While getting radio airplay isn’t as important as it was, say, 20 years ago when it was one of the only ways to get exposure, it’s still one of the best ways for an artist to be heard. But according to Digital Music News, only a few artists make up the bulk of all radio airplay. The site analyzed every song spun on terrestrial radio in the United States for the week ending August 25, and found some pretty sobering news. Only 6,115 artists got one spin, and the number of artists getting at least ten spins was only 3,417. And only 1,323 artists got at least 100 spins, which when you consider how many radio stations there are and how much music there is, is shockingly low. It’s even lower when you take into account that this isn’t new music, but all artists. In all, the top 1,000 songs got nearly 70% of all the spins on terrestrial radio. Some stats after the jump.
Number of artists getting at least 1 spin: 6,115
Number of artists getting at least 2 spins: 5,506
Number of artists getting at least 10 spins: 3,417
Number of artists getting at least 100 spins: 1,323
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Number of songs getting at least 1 spin: 21,486
Number of songs getting at least 2 spins: 17,752
Number of songs getting at least 10 spins: 8,945
Number of songs getting at least 100 spins: 2,296
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Total number of spins: 1,585,185
Total number of spins for 1,000 biggest songs: 1,107,044
Percentage of spins enjoyed by top 1,000 songs: 69.8%
