Country Billboard Chart News March 28, 2013
Justin Timberlake with his third solo album, The 20/20 Experience, entered The Billboard 200 at #1 with massive first-week sales of 968,018 copies. "20/20," dropped on March 19, and marks Justin’s second No. 1 album and logged his best sales week yet. The stack em’ high and sell cheap marketing saw the physical copy of 20/20 sell for as low as 7$ in its first week.
It’s the biggest one-week sales tally since Taylor Swift’s RED shifted 1,208,000 copies in its first week in October 2012. It’s the biggest one-week tally by a male artist since Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III opened with sales of 1,006,000 in September 2008.
The 20/20 Experience set a new record for the biggest one-week sales tally for an album by a male pop artist since 1991. This stat excludes R&B (Usher), country (Garth Brooks) and rap (Eminem, 50 Cent and Lil Wayne).
Its official: Justin Timberlake's new album "The 20/20 Experience" debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 968,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Timberlake's last release, 2006's "FutureSex/LoveSounds," which arrived atop the list with his previous high: 684,000. Timberlake's first album, 2002's "Justified," debuted and peaked at No. 2 with a 439,000 start.
"20/20's" monster sales are the 19th-largest week for an album since SoundScan started tracking data in 1991. The all-time best-selling week was when Timberlake's former group, 'N Sync, saw its "No Strings Attached" album debut, with what in today’s market looks a mind blowing 2.42 million at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated April 8, 2000.
SOUNDSCAN ERA Top 100 BIGGEST SALES WEEKS
Table shows the Top 10 Rankings (all genre) and
the biggest sales week for a Country Album (12 titles in the Top 100 rankings)
Singer/songwriter Kacey Musgraves debut album (on a major label) SAME TRAILER DIFFERENT PARK (Mercury Nashville) which was released to retail on March 19 lands the No.1 position on the Billboard Country Chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart with 43,496 units sold. Same Trailer Different Park was co-written by Kacey and co-produced with Shane McAnally and Luke Laird.
This meant Kasey sold one copy for every 22 copies bought of Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience. It indicates possibly why country music’s major players such as Blake Shelton, The Band Perry, Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley have delayed the release of their new album sets to give themselves a shot at a Billboard Top 200 No.1 and avoid clashing with Justin’s huge selling debut release.
SAME TRAILER DIFFERENT PARK displaced Luke Bryan’s SPRING BREAK…HERE TO PARTY, which sits at No.2 on the country placing (No.4 BB 200) selling 38,162 copies (down 37%; 3-week sales of 248,647)
It’s Musgrave’s’ fourth album and first top 10. She co-wrote Miranda Lambert’s current top 40 hit “Mama’s Broken Heart.”
Kacey becomes the first solo female act in five years to open at No. 1 with a rookie album on Billboard’s Top Country Albums. She is the seventh woman to do so in the 22-year-old Nielsen SoundScan era.
No previously “unknown” female artist has accomplished the feat since Julianne Hough’s self-titled debut set opened atop the June 6, 2008, chart (67,000 sold). Among the aforementioned seven women who opened at the summit on their first try, Musgraves starts with the second-smallest sum—only.
Miranda Lambert’s KEROSENE had a smaller start, ringing 40,000 during its opening week in 2005. The remaining four ladies on the list are LeAnn Rimes (BLUE, 1996, 124,000 sold), Gretchen Wilson (HERE FOR THE PARTY, 2004, 227,000), Carrie Underwood (Some Hearts, 2005, 315,000) and Kellie Pickler (Small Town Girl, 2006, 79,000).
Musgraves’ debut single, “Merry Go ’Round,” peaked at No. 14 on Hot Country Songs in February, but earns Streaming Gainer stripes for a 60% spike in its 30th chart week (17-18). It has reached a new peak at No. 10 on Country Digital Songs (30K copies sold). During a 28-week run on Country Airplay, “Merry” peaked at No. 10 three weeks ago.
Critical acclaim for Kasey’s album:
“Same Trailer Different Park proves Musgraves is for real. The album showcases a songwriting voice you won’t hear anywhere else in pop: young, female, downwardly mobile, fiercely witty.” Artist to Watch – Rolling Stone
“Musgraves’ voice, which rides atop sturdy melodies and mostly acoustic arrangements, is pretty and clear, but usally unsentimental. Her Trailer is clearly worth hitching onto.” Album of the Week, 3 ½ Stars out of 4 – USA Today
“This buzzy country singer knocks it out of the trailer park with tunes like ‘Merry Go ‘Round’ that put a fresh spin on the usual Nashville terrain.” 3 ½ Stars out of 4 - People
“On her [Musgraves] confident, melodic major-label debut, Musgraves’ vocals are pleasingly agile, but what Same Trailer Different Park continually showcases is her writing prowess.” Grade A- – Entertainment Weekly
“Pop needs this dose of the everyday again, and Musgraves, with her unpretentious voice — which makes you utterly trust her and her commitment to bringing complicated emotions into the light — is bringing it.” – NPR
“Well, country music can thank Kacey Musgraves for finding her way, through smart lyrics, arrangements free of bluster and a tone that’s all her own on her debut major label release, ‘Same Trailer Different Park.’” - Associated Press
“Her [Musgraves] major label debut, which moves from country waltz to roadhouse blues, from rootsy singer-songwriter narratives to irresistible country pop, follows its own relentless arrow throughout, and the result is one of the most fully-formed, arresting debuts Nashville’s seen in years.” 4.5 out of 5 Stars – American Songwriter
“Her magnificent new album ‘Same Trailer, Different Park,’ contains some of the most straightforward storytelling you could ever ask of a dozen country tunes.” – Washington Post
Album preview >> YouTube
Its available on Amazon UK - Amazon.com CD - Amazon.com MP3
Twenty four of the Top 25 albums appeared on the Billboard Top 200 along with 9 Catalog Albums.
Taylor Swift’s April Christmas! Is it the cold weather? One oddity was Taylor Swift’s EP "The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection (EP)" which returned to the Top 200 at No.121 and at No.14 on the Billboard Catalog. It sold 3,555 copies (999% increase on the previous week!) with a new Easter total of 965,319.
It was originally released on Oct 14, 2007 and peaked at No.20 on the Top 200. It's not the first time that a Christmas Collection has found its way onto the chart month after the holiday season. Others to appear include: Andrea Bocelli's "My Christmas" (last week of March 2011), Sting's "…If On A Winter's Night" (3-week run at the end of April 2011), Susan Boyle's "The Gift" and Anuna's "Christmas Memories" were oddballs on the other side of Christmas, entering the chart in the last week of September 2011.
On the subject of all things RED, Taylor’s latest album is at No.4 on the Country chart selling 19,103 copies, up 3%, with a total now of 3,545,668. RED week becomes the first album by an artist with a country base (#) to sell 1 million digital copies. (# an album on the line between pop and country). Will it compete for Best Country Album or Best Pop Vocal Album, when the Grammy Awards process kicks in later in the year? Tay's Red is the sixth album to sell 1 million digital copies; the third by a female artist. It follows Adele’s 21 and Lady Gaga’s The Fame.
Kyle Park who has established himself as a rising star in the Texas Music scene (in the old fashioned way) debuts at No.24 on the Country chart (No.163 BB 200) with sales of 2,629 of his latest set BEGGIN’ FOR MORE (first release on Thirty Tigers)
He built his fan base slow, live show, by live show, fan by fan — without too much help from radio in the beginning.
It's the fourth album in a self-made career in which Park served as both the artist and the record label.
Born in 1985 in Austin, Texas as a singer-songwriter, producer and record label owner he released his debut country album “BIG TIME” in 2005. In 2006 Park started recording original music at Ray Benson's Bismeaux Studio, where his drummer Armstrong was a recording engineer. A second LP, “Anywhere in Texas”, followed in 2008. Park also founded Kyle Park Music, Inc., his personal record label.
He has played more than 175 shows a year and has opened for groups such as Clint Black, Tracy Lawrence, Mark Chesnutt, Gary Allan, Jack Ingram, Randy Rogers Band and the Eli Young Band. His LP “MAKE OR BREAK ME” released on September 20, 2011 on Winding Road Music made a #53 peak on the Billboard Country Album chart.
Blurb: BEGGIN' FOR MORE displays an expansive lyrical bent, ranging from the playful Internet-age commentary of Tagged to the introspective spirituality of You Make Me Believe. Stylistically, Beggin' For More contains more traditional Country than he's inserted on an album before, but it also shows him pushing the envelope on several tracks.
He earned his first #1 single in the middle of recording the album, when the lead-off track “The Night Is Young” topped the Texas radio charts. >> Audio
Released on March 19th 2013, the 13-track BEGGIN’ FOR MORE is available from
Further down the Country chart and making a debut at No.48, selling 748 copies is Chris Cagle's ICON (Capitol Records). It’s a budget-priced collection which contains the majority of most popular hits from his time with the label.
The 12 tracks on Icon include "I Breathe in, I Breathe Out," "What a Beautiful Day," "What Kinda Gone," and "Chicks Dig It." - Amazon UK
Another album debut at No.55 was Trace Adkins’ ICON selling 633 copies. This is a Universal 2013 compilation and follows the EMI 10 Great Songs release from 2012. Eight of its 11 tracks overlap, with new tracks drawn from Adkins' '90s and 2000’s peak: "Songs About Me," "I Left Something Turned on at Home," and "Hot Mama," songs that when added to "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk," "Rough & Ready," "You're Gonna Miss This," "Then They Do," "Ladies Love Country Boys," and "I'm Tryin'".
Some big albums are set to appear in April with Blake Shelton’s BASED ON A TRUE STORY, Alan Jackson's gospel set PRECIOUS MEMORIES, Thompson Square's JUST FEELS GOOD and Maggie Rose's CUT TO IMPRESS set to impact on the charts next week.
Gretchen Wilson’s “Right On Time”, The Band Perry’s “Pioneer” , Brad Paisley’s “Wheelhouse” (Arista Nashville) and Kenny Chesney’s “Life On A Rock” (Blue Chair Records/Columbia Nashville) will are due to drop in the following weeks.
The Top Country Album sales for the first quarter of 2013 are:
1) 438,419 “RED” Taylor Swift
2) 251,408 “Here's To The Good Times” Florida Georgia Line
3) 248,647 “Spring Break: Here To Party” Luke Bryan
4) 243,970 “Set You Free” Gary Allan
5) 237,315 “Two Lanes Of Freedom” Tim McGraw
6) 191,214 “Tornado” Little Big Town
7) 181,882 “HUNTER HAYES” Hunter Hayes
8) 173,512 “Night Train” - Jason Aldean
9) 163,011 “Blown Away” Carrie Underwood
10) 148,934 “Tailgates And Tanlines” Luke Bryan
YEAR-TO-DATE
Album Unit Sales
2012 2013 Change
Albums 8,390,000 8,204,000 -2.2%
Digital Tracks 37,067,000 38,895,000 4.9%
Physical sales 6,257,000 5,561,000 -11.1%
Digital 2,134,000 2,642,000 23.8%
Billboard Top 200 (Issue dated Chart week of April 6, 2013)
(Country Album positions #1 - #25)
(TW) This Week, (LW) Last Week, Co (Country Album Chart placing / Movement)
BILLBOARD History
Billboard Top Ten For Week Ending MARCH 26, 1994:
1. Rhythm Country And Blues (MCA) Various Artists
2. Kickin' It Up (Atlantic) John Michael Montgomery
3. Common Thread: The Songs Of The Eagles (Giant) Various Artists
4. 8 Seconds (MCA) Soundtrack
5. Greatest Hits Volume Two (MCA) Reba McEntire
6. A Lot About Livin' And A Little 'Bout Love (Arista) Alan Jackson
7. In Pieces (Capitol) Garth Brooks
8. Come On Come On (Columbia) Mary Chapin Carpenter
9. Hard Workin' Man (Arista) Brooks & Dunn
10. Big Time (Warner Bros.) Little Texas
Top 25 Hot Country Songs (week of April 6, 2013)
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:
Blake Shelton logs a fifth straight week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs with “Sure Be Cool If You Did,” (Warner Bros./WMN)
A sales spike for Darius Rucker with “Wagon Wheel” (Capitol Nashville) bagged him vital points to move 5-2 on Hot Country Songs and land the weeks Digital Gainer honours and his best rank since “This” topped the April 30, 2011, chart. Previous single “True Believers” stopped at No. 24 last October, and “I Got Nothin’” peaked at No. 17 a year earlier. Rucker’s history on that chart includes seven top 10s and five No. 1s.
Thompson Square claimed their third top 10, the duo’s first in 15 months, resulting in “If I Didn’t Have You” (Stoney Creek) jumping 14-10 in its 21st chart week. The act most recently reached the upper tier when “I Got You” peaked at No. 8 in December 2011.
Florida Georgia Line drew the Airplay Gainer cup with “Get Your Shine On” (Republic Nashville), which spiked 23% and reaches a new peak at No. 5 in its 23rd chart week.
Top 25 Hot Country Songs (week of April 6, 2013)
Blake Shelton with “Sure Be Cool If You Did” stays Top The Chart for a 5th week, #1
Darius Rucker with “Wagon Wheel” jumps up three #5 - #2
Lady Antebellum with “Downtown” is down one, #2 - #3
Miranda Lambert with “Mama’s Broken Heart” is down one slot, #3 - #4
Florida Georgia Line with “Get Your Shine On” is up two, #7 - #5
Lee Brice with “I Drive Your Truck” stays at #6
Hunter Hayes with “Somebody’s Heartbreak” is up one slot, #8 - #7
Carrie Underwood with “Two Black Cadillacs” is down four places, #4 - #8
Kenny Chesney with “Pirate Flag” is up one, #10 - #9
Thompson Square with “If I Didn’t Have You” is up four, #14 - #10
Florida Georgia Line with former #1 “Cruise” stays at #11
Tim McGraw & Taylor Swift with “Highway Don’t Care” leaps up nine, #21 - #12
The Band Perry with former #1 “Better Dig Two” is down one, #12 - #13
George Strait with “Give It All We Got Tonight” is up two, #16 - #14
Tim McGraw with “One Of Those Nights” is down, #13 - #15
Chris Young with “I Can Take It From Here” is up two, #18 - #16
Eric Church with “Like Jesus Does” is up five, #22 - #17
Kacey Musgraves with “Merry Go ‘Round” is down one, #17 - #18
Little Big Town with “Tornado” is down four, #15 - #19
Jason Aldean with “1994” moves up seven , #27 - #20
Taylor Swift with former #1 ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” is down, #20 - #21
Gary Allan with former #1, “Every Storm” (Runs Out Of Rain) drops, #19 - #22
Brantley Gilbert with “More Than Miles” is up three, #26 - #23
The Band Perry with “Done” is done one, #23 - #24
Rascal Flatts with “Changed” is up, #28 - #25
Hot Country Songs
*** No. 1 (5 weeks) *** “Sure Be Cool If You Did” Blake Shelton
** Greatest Gainer/Digital ** No.2 “Wagon Wheel” Darius Rucker
** Greatest Gainer/Airplay ** No.5 “Get Your Shine On” Florida Georgia Line
** Greatest Gainer/Streaming ** No.18 “Merry Go ‘Round” Kasey Musgraves
** Hot Shot Debut ** No. 33 “Point At You” Justin Moore
Debut No.44 “Boys ‘Round Here” Blake Shelton (feat. The Pistol Annies & Friends)
Debut No.45 “Pieces” Gary Allan
Debut No.50 “Carolina” Parmalee
Billboard Country Airplay Chart Week of April 6, 2013
Blake Shelton’s “Sure Be Cool If You Did” (Warner Bros./Warner Music Nashville) holds for a second week atop the Billboard Country Airplay chart, a pair of titles freshen the top 10, led by Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart” (RCA Nashville), which gains 3 million impressions and leaps 11-8. The most recent of Lambert’s eight top 10s was “Fastest Girl in Town,” which rose to No. 3 last fall. She’s topped the chart three times, most recently with “Over You” a year ago.
The weeks Hot Shot Debut trophy goes to singer/songwriter Phil Vassar with 889,000 audience impressions at 31 radio stations monitored by Nielsen BDS for his single “Love Is Alive,” making its bow at No. 49.
He established his career-high debut with “This Is My Life,” which debuted in the same position on the June 9, 2007, chart, peaking at No. 35 three months later. The artist’s Country Airplay chart history includes eight top 10 titles, two of which reached No. 1: “Just Another Day in Paradise” (2000) and “In a Real Love” (2004). He most recently competed in the top 10 when “Love Is a Beautiful Thing” peaked at No. 2 five years ago. With 15 plays apiece, the heaviest play for “Love Is Alive” during the March 18-24 BDS tracking week is noted at WXBQ Johnson City, Tenn., and WQBE Charleston, W.V.
“Love Is Alive” is currently available on iTunes, Amazon and other digital retailers on the Rodeowave Entertainment label, and Vassar is in the midst of recording a full album for release this summer.
>> [LISTEN] Phil Vassar "Love Is Alive"
Florida Georgia Line claimed its second top 10 with “Get Your Shine On” (Republic Nashville), which improved by 3.6 million impressions and moved 12-10.
Tim McGraw, with “Highway Don’t Care” (Big Machine), which features Taylor Swift gained the week’s Most Increased Audience trophy as it leapt 27-18 on the chart. The single drew a 12.224 million audience (+3.900) receiving 2,143 plays (+612). “Airpower status” for a single happens when they achieve Top 20 ranks in both plays and audience for the first time.
Justin Moore bagged Most Added applause with “Point at You” (Valory), which shot up from 57-39 with 31 Adds of the 128 monitored stations and received 561 plays (+394) . This marks the second time Moore has posted a second-week jump into the top 40, a feat he first achieved when “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” shot 46-37 two years ago. That song became Moore’s second No. 1 in July 2007, preceded by “Small Town USA” in 2009 and followed by “Til My Last Day” in January.
>> [LISTEN] Justin Moore "Point At You"
Country Airplay
*** No. 1 (2 weeks) *** "Sure Be Cool If You Did" Blake Shelton
** Most Increased Audience ** No. 18 "Highway Don't Care" Tim McGraw With Taylor Swift
** Most Added ** No.39 “Point At You” Justin Moore
** Hot Shot Debut ** No. 49 "Love Is Alive" Phil Vassar
Debut No. 52 "Up All Night" Jon Pardi
Debut No. 58 "Maybe Someday" Lonestar
Debut No. 59 "Buzzkill" Luke Bryan
Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart Week of April 6, 2013
Darius Rucker claims his first leader with the best weekly digital haul as “Wagon Wheel” (Capitol Nashville) sold 74,946 copies (up 23%) and steps 2-1. It is some 70,000 copies short of Gold certification which could follow in the next chart week.
Blake Shelton switched places with Darius with “Sure Be Cool If You Did” at No.2 selling another 67,550 copies with his album Based On A True Story due to drop in the next week and currently standing (April 2) at No.2. on the Country iTunes chart behind The Band Perry’s PIONEER.
Staying at No.3 next to her hubby is Miranda Lambert with her now Gold-selling single “Mama’s Broken Heart.” Her sales of 57,968 from this fourth single, from her Nov 1, 2011 released set FOUR THE RECORD, took her past the 500K Gold threshold to 522,000. Her previous single “Fastest Girl In Town” which peaked at #7 on Hot Country Songs has not to date reached Gold following a run of six Gold or Platinum-selling singles.
With the release of her Country #1 album Same Trailer Different Park saw Kacey Musgraves “Merry Go ‘Round” receive a digital spike and moved 18-10 with a new total of 580,000 tracks sold.
With sales of 23,231 Justin Moore’s “Point At You” debuted on the Digital chart at No.18.
Carrie Underwood’s single “Blown Away” sold 15,887 (down 12%) to go 2x Platinum having surpassed the 2-million sales level (2,012,287 units sold)
Top 30 Digital Singles In Country Music (March 28, 2013)
(LW) Last Week (TW) This Week
*Numbers are rounded to nearest 1000th
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