If you’re a fan of Rihanna, at the moment you’re probably still recovering from the catastrophic wave of news and music that hit you with little to no warning yesterday. Starting off yesterday bright and early, Rihanna went forth to premiere her new single, ‘Work,’ featuring Toronto’s own, Drake. Tapping into her Caribbean roots, the instantly infectious tune quickly rose to the top of iTunes charts at the No. 1 spot. Landing a radio deal that would have the song played constantly throughout the day, ‘Work’ was instantly inescapable for listeners of Pop & Rhythmic radio. Now, with the final numbers in, Rihanna’s new record has landed the honor of being yesterday’s (February 27) most-heard record. The single even went on to topple one-day numbers from Justin Bieber and Adele, as presented by Billboard.
In its first day (Jan. 27), “Work” (featuring Drake) was the most-heard song on the more than 1,200 stations monitored by Nielsen Music for the Billboard Hot 100. It drew the largest audience for the day: 23.4 million audience impressions, derived from more than 2,300 first-day plays.
Put in more perspective, the 23.4 million in audience for “Work” for the day bested runner-up Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” (21.7 million) and third-ranking Adele’s “Hello” (20.9 million), the latter of which has led the Radio Songs chart for 11 weeks and counting.
If ‘Work’ was the hit record that Ms. Fenty and her team were waiting for, the singer just might have delivered what she wanted. With ANTI available exclusively via Tidal for it’s first week, and physical copies coming at a later date, Rihanna’s focus seems to have shifted to delivering quality content. With much more in store, including the music video for ‘Work,’ this is an exciting time to be a Rihanna fan.
