Blog Archives - Integr8 Research

What Spotify Can Teach Your Radio Station about Christmas Music

December 6, 2023

Thaw Mariah Carey for the Christmas season

At Integr8 Research, we routinely examine streaming data alongside our own callout for local clients and national subscribers for a full picture what music is most relevant right now. Generally, relevant music means contemporary music. However, there’s a special time of year when the most relevant hits are decades—even centuries—old music. While analyzing the Top … Continue reading What Spotify Can Teach Your Radio Station about Christmas Music »

The Hot New Radio Format You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

November 15, 2023

Right now, there are more people listening to this radio station than are tuned in to the #1 station in Chicago. Its logo is so iconic; fans use it in memes. Even the New York Times has written about it. The thing is, technically it isn’t a radio station. It’s a YouTube channel called Lofi … Continue reading The Hot New Radio Format You’ve Probably Never Heard Of »

Why Country is Kicking It in ‘23

October 11, 2023

The last few years were tough for Country. The genre has always maintained its passionate fan base, but that fandom simply hadn’t translated into music consumption. From 2017 to 2022, when considering the combination of radio audience exposure, song sales, and streaming plays, a scant 2% of the most popular songs in the U.S.A. in … Continue reading Why Country is Kicking It in ‘23 »

The Paradox of Playing New Music

September 13, 2023

Johnny’s radio station typically has 12,000 listeners in a key daypart and that audience remains stable throughout the daypart. Suzy’s radio station has as many as 20,000 listeners in that same key daypart, but sometimes her audience falls to as few as 14,000 listeners several times during the daypart. Whose station has a bigger AQH … Continue reading The Paradox of Playing New Music »

Introducing Integr8 USA: Real Callout Research You Really Can Afford

May 10, 2023

The most frustrating thing I face in my work with Integr8 New Music Research is talking with a station who really wants callout research, but whom we simply aren’t able to help. Sometimes, the cost of customized local new music research—even for the most bare-bones program we can offer—doesn’t financially make sense for the station. … Continue reading Introducing Integr8 USA: Real Callout Research You Really Can Afford »

WEBINAR: Retention Rate: The Magic New Metric for Measuring Hit Potential in Streaming Data

May 4, 2023

Here’s our webinar from April 19th, 2023 introducing Retention Rate: The Magic New Metric for Measuring Hit Potential in Streaming Data. This webinar shows real-life examples of how last year’s biggest hits performed on Spotify compared to how those songs performed in Integr8 New Music Research. You’ll learn the correct way to examine music streaming … Continue reading WEBINAR: Retention Rate: The Magic New Metric for Measuring Hit Potential in Streaming Data »

Retention Rate: The Magic New Metric for Measuring Hit Potential in Streaming Data

April 4, 2023

Within a week of its debut, Spotify users in the U.S. played Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” a record-shattering 31 million times—more streams in one week than any other song at the time. Naturally, CHR and Hot AC stations also immediately added the highly anticipated song by an iconic core artist. Surely, with record-breaking streaming figures and … Continue reading Retention Rate: The Magic New Metric for Measuring Hit Potential in Streaming Data »

The Five Most Important Hits of 2022

January 18, 2023

Understanding why these songs were big in 2022 will help you program effectively in 2023 If some expert tells you new music is dead, they’re looking at the numbers, but they’re not listening to the songs. For the last few years, I’ve started each new year examining Billboard’s Top 100 Songs of the past year … Continue reading The Five Most Important Hits of 2022 »

The Taylor Swift Effect: What Taylor’s chart triumph means for how listeners consume new music

November 9, 2022

When Taylor Swift dropped her 10th studio album on October 21, 2022, Midnights instantly became the #1 album in the country, according to the Billboard 200. The lead track “Anti-Hero” became the most added song on CHR, Hot AC, and AC radio. It was even the top selling album on Vinyl for its debut week. … Continue reading The Taylor Swift Effect: What Taylor’s chart triumph means for how listeners consume new music »

The Rise of the Superhit

October 19, 2022

Turn on your local hit music station right now. There’s a good chance you’ll hear a song from the last decade. Sure, there’s consensus that new music is in a rut. (We explained why new music won’t suck forever in our previous post.) While we’ve seen plenty of new music slumps come and go at … Continue reading The Rise of the Superhit »