todays billboard hot 100 chart is mostly made up of radio airplay from the different charts in music.. Prince's main airplay comes from Urban A/C & Urban..they add those figures together with whatever airplay he gets from the other charts such as the Pop & Pop Rhythmic chart..well since those 2 charts for the most part don't play Prince songs because he is not Usher he loses out on radio airplay numbers that would push his hot 100 chart numbers much higher..so thats why if you look at todays billboard hot 100 http://billboardradio.com.../81100.jsp

you'll notice Call My Name dropped to #82 this week now this is where Sonys mistake comes in they went for adds on just about every major format EXCEPT HOT A/C OR MAINSTREAM A/C if you look at the playlists of these radio stations they play new music from people like Hall & Oates,Duran Duran,Lionel Richie etc...as well as the newer acts such as Maroon 5,Avril & Ashley Simpson..i have no idea why Sony didnt go for adds with Call My Name at these stations...a well played song can add about 2,000 to 5,000 extra spins for a song and that would have made Call My Name easily a top 40 hit and possibly top 20 when combined with the Urban & Urban A/C chart...now i know Prince probably dont care cuz he's making $$$ in bunches these days but it would have been nice publicity to have Musicology include a top 20 hit and it would have been nice to have Prince add to his hit totals overall


i have no idea what format Cinnamon Girl will be played on..will Urban play it? or Urban a/c? i doubt it..but i guess only time will tell

Hey Maz-

Yeah you pretty much hit the nail on the head. Although I am sort of surprised they even went for adds on Top 40. Timing is another issue that Sony screwed up with Call My Name (as far as getting it up the Hot 100) The song peaked at different times on different charts.

Urban AC - #1
Urban Mainstream - mid 30's
Top 40 / Rythmic- 60's
Top 40/ Pop- 80's

If CMN peaked around the same time on all these charts it probably would have went Top 40 on the Hot 100.


As far as Cinnamon Girl goes I see this as a potential Pop / Hot AC hit and not an Urban / Urban AC song. Which is maybe why Sony laid off promoting Call My Name heavily to Pop/ Hot AC/AC knowing they had Cinnamon Girl waiting to hit them with that.

newpower99 said:

yes i agree with you they messed up with the timing..also i was very suprised Call My Name didnt get higher on the regular Urban chart and lost steam pretty quickly....anyway Newpower the way they count the singles charts these days is ridiculous..its not whats popular with the public anymore its whats popular with the radio programmers and thats just crazy

Mazerati said:

If anyone is to blame it is Prince....and here is why...

1) He spent most of 1990's hating on record companies, who in return control radio, why would they promote an artist (no pun intended) who trashes them with every chance he gets.

2) Very rarely does someone score big on the hot 100, ask MJ and Madonna, this is a young artists game. Prince's time is over.

3) He puts down MTV/VH1/BET who also will slow down or stop the rotation of his videos which limits he exposure to a new audience, who will then in return not buy his music and call radio stations to request his singles.

And I am sorry to say, we probably will not see another single from Musicology.

Mazerati said:

Call my name isn't really worthy of THAT much promotion.

I like the song enough--but it doesn't have enough appeal and kind of even sounds like a flat old school imitation of mowtown, wrapped up in a package that is about as exciting as a shriveled up tapeworm.

They might as well try their luck with Cinamin Girl or A Million days--desperately catchy though they may be, that's all it takes for a top 40 hit if you have Sony backing you.