Country
Billboard Chart News April 24, 2017
In
Brief: Billboard Country Charts (Chart issue week of May 6, 2017)
Country Album
Chart ** No.1 (5 weeks non-consecutive) RIPCORD Keith Urban
Hot Country
Songs ** No.1 (11 weeks) ** “Body Like A Back
Road” Sam Hunt
Country Airplay
** No.1 (1 week) ** “Body Like A Back Road” Sam Hunt
Country Digital
Songs ** No.1 (12 weeks) ** “Body Like A Back
Road” Sam Hunt
The
Billboard 200 chart measures multi-metric album consumption, which includes
traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent
albums (SEA).
Kendrick Lamar Earns Third
No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With Biggest Debut of 2017
Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. blasted in at No. 1
on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart
(BB200) with 2017’s biggest week for an album: 603,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending April 20,
according to Nielsen Music. That’s the most units earned by an album in a
single week in nearly a year, since Drake’s Views launched with 1.04 million
units in the week ending May 5, 2016. The previous record holder for 2017’s
biggest week was the debut of Drake’s More Life, with 505,000 units in the week
ending March 23.
DAMN.
marks Lamar’s third No.1 album,
following last year’s UNTITLED UNMASTERED. and 2015’s TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY.
DAMN. was released April 14 through Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope Records.
In
total, DAMN. sold 352,766 in traditional album sales in its first week. That’s both the
largest sales week of 2017 (surpassing Ed Sheeran’s ÷ [Divide] launch of 322,307) and a career-high sales
frame for Lamar (beating To Pimp a Butterfly’s bow of 324,000 in 2015). DAMN.’s
sales are the largest for an album in a week since J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only
started with 363,000 in the week ending Dec. 15, 2016.
Billboard Top Country
Albums (Chart issue week
of May 6, 2017)
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.
Keith Urban with RIPCORD (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville) held
at #1 (#23-26
Billboard 200) selling 8,531 copies (down 21%; 50-week total 545,200). It marked his 5th non-consecutive week at No.1.
Chris Stapleton with TRAVELLER (MERCURY/ UMGN) climbed 3-2 (#38-33 BB200) selling 6,741 copies
(103 week total 1,900,400).
Florida Georgia Line with DIG YOUR ROOTS (BMLG) rose 4-3
(#40-36 BB200) selling 3,248 copies (down 9%; 34-week total 378,900).
Brett Young with self-titled debut (BMLG) climbed 5-4 (#49-42 BB200) selling 4,008 copies
(down 2%; 10-week total 55,700).
Thomas Rhett with
TANGLED UP (Valory) rose 8-6 (#56-52 BB200) selling 2,332
copies (down 12%; 82-week total 566,300).
Miranda Lambert with THE WEIGHT OF THESE WINGS (Vanner/ RCA Nashville/Sony Music
Nashville) fell 2-7 (31-53 BB200) selling 5,691 copies (down 41%, 22-week total 333,600).
Blake Shelton with IF I’M HONEST (Warner Bros./WMN) rebounded 17-8 (#110-61 BB200) selling 4,531 copies and a 48-week total of 591,300 copies.
Jon Pardi with CALIFORNIA SUNRISE rose 11-9
(#75-65 BB200) selling 2,412 copies (down 7%; 44-week
total 139,800).
Brantley Gilbert with THE DEVIL DONT SLEEP (Valory) lifted 12-10 (#78-69 BB200) with 3,804 copies
sold (down 9%; 11-week total 156,300).
Outside the
Top 10
Jason Aldean with THEY DON'T KNOW (Macon/Broken Bow) rose
14-11 (#84-77 BB200) selling 3,034 copies
(down 7%; 32-week total 368,100).
Johnny Cash’s catalog
album The Legend Of Johnny Cash (Columbia
Nashville/Legacy/American/Island) blew up the chart 34-13 (#90 Re-Entry BB200) selling 6,060 copies in its 117th frame.
In
its second chart frame Joey Feek with IF NOT FOR YOU (Farmhouse/Gaither/Capitol
CMG), fell 6-14 (#50-102 BB200)
selling 6,657 copies
(down 37%; 2-week total 17,150).
Maren Morris with HERO (Columbia Nashville | SMN) moved 16-15 (101-110 BB200) selling 2,987 copies
(down 24%; 46-week total 214,500).
Dierks Bentley with BLACK (Capitol Nashville | UMGN) rose 18-16 (#111 non- mover BB200) selling 1,548 copies
(47-week total 255,000).
Kelsea Ballerini with THE FIRST TIME (Black River) climbed 19-17 (120-118 BB200) selling 2,086 copies (101-week
total 274,200)
Little Big Town with THE BREAKER (Capitol
Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville) fell 15-20 (#91-123 BB200) selling
3,297 copies (down 26%; 8-week total 96,800).
Reba McEntire with Sing It Now: Songs Of Faith & Hope
(Rockin' R/Nash Icon | BMLG) fell 9-21
(63-125 BB200) selling 5,323 copies (down 35%; 11-week total 159,100).
Kane Brown with self-titled set Kane Brown rose 24-22 (#139-126 BB200) selling 3,160 copies (up 7%; 20-week total 138,200)
Josh Turner with DEEP SOUTH (MCA Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville) moved 25-24 (#140-133 BB200) selling 2,625
copies (down 10%, 6-week total 36,500).
Outside the
Top 25
There was one new entry at #37 New Hosier with
the 10 track PAVING MY WAY (Redneckin Records; Amazon UK
- UK iTunes ) selling 3,545 copies. It
was the 9th best selling country album of the week on the Country Album Sales list.
New country hip
hop artist Hosier’s features Upchurch The Redneck Jelly Roll TheRealBigSmo and
Struggle.
FALLING
SHORT of Top 50:
On the Country Album Sales list (pure sales;
old methodology) Dylan Schneider with his 5
track Country/ Pop SPOTLIGHT'S ON YOU
(EP) debuted at #24 selling 1,712 copies.
Sam Outlaw with TENDERHEART (Six Shooter Records; Amazon UK)
made a bow at #37 selling 1,200 copies.
Chris Shiflett with West Coast Town (SideOneDummy
Records) arrived at #42 selling 900 copies.
Lillie Mae with FOREVER AND THEN SOME (Third Man Records) made a debut at #45 selling 800
copies.
Bailey Bryan with SO FAR (EP) sold just 400 copies
despite high profile promotion of her single and video “Own It” and playing multiple appearances at the C2C 2017 Country To
Country music festival.
Year-To-Date Albums
6,004,000 (Physical sales 4,073,000
(down -12.6%) + Digital sales 1,932,000 (down -20.4%) which is 15.3% down at the same point in 2016 (7,087,000
sales)
Year-To-Date Digital Tracks
22,347,000 down 23.2% at the same point in 2016 (29,110,000)
Billboard Hot Country Songs
(Chart issue week
of May 6, 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:
Sam Hunt with “Body Like a Back Road” (MCA Nashville) shifted into an even
higher gear, leading Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart (dated May 6) for an 11th week, tying for his longest reign
on the tally — and taking over atop Country Airplay. Meanwhile, it continued to
rule the Country Streaming Songs and Country Digital Song Sales charts, making
for a rare domination of all four country song surveys.
Hunt earned his fifth Country Airplay leader, as “Road”
traveled 2-1 with a 4% gain to 44 million audience impressions in the week
ending April 23, according to Nielsen Music. He notched four from his debut
full-length, Montevallo, in 2014 through 2016 (all for a week each): “Leave the Night On,” “Take Your Time,” “House Party” and “Make You
Miss Me.” (No sophomore album is yet in sight, with Hunt recently telling
Billboard, “Putting out music as it’s made, versus holding it until an album’s
finished, allows me to be more timely.”)
The airplay advance helped “Road” match Hunt’s longest
rule on Hot Country Songs, as it equalled the 11-week command of “Time,” which
reached No.1 on Feb. 21, 2015. “Road” additionally leads Country Digital Song
Sales for an 11th week (61,000 downloads sold, down 12 percent) and Country
Streaming Songs for a 10th frame (14.9 million U.S. streams, up 1%). (“Time”
led the lists for 12 and 22 weeks, respectively.)
“Road” is the fifth smash to top Hot Country Songs,
Country Airplay, Country Digital Songs and Country Streaming Songs
simultaneously (dating to the launch of Country Streaming Songs, the youngest
of the four surveys, in April 2013). It’s the first since Keith Urban’s “Blue Ain’t Your Color” on Jan. 21.
Before that, Luke Bryan’s “Kick the Dust
Up” (Aug. 15, 2015) and “Play It
Again” (May 31 and June 14, 2014), and Jason Aldean’s “Burnin’ It Down” (Nov. 1 and 8, 2014) ruled four charts at once.
Kelsea
Ballerini bounded to her fourth Hot Country Songs top 10,
as “Yeah
Boy” (Black River) rose 12-10.
All four top 10s are from her debut LP, The First Time. “Love Me Like You Mean It” reached No. 5 in June 2015, “Dibs” hit
No. 7 in February 2016, and “Peter Pan” flew to No.1 for two weeks beginning
Sept. 24, 2016.
“Boy” bumped into the top five on Country Airplay, where
Ballerini’s three prior hits all hit No.1 — up by 8% to 34.7 million in
audience.
Chris
Stapleton returned to Hot Country Songs, as “Broken Halos” (Mercury) made
a bow at No.13. Sales account for
84% of the song’s points on the chart, as it soared onto Country Digital Song
Sales at No. 2 with 37,000 first week downloads sold (in the week ending April
20). Stapleton achieves his third-highest-charting entry on Hot Country Songs,
after “Tennessee Whiskey,” which led
for two weeks in November 2015, and “Parachute” (No.12 in January).
“Halos” is the
first taste of Stapleton’s second studio album, FROM A ROOM: Volume 1, due May
2. His first, 2015’s Traveller (which houses “Parachute” and “Whiskey”), has
reigned for 28 total weeks (and ranks at No. 2 on the May 6-dated list).
Hot County
Songs
** No.1 (11
week)/ Digital Gainer ** “Body Like A Back Road” Sam Hunt
** Streaming
Gainer ** No.3 “Hurricane” Luke Combs
** Airplay Gainer ** No.5 “Hometown Girl” Josh Turner
** Hot Shot Debut ** No.13 “Broken Halos” Chris Stapleton
Debut
No.49 “You Broke Up With Me” Walker
Hayes
Debut
No.50 “Missing” William Michael Morgan
Billboard Country Airplay (Chart issue week
of May 6, 2017)
Sam
Hunt with “Body
Like a Back Road” is a monster hit! The song climbed to No.1 on the
Billboard Country Airplay Chart in just 12 weeks and is continuing to engage
folks who streamed it nearly 12-million times last week. It logged a 4% gain to
44 million audience impressions.
“I try to think of titles or lines that’ll cross my mind and I’ll put ‘em
in my phone, and this was one that I wanted to write for a while – the title
‘Body Like a Back Road’ – or use it as a lyric, do something with it. I didn’t
have a melody, but one night this melody got stuck in my head and the phrase
‘Body Like a Back Road’ sang perfectly to it and the chorus came out pretty
quick. And then we went in and started working on the song with the producer
and a couple of writing buddies, and I wanted to write it because I thought it
was a fun song
“Body Like a Back Road” is the first release from his as-yet-to-be-titled
forthcoming album.
In the song, he sings about going “15 in a 30,” which is what he named
his upcoming tour. The trek, featuring Maren Morris, Chris Janson and Ryan
Follese, will kick off June 1st in Cleveland, Ohio.
Lyric Video:
Brantley Gilbert with "The Weekend" climbed 11-9 to land his 7th top 10 in his 40th chart frame
Country
Airplay
***
No. 1 (1 week) *** "Body Like A Back Road” Sam Hunt 43.982 million audience (+1.670 million) / 7,974 radio
plays (+300)
** Most
Increased Audience ** No.2 “Hometown Girl” Josh
Turner 5.553 million audience gain
**
Most Added ** No.47 “Round Here Buzz” Eric
Church (15 ADDS)
**
Hot Shot Debut ** No.53 “Good Company” Jake
Owen
Debut
No.54 “Last Time For Everything” Brad
Paisley
Debut
No.59 “Act Like You Don’t” Brooke Eden
Sam Hunt with “Body Like a Back Road”
(MCA Nashville) held at No.1 on the Billboard
Country Song Sales Chart for
a twelfth week selling 61,000 downloads (down 12%; 12-week total 738,000).
On
the overall Digital Song Sales chart, it was a non-mover at No.4, three places
behind the No.1 “Sign of the Times” by Zedd & Alessia Cara (up 135% to
91,000 downloads sold, in the week ending April 20, according to Nielsen Music).
Chris Stapleton “Broken Halos” (Mercury)
soared onto Country Digital Song Sales at No. 2 with 37,000 first week downloads sold
(#19 Digital Songs)
Brett Young with “In Case You Didn’t Know”
held at #3 (#19-23 Digital
Songs) in his 29th week.
Keith Urban with “The Fighter,” featuring Carrie Underwood (Hit Red/Capitol
Nashville), fell 2-4 (18-30 Digital Songs) in their 16th frame.
Luke Combs with “Hurricane” lifted 8-5 (#41-40 Digital
Songs) in his 21st frame.
Jon Pardi with “Dirt On My Boots” held #6 (#33-46 Digital
Songs) in his 30th frame.
Florida Georgia
Line feat. Backstreet Boys with
“God,
Your Mama, And Me” held at #7 (40-50
Digital Songs)
in their 11th week.
Thomas Rhett feat. Maren Morris with
“Craving
You” fell 4-8 in their third
week.
Lady Antebellum with “You Look Good” held at #9 in their 13th week.
Miranda Lambert with “Tin Man” retreated 5-10 in her fourth frame.
Outside the Top 10
Keith Urban with “Blue Ain’t Your Color” held
at #11 in his 40th week.
Josh Turner with “Hometown Girl” rose 17-12 in his eighth week.
Cole Swindell feat. Dierks Bentley fell
12-14 in their 6th week
Jason Aldean with “Any Ol’ Barstool” slipped
13-15 in his frame.
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill with
“Speak
to a Girl” (McGraw/Arista Nashville) fell 10-16 in their fourth week.
Country Aircheck MEDIABASE
Chart
24
April 2017
Josh Turner Is #1 With
'Hometown Girl'
MCA
Nashville’s Josh Turner took the No. 1 spot on the
MediaBase country radio airplay chart with “Hometown Girl.” Written
by Marc Beeson and Daniel Tashian, “Hometown Girl” immediately hit home for
Turner’s fans as it “pairs the South Carolina native’s unmistakable,
country-to-the-core baritone with a modern, rollicking beat” (Rolling Stone).
The
song is the second single from Turner’s album DEEP SOUTH which debuted at #1 (March
21). The South Carolina native's most recent prior #1 came with this song
"All over Me." from 2010.
The
song logged 8,805 radio spins (+1292) and 58.715 million
audience impressions (+7.874 million) with 26520 Total Points from 159 tracking
stations for the tracking week April 16 to April 22, 2017 and published chart
April 24th 2017.
“Man,
I am beyond excited about ‘Hometown Girl’ going No. 1 this week. It’s a pretty
sweet week for me considering the journey that I’ve been through to get to this
place,” says Josh.
“I’m thankful to country radio for playing this song. I’m
thankful to the fans for loving it and buying the record and buying the single.
I’m feeling a lot of love from a lot of different directions this week, so it’s
a pretty good place to be.”
“‘Hometown
Girl’ is officially No. 1!” shares an elated Turner via Twitter. “Thank you
God, country radio and MCA Nashville! It’s Party Time!!”
Hometown Girl is officially #1!!!!! Thank you God, country radio, and MCA Nashville!! Party time!!🎉🎉☝🏼️— Josh Turner (@joshturnermusic) 23 April 2017
Josh
Turner (why he recorded Hometown Girl): “I first heard the song at my
producer’s house – Kenny Greenburg – and I was kind of looking for some
different kind of stuff that I hadn’t really done before, and ‘Hometown Girl’
kind of fit that mold. Even before I knew the lyrics, I had that melody stuck
in my head. It’s such a catchy melody. When I really got to diggin’ into what
the lyrics were saying, I loved the message in the song a nd I just felt like
my female fan base would really get this song and relate to this song. I felt
like the guys in my fan base, I feel like that’s the kind of girl they’re
looking for or either they have already. So, I just felt like it was a good
message to put out there and just a great song to give me kind of the
opportunity to shake things up production-wise, so…”
Brad Paisley Is Most-Added
With 'Last Time For Everything'
Kudos
to Josh Easler and the Arista team
on landing 50 adds for Brad Paisley’s “Last Time
For Everything”. The song topped the "Most Added" board this chart week.
 |
| Arista's Luke Jenson "doesn't do" carbs. Pictured L-R (front): Arista Coord./Promotion Olivia Laster, Dir./Northeast Promotion Abi Fishbone, Dr./South/Southwest Promotion Rusty Sherrill; (back): Mgr/Regional Promotion Jensen |
Billboard Boxscores (Selective Country
concerts)
Rank
Artist: #9
Event
Venue City/State: Eric Church BMO Harris Bradley Center
Milwaukee, Wis.
Dates:
April 14, 2017 Gross Sales: $1,102,384 Attend: 17,931/ 17,931
Shows/
Sellouts: 1/1 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices:
$89, $25
Promoters:
Messina Touring
Group/AEG Presents
Rank
Artist: #12
Event
Venue City/State: Dixie Chicks, Avalanche City Perth Arena, Perth, Australia
Dates:
April 5, 2017 Gross Sales: $841,711 Attend: 7,536/ 9,306
Shows/
Sellouts: 1/0 (1770 unsold tickets) Prices: $151.41,
$75.67
Promoters:
Chugg
Entertainment/Rob Potts Entertainment Edge
Rank
Artist: #15
Event
Venue City/State: Dixie Chicks, Smooth Hound
Smith Budweiser Gardens London,
Ontario
Dates:
April 18, 2017 Gross Sales: $744,895 Attend: 8,148/ 8,148
Shows/
Sellouts: 1/1 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices:
$104.51, $74.43, $51.88
Promoters:
Live Nation
Rank
Artist: #35
Event
Venue City/State: Brantley Gilbert, Tucker
Beathard, Luke Combs, Brian Davis Verizon Arena North
Little Rock, Ark.
Dates:
April 21, 2017 Gross Sales: $285,165 Attend: 7,257/ 7,257
Shows/
Sellouts: 1/1 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices:
$39.75, $34.75
Promoters:
Frank
Productions/NS2/CMoore Live
