Predicting PRISM's Next Single

After "Roar" peaked at #3 on the CDS Music Chart Top 50, Katy Perry was officially back with her 3rd studio album, PRISM.

Katy's subsequent singles "Dark Horse (feat. Juicy J)", "Walking On Air", and "Unconditionally" preceded the album's release. They were released on September 17th, September 30th, and October 16th. Since their release, these follow up singles have out peaked lead single "Roar". "Walking On Air" debuted and peaked at #2, "Dark Horse (feat. Juicy J)" debuted at #17 and peaked at #8 so far. Katy's "Unconditionally" became her first ever #1 single this January and has since spent 2 weeks at the summit so far.

Although "Dark Horse (feat. Juicy J)" was just officially released as a single in December, it has already peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Katy is likely to start prepping her 4th official single ("Walking On Air" doesn't count as a single). Here are my picks for what would be a good bet for the next official single.

"Walking On Air"

Although it was released as a promotional single in September, "Walking On Air" never really got any airplay and never really had a strong digital week. To date, the song has sold just over 150,000 copies in the US (most of which were sold in week 1). It also obtained rave reviews from music critics, who enjoyed the departure from pure pop. It was described as a disco-y 90's throwback.

I would throughly enjoy it if this was chosen as the next single, because it is easily one of my favorite Katy Perry songs. Additionally if chosen, it would lengthen its run on my chart. It has so far spent 18 weeks on my chart and has peaked at #2.

"Legendary Lovers"

While it doesn't quite fit in with radio I believe that this song is one of the album's best tracks overall. It's funky, fresh, raw and it is a fan favorite. It seems less and less likely that this song will ever be chosen as a single but I bet it could do about as good as "Unconditionally" (on Billboard) if it is ever chosen. Also a music video for this track would likely be one of the most interesting Katy Perry videos.

"Birthday"

Billboard claims that this track would likely be the next song from PRISM to hit #1 on the chart. While this could be true, as I wrote before (in my detailed PRISM album review):

"Although it sounds like a sweet "Teenage Dream" leftover, a flare of 70s-80s beats make it different and fresh. Its generic and cheesy lyrics would usually be a large negative, but the track is so feel good that it seems almost unnoticeable. It seems like a strong album track that would definitely be played at a birthday party but it seems a little plain for radio. Still the song is original and sweet with a pure Katy sound that takes us back to her older albums. It also contains a proper bridge that takes the song to a whole new level. This level is where (if you couldn't figure it out) the main of theme of the song is revealed. A simply sweet filler that finds the listener asking for another slice."

In simpler terms, it doesn't seem to be the right choice and while it is very sweet, it falls just a little flat, like a generic cake from Safeway.

"This Is How We Do"

This track will likely be one of the album's singles at some point. It was chosen as a 'radio only' single in Australia and New Zealand. While it could be considered a single already, I've noticed that Australian radio stations tend to overly promote random songs from albums and they tend to become a hit in that country only. Some examples include Rihanna's "Jump", P!nk's "Walk Of Shame" (among others) and Katy's own "Hummingbird Heartbeat". All of these tracks didn't get promo in any other area across the globe.

I believe that this song has some HUGE potential and I would support this choice as a single in the future.

Overall Prediction:

I believe that "Walking On Air" will be released as the 4th single because it has the most potential and is the biggest selling non-single on iTunes. 

The 5th single would likely be "Birthday" because Katy likely wants another #1 and Billboard predicts this will be it. 

A 6th single (if there are that many) will likely be "This Is How We Do".

With that being said, these tracks aren't necessarily the best songs included on the album, they just "fit" the best with Katy's overall choices for singles so far (although "Unconditionally" was a little bit of a surprise).

Here are the best tracks in order from PRISM (my opinion):

Key: 

Neon Green= Best Tracks

Green=Good Tracks

Light Red= Okay Tracks

Red=Bad Tracks

1. "Unconditionally"

2. "Walking On Air"

3. "Legendary Lovers"

4. "Dark Horse (feat. Juicy J)"

5. "This Is How We Do"

6. "It Takes Two"

7. "Roar"

8. "This Moment"

9. "Birthday"

10. "Double Rainbow"

11. "By the Grace of God"

12. "Spiritual" 

13. "Love Me"

14. "Ghost" 

15. "Choose Your Battles"

16. "International Smile"