the end of this past summer, Justin Bieber’s “What Do You Mean?” received a decently warm reception from pop radio listeners.
Thus far, Bieber’s follow-up single “Sorry” is receiving an even warmer one.
The latest Mediabase/CMM callout report identifies “Sorry” as one of the highest-scoring songs at pop radio.
Per the report, “Sorry” holds a positive reaction from 74.1% of surveyed listeners, a negative one from 10.5%, and thus a net positive score of 63.6%.
Of the thirty active pop songs measured in this week’s report, “Sorry” boasts the second-highest positive score (behind Adele’s “Hello,” 79.0%), ties for the lowest negative score (with “Hello”) and thus holds the second-highest net positive (behind “Hello,” 68.4%).
“Sorry” additionally possesses a “favorite” rating from 32.3% of listeners. That ranks as the pop format’s fourth-greatest; only “Hello” (48.6%), Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams” (35.4%), and The Weeknd’s “The Hills” (34.5%) have higher “favorite” scores.
“Sorry” currently holds a modest familiarity level of 69.6%. As that familiarity grows, the aforementioned scores may change — and perhaps decline.
At this point, however, the scores are resoundingly positive and unequivocal in what they represent: the early reaction to “Sorry” is a strong one.
— In its first week on the callout report (9/18, albeit with a greater level of familiarity), the aforementioned “What Do You Mean?” posted a 68.1% positive score, an 19.1% negative score, and a 49.0% net positive score. Its favorite rating was 29.6%.
