Country Billboard Chart News December 27, 2012

Country Billboard Chart News December 27, 2012

Taylor Swift sold another 275,508 copies (up 32%) of her multi-genre smash album RED thanks to the Christmas gift sales boost with no doubt parents buying it up as country stocking fillers for their daughters and lesser so for their sons! She remains No.1 on both the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart for a sixth non-consecutive week and the Billboard Country Chart for nine consecutive weeks.

RED first 9 weeks sales

1 Week :: 1,208,290

2 Week :: 344,249 (-72%)

3 Week :: 196,225 (-43%)

4 Week :: 144,534  (-26%)

5 Week :: 185,391 (+28%)

6 Week :: 136,545 (-26%) 

7 Week :: 166,999 (+22%)

8 Week :: 207,998 (+24%)   #

9 Week :: 275,508 copies (+25%) -- Total 2,866,047

# Swift’s last album SPEAK NOW sold 254,996 (+27%) in its 8^th week

It should come as no surprise then that the week marked the busiest for album sales in 2012. There were 12.8 million albums sold last week -- the most in a frame since the week ending Dec. 25, 2011 (15.1 million).

Overall all genre album sales in chart week (ending Dec. 23) totaled 12.8 million units, up 31% compared with the sum last week (9.7 million) and down 16% compared with the comparable sales week of 2011 (15.1 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 306.2 million, down 5% compared with the same total at this point last year (322.9 million).

Last year saw the steady-selling blockbuster title of Adele's "21" and Michael Buble's "Christmas," resulting in 2012's holiday music sales dipping compared to last year

Apart from Nashville:The Music Of Nashville (Various Artists) which was in its second retail week saw Christmas sales spikes for the remainder of the Top 25 Country albums

Lady Antebellum’s ON THIS WINTER’S NIGHTsecured the #2 place selling another 78,000 copies. They are now some 7,000 sales ahead of seasonal album rival Blake Shleton’s CHEERS, IT’S CHRISTMAS who has the No.4 Country placement

Little Big Town held the #3 album with former #1 TORNADO in this chart week thanks to a 47% sales boost. The album was first released in early September.

Florida Georgia Line have now sold 150,000 copies of HERE’S TO THE GOOD TIMES in their first 3 retail weeks.

Jason Aldean is now only 17,000 copies of scanning platinum with 1-million actual retail sales for NIGHT TRAIN

Justin Moore at #25 and back in the Billboard Top 200 with his Gold-certified album OUTLAWS LIKE ME has now surpassed that sales mark with scanned sales over 505,000. His single “Til My Last Day” is the #1 single on Billboard Country Airplay Chart.

Billboard Top 200

(Country Album positions #1 - #25)

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

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 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

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

Gary Allan with “Every Storm” (Runs Out Of Rain) jumps up four, #9 - #5

Zac Brown Band with “Goodbye In Her Eyes” stays at #6

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

Randy Houser with “How Country Feels” is up, #11 - #8

Kip Moore with “Beer Money” is down, #7 - #9

Jason Aldean (w Luke Bryan & Eric Church) and “The Only Way I Know” is up, #14 -#10

Carrie Underwood with “Blown Away” is up one, #12 - #11

Luke Bryan with “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” is up, #13 - #12

Little Big Town with “Tornado” is up 2 notches, #15 - #13

Eric Church with “Creepin” is down four places, #10 - #14

Hunter Hayes with “Somebody’s Heartbreak” is up five, #20 - #15

Brad Paisley with “Southern Comfort Zone” is down one,, #17 - #16

Tim McGraw with “One Of Those Nights” is up six, #23 - #17

Lee Brice with “Hard To Love” is up one slot, #19 - #18

Taylor Swift with “Begin Again” is up, #22 - #19

Kenny Chesney with “El Cerrito Place” is up, #21 - #20

Cassadee Pope with “Over You” jumps up from #38 - #21

Carrie Underwood with “Two Black Cadillacs” is up four, #26 - #22

Greg Bates with “Did It For The Girl” is down seven, #16 - #23

Kacey Musgraves with “Merry Go ‘Round” is up one place, #25 - #24

Jake Owen with “The One That Got Away” falls, #18 - #25

Billboard Country Airplay Chart Week of January 5, 2013

After 41 weeks on chart on Dec. 28, it was announced that country singer Justin Moore’s latest single “Til My Last Day” had reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Airplay charts for the week ending Jan. 5, 2013. It marks the singer’s third chart-topping single. His previous No. 1 hits include “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” and “Small Town U.S.A.”

Justin Moore used his social networks (Facebook and Twitter) as a medium to showcase his gratitude towards his fans who helped his reach this milestone. “Thanks to all you fans and country radio. ‘Til My Last Day’ is my third No. 1 record. Wow. What a Christmas present. Thanks to all of you”

The single was released back in March 19, 2012 by Valory Music as the third single from his album OUTLAWS LIKE ME. Moore co-wrote the song with Brian Dean Maher and Jeremy Stover.

Billy Dukes of Taste of Country gave the song four and a half stars out of five, writing that "the crying electric guitars between the verses add pathos to a story that hooks you from the very first moments”

Zac Brown Band’s “Goodbye in Her Eyes” stands at at No. 2, Kip Moore’s “Beer Money” at No. 3 and last week’s chart-topping single “Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line dropped to No. 4; furthermore, Randy Houser’s “How Country Feels” rounds out the Top 5.

Taylor Swift’s "Begin Again," the second country radio single from her album RED pushes 12-10 on Country Airplay, bringing her back to the chart's top 10 after the pop-leaning "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" stopped at No. 13. "Begin" is Swift's 16th Country Airplay top 10, with only "Never" missing the top tier among her singles (excluding holiday fare) promoted to country radio dating to her debut hit "Tim McGraw," which reached No. 6 in 2007. (She's scored six No. 1s on the chart.)  

Swift's streak of 15 career-opening Country Airplay top 10s is second among women.

Carrie Underwood has sent her first 16 country singles to the top 10 (with 13 reaching No. 1). She could extend her mark to 17 with current release "Two Black Cadillacs"; the track bullets at No. 18 in its seventh frame. (Billboard Biz)

Country Airplay

*** No. 1 ( 1 week) *** "Til My Last Day" Justin Moore

Greatest Gainer No. 17 "Somebody's Heartbreak" Hunter Hayes

Hot Shot Debut No. 52 "Changed" Rascal Flatts

Debut No. 54 "Mama's Broken Heart" Miranda Lambert

Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart Week of January 5, 2013

Florida Cruise Line return to the top of the Billboard Country Digital Charts with “Cruise” replacing US The Voice winning contestants Cassadee Pope whose single “Stupid Boy” (Keith Urban cover) dropped down to No.12.

Cassadee did witness her former Billboard Country Digital #1 single “Over You” which is gaining excellent sales numbers bounce back from #21 to #3.

The Band Perry have edged closer to the the number one as their latest single “Better Dig Two” moves to No.2.

Little Big Town land two singles in the Top 10 this week with “Tornado” at No.8 and former smash hit No.1 “Pontoon” returning to the Top 10 at No.9.

Carrie Underwood with “Two Black Cadillacs” moves 26-19 to enter the Top 20, the rest of the Top 20 remains largely unchanged with some minor shuffling of the country pack.

The yearly post-Christmas digital song sales surge went into full effect with a number of tunes aiming for monster sales figures.

Consumers redeeming download gift cards received for Christmas are spurring huge increases for a variety of songs. Based on sales data from industry sources, Billboard forecasts that perhaps six songs could sell more than 300,000 downloads in the tracking week that ends on Sunday, Dec. 30.

Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" (excluded from the Country Charts) is shaping up to be the biggest beneficiary of gift card downloads, as it could sell somewhere in the range of 525,000 to 575,000. Sources have suggested that around 200,000 of that figure was registered on Christmas Day alone. Last week (ending Dec. 23), "Trouble" sold 221,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan and ranked at No. 2 on Billboard's Digital Songs chart. "Trouble" should easily jump back to No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart next week with the largest sales frame for a song since August. That month, Swift's own "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" bowed with 623,000 sold. (Billboard Biz)

Top 20 Digital Singles In Country Music (December 26, 2012)

(LW) Last Week  (TW) This Week