Taylor Swift [CBS]
There is a very strong chance Taylor Swift’s streak of Top 10 pop radio hits — let alone number ones — will end at five.
“Out Of The Woods,” the sixth single from her Grammy-winning “1989,” is down substantially in pop radio spins this week. It received 4,917 spins during the first five days of the official tracking week, which trails last week’s count by 16.4%.
It is down to #15 on Mediabase’s building pop radio airplay chart (though with Selena Gomez’ building #11 “Same Old Love” going recurrent this week, its actual position is #14. It would rise by another place if Alessia Cara’s “Here,” which is currently #10 on the building chart, slips below the Top 10 by the close of tracking and thus also gets removed as a recurrent).
“Out Of The Woods” has thus far gone as high as #13 on the official Mediabase pop chart. With “Out Of The Woods” decelerating and songs like Ellie Goulding’s “Something In The Way You Move,” ZAYN’s “PILLOWTALK,” and Rihanna’s “Work (featuring Drake)” approaching from below, it seems unlikely the song will ever rise above that peak position.
While a turnaround is obviously not completely out of the question, there is little reason for optimism. If Monday’s Grammy Awards performance and wins did not give the song a jolt — its deceleration rate has actually increased since Swift’s big night — it is hard to imagine what will.
“Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” “Style,” “Bad Blood (featuring Kendrick Lamar),” and “Wildest Dreams” — the previous five singles from “1989” — all reached #1 on the Mediabase pop chart.
“Out Of The Woods” will thus be the first official Taylor Swift single since “Everything Has Changed (featuring Ed Sheeran)” to miss #1.
That song, which was the final mainstream radio release from Swift’s “Red,” interestingly peaked at #13 as well.