Chart News: Week Of 3/7/2015

"Living For Love" falls off of 3 charts this week, including the Bubbling Under Hot 100. As previously reported, Madonna has earned her landmark 44th #1 hit on the Club Play chart. Here's a look at this week's Top 10:

Now the next question is, can she hold at #1 for a second week? The song still has a bullet and is this week's Greatest Gainer, but there are 3 songs right behind her with bullets as well just itching to take her over! Madonna's last multi-week #1 on the Club Play chart was "4 Minutes" back in 2008, which stayed at the top spot for 2 weeks. "Living For Love" also debuts on the Dance / Mix Show Airplay chart at #35, and the Pop Songs chart at #36.

Living For Love
Bubbling Under Hot 100: Off (from #8)
Pop Digital Songs: Off (from #40)
Hot Singles Sales: Off (from #3)
Dance Club Songs: #1 (Up from #2)
Hot Dance / Electronic Songs: #11 (Down from #9)

Dance / Electronic Digital Songs: #15 (from #5)
Billboard Twitter Top Tracks: #18 (from #12)
Pop Songs (Mainstream Top 40): #36 (Debut)
Dance / Mix Show Airplay: #35 (Debut)

Bitch I'm Madonna
Hot Dance / Electronic Songs: Off (from #44)

Rebel Heart
Billboard Twitter Top Tracks: Off (from #48)

Quote, Unquote

"It's still the one area where you can totally discriminate against somebody and talk shit. Because of their age. Only females, though. Not males. So in that respect we still live in a very sexist society. No one would dare to say a degrading remark about being black or dare to say a degrading remark on Instagram about someone being gay, but my age – anybody and everybody would say something degrading to me. And I always think to myself, why is that accepted? What's the difference between that and racism, or any discrimination? They're judging me by my age. I don't understand. I'm trying to get my head around it. Because women, generally, when they reach a certain age, have accepted that they're not allowed to behave a certain way. But I don't follow the rules. I never did, and I'm not going to start."

-Madonna on Ageism, Rolling Stone February, 2015

Ask Billboard: Will "Living For Love" Chart On The Hot 100?

Responding to a tweet about when "Living For Love" is going to debut on the Hot 100, Billboard's Gary Trust had the following to say:

Hi George,

Following Madonna's accomplishments with "Living for Love" on this week's charts, that now seems to be the pressing question among her (and chart) fans.

As previously reported, the song makes one of the most historic moves in seven decades of Billboard chart history this week: it tops Dance Club Songs, becoming her 44th No. 1 on the ranking. She ties George Strait for the most No. 1s on any singular chart, as Strait has saddled up atop Hot Country Songs with 44 titles between 1982 and 2009. (He also just missed the summit twice since: "Living for the Night" and "Here for a Good Time" reached No. 2 in 2009 and 2011, respectively.)

"Living for Love" added to its bounty yesterday (Feb. 23), upon the release of the Nielsen Music-based Pop Songs airplay chart by debuting at No. 36. Several iHeartMedia-owned stations, including WHTZ New York (19 plays last week), KIIS Los Angeles and WKSC Chicago (16 each), teamed to play the song in all dayparts last week. The leaders: KZHT Salt Lake City, Utah (27) and WXKS Boston (22), with the latter (aka, Kiss 108) beginning in the '70s as a disco/pop station and, thus, having been in the top 40 format for Madonna's entire career.

As for the question burning up the "Ask Billboard" inbox and Twitter feed: does "Living for Love" have, like, a prayer to hit the Billboard Hot 100 when the chart is compiled tomorrow (and released in full on Billboard.com on Thursday)? Sorry to say, but its chances look significantly less than borderline. (I'm trying to ease the sting here a little bit …) Sales projections simply look too low for the song to reach the Hot 100. In fact, the final figure should be noticeably down from its total last week of 17,000 downloads sold. That sum (up 72 percent) was fueled by her performance of the song at the Grammy Awards on Feb. 8, with last week's chart covering the Feb. 9-15 tracking period. This week's chart will encompass purchases made Feb. 16-22, past the Grammys afterglow, and the total could be around 5,000-6,000, according to early estimates.

That figure, combined with radio audience and streams, would leave "Living for Love" short of the Hot 100 for another week. Last week, it came close, entering the Hot 100's Bubbling Under chart at No. 8 (up 102 percent in overall activity).

Still …

Rebel Heart USA Pre-Order Links (Updated)

I'm posting these links again because I've seen some confusion online as to whether the standard editions are being in the USA as well. They are! Amazon.com's search results are not working correctly. If you search for Rebel Heart you only get one or two results but at least 5 USA formats are actually listed, which I have linked below. Hopefully they fix this soon because the album release date is fast approaching and people cannot pre-order something that they can't find on their website! I have also added links to Best Buy, Target, Walmart and Barnes And Noble websites, though they have not updated the proper cover arts on all the releases yet. Please pass these links around to anyone who is looking for them.

Standard Edition CD (14 Tracks)
Amazon.com
Bestbuy.com
Target.com
Walmart.com
Barnesandnoble.com

Standard Edition CD (Clean) (14 Tracks)
Amazon.com
Bestbuy.com
Walmart.com
Barnesandnoble.com


Deluxe Edition CD (19 Tracks)
Amazon.com
Bestbuy.com
Target.com
Walmart.com
Barnesandnoble.com

Deluxe Edition CD (Clean) (19 Tracks)*
Walmart.com
*This may be a Walmart exclusive release, just like the clean deluxe edition of MDNA was)

Deluxe Edition Vinyl (19 Tracks)
Amazon.com
Bestbuy.com
Barnesandnoble.com

Super Deluxe Edition 2-CD (25 Tracks)
Amazon.com
Bestbuy.com
Walmart.com
Barnesandnoble.com

It Looks Like "Living For Love" Has Peaked...

It's a hard pill to swallow, but it looks like "Living For Love" has peaked on U.S. radio. Airplay spins have been decreasing the last couple of days and it now looks like radio stations have started abandoning the track including heavyweights KIIS FM in Los Angeles and Z100 in New York. While this is very disheartening news, at least radio gave the song a shot, right? The general music-buying public is just not into this song as the iTunes figures have showed. Its iTunes position was never really climbing while the song was receiving its most substantial play, and has actually fallen since. Unless Guy O. and company pull a magic trick out of a hat, it looks like this is pretty much it for the song. At this point, we should celebrate the fact that Madonna scored another #1 Club hit, and that the song will appear on this week's Pop Songs chart for a decent week of airplay.

Looking ahead, this isn't a good starting point for whatever Madonna's next single it. Rumors are strongly pointing to "Ghosttown", which is definitely one of the songs with the biggest potential. It will be an uphill climb, though, and Madonna/Interscope would really have to work at promoting the song in order to even hope having a hit on their hands. At this point, though, don't be surprised if they focus most of their energy on the upcoming tour. Let's see what happens.

Chart Highlights: Madonna's 'Living for Love' Debuts on Pop Songs, Leads Dance Club Songs

Chart Highlights offers a sneak peek at a select group of Billboard charts every Monday. (All charts below are based on radio airplay except for Dance Club Songs, which is based on reports submitted by a panel of DJs.) Find out the top songs, Greatest Gainers and debuts on the surveys listed below.

Pop Songs
Debut No. 36 "Living For Love" Madonna
Madonna debuts on Pop Songs at No. 36 with "Living for Love," aided by concentrated on plays on several iHeartMedia-owned stations; for instance, WHTZ New York played it 19 times in the week ending Feb. 22, according to Nielsen Music, and KIIS Los Angeles spun it 16 times. She makes her 29th visit (dating to the chart's October 1992 launch) and first since 2012, when "Give Me All Your Luvin'," featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., and "Girl Gone Wild" reached Nos. 24 and 38, respectively (sparked by notable plays at iHeartMedia; "Luvin' " aired hourly for nearly three days at the chain leading up to her Super Bowl halftime appearance that year).

As previously reported, "Living," which Madonna performed at the Grammy Awards on Feb. 8, makes esteemed history on Dance Club Songs, where it reaches No. 1, becoming Madonna's 44th leader on the list. She ties George Strait, who's logged 44 No. 1s on Hot Country Songs, for the most toppers by an artist ever on any Billboard chart. "Living" also debuts on Dance/Mix Show Airplay at No. 35.

Dance Club Songs
*** No. 1 (1 week)***/Greatest Gainer "Living For Love" Madonna

Dance/Mix Show Airplay
Debut No. 35 "Living For Love" Madonna

Note: Chart info above is for the issue dated March 7, 2015.

Billboard.com

Even More "Living For Love" Remixes Added To Madonna's YouTube Channel

The remixes keep coming! 2 more official remixes have been added to Madonna's YouTube channel today. Check them out below!

Strobe Living For 92 Remix
Mike Rizzo Private Pass

Inquisitr: Madonna Makes Music Chart History As New Song Explodes At Pop Radio

Even at 56, Madonna is still breaking records. Her latest single “Living for Love” has topped Billboard‘s Dance Club Songs chart, making it her 44th No. 1 song on the Dance charts. Billboard describes the Queen of Pop‘s latest achievement:

“The Queen of Pop reigns again with ‘Living for Love,’ tying with George Strait, the King of Country, for the most leaders on a single Billboard chart. Madonna makes Billboard chart history, as she earns her 44th No. 1 on Dance Club Songs, where ‘Living for Love’ lifts 2-1.”

There is more good news for the former material girl. Her single “Living for Love” is finally exploding at pop radio. It is currently No. 37 and is gaining more than a million listener impressions a day. Many thought that Madonna’s new single was gaining airplay because of a radio pay deal, but it has been confirmed that radio stations are playing it out of their own will — that means Ms. Ciccone is getting a lot of requests and great call-out research.

Madonna has yet to debut on the Billboard Hot 100, but that should change now that “Living for Love” is getting a lot of exposure. The success of “Living for Love” will help Madonna’s next single “Ghosttown,” which probably won’t have to be released for a long time now that “Living for Love” is here for the long term. The folks at American radio obviously still care about the Queen of Pop. However, there have been rumors that the BBC’s Radio 1 has banned Madonna from their playlist because she is “too old.” The Inquisitr spoke to Radio 1, who denied the claims.
 

“First of all, there is no ban on Madonna. Her single ‘Living for Love’ might have been available since December, but the record company didn’t start pushing it until recently. We have played the song — I think more than once. It may not be played a lot on Radio 1 right now and may not be played at all in the future. But to say the song was ‘banned’ is an incredible lie and one that some are pushing to promote an obvious agenda against Madonna.”

Perhaps Radio 1 will see how successful Madonna has been in the United States with her new single and add it to their playlist. Madonna is scheduled to perform at the Brit Awards next week. Madonna will release Rebel Heart on March 10. Around that time, dates for her upcoming tour should be announced as well. The year 2015 is going to be a great year for Madonna fans.

Inquisitr.com

Billboard: Madonna's First Top 10 On The Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Chart

MADONNA'S FIRST TOP 10: Madonna's made major news by scoring her 44th No. 1 on the Dance Club Songs chart dated March 7 with "Living for Love," tying her with George Strait for the most leaders on a single Billboard chart. (Strait has logged 44 No. 1s on Hot Country Songs.)

Meanwhile, on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Madonna notches a notable first: her first top 10.

Madonna marches 13-9 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs with "Love," marking her first trip to the upper region. (How is it her first top 10 on the list, given her three decades of musical dominance? The chart, measuring sales, radio airplay, streams and club play, launched in January 2013.) While "Love" had appeared on the chart for eight prior weeks, its rank is buoyed by her performance of it on the Feb. 8 Grammy Awards telecast. "Living" leaps by 64 percent to 587,000 U.S. streams in the week ending Feb. 15, with 58 percent stemming from YouTube on Vevo views (which include the song's official video and the live Grammys performance).

The first single from Rebel Heart (March 10) is the chart's top Digital Gainer and similarly surges by 72 percent to 17,000 downloads sold and soars 11-5 on Dance/Electronic Digital Songs. "Love" is Madonna's second top 10 on the sales tally; fellow new album track "Bitch I'm Madonna" peaked at No. 9 on Jan. 3.

Billboard.com

Madonna Notches Historic 44th No. 1 on Dance Club Songs Chart

The Queen of Pop reigns again with 'Living for Love,' tying with George Strait, the King of Country, for the most leaders on a single Billboard chart.

Madonna makes Billboard chart history, as she earns her 44th No. 1 on Dance Club Songs, where "Living for Love" lifts 2-1. (The ranking, dated March 7, will refresh on Billboard.com on Thursday, Feb. 26.)

With the coronation, Madonna equals George Strait, who's logged 44 No. 1s on Hot Country Songs, for the most leaders ever by an act on a singular Billboard chart.

It's fitting history for the artists also known, respectively, and reverently, as the Queen of Pop and the King of Country.

With her 44th leading title on Dance Club Songs, which measures reports submitted by a national sample of club DJs, Madonna pulls further ahead of runners-up Beyonce and Rihanna. In fact, Madonna has tallied as many No. 1s as they have combined: 22 each. (The chart launched as a national survey in the Billboard issue dated Aug. 28, 1976.)

Madonna, who performed "Love" at the Grammy Awards on Feb. 8, matches Strait's esteemed honor, with the latter icon having stood at the Hot Country Songs summit with 44 smashes between 1982 and 2009. He first reigned with "Fool Hearted Memory" (Aug. 28, 1982) and most recently ruled with "River of Love" (April 18, 2009.)

"Love" introduces Madonna's 13th studio album, Rebel Heart, due March 10.

"The reason I wanted to call the record Rebel Heart was because I felt like it explored two very distinct sides of my personality," Madonna told Billboard's Keith Caulfield in December. "The rebellious, renegade side of me, and the romantic side of me."

Specifically of the house music-infused "Love," the ever-youthful Material Girl similarly said, "It's kind of like the old me and the new me all mixed in together."

Looking ahead, all Madonna needs is one more leader, perhaps also from Rebel Heart, to pass Strait and claim vaunted chart history -- 45 No. 1s on one ranking -- all to herself.

For now, at least, Madonna and Strait make for unparalleled Billboard chart royalty.

More "Living For Love" Remixes On Madonna's YouTube channel

More "Living For Love" remixes have been added to Madonna's official YouTube channel:

Offer Nissim Living For Drums

Stonebridge Private Mix

Dirty Pop Club Remix Part 2

Make sure you listen to these and all the other remixes on Madonna's channel as YouTube streaming counts for "Living For Love"'s chart points! There are so many official remixes at this point that hopefully a 'Part 2' remix maxi will be released to digital retailers.

Chart News: Week Of 2/28/2015

Living For Love
Bubbling Under Hot 100: #8 (Debut)
Pop Digital Songs: #40 (Debut)
Hot Singles Sales: #3 (Debut)
Dance Club Songs: #2 (Up from #4)
Hot Dance / Electronic Songs: #9 (Up from #13)
Dance / Electronic Digital Songs: #5 (Up from #11)
Billboard Twitter Top Tracks: #12 (Down from #11)

Bitch I'm Madonna
Hot Dance / Electronic Songs: #44 (Up from #48)

Rebel Heart
Billboard Twitter Top Tracks: #48 (Down from #23)

So what happened this week? "Living For Love" had building airplay (it was the fifth most added song on Mainstream Top 40 radio this week according to Billboard), Grammy awards performance exposure, and a digital maxi single release with 8 remixes, but it just wasn't enough for a Hot 100 debut. Instead, "Living For Love" lands in at #8 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 tally. However, airplay is continuing to grow which will hopefully help raise "Living For Love"'s sales at iTunes higher in the coming week. Hopefully the song can manage to crack the Hot 100 in the next week or two. If not, it will be Madonna's first lead single from an album since "Everybody" back in 1982 to not appear on the Hot 100 at all.

Elsewhere, "Living For Love" finally cracks the Top 10 over on the Dance / Electronic Songs chart in its 9th week, coming in at #9. Here's a look at that chart's current top 10:

Over on Club Play, as previously reported, "Living For Love" is this week's #2 song. Next week could be the big week where Madonna lands her 44th #1 on that chart! (We should know by tomorrow since the Club Play chart is always released super early). Meanwhile, here is a look at this week's Club Play Top 10:

This is "Living For Love"'s 6th week on the Club Play chart. It is taking a liiiiitle bit longer to reach the #1 spot on Club Play than usual. The last time one of Madonna's Club Play #1's took 7 weeks to reach the #1 spot was with "Jump" back in 2006. All of Madonna's Club Play #1's since then have reached the top spot in 6 weeks or less. Cross your fingers that "Living For Love" doesn't get stuck in the dreaded #2 position next week!

Thanks to Maurice G. for contributions this week.

"Living For Love" 5th Most Added Song On Top 40 Radio This Week

According to Billboard/Nielsen BDS, "Living For Love" was the fifth most added song on Mainstream Top 40 radio this week (Issue dated 2/28/2015) with a total of 20 new stations adding the track (including New York powerhouse WHTZ, aka Z100).

Madonna's “Living For Love” Ranks As One Of Pop's 40 Most-Played

Madonna's "Living for Love" continues to rise. It is now one of the 40 most-played songs at pop radio.

When it comes to scoring formal adds from pop radio programmers, Madonna’s “Living for Love” continues to struggle.

Only 15 monitored Mediabase stations pulled the trigger in conjunction with the song’s February 10 impact, and a downright disappointing 2 officially got on board this week.

When it comes to receiving airplay, “Living for Love” is starting to get into the groove. Since Valentine’s Day, pop radio programmers have been providing the song with a promising number of spins.

By Monday, that activity had allowed “Living for Love” to establish itself as one of pop’s 50 most-played songs.

As of Wednesday, it helps the song register as one of the 40-most-spun.

Thanks to the 767 spins it received between February 11 and 17, “Living for Love” grabs the #38 spot on Mediabase’s rolling pop airplay chart.

Because Mediabase does not issue its official airplay chart until Sunday, “Living for Love” will need to hold its position until then to be formally declared a top 40 hit.

That it is now one of the format’s 40 most-played does, however, add to the sudden aura of optimism surrounding the song. There is still no guarantee it will become a real hit, but it is certainly getting a chance to connect with listeners.

Source

Madonna’s “Living for Love” Becomes One of Pop’s 50 Most-Played Songs

Following its strong Valentine's Day performance, Madonna's "Living for Love" now ranks as one of the pop format's 50 most-played songs.

Thanks to a big Valentine’s Day push, Madonna’s “Living for Love” now registers as one of the fifty most-played songs at pop radio.
The song, which made an underwhelming pop radio impact last week, registers at #49 on Monday’s edition of the rolling Mediabase pop radio chart.

That #49 position is attributable to the 427 spins “Living for Love” received between February 9 and 15. Reports indicate that 205 of those spins came on Valentine’s Day.

Whether this weekend’s airplay represents an anomaly or the beginning of a momentum swing remains to be seen, but it certainly breeds some optimism for those discouraged by previous status reports.

Per last week’s Mediabase add board, only fifteen monitored stations added “Living for Love” in conjunction with its official radio impact (and on the heels of its Grammmy Awards showcase).

That it had gained virtually no traction ahead of its official impact date–Mediabase says it only received 10 pop radio spins during the week between February 2 and 8 despite its weeks of pre-impact buzz and availability–provided further reason to doubt the extent to which radio programmers were “Living for Love.”

If audiences reacted favorably to the song they started to hear more frequently over Valentine’s Day weekend, that could change.

Source

American Radio Is "Living For Love" This Weekend

In a peculiar turn of events, "Living For Love" went from receiving virtually no airplay in the United States to receiving spins from many prominent radio stations across the country this weekend. Since Friday night, the song has been played several times by influential stations such as KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and Z-100 in New York, among many others. It is possible that all of this is the result of a pre-arranged radio deal (remember that Madonna had originally intended to debut "Living For Love" today, on Valentine's Day). It will be interesting to see if these airplay trends continue past the weekend. Whatever the case, this can only mean good things for "Living For Love"'s potential debut on the Hot 100! Remember also that the digital remix EP was released on Monday, February 9th (the day after the Grammys) so those addes sales will also contribute to it's chart placements next week. Cross your fingers!

Billboard Q&A With Madonna

 Billboard.com has posted a new Q&A session with Madonna. Read it here.

Chart Preview: Dance Club Songs (Week of 2/28/2015)

"Living For Love" moves up to #2 on next week's Dance Club Songs Chart! She's so close..!

Chart News: Week Of 2/21/2015

Living For Love
Dance Club Songs: #4 (Up from #6)
Hot Dance / Electronic Songs: #13 (Up from #21)
Dance / Electronic Digital Songs: #11 (Re-Entry)
Billboard Twitter Top Tracks: #11 (Re-Entry)

Bitch I'm Madonna
Hot Dance / Electronic Songs: #48 (Re-Entry)

Rebel Heart
Billboard Twitter Top Tracks: #23 (Re-Entry)

Final Rebel Heart Formats

The third and final cover art for the Rebel Heart formats was revealed today on amazon.com. There will be 4 physical formats released in the USA: Standard Edition CD, Deluxe Edition CD, Super Deluxe Edition CD and Deluxe Edition Vinyl (and a 'Clean' edited version of  the Standard Edition CD and probably the Deluxe Edition CD as well).

Standard Edition
14-Track CD
14-Track CD (Clean)


Deluxe Edition
19-Track CD
19-Track Double Vinyl

Super Deluxe Edition
25-Track Double CD

Chart Preview: Dance Club Songs (Week Of 2/21/2015)

"Living For Love" climbs up to #4 on next week's Dance Club Songs chart (Issue dated February 21, 2015).

Chart News: Week Of 2/14/2015

Living For Love
Dance Club Songs: #6 (Up from #11)
Hot Dance / Electronic Songs: #21 (Up from #27)

Bitch I'm Madonna
Hot Dance / Electronic Songs: Off (From #50)

Rebel Heart
Billboard Twitter Top Tracks: Off (From #26)

"Living For Love" Digital Remix EP Tracklist

Here are the reported tracklists for the "Living For Love" digital remix EP, set to be released on February 9th. Note that the Spotify tracklist includes an exclusive remix (Michael Diamond Remix).

Living for Love Remixes (iTunes)
Djemba Djemba Club Mix 5:48
Erick Morillo Club Mix 6:12
THRILL Remix 5:11
Offer Nissim Living For Drama Mix 6:34
Offer Nissim Dub 7:15
DJ PAULO Club Mix 8:13
Mike Rizzo’s Funk Generation Club Mix 7:03
Dirty Pop Club Remix 4:58

Living for Love Remixes (Spotify)
Michael Diamond Remix 4:56 (Exclusive)
Djemba Djemba Club Mix 5:48
Erick Morillo Club Mix 6:12
THRILL Remix 5:11
Offer Nissim Living For Drama Mix 6:34
Offer Nissim Dub 7:15
DJ PAULO Club Mix 8:13
Mike Rizzo’s Funk Generation Club Mix 7:03
Dirty Pop Club Remix 4:58

Note that these are not all of the remixes that have been produced. Some of these may remain promo-only unless they release a "Part 2" EP later on. The complete remix list of "Living For Love" so far is as follows:

-Dirty Pop Club Dubinstrumental (4:58) (Promo)
-Dirty Pop Club Remix (4:58)
-Dirty Pop Radio Edit (3:58) (Promo)
-DJ PAULO and Jackinsky Dub (6:29) (Promo)
-DJ PAULO and Jackinsky Full Vocal Mix (7:14) (Promo)
-DJ PAULO Club Mix (8:15)
-Djemba Djemba Club Mix (5:47)
-Erick Morillo Club Mix (6:12)
-Erick Morillo Instrumental (6:12) (Promo)
-Funk Generation & H3adRush Dub (6:06) (Promo)
-Instrumental (3:39) (Promo)
-Michael Diamond Remix (4:56)
-Mike Rizzo's Funk Generation Club Mix (7:03)
-Offer Nissim Dub Mix (7:15)
-Offer Nissim Living For Drama Remix (6:34)
-THRILL Instrmental Mix (5:12) (Promo)
-THRILL Remix (5:11)

In related news, a physical 2-track CD single will be released in Germany.