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BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS EDITED BY TOM ROLAND, [email protected] APRIL 23, 2015 | PAGE 1 OF 10
INSIDEMakin’ Tracks: Blake Shelton’s
‘Sangria’ >page 2
Stark Report: Stoney
Richards’ Next Act >page 4
Questions Answered:
WME’s Becky Gardenhire
>page 6
Chris Janson’s ‘Boat’ Finds
A Label Dock >page 6
Gary Allan Gets Key CMA
Festival Slot >page 6
Reba McEntire returns to familiar hallowed ground on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, as Love Somebody (Nash Icon/Valory/Big Machine Label Group) debuts at No. 1 with 58,000 first-week copies sold, according to Nielsen Music. The set is McEntire’s first leader on the list since Keep On Loving You spent its first two weeks at the summit in September 2009. (In between, All the Women I Am debuted and peaked at No. 3 in November 2010.)
McEntire extends her record for the most Top Country Albums No. 1s among women to 12. Loretta Lynn ranks sec-ond in the category with 10. Among all acts with the most leaders, McEntire pulls into a tie for eighth place. George Strait leads with 25, followed by Merle Haggard, Tim McGraw (15 each), Garth Brooks (14), Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson and Willie Nelson (13 each). Buck Owens and Charley Pride have also each earned 12 toppers. Ad-ditionally, McEntire joins Strait as the only acts with No. 1s on Top Country Albums in the ’80s, ’90s, ’00s and ’10s.
The new album’s coronation also marks the first No. 1 on a Billboard chart for the Nash Icon im-print. McEntire was the first signee in October 2014.
Speaking of Strait, the legend debuts on Hot Country Songs at No. 29 with “Let It Go” (MCA Nashville). His 121st career
entry bows with the majority of its chart points (89 percent) from digital sales, as it starts on Country Digital Songs at No. 9 with 27,000 first-week downloads sold. (It lifts 52-47 in its second week on Country Airplay.)
Strait performed his new single, his first following his June 2014 retirement from touring, on the 50th annual Academy of
Country Music Awards, broadcast live on CBS on April 19. (He also took home the Milestone Award.) Other acts like-wise parlay exposure on the ACMs to chart growth. Performer/winner Flor-ida Georgia Line earns the second- largest unit gain on Top Country Al-bums, as Anything Goes (Republic Nashville/BMLG) rises 5-4 with a 74 percent blast to 13,000 sold. Plus, Little Big Town rides a performance of “Girl Crush” (Capitol Nashville) to the biggest sales week for a country song in 2015: 97,000 downloads sold (up 126 percent). Parent set Pain Killer nets the greatest gain on Top Coun-try Albums (12-7; up 165 percent to 11,000).
This column was written by Billboard associate director of charts/radio Gary Trust ([email protected]) and associate director of charts/retail Keith Caulfield ([email protected]).
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Country MID- WEEK
UPDATE
Reba McEntire Reigns Again; ACMs Spur Chart Gains
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When Blake Shelton released the third single from his album Bringing Back the Sunshine, Warner Music Nashville emphasized the song’s storyline by reorganizing the marketing campaign: Instead of going to radio first, the label issued the video for “Sangria” on March 27, three days before the song shipped to broadcasters via Play MPE.
The clip highlights the song’s sexy tone, with a young couple making out in a bar before winding up between the sheets. The version the public sees is a little tamer than the original cut, which was edited at the insistence of management.
“We had to go through it a few times to make sure we got all the nipples and everything out of that thing,” says Shelton with a laugh.
What stays in, though, is the tingly, shadowy musical atmosphere, one established by the songwriters and carried out by Shelton and his producer — Warner Music Nashville executive vp A&R Scott Hendricks — who played it for Shelton on his screened-in back porch overlook-ing Nashville’s Cumberland River.
“When I heard that song, I almost reached over and started French-kissing Scott,” dead-pans Shelton. “It’s that romantic and that sexy of a song. Luckily, I came to my senses and that didn’t happen.”
Several things didn’t happen with the song before it got to Shelton. For starters, it wasn’t written as a female piece. Songwriter Josh Os-borne (“Take Your Time,” “Merry Go ’Round”) originally envisioned the plot with a woman inviting a guy to her house to drink sangria. He tried writing that angle with Sara Evans and songwriter Shane McAnally (“American Kids,” “Follow Your Arrow”). It didn’t quite jell, but Osborne didn’t give up. Instead, he reimagined “Sangria” as a male song.
“Sangria is a drink that women drink a lot,” he says. “Instead of a guy drink-ing it, it’s a guy tasting it on her lips because she’s drinking it.”
Osborne created a hypnotic arpeggiation to support the hook — “Your lips taste like sangria” — and introduced it during a songwriting session with J.T. Harding (“Somewhere in My Car,” “Alone With You”) and Old Dominion band member Trevor Rosen (“Better Dig Two,” “Say You Do”) at Black River Music Publishing in 2013. Rosen layered a three-note guitar pattern into the arpeggios, and they launched into a mesmerizing hotel-bar scenario.
“That little guitar lick has that Chris Isaak thing,” notes Rosen. “That’s what set us off on it. It just sounded sexy.”
Osborne and Rosen were just back from a Mexican vacation with their wives, and they both pictured a bar on the beach. Meanwhile, Harding thought of an abandoned motel along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and wondered what it might have been like in its heyday. “It looks like the Riviera there, so it’s really interesting — spooky and great,” says Harding.
They loaded “Sangria” up with just enough specific images to tell the story, with the motel no-vacancy sign and a string of white lights providing a sense of place. Along with the trance-like arpeggiation, it’s easy to picture those lights as a hazy backdrop. “The more sangria that goes down,” says Rosen, “the fuzzier they get.”
With the verse and the hook using the same chord pattern, Rosen devised
a new chord progression and a different phrasing for the start of the chorus. And when they chased down a bridge, Harding contributed another change of pace with a speedy lyric that defines sangria as a “Spanish wine” and un-derscores its sexy, spinning effect.
“When I get to a bridge, I like to try to say something that the whole song is talking about but you haven’t said yet, which can be tough,” explains Harding. “You would say, ‘Well, most people know what sangria is.’ But, you know, I’m sure there’s some people that don’t.”
Harding and Osborne oversaw the demo session with Osborne singing lead, but Rosen was disappointed when he heard the first version. His three-note
pattern had been lost, and it didn’t quite match the mood dictated by “Wicked Game.” Osborne got session musician Ilya Toshinsky to rerecord the guitar hook and had engineer Ben Phillips remix it. This time, they scored, and publishers started pitching “Sangria.” It was first sent to Kenny Chesney while he and Osborne were on a songwriting trip in St. John in January 2014 that yielded “Wild Child.” Chesney cut “San-gria,” but that’s the other thing that didn’t quite happen: He decided it didn’t fit his album The Big Revival and returned it so the writers could pitch it elsewhere.
Once Hendricks heard it, he ended up hum-ming “Your lips taste like sangria” the rest of the day. Shelton was an easy sell, and when they went in the recording studio, Shelton unknow-ingly relayed the same inspiration the songwrit-
ers had used as he laid the groundwork with the musicians.“I kept referring to ‘Wicked Game,’ ” says Shelton. “Even though ‘Sangria’
is different, it’s kind of got the same mood as that, and I wanted to be sure that that that came through in the recording.”
They beefed up the musical bed by turning the three-note guitar hook and arpeggios into a precise, interlocking puzzle of eighth notes created by mul-tiple players. “Whenever you have more than one arpeggio guitar, it’s gotta be right on the money. Otherwise they run into each other and clash,” says Hendricks. “That’s what gives it this dreamy trance feel, different than any-thing we’ve ever done.”
Shelton’s final vocals were recorded late at night after shooting NBC’s The Voice. He sang “Sangria” in the guest bedroom of his home in the Hollywood Hills, coincidentally connecting him to the lighting and to the time of day embedded in the lyrics.
“There’s a window that looks over into the Hollywood Boulevard area and going on into downtown Los Angeles,” he says. “It’s pretty amazing at night to look out there and see those lights. There’s just something magical about it.”
Shelton, whose persona is built in part on charming sexual innuendo and alcohol, is probably the right guy for “Sangria.” However, he feared that its moodiness might make it a risky choice for a single. But Hendricks convinced him that its difference was a strength: It would stand out from anything else on the air. Programmers agreed. It’s already at No. 21 in its fifth week on the Country Airplay chart.
As the track works at radio, the video continues to turn heads.“If anyone knows the girl in the video,” quips Harding, “have her call me.”
BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 23, 2015 | PAGE 2 OF 10
Blake Shelton Mixes A Strong ‘Sangria’ For The Bedroom
MAKIN’ TRACKS TOM ROLAND [email protected]
SHELTON
In arguably the best and unquestionably the longest-running role of his career, professional actor Charles David Richards played the part of “Stoney” Rich-ards on the radio for 46 years.
When the former WDSY (Y108) Pittsburgh assistant PD/music director/ afternoon personality stepped down in September 2014 to pursue a full-time acting career, he also largely left behind his alter ego, which he describes as much more “freewheeling,” “silly” and party-focused than his real self.
“The image is Stoney goes to all the shows and hangs out with Kenny Chesney until all hours of the night,” he says. “As Stoney, I try to reflect the people who come to the shows and listen to the radio who just want a break. They don’t want to hear some guy talking about my rotations and my gold ratio. They want to have fun.
“I feel like I’ve been in a soap opera playing this guy for so long,” continues Richards with a laugh. “I really do feel like Susan Lucci playing this character for so many years. And people know the personality of that character … I just always think if you’re a good air per-sonality, you’ve got a character you put on, and I carried that persona in the studio and out,” both on-air and at station events, for the 19 years he worked at Y108.
But he hasn’t left Stoney entirely behind. Richards has continued his weekend talk show, Live From the Centre, on Y108’s news sister station KDKA, and he’ll likely record some special programming for Y108 once the busy summer concert season kicks in. However, he doesn’t want to wear out his welcome. “I didn’t want to be the guy that just can’t leave,” he jokes.
Beyond that, he recently landed a role in a Cinemax series called Banshee that’s shooting in Pittsburgh and a theatrical role in a production being staged by a local professional theater company. Fathers and Daughters, a film he shot last year with Russell Crowe and Jane Fonda, is expected to get its theatrical release soon.
After 25 years of juggling acting gigs with a steady radio career, Richards is grateful for the freedom he now has to pursue parts, and is quick to dispel any mistaken notion that his departure from radio was a retirement.
“I’d been there for such a long time people figured, ‘Well, it’s about time he retired,’ ” jokes Richards. He adds in all seriousness that if he had made a simi-lar move in his 30s nobody would have been confused. But once he says he and
his wife “worked out our finances and realized we can do this,” there was no holding him back.
Because he had been in country radio for so long and had a high profile both in Pittsburgh and along Nashville’s Music Row, Richards says the move felt a bit like leaving home, and he misses the camaraderie of radio. But, he adds, “radio is so demanding, especially now … I just didn’t want to do that anymore. I wanted to devote myself full time to acting, and decided this was the time to do it.”
Even when he previously had limited time to pur-sue acting, Richards still racked up an impressive ré-sumé that includes 18 films (such as Predator 2 and Three Men and a Little Lady), roles on numerous TV series (The Guardian, St. Elsewhere), commercials and stage work.
He admits he’s often typecast as a person in particu-lar profession: He plays the doctor of Crowe’s charac-ter in Fathers and Daughters. He says that lately he has
been playing “ministers, priests, detectives and judges,” and has been called in to read for the “retired colonel” type. Amusingly, when he was still working in radio, then-Big Machine band Edens Edge recruited him to play a minister in its “Amen” music video in 2011.
But Richards doesn’t mind being pigeonholed one bit. After all, he notes, there is currently an abundance of films and TV series about such characters, thus ensuring his new career will continue to thrive.
BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 23, 2015 | PAGE 4 OF 10
Life After Radio: Richards Hits The Big (And Small) Screen
THE STARK REPORT PHYLLIS STARK [email protected]
RICHARDS
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the time in our TV department, but I was always watching what our country acts were doing in L.A. — you know, playing the House of Blues out there or playing Staples Center or whatever — and I was always going to those shows. Then I found out there was a Nashville opening, and I just followed the passion and came to Nashville.
Does the film and TV background in any way help you now? Absolutely, because now as booking agents in our company specifically, we are so diversi-fied in how we’re helping these artists. I’m actually in the middle of conversa-
tions on a film project for one of our country artists. I’m in another conversation on a book deal for one of our clients. So knowing those negotiations and know-ing those departments really well, we’re able to tie in our colleagues in L.A. and New York to do those deals for us.
I understand that you play on the William Morris softball team? That’s how I met my husband, actually. He used to work here, and we were both play-ing on the softball team. I grew up playing softball — my first year in college, I played on the college team — and when I first started in Nashville, they didn’t have that many females that could play softball. It was a co-ed league, so you had to have as many females on the field as males, and so I was kind of jockey-ing around in lots of different positions. Then I coached it for a couple of years. When I had my first baby, my son, I had to stop. I don’t think they’ve had it the last two years. I know they have a flag football team now, and I think they just started a basketball team this year.
You were a club/college agent before. Is that job significantly different? The biggest difference is trying to get a hold of the buyers. I had a lot more night-time conversations with club buyers because that’s when they’re at the club. They’re out till two or three in the morning wrapping up stuff at their club, and then they’re not in the next day until 4 o’clock in the afternoon, so it was just a lot of different time frames. The deals are also different. In clubs, it’s a much simpler deal. You know what your capacity is, you know what your ticket price is, but it’s usually a one-price ticket, where at a theater or an arena, you can have multiple ticketing options, which changes your deal and changes your gross po-tential. When you break it down, we’re all doing the same things. —Tom Roland
BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 23, 2015 | PAGE 6 OF 10
Q U E ST I O N S
AnsweredBecky Gardenhire
Line Agent, William Morris Endeavor@bgardenhire
As an agent for the South Central region, Becky Gardenhire books such William Morris Endeavor Nashville clients as Sara Evans, Scotty McCreery and RaeLynn in some of country’s most vital territories, in-cluding Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas. A graduate of New York University’s Arts, Film and Television program, Gardenhire has taken on a load of responsibility. She runs the WME sales meeting every Tuesday, and she’s heavily involved in charities, including an annual W.O. Smith Music School fundraiser and Strikes to Save the Orphan, a bowling benefit that aids a nonprofit in Sierra Leone, Africa.
During the 13 years you have been with William Morris it has been a pretty volatile time for the recording part of the busi-ness. How has that impacted what you do? There’s plenty of art-ists that are making the majority of their money from touring, so it’s more pressure. I think we’re always very conscious of that, especially in the country format, because where other genres will tour only on an album cycle, the country artists tour all the time. So there is a lot of pressure to keep their tour healthy and strong, and to keep finding the right venues and places for them, to keep their reputation, perception and everything as high as it can be.
You went to school in New York, and then your first gig was in Los Angeles. Why did you want to come to Nashville? I’m from the northwest corner of Ohio, by Toledo. My dad’s a farmer. I grew up listening to country music. I have seen plenty of country artists come to our county fair every year — they still do, actually — and I just loved that music. When I was in L.A., I was working for William Morris at
CHRIS JANSON FLOATS ‘BOAT’ AT WBThanks to just two plays on iHeartMedia’s The Bobby Bones Show, unsigned artist Chris Janson hit No. 33 on Hot Country Songs four weeks ago with “Buy Me a Boat.” Now he’s signed. Warner Music Nashville scooped him up, and he’s already writing for a new album. Meanwhile, Janson will be featured in iHeart’s On the Verge Artist program, which gives “Boat” airplay on 140 sta-
tions for six weeks, beginning May 4. Gary Allan kicks off the lineup for the CMA Music Festival’s Chevrolet Riverfront Stage on June 11. Second only to the nightly concerts at LP Field in attendance, the venue offers four straight days of concerts from such newer acts as Maddie & Tae, The Swon Brothers, Par-malee and Eric Paslay, plus established vets like Diamond Rio, Phil Vassar, Tanya Tucker
and Clay Walker. Opening ceremonies include a performance of the na-tional anthem by Katie Armiger. The production team for a documentary about singer-songwriter Guy Clark asked for $75,000 in a Kickstarter campaign and surpassed that goal in a scant three days. Donations will continue to be accepted through the end of the 30-day period, May 20, funding licensing, editing and other functions for Without Getting Killed or Caught: The Life and Music of Guy Clark. Clint Black is also part of a digital fundraising campaign. For a $20 donation, contestants can submit performances at Chideo.com, and a winner — announced July 30 — will record with Black. Proceeds from the entry fees benefit RettSyndrome.org. There are two new album release dates to plug into the calendar. John An-derson releases Goldmine, his first album of new material in nine years, on May 26 on his own Bayou Boys label, and Mercury issues Billy Currington’s sixth album, Summer Forever, on June 2.
MIDWEEK NEWS UPDATE
ALLAN
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Country UPDATE
THIS WEEK
LAST WEEK
TWO WEEKS
AGOWKS ON CHART
TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED
PEAK POSITION
l1 1 1 25 TAKE YOUR TIME ★★No. 1 (11 weeks)★★ Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) MCA NASHVILLE 0 1
l2 5 5 20 GIRL CRUSH ★★Digital & Streaming Gainer★★ Little Big Town J.JOYCE (L.ROSE,L.MCKENNA,H.LINDSEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE
2
3 2 2 15 HOMEGROWN Zac Brown Band J.JOYCE,Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,W.DURRETTE,N.MOON) VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 2
l4 7 13 12 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE ★★Airplay Gainer★★ Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (R.CLAWSON,M.DRAGSTREM,C.TAYLOR) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE
4
l5 3 6 34 DRINKING CLASS Lee Brice M.MCCLURE,K.JACOBS,L.BRICE (J.KEAR,D.FRASIER,E.M.HILL) CURB 0 3
l6 6 7 27 SAY YOU DO Dierks Bentley R. COPPERMAN (M.RAMSEY,S.MCANALLY,T. ROSEN) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 6
l7 8 9 30 A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR Tyler Farr J.CATINO,J.KING (M.PEIRCE,J.SINGLETON,B.TURSI) COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 7
l8 10 11 22 DON’T IT Billy Currington D.HUFF (J.JOHNSTON,A.GORLEY,R.COPPERMAN) MERCURY 8
l9 11 10 13 RAISE ‘EM UP Keith Urban Featuring Eric Church N.CHAPMAN,K.URBAN (J.JOHNSTON,JEFFREY STEELE,T.DOUGLAS) HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE 9
10 4 3 29 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY Cole Swindell M.CARTER (C.SWINDELL,A.SANDERS,J.MARTIN) WARNER BROS./WMN 0 3
l11 12 12 15 SMOKE A Thousand Horses D.COBB (M.HOBBY,J.M.NITE,R.COPPERMAN) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 10
l12 14 14 15 LITTLE RED WAGON Miranda Lambert F.LIDDELL,C.AINLAY,G.WORF (A.MAE,GINSBERG J.) RCA NASHVILLE 5
l13 16 18 11 WILD CHILD Kenny Chesney With Grace Potter B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (K.CHESNEY,S.MCANALLY,J.OSBORNE) BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 13
l14 13 15 13 LITTLE TOY GUNS Carrie Underwood M.BRIGHT (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,H.LINDSEY) 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 13
l15 15 16 24 SHE DON’T LOVE YOU Eric Paslay M.ALTMAN (E.PASLAY,J.WAYNE) EMI NASHVILLE 15
l16 17 17 12 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOLS Tim McGraw With Catherine Dunn B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (L.LAIRD,B.DEAN,J.SINGLETON) MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE 16
l17 19 20 9 LIKE A WRECKING BALL Eric Church J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,C.BEATHARD) EMI NASHVILLE 17
l18 18 19 29 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT Canaan Smith B.BEAVERS,J.ROBBINS (C.SMITH,B.BEAVERS,J.BEAVERS) MERCURY 18
l19 20 21 21 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT Kelsea Ballerini F.G.WHITEHEAD (K.BALLERINI,J.KERR,F.G.WHITEHEAD,L.CARPENTER) BLACK RIVER 19
l20 27 36 5 SANGRIA Blake Shelton S.HENDRICKS (J.T.HARDING,J.OSBORNE,T. ROSEN) WARNER BROS./WMN 20
l21 22 25 24 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG Easton Corbin C.CHAMBERLAIN (J.COLLINS,BRETT JAMES) MERCURY 21
l22 NEW 1 GIRL CRUSH ★★Hot Shot Debut★★ Meghan Linsey B.APPLEBERRY (L.ROSE,L.MCKENNA,H.LINDSEY) REPUBLIC
22
23 23 22 25 I SEE YOU Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,L.LAIRD,A.GORLEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 1
l24 24 26 11 CRUSHIN’ IT Brad Paisley L.WOOTEN,B.PAISLEY (B.PAISLEY,K.LOVELACE,L.T.MILLER) ARISTA NASHVILLE 24
l25 32 35 15 GOING OUT LIKE THAT Reba T.BROWN (B.HAYSLIP,R.AKINS,J.SELLERS) NASH ICON/VALORY 25
Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 23, 2015 | PAGE 8 OF 10
SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY
THIS WEEK
LAST WEEK
TWO WEEKS
AGOWKS ON CHART
TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED
PEAK POSITION
l26 28 34 7 TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU Jason Aldean M.KNOX (D.DAVIDSON,R.AKINS,A.GORLEY) BROKEN BOW 8
l27 25 28 16 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN Brantley Gilbert D.HUFF (B.GILBERT,M.DEKLE,B.DAVIS) VALORY 25
l28 26 27 8 GAMES Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,A.GORLEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 23
l29 NEW 1 LET IT GO George Strait C.AINLAY,G.STRAIT (G.STRAIT,B.STRAIT,K.GATTIS) MCA NASHVILLE 29
l30 31 31 8 YOUNG & CRAZY Frankie Ballard M.ALTMAN,S.HENDRICKS (A.GORLEY,S.MCANALLY,R.AKINS) WARNER BROS./WAR 30
l31 30 30 6 KISS YOU IN THE MORNING Michael Ray S.HENDRICKS (J.WILSON,M.WHITE) WARNER BROS./WEA 30
32 21 — 2 CRASH AND BURN Thomas Rhett D.HUFF,J.FRASURE (J.FRASURE,C.STAPLETON) VALORY 21
l33 38 40 15 RIOT Rascal Flatts J.DEMARCUS,RASCAL FLATTS (J.BOYER,S.HAZE) BIG MACHINE 33
l34 35 42 9 I GOT THE BOY Jana Kramer S.HENDRICKS (T.NICHOLS,C.HARRINGTON,J.L.SPEARS) ELEKTRA NASHVILLE/WAR 33
l35 37 38 9 FLY Maddie & Tae D.HUFF (M.MARLOW,T.DYE,T.VARTANYAN) DOT 35
l36 34 37 15 HELL OF A NIGHT Dustin Lynch M.J.CONES (Z.CROWELL,A.SANDERS,J.BOYER) BROKEN BOW 34
l37 36 39 11 I’M TO BLAME Kip Moore B.JAMES (K.MOORE,J.WEAVER,W.DAVIS) MCA NASHVILLE 31
38 33 32 19 HARD TO BE COOL Joe Nichols M.J.CONES (R.HATCH,J.SELLERS) RED BOW 32
l39 39 33 5 BISCUITS Kacey Musgraves K.MUSGRAVES,L.LAIRD,S.MCANALLY (K.MUSGRAVES,S.MCANALLY,B.CLARK) MERCURY 28
l40 40 43 16 TROUBLE Gloriana M.SERLETIC (R.REINERT,M.GOSSIN,R.COPPERMAN,J.M.NITE) EMBLEM/WARNER BROS./WAR 40
l41 41 44 15 GONNA WANNA TONIGHT Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (S.MCANALLY,J.M.NITE,J.ROBBINS) DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 34
l42 42 41 9 RIDE Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (J.SOMERS-MORALES,D.C.TARPLEY JR.) DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 38
l43 43 45 6 BREAK UP WITH HIM Old Dominion S.MCANALLY (M.RAMSEY,T. ROSEN,B.TURSI,G.SPRUNG,W.SELLERS) REESMACK/RCA NASHVILLE 43
l44 47 49 3 NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU Dan + Shay C. DESTEFANO (D.SMYERS,S.MOONEY,A.GORLEY,C. DESTEFANO) WARNER BROS./WAR 44
l45 48 — 2 STAY A LITTLE LONGER Brothers Osborne J.JOYCE (J. OSBORNE,T.J. OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) EMI NASHVILLE 45
l46 50 — 2 TURN IT ON Eli Young Band R. COPPERMAN,J.S.STOVER (M.ELI,J.YOUNG,R.CLAWSON,M.DRAGSTREM) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 46
47 46 47 13 SPEAKERS Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,B.HOOD,K.SACKLEY) MCA NASHVILLE 40
l48 49 — 2 ALREADY CALLIN’ YOU MINE Parmalee NV (M.THOMAS,S.THOMAS,B.KNOX,P.O’DONNELL,W.KIRBY) STONEY CREEK 48
l49 NEW 1 WHY Corey Kent White B.APPLEBERRY (V.MCGEHEE,J.D.RICH,R.CLAWSON) REPUBLIC 49
50 45 — 3 I’M A MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW Sawyer Fredericks B.APPLEBERRY (PUBLIC DOMAIN) REPUBLIC 33
For week ending April 19, 2015. Figures are rounded. Compiled from a national sample of retail store and rack sales reports collected and provided by Nielsen Music.
For inquiries about any Nielsen Music data, please contact Josh Bennett at 615-807-1338 or [email protected]
The week’s most popular country songs, ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen Music, sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music and streaming activity data from online music sources tracked by Nielsen Music. Descending titles below No. 25 are moved to recurrent after 20 weeks.
COUNTRY MARKET WATCHA Weekly National Music Sales Report
Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 23, 2015 | PAGE 9 OF 10
ALBUMSDIGITAL
ALBUMS*DIGITAL TRACKS
This Week 607,000 255,000 2,546,000
Last Week 456,000 159,000 2,368,000
Change 33.1% 60.4% 7.5%
This Week Last Year 617,000 198,000 3,029,000
Change -1.6% 28.8% -15.9%
*Digital album sales are also counted within album sales.
Weekly Unit SalesYear-Over-Year Album Sales2014 2015 CHANGE
Albums 9,267,000 7,806,000 -15.8%
Digital Tracks 43,909,000 36,573,000 -16.7%
YEAR-TO-DATE
Overall Unit Sales
2014 2015 CHANGE
Physical 6,807,000 4,888,000 9.0%
Digital 3,180,000 2,917,000 -8.3%
Sales by Album Format
SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY
’15
’14
DIGITAL TRACKS SALES
’15
’14
9.3 million
7.8 million
000.0 million
’14
’13
36.6 million
43.9 million
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TITLEARTIST (IMPRINT/LABEL)
l1 2 17 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)
l2 1 25 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)
l3 NEW GIRL CRUSH MEGHAN LINSEY (Republic)
4 3 14 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND (Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)
l5 6 8 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)
6 5 28 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)
l7 8 10 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)
l8 10 14 LITTLE RED WAGON MIRANDA LAMBERT (RCA Nashville/SMN)
l9 NEW LET IT GO GEORGE STRAIT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)
10 7 12 SMOKE A THOUSAND HORSES (Republic Nashville/BMLG)
l11 26 3 SANGRIA BLAKE SHELTON (Warner Bros./Warner)
l12 18 18 SHE DON’T LOVE YOU ERIC PASLAY (EMI Nashville/UMGN)
l13 20 8 WILD CHILD KENNY CHESNEY WITH GRACE POTTER (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)
14 9 25 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT CANAAN SMITH (Mercury/UMGN)
l15 12 10 DON’T IT BILLY CURRINGTON (Mercury/UMGN)
16 11 13 LITTLE TOY GUNS CARRIE UNDERWOOD (19/Arista Nashville/SMN)
17 14 22 A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR TYLER FARR (Columbia Nashville/SMN)
18 13 32 DRINKING CLASS LEE BRICE (Curb)
l19 22 13 RAISE ‘EM UP KEITH URBAN FEAT. ERIC CHURCH (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville)
l20 38 6 GOING OUT LIKE THAT REBA (Nash Icon/Valory/BMLG)
21 17 10 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT KELSEA BALLERINI (Black River)
l22 28 5 TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)
23 19 9 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOL TIM MCGRAW WITH CATHERINE DUNN (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)
24 15 26 LONELY EYES CHRIS YOUNG (RCA Nashville/SMN)
l25 21 17 SAY YOU DO DIERKS BENTLEY (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)
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l26 24 4 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG EASTON CORBIN (Mercury/UMGN)
27 4 2 CRASH AND BURN THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)
l28 25 8 GAMES LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)
29 23 15 RIDE CHASE RICE (Dack Janiels)
l30 29 4 CRUSHIN’ IT BRAD PAISLEY (Arista Nashville/SMN)
31 16 30 HOMEGROWN HONEY DARIUS RUCKER (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)
l32 37 9 I GOT THE BOY JANA KRAMER (Elektra Nashville/WMN)
l33 42 29 MAKE ME WANNA THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)
l34 NEW RIOT RASCAL FLATTS (Big Machine/BMLG)
l35 40 6 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN BRANTLEY GILBERT (Valory/BMLG)
36 33 73 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN (Republic Nashville/BMLG)
37 31 173 CHICKEN FRIED ZAC BROWN BAND (Home Grown/Atlantic/Bigger Picture)
38 27 30 SUN DAZE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)
l39 NEW WHY COREY KENT WHITE (Republic)
l40 RE-ENTRY I SEE YOU LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)
l41 41 44 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)
42 30 33 MEAN TO ME BRETT ELDREDGE (Atlantic/WMN)
43 34 145 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)
44 36 24 JUST GETTIN’ STARTED JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)
l45 43 38 BURNIN’ IT DOWN JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)
l46 RE-ENTRY AMERICAN KIDS KENNY CHESNEY (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)
l47 RE-ENTRY DAY DRINKING LITTLE BIG TOWN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)
48 35 5 I’M A MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW SAWYER FREDERICKS (Republic)
49 39 26 LONELY TONIGHT BLAKE SHELTON FEAT. ASHLEY MONROE (Warner Bros./WMN)
50 45 30 TALLADEGA ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)
Top-selling paid download country songs compiled from sales reports collected and provided by Nielsen Music. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.
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ARTIST TitleIMPRINT & NUMBER / DISTRIBUTING LABEL
CERT
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PEA
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POSI
TION
l1 NEW 1 REBA Love SomebodyNASH ICON/VALORY /BMLG 1
l2 NEW 1 DWIGHT YOAKAM Second Hand HeartWARNER BROS. 546622/WMN 2
l3 2 3 25 SAM HUNT MontevalloMCA NASHVILLE 021502/UMGN 1
l4 5 7 27 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE Anything GoesREPUBLIC NASHVILLE /BMLG 0 1
l5 3 4 3 VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW That’s What I Call ACM Awards: 50 YearsUNIVERSAL/SONY MUSIC /UME 3
6 1 1 3 DARIUS RUCKER Southern StyleCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021931/UMGN 1
l7 12 9 26 LITTLE BIG TOWN Pain KillerCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021360*/UMGN 3
l8 8 8 62 ERIC CHURCH The OutsidersEMI NASHVILLE 019402*/UMGN 1 1
9 4 2 6 LUKE BRYAN Spring Break... Checkin’ OutCAPITOL NASHVILLE 022540/UMGN 1
l10 14 13 46 MIRANDA LAMBERT PlatinumRCA NASHVILLE 379278/SMN 0 1
l11 13 12 89 LUKE BRYAN Crash My PartyCAPITOL NASHVILLE 018733/UMGN 2 1
12 6 5 28 JASON ALDEAN Old Boots, New DirtBROKEN BOW 7105/BBMG 1 1
l13 17 14 61 COLE SWINDELL Cole SwindellWARNER BROS. 541372/WMN 2
l14 25 27 60 DIERKS BENTLEY RiserCAPITOL NASHVILLE 019404/UMGN 1
15 10 11 35 CHASE RICE Ignite The NightCOLUMBIA NASHVILLE 22573/DACK JANIELS 1
l16 21 22 29 BLAKE SHELTON BRINGING BACK THE SUNSHINEWARNER BROS. 544918/WMN 0 1
17 9 6 4 VARIOUS ARTISTS 2015 Academy Of Country Music Awards ZinePakZINEPAK 70255 WMEX 4
18 7 21 32 LEE BRICE I Dont DanceCURB 79392* 1
19 11 10 19 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Greatest Hits: Decade #119/ARISTA NASHVILLE 500876/SMN 0 1
l20 23 17 23 GARTH BROOKS Man Against MachinePEARL/RCA NASHVILLE 501135/SMN 1 1
21 19 16 48 BRANTLEY GILBERT Just As I AmVALORY BG0200A/BMLG 0 1
l22 27 33 77 THOMAS RHETT It Goes Like ThisVALORY TR0100A/BMLG 2
l23 22 20 30 KENNY CHESNEY The Big RevivalBLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 306274/SMN 1
24 20 18 23 ZAC BROWN BAND Greatest Hits So Far...ROAR/SOUTHERN GROUND/ATLANTIC 546369/AG 5
25 18 19 30 TIM MCGRAW Sundown Heaven TownMCGRAW/BIG MACHINE TM0200A/BMLG 1
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1 1 16 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT
l2 2 8 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN
3 3 43 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT
4 4 60 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN
5 5 56 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN
l6 7 6 LITTLE RED WAGON MIRANDA LAMBERT
l7 8 9 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND
8 6 107 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE
9 9 69 BOTTOMS UP BRANTLEY GILBERT
l10 13 4 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE
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11 10 41 DIRT FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE
12 12 26 SUN DAZE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE
13 11 23 DRINKING CLASS LEE BRICE
l14 19 2 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH
l15 18 4 DON’T IT BILLY CURRINGTON
16 15 88 THAT’S MY KIND OF NIGHT LUKE BRYAN
l17 20 7 SAY YOU DO DIERKS BENTLEY
18 14 19 I SEE YOU LUKE BRYAN
19 17 8 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL
20 16 13 LONELY TONIGHT BLAKE SHELTON FEAT. ASHLEY MONROE
Country Streaming Songs -The week’s top Country streamed radio songs, on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.
BUILDING AIRPLAY GAINERSTITLE Label Artist GAIN
LOSE MY MIND Atlantic/WMN Brett Eldredge +573
SIPPIN’ ON FIRE Republic Nashville Florida Georgia Line +349
SANGRIA Warner Bros./WMN Blake Shelton +287
WILD CHILD Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville Kenny Chesney With Grace Potter +211
YOUNG & CRAZY Warner Bros./WAR Frankie Ballard +201
GIRL CRUSH Capitol Nashville Little Big Town +199
A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR Columbia Nashville Tyler Farr +186
LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT Black River Kelsea Ballerini +170
DRINKING CLASS Curb Lee Brice +160
DON’T IT Mercury Billy Currington +153
Building Gainers reflects titles with the top increases in plays from Monday through 5pm ET Wednesday, as compared to the same period in the previous week, according to Nielsen Music.
TOP COUNTRY ALBUMSCOUNTRY DIGITAL SONGS
BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 23, 2015 | PAGE 10 OF 10
STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY
The week’s most popular country albums, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music. Albums are defined as current if they are less than 18 months old or older than 18 months but still residing in the Billboard 200’s top 100. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.
COUNTRY STREAMING SONGS
SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY
SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY
