Glass Animals by Meredith Truax | Press photo courtesy of Republic Records
As a general rule, when older hit songs exit the Mediabase pop radio airplay chart due to recurrent rules, they are “done” rising at the format. They might still be receiving airplay — radio rarely completely drops prominent singles — but they have little chance of holding, let alone rising, on the chart.
When Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” looked like it could become an exception to that rule in mid-2021, Mediabase instituted a policy allowing recurrent songs to re-enter the chart if they posted four consecutive weeks of airplay gains and would rank in the Top 10 for spin count. Upon returning to the chart, “Levitating” ended up going all the way to #1.
In late 2021, Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” became the second song to return to the chart under the new policy. Prematurely dropped from heavy radio rotation last summer, “Heat Waves” continued to generate ample buzz and perform well on digital platforms. The excitement ultimately inspired many radio programmers to renew their support for the single, allowing the song to score enough airplay for a return.
This week, it follows in the footsteps of “Levitating” by reaching #1. Up one place from last weeks position, “Heat Waves” claims #1 on the strength of its ~17,875 tracking period spins (+859).
Adele’s “Easy On Me,” which spent seven weeks at #1, falls to #2 this week. The “30” single received ~17,199 spins during the January 16-22 tracking period (-959).
Doja Cat’s “Need To Know” holds at #3, The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber’s “STAY” stays at #4, and Ed Sheeran’s “Shivers” retains its #5 ranking.