Country Billboard Chart News July 25, 2012

Country Billboard Chart News July 25, 2012

Hip-hop veteran Nas achieves his sixth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, as LIFE IS GOOD made its debut with 148,716 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Entering at #1, it is little more than 16 years after he first topped the chart with It Was Written (1996).



Zac Brown UNCAGED
 artwork Amazon



Last week's No. 1 all genre album on the Billboard Top 200, Zac Brown Band's UNCAGED," falls to No. 2 with 78,260 (A drop of 67% on its 2nd chart week). The album remains at #1 on Top Country Albums for the second week running.

***  Find Zac Brown Band’s UNCAGED album on:

Amazon UK CD Format - Amazon UK MP3 Downloads -  Amazon.com  CD Format - Amazon.com MP3 Downloads

WELCOME TO THE FISHBOWL (5^th week on the chart) from Kenny Chesney and Luke Bryan’s TAILGATES & TANLINES (50 chart weeks) remain #2 and #3 on the Billboard Country Album chart.

After the Amazon $3.99 week the previous week country sales were down significantly this week ranging between 10 to 40% sales losses.

Hank Williams Jr. in his second week with OLD SCHOOL NEW RULES dropped from #12 to 38 on the Top 200 and lands at number eight on the Country album chart with sales of 9,331 (63% weekly loss) .

With a sales figue of 17,020, Nashville based Americana string band Old Crow Medicine Show debut at #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart and at #4 on the Country Chart with the July 17th ATO Records release of their newest album, CARRY ME BACK. The album was recorded at the legendary Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville and was produced by Ted Hutt. On this their fourth studio album, Carry Me Back, the veteran string band doubles down on their traditional roots, drifting deeper into the stories and sounds of yesterday than ever before. 

Carry Me Back Album Artwork
Amazon



"I wish that I was born about 75 years ago. Then I could have made my debut on the Opry in 1935," says bandleader Ketch Secor. "But that is not the case, and there is a country music story being told in these times. It's worth telling, maybe even more so than ever before. People are being displaced, their jobs are being moved far away. The cultural epitome is disappearing. When grandpa dies, it's sort of like when Porter Wagoner died. That breed of American man, they don't make them anymore."...(Read more at cmt.com)



“People are fickle, and people have short attention spans," says fiddler Ketch Secor, "Especially in 2012. So if you can get 'em to stop, if you can get 'em to think about something, if you can get 'em to listen with a song, then you've got yourself a keeper. And that's the street-corner test." He happens to also be co-founder and de facto leader of Old Crow. ( band photo)

And the performance philosophy he's espousing is a central part of the band's backstory...... The spirit of the new songs — all written by band members, with Jim Lauderdale and Jason White contributing a bit of co-writing — and, in a sense, of the Crows' entire repertoire, is tugged toward the pre-urban migration way-back-when, but also invested in the fragmented, living, breathing here and now.

Musically, too, the guys have returned to home base: hearty acoustic revelry, and a potent, polished dose of it at that. ( www.nashvillescene.com)

NZ Herald writes: “The knees-up fervour of Carry Me Back To Virginia, the opening track from Old Crow Medicine Show's fourth album, is typical of the sound the Nashville band conjure up. This is old-time American roots music at its best. However, in contrast to previous album, 2008's Tennessee Pusher, a thrilling, rabble-rousing record about drug users, hustlers and the disaffected, CARRY ME BACK has a more down-home feel to it. It moves from a gentle, toe-tapping porch song mood on tracks like the pleading and twangy Ain't It Enough and Genevieve, which has an emotional bite to it with lines like "your love like fire and your heart like a guillotine", to a thigh-slapping jaunt on the lovely fiddle-driven ditty Levi.

***  Find Old Crow Medicine Show’s album on:

Amazon UK CD Format [Import] - Amazon UK Vinyl

Amazon.com CD Format - Amazon.com MP3 Downloads - Amazon.com Vinyl

Yes their CD’s are hot - Old Crow Medicine Show would like help getting stolen merchandise van recovered

Hey man, whoever swiped Old Crow Medicine Show's merch-mobile, they'd really like it back please.

The band posted on their Facebook and Twitter in the week: Our merch van was stolen out of the parking lot at The Pageant in St. Louis, MO last night (july 20). White 2009 Honda Odyssey with an Alabama license plate 61M4T.  

The Farm, who scored a Top 15 hit with “Home Sweet Home,” debuted at #183 on the Top 200 with a rather disappointing opening week of 2,749 copies sold of their self titled album. The Farm, made up of Nick Hoffman (vocals, fiddle), Damien Horne (vocals, keyboard, guitar) and Krista Marie (vocals, guitar), formed in Spring 2010 after an impromptu writing session – which must’ve sounded something like the wild combination of Big & Rich and Little Big Town in the midst of a massive hoe-down  and released their debut album on July 17. Co-produced by Nick with Danny Myrick, members of The Farm wrote or co-wrote nine of the record’s 11 songs

Next week Love and Theft’s brand new album should make a more healthy chart debut.

Billboard Top 200 (Country Album positions #1 - #25)

LW	TW	Artist	Album	TW Sales	% CHG	Total Sales	Co
1	2	Zac Brown Band	Uncaged	78,260	-67	312,750	#1
10	16	Kenny Chesney	Welcome To The Fishbowl	23,423	-26	352,638	#2
11	18	Luke Bryan	Tailgates & Tanlines	21,848	-22	1,296,358	#3
NEW	21	Old Crow Medicine Show	Carry Me Back	17,020	999	17,264	#4
20	26	Carrie Underwood	Blown Away	13,303	-5	644,175	#5
15	28	Eric Church	Chief	13,065	-30	953,124	#6
39	37	Jason Aldean	My Kinda Party	9,654	-2	2,690,936	#7
12	38	Hank Williams, Jr.	Old School New Rules	9,331	-63	34,388	#8
16	43	Zac Band Brown	You Get What You Give	8,421	-49	1,563,635	#9
44	45	Lionel Richie	Tuskegee	8,393	-4	951,282	#10
36	47	Alan Jackson	Thirty Miles West	7,994	-24	180,101	#11
34	51	Hunter Hayes	Hunter Hayes	7,428	-30	178,422	#12
42	54	Various	Now Country 5	7,210	-22	84,575	#13
33	62	Lee Brice	Hard 2 Love	6,494	-40	173,254	#14
46	67	Brantley Gilbert	Halfway To Heaven	6,281	-26	636,462	#15
35	68	Josh Turner	Punching Bag	6,280	-41	100,097	#16
47	77	Kip Moore	Up All Night	5,633	-34	160,236	#17
71	79	Lady Antebellum	Own The Night	5,484	-12	1,686,749	#18
70	81	Rascal Flatts	Changed	5,433	-14	320,257	#19
64	94	The Band Perry	Band Perry	4,386	-34	1,341,157	#20
50	97	Blake Shelton	Red River Blue	4,306	-46	740,660	#21
85	109	Skylar Laine	American Idol: Season 11: Highlights (EP)	3,836	-31	17,341	#22
69	111	Toby Keith	Clancy's Tavern	3,817	-40	559,512	#23
93	126	Scotty McCreery	Clear As Day	3,611	-29	1,091,989	#24
101	129	Pistol Annies	Hell On Heels	3,538	-24	354,267	#25

Albums due to Drop 

July 24
Love And Theft/Love And Theft/RCA

July 30
Kasey Chambers/Storybook/Sugar Hill

BILLBOARD HOT COUNTRY SINGLES NEWS

Dierks Bentley celebrates his 10th career No. one song as an artist and songwriter today as his foot-stomping hit “5-1-5-0” tops both the Billboard and Mediabase charts.

“I have to admit, it’s been a 5150 kinda summer,” said Bentley. “The tailgating before shows has been turned up a notch, and the fans are ready to get crazy. You can’t ever take for granted the power of a fun, uptempo song that isn’t meant for anything other than kicking off a party. I’ll also never take for granted having 10 No. one hits on country radio…those guys and the fans have given me an unbelievable career so far.”

“5-1-5-0” is the third consecutive chart-topping hit off Bentley’s critically acclaimed Home, which debuted at No. one earlier this year.  (Source - dierks.com/news)

5-1-5-0 Single artwork

The single released by Capitol Nashville on April 9, 2012 and written by Dierks Bentley, Brett Beavers and

Jim Beavers marks the third single from Bentley’s 2012 album HOME.

Brett Beavers is a long-term frequent writer and producer for Bentley and has co-writing credits on a number of his previous hits including "Come a Little Closer," "Feel That Fire" and "Home."

The origins of the song - The songs co-writer Jim Beavers in conversation with Taste of Country said the idea for "5-1-5-0" came about when he and Bentley were discussing Van Halen's album 5150. Bentley had written - "let's get crazy, let's get fifty-one-fifty" with what was to be a bonus track song "Country and Cold Cans," . Bentley recalled to The Boot: "I was telling it to a friend of mine and he said, 'What does that mean?' And I told him it was Van Halen; it's California police code for criminally insane. The next day, he was singing, '5-1-5-0, somebody call the po-po.' I just started laughing because I thought that was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard. And he said, 'I'm tellin' ya, my kids cannot stop singing that.' I said, 'I don't know, man.'" Beavers said that he changed the pronunciation from "fifty-one-fifty" to "five-one-five-oh", and rhymed it with "somebody call the po-po" after seeing a police car

Punctuated by sharp acoustic riffing and tight banjo, Dierks entertains with his sense of humour and twists.

So what does "5-1-5-0" refer too? The title makes  reference to the 5150 "involuntary psychiatric hold" the California Welfare and Institutions Code. In the songs its narrator sings that his lover is making him "crazy"! - 5-1-5-0, just this side of loco/ I’m goin’ crazy / Think I love you, baby, he sings through lyrical dips and dives.

5150 = Mental case. A play on the digits perhaps? 10-50 = Under influence of drugs and 10-51 = Drunk (police-codes)

The song's music video was directed by Wes Edwards and shot at Big Nasty ATV Park outside of Savannah, Georgia. It features mud-bogging fanatics attempting to be the one who drives the farthest distance in the mud pit in their vehicles, which include Bentley's own old pickup truck. "I have never had so much fun or gotten so dirty at a video shoot," said Bentley. "It's hard to call it 'work' when you get to drive trucks and four wheelers through the mud all day. The fans who came out to this shoot were ready to get 5-1-5-0, so we basically just pulled up a bunch of trucks, threw some gear in the back, turned up the speakers and then let them do their thing. It was pretty wild!"

>>   [LISTEN] Dierks Bentley  "5150"

Watch the video >>  YouTube

 The track is available for Download at Amazon UK MP3  -   Amazon.com MP3

Dierks Bentley with ‘5-1-5-0’ moves up one place, to Top the chart!

Kenny Chesney with “Come Over”, is up one #3- #2

Glorianna with “(Kissed You) Good Night”, is up, #4 - #3

Eli Young Band with last week’s #1  “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” drops to #4

Love And Theft with “Angel Eyes” is up two, #7 - #5

Blake Shelton with “Over” is up 3 places, #9 - #6

The Band Perry with “Postcard From Paris” is up 3 spots, #10 - #7

Toby Keith with ‘Beers Ago’ falls, #6 - #8

Brantley Gilbert with former #1 “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do” drops to #9

Josh Turner with ‘Time Is Love” is up one, #11 -#10

Keith Urban with “For You” is up one notch #12 -#11

Jana Kramer with “Why Ya Wanna” is up one spot, #13 -#12

Little Big Town with “Pontoon” is up 2 places, #15 - #13

Dustin Lynch with Cowboys And Angels stays at #14

Zac Brown Band with “The Wind” is up one, #16 - #15

Thomas Rhett with Something To Do With My Hands is up, #17 - #16
Thompson Square with “Glass” is up one spot, #18 - #17

Hunter Hayes with “Wanted” is up 1 place, #19 - #18

Jason Aldean with ‘Take A Little Ride’ debuts at #19

Big & Rich with ‘That’s Why I Pray’ stays at #20

Country Songs
*** No. 1 *** "5-1-5-0" Dierks Bentley
Greatest Gainer/Hot Shot Debut No. 19 "Take A Little Ride" Jason Aldean
Debut No. 55 "Eighteen Inches" Lauren Alaina
Debut No. 57 "You're All That Matters To Me" Miss Willie Brown
Debut No. 59 "American Beauty" The Lost Trailers
Debut No. 60 "Kick It In The Sticks" Brantley Gilbert

Singles Due To Drop

July 23
Tyler Barham feat. Casey Walker/Meet Me In Montana/YN Records
Cloverdayle/Like We Were Kids Again/New Voice
Sarah Jarosz/Annabelle Lee/Sugar Hill
Brian Milson/Too Damn Young/Permian-Quarterback
Jaida Dreyer/Confessions/Streamsound
Sara Evans/Anywhere/RCA
Rich O’Toole/Red Wine On Your Lipstick/Triple Crown
Doug Briney/It’s All Country/DB Songs

TOP 30 DIGITAL  SINGLES In Country Music (25 July 2012)

Jason Aldean’s upcoming fifth studio album is off to a racing start, Jason's new single "Take a Little Ride" climbs in at No. 2 on the Billboard Digital Digital Singles Chart for all genres with 189,000 downloads representing  the largest debut sales week ever for a digital song by a male country artist.

Jason Aldean artwork

He betters 2011 American Idol winner Scotty McCreery's with his debut "Love You This Big" which launched with 171,000 in June 2011.

Take A Little Ride"also  storms onto the Billboard Hot 100 Chart at #12 this week. It is this week's Hot Shot Debut as well like it was on Country Songs which was #19 for Country.

The song has 116 stations on board a week before its official add date (July 31).  

“I am honestly just blown away,” said Aldean. “I had a whole year of ‘firsts’ last year…things like my first arena tour selling out and taking home my first CMA awards, but I still feel like I’ve got a long way to go, so having two more ‘firsts’ come this week is really exciting for me. I love this single, and there are 14 more songs that I’m really proud of coming right behind it!” (Source - Broken Bow Records)

Blurb: “Take A Little Ride,” written by Dylan Altman, Rodney Clawson and Jim McCormick, carries Aldean’s distinct electric sound to a carefree summer night spent driving down country roads with a summer love and a six-pack.

Full Page Advert image

Unofficial Lyric Video - Take a Little Ride Lyrics  >>  YouTube   

The track is currently available in America only, Download at  Amazon.com MP3 - US iTunes

Little Big Town with the hit of the summer “Pontoon” who have held onto the #1 spot the past two week’s drop down to #2 with a track that has sold 600,000 copies to date.

2012 Teen Choice Winner Hunter Hayes with “Wanted” made a weekly gain of 11% (69,000 sold) now finds himself at #3 and passes the ¾ million mark. Hunter received his Gold Plaque for the single on CBS TV’s The Talk this week.

Eric Church with “Springsteen” at #6 has passed the 1.5 million sales mark.  

Carrie Underwood’s “Blown Away” now Top 30 at country radio, makes a big move, up 16 places from #31- #15 slots this week. She makes a weekly gain of 53% selling an extra 9,000 digi singles.

Republic Nashville duo Florida Georgia Line are up 4 places to make the Top 20 for the first time in thier career with the single “Cruise”.

The Top 30 SoundScan Digital Singles for The Week of July 25, 2012. Digital sales rounded to nearest thousand.

 (LW) Last Week. (TW) This Week

LW	TW	Artist	Song Title	TW Sales	LW Sales	Total Sales
NEW	1	Jason Aldean	Take A Little Ride	189K	1K	190K
1	2	Little Big Town	Pontoon	79K	84K	600K
4	3	Hunter Hayes	Wanted	69K	62K	761K
3	4	Kenny Chesney	Come Over	58K	66K	619K
2	5	Luke Bryan	Drunk On You	56K	66K	1,681,000
5	6	Eric Church	Springsteen	47K	55K	1,506,000
6	7	Love and Theft	Angel Eyes	41K	42K	435K
7	8	Dierks Bentley	5-1-5-0	40K	41K	463K
9	9	Tim McGraw	Truck Yeah	39K	39K	131K
8	10	Gloriana	(Kissed You) Good Night	38K	39K	635K
10	11	Eli Young Band	Even If It Breaks Your Heart	32K	36K	763K
12	12	Lee Brice	Hard To Love	32K	31K	341K
14	13	Dustin Lynch	Cowboys and Angels	27K	28K	367K
13	14	Blake Shelton	Over	27K	29K	238K
31	15	Carrie Underwood	Blown Away	26K	17K	263K
18	16	Jana Kramer	Why Ya Wanna	25K	25K	430K
17	17	Keith Urban	For You	25K	25K	285K
15	18	Kip Moore	Somethin' 'Bout A Truck	24K	28K	1,156,000
22	19	Zac Brown Band	The Wind	23K	21K	142K
24	20	Florida Georgia Line	Cruise	22K	20K	138K
16	21	Carrie Underwood	Good Girl	22K	26K	1,233,000
19	22	Toby Keith	Beers Ago	21K	23K	354K
20	23	Josh Turner	Time Is Love	20K	22K	417K
29	24	Chris Young	Neon	18K	18K	176K
25	25	Luke Bryan	Country Girl (Shake It For Me)	18K	19K	2,048,000
26	26	Luke Bryan	I Don't Want This Night To End	18K	19K	1,840,000
28	27	Brantley Gilbert	You Don't Know Her Like I Do	16K	19K	683K
36	28	Thompson Square	Glass	16K	16K	221K
37	29	Jake Owen	The One That Got Away	16K	15K	94K
21	30	Toby Keith	Red Solo Cup	16K	22K	2,028,000