Country
Billboard Chart News June 27, 2016
In
Brief: Billboard Country Charts (Chart issue week of July 9, 2016)
Country Album
Chart ** No.1 (1 week) CALIFORNIA
SUNRISE Jon Pardi
Hot Country
Songs ** No.1 (8 weeks) ** H.O.L.Y. Florida
Georgia Line
Country Airplay
** No.1 (1 week) ** "Wasted Time” Keith Urban
Country Digital
Songs ** No.1 (8 weeks) ** H.O.L.Y. Florida
Georgia Line “
The
Billboard 200 chart measures multi-metric album consumption, which includes
traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent
albums (SEA).
Drake with VIEWS continued to
reign atop the Billboard 200 Top 200
Album Chart (BB200), as the set spent an eighth consecutive week at No.1
and thus became one of only four hip-hop albums to spend at least eight weeks
at No.1. Meanwhile, Red Hot Chili Peppers' "The Getaway" started are
No.2
VIEWS
debuted in the penthouse, and has yet to depart the No. 1 slot. In the week
ending June 23, it earned another 124,000 equivalent album units (up 2%). Of
that sum, 33,000 were in pure album
sales (up 25%).
Views’
popularity is still driven largely by the streams of its tracks, as its SEA
units for the week totalled 70,000. (In turn, that number equates to 105.1 million streams for the songs on
the album -- as each SEA unit is equal to 1,500 streams.)
Still,
Views earned a significant sales gain -- its first weekly sales increase --
thanks to sale pricing of the album at digital retailers late in the tracking
week. At sellers like iTunes, Amazon MP3 and Google Play, the album’s price was
lowered to $6.99. (It was a promotion Drake’s record label, Republic Records,
advertised via Twitter.)
With
an eighth week at No. 1, Views has the most weeks at No.1 for an album by a man
since 2000, when Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP also earned eight weeks (all
consecutive) at No.1 (charts dated June 10-July 29, 2000). The last album to
spend at least eight weeks at No.1 was Adele’s 25 in late 2015 and early 2016,
with 10 non-consecutive frames atop the list.
Jon
Pardi with CALIFORNIA SUNRISE (Capitol
Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville), the second LP from, arrived at #11
Billboard 200, #8 Top Album Sales, #7 Digital Albums and blew in at No.1 on Billboard’s
Top Country Albums chart (dated July 9), selling 23,800 copies in
its first week (ending June 23), according to Nielsen Music.
On the all-genre, consumption-based Billboard 200, the set started at No.11 with 29,000 equivalent album units.
On the all-genre, consumption-based Billboard 200, the set started at No.11 with 29,000 equivalent album units.
Pardi landed his first Top Country Albums leader after his Jan 2014 debut,
WRITE YOU A SONG, entered at No.3 (its peak), selling 17,050 copies in its first
week. His second appearance on the chart, 2015’s EP The B-Sides, 2011-2014,
featuring material recorded in the sessions for his first LP, debuted and
peaked at No.26 (2,400 sales).
Concurrently, the lead single from California Sunrise, the traditional sounding
“Head Over Boots,” enters the Country Airplay top 10, marking another first for
the 31-year-old from Northern California.
It lifts 11-9 in its 39th week, gaining by 9% to 30 million audience
impressions. In Pardi’s four prior Country Airplay chart appearances, he
previously peaked as high as No.11 with “Up All Night” in February 2014.
Pardi, who co-produced the new album and co-wrote seven of its 12 tracks,
talked to Billboard from Madison, Wisc., on June 25 just before a concert. “I’m
kind of speechless about it,” he said of his No.1 album debut.
“You always go in to record the
best album you can, but I never really think about chart numbers in advance. I
never like over-thinking things, so this is amazing.”
Pardi, who grew up listening to country artists like Alan Jackson, George
Strait and Garth Brooks, is not shy about touting that his music leans
traditional. “I was going for a
classic-yet-modern sound,” he said. “You’ll
even hear some country & western in there.”
Critical
reception for Jon Pardi’s California Sunrise:
Nash
Country Daily California
native Jon Pardi plays both kinds of music—country and western. It’s an old
joke from the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers, where brothers Jake and Elwood
Blues walk into a honky-tonk and ask the owner what kind of music is played
there, and she replies, “Oh, we got both kinds, we got country and western.”
Jon’s new work
project, California Sunrise, stays true to his traditional-sounding roots with
a stellar blend of country instrumentation, including bright fiddle, sharp
steel and real drums—not synthesized drum loops. But California Sunrise also
has a modern spin that’s fit for country radio. The album’s lead single, “Head
Over Boots,” is already a Top 15 hit.
Taste
Of Country (Rating: Positive)..There’s a
certain tempo that Jon Pardi works best in on California Sunrise. It’s a mellow
stampede that leaves room for his personal storytelling and naturally rowdy
inclinations. The best songs on the singer’s sophomore album reside there.
“Cowboy Hat” is one example. Like a few others on California Sunrise, the song
finds Pardi putting a Bakersfield twist on a song George Strait might have
recorded 20 years ago....“Head Over Boots” and the title track are the two
standout tracks. A ballad like “Can’t Turn You Down” sounds more like a Luke
Bryan song than something Pardi chose himself, but that’s not to say he can’t
sing heartache. Key Tracks: “Head Over Boots,” “Cowboy Hat,” “She Ain’t In
It,” “California Sunrise”
Saving
Country Music (Rating: 1 1/2 Guns Up (6.5/10) If
country music is ever to be saved, it’s not going to be by the hands of just
one artist. Chris Stapleton can win all the awards he wants, but without a more
broad movement represented by multiple artists doing well, and real inroads
into country radio, progress remains mostly symbolic.That is where someone
like
Jon Pardi comes in. A major label artist who’s had some decent success on the
radio and still holds to the country roots he showed up to Nashville with, he’s
one to root for if you’re looking for a return of country music to the glory
days of yore.
Just the cover
of California Sunrise is like a provocation to the norms of today’s country
with it’s retro fonts and horizon hues, and Jon Pardi looking like some
reincarnation of Robert Redford in The Electric Horseman. Then the album starts
out with a song called “Out of Style” that’s about how the truest things in
life never bow to trends, and you find yourself right at home as a true country
listener....But don’t expect to hear a bunch of heady songwriting material. Jon
Pardi is not a traditionalist like Brandy Clark or early Sturgill Simpson, who
will barrel you over with story and rhyme. Pardi is more the working man’s
country music artist, more Strait and early Haggard, not wanting to scare
anyone off by getting too deep. California Sunrise is more about trying to
forget your problems after 40 hard ones a week, and speaks specifically to the
paycheck to paycheck mentality....The first thing you hear on “Dirt On My
Boots” might be a lonesome fiddle, but the usual suspects of poor songwriting Rhett
Akins, Jesse Frasure, and Ashley Gorley do their worst on this song, despite
Pardi and the band doing their best to country up the track. ...There are also
songs like “Cowboy Hat” and “Night Shift” that in an ideal world would set the
pace for what modern country should sound like, and the album ends with
arguably the strongest track, “California Sunrise,” which just like the opening
song “Out of Style,” goes too long in a good way, allowing the band to stretch
out and actually get some licks in.
Jon Pardi is
not a generational singer in the sense that his voice is one in a million. But
he has his own particular style that feels warm and authentic, and his name is
in the songwriting credits of 8 of the 12 songs, so you feel like he did get
his stamp on this record, and not just a rubber one. California Sunrise is not
going to fundamentally change anything about today’s mainstream country music
on its own. It’s not ground-breaking, or so genuinely authentic that we’ll be
pointing back at it years from now as where the tide turned. But it’s a step in
the right direction for the mainstream, a footsoldier in the fight to return
the music back to the roots, and a fairly enjoyable listen.
Chris Stapleton with TRAVELLER held at #2 Country
(10-13 Billboard 200) selling 20,200 copies (60-week total 1,416,100).
Keith
Urban with RIPCORD (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville/ Universal Music Group
Nashville) rose 25-15
Billboard 200 (4-3 Country; 7-week total 189,800
Blake
Shelton with IF I’M HONEST (Warner Bros./Warner Music
Nashville) fell 1-4 (9-17 Billboard 200) selling 16,700 copies (5-week
total 268,800)
Thomas Rhett with TANGLED UP (Valory | BMLG) climbed 12-6 (28-18 BB200) selling 11,600
copies (39-week total 415,600)
Dierks
Bentley with BLACK (Capitol Nashville/Universal Music
Group [UMG] Nashville), fell 5-7 Country (20-28 BB200) with sales of and
selling 9,400 copies (4-week total 129,200)
Former
No.1 Maren Morris with HERO (Columbia
Nashville/Sony Music Nashville) fell 6-10
Country (30-55 BB200) selling 6,500 copies (3-week total 53,500)
Joey + Rory with HYMNS (Farmhouse/Gaither | Capitol CMG) in its 19th frame slipped 10-11 Country (108-116 BB200) selling
6;000 sales; 19-week total 407,400).
Second Week Chart Frames:
Various
Artists: NOW That’s
What I Call Country, Volume 9 (Sony Music/Universal/UMe) fell 29-42 on the
Billboard 200 & 3-5 Country selling 12,700 copies (down 18%; 2-week
total 28,300)
Brandy
Clark with BIG DAY IN A SMALL TOWN (Slate Creek/
Warner Brothers) from No.84 fell off the Top 200 and slipped 8-24 on Top
Country Albums selling 2,300 copies (down 69%; 2-week total 9,700).
Frankie
Ballard with EL RIO (Warner Bros./Warner Music
Nashville) from No.68 fell from the Billboard 200 and plummeted 9-29 Country
selling 1,900 copies (down 71%; 2-week total 8,600).
Drew
Baldridge with DIRT ON US
(Cold River/ Select O Hits) fell 11-26 selling
2,200 copies (down 62%; 2-week total 7,900)
Colvin & Earle with their self-titled (Universal Music Group)
slumped 13-30.
LoCash with FIGHTERS (Reviver) marked the duo’s
third appearance on Top Country Albums and its highest debut and rank, starting
at No.14 (#131 Billboard 200) with 4,200 copies sold. The pair’s 2013
debut, LoCash Cowboys (Average Joes Entertainment), bowed at No.97 on the BB200
and No.25 Country (4,493 sales, slightly higher
than that of Fighters) and 2015’s EP I Love This Life began at No. 38 (1,000).
Current single “I Know Somebody” stepped 32-30 on Country Airplay (7.7 million,
up 12%). “I Love This Life” peaked at Nos. 2 and 5 on Country Airplay and Hot
Country Songs, respectively, the pair’s highest peak on both surveys.
Critical
reception for LoCash’s The Fighters:
Roughstock (Rating: Very
Positive) ...Life is all about the
moments where you have a choice to make. Do I keep going or do I move on. For
LOCASH’s Preston Brust and Chris Lucas, there is no other choice but to keep
going. Much like their good friend Chris Janson,
LOCASH’s hard work paid off
earlier this year when “I Love This Life” became their first #1 hit (and
recently RIAA Gold-certified) and serves as the lead-off hitter for The
Fighters. The ear worm is still one of country radio’s most-played songs and is
backed up by the hit “I Know Somebody,” a song which hit the Top 30 just this
week...... I actually didn’t think that LOCASH would be able to top the
impactful “Shipwrecked” as a song that should be their third single.......A
cohesive album from track one to eleven, LOCASH’s The Fighters is a record
which has the duo poised for stardom they seemed destined to achieve from the
moment they started recording together all those years ago. This one is
definitely one for The Fighters and clearly deserves consideration as one of
2016’s best country album releases.
Sounds
Like Nashville (Rating: Very Positive) ...LOCASH are the definition of fighters. The country duo, made up of
Preston Brust and Chris Lucas, have been clawing their way at country radio for
years, first seeing success as songwriters with hits like Keith Urban’s No. 1
“You Gonna Fly” and Tim McGraw’s Top 10 “Truck Yeah.” Now, LOCASH are
celebrating their own victory with their newly certified Gold single “I Love
This Life” and a full-length album on Reviver Records, fittingly titled The
Fighters....While the danceable tracks are plenty on The Fighters, so are the
ballads. Tracks like fan favorite “Shipwrecked” has the duo singing of their
wives. The song includes soaring piano accompaniment and driving percussion
alongside an endearing storyline. A song that Brust’s wife walked down the
aisle to, the piano ballad has Brust singing of how the only thing he needs
when shipwrecked on an island is his wife.....Fighters themselves, LOCASH’s
latest release combines Brust and Lucas’ talents as songwriters and ability for
creating music that sticks with the listener long after the album is played.
The duo, who are known for dancing in their own concerts, provide a release
that segues effortlessly from the fun tracks to songs with more depth. After a
long battle to get their songs heard, LOCASH more than succeed on The Fighters.
Taste
Of Country The title
track closes the album, and while Brust sings of working class heroes, he may
as well be singing about he and Lucas. The two men have fought for their
success as much as any artist in recent history. This Bruce
Springsteen-inspired anthem is a fitting close for an album over a decade in
the making. Key Tracks: “Ring On Every Finger,” “I Love This Life,” “God Loves Me
More,” “The Fighters”
Singer-songwriter Elizabeth Cook with EXODUS OF VENUS, her first album since
2010’s WELDER arrived at a career-best No.23 on Top Country Albums with
2,500 copies sold. On Americana/Folk Albums, Exodus of Venus launches at No.15 (marking
her first appearance on the list).
Her album BALLS (released May 1, 2007; 31 Tigers) peaked at #72 Country
and WELDER (released May 11, 2010; 31 Tigers) reached #43.
Elizabeth Cook didn’t quite know what she was
doing. But she knew there were songs, and they had to get out. Six even years since
her critically acclaimed WELDER, as well as much personal tumult, there were
songs that needed to be born.
“If anything, (Exodus) is a pledge of
allegiance for the bad girls and the Homecoming Queens who got caught in a
scandal. It’s a bill of rights, and a testimony for those good girls who got
away with more than they should have.
“I’m slow, and getting slower,” laughs the
lanky blond, unapologetically. “I’m taking my time, really drilling down. There
were nine versions of ‘Methadone Blues.’ I’ve never done that before. I love
that entrenchment and dedication – and I wasn’t going to do any less than what
needed to be done.”
From Dexter Green's (also the album's
producer) opening electric guitar, equal parts foreboding and fraught, “Exodus
of Venus” hurls a churlish witness to erotic upheaval and the drives that
subsume our best notions. “Exodus” is an exhortation of sexual surrender that
pushes past the brink of reason.
Critical
reception for Elizabeth Cook’s Exodus Of Venus:
Allmusic (Rating: 4 STARS) It's obvious from the greasy opening blues vibe in "Exodus of
Venus," the title track of Elizabeth Cook's first album in six years, that
something is very different. Produced by guitarist Dexter Green, this set is
heavier, darker, and harder than anything she's released before. Its 11 songs
are performed by a crack band that includes bassist Willie Weeks, drummer Matt
Chamberlain, keyboardist Ralph Lofton, and lap steel guitarist Jesse Aycock.
The tunes are drenched in swampy electric blues, psychedelic Americana, gritty
R&B, and post-outlaw country....She celebrates the contradiction, pain, and
liberation she's not only lived through but co-exists with. No quarter is given
to guilt or shame. As a result, her music reaches an entirely new level.
Ultimately, this set offers tough glimmers of empathic hope to those feeling
lost and afflicted, whether or not the trauma is self-inflicted or
circumstantial. Exodus of Venus is an achievement both redemptive and
transformative.
Pop
Matters (Rating: 8/10)..There
aren’t many happy moments on Exodus of Venus, but what would one expect from
titles such as “Dyin’”, “Slow Pain”, “Methadone Blues” and “Broke Down in
London on the M25”. The songs offer the solace of the this too has passed/this
too will pass, the future lies ahead. That’s not much consolation to living in
a world of death, illness, addiction, and other serious troubles. It takes more
than “balls”, as Cook used to sing, to get through life. Being tough is not
enough. The thing is, Cook doesn’t know what saved her either. She just
survived. It wasn’t God, or music, or love that rescued her—although she
doesn’t knock ‘em; she just managed to keep going....Cook’s mostly melancholy
music contains rough diamonds whose brilliance needs to be brought out in the
cutting.
Outside
Top 25 Country Albums
Luke
Bell with his 10 track Honky-Tonk, Country, Americana self-titled
Luke Bell (BILL HILL RECORDS; Amazon
UK | iTunes | Amazon.com) made a debut
at No.47 Country selling 800 copies.
On Facebook he shares: I
ended up back in Wyoming with a stray pit-bull doing ranch work for a while and
writing songs for a second record. Now I’m living in Nashville making music-
you’ll most likely catch me at Santa’s bar down of Bransford playing
Honkey-Tonk songs with Santa’s Ice-Cold Pickers on Sunday Nights from 7-9.
Luke Bell has
reason to pride himself on authenticity. His songs sound like they could have
been birthed in Bakersfield, or for that matter, the expanse of the West Texas
plains. Unblemished by pretence or the need to adapt to current trends, Bell
offers a sound that would likely elicit a nod from Hank Williams, Roger Miller,
Bob Wills or any other old master as well. Honky tonk and humility pervade his
eponymous effort along with ample amounts of competence and credence. Like his
current contemporaries Dwight Yoakam, Webb Wilder and the Mavericks, he shows a
genuine reverence for his roots, without having to fall back on imitation,
novelty or any hint of a false facade. - No
Depression
Dolly
Shine with WALKABOUT (Vision
Entertainment) made a debut at #50 Country.
The project was successfully crowd funded using the Pledge Music platform
with 218 pledgers raising 125% of the goal.
Deep in south Texas there is an old Spanish term that has been around for
ages called “Dale Shine.” Its literal translation means to “give it shine,” but
in today’s slang style it simply means “give it gas” and/or “go for it.”
Further up north, in Stephenville to be exact, hails a band so heavily mired in
that credo that their stages are nearly overrun with fans pressed hard up
against the edges, eyes wide, hanging on every word. In the Americanized
version, they call themselves Dolly Shine, and their “hell bent for leather”
performance attitude has reigned in music fans so fast over the last year that
they have outgrown many a venue - Facebook
Critical
reception for Dolly Shine’s Walkabout:
Whether it’s the tale of troubled souls meeting their end (Blackbird,
Snakeskin Boots), embattled relationships (Closing Time, Twist the Knife,
Anywhere Close to Fine), or escaping one’s circumstances by traveling through
the heartland (Rattlesnake, Hitchhikin’), don’t expect anything in the way of
euphemisms, but rather a direct version of the truth, whether you like it or
not.
The no-holds-barred lyrics, rich music, and captivating stories make
“Walkabout” the best project from the Stephenville 5-piece to-date! - Texas
Music Pickers
YEAR-TO-DATE
Year-To-Date Albums
11,652,000 (Physical sales 7,614,000
(down 9%) + Digital sales 4,038,000 (down -14.7%)) which is 9.0% down at the same point in 2015 (12,807,000
sales)
Year-To-Date
Digital Tracks
45,470,000 down 21.9% at the same point in 2015 (58,242,000)
Billboard Hot Country Songs
(Chart issue week of
July 9, 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:
Florida
Georgia Line with “H.O.L.Y.”
(Republic Nashville) rules the list for an eighth frame. It also topped Country
Digital Songs (69,000 downloads sold, down 4%) and Country Streaming Songs (6.3
million U.S. streams, down 1%) for an eighth week each.
On Country Airplay, the track hits the top five (8-5),
surging by 14% to 35.9 million in audience.
On Hot Country Songs, Eric Church
notched his 12th top 10, as “Record Year” (EMI Nashville) pushed 11-9 in his 19th frame, supported by its 10-6 jump on Country
Airplay (34.4 million, up 13%).
Hot County
Songs
** No.1 (8 weeks)
** “H.O.L.Y.” Florida Georgia Line
** Airplay
Gainer ** No.3 “Church Bells” Carrie
Underwood
** Digital
Gainer ** No.6 “Head Over Boots” Jon
Pardi
** Hot Shot
Debut ** No.19 “Ain't No Stopping Us Now” Kane
Brown
** Streaming
Gainer ** No.26 “Without A Fight” Brad
Paisley featuring Demi Lovato
Billboard Country Digital Singles
Chart (Chart issue week of
July 9, 2016)
Florida
Georgia Line (Tyler Hubbard, Brian Kelley) with “H.O.L.Y.”
(Republic Nashville) remained at No.1 for the eighth week on Billboard’s
Country Digital Singles Chart and fell 3-7 on the all genre Digital
Songs Chart with sales of 69,000 downloads (8-week total 651,000).
Kane Brown with “Ain't No Stopping Us Now” made a debut at #2 (#17 Digital Songs) with 43,000 download sales.
Tim
McGraw with “Humble and Kind” (McGraw/Big
Machine/Big Machine Label Group) slipped 2-3 (#23-31 Digital Songs; 28,000
sales; 23-week total 737,000).
Dan+Shay with "From The Ground Up" fell 3-4 (#34-38 Digital Songs; 23,000 sales; 20-week
total 307,000)
Luke Bryan with "Huntin' Fishin' & Loving Every Day"
held #5 (#38-39 Digital Songs; 23,000
sales; 16-week total 345,000).
Jon Pardi with “Head Over Boots” lifted 9-6
in his 34th frame (#47-40 Digital Songs; 23,000 sales; 34-week total 447,000)
Carrie Underwood with "Church Bells" fell 4-7 (#35-42 Digital Songs; 21,000
sales; 12-week total 221,000).
Kelsea Ballerini with “Peter Pan” (Black River) slipped 7-8 (#45-46 Digital Songs; 20,000 sales; 12-week total 222,000)
Thomas Rhett with “T-Shirt” (Valory | BMLG) fell 6-9
(#39-50 Digital Songs; 20,000 sales; 23-week total 449,000)
Jason Aldean with "Lights Come On" dropped 8-10 (19,000 sales; 12-week total 261,000)
Outside the
Top 10:
Maren
Morris with "My Church" (Columbia
Nashville/Sony Music Nashville) fell 10-15 15,000 sales; 24-week total 641,000)
Country Aircheck MEDIABASE
Chart
27
June 2016
Congrats
to Keith Urban, Royce Risser, Bobby Young, David Friedman, Shane Allen and the Capitol promotion staff on the No. 1
ascension of "Wasted Time."
The
song logged 8,274 radio spins (+721)
and 56.868 million audience
impressions (+3.739) with 26496
Total Points from 158 tracking stations for the tracking week June 19 to June
25, 2016 and published chart June 27th 2016.
The
song is the third chart-topper from Urban's current album RIPCORD.
This
is Urban's 21st career #1 single, and third #1 single off his album,
"Ripcord," following "Break On Me" (Feb 29) and "John
Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16" (Sept 25, 2015)
Kudos to Allen and the Columbia
promo team on landing 62 adds for Maren Morris' "80s Mercedes". The song topped the week’s "Most Added" board
 |
| TEAM Columbia Nashville - Maren Morris Most Added in Country radio 62 station ADDS for 80s Mercedes 17 June 2016 |
For
a detailed report check out Country Aircheck Weekly Issue 505 - June 27, 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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