Country Billboard Chart News December 5, 2013

Country Billboard Chart News December 5, 2013

In Brief:  Billboard Country Charts

Country Album Chart ** No. 1 (1 week) ** Blame It All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences Garth Brooks

Hot Country Songs ** No. 1 (1 week) **  “Stay”  Florida Georgia Line

Country Airplay **  No.1 (1 week) **  "Sunny and 75” Joe Nichols

Country Digital Songs ** No.1 ** (1 week)  “This Is How We Roll”  Florida Georgia Line

Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Chart News

America's teens and tweens have spoken. One Direction's MIDNIGHT MEMORIES entered The Billboard 200 (BB200) at #1, enabling the English/Irish quintet (see photo) to become the first boy band in chart history to land three #1 albums. Four earlier boy bands—New Kids On The Block, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC and Jonas Brothers—each had two #1 albums.

One Direction's "Midnight Memories" followed two No. 1s for the act in 2012 with their debut album "Up All Night" (176,000 first week sales) and second set "Take Me Home" (540,000 first week sales)

The Monkees' self-titled debut was released in 1966 and climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in its sixth week on the chart. The TV-born act -- riding high with its hit ABC series -- followed up the No. 1 success with three more consecutive No. 1s in 1967: "More of the Monkees," "Headquarters" and "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd."

Garth Brooks' made a bow at No.3 on the BB200 with Blame It All On My Roots: Five Decades Of Influences (sales 163,604) and thereby entered The Billboard Top Country Albums at #1, displacing The Robertsons' Duck The Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas which moved 2-1 Country and a #4 hold on the BB200and landed the #1 on Top Christmas Albums for the fourth week.

It's Brooks' 13th #1 album and the album was released on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, Nov. 28). The latest SoundScan tracking week ended Sunday, Dec. 1. The release was supported by a two-hour live CBS concert special that aired Nov. 29.

This massive, eight-disk set, a Walmart exclusive, consists of six CDs and two DVDs. The store  has purchased 500,000 of this package which means RIAA certification based on units shipped to retail.

It's the most sprawling album ever to crack the top 10, surpassing Brooks' 1998 album The Limited Series (a repackage which consisted of his first six CDs) and Bruce Springsteen's 1986 album Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Live/1975-85 (a live album which consisted of five disks).

Brooks' collection contains 77 songs, 33 music videos and a 68-page photo booklet. It weighs two pounds. (Brooks likes to do things big.) This is Brooks' first album since 2007's The Ultimate Hits, which likewise debuted (and peaked) at #3. It's 15th top 10 album. Only two other country artists have had as many. George Strait leads with 18. Tim McGraw has also had 15.

Florida Georgia Line's HERE'S TO THE GOOD TIMES made a rebound from #18 to #13 on the BB200 (thanks to the release of a deluxe version). This is the album's 52nd week on the chart. Sales this chart wek regised 69,000 and it has has sold 1,337,000 copies to date. That's the most by any album by a country duo since Sugarland's Love On The Inside, which has sold 2,308,000 copies since its release in 2008.

Danielle Bradbery with her eponymous debut album (Republic/Big Machine Records) opened at #19 on the BB200 (No.5 Country). 

The Season 4 winner of The Voice sold 41,369 copies with her first week at retail. This is her second album to crack the top 20 her Complete Season 4 Collection also peaked at #19. Season 3 Winner Cassadee Pope's Frame By Frame remains the highest-charting album by a contestant on The Voice. It debuted and peaked at #9 in October.

Promoting the album Danielle performed and had a chat on Katie Monday (11/18) and appeared on Hart of Dixie (CW)

Critical Reception for Danielle Bradbery “Danielle Bradbery”

Self Titled [Import] CD - MP3 - Amazon.com - UK iTunes

Roughstock (Rating: 4 STARS) It only took one listen to Danielle Bradbery’s self-titled debut album to realize that America had made the right decision in choosing 16 (now 17) year old Danielle Bradbery as the winner of the 4th season (cycle?) of NBC’s “The Voice” program. She proved her mettle on older Country songs so using “The Heart of Dixie” as a bridge between what she sang on “The Voice” with the other 10 tracks on Danielle Bradbery was a smart choice.... As for the rest of the album, well, it’s very, very strong. The Whitney Duncan,

Jaren Johnston and Kylie Sackley-penned “Young In America” feels like a young Sara

Evans complete with sing-a-long chorus and relatable verses while “Wild Boy” serves as a nice uptempo ballad. ....perhaps nothing on the album is better than “Dance Hall” or “My Day.” (absolutely stunning and powerful)....It would’ve been easy for Big Machine and Republic Records to take Danielle Bradbery and molded her into the second coming of Taylor Swift or to have left her music in the past with what she did on The Voice” but instead Bradberry’s strong 11 song collection of music showcases a talent that could become the next big vocal powerhouse in Country music.

NY Times Ms. Bradbery is 17 going on Faith Hill, singing with a precisely calibrated voice without a hint of risk. On “The Voice,” she was reliable to a fault with her Pam Tillis and Carrie Underwood covers: clean, crisp, dull. ...At best, this antiseptic and extremely competent album is country by the numbers. Ms. Bradbery has skipped right past the example of early Taylor Swift into hoppier waters that her voice, and her mien, don’t communicate. Or in other words, she’s exactly as she was on “The Voice.”

Check out Danielle Bradbery‘s new song from her debut album, “Talk About Love”!

“The Heart Of Dixie” (Video/Music review) has received over 2-million YouTube hits

Black Friday sales saw Blake Shelton’s BASED ON A TRUE STORY receive a healthy sales spike (#32 to #20 on BB200). His sales of 41,000 scanned at retail means he past Platinum (1-million sales) to reach 1.032 million albums in 36 chart weeks since its 2013 release date. It's the 10th album to hit this milestone in 2013. Three of the 10 are country, three are hip-hop, two are pop and two are rock. Shelton's album reached the 1-million milestone much quicker than his only previous million-seller, RED RIVER BLUE, which took two years to get there.

Kenny Chesney’s LIFE ON A ROCK (gained 972% sales, over last week’s 850 copies) as a Walmart doorbuster and re-entered the Country Chart at No19.

Other Walmart’s $6.99 door busters were Little Big Town’s Tornado which moved 25-13 Country (sales up 354%), Keith Urban’s Fuse (increased sales by 145%) with Chris Young’s latest, A.M jumping up 31-16 Country (sales up 334%, total to date 128K)

Of note: Not on the Billboard Country Album chart but with a No.40 bow (looked on as disappointing) on the BB200 with sales of 22,000 copies saw Billie Joe + Norah Jones’ 12 song album FOREVERLY. The  Green Day front man and Grammy Award winning artist Billie Joe Armstrong and Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter Norah Jones teamed up for this collection set inspired by "Songs Our Daddy Taught Us", an album of traditional Americana songs reinterpreted, recorded and released by The Everly Brothers in 1958. That album didn't crack The Billboard 200, which was dominated at that time by movie soundtracks and Broadway cast albums. Foreverly is one of the most intriguing cross-genre collabos since Robert Plant/Alison Krauss' Raising Sand, which debuted and peaked at #2 in 2007. That album went on to win a Grammy for Album of the Year

12 Tracks / Time: 45:23 CD - MP3 Watch Billie Joe Armstrong & Norah Jones >> "Long Time Gone"

Due out: Jake Owen's Days Of Gold, The Sound Of Music TV soundtrack with Carrie Underwood and an iTunes-exclusive EP by The Civil Wars.

8,585,000 albums (2,613,000 digital + 5,972000 were cds/vinyl albums/cassettes) were sold overall in the USA last week.

Album sales were down -7.9% for 2013 (-8.5% last week)

Year-To Date Country Sales:

2012

Albums 38,019,000 (Physical 27,944,000 + Digital 10,075,000)

2013

Albums 34,250,000 (Physical 24,105,000 + Digital 10,145,000) down 9% q

Digital Tracks 147,419,000 (2012)  148,610,000 (2013)  up 0.8% p         

Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Placings

(Issue dated Chart week of December 14, 2013)

(Country Album positions #1 - #25)

(TW) This Week, (LW) Last Week, Co (Country Album Chart placing / Movement)

Billboard Catalog Album Charts  (week of December 14, 2013)

The top non-Christmas album is Carrie Underwood's 5-week catalog album BLOWN AWAY which returned to the top 40 of the overall chart and matched its earlier Catalog peak of #4.

On their thier fourth week on the Top Catalog Albums “Cheers, It's Christmas” by Blake Shelton moved 4-6, Lady Antebellum’s “On This Winter's Night” stayed at No.5.

Taylor Swift at No.21 returned for a 6th consecutive season, with her only Christmas album “Holiday Collection” (EP).

Luke Bryan's "Tailgates & Tanlines" holds a No.11 slot as the album received a 242% sales boost (2.202 million copies sold to date). It transitioned to the Catalog chart last week after 119 weeks as a current Billboard album. Since its August 2011 release, it's been on the Billboard 200 for 121 straight weeks with a peak at #2. This is Bryan's third Catalog album, after "Doin' My Thing" (52 weeks starting in 2013, with peak of #3), and "I'll Stay Me" (one week this year at #18).

Holiday Albums

#1 Duck The Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas The Robertsons

#2 Wrapped In Red Kelly Clarkson

#9 Cheers, It's Christmas Blake Shelton

Top 25 Hot Country Songs (week of December 14, 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:

Florida Georgia Line claimed its second No.1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs with “Stay”

(Republic Nashville), which steps 2-1 making it almost exactly a year after the duo logged its first leader,  The twosome celebrated its first No. 1 when “Cruise” peaked on the Dec. 22, 2012, chart, launching an unprecedented run of 24 cumulative weeks atop the list. (The chart itself turns 70 years old next month.) Beefed up with five new songs and other bonus material, a deluxe edition of the duo’s HERE’S TO THE GOOD TIMES (subtitled This Is How We Roll) was released Nov. 25—each of those five new tracks entered the Top 60 Hot Country Songs, led by “This Is How We Roll” (featuring Luke Bryan), which snared the Hot Shot Debut at No. 18.

Danielle Bradbery opened at No. 5 on Top Country Albums with her self-titled debut set (Republic Nashville/Big Machine Label Group). Her single “The Heart of Dixie” concurrently earns honours stripes as the Digital Gainer (11,000 sold, up 8,000) and Streaming Gainer (367,000 streams, up 21%, according to Nielsen BDS) on Hot Country Songs, where it lifted 28-25.

Top 25 Hot Country Songs:

Florida Georgia Line with “Stay” is up one to Top The Chart p

Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert with last weeks No.1, is down, #1- #2 q  

Luke Bryan with former #1 “That’s My Kind Of Night” is up, #4- #3 p

Joe Nichols with “Sunny And 75” is up one, #5 - #4 p

Eli Young Band with “Drunk Last Night” is up two, #7 - #5 p

Parmalee with “Carolina” stays at #6

Luke Bryan with “Drink A Beer” is up four,, #11 - #7 p

Taylor Swift with “Red” moved up one, #9 - #8 p

David Nail with “Whatever She’s Got” is down one, #8 - #9 q

Blake Shelton with “Mine Would Be You” falls seven, #3 - #10 q

Cassadee Pope with “Wasting All These Tears” is down one, #10 -11 q

Cole Swindell with “Chillin’ It” stays at #12

Zac Brown Band with “Sweet Annie” is up two, #15 - #13 p

The Band Perry with “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely” is down one, #13 - #14 q

Lady Antebellum with “Compass” moved up four, #19 - #15 p 

Darius Rucker with “Radio” is up two, #18 - #16 p

Eric Paslay with “Friday Night” is down one, #16 - #17 q

Florida Georgia Line with “This Is How We Roll” debuts at #18

Tim McGraw with “Southern Girl” falls, #14 - #19 q

Hunter Hayes featuring Jason Mraz with “Everybody's Got Somebody But Me”, is up, #21 - #20 p

Jake Owen with “Days Of Gold” is up one, #22 - #21 p

Eric Church with “The Outsiders" is down two, #20 - #22 q

John Pardi with “Up All Night” stays at #23

Jason Aldean with “When She Says Baby” stays at #24

Danielle Bradbery with The Heart Of Dixie is up three, #28 - #25

Hot Country Songs

** No.1 (1 week) **  “Stay” Florida Georgia Line

** Hot Shot Debut ** No.18  “This Is How We Roll” Florida Georgia Line feat. Luke Bryan

** Digital & Streaming Gainer ** No.25 “The Heart Of Dixie” Danielle Bradbery

Billboard Country Airplay Chart Week of December 14, 2013

Joe Nichols earned his his fourth No.1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart with "Sunny and 75." The song rose 2-1 to top the country chart and Joe is grateful to be back on the radio in a big way - "Whether it's your first #1 record or your 50th, seeing your song at the top of the charts never gets old," Joe says. "God is good."

First released back on May 13, 2013 the song written by Michael Dulaney, Jason Sellers and Paul Jenkins is the lead single from Joe's latest album, CRICKETS.

Joe Nichols ended a lengthy absence from No.1 becoming his first leader since “Gimmie That Girl” crowned the May 8, 2010, chart. In the interim, he peaked at No.17 with “The Shape I’m In” and No.25 with “Take It Off” in 2011.

The three-and-a-half-year gap between “Girl” and “Sunny” isn’t Nichols’ longest dry spell atop the chart. He went nearly four-and-a-half years between his second and third No.1s—“Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off,” which topped the Dec.17, 2005, tally, and “Girl.” Nichols first dominated the Nielsen BDS-fueled list with “Brokenheartsville” (March 29,2003).

Reigning in its 31st chart week, “Sunny” completes Nichols’ longest trek to the top, surpassing his 29-week climb with “Girl.” He needed  22 weeks to peak with “Brokenheartsille,” and 19 weeks for “Tequila.”

“Sunny” logged 44.196 million audience impressions (+2.483); and received 6,879 radio plays (+380) during the tracking week Nov.25-Dec.1.

Top local audience contributors were: KKGO Los Angeles (1.4 million impressions), KKBQ Houston (1.4 million), WUSN Chicago (993,000), KPLX Dallas (963,000) and WYCD Detroit (947,000).

Nichols’ new No.1 is also the first Country Airplay chart-topper for his label, Red Bow (an imprint of the Broken Bow Music Group). Look for him to serve as a presenter on the 4th Annual American Country Awards Tuesday, December 10 on FOX.

>> Watch the fabulous "Sunny and 75" video and many congrats to Joe and his BBR team (Carson James, Renee Leymon, Shelley Hargis, Kendra Whitehead, Mallory Opheim, Hilary Hoover, Caitlyn Gordon). The song has sold 429,000 digital downloads so far in 21 weeks.

Florida Georgia Line took home the “Most Increased Audience” trophy for “Stay” which moved 9-6, logging 34.586 million audience impressions, an increase of  4.678 million and received 5,218 radio plays (+556).

Jason Aldean won the Most Added honours with “When She Says Baby” (Broken Bow), rising 5-4. The song logged 2,431 radio plays (+637) thanks to 23 new radio commitments (ADDS)

Country Airplay

*** No. 1 (1 week)*** "Sunny And 75" Joe Nichols

** Most Increased Audience ** No.6  “Stay” Florida Georgia Line  ** Most Added ** No.21 “When She Says Baby” Jason Aldean

** Hot Shot Debut **  No.60" “Get Some” Blackjack Billy  

Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart Week of December 14, 2013

‘Bro Country’ dominated the top 5 as Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan own the top five Billboard Country Digital slots. Both Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan have 3 each songs in the Top 5.

The #1 song FGL’s “This Is How We Roll” is also co-written by Luke Bryan! On the all genre Billboard Digital Songs it made it’s debut at No.24.

The FGL duo have a 8 track sprinkling of tracks on the Top 30 including the week’s No.1 thanks to the deluxe album update titled Here’s To The Good Times...This Is How We Roll.

Britney Spears' new album "Britney Jean" is due to launch on next week's Billboard 200, but this week, her younger sister swoops in and steals chart headlines. 

Twenty-two-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears makes her first Billboard chart appearances, as "How Could I Want More" (written with Rivers Rutherford) entered Hot Country Songs at No.29 and Country Digital Songs at No.8. The midtempo, traditional-country love song sold 28,000 downloads."I can't believe that my song has reached Billboard," Spears beams. "It's a dream come true." Read more of the Billboard 615 Interview Jamie Lynn Spears Exclusive Q&A: 'There Is No Rivalry' With Britney.

>> Watch the "How Could I Want More" video , The song is available on UK iTunes

22-year old Jamie (born April 4, 1991) is a former American actress and in 2005 she came to prominence after being cast in the Nickelodeon television series Zoey 101 (portrayed the character Zoey Brooks). In 2007, sixteen-year-old Spears generated controversy after announcing her pregnancy.

The Voice’s Cole Vosbury (a Blake Shelton Protégé – See Photo) made a debut at No.9 with a cover of Vince Gill’s “I Still Believe In You” (writers: Vince Gill, John Barlow Jarvis). Vosbury is a Season 5 semi-finalist and he performed it on Monday, November 25 on Week 4 of the Live playoffs.

Eli Young Band’s “Drunk Last Night,” (11-16) sold another 21,000 downloads which is now logs RIAA Gold eligible having passed the 500,000 mark with a new 23-week tally of 510K.

Tracks Falling out of the Top 30:

Blake Shelton with Boys ‘Round Here (26-31), Darius Rucker with Wagon Wheel (23-33)

Dierks Bentley with I Hold On (28-34), Jason Aldean with Night Train (24-35),

The Band Perry with Don’t Let Me Be Lonely (22-36), Tim McGraw with Southern Girl (20-37)

Eric Paslay with Friday Night (25-38), Jo Pardi with Up All Night (29-39)

Helluva Life with Frankie Ballard (30-41), Chris Young with Aw Naw (27-43)

Top 30 Digital Singles in Country Music (published December 4, 2013)

 (LW) Last Week  (TW) This Week

*Numbers are rounded to nearest 1000^th

Country Aircheck/ Mediabase chart

Joe Nichols with “Sunny And 75” made a 2-1 climb to top of the Country Aircheck/ Mediabase chart for the tracking week Nov 17 – Nov 23.  It logged 7,064 radio plays (+401) with an audience of 55.397 million impressions.

“The energy is the first thing that struck me about ‘Sunny and 75,’” Nichols told Radio.com. “The song slowly builds into this screaming, almost like a Journey ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ kind of tempo. So that to me is important, because the music itself brings out emotions, not just the lyrics or how you deliver them. The music builds, and it takes you on a journey. You feel like you’re slowly and steadily moving out to the beach, and all the sudden you’re sprinting.”

For a detailed report check out Country Aircheck Weekly:

Issue 374 - December 2, 2013 [PDF File]