"Rain" falls
There have been reports in the press about Mariah Carey's label purchasing commercial spots on radio that included a segment of "Through the Rain" long enough to be detected as airplay by the monitoring computers of Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, the company that supplies airplay information that is used to help compile Billboard charts.
However, BDS has safeguards in place to detect such commercial buys. When this tactic is discovered, airplay detections from commercial spots are not counted. BDS was aware of the commercial buys for "Through the Rain" before they were reported in the press. According to the Los Angeles Times, the commercials were purchased on six small-market stations. If it was the label's intention to inflate airplay and send "Through the Rain" hurtling up the chart, buying time on six small-market stations is hardly effective. The L.A. Times also reported that executives at the label said they bought commercial time to help create awareness of the album and sell records, not inflate airplay.
Whatever the motivation, let's look at the results. "Through the Rain" never went higher than No. 81 on the Hot 100, so if the label did have a strategy to make "Through the Rain" a hit by buying commercial time for airplay, it certainly didn't work. The current issue of Billboard's sister publication, Airplay Monitor, credits "Through the Rain" with 2,086 airplay detections at mainstream top 40 radio, seven less than the week before. The L.A. Times reported that the commercial buys for "Through the Rain" resulted in less than 200 detections (which were not counted). The No. 1 song at Mainstream Top 40 radio, "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera, had 8,418 airplay detections last week. My point is, even if the strategy of buying commercial time for airplay worked, it wouldn't be cost-effective. (Billboard Online) Many thanks to MariahC.nu.
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