Olivia Dean’s “So Easy (To Fall in Love)” sways a spot to No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart (dated May 2).
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The sultry song becomes the British singer-songwriter’s second leader in as many visits to the chart, following “Man I Need,” which ruled for six weeks in January-February (and continues its run in the top five that dates to mid-December). She cowrote both singles.
Dean is just the seventh woman artist to have topped Pop Airplay on two initial tries (in lead roles). She joins Lady Gaga, who reigned with her overall-record first six entries, Avril Lavigne (three), Christina Aguilera, Iggy Azalea, Beyoncé and Mariah Carey (two each) since the chart began in fall 1992.
Both “Man I Need” and “So Easy (To Fall in Love)” are from Dean’s Polydor/Island/Republic album The Art of Loving. The set has ranked in the Billboard 200’s top 10 since mid-January, reaching No. 3, with its two biggest hits prominent in streaming, as well as on radio, having drawn a respective 13.9 million and 11.2 million chart-contributing official U.S. streams April 10-16, according to Luminate.
Notably, while “Man I Need” spotlights down-the-middle pop, Dean’s new leader dances into bossa nova, an obvious outlier for top 40 radio in any era.
Still, Dean’s momentum, among other potential factors, helped the best new artist Grammy winner hit No. 1 a second time.
“I feel the success of Olivia Dean is emblematic of the great variety of artists and songs we have across the format right now,” Mark Adams, iHeartMedia vp of pop programming and program director of WHTZ (Z100) New York, tells Billboard. “I’m thinking about the Latin and pop-soul influences of Bruno Mars, the pop, jazz and blues that help define RAYE, the innovative disco/funk from Harry Styles, the joyous dance and synth-pop from Zara Larsson and the soul and R&B-inspired sounds of Teddy Swims.”
Adams, who also cites the “pop awesomeness” of established stars such as Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo, muses that, in an era of streaming and blurry genre boundaries, “today’s radio listeners have been exposed to artists, sounds and influences that, in many cases, may be far older than they are. I think that helps contribute to being less bound by tradition and more excited to just embrace great music.”
Molly Cruz, Audacy top 40 format vp, concurs. “‘So Easy (To Fall in Love)’ isn’t a traditional [pop] sound, but it’s a great reminder that hit records aren’t defined by genre — they’re defined by connection,” she says. “It’s important that we listen to our audience instead of just following the norm. We’re also seeing a broader trend right now around soulful, vocal-driven records. Artists like Olivia Dean, RAYE and Sienna Spiro are all resonating.
“It speaks to where pop music is today, and it’s an exciting moment for the format.”
All charts dated May 2 will update on Billboard.com on Tuesday, April 28.
