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‘Wicked’ Brews Up Radio Hits in ‘Popular’ & ‘Defying Gravity’: ‘It’s a Pop Culture Moment’
'Wicked' songs "Popular" and "Defying Gravity" are becoming radio hits. Get the details.
For every airplay success story, Rent, 1996’s Tony winner for best musical, for instance, did not spin off a pop/adult radio chart hit in its anthem “Seasons of Love.” Conversely, Madonna leveraged her superstar status into play for her version of Evita ’s “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. In 2024, when radio has numerous sources of research, from traditional callout to social media, certain programmers have pounced on playing “Popular” and “Defying Gravity,” even if the former, especially (and like “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”), is essentially a movie excerpt, with Grande singing in her Wicked character. Likewise believing that radio can benefit from, and amplify, the conversation around Wicked, Republic released a 3:33-long edit of “Defying Gravity” two weeks after the original version, running 7:39 and including spoken word sections, arrived on the film’s soundtrack.
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