Los Angeles: Imagine Dragons, the breakout rock group of the last two years, have made Billboard chart history. The group’s hit single Radioactive, performed at the Grammys last month as part of a mash-up with local rap star Kendrick Lamar, has spent a record-breaking 77 weeks on the trade publication’s Hot 100 chart.
The single’s chart hasn’t seen such a run since Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours hit 76 weeks in 2008-2009, reports the keeper-of-all-things charts. But it appears Radioactive has a challenger and, surprise, it comes not from pop superstars at the top of the tally but another electronic-tinged rock ‘n’ roll act.
Awolnation’s Sail has spent 76 weeks on the chart and sits at No 40, while Radioactive is at No 26. The latter has sold more than 6.6 million downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, while Sail has sold about 4.8 million downloads.
It’s been a year and a half to remember for Imagine Dragons. The act’s full-length debut album, Night Visions, is currently at No 6 on the US album chart and has sold 2.1 million copies in its 76 weeks on the chart.
In scoring a Hot 100 chart record, some of the songs Radioactive bested were LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem and Adele’s Rolling in the Deep, songs that held their grip on the chart for 68 and 65 weeks, respectively.
Produced by Alex Da Kid (best known for his work on rap cuts by Eminem and Dr Dre), Radioactive presents a rock vision that’s influenced in equal parts by hip-hop and the dance worlds. It’s a genre dabbler, and it’s representative of a generation that was raised on equal parts Snoop Dogg, Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana.
The song was nominated for record of the year at this year’s Grammy Awards, but lost to Daft Punk’s Get Lucky. The song did, however, take top honours in the rock performance category.
