Bebe Rexha’s “Meant To Be” Ties Another Country Record, Looks to Extend #1 Run
It’s 24 weeks atop the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for Bebe Rexha’s collaboration with Florida Georgia Line, “Meant To Be.” This means the song first recorded and released solely as a pop single has now tied Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” for the 2nd longest-running #1 single in the Billboard Hot Country Songs history. Only Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Backroad” has held forth at the #1 spot for longer when it spent 34 weeks at #1. The question is now, when will the run of Bebe Rexha’s pop dominance of the Country Songs chart end?
The momentum for “Meant To Be” is beginning to show small signs of fading, though the fade is slower than expected on radio. Though still solidly at #1, the song’s 21.8 million streams in the United States last week was down 5%. The Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart tabulates streams, sales, and radio play into a song’s chart performance. “Meant to Be” slipped from the top spot on the Country Digital Songs Sales chart where it was #1 for 19 straight weeks, falling 13% to 28,000 downloads, and beaten by Luke Combs’ “Beautiful Crazy” for #1.
But “Meant To Be” still reigns on the Country Streaming Songs chart at #1, and is showing stubbornness on country radio. It hit #1 on radio a few weeks ago, which in this day and age is usually proceeded by a precipitous fall often completely out of the Country Airplay charts in two or three weeks. But “Meant To Be” remains in the Top 5, giving it a total of 8 weeks in one of the five top spots. The song’s overall audience on radio only fell 5% last week. This is similar to the path “Body Like a Backroad” took on it’s historic run, where after the song peaked, it remained on radio for an extended period, boosting it’s standing on the Hot Country Songs chart as well.
At this point it looks promising for Bebe Rexha to beat Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” by making it 25 weeks on the chart, but we’ll have to see. Multiple other songs are surging, and Sam Hunt just released a new single “Downtown’s Dead” that could depose “Meant To Be” sooner than later, if another song like Kane Brown’s “Heaven” or Luke Comb’s “Beautiful Crazy” doesn’t do it before.
The run of “Meant To Be” has underscored the upside down nature of country music in 2018, where pop stars and collaborations are dominating charts for what are supposed to be country artists. Bebe Rexha is already the longest-running woman at #1 in the Hot Country Songs chart history, without a lick of history in the genre otherwise.
Other notable moves on the chart include Jason Aldean’s “Drowns The Whiskey” with Miranda Lambert coming in as the most added song on country radio last week, which is good since Miranda’s current single “Keeper of the Flame” is mired at #58. It might not even make it the Top 40 at this pace. Any gains for Chris Stapleton’s “Millionaire” are also moderate. It fell from #48 to #49 last week.
Meanwhile Kenny Chesney has two songs in the Top 10 with his latest single “Get Along,” and his collaboration with David Lee Murphy, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” at #7. Same goes for Florida Georgia Line, who has both their collaboration with Bebe Rexha, and “Up Down” with Morgan Wallen in the Mediabase Top 10. All that attention for Florida Georgia Line and Chesney, and meanwhile the only country woman in the Country Airplay Top 20 at the moment is Carrie Underwood with “Cry Pretty.”
May 17, 2018 @ 9:54 am
Literally everything in this story makes me cry…and not pretty.
May 17, 2018 @ 10:24 am
Country radio was showing a lot of good promise early in the year. A lot of that has now been eroded.
May 17, 2018 @ 10:12 am
I kinda expected Miranda’s tabloids stuff to boost her numbers, but I guess the radio powers haven’t been able to figure out how to make money off it.
Not even a damn silver lining to all that bullshit. Here’s to hoping at least Felker’s “neo-folk” band gains some attention.
May 17, 2018 @ 10:27 am
Tabloid news being good for business I think is more theory than practice. Miranda may never have another radio hit at this pace unless it’s via a “feat.” and the Turnpike Troubadours couldn’t even get one Americana nomination. But it’s still early.
May 23, 2018 @ 12:48 pm
Maybe Miranda’s tabloid stuff will be what finally does her in. I change the channel every time they play her or mention her on the radio. There is a point where people say enough.
May 17, 2018 @ 10:28 am
Well I guess that cinches it. The 3 “greatest country” songs of all time are from FGL, Sam Hurl and Baby Wrecks it. Move over George Jones, outta the way George Strait, sorry Dolly, Willie, Waylon and anyone else that might have been in the conversation. You have been demoted. All the history books need amended. Let’s open the hall of fame to these “amazing artists” right now. What a great time for country music. Yessir, we are in a new golden age.
(Yes that was sarcasm)
May 17, 2018 @ 10:42 am
That’s the very real-world implications of this entire thing. If civilization crashes, and some alien race comes to excavate country music culture to study it, they will revere these songs as the best there ever was because of how they were so insurmountably rewarded compared to others. We’re not talking about breaking long-standing records by a couple of weeks. We’re talking burying them by months, with the only way they will ever be overtaken is if another artist collaborates with a pop star, or courts pop radio from the country genre. Zooming out, it really makes you sick.
May 17, 2018 @ 12:58 pm
I’m gonna go ahead and give aliens the benefit of the doubt here Trigger. I’m pretty sure that any alien from any galaxy will be far far smarter than the average Wrexit fan and will get it right away . They will understand immediately what segment of our species was lazy enough to listen to the Kruise Kids often enough that it set some sort of record . They will see the correlation between the vacuous nature of the ‘music’ and the vacuous nature of the brains that absorbed it . Cuz …hey …they’re aliens . They’re smart .
May 17, 2018 @ 10:41 am
I was at a local rural High School for my job recently and a bunch of kids were sitting in the backs of their lifted trucks blasting this song. Back in the day, those same rural kids were in that same parking lot listening to DAC and Waylon. I wonder if that stuff is considered “old twangy shit” by the current generation?
May 17, 2018 @ 1:48 pm
Surely there will be a backlash. That’s what I’m hoping and praying. Someday soon these kids, or their younger counterparts, will see how vacuous, silly, and ultimately uncool all of this is. I mean, I remember when Limp Bizkit was the hottest thing. I was in high school. I knew it was shit, but I was in the minority then. Now, everybody makes fun of Limp Bizkit.
May 17, 2018 @ 3:07 pm
When I was in high school sitting in the backs of trucks with my buddies, we’d be blasting Skynyrd or Hank Jr. or something along those lines (basically anything classic country or southern rock). I’m not saying that as a “well, back in MY day” statement (because I only graduated high school a couple years ago), I’m saying that to show that we wouldn’t be caught dead listening to garbage like this, especially as teenage guys. I dunno, maybe we were able to see through the bullshit really quickly, but I can’t remember anyone I hung out with ever thinking that FGL, Luke Bryan, or Jason Aldean were actually cool or badass. We always preferred the older stuff.
May 17, 2018 @ 3:19 pm
That’s reassuring. As an over 40 guy, it was frightening to see.
May 17, 2018 @ 10:52 am
To quote Wheeler Walker Jr., Bebe Rexha (fans) can “slurp the fucking shit out of my fucking hairy asshole.”
May 17, 2018 @ 12:55 pm
Well walker knows enough about that sort of thing
May 17, 2018 @ 11:01 am
in 1941 the highest grossing movie was the film Sgt. York. do you know what else came out in 1941? Citizen Kane. no one ever talks about Sgt. York. this little hooker is nothing but a footnote in country music history if she’s lucky.
May 17, 2018 @ 4:31 pm
In all fairness, Sargent York is a true classic. Citizen Kane was kind of a slow burn, acquiring its reputation over time. Sure, Sargent York may not get the mention that Citizen Kane does now but that does not diminish its quality or iconic status.
May 17, 2018 @ 11:20 am
I still don’t get how this is a Babe Rixta song. She barely appears in it. It’s a boring, run-of-the-mill FGL ballad. This song staying at No. 1 will always have an asterisk to it because of the system. The bigger concern is the lack of women on the chart. It feels like this has been going on for years and years now and it’s never going to get better.
I know I’m old but there has never been a time when there weren’t any women (no teen girls) on the charts. It’s just weird that radio won’t play women anymore.
May 17, 2018 @ 12:06 pm
Country music needs a universally recognized commission that can kick songs out of the genre
May 17, 2018 @ 1:25 pm
It kind of has that with the CMA. But the CMA seems to be completely asleep at the wheel with this issue, and others for that matter.
May 17, 2018 @ 2:03 pm
I think one of the other big things that we aren’t touching on is the fact that things just keep getting worse. We keep assuming that we’ve reached the pinnacle of how bad it can get, but the machine just keeps one-upping itself.
If the worst we had to deal with was Kenny Chesney bumming it on a beach, we’d be in pretty decent shape. Taylor Swift’s teen pop drivel would even be a decent alternative compared to what we have on the radio now. We assumed after bro-country it couldn’t get any worse, but then along came Sam Hunt to say “ah ha, think again. I CAN do worse.” It’s to the point where all it takes for music to be called country is for one person to decide they want to call it country, and there are no questions asked.
It just keeps getting worse. So, even if this “record” is beaten, no doubt it will be by the next abysmal trend that we’ll all be shaking our heads at.
It makes me cry.
May 17, 2018 @ 2:07 pm
You wanted more women in Country Music. How is she any different from Swifty, Shania, Underwood, Barbara Mandrell, Crystal Gayle, or any other female singer not named Tammy?
May 17, 2018 @ 3:26 pm
Stupid comment.
May 17, 2018 @ 6:32 pm
Stupid article.
May 17, 2018 @ 7:58 pm
Yep
May 17, 2018 @ 10:08 pm
Honcho and Cheevers have spoken.
May 18, 2018 @ 4:00 am
@liza, Honcho has two bits and this is one of them. The other is hipster fashion.
May 17, 2018 @ 10:30 pm
Easy. Barbara Mandrell and Crystal Gayle weren’t interlopers from pop music. Neither were Shania, Carrie or early Taylor. As pop as their material often was and as often as they did crossover to pop and adult contemporary formats, they made their mark on country radio first.
Of course now that Taylor is trying to piggyback her way back into the genre, she technically is in the same boat as Bebe Rexha.
May 18, 2018 @ 8:10 am
More women in country music means more woman who actually play country music.
Bebe is a woman
Bebe’s song is not country
Therefore, this song is not helping at all the cause of the woman in country music. Quite the contrary, it sounds like country station are helping non country woman artist against country artist.
May 18, 2018 @ 8:34 am
Saving Country Music has never said we need more women like Bebe Rexha on the radio. What I’ve said very specifically is that pop stars like Bebe Rexha actually hurt the cause of country women by taking away precious radio spot from people who have dedicated their lives to the genre. Mike Honcho is just trying to be cute, but it’s woefully uninformed.
May 18, 2018 @ 10:09 am
Exactly!
May 18, 2018 @ 9:40 am
OK Mike, how is she different from Tessy Lou Williams? Sunny Sweeney? Because she certainly is. Why is she the darling of the radio, raking in the filthy lucre, while they’re sweating on the rickety-ass stage at Lukenbach?
May 17, 2018 @ 2:17 pm
Is Billboard’s chart considered the “definitive” chart to base trends or records from? Back in the day I listened to a lot of the Country Top 40 productions that were rolled out every Sunday. There were 2 that I heard the most, Bob Kingley’s & Books’ which both vary to a certain degree. Where do all these charts pull their data from?
May 17, 2018 @ 3:25 pm
Mediabase and Soundscan are the two major companies that aggregate the raw data. And yes, Billboard is still most definitely considered the standard bearer.
May 17, 2018 @ 2:18 pm
This is a horrible way to exploit Country Music, and every time you make a post about her, you give her more exposure.
May 17, 2018 @ 3:24 pm
lol, I appreciate you giving me that much credit, but when you’re racking up 24 million stream a week, the curiosity factor an article like this might garner is the mother of all popcorn farts.
May 17, 2018 @ 2:43 pm
Embarrassing.
May 17, 2018 @ 3:03 pm
This is made all the more painful because of how awfully generic the song is. It’s not even “oh man this song BLOWS,” it’s not even that it’s “not real country,” it’s that it’s so freaking average by every standard. It’s just a weird mixture of every country stereotype from the last ten years compromised into one song. There is nothing progressive about this song, there is nothing unique about it. Even if this stays #1 for an entire year, I can’t see people looking back on this and thinking it truly represented the best country music had to offer in this decade. I can cut “Cruise” some slack in that it’s an insanely catchy tune. You can’t say the same for this one. Maybe we’re reaching an age where #1 hits won’t matter anymore.
May 17, 2018 @ 3:20 pm
Well Honch….heres some thoughts. Barbara Mandrell did actually play real instruments, quite a few. She always had steel guitAR in her band , and some decent songs. I was country when country wasn’t cool, comes to mind. The others on your list, fair enough. Although I have a soft spot for Crystal. But Wrecks it is a terrible joke. Nothing country at all there, talent is minimal at best. It’s doubtful she could answer even basic questions about country music. Contrast that with a Dolly, Loretta, Patty Loveless, etc.
May 17, 2018 @ 3:28 pm
Wonder if she’s ever even heard a real country song…
May 17, 2018 @ 5:10 pm
This is total horse shit. Fuck her and her shitty music.
May 17, 2018 @ 5:46 pm
And everybody thought bro country was bad? At least it sounded country, and had country themes and country lyrics. After bro country died, country mostly turned to pop music with a twang here and there. Sam Hunt is a great pop artist, but he has destroyed the country genre along with Brett Young and all the other generic clowns that are pop artists at heart but get into the country genre cuz theyd never make it in pop.
May 18, 2018 @ 6:18 pm
The only thing “country” about bro country was the over-exaggerated southern accents people sang with. The new Nashville “Pop-Co” sound pioneered by Sam Hunt is awful but I refuse to get any sort of Bro Country nostalgia, because I remember how awful 2013/14 was.
May 17, 2018 @ 5:48 pm
Her song and singing stinks. She’s as good a singer as Jessie Decker. NOT. At the end of her video she mouths the F word. People like Alan Jackson, Chris Young, Chris Stapleton are keeping real country alive.
May 18, 2018 @ 11:10 am
Chris Young?
When was his last country song? The recent songs that I heard from him was pretty weak. This is sad considering how good his music was in the beginning. He sounds like another trend chaser.
May 17, 2018 @ 6:14 pm
One more reason why either the country charts need new rules, or there needs to be two separate charts, kinda in the way that rock and alternative now have separate charts. In all seriousness, I think it would be beneficial for both the pop-country people and people who are into more traditional/outlaw/underground artists for there to be two charts.
Call one chart “Contemporary Country” and have it consist of things like FGL, Sam Hunt, and Luke Bryan, as well as older pop country artists like Kenny Chesney or Lady Antebellum, and that chart could also include “hick-hop” like Upchurch and Colt Ford, who really don’t have a Billboard chart home.
Call the other chart “Traditional Country” or “Album-Oriented Country” or “Country Roots” and have it include both mainstream yet traditional acts like Jon Pardi, Miranda Lambert, Eric Church, Midland, Chris Stapleton; as well as more of the type or artists covered here like Sarah Shook, Sturgill Simpson, Cody Jinks, Turnpike Troubadours, etc.
Billboard needs to realize that these are two distinct genres, and therefore they need separate charts (and hopefully, separate radio stations). Fans of either type will get to hear more of what they like, and less of what they don’t like.
May 17, 2018 @ 6:44 pm
Country music has needed a format split for years, and it would take so much of the drama away. It almost happened a few years ago with the “NASH Icon” radio format, but Cumulus was outmatched. I think there should be a different radio format, different awards, different everything. Let contemporary country do its thing. Just don’t make it completely replace the real stuff.
May 17, 2018 @ 7:01 pm
From a marketing perspective, a genre split makes the most sense. Why sell one product that only meets half of your customers’ expectations, when you can sell two products marketed to two distinctly different demographics and fanbases?
My biggest worry is that if the genre doesn’t split, the hip-hop takeover of the pop charts will cause more and more pop artists to infiltrate country.
Rock and alternative partially split because it was completely senseless to play, for example, Nickleback and The Black Keys on the same station. Similarly, it’s just as senseless to have Stapleton on the same station as FGL. They don’t share many fans, so putting them on the same chart is an apples to oranges comparison.
May 17, 2018 @ 7:09 pm
Clearly, FGL/Bebe Rexha are hacks at what they are supposedly doing.
But folks, what does it say about the music-buying public that this piece of mediocrity, this crap, has been at #1 on the country chart for 24 weeks? Yes, the corporate music establishment shoves dreck like this at us virtually everyday of the week, and we are right to condemn them for doing it and not giving riskier fringe artists the kind of exposure they might deserve far more. In the end, however, enough people will buy into the hype, the salesmanship, and the huckstering, and BUY it.
This isn’t something you can blame on Rexha, or FGL, or any other corporate music entity by themselves. Consumers are also the blame for this slimy situation (IMHO).
May 17, 2018 @ 7:12 pm
I can say this, I’m still in my late 20s, but if any of my friends or family members here in SE Ohio caught me listening to this, I would never hear the end of it. It must be the young inner city kids who download and stream this shit.
May 18, 2018 @ 5:28 am
quote from an Interview with Macy Gray in New York Post today
(interviewer) Since you’re playing at the Opry City Stage, would you ever make a country album?
(Macy Gray) No. I feel like I would do a disservice because country is so specific, like with the lyrics. People that do country, they live it. It’s more of a lifestyle. When people go out and try to do a country song, it kind of insults [the genre] a little bit.
May 18, 2018 @ 8:37 am
Good quote. That’s because Macy Gray probably knows how it feels to have her culture co-opted by people who don’t care about it, and take no ownership in it.
May 18, 2018 @ 9:15 am
I like what she can do with that finger.
May 18, 2018 @ 9:28 am
The next duet: Brett Eldredge (the country star without buzz) & Meghan Trainor (who wrote some “country” songs for Rascal Flatts) with “Haven’t Met You”.
The song is an album track on the current not so successful Brett Eldredge album but not as duet.
It’s not the first Eldredge & Trainor duet. The first was a christmas song 2016.
Pretty sure Brett Eldredge & his label could not find a female labelmate or other country singer for the duet. The country girls are all to busy counting money, awards, #1-hits & golden records…more or less.
May 18, 2018 @ 10:43 am
Mediabase? I just checked and its no longer in the top 30 for country air play. So clearly after it hit #1 radio dumped it like a sack of rocks over the empire state building
May 18, 2018 @ 11:30 am
That’s not what I’m seeing. “Meant To Be” is #5 on the Billboard Country Airplay Chart as we speak:
https://www.billboard.com/charts/country-airplay
Billboard is Nielson.
May 18, 2018 @ 11:37 am
Mediabase and Billboard use different charting methods have a look at this: http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/allaboutcountry/Charts.asp?format=C1R
Meant to be isn’t even listed
May 18, 2018 @ 3:33 pm
It’s all about rules for when songs go to recurrent status. I’m not sure what the exact criteria is with Mediabase but often you see the long lasting hits like this, the current Luke Bryan song and the Sam Hunt song linger in the Billboard top ten long after dropping from the Mediabase all together and conversely some fast declining song drops from Billboard while staying on Mediabase.
May 18, 2018 @ 1:49 pm
I remember hearing a few yeas ago the reason given for lack of women on the Country charts is because in Country, (for the most part) men want to listen to men sing, and women want to listen to men sing. I don’t know if this is completely true, but it could be at least one explaination. This doesn’t explain when there were more women getting airtime in recent decades, like the 90’s, unless it’s changed in more recent years.