Welcome back to Hits on the Horizon. We are now 3 months away from Christmas. Let that sink in for a moment! With no more time to waste, let’s jump right in with some ear candy you should be considering if you program a music radio station.
In the Top40/Hot-AC world, here’s a few to have on your radar. Ed Sheeran’s “A Little More” from the new album “Play” is a fun groove with a good hook. It captured about 2.3 million streams nationally this week. This next song will get attention and reaction from your audience fairly quickly. Laufey’s ”Lover Girl” sounds like a throwback to many years ago. It had 4 million streams nationally this week. One more to get your ears on is Jackson Wang’s “Let Loose”. I really like the hook on this song.
Moving to Rock and the “active” side be sure to check out The Violent’s “Bad Blood”. This song rocks and has a solid hook. It’s getting some radio love so far from Sirius XM’s Octane channel. Next is a song getting a bit of Alt love, but could work well for AAA and maybe even cross to Adult Pop. That’s Braison Cyrus’ “Know This”. Before you ask, yes he is Miley’s brother. Don’t sleep on this one. It’s very catchy and well written. Radio love in the alt world is coming from WJMZ in Greenville SC, and WROX in Norfolk.
One more for the week that caught my ears is Medium Build’s “Last Time”. His real name is Nicholas, and his voice at time reminds me of Paul Simon. This is a cool song with a good hook and it’s earning radio love at The Current in Minneapolis, KTBG in Kansas City, and WYMS in Milwaukee.
Shifting to Country, Laci Kaye Booth’s “Luck Of The Draw” has been stuck in my head all week. It’s just a good song with a strong hook. Walker Hayes’ “Next Wife” is next, and features the lyrics “If you were my ex-wife and I saw you at Walmart and I was with my next wife, it would be so hard!” It’s fun and catchy.
Let’s move to world of Rhythm next where Cardi B’s “Magnet” is getting love from “Urban One” stations in Washington DC, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Richmond and Indianapolis. Sirius XM’s The Heat is also showing love to the song. One other that should be on your radar is Ella Mai’s “Tell Her”. It had 2.4 million streams nationally this week plus radio love from Radio Free 102.3 KJLH in Los Angeles and Sirius XM’s Heart & Soul.
That’s my collection of ear candy for you this week. Happy listening!
Jim Ryan is a Music Radio columnist for Barrett Media. In addition, he runs Jim Ryan Media LLC, a consulting company which assists major market radio brands and top talent including national radio personality Delilah. Prior to relaunching his consultancy in 2025, Jim spent 15 years with Audacy/CBS Radio, serving as SVP of Programming. Among his responsibilities included programming WNEW-FM and WCBS-FM. His career includes additional programming stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston. Jim was voted the #2 PD of 2024 in Barrett Media’s Top 20 series in the AC category. He can be reached by email at Jim@JimRyanMedia.com.
