Tuesday, 28 January 2014

Country Billboard Chart News January 23, 2014

Country Billboard Chart News January 23, 2014

In Brief:  Billboard Country Charts

Country Album Chart ** No. 1 (1 week) ** "That Girl" Jennifer Nettles 
Hot Country Songs ** No.1 (2 weeks) ** “Drink A Beer“ Luke Bryan
Country Airplay ** No.1 (1 week) **   "Sweet Annie" Zac Brown Band
Country Digital Songs ** No.1 (1 week) ** “Give Me Back My Hometown” Eric Church

Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Chart News

Bruce Springsteen’s High Hopes (Columbia Records) blew into the No.1 slot of the Billboard Top 200 album chart (BB200) opening with sales of 99,489 copies. With the No. 1 debut, Springsteen pulls ahead of Elvis Presley to stand alone as the act with the third-most No.1s in the history of the Billboard 200. Ahead of both acts on the all-time list are the Beatles (with 19 No. 1s) and Jay Z (with 13). "High Hopes" is Springsteen's first studio album (released since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking data in 1991) to debut with fewer than 100,000 copies. His SoundScan-era high came when 2002's "The Rising" powered through 525,000 copies in its first week, easily debuting at No. 1.

Two more new entries arrive in the top 10: Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles with her solo debut, "That Girl," and rock band Switchfoot with "Fading West." The former starts at No. 5 with 54,000, while Switchfoot steps in at No. 6 with 39,000.

Five new albums and an EP impact the Top 25 Billboard Country Albums this chart week.
With Sugarland (the duo she comprises with Kristian Bush) on indefinite hiatus, Jennifer Nettles made a No.5 bow on the BB200 and so landed at No.1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with THAT GIRL (Mercury/Universal Music Group Nashville). Her first solo set opened with 54,091 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
As one-half of Sugarland, Nettles racked up six earlier albums on the Billboard 200, with three of them hitting No.1. The pair topped the list with "Love on the Inside" in 2008, the live set "Live on the Inside" the following year and then "The Incredible Machine" in 2010. Collectively, Sugarland's albums have sold 9.9 million copies in the United States, according to SoundScan. Jennifer is the second woman in the 22-year SoundScan era, following Wynonna, to debut at No.1 with a solo album after initially gaining fame in a duo or group.
Wynonna’s self-titled 1992 solo debut followed her storied eight-year run as half of the Judds with her mother, Naomi Judd.

Producer Rick Rubin  worked with Jennifer on the record. "I am absolutely thrilled and wholly proud to be working with Rick”, said Jen in May 2013t. “If you ask any musician who is on their producer ‘bucket list’, Rick would be on each and every one." Jennifer and Rick spent a month at Malibu, Calif.-based Shangri-La Studios to work on the project. Session pros including Ian McLagan (Faces, The Rolling Stones), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Smokey Hormel (Beck, Tom Waits) contributed their talents.
Promoting THAT GIRL Nettles appeared on The View (ABC) on Jan 15th and also performed "Falling" on The David Letterman Show.

Critical Acclaim for “That Girl”: 11 Tracks / Time: 41:23 CDAmazon.com - US iTunes

Allmusic (Rating: 3 STARS) That Girl is Jennifer Nettles' first solo record since she co-founded pop-country's superstar act Sugarland. Produced by Rick Rubin, it's mostly a collection of originals, co-written with some of the music industry's most successful songwriters. ....."Jealousy," co-written with Kevin Griffin, is a shiny, breezy, summery pop song kissed by Brazilian rhythms and fluid acoustic guitars. It's also in the R&B camp, but it's
modern and more natural in its well-polished yet effective presentation. "This One's for You," a sultry love song co-written with Sara Bareilles, contains a simple melody but showcases a dynamite chart displaying an intricate interplay between piano, electric guitar, and horns as they frame the obvious emotion Nettles puts into the song. These two cuts are the album's finest moments..... No one doubts the power in Nettles' throaty contralto, but some of these songs feel too calculated or require more subtlety to completely pull off. That said, these simple shortcomings won't -- nor should they -- deter her fans. That Girl was obviously designed to showcase her diversity as a vocalist and songwriter, and to cross over to a pop audience (but don't expect country radio to ignore it) -- more than likely, it will.

Country Weekly (Rating: B+) What happens when duos spend some time apart? Can Jennifer Nettles be a viable country star without Sugarland partner Kristian Bush? Jennifer wisely sidestepped those questions for her solo album That Girl, recording in California with Rick Rubin and some West Coast session pros instead of staying in Nashville. The resulting album is earthy, warm and spacious, not sounding too fussed over or suffocated with studio tricks....Stylistically, That Girl has plenty to offer: the acidic, fame-in-the-information-age rockabilly scorcher “Don’t You Wanna Know”; the hopeful, slow-building “Me Without You”; or the Latin-flavored cheating saga in the title track—the album’s first single.Jennifer’s voice is undoubtedly the star of the show throughout. She’s dialed back the twang for something that sounds Southern but no longer over-the-top, and she belts with the best of them. A couple songs—like “Thank You”—are pleasant enough but don’t linger.

Roughstock (Rating: 4.5 STARS) ..wipe away any thoughts you had about Jennifer Nettles's solo debut album That Girl being a continuation of what the talented vocalist does with Sugarland. It's not that. Instead, she’s worked with iconic Grammy-winning producer Rick Rubin to create an album that in many ways shows off that fantastic set of pipes in some interesting and dynamic ways. ...“Moneyball” is a track that fans of Sugarland will love and something Country radio should be wanting to play....The majority of That Girl is an ambitious collection of songs with songs like the powerful ballad “This Angel” feeling like an iconic classic Heart hit...an album that my be short on mainstream Country hits but is long on charming vocal performances, stellar lyrics and some of the most timeless feeling new songs I may have heard in the past year or two.


2) Making a debut at No.11 on the BB200 and following Jennifer at No.2 on Top Country Albums was Rosanne Cash with THE RIVER & THE THREAD (Blue Note/Capitol), which entered with sales of 18,566.
It marked her highest SoundScan-era debut (her previous best was a No. 5 start with The List in 2009) and her best overall rank in more than 28 years; she had not charted so loftily since Rhythm & Romance topped the Dec. 7, 1985, chart. The new set digging deeper into her Southern musical heritage also gives Rosanne her best-ever rank and the first top 20 album of Cash's 33-year career. Two previous albums came close. "Seven Year Ache" reached #26 in 1981. "The List" hit #22 in 2009. Her dad, Johnny Cash, first cracked the top 20 with 1958's "The Fabulous Johnny Cash."

She told ABC News Radio, "I think at this point in my life, I've made enough left turns and escapes and excursions and journeys, that you start noticing what you've carried in you all this time, and the people that you thought you left behind but you're still connected to." After her father's band mate and friend, Marshall Grant, passed away in 2011, Cash and her husband, producer John Leventhal, began taking trips to explore the deep South's musical history.Rosanne says, "We went to Robert Johnson's grave. We followed the blues trail. We went to the Tallahatchie Bridge. I mean, it doesn't get deeper than that."
Those experiences inspired the rootsy songs on The River & the Thread, which serves as a chronicle of Rosanne's reconnection to the music that inspired her father's legendary career. She explains, "Those things I thought I had put behind me -- my connections to the South and the geography eve Rosanne Cash took a trip to her dad's boyhood Arkansas home as part of CBS Sunday Morning (Jan 19th). She performed "A Feather's Not A Bird" from new album on The Late Show With David Letterman Thursday (Jan 16th).

Critical Acclaim for “The River & The Thread”: 14 Tracks/ Time: 47:14
CD [Deluxe Edition] (10 Feb) - MP3 - US iTunes - Amazon.com
Alan Cackett (Maverick) (Rating: 4.5 STARS) ....But at the heart of the album is a true partnership between a wife and husband … the singer-songwriter doing what she loves with the one she loves. All her attributes, the haunting vocals, the inner storm she creates with her strong strumming on acoustic guitar, the powerful lyrics which are full of reality and hold pertinent messages and meanings. The world is truly upside down, but as long as this wonderful talent has a niche, a label and an audience, I don’t care.

All Music (Rating: 4 STARS) Nearly eight years after Rosanne Cash last released a set of original songs, 2014's The River & the Thread finds her in a reflective mood, and just as 2009's The List saw her looking back with a set of classic songs recommended by her father, the late country legend Johnny Cash, The River & the Thread is dominated by thoughts and
emotions that occurred to her as she was involved in a project to restore Johnny's boyhood home.... This doesn't mean that Cash has returned to the spunky, country-accented sound of her most popular work -- this is still Rosanne Cash the mature and thoughtful singer/songwriter we've come to know since the late '90s, and the tone of this album is unfailingly literate. But though this music isn't country, it's certainly Southern....Just as Cash's songs are crafted with a subtle intelligence, her vocals here are superb, getting to the heart of the lyrics without painting herself into a corner, and the production is rich but elegant and to the point.....she's learned to make every word and every note count, and this album confirms once again that she's matured into a singular artist with the talent and the vision to make these stories of her travels in the South come to vivid and affecting life.

Roughstock (Rating: 4 STARS) Listening to Rosanne Cash’s latest release makes a person darn happy musicians still create proper albums. The best albums follow a consistent thread (no pun intended), whether lyrical or musical, and Cash’s newest, The River & the Thread, does both. It’s a meditation on many things Southern in nature, set to distinctly Southern sounding music. Cash wrote the project’s 11 songs with her collaborator/husband John Leventhal, who also helped by producing, arranging and playing much of the release’s guitar work. The result is something that touches upon many highlights of Southern musical culture, from country twang to bluesy soul.....Rosanne Cash is not one of music’s most productive artists, but like that quiet woman at the party, she always has something important and memorable to say whenever she speaks..... The South is like a bottomless well of inspiration; one where ghosts from both a proud and shameful past can always be conjured up vividly with just the right musical spell. Cash may not be any kind of a shaman, but she’s a smart and honest songwriter with well-honed skills. The River & the Thread proves her skills have not diminished one iota.

3) Three places behind Rosanne on the BB200 at No.14 ( No.3 Country) was newcomer Jon Pardi with his debut album, WRITE YOU A SONG (Capitol Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville) which sold 17,050 copies. The album’s second single, “Up All Night,” stands at #10 on Hot Country Songs and the lead track “Missin’ You Crazy” peaked at No. 41 back in July 2012.
>> Watch the video for “Up All Night.” http://vevo.ly/ry0Y4i  = Hot love interest!

Critical Acclaim for “Write You A Song”: 11 Tracks / Time: 38:38

Allmusic (Rating: 3.5 STARS) A country traditionalist at heart, Jon Pardi is also fully aware that country, like most musical genres, is evolving, shifting and changing as the 21st century advances, taking on rock and pop traits like big drums and gritty electric guitars, while trading
on a kind of nostalgia for an endless summer of breaking hearts and drinking beer on back-country dirt roads, the kinds of themes honky tonk, outlaw, and traditional country have always hung their hats on, really. Pardi is right there ready for the big time with Write You a Song, his debut album, which he co-produced with Bart Butler. Write You a Song is full
of the beers, the back roads, and the all-night good times that go with partying until the paycheck's gone, and the whole thing has a country-boy swagger complete with brightly distorted electric guitars, all of which puts Pardi right in the Luke Bryan/Jason Aldean school of how to make radio-ready summer hits. .... The playing, production, and sound on Write You a Song are solid and professional, with enough edge to keep it from being simply predictable.

Country Weekly (Rating: A-) Jon Pardi understands the struggles of trying to make it in music: home is a luxury, the parties are crazy and it’s impossible to keep a steady relationship. Thankfully, the California native decided to chronicle these experiences for his debut album, Write You a Song, which bears traces of his home state’s Bakersfield Sound....The undeniably catchy and upbeat “Chasin’ Them Better Days” offers optimism for working folks, underpinned by chugging guitars and bluesy piano fills. Drinkin’ also figures in: “What I Can’t Put Down,” “Empty Beer Cans” and “When I’ve Been Drinkin’” rock unabashedly, for sure, but they’re elevated beyond party-song status by examining the causes for the drinking, or the consequences of drunk dialing an old flame. We’ll raise a glass to that.

Roughstock (Rating: 4 STARS) ... upon first listen to the album, it blends Pardi’s natural honky tonk tendencies with the more current rock/country crossover vibes which permeate much of the mainstream’s sound.  Write You A Song is an album with the backroads, parties, and more but with that honky tonk vibe, it doesn’t feel like an alt-country or alt-rock collection and instead is most definitely a Country music album.... The melodies are interesting, the songwriting is tight and Pardi is in strong voice throughout Write You A Song, which is all anyone can ask from a debut album and for anyone looking for someone to anoint as a potential ‘savior’ of Country music, Pardi may just be that guy for you.

4) Texas Country artist Cody Johnson’s COWBOY LIKE ME (K.I.C.-Keep It Country) made a debut at No.33 on the BB200 (#7 Country) selling 8,144 copies. 
Many Texas Music fans met Cody Johnson’s honest style through the radio singles from his Six Strings, One Dream album: "Nobody to Blame" (#6 on the Texas music charts in 2009);  #1"Pray for Rain" (2009 - 2010); and "Texas Kind of Way" (#6, late 2010 – 2011). At first opening for other artists, Cody has also taken the Texas dance-halls by storm. Increasingly, the Cody Johnson Band is the attraction, and an honest-to-goodness one...Read more www.thecodyjohnsonband.com . The band consist: Cody Johnson, Miles Stone (Drums), Jody Bartula (Fiddle), Jeff Smith (Lead Guitar), Joey Pruski (Bass Guitar) and their hometown is Huntsville,TX - Facebook >> Watch the video for “Cowboy Like Me” 

Critical acclaim for Cody Johnson’s “Cowboy Like Me” - 13 Tracks/ Time: 49:28

Billboard Update – Music Notes feature
Need a Cody Johnson Band point-of-reference? If you like Mark Chestnutt, George Strait and Country Music, you’re gonna love this. So, of course this week’s concerts will turn into huge album release parties for Cody and the guys. His show, by the way, was nominated for Live Act of the Year at the 2013 Lonestar Music Awards...Read More
countylifeonline - While the Nashville music scene has taken a different direction in sound, Johnson, an East Texas native from Groveton, has brought it back to the basics, delivering a powerful 13-song album of genuine country music. This album is full of rich love songs, slow dance ballads, rockin’ honky tonk rebellious fun and tear in my bear drinking songs that are reminiscent of the neotraditional country classics from artist like George Strait, Tracy Byrd, Clint Black, Tracy Lawrence, Mark Chestnut and Alan Jackson. Cowgirls, if you haven’t already heard “Dance Her Home,” written by Johnson and Jesse Raub, Jr., and released as a single in December, you are going to love this ode to the dancehall dolls that catch a cowboy’s eye and beckon him to the dance floor..... “Holes” is honestly the best song ever recorded by Johnson. This song, about personal disappointments and redemption, is not only a richly written song, penned by Johnson and Jeffery Steele, but it is also a beautiful showcase of Johnson’s vocal ability as well.  It is gripping, genuine and sure to be a fan favorite....

5) At No.40 on the BB200 (#8 Country) saw Home Free debut (selling around 6,000 copies) with their first album CRAZY LIFE, digitally released on January 14, 2014 (Feb 18 physical release date). 
They are an  all male American a cappella group of five vocalists, Austin Brown, Rob Lundquist, Chris Rupp, Tim Foust and Adam Rupp. Starting as a show group, they toured around 200 shows a year across the United States. The group competed in and won the fourth season of The Sing-Off on NBC on Dec 23, 2013. Singing an arrangement of Hunter Hayes' "I Want Crazy," as their final competitive song; earned the group $100,000 and a recording contract with Sony. “Crazy Life” features a collection of original music as well as a selection of songs the group performed on the show including, "Ring Of Fire" (Johnny Cash) and a Hunter Hayes medley featuring "I Want Crazy" from The Sing-Off finale.
Visit their Website and Facebook for further details and their 11 track album is available on US iTunes and Walmart Stores

6) Released on Jan 14, 2014 by Republic Nashville Records Hit duo Florida Georgia Line with new EP “iTunes Sessions” , with sales of around 5,000 units, made a bow at No.63 on the BB200 (#11 Country) with . Available exclusively on US iTunes it features 7 acoustic tracks, including their take on “Friends In Low Places”

Brandy Clark’s highly acclaimed “12 Stories” which is #40 on the Country Album chart has now sold over 21,000 copies in 7-weeks without any major radio airplay outside of SiriusXM. She recently made her national TV debut on The David Letterman Show and will soon go out on tour with Jennifer Nettles.
At #47 Country, Dancing With The Stars champ Kellie Pickler’s Black River Entertainment debut The Woman I Am has now shifted 47,000 copies in 10 chart weeks.

Elsewhere on the Billboard 200, and away from the country chart, saw Lucinda Williams' 1988 album "Lucinda Williams" entered at #39 and at #1 on Top Catalog Albums for the first time selling around 6,000 copies.

Mary Chapin Carpenter with SONGS FROM THE MOVIE (Decca (UMO)) is new on the BB200 at #75 (#6 Billboard Folk Chart) with sales of  4,000+
Recorded at Air Studios in London, the album, with songs drawn from her 26 year back catalogue, was arranged and conducted by six-time Grammy Award winner Vince Mendoza (Sting, Diana Krall, Chris Botti, Elvis Costello, Björk, Joni Mitchell) and was produced by Carpenter and Mendoza along with Matt Rollings (Keith Urban, Lyle Lovett). A special debut performance (part of the Celtic Connections festival), at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra was recorded on January 24. It will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Thurs Jan 30th – BBC Showpage.
10 Tracks/ Time: 51:50 CD - MP3 - UK iTunes - Amazon.com  >> Watch the background to the album recording.
  • At times, this album is nearly exquisite, at all others, it is beautifulAllmusic (4 STARS)
  • An epic buildup is fine for the grand and atmospheric Goodnight America, but a well-sung, delicate study of loneliness, Ideas Are Like Stars, is not helped by the swirl of strings and voices at the end - The Guardian UK (3 Stars)
  • Play Songs From the Movie to the tinies at bedtime and they’ll be away with the fairies in seconds ...these are the songs we may take as her favourites – good songs, largely, if songs broadly governed by the imperative to “heal”: a worthy intention, for sure, but fluffed up massively in a compressed space like this, also a rather stifling one - The Independent (UK) 2 Stars
Overall album sales (all genres) in this past chart week (ending Jan. 19) totalled 4.4 million units, up 4% compared with the sum last week (4.3 million) and down 11% compared with the comparable sales week of 2013 (5 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 14.1 million, down 14% compared with the same total at this point last year (16.3 million).

Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Placings

(Issue dated Chart week of February 1, 2014)
(Country Album positions #1 - #25)

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
































Billboard Catalog Albums Chart (week of February 1, 2014)


It's been a bit over 25 years since country/folk singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, then already 35, released her breakthrough self-titled album. An anniversary edition, packaged with a new live disc, brings the album onto the Billboard 200 for the first time at #39, and straight into the top spot on the Catalog chart.
"Lucinda Williams" is the first album debuting on the Catalog chart at #1 since "Wings Over America" (Paul McCartney & Wings) in June of last year.
Luke Bryan's "Tailgates & Tanlines" breaks into the top 10 for the first time at #9. It's his second Catalog top 10; "Doin' My Thing" reached #3 in August of last year during a two-week Top 10 run that coincided with the release of his latest album, "Crash My Party".
Country music titles in Top 50:
#1 Lucinda Williams, Lucinda Williams (1 week on chart) #39 BB200 (Billboard 200 placing)
#9 Tailgates & Tanlines, Luke Bryan (9 weeks on chart)) #119 BB200
#11 The Legend Of Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash (73 weeks on chart)
#26 Chief, Eric Church (10 weeks on chart) #158 BB200
#28 Get What You Give, Zac Brown Band (57 weeks on chart) #165 BB200
#36 The Foundation, Zac Brown Band (110 weeks on chart) #187 BB200
#37 Loaded: The Best Of Blake Shelton, Blake Shelton (62 weeks on chart))
#40 Super Hits, Willie Nelson (112 weeks on chart)
#46 Blown Away, Carrie Underwood (12 weeks on chart)
#49 My Kinda Party, Jason Aldean (52 week on chart)



Top 25 Hot Country Songs (week of February 1, 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:

In his eleventh week on the chart Luke Bryan held for a 2nd week at No.1 on Hot Country Songs with “Drink a Beer” (Capitol Nashville).
Newcomer Jon Pardi, who debuted his album, saw the sets second single, “Up All Night,” get a bounce 13-10 to become his first top 10 on Hot Country Songs in its 27th week.

Eric Church logged his seventh top 10 with “Give Me Back My Hometown” (EMI Nashville), which rocketed 25-7 in its third chart week. The track moved 12-1 on Country Digital Songs to bag his third leader with a sales spike of 114% to 61,000 downloads sold.

At No. 40 Florida Georgia Line debuted with an “iTunes Sessions”-spawned cover of “Friends in Low Places,” to land the week’s HCS Hot Shot Debut.  Both Mark Chesnutt and Garth Brooks recorded the song 24 years ago. It appeared on Chesnutt’s Too Cold at Home album, while Brooks’ version, which appeared on his No Fences album, famously spent four weeks at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs in 1990.

Top 25 Hot Country Songs:

Luke Bryan with “Drink A Beer” stays at the TOP the Chart! #1
Cole Swindell with “Chillin’ It” is up two, #4 - #2 p
David Nail with “Whatever She’s Got” stays at #3
Florida Georgia Line with former No.1 “Stay” drops two, #2 - #4 q
Jason Aldean with “When She Says Baby” stays at #5
Zac Brown Band with “Sweet Annie” stays at #6
Eric Church with “Give Me Back My Hometown” jumps up 18 slots, #25 - #7 p
Cassadee Pope with “Wasting All These Tears” is down one, #7 - #8 q
Eric Paslay with “Friday Night” is up one, #10 - #9 p
John Pardi with “Up All Night” is up three, #13 - #10 p
The Band Perry with “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely” is down two, #9 - #11 q
Lady Antebellum with “Compass” stays at #12
Luke Bryan with former #1 “That’s My Kind Of Night” falls, #11 - #13 q
Brantley Gilbert with “Bottoms Up” is up two, #16 - #14 p
Darius Rucker with “Radio” is down one, #14 - #15 q
Frankie Ballard with “Helluva Life” is down one, #15 - #16 q
Dierks Bentley with “Hold On” is up two, #19 - #17 p
Jerrod Niemann with “Drink To That All Night” is up two slots, #20 - #18 p
Dan + Shay with “19 You + Me” is down one, #18 - #19 q
Rascal Flatts with “Rewind” leaps into the Top 25, #41 - #20 p
Blake Shelton with “Doin’ What She Likes” enter s the Top 25, #28 - #21 p
Danielle Bradbery with “The Heart Of Dixie” stays at #22
Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert with former No.1, falls #17 - #23 q
Thomas Rhett with “Get Me Some Of That” stays at #24
Randy Houser with “Goodnight Kiss” is down two, #23 - #25 q

Hot Country Songs
** No.1 (2 weeks) ** “Drink A Beer“ Luke Bryan
** Streaming Gainer ** No.14 “Bottoms Up” Brantley Gilbert
** Digital Gainer ** No.20 “Rewind” Rascal Flatts
** Airplay Gainer ** No.21 “Doin’ What She Likes” Blake Shelton
** Hot Shot Debut ** No.27 “Hope You Get Lonely Tonight” Cole Swindell
Debut No.40 “Friends In Low Places” Florida Georgia Line
Debut No.42 “Lately” Sam Palladio & Clare Bowen


Billboard Country Airplay Chart Week of February 1, 2014

Zac Brown Band achieved its milestone 10th career No.1 and its first leader in more than a year on Billboard’s Country Airplay tally, where “Sweet Annie” (Atlantic/Southern Ground) which made a 2-1 hop in its 23rd chart week. 
The new leader is the band’s first since “Goodbye in Her Eyes” spent the first of three weeks at No.1 on the Jan. 12, 2013, chart, followed by a No.2 peak with “Jump Right In” last summer. ZBB first reigned with “Chicken Fried” for two weeks beginning Dec.6, 2008
Zac Brown Band replaced Florida Georgia Line’s 4-week reign “Stay” (1-5) at the top who were looking to better ZBB’s four week #1 “Keep Me in Mind”  (Jan 14, 2012 chart).
FGL’s consolation prize was they bagged the weeks “Hot Shot Debut” cup with "This Is How We Roll" featuring Luke Bryan which landed a new entry at No.45
 “Sweet Annie” (written by Zac Brown, Coy Bowles, Wyatt Durette, Sonia Leigh, John Pierce) was first released on August 26, 2013 as the fourth single from their album UNCAGED. It  logged 41.603 million audience impressions (-1.602 million) and received 6,753 (+156) radio plays. Top local audience penetration during the Jan. 13-19 Nielsen BDS tracking week: KPLX Dallas (908,000 impressions) WYCD Detroit (897,000), KEEY Minneapolis (855,000), WUSN Chicago (791,000) and WNSH New York (753,000).
Zac Brown Band "Sweet Annie" (With Lyrics) >> YouTube

The Band Perry in their 23rd week with “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely” (Republic Nashville) moved 3-2, marking the second time in five weeks that two groups have occupied the top two slots on the Country Airplay chart. The last was Eli Young Band's Dec 28, 2013 reigne with “Drunk Last Night” while Parmalee parked at No.2 with “Carolina.”











Cassadee Pope logged her first top 10 on Country Airplay with “Wasting All These Tears” (Republic Nashville), which draws 29.398 million impressions and stepped 11-10 in its 33rd chart week. Pope is the first solo female to achieve a first-ever top 10 since Kacey Musgraves’ “Merry Go ’Round” peaked at No.10 on the March 16, 2013, chart. Pope is just the fourth such artist since the start of 2010 to compete in the upper tier for the first time, a list that includes Jana Kramer’s No.3 peak with “Why Ya Wanna” (Oct. 13,2012), and Sunny Sweeney’s “From a Table Away” (March 19, 2011).

Blake Shelton made a 22-19 surge with “Doin’ What She Likes” (Warner Bros./Warner Music Nashville) snagging the weeks “ Most Increased Audience” and “Most Added” trophies in its fifth chart week. The song earned a 5.537 million audience gain (17.477 million total audience) receiving 2,803 plays (+851) thanks to 36 fresh radio commitments (ADDS).

Tim McGraw’s new auto-tuned single “Lookin’ For That Girl” found favour with 9 Radio adds and made a No.48 bow with 219 radio plays.

Country Airplay
*** No. 1 (1 week) *** "Sweet Annie" Zac Brown Band
** Most Increased Audience/ Most Added ** No.19 "Doin' What She Likes" Blake Shelton
** Hot Shot Debut **  No.45 "This Is How We Roll" Florida Georgia Line feat. Luke Bryan
Debut No. 48 "Lookin' For That Girl" Tim McGraw


Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart Week of February 1, 2014

Eric Church with “Give Me Back My Hometown” (114% sales increase) takes over atop the Billboard Digital Country Song Chart with a 12-1 step from Luke Bryan’sDrink A Beer” which drops 1-2
Cole Swindell with “Chillin’ It” moved up 7-3 as David Nail with “Whatever She’s Got” dropped 4-2.

Rascal Flatts with 38,000 sales made a bow at #6 with “Rewind” and Cole Swindell’s “Hope You Get Lonely Tonight” entered at #8.
Cassadee Pope’sWasting All These Tears” (10-15), passed the 900K mark and she will be eyeing up a future Platinum hit later in 2014.
Sam Palladio (Gunnar) & Clare Bowen (Scarlett) are new on the chart at #29 with "Lately". Watch the >> scene from the Nashville TV series which features guest Kelly Clarkson. The single is available on US iTunes

Dropping off the Top 30:
19-31 “Boy's Round Here”  Blake Shelton feat. Pistol Annies & Friends
28-32 “The Outsiders” Eric Church
30-33 “It Goes Like This” Thomas Rhett
29-34 “Mine Would Be You”  Blake Shelton
4-48 “You Sound Good To Me” Lucy Hale  

Top 30 Digital Singles in Country Music (published January 23, 2013)

 (LW) Last Week  (TW) This Week
*Numbers are rounded to nearest 1000th


































Country Aircheck/ Mediabase chart
               
Zac Brown Band with “Sweet Annie moved 2-1 to top the Country Aircheck/ Mediabase No.1 for the tracking week Jan 12 – Jan 18, 2014. The song logged 7,001 radio spins (+139) and 54.174 million audience impressions.












Congratulates Southern Ground Artists VP/Promotions Mara Sidweber, Chuck Swaney and the entire promotion team for nabbing the top spot!
This is ZBB’s second #1 single from its “Uncaged” album and 10th career chart-topper.
For a detailed report check out Country Aircheck Weekly Issue 380 - January 21, 2014 [PDF File]         
For the very latest up to the minute Mediabase Chart (Past 7 Days) go here - www.mediabase.com

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