Country Billboard Chart News October 31, 2013

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