Country
Billboard Chart News January 2, 2017
RIAA
Certifications
Multi-Platinum
= 2,000,000 plus units
Platinum =
1-million units
Gold = 500,000
units
Note: For ALBUM certifications
the RIAA base their figures on the number of units
SHIPPED together with, track sales and on demand audio/ video stream units and
NOT based purely on traditional retail sales.
1,500 on-demand audio and/or video song streams = 10 track sales = 1 album sale.
150 on-demand streams = 1
track download
PEARL
RECORDS artist Garth Brooks led the RIAA GOLD and PLATINUM
honours in December 2016 for the
Country format. Brooks received PLATINUM Album honors for "Gunslinger," "RPMs," "The Covers," "The
Road," "Cowboys,"
"Turn It Up," "Anthems," "Midnight Fire," and "Old School."
RIAA
GOLD Album honours:
Dierks Bentley for FEEL THAT FIRE (2009), HOME (2012),
and RISER (2014),
Joey + Rory for the album HYMNS
RIAA
Platinum Single honours went to:
JASON ALDEAN for "Big
Green Tractor" (Release Date: March 31, 2009)
Jana Kramer for "I Got
The Boy." (Release Date: Jan 27, 2015)
RIAA
GOLD Single honours were awarded to:
Chris Stapleton for "Traveller,"
"Fire Away," "Nobody To Blame," and "Parachute;"
Craig Morgan for "That's
What I Love About Sunday" (Release Date: March 8, 2005) and "International
Harvester;" (Release Date:
Oct 31, 2006)
Blake Shelton for "She's
Got A Way With Words” (Release Date: May 20, 2016; Gold | Dec 9, 2016;
0.5 million).
In
Brief: Billboard Country Charts (Chart issue week of January 14, 2017)
Country Album
Chart ** No.1 (3 weeks) ** The Ultimate Collection Garth
Brooks
Hot Country
Songs ** No.1 (9 weeks) ** “Blue Ain’t Your
Color” Keith Urban
Country Airplay
** No.1 (1 week) ** “Blue Ain’t Your Color” Keith Urban
Country Digital
Songs ** No.1 (9 weeks) ** “Blue Ain’t Your Color” Keith Urban
Billboard Top 200 / Country
Album Chart News
(Chart issue week
of January 14, 2017)
The
Billboard 200 chart measures multi-metric album consumption, which includes
traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent
albums (SEA).
Pentatonix spent a second week atop
the Billboard 200 with A PENTATONIX CHRISTMAS, as the set
earned 101,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Dec. 29, 2016 -- the
final tracking week of the calendar year.
The
closing tracking frame of 2016 includes the two days leading up to Christmas
Day and the holiday itself, so it was fitting that a Christmas album led the
tally. While A Pentatonix Christmas’ total units earned for the week were down
by 51%, its traditional album sales were greater than any other album: it sold 82,000 copies (down 55%), far ahead
of the No.2 selling set of the week, Bruno
Mars’ 24K MAGIC, with 55,000 copies (down 39%).
George Michael’s two-CD compilation Twenty
Five re-entered the chart at No.12 in the wake of his death on Christmas Day.
This surpassed the album’s initial peak position (No.23) when it was first
released in 2008. (The album title is a reference to the fact that 2008 was the
25th anniversary of Michael’s debut with Wham!)
Michael’s
1987 solo debut album, Faith, re-entered the chart at No.18. The album logged
12 weeks at No.1 in 1987-1988, and an additional 12 weeks at No. 2. (It spent
eight weeks of those weeks at No. 2 behind the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.) It
went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.
The
death of George Michael on Dec. 25 prompted a big sales surge for his albums
and digital songs in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music. In the week ending
Dec. 29, sales of Michael’s music -- including with his former duo, Wham! --
increased 2,678 percent (to 477,000
albums and songs, rounded to the nearest thousand) as compared to the previous
week (17,000). Of the 477,000 total, album sales equalled 48,000 (up from just
1,000 the week previous), while song sales totalled 429,000 (an increase from
16,000 a week earlier).
In
total, Michael/Wham! earned 103,000 equivalent album units during the tracking
frame -- a gain of 2,071 percent compared to the 5,000 units earned a week
earlier.
Nielsen
Music: Consumption Up 3%, Thanks To 76% Increase In Streaming
NIELSEN
MUSIC released its 2016 U.S. YEAR-END REPORT for the 12-month period ending Dec
29th, 2016, confirming that the music industry experienced steady and
consistent growth last year, with overall volume up 3% over 2015, fueled by
a 76% increase in on-demand audio streams.
On-demand audio streams
surpassed 250 billion streams in 2016, and overall on-demand streams (including video) have
reached 431 billion. On the other
hand, there were sales decreases in
nearly all formats, particularly digital sales. However, the growth in
streaming was more than enough to off-set the declines, which resulted in a
positive year for the music business.
Drake’s VIEWS was the leader in total volume (albums + track
equivalent albums + audio on-demand streaming equivalent albums), followed by Adele’s "25" (released in
2015) and Beyonce’s
"Lemonade."
For
the second year in a row, "25" led the year’s album sales in the
U.S., marking only the second time in history that the same album has been the
top seller in two consecutive calendar years (the first being Adele’s 21 album
in 2011 and 2012).
TOP BILLBOARD 200 ALBUMS
Year-End 2016:
This year's most popular albums across all genres, ranked by album sales as well as audio on-demand streaming activity and digital sales of tracks from albums as
compiled by Nielsen Music.
#1. Adele, ‘25’: Adele's third
album sold 1,684,000
copies in 2016,
on top of the 7,441,000
it sold in 2015
(when it also ranked No. 1 for the year). This is the fourth time that Adele
has had the year’s top-selling album.
In
2016, for the first time since Nielsen Music began tracking music sales in
1991, not one album sold 2 million
copies (in traditional album sales).
Only six albums debuted with
over 200K
in album sales in their first week in 2016 (there were 13 such cases in 2015),
led by Drake with 852K first week sales. Other albums to surpass the 200K mark
in their first week include "Lemonade" (485k), "4 Your Eyez
Only" (363k), Metallica’s "Hardwired … To Self Destruct" (282k),
Frank Ocean’s "Blonde" (232k) and "Starboy" (209k).
Vinyl LP sales, which have reached an
all-time NIELSEN MUSIC-era (post 1991) high volume of 13 million units, increased for the 11th consecutive year in 2016.
The top vinyl LP of the year was Twenty
One Pilots'’ "Blurryface," with David Bowie’s "Blackstar" and "25" finishing
close behind.
The biggest song of the year in terms of total activity
(sales + audio streaming equivalents) was
Drake’s “One Dance,” followed by Chainsmokers'
(f/HALSEY) “Closer” and Rihanna's
(f/DRAKE) “Work.”
Topping
the Digital Songs Sales charts this year were Justin Timberlake's “Can’t Stop The Feeling!,” “Closer” and Flo Rida's “My House.”
#1 Selling Albums
2015:
Adele - “25” 7,441,000
2014:
Taylor Swift - “1989” 3,661,000
2013:
Justin Timberlake - “The 20/20
Experience” 2,430,000
2012:
Adele - “21” 4,410,000
2011:
Adele - “21” Copies sold: 5,824,000
2010
Eminem - Recovery 3,415,000 (#2 were
Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now 3,089,000 sales)
2009
Taylor Swift - Fearless 3,217,000
2008
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III 2,874,000
2007
Josh Groban - Noel 3,699,000
2006
High School Musical “Soundtrack”
3,719,071
2005
Mariah Carey - Emancipation of Mimi
4,968,606
2004
Usher - Confessions 7,978,594
2003
50 Cent - Get Rich Or Die Tryin'
6,535,809
2002
Eminem - The Eminem Show 7,807,925
2001
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory
4,812,852
2000
NSYNC - No Strings Attached
9,936,104
1999
Backstreet Boys - Millenium
9,445,732
1998
Titanic Soundtrack 9,338,061
1997
Spice Girls - Spice 5.3m
1996
Alanis Morisette - Jagged Little Pill
7.38m
1995
Hootie - Cracked Rear View Mirror 7m
1994
The Lion King Soundtrack 10m
1993
The Bodyguard Soundtrack 11,376,951
1992
Billy Ray Cyrus - Some Gave All
4,832,000
1991
Garth Brooks - Ropin' The Wind 4m
DIGITAL
Digital continued to be the
dominant sales platform, but digital
sales are declined much more rapidly than physical sales as tech-savvy
consumers move onto streaming platforms.
--
For the first time in over a decade, physical
albums actually became a larger share of total album sales than they were
in the prior year.
For
the first time in history, the internet/mail-order/venue
store group, led by Internet retailers and concert ticket bundles, has
become the largest share of physical sales, ending a nine-year period where
mass merchant outlets were the leading driver of physical album sales.
While
song sales showed steep declines
(-25%) vs. last year, song consumption
(sales + audio streaming equivalents at a rate of 150 streams to one song sale)
continued to be strong with growing
contribution from audio streams.
In
2016, 15 songs eclipsed the three million volume mark (song sales + audio
streaming equivalents), despite only
five songs reaching over two million in sales. The song with the most
volume for the year was Drake’s “One
Dance,” which had over 5.5 million song sales + audio streaming equivalents and
64% of that volume came from audio streams.
Prince also sold 5.4 million digital songs, giving him the highest sales volume
of the year (albums + track equivalents), just out-selling Drake and Adele. The day after his death was announced, Prince
sold over one million digital songs and over 200k digital albums
2016
Nielsen Music SOUNDSCAN DATA:
* Figure believed to be 616,957,000
**
Figure believed to be 615,266,000 a 7.4% increase over 1993
2016
Nielsen Music SOUNDSCAN DATA:
Notes:
Track
equivalent albums (where 10 track downloads equal one album + album sales)
Song
Streams
**(251.86
billion were audio-only)
***
(144.9 billion were audio-only)
Streaming
equivalent albums (SEA)
(1,500
song streams equal one album)
* (2,000
streams equal one album)
*
“The industry calculates that a stream equivalent album (SEA) equals 1,500
streams. (That’s an average payout of half a cent per stream, totalling $7.50.
In 2013, the average payout per stream was $.0.00375, thus in that year 2,000
streams equalled one SEA unit.)” – Ed Christman.
Billboard Top Country
Albums
(Chart issue week of January 14, 2017)
(Chart issue week of January 14, 2017)
Garth Brooks with The Ultimate Collection led the Billboard Top Country
Albums Chart for a
third week selling another 30,700 copies with a 3-week chart frame total 420,800.
He
posted 4 albums sets in the top 11, additionally Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood with
their seasonal set CHRISTMAS TOGETHER
held at #4 selling 15,000 copies
(7-week total 183,000), Garth Brooks with GUNSLINGER was down one 7-8
(9,500 sales; 5-week total 69,600) and Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood with
their 2-CD package bundle Christmas
Together / Gunslinger fell 6-11
(7,700 sales; 7-week total 81,700)
Miranda Lambert with THE WEIGHT OF THESE WINGS moved 3-2 selling 17,600 copies (6-week total 240,700)
Chris Stapleton with TRAVELLER fell 2-3 (17,400
sales; 87-week total 1,744,200)
Keith Urban with RIPCORD held at #5 (12,200
sales; 34-week total 412,100)
Jason Aldean with THEY DON'T KNOW moved 8-6
(12,100 sales; 16-week total 305,400)
Kane Brown with his self-titled set KANE BROWN rose 10-7 (10,200 sales; 4-week total 81,100)
Florida Georgia Line with DIG YOUR ROOTS rose 12-9
(9,400 copies; 18-week total 324,800)
Kenny Chesney with COSMIC HALLELUJAH fell 9-10
(8,900 sales; 9-week total 175,800)
Top Selling 2016 Country Christmas
Albums
(Up to Charts published
Jan 3, 2017)
#1 CHRISTMAS TOGETHER - Garth Brooks &
Trisha Yearwood (debut 24,979 sales; 6 week total 183,000)
Additionally
the 2-Disc combination package CHRISTMAS
TOGETHER/GUNSLINGER (debut 12,800
sales), sold 81,700 copies in 6 weeks.
#2 GLOW - Brett Eldredge (debut 15,844
sales; 7 week total 94,800)
#3 IT MUST BE CHRISTMAS - Chris Young (debut
7,581 sales; 9 week total 70,500)
#4 'TIS THE SEASON - Jimmy Buffett (debut 11,178
sales; 8 week total 61,000 est)
#5 THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL - Rascal
Flatts (debut 8,410 sales; 9 week total 64,400)
#6 TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS - Jennifer
Nettles (debut 7,859 sales; 8 weeks total 55,400)
#7 A VERY KACEY CHRISTMAS - Kacey
Musgraves (debut 8,612 sales; 8 week total 55,100)
#8 FULL OF (EVEN MORE) CHEER - Home Free (debut
5,100 sales; 6 week total 38,500)
#9 CHRISTMAS TIME BLUE - Loretta Lynn (debut
3,319 sales; 10 week total 29,400)
Year-To-Date Albums
26,104,000 (Physical sales 18,018,000
(down -9.0%) + Digital sales 8,086,000 (down -19.4%)) which is 11.1% down at the same point in 2015
(29,356,000 sales)
Year-To-Date Digital Tracks
85,025,000 down -23.6% at the same point in 2015 (111,287,000)
Top Selling Country Albums
Year-End 2016
This
year's most popular albums across all genres, ranked by album sales as well as audio
on-demand streaming activity and digital
sales of tracks from albums as compiled by Nielsen Music.
When executives look back on shifts in country music in future
years, they might well point to 2016 as the moment when the transition was most
evident.
Country
streaming
grew by 57%
Country track
downloads
shrunk 23%, according to Nielsen Music, indicating that the genre's customers
are increasingly comfortable with the music industry's new paradigm of
accessing music instead of owning it.
At the same time, Chris
Stapleton's TRAVELLER became the
first country album in three years to sell 1 million units from January
through December, suggesting that consumers haven't completely abandoned the
idea of possessing a collection of songs.
Joey + Rory's HYMNS (Gaither
Music Group) the gospel album released on Feb. 12, 2016, just weeks
before Joey Martin Feek's March 4 death from cancer,
tallied nearly 518,000 sales to finish at No. 3 on the Nielsen list and #2 on
the Billboard Year-End Chart . That
figure includes sales at Christian retail outlets. Without that volume,
the project would have ranked at No. 5 with 410,000 sales.
Chris Stapleton - Traveller (Release Date:
May 5, 2015 | Total 1,744,200 sales at Jan 3, 2017)
The
album has sold 1,059,000
copies in 2016
(as of Jan 3, 2017), on top of 685K it sold in 2015 (when it ranked No. 14 for
the year). This is the highest ranking for a country album since 2013, when
Luke Bryan’s 'Crash My Party' was the year’s No. 3 album. This was Stapleton’s
first solo album; it’s the year’s top debut album. 'Traveller' was a 2015
Grammy nominee for Album of the Year. TEA rank: No. 4.
#2 Country; #54 Top Billboard
200;
Joey+Rory - Hymns That Are Important to Us
(Release date: February 12, 2016 | Total 517,700 sales at Jan 3, 2017)
#3 Country; #41 Top Billboard
200; #11 (All Genres)
Blake Shelton - If I’m Honest (Released
Date: May 20, 2016 | Total 539,700 sales at Jan 3, 2017)
The
album has sold 540K copies since its release in May. This is the second time
that Shelton has had an album in the year’s top 15. 'Based on a True Story…'
was No. 9 for 2013. TEA rank: No. 12.
Top-Selling
Country Albums, 2016
Position/ Artist/ Title/ Units sold in 2016
1)
Chris Stapleton, TRAVELLER, 1,085,000 (release date May 5, 2015; total sales1,744,200)
2) Blake Shelton, IF I’M HONEST, 540,000
3) Joey + Rory, HYMNS, 518,000
4) Garth Brooks, THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION, 421,000 (release date Nov 6, 2007; total sales 2,643,100)
5) Keith Urban, RIPCORD, 412,000
6) Florida Georgia Line, DIG YOUR ROOTS, 325,000
7) Jason Aldean, THEY DON’T KNOW, 305,000
8) Sam Hunt, MONTEVALLO, 284,000 (release date Oct 27, 2014)
9) Thomas Rhett, TANGLED UP, 266,000
10) Carrie Underwood, STORYTELLER, 256,000 (release date Oct 23, 2015; total sales 721,700)
2) Blake Shelton, IF I’M HONEST, 540,000
3) Joey + Rory, HYMNS, 518,000
4) Garth Brooks, THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION, 421,000 (release date Nov 6, 2007; total sales 2,643,100)
5) Keith Urban, RIPCORD, 412,000
6) Florida Georgia Line, DIG YOUR ROOTS, 325,000
7) Jason Aldean, THEY DON’T KNOW, 305,000
8) Sam Hunt, MONTEVALLO, 284,000 (release date Oct 27, 2014)
9) Thomas Rhett, TANGLED UP, 266,000
10) Carrie Underwood, STORYTELLER, 256,000 (release date Oct 23, 2015; total sales 721,700)
TOP SELLING
COUNTRY ALBUMS RELEASED IN 2016 (at Jan 3, 2017)
Artist/ Album/ Total Sales (Jan 3, 2017)/ Release Date
Blake Shelton If I'm Honest 539,700 (May 20, 2016)
Joey+Rory Hymns 517,700 (Feb 12, 2016)
Garth Brooks The Ultimate Collection 420,800 (Nov 11,
2016)
Keith Urban Ripcord 412,100 (May 6, 2016)
Florida
Georgia Line Dig Your Roots 324,800 (Aug 26, 2016)
Jason Aldean They Don't Know 305,400 (Sept 9, 2016)
Cole Swindell You Should Be Here 241,500 (May 6, 2016)
Miranda
Lambert The
Weight Of These Wings 240,700 (Nov 18, 2016)
Dierks Bentley Black 225,700 (May 27, 2016)
Kenny Chesney Cosmic Halleujah 175,800 (Oct 28,
2016)
Maren Morris Hero 156,800 (June 3, 2016)
Sturgill
Simpson A
Sailor's Guide To Earth 155,800 (April 15, 2016)
Hillary
Scott/Scott Family Love Remains 119,200 (July 29, 2016)
Dolly Parton Pure & Simple 106,400 (Aug 19, 2016)
Jon Pardi California Sunrise 98,000 (June 17,
2016)
Aaron Lewis Sinner 96,500 (Sept 16,
2016)
Brothers
Osborne 1,200
94,600 (Jan 15,
2016)
Justin Moore Kinda Don't Care 94,400 (Aug 12, 2016)
Kane Brown Kane Brown 81,100 (Dec 2, 2016)
Dan+Shay Obsessed 78,300 (June 3, 2016)
Granger Smith Remington 73,500 (March 4, 2016)
Garth Brooks Gunslinger 69,600 (Nov 25, 2016)
Steven Tyler We're All Somebody From
So...50,700 (July 15, 2016)
Blackberry
Smoke Like
An Arrow 35,600 (Oct 14, 2016)
Drake White Spark 35,000 (Aug 19, 2016)
Cody Jinks I'm Not The Devil 32,800 (Aug 12, 2016)
William
Michael Morgan Vinyl 19,400 (Sept 30, 2016)
Eric Church On The Rocks: Live 25,200 (Nov 4, 2016)
Billboard Hot Country Songs
(Chart issue week of January 14, 2017)
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:
Keith
Urban with “Blue Ain’t
Your Color” (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville) ruled Country Airplay, it also paced both Hot Country Songs (which combines airplay, sales and streaming
data) and Country Digital Song Sales
for a ninth week each. The track leads the latter list with an 88 percent surge
to 48,000 downloads sold in the week ending Dec. 29, 2016 (a frame bolstered by
holiday shopping). Since its release, “Blue” has shifted 651,000 downloads to
date.
On Country Streaming Songs, “Blue” held at No.6 (4.2
million U.S. streams, essentially even week over week) following a three-week
run at No. 1 in November and December 2016.
Urban’s simultaneous commanded three of Billboard’s main
country charts (among Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay, Country Digital Song
Sales and Country Streaming Songs) marking the first time that an act has
tripled up at No.1 since Florida Georgia Line did so with “H.O.L.Y.” On Aug. 6,
2016, the duo’s smash led Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay and Country
Streaming Songs.
Urban’s three-chart
rule in the same frame is the first for a solo male since Thomas
Rhett’s “Die a Happy Man” crowned Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay and
Country Digital Song Sales for five consecutive weeks starting Jan. 9, 2016.
Hot County
Songs
** No.1 (9 weeks)
** “Blue Ain’t Your Color” Keith Urban
** Digital Gainer
** No.2 “May We All” Florida
Georgia Line feat. Tim McGraw
** Airplay
Gainer ** No.7 “A Guy With A Girl” Blake
Shelton
Streaming
Gainer ** No.13 “Kill A Word” Eric
Church feat. Rhiannon Giddens
** Hot Shot Debut ** No.49 “Lipstick” Runaway June
Debut
No.50 “What I’m Thankful For (The Thanksgiving Song) Garth Brooks feat. James
Taylor
Most-Streamed
Country Songs, 2016
1) Florida Georgia Line, "H.O.L.Y.,"
175,400,000
2) Thomas Rhett, "Die a Happy Man," 156,400,000
3) Sam Hunt, "Break Up in a Small Town," 127,300,000
4) Sam Hunt, "Take Your Time," 95,400,000
5) Chris Stapleton, "Tennessee Whiskey," 93,000,000
6) Sam Hunt, "Make You Miss Me," 92,900,000
7) Luke Bryan, "Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day" 85,500,000
8) Tim McGraw, "Humble and Kind," 83,800,000
9) Sam Hunt, "House Party," 79,800,000
10) Thomas Rhett, "T-Shirt," 78,700,000
2) Thomas Rhett, "Die a Happy Man," 156,400,000
3) Sam Hunt, "Break Up in a Small Town," 127,300,000
4) Sam Hunt, "Take Your Time," 95,400,000
5) Chris Stapleton, "Tennessee Whiskey," 93,000,000
6) Sam Hunt, "Make You Miss Me," 92,900,000
7) Luke Bryan, "Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day" 85,500,000
8) Tim McGraw, "Humble and Kind," 83,800,000
9) Sam Hunt, "House Party," 79,800,000
10) Thomas Rhett, "T-Shirt," 78,700,000
Country Year End Charts
• Top Country Artists Chris Stapleton
• Top Country Artists — Duo/Group Florida Georgia Line
• Top Country Artists — Female Carrie Underwood
• Top Country Artists — Male Chris Stapleton
• Top New Country Artists Maren Morris
• Top Country Labels Universal Music Group Nashville
• Top Hot Country Songs Artists Florida Georgia Line
• Top Hot Country Songs “H.O.L.Y.,”
Florida Georgia Line
• Top Hot Country Songs Labels Capitol Nashville
• Top Hot Country Songs Producers Joey Moi
• Top Hot Country Songs Publishing
Corporations Sony/ATV Music
• Top Hot Country Songs Publishers
WB Music Corp., ASCAP
• Top Hot Country Songwriters Ashley Gorley
• Top Country Airplay Artists Jason Aldean
• Top Country Airplay Songs “Head Over Boots,” Jon Pardi
• Top Country Airplay Labels Capitol Nashville
• Top Country Digital Songs Artists
Thomas Rhett
• Top Country Digital Songs Titles
“H.O.L.Y.,” Florida Georgia Line
• Top Country Albums Titles
Traveller, Chris Stapleton
• Top Country Albums Artists Chris Stapleton
• Top Country Albums Labels Universal Music Group Nashville
• Top Country Albums Distributors Universal
• Top Country Indicator Songs “Head
Over Boots,” Jon Pardi
• Top Americana/Folk Albums
Traveller, Chris Stapleton
• Top Country Tours Luke Bryan
• Top Country Catalog Albums
Artists Merle Haggard
• Top Country Catalog Albums Titles
The Legend of Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash
Billboard Country Airplay (Chart issue week
of January 14, 2017)
Keith
Urban banked his 21st No.1 on Billboard’s Country
Airplay chart (dated Jan. 14), as “Blue Ain’t Your Color” (Hit
Red/Capitol Nashville) climbed 2-1 in its 20th week, increasing by 18%
to 44.8 million audience impressions in the week ending Jan.1, according to
Nielsen Music.
Written by Steven Lee Olsen, Hillary Lindsey and Clint Lagerberg, the
retro sound of “Blue” is a departure from most of Urban’s past hits. “Despite
the waltz time signature, I feel it is more of a soul song,” Urban told
Billboard. “We worked for a long time in the studio to get the feel and
simplicity to where it is. Certainly when [parent album] Ripcord came out [in
May], it was definitely one of the tracks that people responded to immediately.
Even when we kicked off the tour [in June], it was getting the same
reaction live. I loved it the first time I heard it [and] I love playing it
live, so it’s really the best feeling when it connects the way that this one
has.”
As “Blue” rules Country Airplay, it also paced both Hot Country Songs
(which combines airplay, sales and streaming data) and Country Digital Song
Sales for a ninth week each.
As Urban earns his 21st Country Airplay leader, a run that began
with “But for the Grace of God” on Feb. 24, 2001, he moves into sole possession
of sixth place for the most No.1s in the history of the chart, which
launched Jan. 20, 1990. He passes Brooks & Dunn and Toby Keith, each with
20 No.1s. Tim McGraw leads all artists with 29 Country Airplay chart-toppers,
followed by Kenny Chesney (27), Alan Jackson, George Strait (24 each) and Blake
Shelton (22).
“It’s a bit surreal, quite frankly,” says Urban of his legacy of leaders.
“I just wanted to make music and hoped radio would play it so I could have
songs in my set that people knew. And, really, that hasn’t changed.”
“Blue” is the third Country Airplay No.1 from Ripcord, Urban’s eighth
studio album, following “Wasted Time” (July 9, 2016) and “Break on Me” (March
12). The album’s debut single, “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16,” peaked at
No.2 (Sept. 26, 2015). After arriving as his fifth No.1 on Top Country Albums
(May 28, 2016) with 93,000 copies sold, the set has sold 412,000 copies to
date; on the Jan. 14-dated chart, RIPCORD held at No. 5 (12,000).
In the ever-changing landscape of country, how does Urban keep his music
fresh? “We were talking the other day about the pursuit of happiness,” he says.
“Someone said what it’s really about is staying curious. I like that.
That’s very much where I exist. I’m curious about musical expression in all its
forms [and] where mine can go. And I have a real passion for new music, in
particular. The possibilities are endless.”
Country
Airplay
***
No. 1 (1 week) *** “Blue Ain’t Your Color” Keith
Urban 44.792 million audience (+6.936 million) / 7,779 radio plays (+1260)
** Most
Increased Audience ** No.4 “A Guy With A Girl” Blake Shelton 6.949 Million audience gain
**
Most Added ** No.20 “Fast” Luke Bryan
(56 ADDS)
**
Hot Shot Debut ** No.56 “Burn The Bed” Candi
Carpenter
Billboard Country Digital
Singles Chart
(Chart issue week of January 14, 2017)
Keith
Urban with “Blue Ain’t
Your Color” (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville) at #1 (26-27 Digital songs) led Country Digital Song Sales for a ninth
week his 24th chart frame selling another 48,000 downloads for a 24-week total
of 660,000.
Florida Georgia Line featuring Tim McGraw with
“May We All” rose 4-2 (#43-44 Digital
Songs; 30,000 sales; 24-week total 448,000) as FGL’s smash hit H.O.L.Y jumped 13-7 in its 34th chart frame (26,000 sales; 34 week total
1,379,000).
Little Big Town with the award-winning
smash hit “Girl Crush” rebounded 19-3 (46 Re-Entry Digital Songs; 30,000 sales; 84-week total 2,306,000) as their
recent single “Better Man" (writer Taylor Swift) fell 2-6 (27,000 sales; 11-week total 283,000)
Brett Young with “Sleep Without You” climbed 5-4
(#47 non-mover Digital
Songs; 29,000 sales; 29-week total 343,000)
Jon Pardi with “Dirt On My Boots”
fell 3-5 (#39-50 Digital Songs; 28,000
sales; 14-week total 191,000)
Michael Ray with “Think A Little Less” moved 10-8
(21,000 sales; 2-week total 96,000)
Thomas Rhett with “Star of the Show”
slipped 8-9 (21,000 sales; 13-week
total 148,000)
Brett Eldredge with “Wanna Be That Song” rounded out the top 10 with a 6-10 fall (20,000 sales; 30-week total
300,000)
Top Selling Country Digital
Songs Year-End 2016
Top-Selling
Country Digital Songs, 2016
1) Florida Georgia Line, "H.O.L.Y.",
1,379,000
2) Tim McGraw, "Humble and Kind," 1,023,000
3) Thomas Rhett, "Die a Happy Man," 910,000
4) Maren Morris, "My Church," 830,000
5) Dierks Bentley, "Somewhere on a Beach," 697,000
6) Cole Swindell, "You Should Be Here," 681,000
7) Keith Urban, "Blue Ain’t Your Color," 660,000
8) Jon Pardi, "Head Over Boots," 626,000
9) Dan + Shay, "From the Ground Up," 607,000
10) Kelsea Ballerini, "Peter Pan," 604,000
2) Tim McGraw, "Humble and Kind," 1,023,000
3) Thomas Rhett, "Die a Happy Man," 910,000
4) Maren Morris, "My Church," 830,000
5) Dierks Bentley, "Somewhere on a Beach," 697,000
6) Cole Swindell, "You Should Be Here," 681,000
7) Keith Urban, "Blue Ain’t Your Color," 660,000
8) Jon Pardi, "Head Over Boots," 626,000
9) Dan + Shay, "From the Ground Up," 607,000
10) Kelsea Ballerini, "Peter Pan," 604,000
Country Aircheck MEDIABASE
Chart
2
January 2017
Congratulations
to CAPITOL NASHVILLE artist Keith Urban and the UMG Nashville & Capitol
Nashville promotion teams for scoring the #1 spot on the Mediabase Country singles chart with
"Blue Ain't Your Color."
The single is his 22nd career chart-topper and the fourth #1 from his RIPCORD
album, following the two-week hit "Wasted Time" in June & July 2016,
"Break On Me" (Feb 2016), and "John Cougar, John Deere, John
3:16" (Sept 2015)
Additionally,
congratulations to Atlantic/Warner Music
Nashville artist Brett Eldredge for scoring the #1 spot on
the Mediabase Country singles chart with "Wanna Be That Song" during the Week of Monday, Dec 19th 2016.
The single is his sixth consecutive chart-topper, following "Drunk On Your
Love" (March 2016), "Lose My Mind" (Oct 2015), "Mean to
Me" (March 2015), "Beat Of The Music" (June 16, 2014), and
"Don't Ya" (Aug 2013).
Kudos to Columbia Nashville/Blue Chair artist Kenny Chesney for earning 60 MEDIABASE adds with his single, "Bar At The End Of The World," making it the Most Added" single at Country radio this chart week.
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