Country Billboard Chart News November 13, 2013

Country Billboard Chart News November 13, 2013

In Brief:  Billboard Country Charts

Country Album Chart ** No. 1 (2  weeks) ** Robertsons’ Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas

Hot Country Songs ** No. 1 (1 week) **  “We Were Us”  Keith Urban and Miranda

Country Airplay **  No.1 (2 weeks) ** "Mine Would Be You" Blake Shelton 

Country Digital Songs ** No.1 ** (2 weeks)  “The Outsiders” Eric Church

Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Chart News

Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP 2 sold 792,394 copies in its first week. This is the second highest one-week sales total of the year, behind only Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience, which sold 968K copies when it debuted in March. The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is Eminem's seventh #1 album on the Billboard 200 (BB200), a total matched or surpassed by only one rap artist—Jay Z, who has had 13. In addition, Eminem this week becomes the first artist to sell 40 million albums in the U.S. since January 2000.

The Robertson’s' Duck The Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas jumps from #4 to #3 in its second week. It pulls ahead of Kelly Clarkson's WRAPPED IN RED as the best-selling holiday album so far this year (134K  vs. 113K). Kelly dropped #3 to #6 in its second week with sales of 43,000 copies.

Duck The Halls retained the No.1 on Billboard Top Country Albums for the second week. 

A Deluxe edition available at Walmart offers a limited-edition ZinePak and a 15 track CD (bonus track is Willie Robertson’s “Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy”).

It's the first Christmas album ever to spend multiple weeks at No.1 on the country chart. Garth Brooks & The Magic Of Christmas topped the chart for one week in December 1999.

Dropping out of BB200 Top 10 this week, in their second week at retail was Thomas Rhett's IT GOES LIKE THIS, #6 to #24 (2-6 Country) and Toby Keith's DRINKS AFTER WORK fell back 20 slots #7 to #27 (3-7 Country)

Country Music Association Awards (CMA's) boost sales

Following the CMA Awards one of the biggest gainers, on both sides of the Atlantic, was CMA 2013 New Artist of the Year Kacey Musgraves whose SAME TRAILER DIFFERENT PARK re-entered the BB200 chart at #22 (30-5 Country)with a massive 567% sales spike on the previous week. When it was first released in it made a debut and peaked at No.2.

Luke Bryan, who performed twice of the CMA Awards show, saw CRASH MY PARTY jump up from #12 to #10 on the BB200 (4#  - #2 Country) in its 14th chart week (31K sales, up 29%). This is its 10th week in the top 10.

Florida Georgia Line who won Vocal Duo and Single of the Year (“Cruise”) moved 5-3 on the country chart as HERE’S TO THE GOOD TIMES gained sales by 65%.

Blake Shelton who won CMA Male Vocalist (fourth successive year) saw his CMA Album of Year BASED ON A TRUE STORY…hop 8-4 on the country chart with a 148% sales boost.

Taylor Swift’s CMA acoustic performance of title track “Red” helped her album move up 10 places (19-9) with a 79% sales gain ( 3.859 million total; 55 chart weeks).

Vocal Group of the Year winners Little Big Town, who performed their latest single “Sober” from their 61-week album TORNADO, re-entered at No.61 on the BB200 (35-14 Country). Sales of 7,000 saw them scan Platinum at retail with a new tally of 1,003,000 copies. (1,000,000 sold) with the CMA Awards sales boost of 240% this week.

Outside the Top 25 country albums saw the No.32 debut of Divided & United: The Songs Of The Civil War (Various Artists)

Inspired by the Civil War's 150th anniversary, a Hollywood music supervisor joined forces with some of Nashville's most recognizable stars to create an album meant to honour the legacies of Music City and of the nation's defining war.

At 32 songs, on a 2-CD, "Divided & United" represents music from several different genres: country, bluegrass, folk, Americana, blues and gospel. It was produced by Randall Poster, who has largely made his living picking songs for films, and was released by a New York independent record label, Ato Records, co-founded by Dave Matthews from the Dave Matthews Band.

Poster (known for his work on projects such as HBO's Boardwalk Empire) paired songs from 150 years ago with a list of legends (Cowboy Jack Clement, Loretta Lynn, Ralph Stanley, Dolly Parton), rising stars (Shovels & Rope, Pokey LaFarge, Carolina Chocolate Drops) and established artists (Vince Gill, Jamey Johnson, Old Crow Medicine Show), among many others. The result, Poster hopes, is an album that pays tribute to Nashville's proud musical legacy and to the war that abolished slavery, left more than 700,000 people dead and ultimately united the nation. Read more in this article from The Tennessean.

Will audiences relate to the songs?  Old Crow Medicine Show's Critter Fuqua thinks so. Fuqua, whose attachment to the Civil War has led him to participate in re-enactments across the South, said the band played its song off the record, "Marching Through Georgia," (>> audio)at a recent show in the Peach State – “Although the song is about the infamous Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman brutally leading his soldiers from Atlanta to the Georgia coast, the audience was dancing and singing along during the performance. "We played that song in Georgia, and people loved it," Fuqua said. "Maybe they just heard 'Marching through Georgia,' but really it was Sherman tearing through and breaking the back of the South”.

Listen to “Pretty Saro” by Ashley Monroe featuring Aubrey Haynie:

Divided & United: The Songs of the Civil War >> Short Film  

Stream the Album at First Listen: Divided & United

Critical reception for “Divided & United":

32 Tracks/ Time: 02:08:17 2-CD - US iTunes - Amazon.com 

Billboard (Chuck Dauphin) …The Civil War is an era of American history that has long captivated us as a nation. And, for some reason, it seems that music might have played more of a role in the war era than any other conflict we have gone through. This exquisite two-CD set pays tribute to that era with some stellar performances from the best in Country, Bluegrass, and Roots music….This is without a doubt, one of the top musical moments of the year – one well worth checking out. Who knows, it might even inspire you to re-read your history books!

Allmusic (Rating: 4 STARS)  Nearly 150 years after the Civil War ended, America is still both fascinated and haunted by the events that tore the country apart while defining a vision of this nation that in many respects stands to this day. Plenty of popular songs and stories have been written about the war and its impact, but fewer Americans are aware of just how many songs dealing with the conflict and its human consequences emerged between 1861 and 1865. Divided & United: The Songs of the Civil War is an ambitious effort to study the songs of the era with fresh eyes and ears; here, 32 artists interpret popular songs from the Civil War years, some in styles that reflect the way they were performed in the 19th century and others appearing in arrangements that are radically contemporary……Divided & United is vital listening for anyone interested in the history of pop music or the United States, and it satisfies as both education and entertainment.

Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Placings

(Issue dated Chart week of November 23, 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 #3 on Top Music Videos in its fourth week. After 13 weeks “The Blown Away Tour: Live” from Carrie Underwood is at #13. Lady Antebellum’s “On This Winter's Night” jumped up 27-11 as Joey + Rory’s “Inspired: Songs Of Faith & Family” moved down three 13-16 in its 4th chart week.

Top 25 Hot Country Songs (week of November 23, 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:

Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert topped the chart with “We Were Us” (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville/RCA Nashville) which climbed 6-1, making it the first male/female duet to the summit

in more than two years since the Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood’s “Remind Me” crowned the Sept. 10, 2011, chart.  “We Were Us” written by Nicolle Galyon, Jimmy Robbins and Jon Nite, produced by Keith Urban and Nathan Chapman was first released on Sept 16,  2013 as the second single from Urban's album FUSE.

The Urban/Lambert performance and others at the Nov. 6 Country Music Assn. Awards caused a shuffle on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

Taylor Swift’s “Red” (14-4) and Eric Church’s new single “The Outsiders” (26-8) made big strides up the chart into the Top 10 and Luke Bryan matched his career-high debut with “Drink a Beer” (Capitol Nashville) at No.20 equaling his start with “Buzzkill” in March.

Taylor’s “Red” (Big Machine) CMA Awards acoustic performance (>> video) featuring Vince Gill, Alison Krauss and Sam Bush, was released the following day to digital retailers (US iTunes) and radio programmers and accounted for 60% of the title’s 72,000 downloads for the week.

Church’s performance of “The Outsiders” (EMI Nashville) drew Streaming Gainer honors (377,000 total streams, according to BDS) and returned to No.1 on Country Digital Songs (79,000 download sales)

Top 25 Hot Country Songs:

Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert with “We Were Us” move #6-#1 to Top The Chart!  p

Blake Shelton with “Mine Would Be You” is up one, #3 - #2 p

Luke Bryan with former #1 “That’s My Kind Of Night” falls, #1- #3 q

Taylor Swift with “Red” is up 10 slots, #14 - #4 p

Tim McGraw with “Southern Girl” is down one, #4 - #5 q

Thomas Rhett with “It Goes Like This” is down four, #2 - #6 q

Florida Georgia Line with “Stay” is up one, #8 - #7 p

Eric Church with “The Outsiders" leaps up, #26 - #8

Chris Young  with “Aw Naw” drops four slots, #5 - #9 q

Joe Nichols with “Sunny And 75” is down three, #7 - #10 q

Cassadee Pope with “Wasting All These Tears” is up, #12 - #11

Lady Antebellum with “Compass” jumps up, #31 - #12

Eli Young Band with “Drunk Last Night” is down three, #10 - #13 q

Jason Aldean with “Night Train” is down three, #11 - #14 q

Parmalee with “Carolina” falls, #9 - #15 q

The Band Perry with “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely” is up two, #18 - #16 p

Florida Georgia Line with “Round Here” is down two, #15 - #17 q

David Nail with “Whatever She’s Got” falls five, #13 - #18 q

Zac Brown Band with “Sweet Annie” is down two, #17 - #19 q

Luke Bryan with “Drink A Beer” debuts at #20

Eric Paslay with “Friday Night” is down one, #20 - #21 q

Cole Swindell with “Chillin’ It” is up two, #24 - #22 p

Darius Rucker with “Radio” is down one slot, #22 - #23 q

Miranda Lambert  with “All Kinds Of Kinds” is up one, #25 - #24 p

Jake Owen with “Days Of Gold” is down two, #23 - #25 q

Hot Country Songs

** No.1 (1 week) **  “We Were Us” Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert

** Digital Gainer ** No.4 “Red” Taylor Swift

** Airplay Gainer **  No.7 “Stay” Florida Georgia Line

** Streaming Gainer  ** No.8 “The Outsiders” Eric Church

** Hot Shot Debut ** No.20  “Drink A Beer” Luke Bryan

Debut No.27 “Sober” Little Big Town

Debut No.28 “Follow Your Arrow” Kacey Musgraves

Debut No.39 “I Do” Jessie James Decker

Debut No.46 “Beat Of The Music” Brett Eldredge

 Billboard Country Airplay Chart Week of November 23, 2013

Blake Shelton with “Mine Would Be You” (Warner Bros./Warner Music Nashville) posted a second week at No.1 logging the 12th of his 15 leaders to stay more than one week at the summit. Blake’s longest #1 reign was his debut single, “Austin,” which held for five weeks in 2001. He’s twice held for four weeks, with “Some Beach” (2004-5) and “Honey Bee” (2001).

This week “Mine” recoded 47.210 million audience impressions (+0.638) and received 7,145 radio plays.

Darius Rucker and Taylor Swift improved their top 10 counts on Billboard’s Country Airplay tally, where “Radio” (Capitol Nashville) and “Red” (Big Machine) become the artists’ eighth and 18th titles, respectively, to reach the upper region.

Up 12-9 in its 17th chart week, Rucker’s track follows two weeks at No. 1 with “Wagon Wheel” in June, while Swift’s song (up 11-10 in its 22nd week) is her first solo top 10 since “Begin Again” peaked at No. 3 in March. She spent two weeks atop the chart in June as a featured artist on Tim McGraw’s “Highway Don’t Care.”

Swift’s song benefitted from a special acoustic performance featuring Vince Gill, Alison Krauss and Sam Bush on the Nov.6 Country Music Assn. Awards (ABC). The stripped-down version was serviced to radio programmers and digital retailers following the show.

Luke Bryan claimed the week’s Most Increased Audience and Most Added honours with “Drink a Beer” (Capitol Nashville), which he performed on the CMA Awards telecast. The song logged 5.135 million audience impressions, a 4.301 million gain, receiving 749 radio plays (+549) thanks to 34 new radio airplay commitments (ADDS) with at least one play at 71 of the 145 stations monitored for the chart.

Country Airplay

*** No. 1 (2 weeks) *** "Mine Would Be You" Blake Shelton

** Most Increased Audience/Most Added ** No. 34 "Drink A Beer" Luke Bryan

** Hot Shot Debut ** No.58 "Whiskey In My Water" Tyler Farr

Debut No. 60 "Shut Up And Hold On" Toby Keith

Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart Week of November 23, 2013

Eric Church returned to No.1 with “The Outsiders,” on Country Digital Songs for a second week thanks to primetime TV exposure for his CMA Awards performance. Sales of 79,000 copies were up 146% gain as he replaced Luke Bryan’s Platinum “That’s My Kind of Night” (Capitol Nashville) which fell to No.4 (despite a 24% gain) after 11th cumulative weeks atop the summit.

Benefiting from CMA Awards performances were:

Keith Urban’s duet with Miranda Lambert “We Were Us” made a 9-2 jump (sales up 180%).

Taylor Swift’s “Red” which was the highest riser with a #39 to #3 leap thanks to a massive 638% sales spike.

Luke Bryan’s new single “Drink A Beer” made a No.7 bow with sales of 44,000 copies

Kacey Musgraves with “Follow Your Arrow”  landed at No.10 with sales of 35,000 compared to 2,000 the previous week with mostly airplay at SiriusXM rather than BDS Billboard monitored radio stations.

Little Big Town made the Top 30 with “Sober” in their debut chart week.

Lady Antebellum made a 25 place jump with “Compass” (sales up 244%)

Lee Brice with the CMA Song of the Year  “I Drive Your Truck” was back on the Top 30 (sales up 944%)

Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift’s Musical Event and CMA Video of the Year “Highway Don’t Care” jumped back up to No.28 (124% sales gain)

Jessie James Decker made a debut at #30 with her “I Do,” the first single released by the singer since marrying NFL Wide Reciever Eric Decker of the Broncos.

Top 30 Digital Singles in Country Music (published November 13, 2013)

 (LW) Last Week  (TW) This Week 

Country Aircheck/ Mediabase chart

Blake Shelton with “Mine Would Be You” moved 2-1 to head the Country Aircheck/ Mediabase chart for the tracking week Nov 3 – Nov 9.  It logged  7,420 radio plays (+467) with an audience of 58.965 million impressions.

For a detailed report check out Country Aircheck Weekly Issue 371 - November 11, 2013 [PDF File]