While it is potentially preventing a bigger decline, the letter from RCA’s Joe Riccitelli does not — at least not yet — appear to be giving Britney Spears’ “Make Me (featuring G-Eazy)” a second wind.
The “Glory” single is trending for another week-to-week loss in pop airplay.
According to Mediabase, “Make Me” received 2,703 pop spins during the first four days of the August 21-27 tracking period. The count trails the same-time-last-week mark by 2.7%.
“Make Me” was #21 on last week’s Mediabase pop airplay chart. That is where “Make Me” currently sits on the building chart, and it is unlikely to fall before the close of tracking. It might even move ahead of P!nk’s rapidly fading “Just Like Fire” for #20.
Position is not, however, of particular relevance to the conversation. The issue concerns the loss in airplay. Plus, if “Make Me” cannot reverse its decline in spins, it will endure a position loss in the coming weeks.
“Make Me” will, moreover, suffer a positional loss at hot adult contemporary. Credited with 177 Hot AC spins over the tracking week’s first four days (down 23.7%), “Make Me” is #42 on the building chart. It was #38 on last week’s official listing.
“Make Me” has opportunities to build momentum in the coming days. Spears will be featured in “Carpool Karaoke” on Thursday’s “Late Late Show With James Corden.” Her new album “Glory” drops Friday, and she will be performing “Make Me” with G-Eazy at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards.
That momentum will not necessarily translate into increased airplay. If radio is already losing interest in the song, convincing it to change its tune can be a very daunting task.
Riccitelli attempted to reignite interest with his letter. Emailed to radio professionals and featured as the cover ad on this past week’s Mediabase chart, the letter asked programmers to focus on the song’s growing sales and streams and strong Shazam activity rather than last week’s slight airplay decline when choosing whether to continue supporting the song.
“Nothing can ‘Make Me’ stop working this record,” declared Riccitelli, confirming his confidence that the song has more upside.
If “Make Me” does not soon reverse its course, Riccitelli and the RCA team may have no choice but to stop.
