The column debuts at no. 37.
Taylor Swift and Bon Iver each make their girl visit BillboardAdult alternative songs of the adult songs, as “exile” bows on no. 37 on the list of 15 August.
“Exile” was released on Swift’s new Billboard 200 topping album Folklore and includes Bon Iver, Justin Vernon’s musical project, on vocals.
The song marks Swift’s first prey on a Billboard rock radio chart. Similarly, she has mapped 36 titles on the Country Airplay map (where colleague Folklore single “Betty” jumps at the same time 60-52). She has submitted 33 entries to the Pop Songs airplay rankings (where Folklore‘s “Cardigan” runs 27-22); 32 on adult pop songs (where “Cardigan” jumps 26-15); and 31 on Adult Contemporary (where “Cardigan” lifts 19-18).
Bon Iver, meanwhile, lands his first title on a Billboard airplay chart. Earlier singles were promoted to alternative radio for adults, with some bubbling under the Adult Alternative Songs chart, such as “U (Man Like)” and “33 ‘God’.”
“Exile” also features sports production by Aaron National of The National, whose band has made four appearances for Alternative Songs for Adults, all since 2017, including the two-week no. 1 “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness” that August.
Several programmers at the format feel that “exile” fits sonically. “It’s funny because even though most of our listeners have heard of Swift, many are probably very unfamiliar with their music,” said Brad Savage, program director at WAPS Akron. Billboard. “But, our audience knows Aaron Dessner and [fellow Folklore producer] Jack Antonoff, and we played several songs by Bon Iver. It’s nice to think that our audience is more aware of how Bon Iver sounds than Taylor Swift. Somehow it’s like he says, ‘It’s OK, guys, she’s with me !,’ to those who might be skeptical about their pop or country background. In fact, Lightning 100 [WRLT Nashville] recently received a tweet from a listener who said that exact sentence; I can not even take credit for it!
“I believe American radio is too based on niche formats and what not every station plays,” Savage adds. “In most English-language pop music formats around the world, the playlists are more inclusive and wide. There’s an old adage in alternative for adults that says, ‘A mile wide and an inch deep.’ be a ‘way too cool’ factor in some of our stations of our format.The truth is, in my opinion, that most listeners just want to hear good songs and they trust us as a filter as a curator for that experience. no question that Taylor’s new record deserves its exposure. “
Nate Campbell, an adult alternative programmer at KVYN Napa Valley, California, says, “We’re very supportive of pop artists crossing over to our format. This track by Taylor and Bon Iver fuses nicely into our daily mix. Our listeners in Napa like Taylor and eclectic artists, too, so it’s not too difficult to play ‘Exile’ at our station, just like we’re playing Harry Styles’ Watermelon Sugar.
“We’re hoping for more tracks like this,” Campbell says. “This kind of mix of music, we believe, is how most people in the world of Spotify listen now.”
In his second week on BillboardThe multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, “Exile” runs at no. 5, after debuting at no. That said, their percentage drop of the second week in total activity is the smallest of any Swift song on the card (including “Cardigan”, which drops to No. 2 after their No. 1 launch). That, plus its rising airplay, could well mean for “exile” in terms of the lungs of chart.
Folklore, meanwhile, spends a second week at no. 1 on the Billboard 200, earning 135,000 equivalent album units. It ran in with 846,000 units, according to Nielsen Music / MRC Data, the best arc since Swift’s own Leaver last year.
