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BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS
Makin’ Tracks:
Randy Houser’s
‘We Went’
>page 2
Stark Report:
Brantley Gilbert,
Certified
Renegade
>page 3
Questions
Answered:
Former
Almo/Irving GM
Mary
Del Scobey
>page 4
Luke Bryan
Farms Out
New Single
>page 4
Kenny, Jason,
Lady A
Do CMTs
>page 4
MAY 21, 2015 | PAGE 1 OF 7
How Carrie Underwood Shot Back
Into The Top 10 With ‘Guns’
“I brought the ‘Little Toy Guns’ track into the writing session
with Carrie [Underwood] and our good friend Hillary Lindsey. All the parts were there, but no song yet.”
Veteran writer Chris DeStefano recalls how Underwood’s
latest single originated as the song hits a chart milestone: “Little Toy Guns” (19/Arista Nashville) becomes her 21st top 10
on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs
UNDERWOOD
chart (dated May 30), rising 11-10.
“Hillary heard this riff I was doing
in the verse and thought it could
be cool to open up the song with
it. So after a quick edit, we began
writing it.”
DeStefano says that Lindsey
originally imagined the song as
“Wooden Guns.” “Carrie reacted
to it and put a really great spin on
it, calling it ‘Little Toy Guns,’ and
began to talk about how it could
be a story about a girl who hears
her parents arguing and how she
wishes words didn’t hurt like they
do. We all felt very strongly on the
subject. One of my favorite lines is from Carrie: ‘Fighting at the
drop of a faucet.’ I thought, ‘That’s brilliant.’ ”
“Guns” scales Hot Country Songs with the majority (58
percent) of its points from radio play, as it lifts 9-7 on Country Airplay with a 7 percent gain to 30 million in audience,
according to Nielsen Music. Notably, Underwood has yet to miss
the Hot Country Songs top 10 with any song she has released
as a promoted country single, dating to her first, the six-week
No. 1 “Jesus, Take the Wheel” (2005-06).
Lindsey adds her 17th Hot Country Songs top 10 as a writer
— she also co-wrote the chart’s No. 1 title (for a fourth week),
Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush”
(Capitol Nashville) — and DeStefano tallies his 12th. “Guns” is
his fourth top 10 recorded by Underwood, following three No. 1s:
“Good Girl” (one week, 2012);
“Somethin’ Bad,” with Miranda
Lambert (one, 2014); and “Something in the Water” (seven, 201415). On May 17, “Water” won the
top Christian song trophy at the
2015 Billboard Music Awards.
“It was such an honor to co-write
[“Water”] with Carrie and Brett
James,” says DeStefano. “I have
such enormous respect for both of
them, and to share this award with
them is so humbling. I’ve been blessed to be a part of it and to
have it affect people as positively as it has.”
This column was written by Billboard co-director of charts Gary
Trust ([email protected]).
UNDERWOOD: JEREMY COWART
INSIDE
EDITED BY TOM ROLAND, [email protected]
MIDWEEK
UPDATE
BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE
MAY 21, 2015 | PAGE 2 OF 7
MAKIN’ TR ACKS TOM ROLAND [email protected]
The first time Randy Houser heard the demo of “We Went,” he had no clue
what the song was about. But there was something intriguing about the pacing
and the chord structure, so he played it again.
“It was kind of a spitfire, rapid-fire lyric, and the way they put it together seemed
fun,” says Houser.
Eventually, the black Pontiac, the cops’ flashing blue lights and the dance club
the lyrics refer to meshed together in his mind. After multiple listens, “We Went”
finally revealed itself to Houser as a Dukes of Hazzard-style backwoods adventure.
“It took me a few times,” he allows. “I think it’ll
take everybody else a few times also.”
“We Went,” which was released to radio via
Play MPE on April 27, is sort of a mystery within
a mystery. Even after it’s clear that the couple in
the song is hightailing it through the countryside
in a grand escape from the law, it’s still not certain
why they’re on the run. It leaves the listener with a
number of unanswered questions, the same way
that Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe,” John
Conlee’s “Miss Emily’s Picture” and Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson’s “Pancho and Lefty”
kept the listener guessing.
“We wanted to leave it open,” says Black
River recording artist John King, who co-wrote
“We Went.” “Maybe they went to jail, or maybe
they got away. Who knows? That’s what’s kind
of cool about that song: It’s kind of a fill-in-theblank song.”
“It’s always good to leave a little bit of mystery in a song,” adds co-writer Justin Wilson (“Later On,” “Kiss You in the Morning”). “It makes people want to
hear it more and more and try to figure it out.”
“We Went” was something of a mystery to King, Wilson and co-writer Matt
Rogers when they concocted it at the Black River offices on Music Row during
fourth-quarter 2014. “We had no idea what the story was going to be,” says Wilson. “We had zero clue, and I normally do not like to write that way. I normally
like to know what I’m writing toward.”
Wilson arrived at the office with OneRepublic’s “Counting Stars” in mind,
particularly the fast-paced bridge: “Take that money and watch it burn/Sink in
the river the lessons I’ve learned.” He aspired to write a similarly speedy lyric,
and Rogers accommodated with a guitar groove that started on a minor chord
and moved to a major. But when Wilson joined in, he fumbled the second chord
and threaded two minors together. Rogers liked the mistake better, so he took
it a little further.
“The song is E-minor, B-minor, A-minor to C, which is completely off the wall
in terms of what’s been working in Nashville recently, and I think that’s what sold
the song,” notes Rogers. “It’s got this Saturday Night Fever-like Bee Gees thing
kind of going on with this spitfire, hip-hop, country lyric. It’s a very strange song.”
Rogers started the plot with a line about a “black Cadillac with a pocket of
cash,” though the car soon morphed into a Pontiac once they realized they were
writing about a couple of kids. “You kind of picture Cadillacs with the old guys
on the golf course,” he reasons.
Wilson began to think of it in the same vein as Dierks Bentley’s debut single,
“What Was I Thinkin’,” a song where a young man outruns an angry father’s
shotgun blasts in a pickup ride.
“That’s a story of ‘guy and girl go out and go crazy,’ ” says Wilson with a laugh.
“And, you know, guy and girl go crazy is my specialty, so that fell into our laps
pretty well.”
In “We Went,” though, the pursuer is a police officer, and the couple is clearly
operating without a plan. They plow through a fence and jump a ditch to make
their getaway, then stop at a bar and tear up the dancefloor. Once the law shows
up, they hit the road once again, ending up in some remote spot where they fog
up the windows and engage in what appears to be a semi-public sexual romp.
“It’s open to opinions,” observes King. “I would
HOUSER
say they end up hooking up in some way. Maybe
it’s just making out, if you want to PC it. They end
up running from danger, but at the same time, the
danger is what drives them closer together.”
The song took no more than two hours to write,
but it led to a 30-minute debate about the title.
There was no obvious hook, but the phrase “we
went” at the end of the chorus invariably set up
the next verse or the bridge. So they went with
“We Went.”
“That’s kind of what makes that song charming
to me is that it just sort of continuously rolls,” says
King. “It’s just a story, and it never really stops.”
They banged out a work tape with out-of-tune
guitars, but the song was so unconventional they
weren’t sure if they should even spend the money
to make a demo. Magic Mustang creative director Keithan Melton was insistent — “Dude, you have to do this song” — and
when Wilson emerged with the demo, everyone involved instantly thought of
Houser as the perfect guy.
Houser played it a few times on the road, giving him a command of the lyrics
before he tried to commit them to virtual tape.
“You had to learn ’em first to make it really work, to make it all slide together
as one thing,” he says. “You don’t have time to second-guess anything.”
Producer Derek George (Joe Nichols, Chase Bryant) assembled a crack
studio group at the Tracking Room and worked to find the right pocket for all
those words.
“We really kept toying with the tempo when we were tracking it,” says George,
“getting it fast enough so the chorus would feel right, but slow enough where the
verses would feel OK, where it wouldn’t feel like he was rushing.”
George layered a backward clap on top of Lonnie Wilson’s drums — “It’s really
sloshy, kind of like a whole bunch of people clapping in reverse leading into the next
downbeat,” says George — and George and background vocalist Russell Terrell
threaded extra “we went” phrases near the end to drive home the title a bit more.
How that title will fare is still a mystery. The add date for the single was May 18,
and it’s likely to start its Country Airplay chart run the week of May 25. Meanwhile, there’s no mystery about Houser’s performance. Even King, who could
have conceivably cut “We Went” as an artist, thinks Houser gives it the best
chance to succeed. “In my opinion, Randy Houser is the best singer in country
music right now,” says King.
Plus, the unusual chord structure and its cartoonish plot are just weird enough
to demand attention.
“I think we came with something that’s just not what people would expect,”
says George. “And that’s good. I’m a fan of the sucker punch.”
HOUSER: JOSEPH LLANES
Randy Houser’s ‘We Went’ Keeps
The Guessing Game Going
BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE
MAY 21, 2015 | PAGE 3 OF 7
THE STARK REPORT PHYLLIS STARK [email protected]
“I like being different,” admits Brantley Gilbert. “The way I look at it is, as
long as I know there’s a box, and I’m outside of it, I’m good to go.”
While that attitude doesn’t always endear country artists to radio, Gilbert
found programmers quickly embracing him when he initially pinged their radar
in 2010. His first two singles went to No. 1, and more followed. On March 29,
the appreciation for his attitude was proved by his winning iHeart Radio’s
Renegade Award, which celebrates an artist “who breaks boundaries while
remaining true to themselves,” according to the honor’s description. At the ceremony he bested arguably better-known pop stars like Iggy Azalea, Hozier,
Meghan Trainor and Charli XCX in the category, and he’s still laughing
about it.
“I think everybody in that room was just as surprised as I was when they called
my name,” says Gilbert. “A few of
GILBERT
them were looking around trying to
figure out who the hell I was. I was
really thankful that Kanye [West]
didn’t come try [to take it], because
that wouldn’t have been real easy
for him.”
He’s pleased to have been recognized “for shaking things up a bit.”
Says Gilbert, “I’ve kind of got a rebellious bone. I think I came out of
the womb like that.” But he’s happiest when his songs connect with fans
on an emotional level. “As a writer,
I can’t get a better feeling any day
of the week than having somebody
come up to me and say, ‘This song
changed my life’ like [current single] ‘One Hell of an Amen’ has been
doing,” he explains.
While Gilbert modestly says,
“I’m not good enough at my job to
know whether I wrote a No. 1 song
for radio,” he has a great track record so far writing both for himself
and with cuts like Jason Aldean’s
“Dirt Road Anthem.”
“You just kind of cross your fingers and hope for the best,” he says of his work. “With a song like ‘One Hell
of an Amen,’ it’s been awesome to watch it march up the charts, but what it’s
doing off the charts is even more rewarding.”
On May 18 his label, the Valory Music Co., released a “platinum edition”
of his current album, Just As I Am, that contains five new tracks, plus a T.I.
remix of his 2014 hit “Bottoms Up.” The new version comes exactly a year
after the album’s original release date. Gilbert says that at least one of the
additional tracks will be a single that he hopes will continue his warm relationship with radio.
“Radio’s been so, so good to us, considering that we are outside the box,”
he says. “ ‘Country Must Be Country Wide’ had some pretty heavy guitars in it.
They weren’t buried. They were really out front in the production, and country
radio actually embraced that. It was one of those songs that took a while to get
up front, but it was the first single we ever put out, and it was a little bit more
in your face than a lot of things I had heard on the radio. So when that one got
to the front I was like, ‘OK, well, if that one can do that, then I’ve kind of got a
good idea of where I can go.’
“There were some things that were released to radio that were a little harder
to play than others,” admits Gilbert. “We had [third Valory single] ‘Kick It in the
Sticks,’ and we had some folks calling up saying they thought they were listening to a rock station. [The song peaked at No. 29 in 2012.] It wasn’t a No. 1 by
any means, but I feel like it kind of knocked on the door a little bit.
“I do write some things that are just too much for radio,” he says with a laugh.
“But radio has been cool enough to work with me on some stuff and to really
support us, and it’s an amazing thing. I couldn’t be more thankful.”
His collaboration with T.I. on the
platinum edition might raise eyebrows among country purists, but
Gilbert says, “I didn’t do it to piss anybody off or stir the water or give [ammunition to] the people that are on a
power trip about the ‘country and rap
is crap’ stuff.” Rather, he says, it was
just a fun chance to collaborate with
a fellow Georgia artist he admires.
“That song was already outside of
the box, so why not spice it up just a
little bit and add a little bit of fun?”
If the purists object, Gilbert hardly
has time to care. He’s on tour with
Kenny Chesney this spring and
summer, prepping for his four-city
May 22-23 motorcycle ride on behalf
of the Wounded Warrior Project and
gearing up for his wedding to fiancee
Amber Cochran.
He has already done two shows
with Chesney and calls the singer
“amazing. He’s really impressed me.
He goes for two hours, and he’s nonstop the whole time. It’s the first time
I’ve seen him from anywhere but the
nosebleeds, and I’ve got a lot to learn.”
While the wedding date is a secret, Cochran had her bachelorette party the
week of May 11, and Gilbert says his bachelor party is coming up shortly. And
he confesses they have already had to move the wedding date once after he
“screwed up” and accidentally spilled the beans. While he will only confirm
that the new date is “real soon,” Brantley says his busy tour schedule means “I
will be pulling up to the wedding, like, sliding in my driveway sideways from
the road. But after that we get to go away for seven or eight days, so I’m really
excited about that.”
Cochran, who has already inspired such Gilbert songs as “You Don’t Know
Her Like I Do” and “More Than Miles” through their on-and-off-and-nowvery-much-on-again relationship, remains a muse. But since they’re getting
married, he jokes, “There are some songs that nobody will ever get to hear
now. They’re on the soon-to-never-be-released album.”
GILBERT:JAMES MINCHIN
Radio Seems To Like
Brantley Gilbert Just As He Is
BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE
QUE STIONS
Answered
Mary Del Scobey
Former GM, Almo/Irving Music
When Mary Del Scobey got invited during her college years to observe
a Barbara Mandrell recording session, she didn’t even know who
Mandrell was. But it led to her first job as an administrator in music
publishing, working for Pi-Gem and Almo/Irving with such writers as Kye Fleming (“I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool”),
Mike Reid (“I Can’t Make You Love Me”), Don Schlitz (“On the
Other Hand”), Paul Kennerley (“Cry Myself to Sleep”) and Dean Dillon (“Ocean Front Property”). Scobey will be honored in September
along with several other female music executives at Nashville’s annual Source Awards.
You left the music business about a dozen years ago. Why? When
Almo was sold [to Universal Music Group Publishing in 2000], it just
wasn’t a warm and fuzzy feeling. Sometimes there are big, obvious
signs to move on and sometimes they are subtle, and to me, it was
kind of a big, obvious sign. I told my husband, “If I walk away from
this, I promise I won’t pay somebody to do something that I’m capable
of doing, if I don’t have to go back and get another 100-hour-a-week
job.” So I clean the house. If something needs painting, I paint it. I
haven’t learned how to reupholster furniture, but I’m really thinking
about learning how to do that.
Boy, those long hours are familiar. We went down to Bosco’s to eat
dinner, and we parked in the back, and we rounded the corner, and I
just went, “You know, I don’t think I want to work anymore.” He just
stopped dead in the road and was like, “What?” He had sold his company, so he was like, “You know, if you don’t work and I don’t work,
then we can do things.” So I quit working, and we went to Australia
for two weeks.
MAY 21, 2015 | PAGE 4 OF 7
Is there anything you miss about the
business? A lot of the people. There’s
a lot of them I still see. They were the
people that were your friends, and they
really, really are your friends. And then
there were the people that were kind
of friends with the person who sat behind the desk that I sat behind. When
it wasn’t me behind the desk anymore,
then it wasn’t me. That’s fine. I miss the
creative, you know — the young writers, watching them grow up and then
watching them have their first cut and
their first song on the radio and all of the energy and the excitement that goes
with that.
What do the great writers all have in common? They all are such great
people. They all are very well read. I don’t mean educated like master’s [degrees] and Ph.D.s, but they all just have such great life stories that they can
pull from. They never tried to write the song. They kind of let the song happen
and then made it as good as it could be, as opposed to creating the hit of the
week for radio.
A lot of people who start in the creative end are often confused or overwhelmed by the financial part of it, and you had that down. That was
probably a huge advantage. Oh, it’s a huge advantage, and it would at times
make me giggle because there are people out there that are negotiating deals
and throwing advance dollars and numbers around that didn’t even know what
the statutory rate was. How many records do you have to sell to recoup this
much money? If you don’t know at least the basics of the administrative end,
I don’t know how you ever go out and start talking to writers about how much
you’re going to pay them.
The fact that you were able to retire when you did tells me you knew what
to do with the money when it came in. Well, when you work all the time, you
don’t have time to spend it, so that helps. It makes it easy to save.
What does the Source Award mean to you? Source hadn’t existed very long
before I left, so I didn’t really know a lot about what Source was. It is very flattering all these years later for somebody to go, “I remember you. You were good
at what you did.” That’s exciting that people remember you in a positive way.
There’s a lot of [other] stuff they could remember me for. —Tom Roland
MIDWEEK NEWS UPDATE
BRYAN LIGHTS UP THE SUMMER
Luke Bryan’s new single — “Kick the
BRYAN
Dust Up,” which premiered May 20 on
iHeartRadio — fits nicely with his party
image and the long-running Farm Tour,
packing good-time images alongside tractors and cornfields. “Dust” is the lead single from a new album, Kill the Lights, that
arrives Aug. 7. It’s the first major country
album announced under the new global
album date, which shifts releases from
Tuesdays to Fridays beginning July 10.
Carrie Underwood is among the first wave of performers announced for the
CMT Music Awards on June 10 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. A double
nominee for video of the year, Underwood is joined on the performance list
by five contenders in the same category: Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum,
Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney and Florida Georgia Line. Also set to play
the awards is male video of the year finalist Keith Urban.
Remember Pearl Harbor: Kristian Bush will do just that when he performs
for enlisted men and women at the military base at Oahu, Hawaii, on Memorial Day. The concert is the beginning of a two-week international military
tour presented by Armed Forces Entertainment that includes seven stops in
Japan. Bush will be back in the states the week of the CMA Music Festival,
kicking off his return with a June 9 gig at the Bluebird Café.
Thieves stole Texas singer-songwriter Zane Williams’ van and trailer from
a restaurant parking lot near Houston while he and his band were eating
lunch. The trailer has been recovered, but the van is still missing. Williams’
response? A cleverly pointed new song that ought to give the robbers a little
perspective.
BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE
MAY 21, 2015 | PAGE 5 OF 7
Hot Country Songs
THIS
WEEK
LAST
WEEK
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CHART PRODUCER (SONGWRITER)
1
24 GIRL CRUSH
Artist
IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL
J.JOYCE (L.ROSE,L.MCKENNA,H.LINDSEY)
2
2
3
5
5
4
6
9
4
6
7
7
16
9
19
26
34
1
NEW
9
29
3
19
★★No. 1 (4 weeks)/Digital Gainer★★
M
CA NASHVILLE
Florida Georgia Line
R
EPUBLIC NASHVILLE
Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY)
SIPPIN’ ON FIRE
J.MOI (R.CLAWSON,M.DRAGSTREM,C.TAYLOR)
★★Airplay Gainer★★
S.HENDRICKS (J.T.HARDING,J.OSBORNE,T. ROSEN)
DON’T IT
D.HUFF (J.JOHNSTON,A.GORLEY,R.COPPERMAN)
A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR
J.CATINO,J.KING (M.PEIRCE,J.SINGLETON,B.TURSI)
I’M COMIN’ OVER
★★Hot Shot Debut★★
C.CROWDER,C.YOUNG (C.YOUNG,C.CROWDER,J.HOGE)
HOMEGROWN
LITTLE TOY GUNS
11
17
10
17
N.CHAPMAN,K.URBAN (J.JOHNSTON,JEFFREY STEELE,T.DOUGLAS)
12
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12
12
15
B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (K.CHESNEY,S.MCANALLY,J.OSBORNE)
14
16
25
F.G.WHITEHEAD (K.BALLERINI,J.KERR,F.G.WHITEHEAD,L.CARPENTER)
13
14
33
B.BEAVERS,J.ROBBINS (C.SMITH,B.BEAVERS,J.BEAVERS)
17
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20
28
11
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6
12
10
M.BRIGHT (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,H.LINDSEY)
RAISE ‘EM UP
WILD CHILD
LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT
LOVE YOU LIKE THAT
LIKE A WRECKING BALL
J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,C.BEATHARD)
DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOLS
B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (L.LAIRD,B.DEAN,J.SINGLETON)
BABY BE MY LOVE SONG
C.CHAMBERLAIN (J.COLLINS,BRETT JAMES)
ONE HELL OF AN AMEN
D.HUFF (B.GILBERT,M.DEKLE,B.DAVIS)
SHE DON’T LOVE YOU
M.ALTMAN (E.PASLAY,J.WAYNE)
TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU
M.KNOX (D.DAVIDSON,R.AKINS,A.GORLEY)
GAMES
J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,A.GORLEY)
CRUSHIN’ IT
L.WOOTEN,B.PAISLEY (B.PAISLEY,K.LOVELACE,L.T.MILLER)
CRASH AND BURN
D.HUFF,J.FRASURE (J.FRASURE,C.STAPLETON)
1
1
3
4
5
4
7
Carrie Underwood
1 9/ARISTA NASHVILLE
Keith Urban Featuring Eric Church
HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE
Kenny Chesney With Grace Potter
BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE
Kelsea Ballerini
BLACK RIVER
Canaan Smith
MERCURY
Eric Church
E MI NASHVILLE
Tim McGraw With Catherine Dunn
M
CGRAW/BIG MACHINE
Easton Corbin
MERCURY
Brantley Gilbert
VALORY
Eric Paslay
E MI NASHVILLE
Jason Aldean
B
ROKEN BOW
Luke Bryan
C
APITOL NASHVILLE
Brad Paisley
ARISTA NASHVILLE
10
YOUNG & CRAZY
KISS YOU IN THE MORNING
Country
8
12
13
13
15
13
17
18
15
8
21
21
21
Michael Ray
23
W
ARNER BROS./WEA
S.HENDRICKS (J.WILSON,M.WHITE)
2
Thomas Rhett
V
ALORY
Frankie Ballard
W
ARNER BROS./WAR
M.ALTMAN,S.HENDRICKS (A.GORLEY,S.MCANALLY,R.AKINS)
UPDATE
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0
8
★★Streaming Gainer★★
Lee Ann Photoglo, 615-376-7931, [email protected]
PEAK
POSITION
Chris Young
R
CA NASHVILLE
Zac Brown Band
JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND
J.JOYCE,Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,W.DURRETTE,N.MOON)
8
16
WARNER BROS./WMN
A Thousand Horses
R
EPUBLIC NASHVILLE
Billy Currington
M
ERCURY
Tyler Farr
C
OLUMBIA NASHVILLE
D.COBB (M.HOBBY,J.M.NITE,R.COPPERMAN)
11
13
Blake Shelton
SMOKE
11
15
Little Big Town
Sam Hunt
SANGRIA
CERTIFIED
C
APITOL NASHVILLE
TAKE YOUR TIME
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SALES, AIRPLAY &
STREAMING DATA
COMPILED BY
24
BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE
MAY 21, 2015 | PAGE 6 OF 7
Hot Country Songs
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CHART PRODUCER (SONGWRITER)
LOVING YOU EASY
26
4
NEW
29
28
—
28
RE-ENTRY
31
30
27
Artist
IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL
30
29
23
1
1
4
19
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19
19
19
GOING OUT LIKE THAT
T.BROWN (B.HAYSLIP,R.AKINS,J.SELLERS)
LITTLE RED WAGON
F.LIDDELL,C.AINLAY,G.WORF (A.MAE,GINSBERG J.)
FLY
38
l
39
l
40
l
41
l
42
l
34
33
15
B.JAMES (K.MOORE,J.WEAVER,W.DAVIS)
43
44
l
45
l
46
l
47
48
l
49
l
50
l
36
40
41
43
42
44
35
43
42
41
44
48
NEW
NEW
9
5
7
6
5
6
1
1
28
M.J.CONES (Z.CROWELL,A.SANDERS,J.BOYER)
S.HENDRICKS (T.NICHOLS,C.HARRINGTON,J.L.SPEARS)
19
34
HELL OF A NIGHT
13
39
Kacey Musgraves
MERCURY
Cole Swindell
W
ARNER BROS./WMN
Dan + Shay
W
ARNER BROS./WAR
Brothers Osborne
E MI NASHVILLE
Eli Young Band
R
EPUBLIC NASHVILLE
Parmalee
STONEY CREEK
Luke Bryan
C
APITOL NASHVILLE
Brantley Gilbert
VALORY
Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,Z.CROWELL,J.FLOWERS)
31
38
Chase Rice
HOUSE PARTY
32
20
39
J.DEMARCUS,RASCAL FLATTS (J.BOYER,S.HAZE)
37
36
39
Old Dominion
R
CA NASHVILLE
Gloriana
RIOT
4
37
Clare Bowen & Sam Palladio
ABC STUDIOS/LIONS GATE/BIG MACHINE
C.JANSON,C.DUBOIS,B.ANDERSON (C.JANSON,C.DUBOIS)
13
10
31
BUY ME A BOAT
34
40
Kip Moore
MCA NASHVILLE
B.APPLEBERRY (LINDA HARGROVE,D.DILLON)
32
39
27
TENNESSEE WHISKEY
35
1
26
Steven Tyler
D
OT
Meghan Linsey
REPUBLIC
Chris Janson
W
ARNER BROS./WAR
Rascal Flatts
B
IG MACHINE
Sam Hunt
M
CA NASHVILLE
Dustin Lynch
B
ROKEN BOW
Reba
NASH ICON/VALORY
Miranda Lambert
RCA NASHVILLE
Maddie & Tae
D
OT
Brett Eldredge
A
TLANTIC/WMN
Jana Kramer
D.HUFF (L.LEE,E.PASLAY)
33
D.HUFF (M.MARLOW,T.DYE,T.VARTANYAN)
LOSE MY MIND
R. COPPERMAN,B.ELDREDGE (B.ELDREDGE,H.MORGAN,R.COPPERMAN,B.BURTON,T.D.CALLAWAY,G.F.REVERBERI,G.P.REVERBERI)
I GOT THE BOY
28
29
27
31
30
23
5
32
31
31
E LEKTRA NASHVILLE/WAR
I’M TO BLAME
I WILL NEVER LET YOU KNOW
NOT LISTED (NOT LISTED)
BREAK UP WITH HIM
S.MCANALLY (M.RAMSEY,T. ROSEN,B.TURSI,G.SPRUNG,W.SELLERS)
TROUBLE
36
EMBLEM/WARNER BROS./WAR
M.SERLETIC (R.REINERT,M.GOSSIN,R.COPPERMAN,J.M.NITE)
GONNA WANNA TONIGHT
DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE
C. DESTEFANO (S.MCANALLY,J.M.NITE,J.ROBBINS)
PEAK
POSITION
Zac Brown Band
LOVE IS YOUR NAME 35
l
36
l
NEW
CERTIFIED
J OHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND
Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,N.MOON,A.ANDERSON)
NEW
SALES, AIRPLAY &
STREAMING DATA
COMPILED BY
BISCUITS
K.MUSGRAVES,L.LAIRD,S.MCANALLY (K.MUSGRAVES,S.MCANALLY,B.CLARK)
LET ME SEE YA GIRL
M.CARTER (C.SWINDELL,M.CARTER,J.STEVENS)
NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU
C. DESTEFANO (D.SMYERS,S.MOONEY,A.GORLEY,C. DESTEFANO)
STAY A LITTLE LONGER
J.JOYCE (J. OSBORNE,T.J. OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY)
TURN IT ON
R. COPPERMAN,J.S.STOVER (M.ELI,J.YOUNG,R.CLAWSON,M.DRAGSTREM)
ALREADY CALLIN’ YOU MINE
NV (M.THOMAS,S.THOMAS,B.KNOX,P.O’DONNELL,W.KIRBY)
KICK THE DUST UP
J.STEVENS,J.STEVENS (D.DAVIDSON,C. DESTEFANO,A.GORLEY)
STONE COLD SOBER
D.HUFF (B.GILBERT,BRETT JAMES,D.LAYUS)
40
41
41
42
44
49
50
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 WATCH
A Weekly National Music Sales Report
YEAR-TO-DATE
Year-Over-Year Album Sales
’14
11.5 million
’15
10.2 million
DIGITAL TRACKS SALES
’14
’15
55.0
million
000.0
million
46.0 million
Weekly Unit’14
Sales
’13
DIGITAL
ALBUMS*
DIGITAL
TRACKS
This Week
509,000
184,000
2,447,000
Last Week
609,000
205,000
2,263,000
-16.4%
-10.2%
8.1%
587,000
194,000
2,710,000
-13.3%
-5.2%
-9.7%
Change
This Week Last Year
Change
For week ending May 17, 2015. Figures are rounded. Compiled from
a national sample of retail store and rack sales reports collected and
provided by Nielsen Music.
Overall Unit Sales
ALBUMS
2014
2015
CHANGE
Albums
11,469,000
10,224,000
-10.9%
Digital Tracks
55,006,000
46,014,000
-16.3%
Sales by Album Format
2014
2015
Physical
7,537,000
6,394,000
9.0%
Digital
3,932,000
3,830,000
-2.6%
*Digital album sales are also counted within album sales.
For inquiries about any Nielsen Music data, please contact Josh Bennett at 615-807-1338 or [email protected]
CHANGE
BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE
MAY 21, 2015 | PAGE 7 OF 7
SALES, AIRPLAY &
STREAMING DATA
COMPILED BY
1
4
3
l
4
3
29
1
NEW
SOUNDTRACK
CHRIS STAPLETON
5
3
3
5
6
5
2
3
7
9
6
10 10
11
5
7
10
12 11
9
13 12
8
RE-ENTRY
14
l
Traveller
2
REBA
Love Somebody
1
TYLER FARR
Suffer In Peace
2
MERCURY 019405*/UMGN
NASH ICON/VALORY /BMLG
COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 500719/SMN
The Outsiders
EMMYLOU HARRIS & RODNEY CROWELL
NONESUCH 548243/WARNER BROS.
ALDEAN
32 JASON
BROKEN BOW 7105/BBMG
30
Old Boots, New Dirt
1
1
3
Spring Break... Checkin’ Out
1
Anything Goes
7
DARIUS RUCKER
Southern Style
1
6
VARIOUS ARTISTS
NOW That’s What I Call ACM Awards: 50 Years
3
CAPITOL NASHVILLE 021931/UMGN
UNIVERSAL/SONY MUSIC /UME
16 18 15 33
BLAKE SHELTON
17 17
CARRIE UNDERWOOD
17 23
23 13 19 27
GARTH BROOKS
24 19 20 27
ZAC BROWN BAND
2
12
3
8
4
4
64
5
5
47
6
l
7
l
7 111
8
60
8
6
13
9
9
73
10
l
10
6
16
NEW
10 6
11
l
18
9 29
12 8
14
13 10 9
l
14 11 26
l
15 14 6
l
16 NEW
l
1
18 15
l
19 23
l
20 18
l
21 24
l
22 20
l
1
23 16 17
1
24 13 36
2
Second Hand Heart
2
Platinum
0
Ignite The Night
COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 22573/DACK JANIELS
Just As I Am
VALORY BG0200A/BMLG
Man Against Machine
PEARL/RCA NASHVILLE 501135/SMN
ROAR/SOUTHERN GROUND/ATLANTIC 546369/AG
0
1
Greatest Hits So Far...
Sundown Heaven Town
1
WKS ON
CHART
10
12
4
22
TITLE
ARTIST (IMPRINT/LABEL)
l
SAY YOU DO
29 19 21 D
IERKS BENTLEY ( Capitol Nashville/UMGN)
AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY
30 26 32 COLE SWINDELL ( Warner Bros./WMN)
HOUSE PARTY
31 29 7 SAM HUNT ( MCA Nashville/UMGN)
LITTLE RED WAGON
32 21 18 MIRANDA LAMBERT ( RCA Nashville/SMN)
STONE COLD SOBER
33 NEW BRANTLEY GILBERT ( Valory/BMLG)
I GOT THE BOY
34 28 13 JANA KRAMER ( Elektra Nashville/WMN)
CRUSHIN’ IT
35 34 8 BRAD PAISLEY ( Arista Nashville/SMN)
BABY BE MY LOVE SONG
36 22 8 EASTON CORBIN ( Mercury/UMGN)
RIOT
37 31 5 RASCAL FLATTS ( Big Machine/BMLG)
YOUNG & CRAZY
38 NEW FRANKIE BALLARD ( Warner Bros./WMN)
THIS IS HOW WE ROLL
39 36 77 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN (Republic Nashville/BMLG)
GOING OUT LIKE THAT
40 33 10 REBA (Nash Icon/Valory/BMLG)
LEAVE THE NIGHT ON
41 37 48 SAM HUNT ( MCA Nashville/UMGN)
CRUISE
42 40 149 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)
LOSE MY MIND
43 47 3 BRETT ELDREDGE ( Atlantic/WMN)
MY WISH
44 RE-ENTRY RASCAL FLATTS ( Lyric Street)
BURNIN’ IT DOWN
45 43 42 JASON ALDEAN ( Broken Bow/BBMG)
BISCUITS
46 41 8 KACEY MUSGRAVES ( Mercury/UMGN)
RIDE
47 38 19 CHASE RICE ( Dack Janiels)
WAGON WHEEL
48 RE-ENTRY DARIUS RUCKER ( Capitol Nashville/UMGN)
FLY
49 48 2 MADDIE & TAE (Dot/BMLG)
PLAY IT AGAIN
50 46 75 LUKE BRYAN ( Capitol Nashville/UMGN)
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
5
25 27
l
1
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.
4
BUILDING AIRPLAY GAINERS
TITLE LabelArtist
KICK THE DUST UP C
apitol Nashville
GAIN
Luke Bryan
+1226
TITLE
WILD CHILD B
lue Chair/Columbia Nashville Kenny Chesney With Grace Potter
+325
TAKE YOUR TIME
AM HUNT
S
GIRL CRUSH
LITTLE BIG TOWN
SIPPIN’ ON FIRE
FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE
THIS IS HOW WE ROLL
FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN
LEAVE THE NIGHT ON
SAM HUNT
CRUISE
FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE
PLAY IT AGAIN
LUKE BRYAN
HOMEGROWN
ZAC BROWN BAND
BOTTOMS UP
BRANTLEY GILBERT
DON’T IT
11 11 8 B ILLY CURRINGTON
DRINKING CLASS
12 12 27 LEE BRICE
A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR
13 17 6 TYLER FARR
SAY YOU DO
14 13 11 DIERKS BENTLEY
SANGRIA
15 — 1 BLAKE SHELTON
GAMES
16 19 3 LUKE BRYAN
THAT’S MY KIND OF NIGHT
17 18 92 LUKE BRYAN
CRASH AND BURN
18 — 1 THOMAS RHETT
LITTLE TOY GUNS
19 21 4 CARRIE UNDERWOOD
LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT B
lack River
Kelsea Ballerini
+281
Blake Shelton
+263
Carrie Underwood
+137
Zac Brown Band
+131
DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOLS M
cGraw/Big Machine Tim McGraw With Catherine Dunn
+130
DON’T IT M
ercury
B
illy Currington
+129
Keith Urban
+124
F
lorida Georgia Line
+122
20 16 45 DIRT
FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE
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.
ARTIST
LIKE A WRECKING BALL
E RIC CHURCH
LAST
WEEK
17
DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOL
26 17 13 T IM MCGRAW WITH CATHERINE DUNN (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)
WILD CHILD
27 25 12 KENNY CHESNEY WITH GRACE POTTER (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)
LOVING YOU EASY
28 30 4 ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)
LAST
WEEK
WKS ON
CHART
LAST
WEEK
THIS
WEEK
8
l
9
l
GIRL CRUSH
L ITTLE BIG TOWN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)
I’M COMIN’ OVER
CHRIS YOUNG ( RCA Nashville/SMN)
SANGRIA
BLAKE SHELTON ( Warner Bros./WMN)
TAKE YOUR TIME
SAM HUNT ( MCA Nashville/UMGN)
TENNESSEE WHISKEY
MEGHAN LINSEY ( Republic)
LIKE A WRECKING BALL
ERIC CHURCH ( EMI Nashville/UMGN)
SIPPIN’ ON FIRE
FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)
SMOKE
A THOUSAND HORSES (Republic Nashville/BMLG)
LOVE IS YOUR NAME
STEVEN TYLER ( Dot/BMLG)
HOMEGROWN
ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)
LOVE YOU LIKE THAT
CANAAN SMITH ( Mercury/UMGN)
DON’T IT
BILLY CURRINGTON ( Mercury/UMGN)
TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU
JASON ALDEAN ( Broken Bow/BBMG)
A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR
TYLER FARR ( Columbia Nashville/SMN)
CRASH AND BURN
THOMAS RHETT ( Valory/BMLG)
I WILL NEVER LET YOU KNOW
CLARE BOWEN & SAM PALLADIO (ABC Studios/Lions Gate/Big Machine/BMLG)
LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT
KELSEA BALLERINI ( Black River)
LITTLE TOY GUNS
CARRIE UNDERWOOD ( 19/Arista Nashville/SMN)
ONE HELL OF AN AMEN
BRANTLEY GILBERT ( Valory/BMLG)
GAMES
LUKE BRYAN ( Capitol Nashville/UMGN)
BUY ME A BOAT
CHRIS JANSON ( Chris Janson)
SHE DON’T LOVE YOU
ERIC PASLAY ( EMI Nashville/UMGN)
RAISE ‘EM UP
KEITH URBAN FEAT. ERIC CHURCH (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville)
DRINKING CLASS
LEE BRICE ( Curb)
KISS YOU IN THE MORNING
MICHAEL RAY ( Warner Bros./WMN)
ARTIST (IMPRINT/LABEL)
THIS
WEEK
WKS ON
CHART
LAST
WEEK
THIS
WEEK
2
l
3
l
12
7
1
COUNTRY
STREAMING SONGS
20
4
0
Cole Swindell
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.
STREAMING DATA
COMPILED BY
1
7
17 12 14
MCGRAW
25 23 34 TIM
MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE TM0200A/BMLG
1
14
1
WARNER BROS. 546622/WMN
22 22 22 52
5
0
LAMBERT
20 16 12 50 MIRANDA
RCA NASHVILLE 379278/SMN
BRANTLEY GILBERT
NEW
Greatest Hits: Decade #1
DWIGHT YOAKAM
21 20 18 39
5
l
6
l
7
1
19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 500876/SMN
CHASE RICE
3 29
2
2
l
5
1
4
NEW
BRINGING BACK THE SUNSHINE
CAPITOL NASHVILLE 018733/UMGN
WARNER BROS. 544918/WMN
0
l
2
l
3
l
1 21
1
Crash My Party
COLE SWINDELL
18 21 16 65 WARNER BROS. 541372/WMN
25
l
8
GEORGIA LINE
31 FLORIDA
REPUBLIC NASHVILLE /BMLG
15 15 14 93
11
1
Pain Killer
CAPITOL NASHVILLE 021360*/UMGN
BRYAN
10 LUKE
CAPITOL NASHVILLE 022540/UMGN
1
The Traveling Kind
LITTLE BIG TOWN
LUKE BRYAN
19 14
PEAK
POSITION
3
CHURCH
66 ERIC
EMI NASHVILLE 019402*/UMGN
1
7
Nashville: The Music Of, Season 3 : Volume 2
ABC STUDIOS/LIONS GATE/BIG MACHINE /BMLG
2
8
1
MCA NASHVILLE 021502/UMGN
—
9
1
Montevallo
SAM HUNT
2
NEW
JEKYLL + HYDE
JOHN VARVATOS/SOUTHERN GROUND/BMLG 022962/REPUBLIC
4
8
l
CERT.
WEEKS
ON CHT
2 WEEKS
AGO
1
ZAC BROWN BAND
TITLE
THIS
WEEK
2
LAST
WEEK
THIS
WEEK
1
Title
IMPRINT & NUMBER / DISTRIBUTING LABEL
WKS ON
CHART
COUNTRY
DIGITAL SONGS
TOP COUNTRY ALBUMS
ARTIST
SALES, AIRPLAY &
STREAMING DATA
COMPILED BY
TITLE
ARTIST
l
l
l
l
l
l
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.
SANGRIA W
arner Bros./WMN
LITTLE TOY GUNS 1 9/Arista Nashville
LOVING YOU EASY V
arvatos/BMLG/Southern Ground
SOMEWHERE IN MY CAR H
it Red/Capitol Nashville
STAY R
epublic Nashville