Country Billboard Chart News December 26, 2013

Country Billboard Chart News December 26, 2013

In Brief:  Billboard Country Charts

Country Album Chart ** No. 1 (4 weeks) ** Blame It All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences Garth Brooks

Hot Country Songs ** No.1 (4 weeks) **  “Stay”  Florida Georgia Line

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

Country Digital Songs ** No.1 (1 week) ** "Bottoms Up” Brantley Gilbert

Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Chart News

This chart week on the Billboard 200 albums chart (BB200), Beyonce's new self-titled album ruled at No. 1 for a second week, as it sold 373,803 copies (After 2 weeks – 991,122) according to Nielsen SoundScan. That's down 39% from its debut frame, when it arrived on the chart with 617,000 from just three days of sales (in the week ending Dec. 15).

Garth Brooks spent another week at #1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart with his box set BLAME IT ALL ON MY ROOTS. 

According to Nielsen SoundScan, the Walmart-only release sold another 199,168 copies in the past week for a 4-week grand total of 680,547 copies total. Like all of Garth's albums, Blame It All on My Roots is not available for digital download.

On the overall Billboard 200 Albums chart, Garth sits at #2 behind Beyoncé's self-titled album.

The eight-disk set (six CDs, two DVDs) is the second box set to spend four weeks at #1 on the country chart. The first was Brooks' six-CD "The Limited Series" in 1998. "Blame It All On My Roots" has sold a robust 681K copies.

Despite the controversy surrounding Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson's anti-gay comments and African Americans in GQ, the Robertson family's holiday album, "DUCK THE HALLS: A ROBERTSON FAMILY CHRISTMAS, saw a 22% increase last week with 132,000 copies sold. That's good enough for a #2 finish on the Country Albums chart and a 6-4 hop on the BB200 overall tally.

Kelly Clarkson's WRAPPED IN RED (Sales down 9%) dropped from #3 to #5 on the BB200.  

The two albums are locked in a fierce battle to become this year's top-selling Christmas album. With one week to go in the chart year, "Wrapped" has a razor-thin lead. "Wrapped" has sold 702K copies, compared to 700K for "Duck."

Both albums are in a position to make history should they come out on top:

• Clarkson is vying to become the first American female artist to have the year's #1 holiday album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking music sales in 1991. Four American females had the year's #2 holiday album: Amy Grant (1992), Mariah Carey (1994), Christina Aguilera (2000) and Jackie Evancho (2010).
• The Robertsons' album would be the first country album to emerge as the year's top holiday album since Garth Brooks' "Beyond The Season" in 1992.

Billboard Holiday Albums

TW/ LW/ Weeks on Chart/ Title / Artist   

1  2 8 Duck The Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas The Robertsons

2 1 8 Wrapped In Red Kelly Clarkson

3 4 34 Christmas Michael Buble

4 3 10 A Mary Christmas Mary J. Blige

5  5 8 Home For Christmas Susan Boyle

TV "Voice" finale performers saw big gains this week. Blake Shelton's BASED ON A TRUE STORY climbs 32-30 on the BB200 (25,000; up 39%) and lands a No.5 slot on the Country Chart

Toby Keith tops the 30-million mark in career album sales this week. His latest album DRINKS AFTER WORK moved 23-20 on the Billboard Country Album chart in his 8th week.

He's the fifth male country solo artist to reach that plateau since 1991, following Garth Brooks (69,333,000), George Strait (44,757,000), Tim McGraw (41,829,000) and Alan Jackson (40,343,000).

Toby’s daughter Krystal Keith has failed to trouble the Top 50 Country Albums the last 2 weeks. Her album WHISKEY & LACE (Show Dog-Universal) however appears on the Billboard Heatseekers chart where it fell 12-39. Her father, co-produced the album and wrote four of the 10 tracks. He even lent his background singer Mica Roberts to the project – she's on seven songs; Toby sings background on one. 

The collection includes single "Get Your Redneck On" and the song that spawned a viral wedding video "Daddy Dance With Me.

Deana Carter’s SOUTHERN WAY OF LIFE is also something of a commercial flop failing to make the Top 50 Country Albums.

Regarding the album, Billboard reviewer Chuck Dauphin wrote: Much has changed in the life of Deana Carter since “Strawberry Wine” catapulted her to the fast lane in 1996. She has become a mother, and has endured the loss of her father – in addition to her own health worries. That has given her a lot to write about over the past couple of years – much of which can be heard in the material on this album......One aspect of this album that scores very high is the romantic songs....One can question whether this album would fit in at Country Radio, but then again, Deana Carter has never been about landing in that neat little box. And, that’s what makes her return to form all the more enchanting!

In their second week at retail Nashville: The Music Of Nashville: Season 2 / Volume 1 Soundtrack held up best on the Country Chart falling back 7-10, Parmalee with FEELS LIKE CAROLINA slipped back 11 places (21-10) whilst Zac Brown Band with The Grohl Sessions: Vol. I (EP) slumped with a mighty 5-35 decline.

Top Selling Country Albums during 2013

3 Country Albums in sold over 1-million copies (Physical + digital sales) and just 2 were released in 2013.

12 Country Albums made the Top 50 best selling albums in America during 2013. 

The highest ranked at #3 is CRASH MY PARTY by Luke Bryan.

10 Country Albums sold over 500, 0000 units or better

Rank  Estimated Sales TITLE                            Artist   Release date

#1       2,407,000           The 20/20 Experience   Justin Timberlake       

#3      1,468,000            Crash My Party Luke Bryan  (August 13, 2013)           

#6      1,301,000            Here's To The Good Times   Florida Georgia Line (Dec 2012)

#8      1,092,000            Based On A True Story   Blake Shelton (March 26, 2013)

#17       840,000            Red  Taylor Swift  (Oct 2012)

#23       700,000            Duck The Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas (Oct 28, 2013)           

#25       681,000            Blame It All On My Roots  Garth Brooks  (Nov 28, 2013)          

#35       545,000            Hunter Hayes  Hunter Hayes  (Oct 11, 2011)   

#38       539,000            Spring Break: Here To Party  Luke Bryan  (March 5, 2013)       

#41        531,000           Golden  Lady Antebellum  (May 7, 2013) 

#43        510,000           Night Train Jason Aldean  (Oct 2012)

#49        469,000           Tailgates And Tanlines    Luke Bryan (Catalog Album)     

#50       460,000            Two Lanes Of Freedom   Tim Mcgraw  (Feb 5, 2013)         

           

Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Placings

(Issue dated Chart week of January 4, 2014)

(Country Album positions #1 - #25)

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

Billboard Holiday 100  (all genre)

TW/ LW / Weeks on Chart/ Title / Artist  

1 1 14 All I Want For Christmas Is YouMariah Carey

2 4 14 The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) Nat King Cole

Country interest:

3 3 14 Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree Brenda Lee

10 10 4 Underneath The Tree Kelly Clarkson

30 29 14 Please Come Home For Christmas Eagles

45 31 8 White Christmas Michael Buble Duet With Shania Twain

50 65 4 Do You Hear What I Hear Carrie Underwood

64 59 6 Winter Wonderland Amy Grant

66 72 6 It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year Amy Grant

81 90 4 Silver Bells Martina McBride

89 86 3 Silent Night Kelly Clarkson Featuring Reba McEntire & Trisha Yearwood

93 New 1 Christmas In Dixie Alabama

Top 25 Hot Country Songs (week of January 4, 2014)

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 a fourth week at No.1 on Hot Country Songs with “Stay” (Republic Nashville) in their 14th chart week.

Brantley Gilbert made a career-best start on the sales/airplay/streaming-based Hot Country Songs chart, where "Bottoms Up" pops on with Hot Shot Debut honors at No. 11. He registered his previous best debut on the list with "You Don't Know Her Like I Do," which entered at No. 41 (Dec. 24, 2011), eventually reaching No. 3. ("Country Wide" became his first and, so far, lone leader on the list.)

Top 25 Hot Country Songs:

Florida Georgia Line with “Stay” remains Top The Chart

Luke Bryan with “Drink A Beer” is up one, #3 - #2 p  

David Nail with “Whatever She’s Got” is up two, #5 - #3 p

Eli Young Band with “Drunk Last Night” stays at #4

Cassadee Pope with “Wasting All These Tears” is up one, #6 -5 p

Parmalee with “Carolina” falls four, #2 - #6 q

Zac Brown Band with “Sweet Annie” stays at #7

Cole Swindell with “Chillin’ It” stays at #8

Luke Bryan with former #1 “That’s My Kind Of Night” stays at #9

Jason Aldean with “When She Says Baby” is up two, #12 - #10 p

Brantley Gilbert with “Bottoms Up” debuts at #11 NEW

The Band Perry with “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely” is down one, #11 - #12 q

Eric Paslay with “Friday Night” stays at #13

John Pardi with “Up All Night” moves up one, #15 - #14 p

Darius Rucker with “Radio” is down, #14 - #15 q

Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert with former No.1, falls six, #10- #16 q  

Lady Antebellum with “Compass” is down one slot, #16 - #17 q

Blake Shelton with “Mine Would Be You” is down one, #17 - #18 q

Frankie Ballard with “Helluva Life” moves up one, #20 - #19 p

Scotty McCreery with “See You Tonight” is down one, #19 - #20 q

Hunter Hayes featuring Jason Mraz with “Everybody's Got Somebody But Me”, is down, #18 - #21 q

Dierks Bentley with “Hold On” is up two, #24 - #22 p

Danielle Bradbery with “The Heart Of Dixie” is down two, #21 - #23 q

Jerrod Niemann with “Drink To That All Night” is up two, #26 - #24 p

Tim McGraw with “Southern Girl” falls, #22 - #25 q

Hot Country Songs

** No.1 (4 weeks) **  “Stay” Florida Georgia Line

Billboard Country Airplay Chart Week of January 4, 2014

Up 3-1 in their 15th chart week twosome Florida Georgia Line scored its landmark fourth career-opening No.1 promoted single on Country Airplay with latest single "Stay" (It ranks at No. 30 on the Hot 100.)

With its Country Airplay coronation, FGL ties fellow twosome Brooks & Dunn (1991-92) as the only acts to begin with four leaders in the chart's nearly 24-year history. (The latter pair peaked at No. 6 with its fifth entry, "Lost & Found," so FGL could break the record with another No. 1 on its next try.) "Stay" follows the Country Airplay toppers "Cruise," "Get Your Shine On" and "Round Here."

>> Watch the video for “Stay”

Last week’s No.1 Eli Young Band with “Drunk Last Night” (Republic Nashville) fell 1-2.

Zac Brown Band with “Sweet Annie” moved up 2 places 5-3 in their 19th week and likewise The Band Perry made a 6-4 hop with “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely”.

Darius Rucker’s “Radio” dropped one notch to round out The Top 5.

Former leader “Carolina” from Parmalee and last week’s No.2  took a 6 place drop 2-8.

A No. 41 start with "Bottoms Up" earned Brantley Gilbert another best bow, passing his No. 44 start with "Country Wide" (April 23, 2011).

Country Airplay

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

Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart Week of January 4, 2014

After the digital track and its accompanying ( >> video clip) were released simultaneously on Dec. 16, Brantley Gilbert’s "Bottoms Up" (Valory Music) begins at No.1 on Country Digital Songs with 63,000 downloads sold (#20 on all genre Digital Songs Chart), according to Nielsen SoundScan. 

The song becomes Gilbert's first leader on Country Digital Songs, where his previous peak was No.13 with "You Don't Know Her Like I Do" two years ago. The Georgia native achieved his previous best digital sales week when his breakthrough hit "Country Must Be Country Wide" sold 29,000 (Jan. 14, 2012).

No title or release date has been announced for Gilbert's new album set, but it's reportedly expected in the first few months of 2014. His last album, 2010's "Halfway to Heaven," reached No. 2 on Top Country Albums in a whopping 171-week chart run.

Roughstock Bottoms Up (Single Review)….. So, for his fans, it’s very good that he’s finally back with all-new stuff. But does it stack-up to the rocking mid-tempos fans have come to expect from the self-made ‘rebel?’ In a word? Maybe. This will ALL depend on what one thinks about the current sounds and lyrical tropes in mainstream Country music. If you like the sound of the stuff from Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line and Thomas Rhett, you’ll certainly enjoy “Bottoms Up.” If you wanted the more ‘edgy’ rockin’ side to Brantley, this one certainly isn’t gonna be your kind of song. It’s certainly no “Hell On Wheels” or “Kick It In The Sticks” but it’s also not far removed vocally from “More Than Miles.” …Quite simply, “Bottoms Up” is a youthful party song where I hear parts of what’s popular in the mainstream mixed with a GnR-like guitar solo and Mat Kearney-like elements and pop/rock vocal and production techniques. …..As far as party tunes go, “Bottoms Up” is strongly-written and easily likable and should make for a good debut single from his upcoming third album.

Download “Bottom’s Up” from US iTunes

Top 20 Digital Singles in Country Music (published December 27, 2013)

 (LW) Last Week  (TW) This Week

*Numbers are rounded to nearest 1000^th