Nils’ “Pacific Coast Highway” Is #1 Smooth Jazz Single Of Decade
Congratulations go out today (December 28) to guitarist Nils, who has been determined to have the No. 1 smooth jazz song of the 2000s with “Pacific Coast Highway.” The ranking comes from Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, commonly known as Nielsen BDS, and reflects radio airplay from January 1, 2000, to December 17, 2009. The rankings are managed by the Billboard chart department.
“Pacific Coast Highway” received 29,328 spins, giving it the most airplay as monitored by BDSradio. In another format, the late Luther Vandross led the Urban AC format with his song “Think About You,” which had more than 147,000 spins. That song was from Vandross’ last CD, 2003’s Dance With My Father. The top song of the decade overall was “Something Like That” by country music’s Tim McGraw.
“Pacific Coast Highway” is from Nils’ 2005 CD of the same name. The song was No. 1 for seven weeks and was named the No. 1 song of 2005 by Radio & Records.
“It’s a little unreal because you’re always proud of your own record,” says Nils, who today has four smooth jazz CDs, his latest being Up Close and Personal. “It was a blast to see the song move up the charts, hit #1 and stay there. It was like, oh man, I have the #1 song in the country. I must have done something right.”