Country
Billboard Chart News April 11, 2016
CAPITOL
NASHVILLE group Little
Big Town was presented with an RIAA
Double-Platinum certification plaque for their hit single, "Girl Crush," before their
performance in Baltimore on Friday Night (April 8, 2016).
"Girl
Crush" earned two CMA Awards for Single Of The Year and Song Of The Year (Nov
5th 2015), was nominated for GRAMMY Song Of The Year, and won a GRAMMY for Best
Country Song (Feb 2016). "Crush" was the second single off Little Big
Town's album, PAINKILLER, which received RIAA GOLD certification in March.
In
Brief: Billboard Country Charts (Chart issue week of April 23, 2016)
Country Album
Chart ** No.1 (17 non-consecutive weeks) TRAVELLER Chris Stapleton
Hot Country
Songs ** No.1 (1 week) ** “Humble and Kind” Tim McGraw
Country Airplay
** No.1 (3 weeks) ** “You Should Be Here” Cole Swindell
Country Digital
Songs ** No.1 (1 week) ** "Lights Come On" Jason Aldean
The
Billboard 200 chart measures multi-metric album consumption, which includes
traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent
albums (SEA).
Kanye West scored his seventh No.1
album on the Billboard Top 200 Album
Chart (BB200), as his latest release, THE LIFE OF PABLO, arrived atop the
list. The set earning 94,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 7,
according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 28,000 were in pure album sales -- the
rest were in streaming equivalent albums.
The
Life of Pablo is the first No.1 on the Billboard 200 where the majority (70%,
in fact) of its units were generated by streaming equivalent albums
(SEA). Its 66,000 SEA units equated to just over 99 million U.S. streams for the album’s tracks in the week ending
April 7. (Each SEA unit is equal to 1,500 streams from an album.)
None
of Pablo’s tracks were available for individual purchase, so the album debuted
on the strength of only streams and traditional album sales.
Chris Stapleton with TRAVELLER jumped from No.8 to No.2 with 73,000 units and a 138%
gain, following his multiple wins and performance on the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 3 (broadcast by CBS TV).
That same day, he was additionally profiled on the network’s Sunday Morning
program. In terms of traditional album sales, Traveller sold 59,000 copies, up
149%.
Traveller
first hit No.1 in the wake of another awards show, the Country Music
Association Awards (CMAs, Nov. 4), where he dueted with Justin Timberlake and
won three trophies. Traveller re-entered the Billboard 200 chart at No.1
following the CMAs, and spent two weeks in the penthouse.
Billboard Top Country
Albums (Chart issue week of April 23, 2016)
The
51st Academy of Country Music Awards
sales resulted in a boom week for those artists involved with the show.
Chris Stapleton rounded out the night with the
final performance with “Fire Away.” Stapleton took home trophies for Male Vocalist,
New Male Vocalist, Album (Traveller) and Song of the Year (“Nobody to Blame”).
TRAVELLER (Mercury/Universal Music
Group) vaulted by 149% to 59,223
copies sold and ruled Top Country Albums for a 17th week and the set now has a
49-week total of 1,158,900. It was the #1 highest selling album in America this
chart frame as compared to Kanye West’s No.1 Billboard 200 album which saw pure
album sales of 28,003.
The
ACMs paid tribute to the late Joey Feek with a standing ovation. Joey + Rory with HYMNS
(Farmhouse/Gaither/Capitol CMG) rose 18-15 on the Billboard 200 and held at #2
Country selling 21,032 copies (#7 Billboard Top Albums; 8-week total of 296,200.
The set continued to reign on both Top Christian Albums and Music Video Chart for
an eighth.
A new Joey+Rory
compilation ALBUM COLLECTION (Walmart Exclusive; $15.88) (3CD) 36
songs which includes albums THE LIFE OF A SONG, Album #2 and HIS AND HERS made
a debut at #10 (#192 Billboard 200)
selling 4,100 copies. It was the only new debut on the top 25 this chart frame.
Yes, Carrie Underwood's performed her hit new single, “Church Bells,” and looked
stunning in a sheer, metallic silver, one-sleeved
Sanyae Demure dress. Her STORYTELLER lifted 74-29 on the Billboard
200, 6-3 Country (9,500 sales; up 98%; 24-week total 554,000
Sam
Hunt sang "Make You
Miss Me" on the show and MONTEVALLO lifted 29-20 on the BB200 slipping 3-4
Country but increased sales (7,739 sales; up 16% 76-week total 1,099,100)
Thomas Rhett won Single Record of the Year for
“Die A Happy Man” his first-ever ACM award win. His TANGLED UP set rose 31-16
BB200 set fell 4-5 Country (7,332 sales; up 34%; 28-week
total 348,900).
In her second chart frame Margo Price with her debut LP, MIDWEST FARMER’S DAUGHTER (Third Man) fell 10-19 Country selling around 2,500 copies down 62% (2-week total 6,500)
Pledge Allegiance to the
Hag!
HAGGARD
REMEMBERED: Mr. Merle Haggard, who passed away April 6 at
age 79, posthumously claimed giant gains in multiple metrics. His album sales
soared by 692% to 22,000 for the week; his song sales bound by 2,050% to
87,000; and his on-demand audio and video streams vault by 1,389% to 16.4
million.
Haggard,
who achieved 38 Hot Country Songs No.1s, the third-most in the chart’s history,
and 16 leaders on Top Country Albums (second-best), bowed at Nos.1 and 2 on the
Country Catalog Albums chart with 20
GREATEST HITS (5,575 sold) and 40 GREATEST HITS, V. 1 (4,241 sales),
respectively.
On
the Billboard 200 the late country
songwriter legend debuted with four titles: #75 (20 Greatest Hits), #88 (40
Greatest Hits, V. 1), and #139 (The Essential Merle Haggard: The Epic Years; 2324
were pure sales; #7 Re-Entry on Country Catalog Chart).
On Top 200 Album Sales 16 BIGGEST HITS logged
at #191 (1,947 sales; #11 Re-Entry Country Catalog Chart)
Outside
Top 50 Country albums
Lubbock,
TX based Flatland Cavalry with HUMBLE FOLKS an energetic band with a blend
of Country-Folk-Americana made a debut at #38
Country selling 1,100 copies. Vocalist and chief songwriter Cleto Cordero’s honest,
smooth songwriting revolves around the vernacular world of West Texas that he’s
constructed with dusty, sun-soaked character sketches, brooding
self-evaluations, and candid love songs that all have the ability to turn into
singalong anthems. Flatland Cavalry straddles that line between the Panhandle
and the badlands of West Texas with their bright, earthy country ballads and
gritty folk ramblers.
Watch “February Snow” the first single released.
Critical
reception for Flatland Cavalry’s Humble Folks:
11 Tracks/ Time: 42:38 Country: Americana Amazon UK
- UK iTunes - Amazon.com
- CD Baby
Saving Country Music (Rating: 1 3/4 of 2 Guns Up | 8.5/10) …The songs from the top Texas artists are not
just a way to pass the time, they’re the wings of stories that will take
listeners to somewhere well beyond the methodical drone of their everyday
lives. In short, you better have the ability to change people, mend hearts, and
make grown men weep, or you might
songwriting, but harmonious
appeal in the music, are probably fair as well, making for songs that are both
sensible and substantive, and can draw large crowds from resonating with a wide
range of country listeners....But the singer and songwriter is a cat named
Cleto Cordero, and he started the band a few years back with roommate and
drummer Jason Albers. They added Jonathan Saenz on bass, Reid Dillon on electric
guitar, and a fiddle player named Laura Jane, and Flatland Cavalry was born..
Flatland Cavalry has the songs, and it also has the players. But most
importantly, it has that Texas soul so many stretch to attain, yet few capture.
And this makes them a band worth listening to now, and watching for in the
future.
Farce The Music From the wistfulness of "A Good
Memory" to the driving introspection of "Devil Off My Back," the
sentimental wanderlust of "Traveler's Song" to the sad-sack [An
individual whose very presence lowers the tone in the room] lamenting of
"Goodbye Kiss," Humble Folks is a tour-de-force of emotions and
textures. .."Easy on the ears, heavy on the heart" reads the
description on Flatland Cavalry's website, and that couldn't be more accurate.
Their sound is an easy going mix of red dirt country, pop melodies, laid back
swing, and heart worn folk....And there's so much fiddle. Lord, but I love me
some fiddle and I love Laura Jane's fiddling. It's all a perfectly accessible
approach but one that doesn't scrimp on the craftsmanship and
songwriting....And there's so much fiddle. Lord, but I love me some fiddle and
I love Laura Jane's fiddling. It's all a perfectly accessible approach but one
that doesn't scrimp on the craftsmanship and songwriting.
Texas Music Pickers (Rating: Very Positive) The 11-track production offers fans a serving of the progression that
has taken place since the band’s studio virginity. Most notable is the growth and evolution in
the songwriting from their debut EP.
While we were fans of the EP, Cordero shows a more profound and
insightful mind-set in his penmanship this go around; that’s impossible not to
notice. I wouldn’t quite call it a
transformation, but rather an evolution.
It still appears to be the same writer as “Come May”, but this one is a
little wiser, a little deeper, and much more complex. The Midland Texas native
dives under the surface of casual encounters and summertime love in this new,
more exploratory collection of songs. He
offers introspection, hypothetical romance, bitter heartbreak, and a variety of
topics that range from being a “coyote”, to the temptation of vices, to
traveling the state of Texas....We love the boldness in the experimental title
track, “Humble Folks”. The amped up effects,
mixed with the old-timey rhythm, and energetic chorus give it such a unique
flavor, you can’t help but remember it.
It takes a play or two to get the feel of it, then it easily becomes one
of your favorite tracks! It was a
courageous step to produce this and make it the title track and we like the
cojones [The Mexican/puerto rican/cuban/south american way to say balls,
"have the balls to"]! We think
the decision definitely paid off for them!...I am a sucker for drunk, in the
dark corner of a bar, heartbreak songs, and “Goodbye Kiss” gives me every bit
of anguish I look for in those types of tracks!
The agonizing lyrics over the crying fiddle licks, transpose the hurt in
the bottom of Cordero’s heart in to the listener’s! ....Our *Pick* of the album
is “Stompin’ Grounds”! This
boot-stomping, sing-along has an infectious rhythm and sings about simplistic
beauty of the nostalgia we experience in our own “stompin’ grounds”.
Year-To-Date
Albums
6,155,000 (Physical sales 4,033,000
(down 9%) + Digital sales 2,123,000 (down -15.1%)) which is 8.7% down at the same point in 2015 (6,741,000
sales)
Year-To-Date
Digital Tracks
25,391,000 down 19.8% at the same point in 2015 (31,659,000)
Billboard Hot Country Songs
(Chart issue week of April 23, 2016)
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:
Tim McGraw with “Humble and Kind” (McGraw/Big Machine) crowned Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart (dated April 23), as it rose 4-1. The ballad was performed by McGraw
at the 51st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards (April 3), broadcast on CBS,
complete with a string section, recreating the uplifting vibe of the recording.
“Tim delivers again, as only the best do,”
Big Machine Label Group president/CEO Scott Borchetta told Billboard. “He never stops looking and never stops
creating, becoming one of the most prolific artists of his generation. I spoke
to him shortly after this song surfaced and he knew he found something
incredibly important. Then, seeing him at the ACMs … I’ve never seen him so
energized.”
Following
McGraw’s performance, “Humble” hiked by 69% to 64,000 downloads sold in the
week ending April 7, according to Nielsen Music (slipping 1-2 on Country
Digital Songs). It also hits the Country Streaming Songs top 10 (13-7) with a
26% burst to 2.1 million U.S. streams. It retreated 10-11 on Country Airplay
but with a 9% gain to 27.2 million in audience.
“Humble”
is a landmark Hot Country Songs No.1 for McGraw, becoming his 26th leader,
lifting him past Dolly Parton (25) and into a tie with Alan Jackson for the
seventh most No.1s dating to the chart’s 1958 inception as an all-encompassing
genre ranking place. George Strait reigns with 44 leaders.
Notably,
the Lori McKenna-penned “Kind” is the first Hot Country Songs No.1 written
by just one person in more than four years.
‘IDOL’
TALK: Trent Harmon, the 15th and final winner of Fox’s American Idol, made a debut at
No.33 with “Falling” (19/Big
Machine), co-written by (perhaps former) Idol judge Keith Urban. With 23,000
downloads sold, the track entered Country Digital Songs at No.16. Additionally,
Harmon’s versions of Justin Timberlake’s “Drink You Away” and ZZ Top’s
“Sharp
Dressed Man” sold 6,000 and 5,000, respectively.
Hot County
Songs
** No.1 (1
week) ** “Humble And Kind” Tim McGraw
** Airplay
Gainer ** No.4 “Somewhere On A Beach” Dierks
Bentley
** Digital
& Streaming Gainer ** No.7 “Lights Come On” Jason Aldean
** Hot Shot
Debut ** No.33 “Falling” Trent Harmon
Debut
No.40 “I'll Be The Moon” Dierks Bentley
feat. Maren Morris
Debut
No.44 “Rock On” Tucker Beathard
Billboard Country Airplay (Chart issue week of April 23, 2016)
Cole
Swindell with “You Should Be Here” (Warner
Brothers/Warner Music Nashville) topped Country Airplay for a third week,
despite a 1% loss to 45.513 million. The song logged 8,130 radio plays
(-284)
Meanwhile, in its 44th week, Lee Brice with “That Don’t Sound Like You” (Curb)
entered the Country Airplay top 10 (11-10; 27.2 million, up 9%). Only five
songs have completed longer trips to the top tier than Brice’s eighth top 10,
with one by Brice: his 2010 No.3-peaking “Love You Like Crazy,” which took 46
weeks. Chase Bryant’s “Little Bit of You” (Red Bow) (5-4) set the mark when it
reached the top 10 in its 47th week (March 19).
Country
Airplay
***
No.1 (3 weeks) *** " You Should Be Here” Cole
Swindell 45.513 million audience (-0.434 million) / 8,130 radio plays (-284)
**
Most Added ** No.21 “Wasted Time” Keith
Urban (45 ADDS)
** Most
Increased Audience ** No.30 “Rock On” Tucker
Beathard 5.53 million audience gain
**
Hot Shot Debut ** No.58 “Said No One Ever” Jana
Kramer
Debut
No.59 “Beer Can In A Truck Bed” Old
Dominion
Billboard Country Digital
Singles Chart
(Chart issue week of April 23, 2016)
Post-ACM
awards sales bumps impacted the chart.
Jason Aldean scored a #1 debut with his
new single "Lights Come On"
(Broken Bow). It also landed at No.10 on the all genre Billboard Digital Songs.
After
The ACM Entertainer of the year winner performed his new single, “Lights Come
On” at the award festivities, the track launched at No.1 on Country Digital
Songs (70,000), marking his sixth leader on the list. On Hot Country Songs,
“Lights” leapt 43-7, becoming his 24th top 10.
Tim
McGraw with “Humble and Kind” (McGraw/Big
Machine/Big Machine Label Group) fell 1-2 (#21-#11 Digital Songs; 64,000 sales;
12-week total 355,000).
Blake
Shelton with “Came Here to Forget” (Warner Bros./
WMN) rose 5-3 (44,000 sales; #31-#21 Digital Songs; 5-week total 213,000)
ACM co-host Dierks Bentley with “Somewhere On A Beach" lifted
slipped 6-4 (40,000 sales; up 27%; #32-23 Digital Songs; 12-week total 287,000)
Thomas
Rhett with his ACM award winning song “Die A Happy Man” rose 12-5
(40,000 sales; #47-24 Digital Songs; 29-week total 1,345,000)
Keith
Urban with “Wasted Time” rocketed 34-6 (39,000
sales; 2-week total 48,000)
Chris
Young duet with Cassadee Pope rose 11-7 (37,000 sales; up 54%; #45-#28
Digital Songs; 12-week total 250,000).
Cole
Swindell with “You Should Be Here” was down 7-8 (35,000 sales; up 16%; #34-#30
Digital Songs; 17-week total 495,000)
Maren
Morris with "My Church" (Columbia
Nashville/Sony Music Nashville) dropped 3-9 32,981 sales; up 7%; (32,000 sales; down 3%; #29-#33 Digital Songs;
13-week total 382,000).
Brett
Eldredge with “Drunk On Your Love” retreated 4-10 (30,000 sales;
30-35 Digital Songs; 17-week total 374,000)
Kenny
Chesney who showcased “Noise” (Blue Chair/Columbia
Nashville) at the ACM awards slumped 2-24 selling 15,000 copies; down 55%, 49,000 2-week
total.
Kelsea
Ballerini was another artist to perform her latest single “Peter
Pan” at the ACMs and it sold 19,000 copies to debut in the top 30 at #19
(46,000 total)
Country Aircheck MEDIABASE
Chart
11
April 2016
Congrats
to Cole Swindell, Kevin Herring, Kristen Williams, Katie Bright and the entire WMN promotion staff on earning a second
week at No.1 with “You Should Be Here.”
The
song logged 8,577 radio spins (-310)
and 59.225 million audience
impressions (1.271) with 27423 Total
Points from 159 tracking stations for the tracking week April 3 to April 9, 2016
and published chart April 11th 2016.
Kudos
to Josh Easler and the Arista team
on landing 64 adds for Carrie Underwood’s “Church Bells,” topping the week’s "Most Added" board.
Adds
TW
Adds/ Total Adds/ Artist / Song Label
64 108
Carrie Underwood / Church Bells 19
Recordings/Arista Nashville
40 132
Jason Aldean / Lights Come On Broken
Bow Records
34 38
Craig Campbell / Outskirts Of Heaven
Red Bow Records
30 51
Brett Young / Sleep Without You Republic
Nashville
21 150
Keith Urban / Wasted Time Hit Red
Records/Capitol Nashville
10 102
Kelsea Ballerini / Peter Pan Black
River Entertainment
For
a detailed report check out Country Aircheck Weekly Issue 494 - April 11, 2016 [PDF File]
For the very latest up to the minute Mediabase Chart (Past 7 Days) go here
- www.mediabase.com
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