Thanks to sale-pricing on iTunes, several classic hits surge on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart and other surveys dated April 10.
During the latest sales tracking period (March 25-April 1), iTunes listed on its front page a category dubbed “69 Cent Rock Hits,” and the placement drew sizable sales gains for many of its featured songs. The latest special follows recent iTunes 69-cent deals for pop and R&B/hip-hop hits.
In all, 12 titles from the 1970s-2000s reach the sales-, airplay- and streaming-based Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart aided by the week’s pricing. (Older songs can appear to the Billboard Hot 100 and genre charts that use the same methodology if ranking in the top half and with a meaningful reason for their revivals.)
Leading the way: Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.” Just a few months removed from its resurgence due to a viral TikTok video soundtracked by the 1977 Hot 100 No. 1, “Dreams” returns to Hot Rock & Alternative Songs at No. 7, paced by its 694% boost to 11,000 sold, according to MRC Data. The sum also slots the track in at No. 1 on Rock Digital Song Sales for a seventh nonconsecutive week. Its Hot Rock & Alternative Songs placement is also aided by 7.3 million U.S. streams and 1.1 million in radio audience in the tracking week.
Of the 11 other entries, some appear on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs for the first time. Here’s a rundown of all 12.
Rank, Title, Artist, Sales total/gain:
No. 7, “Dreams,” Fleetwood Mac (11,000 sold, up 694%)
No. 11, “Summer of ’69,” Bryan Adams (8,600, up 2,215%)
No. 13, “Simple Man,” Lynyrd Skynyrd (4,600, up 667%)
No. 14, “Iris,” Goo Goo Dolls (5,500, up 1,222%)
No. 15, “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Bon Jovi (3,200, up 328%)
No. 17, “Free Fallin’,” Tom Petty (2,600, up 510%)
No. 19, “Landslide,” Fleetwood Mac (3,400, up 339%)
No. 20, “Zombie,” The Cranberries (7,200, up 691%)
No. 21, “Last Resort,” Papa Roach (4,000, up 609%)
No. 22, “Spirit in the Sky,” Norman Greenbaum (5,800 up 1,120%)
No. 24, “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” Simple Minds (3,200, up 500%)
No. 25, “Rockstar,” Nickelback (4,400, up 590%)
Some of the above tracks also make Hot Rock & Alternative Songs sub-charts, with “Iris” leading the way on Hot Alternative Songs (No. 10), followed by “Zombie” (No. 13), “Last Resort” (No. 14), “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” (No. 16) and “Rockstar” (No. 17). On Hot Hard Rock Songs, “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “Last Resort” and “Rockstar” rank at Nos. 1-3, respectively, the former earning Bon Jovi its first ruler on the list, which began in June 2020.
Billboard’s Rock Digital Song Sales, Alternative Digital Song Sales and Hard Rock Digital Song Sales charts also boast iTunes-boosted titles not on the multi-metric lists. The biggest is Drowning Pool’s “Bodies,” which returns to Hard Rock Digital Song Sales at No. 1 (and Rock Digital Song Sales at No. 6) with 5,200 sold, up 1,068%.
