Country Billboard Chart
News November 20, 2013
In Brief: Billboard Country Charts
Country Album Chart ** No.1
(3 weeks) ** Robertsons’ Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas
Hot Country Songs ** No.1 (2
weeks) ** “We Were Us” Keith Urban and Miranda
Country Airplay ** No.1 (3 weeks) **
"Mine Would Be You" Blake Shelton
Country Digital Songs **
No.1 ** (1 week) “Stay” Florida Georgia
Line
Billboard Top
200 / Country Album Chart News
Lady Gaga debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (BB200) with her new set,
"ARTPOP." It sold 258,201
copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's the second No. 1
set for Gaga, who also debuted at No. 1 with her last album, 2011's "Born
This Way." That set bowed with 1.1 million sold in its first week (a
number amplified by a temporary 99 cent sale deal by Amazon MP3). The arrival
of "ARTPOP" is the third-largest sales week for a woman in 2013. It
follows Katy Perry's "PRISM" (286,000 with its #1 debut) and Miley Cyrus'
"Bangerz" (270,000 in its #1 bow). Where are all of Lady Gaga's
little monsters? Gaga's third full-length album, ARTPOP, was a steep drop from
her second, Born This Way, which sold 1,108,000 in its first week in May 2011.
The Robertsons' "Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas" dropped
back one slot 3-4 in its third week with 66,000
sales (down 9%).
It holds No.1 on Billboard Top Country Albums for the
third week. It's also #1 on Top
Christmas Albums for the third week. Duck The Halls is vying to become the first
country album to emerge as the year's top holiday seller since Garth
Brooks' Beyond The Season in 1992.
Kelly Clarkson's Christmas album "Wrapped in
Red" stays steady at No. 6 on the BB200 with 42,000 (down just 2%).
Kellie Pickler opened at No.19 on the BB200 and at No. 4 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums
chart with her fourth studio album, THE
WOMAN I AM (Black River), selling 16,295
copies.
The lovely 16th season “Dancing With The Stars” champ and fifth-season
finalist on Fox’s “American Idol” had better opening ranks and heftier sales
with her first three albums:
SMALL TOWN GIRL,
debuted at No.1 with 79,000 seven years ago (900,000 sold to date). In 2008,
Pickler’s self-titled second set made a
bow at the summit with 43,000 (and has sold 470,000). On Feb 1, 2012
her last album 100 PROOF gave her a third straight top 10 when that landed at No.7
on Billboard 200 (No.2 Country) with sales of 27,448 copies.
This new #19 BB200
debut is her lowest to date but its not bad for an artist that’s strangely struggling
to score any sort of radio airplay with the male dominated songs.
The second
single from Pickler’s new album, “Little
Bit Gypsy,” debuts at No. 49 on the Hot Country Songs chart, while ranking
at No. 51 in its 10th week on the Nielsen BDS-driven Country Airplay chart. The
album’s lead single, and hot >> video, “Someone Somewhere
Tonight,” ( with DWTS partner Derek Hough as her co-star) peaked at No.49
on Country Airplay back in August.
Promoting the
album Kellie made several TV appearances performing on both The Ellen DeGeneres
Show and CBS's Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Wednesday, November 13. Kellie
has also announced plans to perform on a float at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day
Parade later this month on NBC.
Kellie isn't
saying never when it comes to using her dancing skills in concert. "I wanted to get out there and sing
my song," Kellie
says, "Maybe down the road, if I'm able to
build a bigger production and want to, then maybe I would venture into that."
As for her new
album, Kellie describes it as "Kellie Country," saying, "[It]
may be the most 'me' album that I've created yet."
Critical
reception for “The Woman I Am":
12 Tracks/ Time: 41:20 CD - MP3 - UK iTunes - Amazon.com
The Woman I Am
has already received praise from music critics, including:
“Continuing to mature into a top-class
country singer, [Pickler]…has grown from a competent interpreter of others' songs
into an artist with her own vision and style. As a songwriter and vocalist,
she's held onto the charm of her back-country personality while growing into a
confident stylist …Add Pickler's name to the list of women making outstanding
albums in a year where men dominate country radio and the media.” – Michael McCall, Associated Press
“Too bad Pickler's best known for her
personality, because her albums are as much fun as hearing her talk. (Three
stars)” – Brian Mansfield, USA Today
Allmusic (Rating: 3.5 STARS) By all rights, Kellie Pickler's third album 100 Proof should've been a
blockbuster. A savvy update of classic country in the Tammy Wynette tradition,
the 2012 record confirmed that Pickler could be a hell of a country singer, but
the record stalled out on the charts, moving just a handful of copies -- a
significant decline from 2008's
GAC Kellie stays the course
with 12 songs ranging from Honky Tonk to heartbreaking while consistently
celebrating strong women...With a smooth Carolina drawl, Kellie delivers line
after line on The Woman I Am with palpable feeling and rich emotion.... Just
because the album is rooted in traditional concepts doesn’t mean there aren’t
contemporary moments as well. The daydreaming “Closer To Nowhere” strikes a
radio-friendly tone with slick electric guitars and the spellbinding “Where Did
Your Love Go” moves fluidly with a winding vocal and one of project’s best
performances. Kellie gives an inspired performance on The Woman I Am as she
continues to prove herself as one of the best traditional-based singers in the
genre.
Rolling Stone (Rating: 3.5 STARS) After two albums that were as bland as Simon
Cowell's wardrobe, Kellie Pickler turned around her career by following the
bad-girl path of fellow reality-show alumna Miranda Lambert, which continues on
The Woman I Am.
Country Weekly (Rating: A) If you
loved Kellie Pickler’s last album, 100 Proof, which was filled with traditional
country music themes and arrangements, get ready for Chapter 2. With The Woman
I Am, Kellie has made a natural evolution while managing to stay true to those
things that are important to her...It’s anybody’s guess as to why Kellie
Pickler isn’t one of the biggest stars in the format. However, with her
commitment to the integrity of her music and sound, she’s definitely a female
force to be reckoned with.
Roughstock (Rating: 4.5 STARS) .....The music
here is good enough for, if not better than, most of what radio is playing so
lets hope they will finally take her seriously as an artist and give her a
string of successful hits. Kellie, The Woman I Am and her label Black River
Entertainment deserve as much. One of 2013’s best.
Rolling Stone:
Kellie Pickler Branches Out on New
Album 'The Woman I Am'
Lady Antebellum’s GOLDEN
moved up 20 places to No.6 on the Country chart courtesy of the Deluxe album’s new hits like “Compass” and “And The Radio Played”.
For Lady A,
Golden Deluxe serves a slightly different purpose. The support schedule for
Golden was thrown off by Hillary Scott’s pregnancy. The band delayed its tour
and found itself with unexpected time on its hands. Some of that time was
filled by recording new material, including the current single, “Compass.” “When
we wrote the songs we did over the summer during my maternity leave, we just
wanted to give our fans a pulse of where we are as a band and repackage it to
put out immediately,”
Scott says. “The great thing about releasing a deluxe
edition is it allows fans to hear where we are right at this exact moment
musically,” band mate
Dave Haywood adds. “I think fans love hearing the latest
thing you’re working on.”
As current
single “Compass” makes its way up the Country Airplay charts, Hillary Scott
can’t help but think of her new daughter, Eisele.
“I
think what struck me so much with this song is the lyrics,” she said. “It’s really a positive
message. It made me think of my daughter. It’s so fresh me being a mother now
and having her and wanting her – as she grows up – to dream big and to go after
those dreams but to always know she’ll never be alone. She’s got a soft place
to fall at home.”
The song is also
about truly listening to your inner voice. “It’s also an empowering
song,” Hillary said. “It’s
following your heart. Your heart is your compass, and if you’re following it,
you’re always going to be happy because you’re gonna be doing what you’re meant
to do.”
On new track ‘And the Radio Played’ Charles Kelley
and Hillary Scott namecheck over a dozen radio hits (>> Lyric Video) from the last 30 years during this mid-tempo love ballad, but
the real spark comes from the story told in between:
“Bobby was the first boy that I ever
kissed / I can still taste the root beer on his lips / We turned up the stereo
from that bedroom / Climbed through the window and make out on the roof,” Scott sings during the second verse.
The slow tempo ‘Life as We Know It’ is genuinely a new
song and standard Lady A material and the deluxe version closes with a
piano-heavy version of International smash hit “Need You Now’’
So there’s NOT
six new tracks, there’s three. Two are “iTunes Live Session Performance”
versions of older singles ‘I Run To You’ , ‘I Need You Now’ as well as a
“Backstage Acoustic Session” version of ‘Just A Kiss’.
The Deluxe
version is available on Amazon UK – Amazon.com and iTunes
New on the BB200
at No.147 and gaining a No.25
Country album slot Elvis Presley’s “Merry
Christmas...Love, Elvis” which was released on Aug 1, 2013 (12 Tracks/ Time:
34:21 Amazon) The King of Rock & Roll loved the holiday season, and
recorded a number of Christmas-themed tunes during his years in the spotlight.
Merry Christmas...Love, Elvis collects 12 songs of the season from Presley's
best-loved Yuletide releases from the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Selections include
"Blue Christmas," "Santa Claus Is Back in Town,"
"Merry Christmas Baby," "If Every Day Was Like Christmas,"
and eight others.
Country album
sales (including Digital sales) this week were 676,000; down 25% compared to
901,000 this week last year due to the big selling late October albums from
Taylor Swift and Jason Aldean. Album sales so far in 2013 are down 8.5%
year-over year to date.
Billboard Top 200 / Country Album
Placings
(Issue dated Chart week of November 30, 2013)
(Country Album positions #1 - #25)
(TW) This Week, (LW) Last
Week, Co (Country Album Chart placing / Movement)
Billboard Catalog Album Charts
New on the chart
at No.38 is FOUR THE RECORD from Miranda
Lambert which has
migrated from the country chart.
Despite just
eight weeks in the Top 40, this album stuck around the Billboard 200 for an
even 100 weeks, just returning to
the chart this week. Her last two Catalog albums, "Crazy
Ex-Girlfriend" and "Revolution", both hit the Catalog top ten.
Note: Top Pop
Catalog Albums is a fifty-position weekly albums chart regardless of genre.
Billboard defines a catalog title as one that is more than eighteen months
old and that has fallen below position 100 on the Billboard 200. Albums
meeting these criteria are removed from the Billboard Current Albums ranking
and begin a new chart run on Top Pop Catalog Albums.
The Billboard
Current Albums is equivalent to the Billboard 200, with the catalog titles
removed.
Top Pop Catalog
Albums also contains reissues of older albums. The only exception to the
"eighteen months old" rule pertains to holiday releases (for example, Christmas albums). A
"holiday" release is eligible for the Billboard 200 only during its
initial year of release.
For example:
Blake Shelton’s 2012 Christmas album CHEERS, IT'S CHRISTMAS is at No.5 on the Catalog chart in its second
week. It also stands
at No.44 on the Billboard 200 but
does not now exist on Billboard Country album chart.
Cheers, It's
Christmas has had 2 Catalog weeks; it has logged 15 weeks on the BB200 and its
peak while on BB200 as a Catalog album is its position this week at #44. It had
13 weeks on the BB200, its peak was #8, and was released in 2012.
The chart also includes
2 other best selling country Christmas albums from last year:
At No.8 is “On This Winter's Night” from Lady
Antebellum (2 week on the chart) and at No.24 “Christmas With Scotty McCreery” by Scotty McCreery (2 weeks on the
chart)
Billboard
Holiday Albums (Country
related interest)
#1 Duck The
Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas The Robertsons
#2 Wrapped In
Red - Kelly Clarkson
#9 Cheers, It's
Christmas - Blake Shelton
#28The King's
Gift: A Celtic Christmas Collection - Trace Adkins
Billboard
Holiday Digital Songs (Country related interest)
#2 Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda
Lee
#4 Where Are You Christmas? - Faith Hill
#11 Silent Night
- Kelly Clarkson Featuring Reba McEntire & Trisha Yearwood
#13 Have
Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Kelly Clarkson
#21 Underneath
The Tree - Kelly Clarkson
#24 Last
Christmas - Taylor Swift
#36 Baby It's
Cold Outside - Kelly Clarkson featuring Ronnie Dunn
#42 Mary, Did
You Know? - Kenny Rogers With Wynonna
#44 Hard Candy
Christmas - Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton
#46 Christmas In
Dixie - Alabama
Billboard
Music Video Sales
Jason Aldean's Night
Train To Georgia moved 3-2 on Top Music Videos in its fifth week. After 14
weeks “The Blown Away Tour: Live”
from Carrie Underwood is at #9. Lady Antebellum’s “On
This Winter's Night” moved 11-10 as Joey + Rory’s “Inspired: Songs Of Faith & Family” made
a 16-12 in its 5th chart week.
Top 25 Hot Country Songs (week of
November 30, 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
with “We Were Us” (Hit Red/Capitol
Nashville/RCA Nashville) logged a second week at No. 1 and secured Streaming Gainer
honors (596,000 domestic streams, up 64%).
Up 22-18, Cole Swindell drew Digital Gainer
applause with “Chillin’ It” (Warner
Bros./Warner Music Nashville) making a 25-12 climb on Country Digital Songs
(25,000 downloads sold, up 21%).
Luke Bryan took the weeks Airplay Gainer
honour despite a 20-22 retreat. “Drink A Beer” drew the biggest audience surge
on Country Airplay (13 million audience impressions, up 153%).
Top 25 Hot Country Songs:
Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert
with “We Were Us” stays at the Top The Chart!
Luke Bryan with former #1 “That’s My Kind Of Night” is up one,
#3- #2 p
Blake Shelton with “Mine Would Be You” is down one, #2 - #3 q
Florida Georgia Line with “Stay” is up four, #7 - #4 p
Taylor Swift with “Red” is down one slot, #4 - #5 q
Joe Nichols with “Sunny
And 75” is up four, #10 - #6 p
Thomas Rhett with “It Goes Like This” is down one, #6 - #7 q
Tim McGraw with “Southern Girl” is down three, #5 - #8 q
Eli Young Band with “Drunk Last Night” is up four, #13 - #9 p
Parmalee with “Carolina” jumps up
five, #15 - #10 p
Cassadee Pope with “Wasting All These Tears” stays at #11
David Nail with “Whatever She’s
Got” is up six, #18 - #12 p
Chris Young with “Aw Naw”
drops four slots, #9 - #13 q
The Band Perry with “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely” is
up two, #16 - #14 p
Jason Aldean with “Night Train” is down one, #14 - #15 q
Zac Brown Band with “Sweet Annie” is up three, #19 - #16 p
Eric Church with “The Outsiders" falls, #8 - #17 q
Cole Swindell with “Chillin’ It” is up four, #22 - #18 p
Florida Georgia Line with “Round Here” is down two, #17 - #19 q
Darius Rucker with “Radio” is up three, #23 - #20 p
Eric Paslay with “Friday Night” stays at #21
Luke Bryan with “Drink A Beer” is down two, #20 - #22 q
Lady Antebellum with “Compass” plummets, #12 - #23 q
Jake Owen with “Days Of Gold” is up one, #25 - #24 p
Hunter Hayes feat. Jason Mraz with “Everybody's Got Somebody But Me", #26 - #25 p
Hot Country
Songs
** No.1 (2 weeks)
** “We Were Us” Keith Urban and
Miranda Lambert
** Digital
Gainer ** No.18 “Chillin’ It” Cole Swindell
** Airplay
Gainer ** No.22 “Drink A Beer” Luke Bryan
** Hot Shot Debut ** No.44 “Beachin’” Jake Owen
Debut No.49 “Little Bit
Gypsy” Kellie Pickler
Billboard
Country Airplay Chart Week of November 30, 2013
Blake Shelton with “Mine Would Be You” (Warner Bros./Warner Music Nashville) posted a third week third straight week atop
Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, marking the fifth single this year to hold that long at the summit.
This week “Mine”
recorded 46.292 million audience
impressions (-1.040) and received 6,941
radio plays (-239)
Only two songs
logged three weeks at No.1 all year in 2012, and no song has held more than
three weeks since Zac Brown Band’s “Keep Me in Mind” spent the final two weeks
of 2011 and the first two weeks of 2011 at the summit. The longest
chart-topping runs in 2012 were Jason Aldean’s “Take a Little Ride” in October
and Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” in December.
The first four
songs to hold for three weeks during 2013:
Zac Brown Band’s
“Goodbye in Her Eyes” (January), Tim McGraw’s “One of Those Nights” (March),
Luke Bryan’s “Crash My Party” (July) and Thomas Rhett’s “It Goes Like This”
(October/November). With criticism over lightweight lyrics and rock production
during 2013, all five of these three-week leaders are the sort of mid-tempo
songs that the format has long relied upon to strike tempo balance.
The Band Perry, claimed its seventh straight
Country Airplay Top10 with “Don’t Let Me
Be Lonely” (Republic Nashville), which made a 11-9 hop. Counting only
promoted singles, that’s the longest current streak of top 10s among
duos/groups on the chart. Florida Georgia Line has the second-longest active streak with
three and closing in fast on a fourth as “Stay”
advanced 14-12. The Band Perry’s Top 10 songs began with “If I Die Young,” which topped the Dec.11, 2010, chart, and includes
“You Lie”
(No.2 peak, July
2011), “All Your Life” (two weeks at
No.1, February 2012), “Postcard From
Paris” (No.6 peak, August 2012), “Better
Dig Two” (two weeks at No.1 in February) and “DONE.” (No.1, August).
Luke Bryan’s “Drink
a Beer” (Capitol Nashville) make a fast trip to the top 20, flying 34-20 in
its third chart week. He took home “Most Increased Audience” and “Most Added” honours logging 13.006 million audience impressions (up 7.871 million) and received
2,078 radio plays (+1329) thanks to
54 new radio commitments (ADDS)
As Billboard’s 2013 chart year comes to a close, this
week’s charts are the final weekly lists in the current chart year.
The 2014 Billboard chart year begins with next week’s charts
(Nov.18-24 tracking week).
Country
Airplay
*** No. 1 (3
weeks)*** "Mine Would Be You" Blake Shelton
** Most
Increased Audience/Breaker/Most Added ** No. 20 "Drink a Beer" Luke Bryan
** Hot Debut ** No. 55 "Get Me Some Of That" Thomas
Rhett
Debut No. 57
"Ready Set Roll" Chase Rice
Billboard
Country Digital Singles Chart Week of November 30, 2013
Florida Georgia Line secured its second leader on Billboard Country
Digital Songs with “Stay” (Republic
Nashville), selling another 51,000 downloads and flew 6-1. On Hot Country Songs, it improved 7-4 in its ninth chart week.
Holding at #2 for
a second week in a row is the Keith Urban/Miranda Lambert hit song “We
Were Us” with sales down 35% reflecting the CMA Awards retail boost has
faded. The only track to buck the trend was Cole Swindell’s breakout hit “Chillin’ It” making a 25-12 leap (sales up 16%)
David Nail with “Whatever She’s Got” jumped into the top 10 with a 12-6 climb.
Thomas Rhett’s “It
Goes Like This” at #11 sold another 25,000 copies to sail past the Platinum
mark (1-million)
Outside the Top
30 Jake Owen’s
“Beachin’” made a debut at #37 with
10,000 copies sold.
Bonus tracks
from the new Lady Antebellum GOLDEN Deluxe set saw “Life As We Know It” make a bow at #64
and “And The Radio Played” at #69 (5,000+
sales).
Jessie James
Decker’s “I Do” fell off both the Top 30 and Top 50.
Top 30 Digital Singles in Country Music
(published November 20, 2013)
(LW) Last Week
(TW) This Week
Country
Aircheck/ Mediabase chart
Blake Shelton with “Mine Would Be You” remained at the top of the Country Aircheck/
Mediabase chart for the tracking week Nov 10 – Nov 16. It logged 7,112 radio plays (-308) with an audience of 57.16 million impressions.
For a detailed
report check out Country Aircheck Weekly Issue 372 - November 18, 2013 [PDF File]
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