How FEEL IT STILL Became A Hit

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How To Make A Radio Hit with Portugal. The Man’s ‘Feel It Still’ and Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’

Portugal. The Man could never have predicted “Feel It Still” to become the astronomical hit that did. Over 150 million views on YouTube. 400 million listens on Spotify. It won a Grammy, that means something right?

It was the most-Shazamed song in the country for seven weeks running. And that’s because if you’re still listening to the radio, you would have heard it across nearly every format. It was a crossover hit. A song that transcends genre, so widely accessible you can play it on nearly any contemporary radio station and it just works.

It was the group’s first chart topping single. Going on to conquer the top spot on 6 Billboard charts and almost two others.

Radio Songs
Pop Songs
Adult Pop Songs
Alternative Songs
Adult Alternative Songs
Dance/Mix Show Airplay

Taking Portugal. The Man from indie darlings to Top 40 giants in just weeks.

And these charts are important. Labels use these rankings to entice radio stations to play these songs even more. You see, stations need to retain listeners to keep the advertising dollars coming in and the best way keep people listening is to play the biggest hits around. It’s why you hear the same tracks on rotation all day long. The more a track plays, the higher that rank goes up and the more a single sells. And the loop continues until listener fatigue kicks in and is replaced by something new.

Since 2003, there have only been 12 songs to top 6 or more Billboard charts, including “Feel It Still”

Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” (2005)
Mary J. Blige’s “Be Without You” (2006)
Gotye “Somebody That I Used To Know” featuring Kimbra (2012)
Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” featuring T.I. and Pharrell (2013)
Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” (2014)
John Legend’s “All of Me” (2014)
Nico & Vinz’s “Am I Wrong” (2014)
Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” (2014)
Adele’s “Hello” (2014/15)
Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk!,” featuring Bruno Mars (2015)
Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” featuring Justin Bieber (2017)

You’ll see some familiar names from frequent hit makers, but only one of these songs has topped the same six charts as Feel It Still.

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Written, Voiced and Edited by Frank Furtado
Research from: An Analysis of Common Songwriting and Production Practices in 2014-2015 Billboard Hot 100 Songs by David T. Tough.
#portugaltheman #feelitstill #middle8

Written by Middle 8