Airplay Decline of Ke$ha's "Die Young" Steadying After Initial Decline
Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 12.19.2012
As a result of the Connecticut shootings...
Billboard reports that the radio airplay of Ke$ha's song "Die Young" has steadied after an initial dropoff as a result of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.
Nielsen BDS has been monitoring the airplays, and have noticed that the decline is steadying somewhat. Adult pop station WDAQ Danbury, Conn., located about 10 miles from Newtown, stopped playing the track after last Friday's tragedy. The station program director, Rich Minor, stated: "We've been playing it before Friday but not since and I think we're now done with it. Even though it's a fun pop/dance record about seizing the moment, all people are going to hear right now [are] those two words in the title."
Airplay for the song was lower after Friday, though not all stations in the region dropped the song permanently. Pop Songs panelist WODS Boston PD Dan Mason said, "We backed off 'Die Young' initially [but it's] back in regular rotation. So far, no negative calls or texts from listeners about it."
Ke$ha personally expressed regret over the timing of her song. She posted on her Twitter account earlier this week: "I'm so so so sorry for anyone who has been effected by this tragedy.and I understand why my song is now inappropriate. words cannot express."
BDS now states though that airplay for the song is actually trending back up nationally since the weekend. Reportedly, 1,200 stations monitored for the Billboard Hot 100 had the song logged with 2,300 plays each day. The song is likely to continue to have a decrease in airplay through a combination of extra lyrical analysis from PDs and the typical decline of a former number one Pop Songs hit.
