What’s new on ATL radio
Credit: YouTube/Boney James
Highlighting key new tracks at Atlanta radio stations this week,
HIP HOP/R&B: Kiss 104.1 added Boney James and Ledisi’s “I Belong To You”, Jhene Aiko and Kendrick Lamar’s “So Good”, and Tamia’s “Forever And A Day”. V-103 adds Latto (“Okayyy”) and Nuke2Stiff (“Feitish”). Streetz added Zeddy Hill‘s “Bow Bow Bow”, Hot 107.9 added 2Rare/Ameire‘s “Buss Down” and Offset‘s “Every Night”. The Beat adds Dolly Rabe (“Pink Blush”) and Drake‘s “Cold Shoulder”.
TOP 40: Among hit music stations, Q99.7 and Power 105.3 added Adela‘s “Nicole Kidman” and Ashe‘s “Stop the Wedding”.
COUNTRY: “Born and Raised Hell” by Brothers Osborne is new at The Bull, while Mitchell Tenpenny‘s “Aint My Problem” was added at WKHX.
2025 hits have staying power on Atlanta hit radio
Credit: YouTube/Sombr/Warner Bros. Records
If you think you’ve heard certain hit tracks for more than a year on Atlanta radio, it’s not your imagination. Hit songs are spinning on the radio longer, and that’s especially true if the audience can’t get enough of the song.
Here are some songs that have been getting significant airplay throught the year:
- Sombr-“Back To Friends” This song was released in late 2024, and steadily built an audience via TikTok. Sombr’s record label, Warner Brothers, released the song to radio in the third quarter last year, and the song built into a number one national hit on Top 40 radio. Airplay on “Friends” never stopped in Atlanta, where WWWQ/99.7 powered it at 540 spins in January, according to airplay tracker Mediabase. Now in recurrent status, it gets 104 spins so far this month at the station, which has spun the song 2782 times so far in 2026. Its Top 40 competitor WWPW Power 105.3 gave the song heavy airplay from January to March, but not as much as Q99.7. Its airplay so far this year is 1896 at Power. “Friends” has seen belated acceptance at Hot AC WSTR (which started spinning it in August after it segued from Classic Hits to HAC) and Alternative WNNX, which added the song in August when it added new tracks to its classic Alternative playlist. It still sees steady airplay even this month. (81 spins at 99X, 170 at Star 94.) The singer/songwriter/producer has two newer songs on the radio now, “My Body Isn’t Ready” and “Homewrecker”, but they have yet to see the success here that “Friends” has.
- Olivia Dean-“Man I Need” This debut track from newcomer Dean turned out to be the song radio needed. WWWQ and WWPW both hit this song hard, with the same ferocity they did with Sombr’s “Friends. But airplay on both stations has been strong even this month, where Power spun it 198 times, and Q99.7 gave it 98 spins. This despite putting her second track “So Easy (To Fall In Love) “in power rotation during the summer. Star added the track in August and has been spiking it ever since, as has B98.5. “Need” is bound to be one of the biggest hit radio tracks of the year when the dust settles, and Dean is well on her way to becoming a global pop music superstar.
- Taylor Swift-“The Fate Of Ophelia” Taylor remains radio’s surest bet these days, and her hit “Ophelia”, which shared space in the top five of the national pop charts with the aforementioned tracks, similarly started strong in the beginning of 2026 and remained a presence on Atlanta pop radio. This track got airplay on WWWQ, WWPW (to a lesser extent), and ACs WSB and WSTR, which added it in August after becoming more hit-driven. Q99.7 continues to spin this record months later, with 83 spins this month, and slightly less but still substantial at WWPW, 37 spins. It should be noted that Swift put two other big tracks on radio’s hit list: “Opallite” and “I Knew It I Knew You,” both of which became radio hits at Atlanta hit stations.
Other records that saw sustained airplay throught the year were Bruno Mars “I Just Might”, Huntr/X, EJae, Audrey’s “Golden”, Justin Bieber’s “Daises” and Benson Boone‘s “Sorry I’m Here For Someone.” And then there’s the slow burn of Ella Langley‘s “Choosin’ Texas”, but we’ll address that next week.
Checking up on 99X
Credit: YouTube/Soul Asylum/Sony
After WNNX/99X lost most of its on-air staff, the station seemed to go into autopilot, playing a mix of the classic modern rock the station was famous for in its heyday and the newer stuff the station mostly avoided the last two years to focus on the classics. The problem wasn’t the new direction, as a mix of the various eras of modern rock sounds great if it’s executed well. The problem was a lack of depth in the station’s mix. Since the de-DJ’ing of 99X, current tracks like Cage The Elephant‘s “Beaches In Tennessee”, Julia Wolf’s “In My Room” and the aforementioned Sombr’s “Back To Friends” were put into rotation. But many Alternative classics from the first 99X era, including bands like Sponge (“Plowed”, “Molly”) and Soul Asylum (“Somebody To Shove”, “Black Gold”, “Runaway Train”) are MIA. Even some 99X throwback acts have only parts of their catalog getting airplay (like the Smiths‘ “How Soon Is Now” in rotation but no “Ask” or “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” or R.E.M.’s “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth” and “Losing My Religion” getting spins, but no “Radio Free Europe” or “The One I Love”.) The lack of depth makes the station’s presentation sound like somebody’s Spotify account. There are signs the station is taking notice of this issue, slowly adding more older titles, while balancing out the various eras of modern rock. 99X is also emphasizing longer music sets and shorter advertising breaks. Right now, 99X still does not have a full-time program director, a position previously filled by former station middayer Steve Craig.
Here’s what 99X sounded like earlier today at the 5 pm hour (during Will Pendarvis‘ shift):
- Blink 182-Stay Together For The Kids (3)
- Lola Young-Messy (32)
- Turnstile-Look Out For Me (44)
- Nirvana-Lithium (15)
- Slightly Stoopid-Backseat Drivin’ (32)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers-Soul to Squeeze (14)
- Cage The Elephant-Beaches In Tennessee (100)
- Weezer-Island In The Sun (4)
- Temper City-Self Aware (60)
- Candlebox-Far Behind (3)
- The Paradox-I Kinda Like That (52)
- Imagine Dragons-Demons (6)
- Audioslave-Show Me How To Live (1)
- All Time Low-The Weather (19)
The numbers in parentheses are the number of times that particular song was played in the last seven days, according to onlineradiobox.com.
Thanks for reading. More next week.