“Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon - they haven’t resurfaced with a follow up hit since.
“Ghost” by Ella Henderson - although some of her songs have been used in TV promos (I remember her song “Empire” being used by Channel Seven to promote one of their shows in 2015, can’t remember which) she hasn’t had another song chart in Australia since.
“Castles” by Freya Ridings
Meanwhile there are other artists that have had more than one of their songs be played on radio - Mimi Webb is a good example (though she hasn’t released any new music recently).
“24/5” received plenty of rotation towards the end of 2021, and follow-up hit “House on Fire” was played quite often in the first half of 2022; on last count it’s been played ~250 times on Nova. What helped is that it peaked at #6 on the UK charts.
Chart success helps but sometimes even that doesn’t convince music directors on Australian radio. The perfect example is the Rema/Selena Gomez song Calm Down which they only started playing on radio after six months on the chart when it started peaking in the top 5 in Britain and America. Since it was added, it has been on high rotation on Nova and KIIS.
And in a recent case of reverse psychology, “Green Green Grass” by George Ezra started charting in Australia some eight months (or so) after it was first played on radio here. From what I can remember it must’ve blown up on social media hence its resurgence this year.
I’ve noticed Coles radio is sounding a lot better over the last week or so, more dance and edgy songs that were once on Nova in the 2000s.
I’m glad NovaNation is back too, it does sound good, especially with the announcer. The mixes sounded good on Saturday night.
It seems like they’re either responding to iheartdance launching in Melb and GC or moving Nova back to targeting males, rather than females. The market dynamics might have also forced them to move back to targeting males due to a resurgent KIIS and competitive DAB / streaming channels.
I think they have been doing the same thing over and over again with the same poor results for so long that they were past the point of no return.
IMO The wake up call must have been when Triple M Sydney had more 10-17 listeners than Nova. Also when KIIS smashed them in every demo they realised they need to try something different.
I still think they need to drop the Fresh Hit’s and Throwbacks positioner and just go with Fresh Hits. Also reduce the number of Throwbacks they play too to really freshening things up. Have a playlist similar to Capital fm, they won’t beat KIIS but they could get around an 7-8 share in Sydney which would be respectable.
They are currently on a 7 share, but they are still well behind KIIS. Some throwbacks are good. I’d listen more if they bring back more of the edgy dance, r&b and rock music that the original Nova used to play. But nonetheless, small steps in the right direction.
Nova 919 breakfast Jodie & Hayesy is now starting from 6am, they’ve dropped the Ben, Liam and Belle show. It seemed to always be the plan, keep the Ben and Liam listeners and then slowly drop them off.
Tomorrow (Friday) Nova 100’s Ben, Liam and Belle will broadcast live from Punt Road Oval from 7am to 10am AEST, for the AFL Grand Final special. The highlight will be a pack marking competition. Western Bulldogs young star Jamarra Ugle Hagan will kick a Sherrin football to 100 registered listeners, and whoever catches the ball in the pack will win $10,000.
Been listening to Smallzy’s Surgery tonight and in the Top 9 at 9, “Remember” by Becky Hill and David Guetta came in at number six.
Nothing against them, but I mean, come on - it’s been more than two years since it was released, and it was also the second-most played song on radio last year (despite this, it only peaked at #34 on the ARIA Singles Chart last August). Does Nova not get sick of playing it?
I can understand they love playing Becky Hill’s music, as evidenced when they continually flogged “Side Effects” (which I’ve noticed they’ve stopped playing recently) for about three months earlier this year, as well as the 2021 summer hit “My Heart Goes (La Di Da)” which featured Topic.
Population has increased over the 20+ years Nova has been on air. Especially since borders reopened, many expats have returned plus immigration targets exceeded. Larger population, larger cume.
That’s true but it’s also a more competitive market now with Smooth, KIIS and DAB now on air not to mention the increase in streaming options available.
