Empire of the Sun Extends Reign Atop Billboard + Clio’s Top Commercials Chart, Powered by Shazam
The duo debuted atop the January chart with "Walking on a Dream," featured in an ad for the 2016 Honda Civic.
For the second month in a row, Empire of the Sun reigns atop Billboard + Clio Music’s Top Commercials chart, powered by Shazam, thanks to Honda’s use of the Australian duo’s song “Walking on a Dream” in an oft-seen advertisement.
Using tagging data from Shazam, as well as sales and streaming information tracked by Nielsen Music, Billboard partners with Clio Music each month to present a chart ranking the top songs in commercials. Rankings exclude any song that has recently charted within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
“Walking on a Dream” leads the February chart after garnering 117,000 Shazam tags. To go along with those numbers: 45,000 digital downloads in February and 6.1 million domestic streams, adding to the tallies the 7-year-old song has accrued since the ad, which is for the 2016 Honda Civic, premiered in late December. On the January chart, the track racked up 297,000 tags, 116,000 digital downloads and 7.6 million streams.
The track has since crossed over to radio, with major chart achievements including a No. 65 peak on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 6 on Hot Rock Songs, No. 10 on Alternative Songs and No. 27 at Adult Top 40.
As for the chart’s highest debut, Morgan Dorr, best known as the bassist for pop rock band Boys Like Girls (“The Great Escape,” “Love Drunk”), slots in at No. 4 with “4x4ever,” his song for Jeep’s Super Bowl commercial of the same name. The ad received 49,000 tags, many of which came the night of its big Super Bowl premiere, during which it was the most-tagged commercial on Shazam during the big game. After going up for sale, the song sold less than 1,000 downloads and was streamed 13,000 times.
Not far behind at No. 5, Gwen Stefani’s “Make Me Like You” debuts after its live music video/Target commercial premiered during a commercial break for the Grammy Awards (Feb. 15). Target will carry a deluxe edition of the singer’s new album This Is What the Truth Feels Like, due March 18. In all, the ad earned 37,000 Shazam tags, plus 94,000 digital downloads and 5.4 million streams in February.