Country Billboard Chart News August 21, 2014

Country Billboard Chart News August 21, 2014

RIAA Certifications

Platinum = Sales of over 1-million units

Gold = Sales of over 500,000 units

Dustin Lynch's single "Where It's At" (GOLD)

Nickel Creek’s self-titled album (PLATINUM; released on Sugar Hill in 2000)

In Brief:  Billboard Country Charts

Country Album Chart ** No.1 (13 weeks; non consecutive) ** “Crash My Party” Luke Bryan

Hot Country Songs ** No.1 (4 weeks) ** “Burnin’ It Down” Jason Aldean

Country Airplay ** No.1 (1 week) ** “Drunk On A Plane" Dierks Bentley

Country Digital Songs ** No.1 ** (4 weeks) ** “Burnin’ It Down” Jason Aldean

In this easy-to-use format discover where your favourite acts songs and album are charting across the four Billboard Country charts. It is prioritized by the first column showing the Hot Country Songs chart frame standings for the week of August 30, 2014.

There are also separate rows highlighting Women of Country music.

Scroll down for further details on each of the individual charts.

 Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Chart News

The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack defended its position at No.1 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart (BB200) for a second week. The compilation album sold 92,585 copies in the week ending Aug. 17, according to Nielsen SoundScan (down 15 percent from the week previous).

Soundtracks have crowned the chart for 15 weeks in 2014 -- nearly half of the year so far. Earlier this year, the soundtrack to Frozen clocked 13 weeks atop the list.

Luke Bryan's CRASH MY PARTY in its 54th week rose 12-10 on the BB200 with 19,000 (up 19%; biggest sales sum in two months). Bryan's album was discounted in the iTunes Store. It led Billboard Top Country Albums for a 13th cucumulative (and second consecutive) week. The set marks the longest reign by a solo male since Kenny Chesney’s When the Sun Goes Down ruled for 14 weeks in 2004.

Former college football quarterback Sam Hunt snagged Hot Shot Debut honours at No.36 on the BB200 and made a No.5  Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with X2C (MCA Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville), his four-song (a preview of a  LP), digital EP that arrived with 8,059 copies sold. 

The debut is fueled by “Leave the Night On,” Hunt’s debut single, which reached new peaks on Hot Country Songs (10-8), Country Digital Songs (up 8-6, with 46,000 downloads sold) and Country Airplay (up 21-18 with 18.7 million audience impressions, according to Nielsen BDS).

The other three songs on the EP all debut on Hot Country Songs, at Nos. 30 (“Break Up in a Small Town”), #39 (“House Party”) and #40 (“Ex to See”). Another Hunt track, “Raised On It,” which spent a week at No.49 on Hot Country Songs (Aug. 9) was not  included on the EP set.

Sam will release his full-length debut album for MCA Nashville on October 27th. Hunt has scored hits with songs he's penned for Kenny Chesney ("Come Over"), Keith Urban ("Cop Car") and Billy Currington ("We Are Tonight") and has also toured with David Nail and Little Big Town. This fall, he'll join Kip Moore and Charlie Worsham for CMT on Tour: Up in Smoke. The 21-city trek kicks off  September 25th in New York City.

Critical reception for “X2C” :

Country Weekly (Rating: A+) ..The layers of detail in each song on X2C shows the brilliance in the minds of Sam and his producers, who obviously spent considerable time on the elaborate tracks. Each song taps into a different sound and style that shows the multifaceted artist that is Sam Hunt—his vulnerability in “Ex to See,” his fun and flirty side in “House Party” and the rawness and heartache in “Breakup in a Small Town,” all of which have a particular spin with the production, putting him on the cutting edge of the next wave of what’s to come. Sam will likely receive flack for not falling within the country mold with X2C, but let’s forget about labeling his music and just appreciate it for what it is: a brilliant piece of art.

X2C track listing:

1. >> "Leave the Night On" (Sam Hunt, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne)

2. "Ex to See" (Sam Hunt, Josh Osborne, Matt Ramsey)

3. "House Party" (Sam Hunt, Zach Crowell, Jerry Flowers)

4. "Breakup in a Small Town" (Sam Hunt, Zach Crowell, Shane McAnally)

Ever since his medical scare, Randy Travis or at least Warner Brothers Records and his management have released two brand new albums. Both of which find Travis tipping his Stetson to the musical heroes who have had influenced his life and music.

His latest set Influence Vol. 2: THE MAN I AM made a debut at No.41 on the Country Album chart.

Critical reception for “Influence Vol. 2: THE MAN I AM” :

CD - MP3 - UK iTunes - Smart Choice Music - Amazon.com

Allmusic (Rating: 3 STARS)....Like the first volume which was also recorded in 2012, Influence, Vol. 2: The Man I Am doesn't offer much in the way of surprises, but nobody would

want a curveball from Randy Travis on an album like this, anyway. Compared to the 2013 set, this 2014 album doesn't lean so heavily on Merle Haggard -- he's still present in a nice version of "Are the Good Times Really Over," plus covers of Lefty Frizzell's "That's the Way Love Goes" and Jimmie Rodgers' "California Blues" -- and he also tips his hat to such early titans as Hank Snow ("I'm Movin' On") and Ernest Tubb ("You Nearly Lose Your Mind"), not to mention such progressive mavericks as Waylon Jennings ("Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line") and Kris Kristofferson, whose "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and "For the Good Times" are both here. Travis sounds relaxed but invested and, similarly, his band is professional but not without flair, always pointing the spotlight at the singer and occasionally easing into a tasteful solo. That casualness is the appeal of Influence, Vol. 2: he makes it sound easy when you know damn well it isn't.

Sunny Sweeney in her second week sold another 700 copies (2,900 in 2 weeks) of her new album PROVOKED but it fell off the Top 50 Country albums after its debut at No.20

Shooter Jennings with DON'T WAIT UP (FOR GEORGE) (EP) held at No.23 Country as Billy Joe Shaver’s LONG IN THE TOOTH (Lightning Rod) fell 19-35 in his second week.

2014 Country Album sales Year-To Date:

18,728,000 (Physical sales 12,405,000 (down 9%) + Digital sales 6,323,000 (down -15.3%)) which is 22.6% down at the same point in 2013 (24,194,000 sales)

Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Placings

(Issue dated Chart week of August 30, 2014)

(Country Album positions #1 - #25)

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

Top 25 Hot Country Songs (week of August 30, 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:

• Jason Aldean’s “Burnin’ It Down” (Broken Bow) logged a fourth week at No.1. He matched his longest chart-topping run, first set when “Big Green Tractor” began a four-week stand atop the Sept. 5, 2009 chart. “Down” spent a fourth straight week at No.1 on Country Digital Songs (93K, down 13%) and a second frame atop Country Streaming Songs (2.4 million, up 3%).
• Maddie & Tae with “Girl In A Country Song” took Streaming Gainer honours, up 18-13 on Streaming Songs.
• Kenny Chesney earned the Hot Shot Debut at No.26 with “Flora-Bama” (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville), the “show-opening song” at his Aug. 16 beachfront concert in Pensacola, Fla., attended by 40K fans. The geographically inventive track made a bow with 29K downloads sold and entered Country Digital Songs at No. 14. It, and current radio hit “American Kids” (No. 3 on Hot Country Songs), will be included on Chesney’s 15th studio album, THE BIG REVIVAL, due Sept 23rd.

Top 25 Hot Country Songs:

Jason Aldean with “Burnin’ It Down” stays Top the chart! 

Florida Georgia Line with former #1 “Dirt” holds at #2

Kenny Chesney with “American Kids” holds at #3

Dierks Bentley with “Drunk On A Plane” a non-mover at #4

Lady Antebellum with “Bartender” sticks at #5

Lee Brice with “I Don’t Dance” stays at #6

Tim McGraw feat Faith Hill with “Meanwhile Back At Mama’s” holds at #7

Sam Hunt with “Leave The Night On” lifts two, #10 - #8 p

Florida Georgia Line feat Luke Bryan’s former #1 “This Is How Me Roll” falls, #8 - #9 q

Cole Swindell with “Hope You Get Lonely Tonight” rises three, #13 - #10 p

Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood’s former #1 “Somethin’ Bad”,  #9 - #11 q

Luke Bryan with “Roller Coaster” slips one, #11 - #12 q

Brad Paisley with “River Bank” drops one,  #12 - #13 q

Dustin Lynch with “Where It’s At” (Yep, Yep) holds at #14

Chase Rice with “Ready Set Roll” is up two, #17 - #15 p

Brantley Gilbert with “Small Town Throwdown” stays at #16

Maddie & Tae with “Girl In A Country Song” jumps up eight, #25 - #17 p

Frankie Ballard with “Sunshine & Whiskey” clims one, #19 - #18 p

Little Big Town with “Day Drinking” is down one, #18 - #19 q

Eric Church with “Cold One” climbs one, #21 - #20 p

Eli Young Band with “Dust” is up two, #23 - #21 p

Blake Shelton feat. Gwen Sebastion with “My Eyes” is down two, #20 - #22 q

The Swon Brothers with “Later On” lifts one, #24 - #23 p

Zac Brown with “All Alright” is up two, #26 - #24 p

Keith Urban with “Somewhere In My Car” is up two, #27 - #25 p

Hot County Songs

** No.1 (4 weeks) ** “Burnin’ It Down” Jason Aldean

** Digital Gainer & Airplay Gainer ** No.10 “Hope You Get Lonely Tonight” Cole Swindell

** Streaming Gainer ** No.17 “Girl In A Country Song” Maddie & Tae

** Hot Shot Debut ** No.26 “Flora-Bama” Kenny Chesney

Debut No.30 “Break Up In Small Town” Sam Hunt

Debut No.39 “House Party” Sam Hunt

Debut No.40 “Ex To See” Sam Hunt

Debut No.41 “Neon Light” Blake Shelton

Debut No.44 “Drinking Class” Lee Brice

Debut No.46 “Crushin’ It” Brad Paisley

Debut No.47 “Take It Back” Chase Bryant

Billboard Country Airplay Chart Week of August 30, 2014

Dierks Bentley notched his 12th No.1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay tally with “Drunk on a Plane” (Capitol Nashville), which moved 2-1. In its 20th chart frame it logged 46.889 million audience impressions (+1.806 million; up 4%) and received 7,324 radio plays (+244)

The song written by Dierks Bentley, Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear was first released on April 21, 2014 as the third single from his seventh studio album RISER which has so far sold 212, 000 copies with “Plane” selling 838K downloads.

With Dierk’s "I Hold On" having led the April 5 list, he joins only Luke Bryan ("Drink a Beer," "Play It Again") and Blake Shelton ("Doin' What She Likes," "My Eyes") as the only acts with multiple No1s in 2014.

Top local audience stations for “Plane” during the Aug. 11-17 tracking week: KKGO Los Angeles (1.2 million impressions), KPLX Dallas, WKLB Boston, KKBQ Houston and WUSN Chicago (1.1 million each).

• Florida Georgia Line made their quickest ascent to the Country Airplay top 10, as its sixth consecutive top 10 title, “Dirt” (Republic Nashville), collects 30.6 million impressions (up 4%) and jumped 11-9 in its sixth chart week. That’s five weeks faster than the duo’s previous best top 10 pace, set by “Stay,” which rose 12-9 in its 11th week (Dec. 7, 2013). Of the pair’s previous five radio singles, four have spent time at No. 1. (“This Is How We Roll” [featuring Bryan] peaked at No. 2 on May 24.)
• Luke Bryan achieved his 16th Country Airplay top 10 with “Roller Coaster” (Capitol Nashville), which rode 12-10 in its ninth week (30.4 million, up 7%).
• Chase Bryant with "Take It On Back" (Red Bow) earned the Most Increased Audience stripes as the song in its  5th week logged 7.012 million audience impressions, a gain of +4.272 million, receiving 1,266 radio plays (+705)
• For the second week running female rookie duo Maddie & Tae claimed the Most Added trophy with “Girl In A Country Song“ (Dot) which logged 10.107 million audience impressions (+2.367 million) and received 1,537 radio plays (+410) thanks to 27 fresh radio commitments (ADDS)
• Darius Rucker roped the Hot Shot Debut trophy at No. 55 with “Homegrown Honey” (Capitol Nashville), the lead single from his upcoming fourth solo country album (no title or release yet). He had most recently charted on Country Airplay with “Miss You,” which peaked at No. 48 on March 8.

Women of Country 2014 Watch:

There were no solo female artists on the Top 30 Country Airplay songs Miranda Lamberts’ duet with Carrie Underwood Somethin’ Bad” moved up 17-13 in its 13th chart week. “Girl In A Country Song” by Maddie & Tae made a 30-26 hop.

RaeLynn #33, Jana Kramer #38 Kacey Musgraves #39,  Linsay Ell #49 and Lucy Hale at No.60 were the five solo females in the remaining 31-60 slots, to make it just 8.3% of the entire Top 60 chart.

Country Airplay

*** No. 1 (1 week) *** "Drunk On A Plane" Dierks Bentley

** Most Added ** No.26 “Girl In A Country Song” Maddie & Tae

** Most Increased Audience ** No.29 "Take It On Back" Chase Bryant

** Hot Shot Debut **  No.55 "Homegrown Honey" Darius Rucker

Debut No. 58 "Lonely Eyes" Chris Young

Debut No. 60 "Lie A Little Better" Lucy Hale

                                                                          

 Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart Week of August 30, 2014

• Jason Aldean's "Burnin' It Down" (Broken Bow / BBMG) held at No.1 with 93K downloads sold (down 13%) and also fell at 6-9 on the all genre Digital Songs chart in its fourth chart frame. The track had sold 499K to date and so will now gain GOLD RIAA certification.
• The first of all 4 tracks from Sam Hunt’s EP X2C impacted the charts this week as the 9 week “Leave The Night On,” his debut single, moved up 8-6.
• Cole Swindell’s “Hope You Get Lonely Tonight” jumped up 14-8 to crack the upper tier (sales up 23%)
• Kenny Chesney’s new preview track from The Big Revival, “Flora-Bama” blew in at No.14.
• Outside the Top 30 saw Brad Paisley’s “Crushin’ It” make a bow at #37 selling 10, 000 downloads.Two of the 4 new tracks from Luke Bryan’s deluxe edition of Crash My Party made debuts in the Top 50 with “What Is It With You” at No.40 and “Sunburnt Lips” arrived at No.42

Women Of Country Watch

There were no solo female artists on the Top 30 placings. On the Top 50 the lone female was RaeLynn with “God Made Girls” which re-entered at No.44.

Dropping off the Top 30:

23-32 Blake Shelton feat Gwen Sebastion “My Eyes”

28-33 Keith Urban “Somewhere In My Car “

27-46 Chase Rice “Do It Like This”

Top 30 Digital Singles in Country Music (published August 21, 2014)

 (LW) Last Week (TW) This Week

*Numbers are rounded to nearest 1000^th

Country Aircheck/ Mediabase chart

Dierks Bentley landed the No1 on Mediabase with “Drunk On A Plane’” (Capitol) which moved 2-1. The song logged 7,622 radio spins (+221) and 54.955 million audience impressions (+1.808 million) from 149 tracking stations for the tracking week Aug 10 to August 16, 2014 and published chart August 18th.

Congratulations to UMG Nashville SVP/Promotion Royce Risser, Capitol Nashville VP/Promotion Steve Hodges and their entire promo team for scoring the week's #1 song on the MEDIABASE Country singles chart, with Bentley's "Drunk On A Plane." This made it his 12th career #1 and the second #1 single off his "Riser" album.

Congratulations also go to Warner Music Nashville (WMN) SVP/Promotion Kevin Herring, VP/Promotion Kristen Williams, Dir./National Promotion Katie Bright, and the entire WMN Promo team for earning 58 MEDIABASE Country adds with Blake Shelton's "Neon Lights" Those adds gave Blake the "Most Added" title this chart week.

Bagels were due to be delivered to WMN's office (August 19th) to congratulate the staff on their achievement. 

For a detailed report check out Country Aircheck Weekly Issue 410 - August 18, 2014 [PDF File]

For the very latest up to the minute Mediabase Chart (Past 7 Days) go here - www.mediabase.com