Country Billboard Chart News July 23, 2018

In Brief: Billboard Country Charts (Chart issue week of July 28, 2018)

Country Album Chart ** No.1 (7 non-consecutive weeks) ** THIS ONE’S FOR YOU Luke Combs

Hot Country Songs ** No.1 (34 weeks) ** “Meant To Be” Bebe Rexha feat. Florida Georgia Line

Country Airplay *** No.1 (2 weeks) *** “Get Along” Kenny Chesney

Country Digital Songs ** No.1 (5 non-consecutive weeks) “Simple” Florida Georgia Line

Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Chart News (Chart issue week of July 28, 2018)

The Billboard 200 chart measures multi-metric album consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

For a third straight week, Drake with SCORPION holds at No.1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart (BB200). The set earned 260,000 equivalent album units in the week ending July 19, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 29,000 were in traditional album sales.

Second-Smallest Sum for the Week’s Top-Selling Album: Conversely, reflecting the continued decline of album sales, as Scorpion stays steady at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, it's also stationary at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart for a third frame. The latter list ranks albums based on traditional album sales. Scorpion sold 29,000 copies in the latest tracking week (up less than 1 percent) and tallies the second-smallest sum for the week’s top-selling album since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991.

The smallest sales total ever for the week’s No. 1-selling album was actually notched by Scorpion a week ago, when it sold a handful of copies less than this week's total. Scorpion was able to squeak out a small gain in the week ending July 19, as its CD was released on July 13. The set was previously only available to purchase as a digital album. The CD debuts with 13,000 copies sold in the week ending July 19, while the digital album sold 16,000 (down 44 percent).

Closing out the new top 10 was Luke Combs’ THIS ONE’S FOR YOU, as it stepped 13-10 with 25,000 units (up 2 percent).

Billboard Top Country Albums (Chart issue week of July 28, 2018)

Top Country Albums now ranks the most popular country albums of the week, as compiled by Nielsen Music, based on multi-metric consumption (blending traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA), and streaming equivalent albums (SEA)).

10 digital track sales from an album = 1 track equivalent album (TEA) “sale”

1,500 on demand song streams from an album to one streaming equivalent album (SEA) “sale”.

Nielsen Music compiles the sales and streaming data. Billboard continues to publish pure album sales charts (subscription to billboard biz ), exclusively comprising Nielsen’s sales data.

Luke Combs with THIS ONE’S FOR YOU (River House/ Columbia Nashville/Sony Music Nashville) held at No.1 (#13-10 Billboard 200) to top the chart for a 7th non-consecutive week in his 59th chart frame.

6-week non-consecutive week No.1 Jason Aldean with REARVIEW TOWN (Macon/Broken Bow Records) moved 3-2 (22-21 BB200) in his 14th week.

Former No1 Dan + Shay with their self-titled album (Warner Bros./Warner Music Nashville) fell 2-3 (#20-23 BB200) in their fourth frame.

Kane Brown with his 10 non-consecutive week No.1 SELF-TITLED held at No.4 (#31 non-mover BB200) in his 85rd frame.

Chris Stapleton with TRAVELLER (MERCURY/ UMGN) rebounded 6-5 (#42-34 BB200) as his set From A Room: Volume 1 (Mercury/Universal Music Group Nashville) moved 21-20 (#153-157 BB200) and From A Room: Volume 2 rose 31-28 (off the Billboard top 200 for a second week) in its 33rd frame.

Former No.1 Thomas Rhett with LIFE CHANGES (Valory/Big Machine Label Group) fell 5-6 (#38-37 BB200) in his 45th frame.

Brett Young with self- titled BRETT YOUNG (BMLG) held at No.7 (#45-42 BB200) in his 75th week.

Chris Lane with his 14-track set- LAPS AROUND THE SUN (Big Loud Records | Amazon UK - UK iTunes - Amazon.com) made at debut at No.8 (#83 Billboard 200) & No7 on Country Album Sales list.

Produced by Joey Moi and recorded with a live band, Lane’s sophomore album features 14 tracks, including the first single “Take Back Home Girl” featuring Tori Kelly and also previously released songs “Old Flame” and “All the Right Problems.”

The new album warrants a lot of inspirations from sun-travelling icon Kenny Chesney, that Lane explains "When I recorded my first record I was still figuring it out, trying to figure out what kinda songs I wanted to write and I had a moment last year when I opened up for Kenny Chesney and I got to watch from a different perspective as an artist this time...I watched how he connected with people that night and how he made people feel, how he made me feel and just the atmosphere and everything about the show and his songs and what they do. I ultimately realized that night I want songs that do the same exact thing, that make people feel the same way, that take you somewhere. That was my ultimate goal when I was writing for this record."  There's no doubt that Chesney should be honoured that his performance, style and music instilled this drive in a young artist to go out and strive for that same feeling.

The 14-track collection continued to impact fans and critics as Sounds Like Nashville claimed “Laps Around the Sun Reflects Growth, Clarity” and One Country praised his “Country Evolution is Evident” on the album.

Your Life In A Song (by James Daykin; Rating; Negative)… Lane’s output, however, remains generally clichéd and rather signposted. His lyrics are quite one-dimensional in their ‘chase girl, drink with girl, sh*g girl, get dumped by girl, sh*g girl again’ repetitive nature and I’d even go as far as saying that some of the messages on the album, in these post #MeToo days, are quite worrying in what we are telling our young men is acceptable behaviour in both their sexual conduct and their attitude towards women. The first four songs on, ‘Laps Around the Sun’, are the best – the most interesting and the ones with any type of depth whatsoever. ‘...‘Laps Around the Sun’ is an album lacking in any sort of moral compass – it’s a hook up album, like many of the songs on it – a one-time affair. It might scratch an itch for the night when you listen to it but you’ll wake up feeling guilty in the morning and return to the security, safety and integrity of your Chris Janson or Sugarland or Brothers Osborne albums. You’ll try and banish the experience to the back of your mind and hope that you’ll never have recourse to bump into him out there ever again.

Former No.1 Luke Bryan with WHAT MAKES YOU COUNTRY (Capitol Nashville | UMGN) held at No.10 (#92-95 BB200) in his 32nd frame.

Outside the Top 10

In his sixth frame Dierks Bentley with THE MOUNTAIN (Capitol Nashville | UMGN) rose 18-14 (#127-121 BB200).  

Former No.1 Keith Urban with GRAFFITI U (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville) fell 9-18 (#84-141 BB200) in his 12th week.

Morgan Wallen with IF I KNOW ME (Big Loud Records) dropped 19-22 (#144-162 BB200) in his twelfth frame.

Kacey Musgraves with GOLDEN HOUR (MCA Nashville | UMGN) advanced 26-23 (#190-173 BB200) in her 16th frame.   

FALLING SHORT of Top 50:

On the Country Album Sales list (pure sales; old methodology)

Rodney Crowell with his 12-track set ACOUSTIC CLASSICS (2018 RC1 Records | Amazon UK - UK iTunes - Amazon.com) made a debut at No.24. 
Marking the debut release from his new label, RC1, Crowell’s 19th solo effort includes acoustic versions of 12 songs from his 40+-year career. The project includes songs that were later covered by Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, The Oak Ridge Boys, Bob Seger and Tim McGraw.

Karen Waldrup with her 11 track album JUSTIFIED (Waldrup Worldwide Records/The Fuel Music Amazon UK - UK iTunes - Amazon.com ) made a debut at No.26 on Country Sales.

New Orleans native, Karen Waldrup, is described as "a triple threat musician, songwriter and recording artist known for her thrilling performances and bold style of country music".

She has spent the last few years touring the world performing thousands of shows everywhere from Memphis, TN to Dublin, Ireland and is now a true viral sensation with her social media videos gaining mass appeal and more than 125 million views. She was a Nashville Rising Star finalist in 2015 and was previously named a GAC Top 25 Songwriter.

Karen’s new album, produced by award-winning producer Garth Fundis (Trisha Yearwood, Alabama, Sugarland, etc) features “a fresh new country sound meshed with the soulful nostalgia of Waldrup’s home state of Louisiana”. The first single from the new record, “Warm In Your Sunshine”, charted in the Top 100 on the Billboard Country Chart in September 2017.

Year-To-Date Albums

8,860,000 (Physical sales 6,301,000 (down -16.6%) + Digital sales 2,569,000 (down -30.4%) which is 21.2% down at the same point in 2017 (11,249,000 sales) 

Year-To-Date Digital Tracks
29,258,000 down 27.0% at the same point in 2017 (40,093,000)

Billboard Hot Country Songs (Chart issue week of July 28, 2018)

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:

Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line have chalked up a U.S. chart record by tying Sam Hunt for the longest run at the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs countdown.

Rexha's Meant To Be collaboration with the duo has spent 34 weeks at number one, after first hitting the summit in December (17), and the singer admited she had no idea the song would be such a smash when she recorded it.

"Meant to Be was truly unexpected, and I'm starting to find out that the best things in life are," she tells Billboard. "I'd never think a New York City girl like me, who grew up writing pop music, would stumble into the country world.

"I have my Florida Georgia Line collaborators and brothers? to thank for that. They've truly opened my world and taught me to believe."

Meanwhile, the success of the track on the 60-year-old Hot Country Songs chart extended Florida Georgia Line's record-breaking run at number one. The duo has now taken six songs to number one, spending 90 weeks there in total - six more than George Strait.

"We are absolutely blown away and extremely humbled to even be on the same chart as George Strait and some of our other heroes and country legends, so it's wild to see our songs total 90 weeks at number one," bandmember Brian Kelley stated. "It's really hard to wrap our brains around that, but it's also super-inspiring to get back in the studio and create more music for our fans."

Thomas Rhett banked his 11th top 10 on Hot Country Songs as “Life Changes” (Valory), the title track from his 2017 album, rose 12-10. It increased by 10 percent to 27.2 million audience impressions in the week ending July 22 and lifted 10-8 on Country Airplay.

Hot County Songs

** No.1 (34 weeks) ** “Meant To Be” Bebe Rexha feat. Florida Georgia Line

** Airplay Gainer” No.6 “Mercy” Brett Young  

** Digital Gainer/ Streaming Gainer ** No.16 “Desperate Man” Eric Church

** Hot Shot Debut ** No.45 “Love You Too Late” Cole Swindell

Billboard Country Airplay (Chart issue week of July 28, 2018)

Kenny Chesney with “Get Along” (Blue Chair/Warner Bros./WEA) paced Country Airplay for a second week (45.4 million, down 2 percent). His 30th No.1, the most of all artists, is his 20th multiweek leader.“Get Along” previews his album SONGS FOR THE SAINTS, due July 27.

Chris Lane with “Take Back Home Girl” (featuring Tori Kelly) (Big Loud) pushed 12-10 on Country Airplay, up 6 percent to 25.6 million impressions. Lane landed his third Country Airplay top 10, while Kelly collected her first in her first visit to the chart.

Country Airplay

*** No.1 (2 weeks) *** “Get Along” Kenny Chesney 45.365 million audience (-0.864 million) / 8,347 radio plays (-99)

** Most Increased Audience ** No.4 “Mercy” Brett Young +4.876 Million audience gain

** Most Added ** No.23 “Desperate Man” Eric Church (40 ADDS)

** Hot Shot Debut ** No.56 “One That Got Away” Michael Ray  

Debut No.58 “What Whiskey Does” Randy Houser

Debut No.60 “How Does It Sound” Dylan Schneider

Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart 

(Chart issue week of July 28, 2018)

Florida Georgia Line with “Simple” (BMLG) held at No.1 (#7 non-mover Digital Songs) for a 5th non-consecutive week atop the chart.

It was six places behind Drake with "Feelings" which spent a second week atop the Digital Song Sales chart, up by 29 percent to 115,000 downloads sold in the week ending July 19. The song is the first to sell at least 100,000 in a week since Ariana Grande's "No Tears Left to Cry," which arrived with 100,000 (May 5), and sports the highest weekly sum since his own "Plan" launched with 127,000 (Feb. 3).

Former 22 non-consecutive week No1 Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line with “Meant to Be" (Warner Bros. | BMLG) fell 4-6 (#13-25 Digital Songs; 12,000 sales).

Eric Church with “Desperate Man” the first single from Church’s same-titled album, due Oct. 5, debuted at No.2 on Country Digital Song Sales (20,000 sold). He earns his 13th top 10 on the tally and his second best start after “The Outsiders,” which entered at No. 1 in November 2013, marking one of his three leaders.

Brett Young with “Mercy” (BMLG) rose 5-3 (#20-17 Digital Songs; 14,000 sales).

Dan + Shay (Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney) with “Tequila” (Warner Bros. | WAR) fell 3-4 (#12-18 Digital Songs)

Jason Aldean feat. Miranda Lambert with “Drowns The Whiskey” (Macon | Broken Bow) climbed 6-5 (#25-23 Digital Songs) as Aldean’s “You Make It Easy” fell 13-14.

Kenny Chesney with “Get Along” held at No.7 (#27-30 Digital Songs).

Thomas Rhett with “Life Changes” rose 10-8 (#42-41 Digital Songs).

Morgan Wallen feat. Florida Georgia Line with “Up Down” (Big Loud) fell 8-9 (#33-42 Digital Songs).

Cole Swindell with co-penned track from his third full-length, All of It (due Aug. 17), arrived at No. 45 on Hot Country Songs and entered Country Digital Song Sales at No.10 (#43 New Entry Digital Songs; 8,000 sold), his ninth top 10.

Outside the Top 10

Luke Combs with “Beautiful Crazy” rose 12-11 (#44 Re-Entry Digital Songs).

Luke Bryan with “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset” fell 11-12 (#44-47 Digital Songs).

Kane Brown with “Heaven” (Zone 4 | RCA Nashville) fell 9-13.

Kenny Chesney with “Better Boat” (featuring Mindy Smith) was released July 13. It debuted at No. 22 on Country Digital Song Sales with 5,000 sold. The song marked Chesney’s 30th appearance on the chart and the first on any Billboard country ranking for Americana/folk singer-songwriter Smith.

Country Aircheck MEDIABASE Chart

July 23, 2018

Double down congrats to Kenny Chesney, Kristen Williams, Adrian Michaels and the WEA promotion team on landing a second week at No.1 with “Get Along.” The song is the first single from Chesney’s current album Songs For The Saints. Writers are Shane McAnally, Ross Copperman and Josh Osborne.

“Get Along” (Blue Chair/Warner Bros./WEA) held at No.1 logging 9,063 radio spins (-33) and 56.335 million audience impressions (-6.318 million) with 29259 Total Points from 158 tracking stations (158 ADDS) for the tracking week July 15 to July 21, 2018 and published chart July 23rd, 2018.

Kudos to Byron Kennedy and the Stoney Creek crew on securing 52 adds for Randy Houser’s “What Whiskey Does”. The song topped the "Most Added" board this chart week.

In celebration of Stoney Creek Records' Randy Houser being most-added at Country radio this week with his new single, "What Whiskey Does," All Access delivered bagels to the Stoney Creek Records staff. Pictured L-R: Stoney Creek Records Dir./National Promotion Heather Propper, Dir./Midwest Promotion Stan Marczewski, VP/Promotion Byron Kennedy, and Coord./Promotion Andrea Knipp; and All Access Nashville Editorial Asst. Athena Puharic

Year To Date Charts

Valory’s Thomas Rhett is the most-heard artist at Country radio, at least in terms of current airplay (titles that start the year as recurrent or gold are not included). Rhett’s airplay is driven largely by “Marry Me” and “Unforgettable,” which check in at Nos. 7 and 17, respectively, on the Top Songs list. Rounding out the top five are Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Brett Young and Jordan Davis.

The top 10 most-heard artists in 2018 so far are all male, with two groups – Old Dominion and Lanco – interspersed.

The most-heard female is Bebe Rexha at No.15, followed by Kelsea Ballerini at No.18.

The top new artist is Davis at No. 5 overall.

Top 10 Airplay Artists

1. Thomas Rhett 2. Luke Bryan 3. Blake Shelton 4. Brett Young 5. Jordan Davis

6. Old Dominion 7. Russell Dickerson 8. Kane Brown 9. Lanco 10. Jason Aldean

Top Airplay Songs

1 JORDAN DAVIS/Singles You Up (MCA)

2 KANE BROWN/Heaven (RCA)

3 BRETT YOUNG/Like I Loved You (BMLGR)

4 LUKE BRYAN/Most People Are Good (Capitol)

5 RUSSELL DICKERSON/Yours (Triple Tigers)

6 D.L. MURPHY/K. CHESNEY/Everything’s... (Blue Chair/Reviver)

7 THOMAS RHETT/Marry Me (Valory)

8 BRETT ELDREDGE/The Long Way (Atlantic/WMN)

9 BEBE REXHA f/FGL/Meant To Be (WBR/BMLGR)

10 SCOTTY MCCREERY/Five More Minutes (Triple Tigers)

11 CHRIS STAPLETON/Broken Halos (Mercury)

12 OLD DOMINION/Written In The Sand (RCA)

13 HIGH VALLEY/She’s With Me (Atlantic/WEA)

14 JASON ALDEAN/You Make It Easy (Broken Bow)

15 LANCO/Greatest Love Story (Arista)

16 LUKE COMBS/One Number Away (River House/Columbia)

17 THOMAS RHETT/Unforgettable (Valory)

18 DEVIN DAWSON/All On Me (Atlantic/WEA)

19 BLAKE SHELTON/I’ll Name The Dogs (Warner Bros./WMN)

20 ERIC CHURCH/Round Here Buzz (EMI Nashville)

Mediabase Adds (Selective)

Artist/Title (Label) TW Total Historic Adds

RANDY HOUSER/What Whiskey Does (Stoney Creek) 52 55

JON PARDI/Night Shift (Capitol) 34 35

ERIC CHURCH/Desperate Man (EMI Nashville) 20 136

LUKE COMBS/She Got The Best Of Me (River House/Columbia) 20 103

CHRIS STAPLETON/Millionaire (Mercury) 13 125

SCOTTY MCCREERY/This Is It (Triple Tigers) 13 92

DIERKS BENTLEY f/BROS. OSBORNE/Burning Man (Capitol) 12 85

LEE BRICE/Rumor (Curb) 11 42

RUSSELL DICKERSON/Blue Tacoma (Triple Tigers) 8 153

MICHAEL RAY/One That Got Away (Atlantic/WEA) 7 57

KANE BROWN/Lose It (RCA) 6 127

MIDLAND/Burn Out (Big Machine) 6 123

ASHLEY MCBRYDE/Radioland (Atlantic/WAR) 5 27

BLAKE SHELTON/Turnin' Me On (Warner Bros./WMN) 5 5

LUKE BRYAN/Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset (Capitol) 5 158

MADDIE & TAE/Friends Don't (Mercury) 5 71

MAREN MORRIS/Rich (Columbia) 5 142

MITCHELL TENPENNY/Drunk Me (Riser House/Columbia) 5 128

OLD DOMINION/Hotel Key (RCA) 5 156

RILEY GREEN/There Was This Girl (BMLGR) 5 22

UNCLE KRACKER/Floatin' (New Revolution/Hit Bunch) 5 25

BLACKJACK BILLY/Straight Line Sober (1608/Reviver) 2 8

CLARE DUNN/More (MCA) 2 48

EVERETTE/Slow Roll (Broken Bow) 2 59

MORGAN WALLEN/Whiskey Glasses (Big Loud) 2 2

ABBY ANDERSON/Make Him Wait (Black River) 1 50

AJ MCLEAN/Back Porch Bottle Service (ATCK Music) 1 1

DAN + SHAY/Speechless (Warner Bros./WAR) 1 3

FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE/Colorado (BMLGR) 1 1

RUNAWAY JUNE/Buy My Own Drinks (Wheelhouse) 1 1

STEPHANIE QUAYLE/Selfish (Rebel Engine) 1 30

For a detailed report check out Country Aircheck Weekly Issue 611 - July 23, 2018

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

Billboard Boxscores (Selective Country concerts)

Rank Artist: #1

Event Venue City/State: Taylor Swift, Charli XCX, Camila Cabello MetLife Stadium East Rutherford, N.J.

Dates: July 20-22, 2018 Gross Sales: $22,031,386 Attend: 165,654/ 165,654

Shows/ Sellouts: 3/3 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices: $499.50, $49.50

Promoters: Messina Touring Group

   

Rank Artist: #2

Event Venue City/State: Taylor Swift, Charli XCX, Demi Lovato FirstEnergy Stadium Cleveland, Ohio

Dates: 17 July 2018 Gross Sales: $5,148,757 Attend: 51,323/ 51,323

Shows/ Sellouts: 1/1 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices: $499.50, $49.50

Promoters: Messina Touring Group    

Rank Artist: #3

Event Venue City/State: Kenny Chesney, Brandon Lay, Old Dominion, Thomas Rhett Busch Stadium St. Louis, Mo.

Dates: 21 July 2018 Gross Sales: $4,753,889 Attend: 44,529/ 44,529

Shows/ Sellouts: 1/1 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices: $263.50, $37.50

Promoters: Messina Touring Group

  

Rank Artist: #9

Event Venue City/State: Shania Twain, Bastian Baker Bridgestone Arena Nashville, Tenn.

Dates: 21 July 2018 Gross Sales: $1,441,204 Attend: 16,264/ 16,264

Shows/ Sellouts: 1/1 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices: $159.75, $39.95

Promoters: Live Nation

    

Rank Artist: #16

Event Venue City/State: Tim McGraw & Faith Hill, Devin Dawson Golden 1 Center Sacramento, Calif.

Dates: 22 July 2018 Gross Sales: $944,746 Attend: 12,189/ 12,189

Shows/ Sellouts: 1/1 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices: $129.50, $29.50

Promoters: Messina Touring Group

Rank Artist: #34

Event Venue City/State: John Prine, Langhorne Slim Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts Pittsburgh, Pa.

Dates: 20 July 2018 Gross Sales: $215,095 Attend: 2,692/ 2,692

Shows/ Sellouts: 1/1 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices: $103.75, $63.75

Promoters: NS2

Latest Billboard Boxscore Chart