Welcome back to Hits on the Horizon! October marches on as we creep closer to Halloween. Let’s see if we can “scare” up some more potential hits for programmers and music directors to sink their fangs into!
Starting with Top40/Hot AC, the first tune that jumps out is Charlie Puth’s “Changes”. It’s a really good song, which Q92.9 in Pittsburgh, Alice in Denver and San Francisco and 94.3 The Point on the Jersey Shore have lent support to. Next is Jisoo X Zayn’s “Eyes Closed”. It scored 6 million streams this week, and KIIS/Los Angeles, Sirius XM-Hits 1, 99.7 Now in San Francisco and others have provided radio airplay. Finally, Khalid’s “Nah” is very catchy and scored 2.3 million streams this week. It’s received some early radio love from PST in Trenton, Music Choice and K92 in Roanoke.
Moving into Country, first up is Ella Langley’s “Choosing Texas”. It’s a solid song with a good hook and it’s gained radio support so far from 100.3 The Bull in Houston, 93Q Country, and New Country 96.3 in Dallas, and Z104 in Salt Lake City. Another song to get your ears on is Luke Bryan’s “Kansas”. As the lyric says, “But if it’s a wheatfield, I’ll give you Kansas”.
Heading to Rock, I’m obsessed with Cheap Trick’s “The Riff That Won’t Quit”. This song is getting early love from recent Marconi winner for “legendary station” as well as “major market station of the year” WMMR in Philadelphia. Another solid choice from the Alt world is Hayley Williams’ “Parachute”. Paramore’s lead singer has generated over 800K in streams, and gained radio love from Sirius XM Alt Nation, Music Choice and WOKV-2 /Jacksonville and WTBV-2 in Tampa.
From the Triple-A format, check out Rocket’s “Another Second Chance”. The current radio spin leader is WFPK in Louisville. Others on board include The Current in Minneapolis, 99.1 NXP in Nashville and a few others.
Last, Rhythm this week has two worth listening to. Karri & Kehlani’s “Go” is a solid song with a good hook, “smack it up, flip it up!”. Nia Allen’s “Sunshine” also sounds like it has hit potential!
There you go, some tasty ear candy as we head towards Halloween. The best part, no calories or rotting teeth! Happy Listening!
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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.
