Why Taylor Swift has more No. 1 hits on this chart than the Beatles

Billboard Magazine announced last week that Taylor Swift — whose song “Karma” made it to No. 1 on the Pop Airplay chart —  tied the record for the most No. 1 songs by an artist in the history of the chart.

“Karma” is her 11th No. 1 hit on the chart, and that record puts her in good company, tying with Maroon 5, Katy Perry, and Rihanna who all also have 11. Just below them is Justin Bieber with 10. No other artists are in the double digits.

You may be asking how that can be: What about The Beatles? The Bee Gees? Michael Jackson? Elvis?

It’s not a technicality, but it has to do with what the list actually measures and how old the list goes back. In this case, it is a measure not of sales, but of how many times the song has been played by major stations across the country … and the Pop Airplay list only goes back as far as October 1992.

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If you investigate the actual number of times an artist hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, the leader is indeed The Beatles, with 20 No. 1 hits; Mariah Carey is second on that list with 19. Where’s Elvis? Third, with 18.

Smalltown radio

Brian Winnekins is the owner of WRDN/Durand Wisconsin, one of the handful of AM stations across the country still utilizing the Motorola C-Quam stereo system, which means that most current radios can’t decode the stereo signal, but many from the 1980s and ‘90s still can. With the improvements and investments in equipment that he (and those in similar situations) have made, his station sounds remarkable on any decent radio — stereo or not.

Durand is a small farming town, with a population of only about 1900 residents in the 2020 Census. But unlike some small-town stations, Winnekins doesn’t take the easy way out by just putting on syndicated programming or political talk. Instead, he takes his community service role seriously and presents extensive agricultural news and information, local high school athletic games, local news, local events, and local weather. Oh, and country music.

Note the word “local.” Back to that soon.

Recently, Winnekins posted information on Facebook regarding the station’s summer programming special: “Doing the community service thing from our first fair of the season,” he wrote. “Yes, we do live video streams of livestock shows. Don’t laugh, we have 17 sponsors.”

Seventeen sponsors in a town of fewer than 2000 residents, not counting the cattle, on a station that’s on the band that some say is dead.

How can that be?

Back to the word. “local.” It is so key to connecting with your audience — and advertisers. That focus on the local audience is what makes the difference. An active audience can be reached by local advertisers who have no other easy way to reach their target customers.

But certainly, you could not do that in Southern California, right?

Why not? There used to be local stations … in fact, all the stations used to be local in some sense. But the move to become “bigger” can hurt when you can’t compete against the big boys with, for example, a limited signal. Or even just a limited budget. The solution? Local programming.

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The original setup of many stations was designed to be locally focused. As some stations grew, they became dominant, of course. But there was still room for stations serving a local audience. KGIL (now KMZT, 1260 AM) was designed and originally programmed for the San Fernando Valley. KEZY (now KGBN, 1190 AM) was for Anaheim. KFOX (now KDAY, 93.5 FM) was for Redondo Beach. How about a station actually programming to the local community, whatever that community may be? San Pedro … Wilmington … Huntington Park … Hermosa Beach… Fountain Valley… You get the idea.

If I was a local business owner, I could probably never afford to buy advertising time on KIIS-FM (102.7), and it would probably not be worth it even if I could. But if I could advertise on a station targeting my local community, it might be the best marketing investment I could make.

So as we continue the talk of helping improve radio, programmers must remember that local trumps all, even for the larger stations. KHJ (930 AM) wasn’t the most influential station of its time when it played top-40 because it syndicated its programming or used out-of-town DJs. It was so because it was Los Angeles; there were stations similar, but there was only on KHJ. Only one KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM). Only one KROQ (106.7 FM).

Be the best you can be, program locally, and there is no stopping you.

Game on!