Country Billboard Chart News January 24, 2013

Country Billboard Chart News January 24, 2013

Rapper A$AP Rocky bows at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with his debut album "Long.Live.A$AP," selling 138,503 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan.
"Long.Live.A$AP" is the first debut album to hit No. 1 since fellow rapper 2 Chainz's "Based On a T.R.U. Story" opened atop the Sept. 1, 2012 list. (Though, 2 Chainz had released two earlier charting sets as part of the hip-hop duo Playaz Circle.)

Taylor Swift with RED sold 40,513, down 17% on the previous week with total sales to date of 3,265,443. She holds at #4 for the second week on The Billboard Top 200. Taylor ups her total to 13 (her lucky number!) weeks at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart, encompassing the set’s entire chart run.  Apparently she’s now only artist since the Beatles to have three albums hold the #1 slot for six or more weeks. The RIAA has certified RED" as Quadruple Platinum.

It’s the first album by a female solo artist to spend its first 13 weeks at #1 on the country chart since LeAnn Rimes’ BLUE (quite a colour coincidence!) was #1 for its first 16 weeks in 1996. Taylor’s album FEARLESS, was #1 for its first 12 weeks, but then was displaced for a week by Dierks Bentley’s FEEL THAT FIRE.

It looks a certainty that Miss Swift will be have to make way for Gary Allan’s new album SET YOU FREE

who after a Billboard chart career that dates back to 1996, is on course to come storming in as the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart and Country Album Chart. Industry sources suggest that his new release, may sell around 80,000 to 90,000 copies by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, Jan. 27. The new Billboard 200 chart's top 10 will be revealed on the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 30.

Katie Armiger’s new album FALL INTO ME (Cold River),  sold 11,666 copies and the 21-year-old roared in at No. 7 on Country Albums top 10 (#32 on the Top 200).  This easily surpasses the performance of her first charted effort, CONFESSIONS OF A NICE GIRL, which spent one week on Top Country Albums (No. 58) the week of Oct. 23, 2010. Through a winning combination of talent, personality and hard work the Cold River Records artist has earned her the status as one of the biggest independent Country Music artists.

She now celebrates a career milestone, with this, her fourth album - “I am so grateful for all the support that I have received from my label Cold River Records, country radio, and of course the fans,” said Katie. “Thank you everyone so much for helping me to mark a career milestone with this album - this is truly amazing.”

The deeply-personal project takes listeners on a journey through one of the most poignant relationships she has experienced in her young life. Throughout the album the listener bears witness to Katie Armiger's growing talent as a singer/songwriter confident within her abilities.

Watch the Fall Into Me Behind the Scenes video >>  YouTube

Once again the majority of this week's top-selling country albums witnessed a sales dip. Hunter Hayes, No.6 on the Country chart was one to buck the deficit trend selling 13,351 copies, up 8%, and he has reached sales of 557,041 for his self-titled album.

Big Machine Label Group has the Top 3 Country placing. The Music of Nashville soundtrack for ABC TV’s “Nashville” held the #3 slot with sales of 14,904 (-9% / 170,695 total so far)

If you’re wondering where Blake Shelton is on the Country chart his album RED RIVER BLUE is now a Catalog album. Billboard magazine ranks the best selling catalo titles, regardless of genre and defines a catalo title as one that is more than 18-months old and that has fallen below position 100 on the Billboard 200. Albums which meet this criteria are removed from the Billboard Current Albums ranking and begin a new chart runs on Top Pop Catalo Albums.

Effectively, the current Billboard Country Album chart has such catalo titles removed. Last week the Top 10 contained a new Catalog debut with Shelton's "Red River Blue". It became Catalog eligible in its 79th week since its release, all but one of which it has spent in the Billboard 200. It debuted at #5 and is already Shelton's highest-charting Catalog album; his only other one, "Loaded: the Best of Blake Shelton", has reached #6 and is not far back on this week's chart at #16.

This week “Red River Blue" dropped from #5 to #8 on Catalog despite rising eleven spots on the Billboard 200, and "Loaded" also saw a modest gain. RED RIVER BLUE is No.80 on the Top 200 selling 4,727 copies (+3%) and has a total haul of 914,368.

The country singer-turned-"Voice" coach celebrated his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart when the album bowed atop the Billboard Top 200 list and Country album chart with his best ever sales week selling 116,000 back in July 2011.

Blake, the current CMA Entertainer of the Year has caused controversy in Nashville and across the Internet this week as part of an update to his “Back-story” special on Great American Country.  Commenting on attitudes regarding whether today’s artists are playing genuine country music he has upset many traditional country music fans with his words.

Of interest, The Civil Wars’ UNPLUGGED ON VH1 debuts at #34 on the Top 200 selling 10,937. It’s the highest-charting Unplugged album in a little more than six years, since Korn’s MTV Unplugged hit #9

in March 2007. Most of the Unplugged albums have had the “MTV” album title tag in their title. This is the first to identify sister channel VH1 since The Corrs’ 2002 album VH-1 Presents The Corrs: Live In Dublin. This grants The Civil Wars’ their second top 40 album. Their popular album BARTON HALLOW which holds a current #73 Top 200 placement (4,949 sales, up 81% / 568,975 total sales) reached No.10

Along with Gary Allan’s “Set You Free” next week will also see the arrival of Randy Houser’s third album “How Country Feels”. The title cut is No.1 on Billboard Country Airplay.

Country Albums sold this week 551,000, down 5.3% compared to 582,000 last week and down 10% to the figure of 612,000 in this week last year.

The 2013 Year-To-Date Albums sold figure is 1,870,000 which is down 2.6% on 2012. Of that 1,870,000 statistic the total Physical albums amounted to 1,211,000 (-13.8%) and Digital 659,000 (+28%)

Billboard Top 200  (week of February 2, 2013)

(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:

The Band Perry topping the chart with "Better Dig Two” the first single from their upcoming second album, due April 2. 

The song witten by Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally and Trevor Rosen was first released on October 29, 2012 by Republic Nashville and it debuted at No.9 on Hot Country Songs chart for the week of November 17, 2012.

Now in its 12 chart week The Band Perry collect their third No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, as “Better Dig Two” (Republic Nashville) climbed 3-1. The sibling trio previously reigned with “If I Die Young” (Dec. 11, 2010) and “All Your Life” (two frames starting Feb. 18, 2012) when the chart was solely airplay-based; it became a sales/airplay/streaming-hybrid survey the week of Oct. 20, 2012.

In this tracking week “Dig” rose 4-1 for its first week atop Country Digital Songs with 70,000 downloads sold and lifted 6-5 on Billboard Country Airplay, receiving a 12% increase to 30.2 million audience impressions.

TBP tweeted: You guys are amazing! #BetterDigTwo #1 #HotCountrySongs #CountryDigitalSongs @Billboard

Watch the official song video >>  YouTube

Gary Allan with  "Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain)" sits at No.2 after 21 chart weeks, moving up from No.4 in a week which saw the release of his album SET YOU FREE. So this single success should help to drive those albums sales.

Every Merch Booth (Runs Out Of Shirts): Very rarely do people hang out with their boss after getting fired. Matt Warren a former Allan employee. used to sell merch at Allan's shows. He was terrible at it, but Allan noticed he would spend a lot of time sitting in the back of the bus writing songs. Before his last day of work, Allan told Warren, "Man, we're gonna go broke with you selling shirts, but I'll write with you if you wanna write someday." Warren went on to work a series of odd jobs and eventually took Allan up on the offer. Warren along with songwriter Hilary Lindsey ("Jesus Take The Wheel") brought the idea for "Every Storm" to Allan and they wrote it together. "Matt always has great stories," says Allan. "And that's why he's fun to write with”

Blake Shelton’s “Sure Be Cool If You Did” (Warner Bros./Warner Music Nashville) dropped 6-8 on Hot Country Songs after roaring from No. 45 last week, the song claims Airplay Gainer honors for a second consecutive week. It descends to No. 2 from No. 1 (where it bowed last week) on Country Digital Songs (63,000, down 35%). It jumped 22-14 on Country Airplay with a 45% gain to 15.6 million audience impressions. The track picks up the Streaming Gainer award on Hot Country Songs with a 118% increase in weekly streams, according to BDS.

Tim McGraw reached his 47th Hot Country Songs top 10 (and first on Big Machine) as “One of Those Nights” entered the Top 10, ascending 11-9. The cut concurrently reaches the Country Digital Songs top 10 (12-8; 36,000, up 11%). On Country Airplay, it climbs 9-7 with a 13% gain to 27.2 million in audience.

“Nights” is the second single from McGraw’s Feb. 5 release Two Lanes of Freedom.

Darius Rucker’s “Wagon Wheel” (Capitol Nashville) gained the top Digital Gainer honour as it rolled 32-25 in its second week on Hot Country Songs as well as a 17-7 shift on Country Digital Songs (40,000, up 62%).

The Band Perry with “Better Dig Two” are up two slots to Top The Chart!, #3 - #1

Gary Allan with “Every Storm” (Runs Out Of Rain) is up two, #4 - #2

Hunter Hayes with former number one “Wanted” is down one, #2 - #3

Florida Georgia Line with former #1 “Cruise” drops from #1 - #4

Jason Aldean (w Luke Bryan & Eric Church) and “The Only Way I Know” is up, #7 - #5

Taylor Swift with former #1 ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” is down, #5 - #6

Randy Houser with “How Country Feels” is up one slot, #8 - #7

Blake Shelton with “Sure Be Cool If You Did” drops 2 places, #6 - #8 

Tim McGraw with “One Of Those Nights” is up two, #11 - #9

Zac Brown Band with “Goodbye In Her Eyes”, is down one, #9 - #10

Little Big Town with “Tornado” is up one, #12 - #11

Brad Paisley with “Southern Comfort Zone” is down two, #10 - #12

Hunter Hayes with “Somebody’s Heartbreak” stays at #13

Carrie Underwood with “Two Black Cadillacs” is up one, #15 - #14

Carrie Underwood with “Blown Away”, drops one place, #14 - #15

Kacey Musgraves with “Merry Go ‘Round” is up three,  #19 - #16

Taylor Swift with “Begin Again” is up three, #20 - #17

Dierks Bentley with “Tip It On Back” is up four slots,  #22 - #18

Luke Bryan with “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” is up two, #21 - #19

Lee Brice with “I Drive Your Truck” is up four places, #24 - #20

Kip Moore with “Beer Money” falls four, #17 - #21

Lee Brice with “Hard To Love” is up one, #23 - #22

Justin Moore with “Til My Last Day” is down five, #18 - #23

Thompson Square with “If I Didn’t Have You” are up one slot, #25 - #24

Darius Rucker with “Wagon Wheel” jumps up seven places, #32 - #25

Hot Country Songs

*** No. 1 (1 week)  ***  “Better Dig Two” The Band Perry

Greatest Gainer/Airplay & Streaming No. 8 “Sure Be Cool If You Did” Blake Shelton

** Greatest Gainer/Digital” No.25  “Wagon Wheel” Darius Rucker

Debut No.44 “Boys And Buses” Hayden Panettiere

Debut No.50  “Runnin’ Out Of Air” Love and Theft

Chart History

These were the songs that topped the chart in 2008, 2003, 1998, 1993, and 1988:

#1 Hot Country Song 2003



2008: Our Song   Taylor Swift  (Big Machine)

2003: 19 Somethin'  Mark Wills (Mercury)

1998: Just To See You Smile  Tim McGraw  (Curb)

1993: Look Heart, No Hands  Randy Travis  (Warner Bros.)

1988: Where Do The Nights Go  Ronnie Milsap  (RCA)

 

 

21 years ago The BILLBOARD Top 10 Hot Country Singles for the Chart Week Jan 25, 1992 looked like this:

1. Sticks And Stones Tracy Lawrence (Atlantic)

2. Love, Me  Collin Raye (Epic)

3. A Jukebox With A Country Song  Doug Stone  (Epic)

4. Cadillac Style  Sammy Kershaw (Mercury)

5. Without You What Do I Do With Me  Tanya Tucker  (Capitol)

6. Turn That Radio On   Ronnie Milsap  (RCA)

7. The Dirt Road  Sawyer Brown  (Capitol)

8. The Whiskey Ain't Workin'  Travis Tritt and Marty Stuart (Warner Bros.)

9. You Can Depend On Me  Restless Heart  (RCA)

10. Broken Promise Land  Mark Chesnutt  (MCA)

Billboard Country Airplay Chart Week of February 2, 2013

Randy Houser notched his first No. 1 on Billboard’s Nielsen BDS-based Country Airplay chart.

The song was first released in May 7, 2012 was written by Vicky McGehee, Wendell Mobley and Neil Thrasher.

Houser’s “How Country Feels” (Stoney Creek) rose 2-1 in its 39th week on the chart, gaining by 4% to 36.1 million audience impressions during the Jan. 14-20 tracking week. WQNU Louisville, Ky., led all reporters with 91 plays for “Country” last week, followed by KMNB Minneapolis (74) and KUPL Portland, Ore. (69).

The song grants Houser his first perch atop the tally. He’d previously climbed as high as No. 2 with “Boots On” in 2009. It’s the second No. 1 for the Stoney Creek label; Thompson Square’s “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not” led the week of April 9, 2011.

 “Country” additionally, and fittingly, served as the first song played on Cumulus’ new “Nash FM 94.7” New York, which flipped to country at (also fittingly) 9:47 a.m. on Monday (Jan. 21). (See story, page 1). At 39 weeks, “Country” completes the fifth-longest trip to No. 1 (tied with Love and Theft’s “Angel Eyes” (RCA Nashville), which reached No. 1 the week of Aug. 25, 2012) since Country Airplay adopted BDS data 23 years ago this month. Chris Young’s “Voices” (RCA) reached the summit in its record 51st frame (Feb. 19, 2011). Just four weeks ago, Justin Moore’s “Til My Last Day” (Valory) crowned the chart in its 41st week. 

>> [LISTEN] Randy Houser - "How Country Feels"

Dierks Bentley, logged his 16th Country Airplay top 10, as “Tip It On Back” (Capitol Nashville) climbed 11-9. The song increases by 4% to 24.4 million weekly impressions. “Back” is the fourth single from his album Home, the first three of which led the list: “Am I the Only One” (Sept. 3, 2011), “Home” (March 24, 2012) and “5-1-5-0” (Aug. 4, 2012). Should “Back” go on to top the chart, Bentley would rewrite his longest streak of No. 1 singles. He also led with three consecutive releases (“Come a Little Closer,” “Settle for a Slowdown” and “Every Mile a Memory”) in 2005-06.

Little Big Town ups its top 10 total on Country Airplay to five, as “Tornado” (also on Capitol Nashville) jumps 12-10 (23.5 million, up 7%). The group earned its first No. 1 with its previous single, “Pontoon,” which topped the chart for two weeks in September. Its prior top 10, 2010’s “Little White Church,” ended the act’s four-year absence from the top tier; it had first reached the region in 2006 with “Boondocks” (No. 9) and “Bring It On Home” (No. 4).

Blake Shelton’s “Sure Be Cool If You Did” (Warner Bros./WMN) jumps 22-14 in its third week with Most Increased Audience honors for a second consecutive frame. The song vaults by 45% to 15.6 million impressions, led by gains of 36 (first-week) plays on KKGO Los Angeles and 23 each at WDAF Kansas City (29 total, up from six) and WFUS Tampa, Fla.(28, up from five).

Keeping it in the family Shelton’s wife Miranda Lambert brought home her own award, as “Mama’s Broken Heart” (RCA Nashville) surges 31-25 with the chart’s Most Added ribbon, courtesy of new airplay at 42 reporters.

CHURCH x  3 - Eric Church gained three entries on the week's chart:

#3 “The Only Way I Know” with Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan,  #43 “Like Jesus Does” and #55 “Keep On” which made the Hot Shot Debut

The top debut on Country Airplay next week should certainly belong to Lady Antebellum’s “Downtown” (Capitol Nashville). The lead single from the trio’s forthcoming album is already trending big with the radio stations with KAJA San Antonio leading the Airplay panelists pack with 38 plays for the song through yesterday (Jan. 23).

Country Airplay

*** No. 1 (1 week) *** "How Country Feels" Randy Houser

Greatest Gainer ** Most Increased Audience/Airpower ** No. 14 "Sure Be Cool If You Did" Blake Shelton (+4.805 Gain In Millions / +712 Gains Most Increased Plays)

** Most Added ** No.25 "Mama's Broken Heart" Miranda Lambert (42 ADDS)

Hot Shot Debut No. 55 "Keep On" Eric Church

Debut No. 58 "Night Train" Jason Aldean

Debut No. 59 "Jump Right In" Zac Brown Band

Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart Week of February 2, 2013

The Band Perry scored their second Billboard No.1 slot of the week as “Better Dig Two” selling another consistent 70,000 copies moved from 4-1.

Blake Shelton’s new single “Sure Be Cool If You Did” dropped from 1-2 selling 63,000 copies (161k in the first two weeks)

Hunter Hayes Double Platinum single “Wanted” stays at No.5 and its rose up to Top 15 on the Adult Contemporary chart and Top 30 (#26) on the Pop Radio Airplay Chart.

Pop Songs *** No. 1 *** "I Knew You Were Trouble" Taylor Swift

Taylor tweets: It's official--'I Knew You Were Trouble' is #1 on pop radio!!

You guys are unbelievable. I'm smiling SO big right now.

Incidently away from the Country standings Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble." (Big Machine/Republic) lifts 3-1 on Mainstream Top 40. The song marks her second leader on the list, following "Love Story," which topped the Feb. 28, 2009, tally.  
"Trouble" also bound 11-5 to become her Swift's sixth top 10 on Adult Top 40 and debuts at No. 29 on Adult Contemporary.

Taylor’s divisive pop hit “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” is at #6 on this Country Digital chart with a sales total just shy of 3.1/4 million.

Just behind Miss Swift finds Darius Rucker with “Wagon Wheel” who broke into Billboard Country Digital Top 10 proving its a likeable version of the original cut from String Band Old Crow Medicine Show which went Platinum and nearly makes the Top 30 on this chart.

Tim McGraw’s “One Of Those Nights” also entered Top 10 territory, up five slots to #8 this week.

Kacey Musgraves stays at #14 with “Merry Go Round” . Her album release for “Same Trailer, Different Park” is slated for late March.

Kid Rock debuts with “All Summer Long” at #18. This 2008 hit was previously unavailable digitally until last week.

Hayden Panettiere debuts at #29 with “Boys and Buses,” with the latest single from her TV show “Nashville”. Her song “Telescope” was a previous Top 30 hit.

Gaining Gold

Keith Urban’s “Act of Valor” soundtrack hit, “For You” passed the Gold sales mark with sales now at 512k. Tim McGraw’s “I Like It, I Love It”  surpassed the Gold sales 500K mark for Digital Single sales with 514k in sales.

Jake Owen’s recent hit “The One That Got Away” also surpassed the Gold sales mark last week.

2013 Year-To-Date

County Digital tracks sold this week 3,187,000,  down 7.8% compared to 3,456,000 last week but up 4.7% to the figure of 3,045,000 in this week last year.

Year-To-Date Digital tracks sold is 10,763,000 up 7.9% on 2012

Top 30 Digital Singles In Country Music (January 24, 2013)

(LW) Last Week  (TW) This Week 

*Numbers are rounded to nearest 1000^th