Country
Billboard Chart News April 18, 2016
In
Brief: Billboard Country Charts (Chart issue week of April 30, 2016)
Country Album
Chart ** No.1 (18 non-consecutive weeks) TRAVELLER Chris Stapleton
Hot Country
Songs ** No.1 (1 week) ** Somewhere On A Beach”
Dierks Bentley
Country Airplay
** No.1 (1 week) ** "I Like The Sound Of That” Rascal Flatts
Country Digital
Songs ** No.1 (3 non-consecutive weeks) ** “Humble
and Kind” Tim McGraw
The
Billboard 200 chart measures multi-metric album consumption, which includes
traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent
albums (SEA).
The Lumineers nabbed their first No.1
album on the Billboard Top 200 Album
chart with CLEOPATRA. The set starts atop the chart with 125,000 equivalent
album units earned in the week ending April 14, according to Nielsen Music. Of
that sum, 108,000 were in traditional album sales.
Cleopatra
is The Lumineers’ second album, and was released through Dualtone Records on
April 8. It follows the trio’s breakthrough self-titled debut album, which was
released in 2012 and rose to No. 2 on the chart the following year. It has sold
1.7 million copies, thanks in large part to the popularity of its hit song
"Ho Hey." The track peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Cleopatra’s
lead single, “Ophelia,” has spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Adult Alternative
Songs chart, and has so far peaked at No. 78 on the Hot 100.
The band’s Cleopatra World Tour kicked off April 14 in Bristol, England, and heads to the U.S. on May 21, playing Houston’s White Oak Music Hall. The trek continues through America until June 19, and then heads back to Europe.
The band’s Cleopatra World Tour kicked off April 14 in Bristol, England, and heads to the U.S. on May 21, playing Houston’s White Oak Music Hall. The trek continues through America until June 19, and then heads back to Europe.
In
a Press Release (dated April 19, 2016) The
Americana Music Association congratulated its 2013 Americana Honors &
Awards nominee (and 2013 GRAMMY Americana Album of the Year nominee) The
Lumineers on its No.1 Billboard Top 200 debut.
Along
with recent releases from Margo Price, Bonnie Raitt, Chris Stapleton, Nathaniel
Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Hayes Carll, and Lucinda Williams, The
Lumineers' Cleopatra demonstrates the continued growth of Americana as one of
the most influential movements on the musical landscape today.
"Every week it seems there's another Americana act on the Billboard sales
chart who are dedicated to their artistic passion and reaping the benefits of
that commitment," said Jed Hilly, Executive Director of the Americana
Music Association. "I am thrilled
for The Lumineers' success and can't wait to see them when they open the
Americana Music Festival & Conference this fall in Nashville."
Chris Stapleton with TRAVELLER dipped 2-3 with 48,000 units (down 34%)
Chris Stapleton with TRAVELLER (Mercury/Universal Music Group) held at No.1 on Billboard Top Country Albums selling 39,125 copies (down 34%) and ruled atop
the chart for a 18th week and the set now has a 50-week total of 1,197,900.
Joey
+ Rory with HYMNS (Farmhouse/Gaither/Capitol CMG) fell 15-16 on the
Billboard 200 and held at #2 Country selling 19,019 copies (down 10%; #5
Billboard Top Albums; 9-week total of 315,200. Their compilation ALBUM COLLECTION
(Walmart Exclusive) fell 10-13
selling 2,961 (down 28%).
Carrie Underwood with STORYTELLER held fell
29-31 on the Billboard 200, holding at #3 Country (8,850 sales; down 7%;
25-week total 562,800)
Sam
Hunt with MONTEVALLO fell 20-27 on
the BB200 slipping 4-5 Country (5,883 sales; down 24%; 77-week total 1,105,000)
Of Note:
Hayes
Carll with LOVERS AND LEAVERS (Hwy87 | Thirty Tigers)
made a debut at #105 on the Billboard 200, #33 on Billboard Top Albums and #4
on Billboard Folk Albums selling 6,072 copies.
Critical
reception for Hayes Carll’s Lovers and Leavers:
AllMusic (Rating; 4 STARS) Songwriter Hayes Carll has always placed his craft first. His best work
has been defined by its rich irony, a keen eye for quirky images, and quick,
catchy melodies that were equally at home in a honky tonk, a car, or on a
festival stage. Lovers and Leavers, his Joe Henry-produced fifth album is a
departure. It's sparser, airier, more directly confessional...Carll presents
these songs with open hands and heart; he made Lovers and Leavers to prove
something to himself. With the canny assistance of Henry's sensitive
production, the songwriter's vulnerability rises into open view and elevates
his craft along with it. In Carll's world -- and hopefully ours -- love wins,
no matter what.
Saving
Country Music (Rating: 1 3/4 of 2 Guns Up; 7.5 of 10) Hayes Carll’s Lovers and Leavers—his first record in over five
years—feels especially long and winding....Lovers and Leavers finds Hayes less
in the character of some self-loathing drunk and disorderly, and
more in the
pattern of self-reflection and the introspective songwriting of a seasoned
writer who can take simple observations and turn them into poetry.
“Stripped-down” is not just an adjective in this case, these songs are nearly
butt naked.
A little bit of percussion and bass, maybe some lead parts
sprinkled here and there, and a few louder songs. But overall this is a
minimalist effort, and there’s nothing keeping you from reflecting on the words
to Carll’s songs...Only one song will truly remind you of old Hayes—“Love Is So
Easy.” Otherwise, it’s a new day. But six years have passed, and six important
ones. Humans either spend their lives being stuck in “glory days” mode never
evolving beyond their high school or college selves, or they’re in a constant
cycle of improvement, no matter where the baseline starts. Though the former
can be quite fun, it can leave the spirit unfulfilled. Hayes has moved on, and
so has his music. And the true friends are the ones who don’t resent you for
maturing or try to enable your backsliding tendencies, but take that journey forward
with you.
Pop
Matters (Rating: 7/10) …Stripped of any
prior barroom antics, Joe Henry’s no-frills production keeps the focus on
Carll’s urbane lyrics. An acoustic album, Henry sprinkles in percussion, piano
and pedal steel sparingly, save for the Waitsian sendup “Sake of the Song”—one
of three songs written with Darrell Scott—a brooding homage to craftsmanship
that doubles as a pointed critique of style over substance. Personal and plain,
Lovers and Leavers is music as catharsis well worth the wait, with Carll urging
all to “Tell your truth however you choose / And do it all for the sake of the
song.” Spoken like a true poet.
Outside
of Top 25 Country Albums
Charlie Farley with ALL I'VE BEEN THROUGH made a debut at #35 Country selling 1,100 copies
Critical
reception for Charlie Farley’s All I've Been Through:
Country Underground The record starts off with the title track and
it sets the tone the rest of the way. “Yea
I like to drink a few, but beer ain’t all that I can brew. You know I like the
mud
too, but mud ain’t all that I’ve been through”. To me, he’s pretty much
saying, “Yea I talk about the mud and
drinking, but that’s not what defines me as an artist, nor does it define me as
a person.” This first track speaks to me as a listener and it pulls me in
to want to learn more about who Charlie Farley really is.....So now we come to
the song on the record that punches you in the gut and gives you chills the
second Farley begins. “Red Rose”, a song written about a time in his life that is still dear to him, the passing of his sister. This song is one of the best songs on the entire album and could easily be put up there with some of today’s “top” country artists....It’s not always about beers, girls and trucks and mud isn’t definitely not all that Farley has been through.
Lainey Wilson with her 10 track TOUGHER (Lone Chief Records) made a debut at No.44 selling 700 copies
Lainey Wilson,
your typical country girl, was born and raised in Baskin, Louisiana. It all
started at her Kindergarten graduation when she sang “Butterfly Kisses”. The
country music industry is a great way for Lainey to reach out to people and do
what she loves to do all at the same time.
Lainey has entered and won many
contests throughout the Ark-La-Miss using her original songs. She has
co-written several songs with Nashville writers and signed a
publishing/developmental deal with Cupit Records.
Lainey signed with Lone Chief
Records in late-summer of 2015 and was on the road with friend/producer, Frank
Foster.
Watch her video
for >> "Tougher" (Lone Chief Records) directed by
Brett Bortle published on Mar 22, 2016 (over 18K views in first 20 days).
Lainey
Wilson feat. Frank Foster "Where My House Stood" published on Apr 5,
2016 received over 17K views in first 5 days.
Critical
reception for Lainey Wilson’s Tougher:
Your Life In A Song (Rating: Positive Review) This is a country girl who sings country music. Sounds obvious but
today’s freeway to success is often based upon a pop-country sound. We are
never far from a slide guitar and Wilson’s sultry vocals tell some fine
stories....The albums opener ‘Gravel’ is a song that would be very much at home
on a Maddie and Tae album. A slide guitar driven backing and a very bouncy feel
to a song that has the ability to cross over...Another highlight is ‘Two Sides
Of Bad’, a “turn up the volume” song that is a foot tapping delight and should
be longer!...A serious stand-out has to be ‘I Make Myself’, a powerful ballad
where the sultry vocals and slides combine to create an album highlight. The brooding subject matter of recovering
from a broken relationship is complemented by the dark, atmospheric
production...The difficulty that an artist like Lainey Wilson has is getting
her music heard. The exposure that this album has had is modest to date. This
ought to change.
Year-To-Date
Albums
6,607,000 (Physical sales 4,343,000
(down 9%) + Digital sales 2,264,000 (down -15.0%)) which is 8.2% down at the same point in 2015 (7,198,000
sales)
Year-To-Date
Digital Tracks
27,345,000 down 19.6% at the same point in 2015 (34,027,000)
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:
Dierks Bentley earned his 11th No.1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart,
and first in nearly four years, as “Somewhere
On A Beach” (Capitol Nashville) broke 4-1
on the April 30 list.
The track tops
Hot Country Songs, which encompasses sales, streaming and airplay, as it hits
new highs on Country Digital Songs (4-2, despite a 15% decrease to 34,000 sold
in the week ending April 14, according to Nielsen Music), Country Airplay (7-3,
up by 13% to 40 million audience impressions) and Country Streaming Songs (5-4,
lifting by 5% to 2.4 million U.S. streams).
Bentley cruised
to his first Hot Country Songs No.1 since “5-1-5-0,” which topped the Aug. 4,
2012, chart (when the tally was powered solely by airplay). That track
completed a run of three consecutive leaders, following “Home” (March24, 2012)
and “Am I the Only One” (Sept. 3, 2011).
Written by
Michael Tyler, Jaron Boyer, Alexander Palmer, Dave Kuncio and Josh Mirenda,
“Beach” is the launch single from Bentley’s eighth studio album, BLACK, due May
27. The set sports guest appearances by Maren Morris (“I’ll Be the Moon”) and
Elle King (“Different for Girls”).
“When Dierks
first played us new music from the Black album, ‘Somewhere on a Beach’ felt
like the anthem he needed going into spring and summer as his tour was kicking
into full gear,” Universal Music Group Nashville president Cindy Mabe told
Billboard. “Having come off the depth of
[Bentley’s 2014 album] Riser, I think it
was good to let the fans have a fun party song and let the new album evolve
from there. I think this song is just the start of a sexy, different album for
Dierks.”
Hot County
Songs
** No.1 (1
week)/ Airplay Gainer ** “Somewhere On A Beach” Dierks Bentley
** Digital Gainer
** No.16 “Little Bit Of You” Chase
Bryant
** Streaming
Gainer ** No.19 “Lights Come On” Jason
Aldean
** Hot Shot
Debut ** No.36 “Flatliner” Cole Swindell
feat. Dierks Bentley
Debut
No.43 “Seven Spanish Angels” Adam
Wakefield
Debut
No.50 “Savior's Shadow” Blake Shelton
Rascal
Flatts with “I Like the Sound of That” (Big Machine) crowns
Billboard Country Airplay in its 31st week (2-1), gaining by 4% to 46.513
million in audience impressions.
The song is the 13th Country Airplay leader
for the trio (Gary LeVox and cousins Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney). “We love the sound of being at the top of the
charts. What an honor,” DeMarcus told Billboard.
Like Bentley on Hot Country Songs, Rascal Flatts ended a nearly four-year
break between No.1s on Country Airplay, earning its first since “Banjo” (May12,
2012).
Having first led with “These Days” in 2002, Rascal Flatts ties Zac Brown
Band for the most Country Airplay No.1s among groups of at least three members
dating to the chart’s January 1990 inception.
“Sound” is the fourth single from
REWIND, following the No.3 peaking title track, “Payback” (No.21) and “Riot”
(No.20).
What has made “Sound” perform so well at radio? “It has definitely been
the strongest song we have seen from Rascal Flatts in a while, by a long shot,
especially [in] research,” said Entercom Communications director of
programming Mike Moore. “They’ve also
maintained relevance and I think they are in a rebuild mode, much like Tim
McGraw was a few years back.”
“Sound” was written by Jesse Frasure, Shay Mooney (lead vocalist of Dan +
Shay) and pop singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor. “Writing this was an absolute blast, because it started out just sitting
around talking with my co-writers,” said Mooney. “I had the title in my
notes, after hearing someone say the phrase somewhere, which I’m pretty sure
was about a restaurant. They thought it was a cool concept, so we just started playing
around with melodies and ran with it.” Trainor co-wrote “Sound” before breaking
through with her own 2014 eight-week Billboard Hot 100 No.1, “All About That
Bass.” Having Rascal Flatts record “Sound” was Trainor’s “biggest dream come
true,” she said in her first interview with Billboard in 2014.
Country Airplay welcomed a new top 10,
as Blake Shelton’s “Came Here to Forget” (Warner Brothers/Warner Music
Nashville) ascended 12-10 (27.8 million, up 6%). The track ushered in his 10th
studio album, IF I’M HONEST (May 20). Shelton scored his 25th Country
Airplay top 10, becoming the 13th act to reach the milestone. George Strait
leads with 61.
Country
Airplay
***
No.1 (1 week) *** "I Like The Sound Of That” Rascal Flatts 46.513 million audience (+1.951 million) / 8,197 radio
plays (+181)
** Most
Increased Audience ** No.3 “Somewhere on a Beach” Dierks Bentley 4.512 million audience gain
**
Most Added ** No. 30 “Church Bells” Carrie
Underwood (41 ADDS)
**
Hot Shot Debut ** No.56 “Outskirts Of Heaven” Craig Campbell
Debut
No.59 “Lonely Girl” Charles Kelley
Following on
from the previous week’s chart when the 51st Annual
Academy of Country Music Awards affected the chart, this frame saw some normality
restored.
Tim
McGraw with “Humble and Kind” (McGraw/Big
Machine/Big Machine Label Group) returned to the top 2-1 (#11-17 Digital Songs; 42,000 sales; down
35%; 13-week total 397,000).
Dierks
Bentley with “Somewhere On A Beach" rose 4-2
(34,000 sales; down 15%; #23-24 Digital Songs; 13-week total 322,000)
Blake
Shelton with “Came Here to Forget” (Warner Bros./
WMN) held at #3 (28,000 sales; down 37%; #21-30 Digital Songs; 6-week
total 241,000)
American Idol
winner Trent
Harmon with his debut country single
"Falling" (Big Machine
Records) climbed 16-4 selling 28,000
copies with a 2-week total of 52,000.
Cole
Swindell with “You Should Be Here” was up 8-5 (28,000 sales; down
20%; #30-34 Digital Songs; 18-week total 522,000) and past the GOLD ½-million
certification mark.
Chris
Young duet with Cassadee Pope rose 7-6 (27,000 sales; down 27%; #28-35
Digital Songs; 13-week total 277,000).
Maren
Morris with "My Church" (Columbia
Nashville/Sony Music Nashville) lifted 9-7 (26,000 sales; down 19%; #33-36 Digital Songs; 14-week total 408,000).
Thomas
Rhett with his ACM award winning song “Die A Happy Man” fell 5-9
(22,000 sales; down 45%; #24-42 Digital Songs; 30-week total 1,367,000) as his fast-rising hit "T-Shirt" rose 11-10 (22,000 sales; #38-43
Digital Songs; 13-week total 220,000)
Jason Aldean who had
the #1 the previous week with a debut with new single
"Lights Come On" (Broken
Bow) fell 1-11 (20,000 sales; down 72%; #10-47 Digital Songs;
2-week total 90,000).
Cole Swindell feat. Dierks Bentley with
“Flatliner” made a debut at No.18
selling 14,000 copies.
Outside
of the Top 30
Adam Wakefield (The Voice contestant) with
his cover of "Seven Spanish Angels"
(Republic) made a debut at #31 (10K sales) .
Other
Voice contestants peppered the chart: #53 Allison Porter with "Blue Bayou"
(30K to date), Katie Basden with cover of Trish
Yearwood’s "Georgia Rain" made a debut at #54 (5K sales) and Mary Sarah’s version
of "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" arrived at #63 (5K sales)
Country Aircheck MEDIABASE
Chart
18
April 2016
Congrats
to Rascal Flatts, Jack Purcell, Erik Powell, Jeff Davis, Alex Valentine, Brooke
Diaz, Justin Newell and the entire Big
Machine promotion staff on earning the No.1 spot with “I Like The Sound Of That.”
The
song logged 8,782 radio spins (+407)
and 61.2 million audience
impressions (+2.738) with 28408
Total Points from 159 tracking stations for the tracking week April 10 to April
16, 2016 and published chart April 18th 2016.
The smooth, catchy track that Rolling Stone dubbed as "sweetly reminiscent of the trio's early days” was penned by Jesse Frasure, with pop star Meghan Trainor and Shay Mooney of country duo Dan + Shay. The chart-topping single is taken from their current album, REWIND (Big Machine Records), which debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart, making Rascal Flatts one of only four acts from the SoundScan era to have eight consecutive studio albums debut in the top spot.
“We've had a lot of fun with this single,”
said Gary LeVox. “It’s a blessing and humbling
to be achieving milestones such as these and it just motivates us even more to
keep going on this crazy journey with our amazing fans. A huge thank you to our friends at country
radio and Big Machine family. We can’t
wait to catch everybody back out on the road this summer to celebrate.”
The
best-selling country vocal group of the past decade Rascal Flatts has scored 16
No1s, sold over 23.1 million albums, over 31 million digital downloads
worldwide to date
Kudos
to Shane Allen and the Capitol team
on landing 31 adds for Charles Kelley’s “Lonely Girl,” topping the week’s "Most Added" board.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.