Britney Spears [Make Me Promo | RCA Records]
Britney Spears’ “Make Me (featuring G-Eazy)” received 4,911 Mediabase-monitored pop radio spins during the August 14-20 tracking week. The count trails last week’s mark by 45, and it drops “Make Me” from #19 to #21 on Mediabase’s airplay chart.
It also endures a decline at hot adult contemporary radio, slipping from #36 with 444 spins to #38 with 393 spins.
RCA does not, however, believe “Make Me” is without any remaining upside. And it does not want the slight declines in week-to-week airplay to prompt radio programmers to withdraw their support.
The cover advertisement on this week’s Mediabase Top 40/Pop chart is a letter from RCA’s EVP/GM Joe Riccitelli, who makes the case that “Make Me” still has momentum. While the song may be down slightly in airplay, Riccitelli notes that it is up 40% in weekly sales and 22% in weekly streams.
“Make Me,” the letter adds, is #1 on Rate The Music and inside the Top 30 on Shazam. It has also generated 17 million views on YouTube.
Riccitelli’s letter asks RCA’s radio partners whether they look at any of these factors measuring a hit record.
“Or do you measure a record being -2% in spins due to syndication? One that probably hasn’t been played 200X (at your station) since only 15 out of 175 stations have.”
Riccitelli certainly hopes that programmers will look at factors like sales, streams and Shazams when determining whether “Make Me” is still viable. The letter adds that Britney Spears will be appearing on the 8/25 “Late Late Show With James Corden,” releasing her “Glory” album on 8/26 and performing at the VMAs on 8/28. All should increase the song’s momentum.
“Nothing can ‘Make Me’ stop working this record,” declares Riccitelli. “Are you with us?”