Country Billboard Chart News December 20, 2012

Country Billboard Chart News December 20, 2012

Includes Billboard Year-End Charts & Reports

On the Billboard Top 200 albums chart this week, Bruno Mars' second release, "Unorthodox Jukebox," arrived in the No. 2 slot, selling 192,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Mars couldn't trump country/pop diva Taylor Swift as her album, RED rules at No. 1 for a fifth non-consecutive week, selling 207,998 copies (up 25% compared to the previous week). She remains at #1 on the Billboard Country Album Chart for eight straight consecutive weeks.

Taylor’s ‘Red’ on pace to be biggest seller of 2012, for accountants, year-end red ink signals a net loss of funds. For Taylor Swift, it’s money in the bank.

It’s getting difficult to say the sales are “unprecedented,” but Swift continues to express wide-eyed surprise at her success as she is indeed approaching rarefied territory. Since 1991, when SoundScan numbers became the yardstick for sales charts, her recent accomplishment put Swift in a tie with Whitney Houston and Jay-Z for the fourth-most weeks at No. 1. Garth Brooks still leads the list with an incredible 51 weeks at No. 1.

Week Ending Dec. 23, 2012. Albums: Swift Is First Since The Beatles

Taylor  this week becomes the first artist since the Beatles to log six or more weeks at #1 with three consecutive studio albums. She achieves the feat with RED, which tops The Billboard 200 for the sixth week. It follows FEARLESS (11 weeks) and Speak Now (six weeks). The Beatles achieved the feat with seven studio albums in a row from Beatles ’65 in January 1965 to Abbey Road November 1969.

Only two other acts have had such lengthy stays at #1 with three consecutive studio albums. The Kingston Trio spent six or more weeks on top with four straight studio albums in 1959 and 1960. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass did it with three straight studio albums in 1965 and 1966. Thus, Swift is the first female artist to achieve this feat.

This is the third time that Taylor has had the #1 album in the last week before Christmas, which is traditionally the most competitive week of the year. She also achieved the feat with FEARLESS in 2008 and SPEAK NOW in 2010. Since 1991, only one other artist has had the #1 album in the last week before Christmas three times. Garth Brooks scored with The Hits in 1994, Sevens in 1997 and Double Live in 1998. (Mariah Carey achieved the feat twice, in 1993 with Music Box in 1993 and Daydream in 1995.)

Here are Taylor Swift’s 2012 Billboard Year End Acheivements:

  

"The Music of 'Nashville'": The soundtrack to the ABC TV series "Nashville" earns the biggest sales week of the year for a TV soundtrack, as it starts with 55,896 sold, debuting at No. 14 on the Billboard Top 200 and landing a #4 placing on the Country album Chart. The last time a TV soundtrack sold more was about a year ago this week, when "Glee, the Music - Season 3: Volume 7" bowed with 58,000 on the Dec. 24, 2011, chart.

The 11-song "The Music of Nashville" album features contributions from its stars, including Connie Britton, Sam Palladio and Hayden Panettiere. The set was especially popular with mass merchants like Walmart, according to SoundScan, which accounted for 58% of the album's first-week sales.

How did the "Nashville" album sell in the city of Nashville? It was the No. 2-selling album overall last week in the area, moving a little over 2,000 copies.

(The city's top title was Taylor Swift's "Red," with 3,000 sold.) Nationwide, the "Nashville" album did not rank among the top five in any other city.

Blake Shelton’s “CHEERS, IT’S CHRISTMAS.” held firm at the Country #2 slot with sales of 67,921

Lady Antebellum’s ON THIS WINTER’S NIGHT sat at #4 selling 60,207 copies and just remained ahead of Blake in the 2012 Christmas sales stakes (339,072 compared to Blake’s 338,551 tally)

Florida Georgia Line’s two-week-old album“HERE’S TO THE GOOD TIMES” sold 38,462, down 39% on the debut week, but has past the 100K mark reaching 101K copies as their single “Cruise” managed to finally, after 10 weeks, knock Miss Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” off of the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart

Billboard Top 200

(Country Album positions #1 - #25)

(TW) This Week, (LW) Last Week, Co (Country Album Chart placing / Movement)

Billboard 2012 Year-End TOP COUNTRY ALBUMS

1 RED/Taylor Swift/Big Machine/BMLG

2 TAILGATES & TANLINES/Luke Bryan/Capitol Nashville/UMGN

3 TUSKEGEE/Lionel Richie/Mercury/UMGN

4 OWN THE NIGHT/Lady Antebellum/Capitol Nashville/UMGN

5 BLOWN AWAY/Carrie Underwood/19/Arista Nashville/SMN

6 MY KINDA PARTY/Jason Aldean/Broken Bow

7 CHIEF/Eric Church/EMI Nashville/UMGN

8 CLEAR AS DAY/Scotty McCreery/19/Mercury/IGA/UMGN

9 NIGHT TRAIN/Jason Aldean/Broken Bow

10 UNCAGED/Zac Brown Band/Roar/Southern Ground/Atlantic/AG

11 THE BAND PERRY/The Band Perry/Republic Nashville/BMLG

12WELCOME TO THE FISHBOWL/Kenny Chesney/Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN

13 CLANCY'S TAVERN/Toby Keith/Show Dog-Universal

14 FOUR THE RECORD/Miranda Lambert/RCA Nashville/SMN

15 HALFWAY TO HEAVEN/Brantley Gilbert/Valory/BMLG

16 RED RIVER BLUE/Blake Shelton/Warner Bros./WMN

17 CHANGED/Rascal Flatts/Big Machine/BMLG

18 SPEAK NOW/Taylor Swift/Big Machine/BMLG

19 TORNADO/Little Big Town/Capitol Nashville/UMGN

20 YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE/Zac Brown Band/Southern Ground/Roar/Bigger Picture/Atlantic/AG

21 SPEAK NOW: WORLD TOUR LIVE CD + DVD/Taylor Swift/Big Machine/BMLG

22 HUNTER HAYES/Hunter Hayes/Atlantic/WMN

23 EMOTIONAL TRAFFIC/Tim McGraw/Curb

24 HELL ON HEELS/Pistol Annies/RCA Nashville/SMN

25 HARD 2 LOVE/Lee Brice/Curb

26 THIRTY MILES WEST/Alan Jackson/ACR/EMI Nashville/UMGN

27 UP ALL NIGHT/Kip Moore/MCA Nashville/UMGN

28 HOME/Dierks Bentley/Capitol Nashville/UMGN

29 BAREFOOT BLUE JEAN NIGHT/Jake Owen/RCA Nashville/SMN

30 OUTLAWS LIKE ME/Justin Moore/Valory/BMLG

Top 25 Billboard Hot Country Songs

On Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart - which blends:

a) All-format airplay, as monitored by BDS  b) Sales, as tracked by Nielsen SoundScan and c) Streaming, according to BDS it results in:

Florida Georgia Line remain atop of the chart for a second successive week with “Cruise”

Florida Georgia Line with “Cruise” stays at the Top the chart!

Taylor Swift with former #1 ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”stays at #2

Hunter Hayes with former number one “Wanted” stays at #3

Cassadee Pope with “Stupid Boy” debuts at #4

The Band Perry with “Better Dig Two” drops one slot, #4 - #5

Zac Brown Band with “Goodbye In Her Eyes” is down one slot, #5 - #6

Kip Moore with “Beer Money” is up two slots, #9 - #7

Justin Moore with “Til My Last Day”is down one, #7 -#8

Gary Allan with “Every Storm” (Runs Out Of Rain) is down, #6 - #9

Eric Church with “Creepin” is up one place, #11 - #10

Randy Houser with “How Country Feels” is up, #12 - #11

Carrie Underwood with “Blown Away” falls #8 - #12

Luke Bryan with “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” is down three, #10 - #13

Jason Aldean (w Luke Bryan & Eric Church) and “The Only Way I Know” is down, #13 -#14

Little Big Town with “Tornado” is up 4 notches, #19 - #15

Greg Bates with “Did It For The Girl” is down two, #14 - #16

Brad Paisley with “Southern Comfort Zone” is up, #18 - #17

Jake Owen with “The One That Got Away” falls, #15 - #18

Lee Brice with “Hard To Love” drops 3 slots, #16 - #19

Hunter Hayes with “Somebody’s Heartbreak” is up one, #21 - #20

Kenny Chesney with “El Cerrito Place” drops, #17 - #21

Taylor Swift with “Begin Again” is down two, #20 - #22

Tim McGraw with “One Of Those Nights” stays at #23

Dierks Bentley with “Tip It On Back” is down two slots, #22 - #24

Jason Aldean with former #1 “Take A Little Ride” is down, #23 - #24

Kacey Musgraves with “Merry Go ‘Round” is up one place, #26 - #25

Billboard Country Airplay Charts

Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” (Republic Nashville) claims a third straight week at No. 1 on Country Airplay, marking the most weeks at No. 1 for any act’s first charted title in more than eight years. No such song has spent more than three weeks atop the chart since Gretchen Wilson’s “Redneck Woman” led for five weeks in the spring of 2004. In terms of promoted country singles, the rookie duo’s stay is the longest since Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel” stacked six weeks in 2006. Before that single charted, Underwood placed a pair of songs on the Country Airplay list in 2005, including “Bless the Broken Road,” which spent one week on the chart at No. 50, followed by a 12-week run with “Inside Your Heaven,” which stopped at No. 52.

Gary Allan cracks the Billboard Country Airplay top 10 for the first time in exactly five years, as “Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)” (MCA Nashville) gains 2.4 million audience impressions and leaps 12-9 in its 16th chart week. He most recently entered the upper tier when “Watching Airplanes” rose 13-10 on the chart dated Dec. 29, 2007 (this week’s charts are for the Dec. 29 Billboard issue), then peaked at No. 2 nine weeks later. In the intervening years, Allan’s best rank was a No. 13 peak with “Learning How to Bend” in the summer of 2008. The new song is Allan’s 11th top 10, three of which spent time at the summit—“Man to Man” and “Tough Little Boys” in 2003 and “Nothing on but the Radio” in 2004. “Rain” has sold more than 403,000 copies, according to Nielsen Sound-Scan, and established a new peak at No. 3 on the Dec. 22 Billboard Country Digital Songs tally (for the Dec. 3-9 tracking week).

 Allan’s new song introduces his next album, SET YOU FREE, due Jan. 22.

Also noteworthy on Country Airplay: Kenny Chesney achieves his 44th career top 10 with “El Cerrito Place” (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville), which steps 11-10 in its 14th chart week. Since he first reached the upper tier in June 1995, Chesney leads all artists in top 10 achievements, followed by Tim McGraw (42), George Strait (41), Toby Keith (36) and Alan Jackson (33). During the Nielsen BDS era (since January 1990), Strait leads with 60 top 10s, followed by Jackson (51), McGraw (47), Chesney (44) and Keith (42).

Country Airplay

*** No. 1  (3 weeks) *** "Cruise" Florida Georgia Line

**  Most Increased Audience/ ** No.3 "Beer Money" Kip Moore  (+3.044 Million gain/ +534 Increased Plays)

** Hot Shot Debut ** No. 51 "American Beautiful" The Henningsens

Debut No. 57 "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" Blake Shelton

Debut No. 59 "Blue Christmas" Blake Shelton Featuring Pistol Annies

TOP DIGITAL SINGLES in Country Music (19 December 2012)

Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart Top 30  (19/12/2012)

Cassadee Pope scores a #1 country single for second time as “Stupid Boy” bowed in at No.1 selling 117,000 copies. The Season 3 champion of NBC’s “The Voice,” was also joined by Team Blake [Shelton] season 2 contestant RaeLynn in the Top 10 this week.

Pope has scored remarkably well with audiences this year with her renditions of hits like “Stand,” This week’s “Cry” and Miranda Lambert’s “Over You” gave her a number one.

The former lead singer of Hey Monday now may very well become a country/rock/pop crossover type of artist and her strong sales of these singles, including 117,000 copies of “Stupid Boy,” suggests that she should.

RaeLynn’s “Boyfriend”debuted for Republic Records Nashville at No.10 selling 27,000 copies in its debut retail week.

Top 30 Digital Singles In Country Music (December 19, 2012)

*Numbers are rounded to nearest thousandth.

 (LW) Last Week  (TW) This Week 

*Numbers are rounded to nearest 1000^th