Despite not launching until the sixth day of the January 1-7 tracking week, Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” makes a huge debut on this week’s Mediabase pop radio airplay chart.
Credited with ~2,018 tracking period spins, “Shape Of You” officially starts at #25 on the listing. It, obviously, ranks as the highest charting debut.
While “Shape Of You” was bottlenecked by its late-week arrival, it benefited from “on the hour” first day airplay promotions across many pop stations.