Daughtry Nabs First Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1 With ‘Artificial’

Kevin Rutherford
·2 min read

Daughtry reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart for the first time as “Artificial” lifts 2-1 on the Feb. 17-dated ranking.

“Artificial” follows 17 years of appearances on Mainstream Rock Airplay for Daughtry, which first made the survey with “It’s Not Over,” a No. 5-peaking track in March 2007. The band boasts eight entries in all.

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That stretch between first appearance and first No. 1 is the longest since Jeff Beck, who set the all-time record when he went 37 years between “People Get Ready” charting in 1985 and Ozzy Osbourne’s “Patient Number 9,” on which he’s featured, reaching No. 1 in 2022.

As Daughtry is the lead artist on “Artificial,” the previous longest as a lead act went to Disturbed frontman David Draiman, who went 19 years between his solo track “Forsaken” in 2002 and “Dead Inside,” a co-lead with Nita Strauss, which hit No. 1 in 2022.

Prior to “Artificial,” Daughtry’s highest ranking song on Mainstream Rock Airplay had been “Heavy Is the Crown,” which peaked at No. 4 in 2021.

While it’s Daughtry’s first Mainstream Rock Airplay ruler, the Chris Daughtry-fronted band boasts multiple No. 1s over the years on other Billboard’s airplay charts. That includes four leaders on Adult Pop Airplay between 2007 and 2009 (“It’s Not Over,” “Home,” “Feels Like Tonight” and “No Surprise”) and one reign apiece on Pop Airplay (“It’s Not Over”) and Adult Contemporary (“Home”).

Daughtry’s output generally performed better on pop airplay formats early in the band’s career, to the point where it experienced a nearly 13-year break from Mainstream Rock Airplay between “Crashed” in 2007 and its return to the ranking, “World on Fire,” in 2020.

Concurrently, “Artificial” rises 14-13 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 2.7 million audience impressions, up 13%, according to Luminate. It reaches its peak so far, No. 12, on the Jan. 13 tally.

The most recent multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs list (Feb. 10) found “Artificial” at No. 12. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 346,000 official U.S. streams Jan. 26-Feb. 1.

“Artificial” is currently a standalone single for Daughtry. Its last album, Dearly Beloved, debuted at No. 4 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart dated Oct. 2, 2021, and has earned 88,000 equivalent album units to date.

All Billboard charts dated Feb. 17 will update on Billboard.com on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

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