Rihanna [Live BBMAs video via Vevo]
Already a Top 10 hit on the Billboard’s Pop Songs chart, Rihanna’s “Love On The Brain” has a good chance of reaching the Top 10 on this week’s Mediabase pop airplay listing.
The “ANTI” single received 3,303 spins during the first three days of the December 25-31 tracking period. Up 1.5% from the count at this point last week, the tally slots “Love On The Brain” at #10 on Mediabase’s building chart.
Because many pop stations have been running year-end countdowns, airplay has been somewhat erratic in recent days. That makes chart projections harder than they typically would be at mid-week.
There is still legitimate cause for confidence that “Love On The Brain” can retain its Top 10 position through the end of the week. Its closest competitors from below — Sia’s building #11 “The Greatest” and twenty one pilots’ building #12 “Heathens” — are both fading. They have little chance of rebounding and knocking “Love On The Brain” from the Top 10.
Insofar as it is gaining at a more rapid rate, ZAYN & Taylor Swift’s building #14 “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” is a more viable threat. It will, nonetheless, have a tough time catching Rihanna’s song before the close of tracking.
Assuming it holds onto its position, “Love On The Brain” will follow “Work (featuring Drake)” in becoming the second pop radio Top 10 from Rihanna’s “ANTI.”