As we near the end of the August 27-September 2 tracking period, we are looking at a very tight race for #1 on the Mediabase pop radio chart.
Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” presently holds #1 on the building/real-time chart, but Olivia Rodrigo’s building #2 “vampire” is a mere 25 spins behind — and has the clear momentum advantage.
“Cruel Summer” received ~13,714 spins during the first six days of the August 27-September 2 tracking period, a count that trails the same-time-last-week mark by 2.1%. By comparison, “vampire” received 13,689 spins, which is up 6.3% from the comparable period last week.
If both songs remained on those exact paces through Saturday, “vampire” would narrowly claim #1 on the official chart. The possibility of a slight deviation from those paces, however, makes it impossible to confidently declare either song the winner ahead of Sunday’s chart publication.
If “vampire” misses #1 this week, it would seemingly have a good to get there next week. The potential length of its reign, however, will come down to how whether Dua Lipa’s building #3 (13,060, +9%) continues to soar in the coming days and weeks.
