Country
Billboard Chart News October 31, 2013
In Brief: Billboard Country Charts
Country
Album Chart ** No. 1 (7 weeks) ** CRASH
MY PARTY Luke Bryan
Hot
Country Songs ** No. 1 (11 weeks) ** “That’s
My Kind of Night” Luke Bryan
Country
Airplay ** No. 1 (3 weeks) ** “It
Goes Like This” Thomas Rhett
Country
Digital Songs ** No. 1 ** (1 week) “The Outsiders” Eric Church
Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Chart
News
Katy Perry's new "PRISM" album made its debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (BB200) this week,
selling 285,839 copies, according to
Nielsen SoundScan. It's the largest sales week this year for an album by a
woman and the second-largest for a pop effort. Among women, she beat out Miley
Cyrus' "Bangerz" (Bow at No. 1 with 270,000 three weeks ago.)
"PRISM" also tallies the
debut largest week for a female pop artist's album since Madonna's
"MDNA" bowed at No. 1 with 359,000 on the April 14, 2012, chart.
PRISM also entered The U.K.'s Official
Albums Chart at #1 (sales of 53,827 copies). It's Perry's second album in a
row to reach #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K.
The last female artist to sell more
than 286K copies in a week was Taylor Swift, whose Red sold 1,208,000
copies in its first week and 344K in its second in Oct/ Dec 2012. Swift is in a
class by herself in terms of album sales. Also, she has a country base, which
Perry and Cyrus don't have.
Luke Bryan with CRASH MY PARTY moved 12-10 on
the BB200 reclaimed the No.1 slot on the Billboard Top Country Album Chart displacing Scotty McCreery’s SEE YOU TONIGHT which
sold another 18,000 copies (down 65%) to drop 5-15 on the BB200 (1-2 Country).
Florida Georgia Line moved back up to
No.3 on the country chart with HERE’S TO
THE GOOD TIMES. It’s sold 1.18 million copies since its December 2012
release with a Deluxe edition slated to drop to spike sales further during the
upcoming holiday season.
In his second week at retail Willie Nelson’s best-selling album in years TO
ALL THE GIRLS fell 9-19 on the BB200 (2-4 Country) as Willie fans took
14,000 copies home (down 67%).
Alan Jackson at No.10 surpassed the 60K
sales mark and remains the #1 selling Bluegrass album in America’s for the last
5 weeks.
After 107 chart weeks Hunter Hayes self titled Platinum certified album has finally
scanned 1-million copies at retail.
The album at No.13 Country, sold another 5,000 copies to reach a new total of
1,002,000 units.
Outside the Top 25 albums saw newcomer Brandy Clark debut with 12 STORIES
at No.195 on the BB200 (#168 Top Current
Albums as of Oct 30, 2013), No.28 in
the country standings and No.5
on Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums
The album was released on Oct 22, 2013
(Slate Creek Records) with an October 25th performance at the Grand Ole Opry
House and a Oct 29th CD Release Party in Nashville.
Country fans will be familiar with the
hit songs she has co-written, including Miranda Lambert's latest chart-topper
"Mama's Broken Heart" and The Band Perry's "Better Dig Two"
for which she has a CMA nomination
and 2 for the American Country Awards
to air Dec 10th. Now Brandy has stepped out on her own with 12 Stories.
The songs Brandy chose to record
celebrate her love of characters, so every track on the album tells a story
about a particular scene in a person's life.
At first, Brandy set out to make 12 Stories a full-blown concept album
telling one overarching story.
She told ABC News Radio,
"It was either gonna
be the day in the life of one woman, or the length of a relationship. So, we
thought about starting it with 'Illegitimate Children' and ending it with 'The
Day She Got Divorced.'
That's not
what we did, but the songs were chosen based on that."
The single “Stripes” co-written was not
added by Billboard BDS country airplay tracking stations but was supported and
premièred on Sirius XM Radio Radio and video was shown on CMT.
Critical reception for 12 Stories: - 12 Tracks / Time: 42:14
CD - MP3 - UK iTunes - Amazon.com - Smart Choice Music
Allmusic (Rating:
4.5 Stars) the superb 12 Stories
showcases a unique artist who stands firmly, proudly on her own merits.
American Songwriter (Rating: 4 STARS)
..a record full of humor and pain,
remorse and reckoning, is one of the
very best country debuts of 2013.
Country Weekly (Rating: A+) ...There may be too few women on country radio
right now, but it sure isn’t due to a shortage of talent. Case in point: Brandy
Clark’s 12 Stories, a staggeringly great collection of original tunes that
paint vivid, honest portraits of real life, from a uniquely feminine
perspective....While the men are stuck in the backwoods, Brandy is busy digging
through the human condition.
Entertainment Weekly (Rating:
B+) Clark keeps things edgy, singing
about divorce, drugs, jail, and Jesus—a.k.a. country music’s Golden Quadrangle—with
matter-of-fact sass and ample twang.
The L.A. Times (Rating: 3.5/4
STARS) Brandy Clark dazzles with '12 Stories...This
has been a great year for women's voices in contemporary country music,
starting with the auspicious debut album from Kacey Musgraves in March and ramping
up now with an even bolder new arrival, Brandy Clark. The question out of the
gate is whether she'll be heard amid the parade of frat boy country dominating
the airwaves with cliche-ridden songs of tailgate parties by the swimming hole
populated with sexy babes in their Daisy Duke shorts. Never mind that — find
this record and listen to a dozen dazzlingly witty and insightful takes on the
struggles of the working class, neglected and/or mistreated women, the battle
between right and wrong and the pros and cons of chemical mood
enhancers....This is the country debut
of the year.
Roughstock (Rating: 5 STARS) For anyone who remembers Country music more
for the stories the best songs of the genre have often created than songs made
just for the hooks, they're sure to find something to like with 12 Stories....One
of the most "buzz worthy" of today's songwriters, the thirty
something Clark tells stories which manage to be at times dramatic, funny,
heartfelt and down right honest..... There's not one throw away track, one
throw away note, or one throw away lyric. Instead, it's a well-made and
produced and definitely worth seeking out.
NY Post (rating; 4 STARS) ...this is the most compulsively re-playable
album of 2013, country or otherwise
Billboard (by Chuck Dauphin)
“Wow” ...I don’t think I have ever
started a review so simply in my decade-plus of writing them. But, sometimes,
you can say a lot more with less than you can otherwise”
Next week will see how the arrival of
regular studio recordings, released on Oct 29th, from Toby
Keith (Drinks After Work), Thomas Rhett (It Goes Like This), Julie
Roberts (Good Wine And Bad Decisions), George
Ducas (4340) along with seasonal releases from Mindy Smith (Snowed In), Restless
Heart (A Restless Heart Christmas) Trace
Adkins (The King's Gift), Duck The
Halls (A Robertson Family Christmas) and Kelly Clarkson (Wrapped In Red) will impact on the Billboard 200.
Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Placings
(Issue dated
Chart week of November 9, 2013)
(Country
Album positions #1 - #25)
(TW) This
Week, (LW) Last Week, Co (Country Album Chart placing / Movement)
Billboard Music Video Sales
Jason Aldean's Night Train To Georgia is #1 on Top
Music Videos for the second straight week. He's the first country male solo
artist to spend multiple frames at #1 on that chart since Garth Brooks' The
Ultimate Hits (a CD/DVD combo) spent its first 13 weeks at #1 in late 2007 and
early 2008. Aldean's video has shifted
20K copies in its first two weeks.
Dropping down
2-7 in their second week at retail see’s
Joey + Rory’s Inspired: Songs Of Faith
& Family DVD and moving 6-9 in
her 11th chart week is The Blown Away
Tour: Live from Carrie Underwood
Top 25 Hot Country Songs (week of November 9, 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, (tracked
by Nielsen BDS from such services as Spotify, Muve, Slacker, Rhapsody, Rdio and
Xbox Music, among others) according to BDS it results in:
Luke Bryan’s “That’s My Kind
of Night” enjoyed a 11th week, out
of 13 chart weeks, atop Hot Country Songs. It's the first hit by a male solo
artist to stay on top that long since Buck Owens' "Love's Gonna Live
Here" had 16 weeks on top in 1963.
Eric Church’s new single “The
Outsiders” (EMI Nashville) which was released simultaneously on Oct. 22 to
radio programmers and digital retailers made a 50-6 rocket up the chart. Last week it made an initial entry at
No.50 due to audience impressions from one day of airplay (Clear Channel-owned
stations) and this week it made the biggest leap into the top 10 by any song
since the chart’s ranking method changed from core country radio audience to a
sales/airplay/streaming hybrid a little more than a year ago. The 44-spot lift trumps
the 45-6 hop by Blake Shelton’s “Sure Be Cool If You Did” in January this year.
Joe Nichols claimed his first top 10 in three years, as “Sunny and 75” stepped 11-10, his first to reach the upper
tier since “Gimme That Girl” led for two weeks in May 2010. “Sunny” is the
first Hot Country Songs top 10 for the Red Bow imprint (joint venture between
the Broken Bow Music Group and Sony’s RED Distribution company)
Top 25 Hot Country Songs:
Luke Bryan with “That’s My Kind Of Night”
stays Top The Chart! #1
Thomas Rhett with “It Goes Like This” stays at
#2
Blake Shelton with “Mine Would Be You” stays at
#3
Chris Young with “Aw Naw” stays at #4
Tim McGraw with “Southern Girl” is up one, #6
- #5 p
Eric Church with “The Outsiders”
leaps up 44 places, #50 -#6 p
Keith
Urban and Miranda Lambert with “We Were Us” is up, #8 - #7 p
Florida Georgia Line with former #1 “Cruise”
moves, #7 - #8 q
Jason Aldean with “Night Train” is down four,
#5 - #9 q
Joe
Nichols with “Sunny And 75” is up one, #11 - #10 p
Parmalee
with “Carolina” is up three, #14 - #11 p
Eli Young Band with “Drunk Last Night” is up three,
#15 - #12 p
Lee Brice with “Parking Lot Party” is down
one, #12 - #13 q
Florida Georgia Line with “Stay” jumps up, #21 - #14 p
Cassadee Pope with “Wasting All These Tears”
falls, #13 - #15 q
David
Nail with “Whatever She’s Got” is up two, #18 - #16 p
Billy Currington with “Hey Girl” falls eight slots,
#9 - #17 q
Taylor Swift with “Red” is down one slot, #17
- #18 q
Florida Georgia Line with “Round Here” is down, #16 -
#19 q
Tyler Farr with “Redneck Crazy” plummets, #10
- #20 q
The Band Perry with
“Don’t Let Me Be Lonely” jumps up, #30 - #21 p
Luke Bryan with “Crash My Party” is down
two, #20 - #22 q
Zac Brown Band with “Sweet Annie” is up four, #27
- #23 p
Eric Paslay with “Friday Night” is up two, #26
- #24 p
Cole Swindell with “Chillin’ It” is up six, #31
- #25 p
Hot Country Songs
** No.1 (11 weeks) ** “That’s My Kind Of Night” Luke Bryan
** Airplay Gainer ** No.7 “We Were Us”
Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert
** Digital Gainer ** No.14 “Stay”
Florida Georgia Line
** Streaming Gainer ** No.16 “Whatever She’s Got” David Nail
** Hot Shot Debut
** No.37 “Drink To That All Night” Jerrod Niemann
Debut No.41 “This Town” Clare
Bowen & Charles Esten
Debut No.48 “The Best Songs Come From Broken Hearts” Connie
Britton
Debut No.49 “19 You + Me” Dan + Shay
Debut No.50 “Wake Up Lovin' You” Craig Morgan
Billboard Country Airplay Chart Week of November 9, 2013
Thomas Rhett logged a third straight week
at No.1 with “It Goes Like This” (Valory), in his 27th chart week. He becomes the
first solo male artist in seven years to stay three or more weeks during
their first trip to the Billboard Country Airplay summit.
The last male No.1 first-timer with such a streak was Rodney Atkins, who logged four weeks with “If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)” in August/September 2006¨. The last time any artist held a rookie No.1 this long was last December, when Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” reigned for three weeks. Miranda Lambert is the most recent woman to hold for at least three weeks with her first No.1 song—she stayed at the top for four weeks with “The House That Built Me” three years ago.
Rhett’s song logged 50.272 million audience impressions
(+0.929); and received 7,382 radio
plays (+138) during the tracking week. He therefore established a new weekly
audience benchmark (50.3 million impressions) since the ranking method on the
Nielsen BDS-driven Country Airplay chart switched from total plays to total
audience impressions in January 2005. “It Goes Like This” drew 49.3 million
impressions during the previous tracking week. Jason Aldean’s “Night Train” set
the prior audience mark on the Oct.12 chart.
Parmalee sets the longest top 10 climb by a duo or group since the Country Airplay
chart launched nearly 24 years ago as its debut single, “Carolina” (Stoney Creek) made a 12-10 hop in its 38th chart
week (sixth-most weeks needed to reach the top 10). Previously, the slowest
top 10 ascent among duos or groups was 35 weeks, achieved last year by two
acts: Montgomery Gentry “Where I
Come From” (March 24, 2012) and Gloriana
“(Kissed You) Good Night” (June 30, 2012, chart).
Eric Church set a career-high Country Airplay debut with the Hot Shot Debut honours at No.25 with
“The Outsiders” (EMI Nashville).
The
song is his first appearance on the list since “Like Jesus Does” peaked at No.7
in June. With 12 million first-week audience impressions, Church’s start
greatly outpaces his previous best solo bow, set when “Homeboy” arrived at
No.48 in March 2011. “The Outsiders” was co-written with Casey Beathard a
diverse songwriter in Nashville (songs includes ‘Walk a Little Straighter’ by
Billy Currington; ‘Ten Rounds of Jose Cuervo’ by Tracy Byrd and ‘No Shoes, No
Shirt, No Problems’ by Kenny Chesney).
Church’s new track gained Most Increased Audience along with Most Added trophies. It logged 11.914 million audience impressions
(+11.914) and received 1,618 radio
plays (+1,618) thanks to 65 fresh radio commitments (ADDS). This was owed in
large part to hourly play at Clear
Channel-owned stations on Oct. 22 where it got airplay at 92 of the 145
stations monitored for the chart. The song is the lead single from his upcoming
fourth full-length studio album, for which no title or street date has been
announced. Church’s Country Airplay chart history includes seven top 10
singles, three of which went to No.1 (including the Jason Aldean collab). "The
Outsiders" is the sixth song to debut in the top 25 on the Country Airplay
chart during 2013. It follows Lady Antebellum's "Downtown" (No. 25),
Kenny Chesney's "Pirate Flag" (No. 22), Blake Shelton's "Boys
'Round Here" (featuring Pistol Annies & Friends) (No. 19), Hunter
Hayes' "I Want Crazy" (No. 24) and Luke Bryan's "That's My Kind
of Night" (No. 21).
Reviews for “The Outsiders”
The
beginning of the song tells you right away it's a Church song with a few chords
being played quietly from an electric guitar. Then Church comes in and starts
to do what some may calling rapping with the lyrics, "They're the in crowd, we're the other ones/it's a different kind of
cloth that we're cut from." After rapping a few more lines he sings
the line "That's who we are," and a few seconds later the chorus
comes in with his full rocking band along with Church singing with the same
kind of passion he's become known for. The song alternates between the rapping
and singing for its entirety, but that's not a bad thing. It's got that same
hard-rocking country sound that Church has become known for since he released
"Sinners Like Me," and it seems as though he might told the band to
turn the volume up a couple notches. Read more at digitaljournal.com
Yes,
“The Outsiders” is unpredictable. Yes it is innovative. But that’s about where
the accolades end for this muddy mess of
a tune that offers virtually no direction, is void of narrative, and does
not really even build a cohesive groove to hang its hat on. ....The result is a Frankenstein-like monster; a colossus of corporate music that threatens
to kill its makers. Though this type of machination might be acceptable, or
even appreciated in some outer fringes of the metal world, in the country music
format it’s downright laughable read more at savingcountrymusic
He has clearly refused to make music that would capitalize on
his newfound fame; there’s no copycat frat boy party anthems here, no trucks or
tailgates, no daisy dukes or tanned hotties. No, one of the biggest acts in
mainstream country right now has released a song that not only is actually
original and subverts the trends, but seems to actively repress them. ‘The
Outsiders’ is a song that lends itself so much to rock and metal that the
country, whether modern or traditional, is barely in existence.....But this is a rock song by all standards, indicating
that Eric is taking a heavier turn for his new record, thereby convincing me
that his reign in mainstream country may disappear as quickly as it rose up – Read
more at forthecountryrecord
Listen to the song in FULL >> iheart.com
The song is available for download on Amazon.com and US iTunes
Country Airplay
*** No. 1 (3 weeks) *** "It Goes
Like This" Thomas Rhett
** Hot Shot Debut/ Most Increased
Audience/ Most Added ** No.25 "The Outsiders" Eric Church
Debut No. 55 "Lettin' The Night
Roll" Justin Moore
Debut No. 56 "I Got A Car"
George Strait
Debut No. 58 "When She Says
Baby" Jason Aldean
Debut No. 60 "Best Seat In The
House" LoCash Cowboys
Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart Week of November 9, 2013
Eric Church made his debut at No.1 with “The Outsiders” with first week sales of 81,000 downloads. This is
the first time he’s made a bow atop the summit with a single on the SoundScan
Top Country Digital Tracks. It also
landed at #14 on the all genre Billboard Digital Songs chart.
He displaced Luke Bryan’s Platinum single and ten week No.1 “That’s My Kind Of Night” which moved 1-2 (sales 57,000, down 11%).
Florida Georgia Line’s “Stay,” the fourth hit single from
Here’s To The Good Times made a 8-3 hop with sales of 35,000 (up 35%).
Cassadee Pope at No.6 sold another 29,000
copies of “Wasting All These Tears”
which has now passed GOLD certification with a new tally of 511K.
The Dixie Chicks’ song “Not Ready To Make Nice” was featured in
a Battle Round on NBC’s “The Voice” the previous week (Episode 9, Oct 21st,
Destinee Quinn v Lina Gaudenzi) resulting in a huge sales spike to jump onto
the chart at No.15.
Clare Bowen (Scarlett) and Charles Esten (Deacon) debut with “This
Town,” (>> video) a track from ABC’s TV drama “Nashville” Season 2. The song was written
by Canada’s Jaida Dreyer & Andrew Rollins and is available on Amazon.com and US iTunes
Of Note: Away from country matters Taylor Swift's "Sweeter Than Fiction" made a debut at #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 with a Digital Songs sales
rank of #6 (114,000 copies sold). It's from the forthcoming movie, One Chance.
It's Swift's fourth movie song to crack the top 40, following "Today Was A
Fairytale" from Valentine's Day (#2 in 2010) and two songs from The Hunger
Games: "Safe & Sound" (with The Civil Wars, #30 in 2012) and
"Eyes Open" (#19 in 2012). Swift co-wrote "Sweeter Than
Fiction" with fun.'s Jack Antonoff. That would make them eligible for an
Oscar nomination for Best Song. Could Miss Swift clear space in her already crowded
trophy case for an Oscar?
Top 30 Digital Singles
in Country Music (published October 30, 2013)
(LW) Last Week (TW) This Week
Country Aircheck/ Mediabase chart
Thomas Rhett moved 2-1 to head the Country Aircheck/ Mediabase chart for the tracking
week Oct 20 – Oct 26. “It Goes Like This”
logged 7,473 radio plays (+76) with an audience of 57.122 million impressions.
For a detailed report check out Country
Aircheck Weekly Issue 369 - October 28, 2013 [PDF File] & read the “Three Enter The Hall Of Fame” report
Holiday Digital Songs
#1 “White Christmas” Kelly Clarkson
#5 “Where Are You Christmas?” Faith Hill
#6 “Duck The Halls” The
Robertsons
#8 “Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree” Brenda
Lee
#29
“Last Christmas” Taylor Swift
#37 “Hard Candy Christmas” Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton
