As June winds down and we gear up to celebrate America’s birthday next week, here are some hits to keep an eye on for airplay in various formats.
As I usually do, let’s begin in the Top40/Hot-AC space with this Ed Sheeran/ “Drive” it’s from “F1: The Movie. This is a cool rock song with Ed’s pop sensibilities. The guitar drives this song, and it’s a nice change of pace we have not heard from Ed in a few years.
Ava Max / “Lovin Myself” has a nice groove and hook and sounds like it has hit potential. Not much of a streaming story yet, but worthy of a listen and consideration.
One final pick for this week, Head And The Heart / “Arrow” has a solid hook and, for certain, leans more Pop than their previous songs.
Let’s jump into the Country world for this week.
One of the hottest Pop artists right now is Alex Warren. Well, he has a song with Jellyroll / “Bloodline.” It’s one you should definitely have your ears on. Kelsea Ballerini / “Baggage” is worthy of a revisit with nearly 60 million streams if you are not already spinning.
I’m also really liking Craig Campbell / “Missing You,” which is getting solid love from KSOP in Salt Lake City, KILT/Houston, Music Choice and a handful of others.
Over in the Rock world, in the AAA space, be sure to get Goose / “Your Direction” into your ears, great hook and reminds me a bit of Steely Dan.
In the Alternative world, my pick this week is Muse / “Unraveling” sounds like another solid record from this band.
Moving into the Rhythmic space, the one catching my ear this week includes Leon Thomas / “Not Fair”,
I’m also liking Feid ft. Ty Dolla $ign‘s /“Dallax” has a nice groove and hook, and is already receiving early love from Townsquare Media stations across the country.
Lastly, no streaming story to speak of at this point, but this sounds like a hit, Swedish House Mafia / “Wait So Long.”
So, there is the ear candy you should get familiar with if you are not already.
Happy weekend to all!
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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.
