Despite Soft Radio Support, Carrie Underwood Shatters Expectations with “Cry Pretty”
Carrie Underwood has set a slew of new landmarks with her new album Cry Pretty, setting highs for her career, highs for a country artist, and highs for a woman making music in the country realm. And she does it with little support from country radio, which allowed the title track to stall on the format as her album was nearing release.
The debut song “Cry Pretty” logged it’s worst charting performance in Carrie Underwood’s career, stalling at #9 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. But once again illustrating the divide between what radio will play and what consumers want, Cry Pretty‘s debut album sales shattered expectations, and records. With 266,000 equivalent albums sold—including 251,000 in traditional album sales—Carrie Underwood’s Cry Pretty is the #1 in all the land. But that’s just where the accolades begin.
266K is also good enough for Carrie Underwood to claim the biggest sales week for any woman in music in 2018. You have to go back to Taylor Swift’s Reputation released in December of 2017 to find a better sales week. Underwood even beat out hip-hop superstar Cardi B, who only logged 255,000 units upon her debut sales week in April. 266K is also good enough for the best debut for a country record in 2018. In fact you have to go back three years—all the way to Luke Bryan’s Kill The Lights from 2015—to find a better debut. That’s right, Carrie Underwood even beat out Luke Bryan’s 2017 What Makes You Country, and Jason Aldean’s 2018 release, Rearview Town with this debut.
This also makes Carrie Underwood the first country music woman to top the all genre Billboard 200 chart four times, which is an all-time record. Faith Hill, Linda Ronstadt, and a pre-pop Taylor Swift all topped it three times.
What these numbers and records speak to is the incredible appetite for the music of an artist like Carrie Underwood, especially with the amount of physical albums she was able to move, while many Billboard 200 #1’s these days rely on streaming equivalents. Yet even though Carrie’s male counterparts benefit from multiple #1’s on radio to help promote their albums, Carrie debut single was pulled two weeks prior to the album release. One good sign is her second single “Love Wins” was the most added song on country radio last week.
Whether it’s Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton who’s been country music’s best-selling artist for the last 2 1/2 years, or #1 albums from artists such as Aaron Watson, Blackberry Smoke, Sturgill Simpson, or Jason Isbell, consistently consumers are proving they support artists radio and the mainstream country music industry often neglect, while programmers continue to prove they are out-of-step with public appetite. Nonetheless, artists like Carrie Underwood continue to persevere, shatter expectations, and set records.
September 23, 2018 @ 7:27 pm
You didn’t even mention the main reason for her high number is the huge tour bundle for next year’s tour. Artists choose to attach future tour tickets to boost their first week sale numbers (also can sell t-shirts to boost numbers too). It was very smart and strategic but doesn’t indicate her first week numbers would be anywhere close without tour tickets.
September 23, 2018 @ 8:00 pm
As blupaisley points out below, many artists these days are using tour bundles to boost album sales. Tour bundles are the name of the game. John Prine of all people used a tour bundle, and it resulted in a huge debut sales week for him, and a #1 album. Carrie Underwood is working under the same rules regime for sales as everyone else. I think most people were predicting sales around 200k-220k factoring in the bundle. She blew these predictions away. Whatever anyone thinks about Carrie Underwood or the “Cry Pretty” album specifically, this was an impressive debut.
September 23, 2018 @ 8:54 pm
Yup, Underwood did have a tour bundle. But so do they all (well, at least those who can sell tickets to a future tour, that is). It’s the latest — and here to stay — method to move physical product in the streaming era.
But here’s the thing, been: In order for the sale of the album to count, the ticket buyer has to actually redeem the album, which Billboard and others estimate is only about 20-30%. Also, who buys concert tickets more than 8 months out? Superfans, that’s who. The same who would have bought the album anyway.
So, since Ticketmaster does not disclose the number of “free” albums actually redeemed, and there’s no way to know if those who purchased tickets intended to buy the album independent of said tickets, AND it’s now de rigueur for popular touring acts to bundle tickets with album releases, trying to pick apart and undermine Underwood’s accomplishment here is senseless.
September 24, 2018 @ 11:18 am
Yeah, you have to figure out how many people bought concert tickets. With 50 or so dates, figure maybe 5000 or so each show bought tickets so far, which at 20% redemption rate would translate into about 50,000 albums. So even without that boost, it was still over 200k anyway.
September 24, 2018 @ 6:26 pm
Agreed. And as I said above, the vast majority (easily north of 95%) of people buying concert tickets for a tour that doesn’t start for 8 months are the kind of fans (stans) who would have bought the album the first week anyway. So even without the bundle the total number would have been at least 250,000.
I think the biggest impact the bundle will have is on the album’s longevity. Once the tour starts, more casual fans who would be interested in seeing her live and thus would have streamed the album a bit but not necessarily purchased it, will see the value, want to get the most for their buck and redeem the free copy. So, the bundle will help give the album legs so long as she’s touring — which she may well need because if country radio has retired her it will be much harder for her single’s to drive sales.
September 23, 2018 @ 7:43 pm
The first week numbers are really impressive. The tour bundle may have helped, but I believe Jason Aldean and Keith Urban also had the same when they released their respective albums, and yet they did not sell as much.
I think Carrie’s move to Capitol has re-energized her already incredible career. I hope country radio will remain on board and will not punish Carrie just because she has started speaking out strongly about the lack of opportunities for women in the format.
But still, I believe the country industry should and will support Carrie due to her music and own merit, and not just because there is a dire need to keep at least one female superstar in the genre (quite sad).
About the album, it’s a mix of different genres, and only three or four are really ‘country’. But it plays as a cohesive record, probably the most cohesive since ‘Some Hearts’. I am liking this album a lot.
September 23, 2018 @ 8:07 pm
Hopefully this impressive debut creates a mandate and momentum for country radio to consider Carrie Underwood’s new single “Love Wins” with more equity. I don’t think it’s nearly the song “Cry Pretty” was, but clearly my opinion matters little to radio.
One factor we’re not talking enough about is the continued presence of Bebe Rexha at #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart now for 42 weeks. This has alleviated some of the pressure on the industry to include more representation of women without having to give any actual country women equal consideration. The last thing we need is tokenism for country women, or gerrymandered equality for bad songs. Radio should be a reflection of the appetite of the public, and whether it’s the fact that “Cry Pretty” went to #5 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs while stalling at #9 on radio, or now the impressive sales numbers for her album, clearly country radio is out-of-step.
September 23, 2018 @ 8:12 pm
None of those broken records will matter to those shameless radio programmers. They’ll continue playing the same lowest common denominator dreck that they’ve been playing because they’re all about maintaining the status quo. And it won’t matter to Mainstream Country Radio listeners either, who patronize the medium the same way they treat Fox News: just something that plays in the background to soundtrack the banal hours of everyday life. Until enough people demand better music that isn’t made exclusively by straight, conservative, white men then nothing changes.
September 23, 2018 @ 9:04 pm
Ooh, congratulations! You hit the trifecta! Sexual orientation, political orientation, and race! You win the ‘Completely Unnecessary Identity Politics on a Music Blog Comments Section’ Award!
Dickhead.
September 23, 2018 @ 9:16 pm
Kane Brown is not a white man, and he’s the hottest thing in country music at the moment. Darius Rucker just recently had a #1 on country radio with “For The First Time.” Tim McGraw and Brothers Osborne have recently taken moderate, but undeniably left-leaning stances, and are doing fine, if not finding favor in certain segments of the media because of it.
I understand what you’re saying that mainstream country is still very much owned by white males, but let’s also not draw a converse extreme.
Also, it would be nice if comments could respect this site’s efforts to diffuse political hatred to create a consensus around enjoyment and respect for the music.
September 24, 2018 @ 7:24 am
Your efforts don’t go unnoticed, to me at least anyway.
September 24, 2018 @ 4:33 am
Do we need more straight, conservative, white men making hip hop?
September 23, 2018 @ 8:40 pm
Trig, are you still reviewing this album?
September 23, 2018 @ 9:17 pm
I am still planning on reviewing the album. Just happens to be important narratives have emerged around its release.
September 23, 2018 @ 9:35 pm
Even though “Love Wins” is a much better song in the context of the album, it’s still pretty typical Carrie radio material. How it does will likely be a solid indicator of where radio stands on playing her now. We’ll see if “Cry Pretty” was an anomaly or whether radio is going to once again ignore the consumer and push out/not play a major artist in the format. There are multiple songs that would have better and more interesting single choices on the album than “Love Wins,” so I’m a bit annoyed they’ll be forced to leave some as album cuts. However, it should be an interesting era from Carrie for radio to decide what they’re going to do.
These numbers would have been fantastic for anyone in the format right now, but it is even more the numbers are so high when she had nothing on the radio around the time of release. At some point you wonder if enough people will care that some of the biggest, most commercially successful, and critically acclaimed artists can’t manage consistent radio play anymore, because it makes absolutely no sense.
September 23, 2018 @ 11:45 pm
Love Wins is a beautiful song. But it should have been only a Promotional single – not a radio single imo. There are far more superior songs on the album that will perform better on radio.
If Cry Pretty went #9, I can see Love Wins only going Top 15 on radio.
I hope I’m wrong tho…
September 24, 2018 @ 8:19 am
Hey Arnold!
If she could get See You Again to #1, I see no reason why she can’t get Love Wins to #1. Totally agree that there are better radio singles on the album. Have to hope they all get their fair shot.
September 24, 2018 @ 9:53 am
This is not a typical Carrie album where there are a lot of radio friendly songs on it. This album is a mix of country, blues, r&b, pop, far different than anything Carrie has released before. Other than Ghosts On The Stereo, there’s not a lot of radio friendly songs on there for country radio. Cry Pretty and Love Wins are the two most radio friendly tracks on the album. Bobby Bones of all people suggested that That Song We Used To Make Love To should be released as a single to country radio and would be a bold choice, but there is nothing at all country about the song, it’s straight up r&b/rhythmic. Then again, with what Sam Hunt releases to country, sadly, it’s possible that that one could be released too.
September 24, 2018 @ 6:33 pm
You’re forgetting the privilege that has been extended to the men of the genre. Country radio will push pop crap, rock crap, rap crap, urban crap…any brand of crap that the guys shovel straight to the penthouse. The ladies… not so much.
September 23, 2018 @ 9:39 pm
Besides a couple of songs, it’s a pretty bad album. A frustrating one too. Impressive sales, though.
September 24, 2018 @ 11:25 am
Depends what you mean by bad. “Bad” in the scope of saving country music, yes, since there’s little country on there outside of Ghosts On The Stereo and the obligatory Southbound (a typical Old Dominion song). But taken as a whole, it’s probably her best album to date. This is her grown up album.
September 23, 2018 @ 11:19 pm
Wow, even I wasn’t expecting it to sell that much. Nice, but you know the music industry is in trouble when an album that doesn’t even sell 300,000 copies in a week is breaking a ton of records.
Kind of ironic how now we are now including Carrie Underwood in the list of artists who sell well despite not being played on the radio. I wouldn’t say her radio career is dead just yet (we’ll have to see how “Love Wins” does), but still frustrating that she is almost eligible for that list.
Speaking of women on radio, Kelsea Ballerini has now fallen off the radio chart. “I Hate Love Songs” had just cracked the Top 25 and now it’s gone. You know it’s bad when even a pop leaning act like her can’t crack the Top 20.
September 24, 2018 @ 6:18 am
No, it is good when Kelsea Ballerini fails.
September 24, 2018 @ 6:49 am
Good because she’s pop, yeah. But bad for women because if she can’t do it, no woman can.
September 24, 2018 @ 8:32 am
If there was one song from Kelsea Ballerini that I wouldn’t mind seeing do well, it would be “I Hate Love Songs.” Not great, but great for her. However now that it’s struggled, expect a heavy dose of the terrible pop material that has marked her career so far.
Pop always has, and always will have its place in country. But that doesn’t mean it has to be bad pop. “I Hate Love Songs’ and “Cry Pretty” failing to reach the top of the charts is a bad sign for country pop, and for women.
September 24, 2018 @ 10:24 am
I guess now we just have to wait and see what happens with Maren Morris. I know you hate “Rich”, but if it goes recurrent before it reaches the Top 10, it pretty much signals the beginning of the end for women because, as much as some people hate to admit it, Carrie, Kelsea, and Maren are the top female artists in country right now. If they can’t get played on radio, no one can.
September 24, 2018 @ 1:07 pm
@ Trig – Funny you bring up Kelsea B and future pop songs… She is collaborating with a pop rock group – The Chainsmokers. They have a song out. I think its their song… More of these absurd collaborations.
Also, since Brett Eldredge’s new single seems to be flopping too – He is collaborating with Meghan Trainor on his next single “Haven’t Met You”.
September 24, 2018 @ 7:14 am
This shit is no different. Carrie Underwood is annoying as can be.
September 25, 2018 @ 5:23 am
I agree. She’s a pop drama queen. Forget the wheel, Jesus take the microphone..
September 23, 2018 @ 11:42 pm
The one question I have is … Why does country radio not play women more often. Carly Pearce & Kelsea B newest songs are stalling in Top 20.. And losing radio spins.
Is it based on Record labels needs?
Who controls radio? Why does radio ban Chris Stapleton? What does radio gain if Luke Bryan goes #1 vs Stapleton or Carrie?
Is Radio to blame.. . or is it the Label?
Why wouldn’t a label promote Stapleton more? Maybe they know Carrie and Stapleton have the fan base for such sales?
I always thought Radio was controlled by major labels, right?
Can’t we of average people request songs to local stations? How much control does labels have over radio? 100% , 50%, 10% ?
September 24, 2018 @ 8:07 am
Corporate radio controls the labels.
Corporate radio takes this bullshit data about who their listeners are demographically–let’s say, for the sake of this example, 40-something white women that haven’t grown up and want to be forever 21. Corporate radio then takes this data to the labels/publishers and says “This is our audience. We want songs that cater to this audience.
The labels/publishers then look for songs with this data in mind and take those songs to corporate radio who then accept it or reject it.
Requesting songs to local stations owned by Clear Channel or Cumulus is a waste of time because every station owned by these companies abide by the same 12-song playlist by a radio programmer in Polygamy, Utah with zero familiarity with the genre. Sure, you may get to hear what you want if you request a song to an independent radio station that’s not owned by these two corporations but it doesn’t matter because the Billboard Hot 100 Country Songs & Country Airplay charts are determined by spins on Clear Channel and Cumulus-owned radio stations.
September 24, 2018 @ 12:35 pm
Thanks. I always thought Labels controlled Radio – not the other way around…. That sucks then… What’s up with corporate radio then? Why do they love bros like Russell DickHead and Thomas Rhett and that Frankenstein dude – Dylan Scott….?
September 25, 2018 @ 5:36 am
Because they’re “Pop purdy boys” that their target audience mom/daughter combos love. They’re harmless looking chodes that don’t play Country music. If they saw Whitey and heard Honky Tonk Hell they’d run screaming…………..”Help, he’s so dangerous”…..LOL
September 24, 2018 @ 10:01 am
One of the main things PDs rely on is call out scores. Cry Pretty even though it’s a Carrie song struggled. The song stalled early and had to be revived by her label a second time.
Everybody says they don’t listen to radio they stream female country artists. Streaming data argues against that. Women get blamed for only wanting to listen to male artists because they find them hot but women listen to female artists on streaming platforms more than male listeners. What are men’s excuses? The sad reality is that women just aren’t that popular in country radio/sales/streaming. Look at streaming/digital sales charts women are very scarce when consumers decide. Carrie is the only woman who can compete and beat out the men.
September 24, 2018 @ 8:08 pm
Yes but is that because they aren’t popular or is it because they haven’t been given a chance? Country radio appears to be terrified of putting woman on radio these last 10 years or so, when they use to have plenty of woman on radio back in the 90’s, 80’s, 70’s, 60’s… So why now do they fear putting woman on the radio? Why is it they think they won’t sell? They really have no justification for such fears because they don’t actually know how can well they’d perform because they don’t play them. And basing such assumptions on a few artists and songs is not really giving a clear or good indication of how well woman would actually sell.
September 25, 2018 @ 7:19 am
Country radio looks at how the audience responds to songs, call outs and I’m sure they pay attention to streaming numbers.
You can’t blame it on country radio when consumers don’t buy or stream female country artists at the same rate as male artists. You could argue that by playing more female artists they could give them a greater exposure but would that be to their detriment? Same with the completely rigged country award shows. The industry is basically telling consumers there are only 2 or 3 women who make good music don’t bother with the rest.
September 25, 2018 @ 1:09 pm
I guess then woman will have to turn to making that god awful bro country/R&B type music if they want to be heard but you might as well not call it country music anymore if that’s the case.
September 26, 2018 @ 12:50 am
I was an intern at a pop station in a Top 10 market in the early 1990’s. My “job” was to take listener calls and jot down their requests. I can tell you what was on the air was never influenced by those requests. The GM made the playlist on his computer days or weeks in advance. The request line was just there to make listeners feel heard.
September 24, 2018 @ 1:42 am
After all the criticism you gave her for using her personal life to boost her album sales, I find it a bit ironic that now you are lauding the sales number of her album in such a positive post!
On another note, I do not follow social media so had no idea about her miscarriages till I read your post.
I would like to express my deepest sorrow to her and her family for her loss and hope for better things for her in the future.
September 24, 2018 @ 8:37 am
“After all the criticism you gave her…”
That’s all I needed to read to conclude that you completely misunderstood the argument made in my article about Carrie Underwood’s team gaming gossip media to get her attention. I appreciate that some people may think I could have made my point better, or in a less pointed manner. But I went out of my way to not blame Carrie Underwood for anything, and instead blamed country radio and the media for setting up the scenario her promotional team had to work with. Also as I said at the time, I don’t even blame her team necessarily. Obviously looking at these numbers, it was effective marketing. So good for them. Leveraging other avenues only diminishes the power of radio.
September 24, 2018 @ 11:37 am
Depends what you mean by “over the top.” That’s why I still think you shouldn’t have written that piece, it was still going to #1 whether the marketing team had a hand in forcing the alleged PR tricks or not. We can debate how much of a difference that made, if you think it meant going over 250k, over 200k, over 150k, okay, but since the #2 album was short of 100k this week, Carrie was still going to #1 even without all of the PR tricks.
September 24, 2018 @ 1:53 pm
If you check the comments of the previous article, there were multiple Carrie Underwood fans that had fingered a 10,000-album boost to Carrie Underwood’s miscarriage revelations, and said she would debut at about 210,000 to 220,000. How they came up with these numbers, I don’t know, but 220k was what most people were expecting.
If Carrie Underwood had NOT gone #1, that would have been a story itself. Of course that was going to happen. Having the biggest debut in country and for a woman in 2018 is why this is news.
September 24, 2018 @ 1:49 am
Hi trigger,
I am waiting for you to review the album.
I am a huge carrie fan, hey trigger do you know none of her albums has ever been nominated for a best country album Grammy award? she has also never been nominated for best country song. I think she has been blacklisted by the Grammys, they only seem to nominate and have her win in vocal performances.
hope cry pretty changes things for her at the Grammys
September 24, 2018 @ 11:32 am
Best County Song goes to the songwriter(s). Jesus, Take The Wheel, Before He Cheats and Blown Away all won the Grammy for best country song, but Carrie didn’t have a hand in writing any of those songs.
September 24, 2018 @ 2:15 am
Really impressive
September 24, 2018 @ 4:49 am
Who cares about her being a woman. I care about the music. But album sucked plain and simple. This album should have zero sales because it’s not even remotely close to country. She needs to either change genres or change her Music back to what we are used to. If you’re wanting a good country album by a female artist might I suggest Sunny Sweeneys last album.
September 24, 2018 @ 8:08 am
Just because you hate an album that in your opinion,sucked,doesn’t give you the right to say it should have zero sales.Its fine if you don’t like her music,but that doesn’t give you the right to wish ill will on someone just because you hate their music.She isn’t changing genres & your opinion sucks because nobody cares about it!!How dare you wish ill will on someone for their album sales!!Why does your opinion matter to anyone anyways?You just sound like a sexist,plain&simple!!Nobody is going to listen to Sunny’s album because nobody knows who she is!!Who asked for your opinion anyways?
September 24, 2018 @ 8:37 am
Please don’t come do this and comment irrationally on ever single post. As a fellow Carrie fan, this is a site with many commenters who are not fans of pop country at all, and some of us really try to have good discussions with them and Trigger. Please stop coming on here and going nuts on everyone; it makes it that much harder to have real dialogue and it makes Carrie fans look bad. Just have a normal discussion.
September 24, 2018 @ 3:49 pm
Thank you for the response. In this PC age it is real easy to get bent out of shape and blow things out of proportion. God bless you.
September 24, 2018 @ 7:02 pm
Preach it, Rachel! I disagree with Patrick but like the rest of us, he’s absolutely entitled to his opinion and shouldn’t be shrieked at for it. Batshit fans who come en masse to SCM and flip out because someone insulted their Queen do us all a disservice.
September 24, 2018 @ 7:58 pm
For sure. I always want people to listen to music, Carrie’s in this case, with an open mind and not go in refusing to acknowledge even the possibility some of it is good just because it is Carrie, so I feel the same the other way. It’s one thing to disagree with an opinion on an album, as I’m sure you and I do, but it’s another to believe there’s no possible valid criticism someone else may have.
I’m interested in Trigger’s review, and from these comments, there may be a good discussion about it. It’d be nice to do that without stans coming in making it easier for others to ignore positive comments or comments by fans of Carrie by being so obnoxious.
September 24, 2018 @ 9:09 am
If an album sucks empirically, I.E. has few diverse ideas and resuses a lot of thematic elements, I do say it shouldn’t sell, because the spaces on shelves and at retailers that it takes up rightfully belong to artists who produce more diverse and more complex work.
In fact, every Carrie Underwood album has stolen a spot on the shelf at the store from more deserving female artists like April Verch, Rhonda Vincent and Lynn Morris.
and that’s a fact.
September 24, 2018 @ 3:46 pm
First, I’m not a sexist. When reviewing any music whether it come from a male or female I judge them fairly. If the music is good I will praise it. If it is bad I will criticize it. It has nothing to do with gender. Good music is good and and bad music is bad. I’m not wishing any ill on Carrie. I understand she has gone through some hard times in the last few years and I sympathize with her. That doesn’t mean I won’t review her material fairly. I have liked her music when she first started. The last 2 albums in my opinion have been very poor. She is also a multimillionaire several times over, so if the album sold zero copies only her pride would be hurt, not her pocketbook. It would send a message to her to bring her music back to the sound she originally started with. It would make her grass roots fans love her music again. She has the star power and name recognition to bring country back to where it should be. To this point she has chosen not to do so. Hopefully that will change.
September 24, 2018 @ 5:28 am
This can only be a good thing for female representation in country music! And I know a few artist have done this whole “tour bundle” thing…..does it represent the actual album sales? And WHY do some artist do it and some don’t? Is there an advantage?
She really had to sell her soul to the devil with this one she better hope for alot of drama next album cycle………….a divorce should suffice………..
September 24, 2018 @ 6:21 am
Do you actually think her (or any artist’s) personal struggles, as over-played by the media as it was, really contributes to sales? Really?? Clicks, sure. But given how weak her streaming numbers are, it’s clear her tales of woe didn’t garner many of those.
Sure the curiosity/side-show factor can never be underestimated when factoring total exposure and increasing name recognition but what’s the real net effect for an act like Carrie Underwood? Someone who is so devoid of scandal, so squeaky clean and wholesome cartoon birds fix her hair and lay out her clothes in the morning.
You think people who are curious about her face are going to see all the media surrounding it and run out and buy her album? How about her miscarriages? You think hearing about those moved physical units? That argument is not an intellectually honest one.
September 24, 2018 @ 8:44 am
I think Carrie Underwood’s high-profile personal struggles were a huge factor in these sales, plastering her name all over the media for the last few months. Please don’t take this as an insult to Carrie Underwood or her fans. I think the album would have done very well regardless. But this is what put it over-the-top. This is one of many reasons I wanted to address the subject. My only fear is now other women in country will be goaded into publicizing their private lives to keep step, especially since country radio continues to fail them.
September 24, 2018 @ 6:54 pm
You don’t have to throw up your hands and back away slowly with me, Trigger. For the record, I am not defensive about the position you took in your recent article and I’m not one of the ones who went for your jugular in the comments.
That said, I still don’t buy this argument. At all. I completely agree that the media’s dead-horse fascination with her face and later her miscarriages put her name out there like never before. I know people like to say there’s no such thing as bad press, but when it comes to purchasing someone’s art, there is. She took a ton of shit in non country-centric circles. I read a few pop culture and music blogs and a fair amount of fashion blogs and whenever her name came up, 70% of the comments were vitriolic. People who don’t “know her”/follow her career were left with an incredibly bad taste in their mouths over what was generally seen as a vain, self-absorbed woman using a non-issue (“her face doesn’t even look different!”) to gain public sympathy for the purposes of selling records. So guess what? Those people read all about her but that didn’t translate to sales. Even those who felt bad for her, had genuine sympathy for her, who didn’t feel negatively about her drama, STILL aren’t going to run out and buy her record because of it.
In the age of streaming, when someone gets a ton of press, people may well run out and have a free listen to assuage the curiosity factor, but they aren’t going to take money out of their pockets over it.
September 24, 2018 @ 5:29 am
This can only be a good thing for female representation in country music!
And I know a few artist have done this whole “tour bundle” thing…..does it represent the actual album sales? And WHY do some artist do it and some don’t? Is there an advantage?
She really had to sell her soul to the devil with this one she better hope for alot of drama next album cycle………….a divorce should suffice………..
September 24, 2018 @ 8:20 am
Wow,you seem like a real peach!!She didn’t sell her soul to the devil,all of that drama was not caused by her,that was the media who still can’t seem to give her a break!!How dare you wish that her marriage fall apart?HOW DARE YOU!!She didn’t sell her soul to anyone & you just sound like a horrid bitch!!
September 24, 2018 @ 9:40 am
ok, settle down bozo…..I am not going to argue with an 13 year old. Go home.
September 24, 2018 @ 10:14 am
Settle down Bozo. I am not going to argue with a 13 year old. Go home.
September 24, 2018 @ 7:16 am
I’m honestly confused as to why everybody is saying Carrie Underwood is great and deserves this but slams every other pop country artists. This shit no different the rest of the stuff on the radio and in some ways it’s more annoying.
September 24, 2018 @ 5:32 pm
That’s somewhere along the lines of what I wanted to say, but they’d all call me a troll.
September 24, 2018 @ 7:19 am
Ive never understood her appeal. She has a very generic-sounding voice. There’s no distinction to it. Nothing there to set it apart from the rest. Just my opinion…
September 24, 2018 @ 8:11 am
Generic?Generic my ass!!She could sing circles around most pop tarts & has more depth & range that you could ever hope to have!!If her voice is so Generic,then why has she won 7 Grammys then?She has distinction,you just have no taste!!
September 24, 2018 @ 8:28 am
Thank you. I was happy to assist you in your quest to be offended by something today. Its called a difference in opinion millennial. Suck it up and shut up.
September 24, 2018 @ 11:01 am
She sings loud & is oversinging all kinds of emotions. It’s like Reba back in the 90’s & it’s called vocal gymnastics or vocal acrobatics. She wants to impress & she does…but not in a good way.
7 Grammys…poor girl. CU is way behind Alison Krauss (27 Grammys). Dolly Parton has 8 Grammys & the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
CU will have to scream around for a couple of more years to reach Dolly & good luck to come close to Alison Krauss.
September 24, 2018 @ 11:45 am
This album is a lot different. Vocals are very much in control throughout on this album and the oversinging has been scaled way back on this album. That’s why it’s been getting a lot of high marks. The knock is there’s not a lot of country on it so if you’re looking to save country music, it’s not that. But as far as a complete album goes with staying in control, not oversinging, and avoiding filler songs, this is her best work to date.
September 24, 2018 @ 7:46 am
Carrie Underwood got the sympathy vote…nice media blitz last two weeks and now album rises to #1 all genre. Her PR TEAM should be happy.
September 24, 2018 @ 7:50 am
Despite some reservations, I went ahead and purchased a digital copy of this album. I had to delete five tracks that were just too pop for my tastes, and I kept the title track even though I’ve skipped over it each time I’ve listened to the album. The seven tracks I have left make for a fairly decent album. Some of my favorite songs, so far, are “Ghosts on the Stereo”, “The Bullet”, and “Love Wins”. It will take a few more listens to determine where this release ranks in comparison to the rest of her discography, but I do think Underwood’s decision to co-produce and be more involved in the songwriting made this a much stronger album lyrically and sonically. Her voice sounds great, especially when she refrains from the soaring high notes. The one obvious negative is that I had to reduce the album to an EP in order to make it listenable for me. What I have left is pretty solid, but it would have been nice to have more consistency in the sound, style, and quality of the tracks from start to finish.
Anyway, congrats to Carrie on another #1.
September 24, 2018 @ 7:00 pm
Carrie and FGL? You really do enjoy the dirt road.
September 25, 2018 @ 5:25 am
Hey, Farmville! Where have you been hiding? Was there a sale at the mall?
September 26, 2018 @ 1:06 am
I don’t believe CU actually co-wrote these songs, not in the sense of actually putting pen to paper or offering chordal ideas. She might have thrown out a theme or said, “I like this idea, I don’t like that idea.” But actually writing? Nah. Royalties are divided between performing and writing. Why leave money on the table when you have the clout to strongarm yourself a writing credit? “List me as a co-writer or your song doesn’t make it on my album.” I’ve heard Beyonce does that. As a writer, better to give up 30% to be on an album that’s guaranteed to be a hit than get 100% with an unknown.
September 26, 2018 @ 5:04 am
I’d be very surprised if she wrote any music, but I could see her being involved with the lyrics. That’s not a big stretch.
September 24, 2018 @ 8:47 am
Derek…hope you didn’t delete “Drinking Alone”.
September 25, 2018 @ 5:21 am
Kept that one, but I couldn’t delete “Southbound” fast enough. I nearly sprained my thumb.
September 25, 2018 @ 5:35 pm
Southbound rules. I’m sorry you can’t enjoy a banger when you hear it.
September 25, 2018 @ 7:08 pm
Nope, strictly boingers for me. Boing! Boing!
September 24, 2018 @ 9:07 am
I’d rather listen to a smoker hack and wheeze for nine hours.
I’d rather listen to a cat having a hairball.
I’d rather listen to someone dropping pennies into the blades of a metal fan.
I could not, would not, on a plane listen to Carrie Underwood sing like she’s in pain
It isn’t Country Music, I tell you, it sounds like Pop Music, this is true
great range she has, great range, maybe, but it sounds like she’s bellowing fit to burst to me.
A steel guitar hidden in the background, that somebody clearly tried to drown with loud guitars and smashing drums make this song an incessant noisy hum.
On Country Radio it shouldn’t be, I wish more people would listen to me
And turn off all this pop tart trash with guitars that shriek and drums that crash
and play instead a fiddle sweet or a good two-steppin’ tune with a beat
I’m sick and tired of Country songs from Luke and Carrie that are all wrong
did they skip the Country class in school or are they just trying to look cool
because it doesn’t look cool at all when Carrie Underwood caterwauls
it’s embarrassing to say the least and when it ends there’s much relief
but at least she isn’t Taylor Swift who dumb people think has a natural gift
but really she just refused to grow up and her music makes grown adults want to throw up
Or Sam Hunt, now he’s really bad and he makes me just fighting mad
with his stupid face and ho-hum attitude what he did to Country Music is really rude
but even still though bad these are there’s one truly awful new Country “Star”
Kane Brown’s his name and he’s new to fame and his music makes me groan in pain
“but Fuzzy” they say with tremendous glee “Country Music evolved, why can’t you see?”
and I always respond you should have known that I’d use this analogy in this poem
if you go into taco bell and get served spinach, that’s not swell,
For tacos I wanted at taco bell, not spinach or burgers or seafood, hell
if tacos I want just let me be, go listen to your music far, far from me
and I don’t care what you like to play but if you call it Country this I will say
you’re annoying.
September 24, 2018 @ 9:48 am
In the modern tech age, radio doesn’t drive album sales nearly as much as it used to. Sure, it can still mean a lot (especially for non-established artists). But there are now many other ways / platforms to get your name out there.
September 24, 2018 @ 10:59 am
10 things I’d rather do then read a Fuzzy TwoShirts Post:
Bathe in dog shit.
Pay someone to run over my foot with a forklift.
Eat my weight in refried beans then ride a roller coaster.
Ask Charles Manson to be my life coach.
Douse myself in honey and sacrifice myself to a bear.
Replace my Visine with onion juice.
Be on and episode of Naked and Afraid in the North Pole with Roseanne Barr.
Replace my toilet paper with steel wool.
Ride a slow train to hell.
Sleep naked in a sewer.
September 24, 2018 @ 12:30 pm
*Than*
September 24, 2018 @ 9:14 pm
Fuzzy, are you really the person to be correcting grammar around here?? Functional illiterates should not be breaking out their red pens…
September 24, 2018 @ 12:37 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHA- You win the internet for the day!!!!
September 24, 2018 @ 11:48 am
It’s her best album, too
September 24, 2018 @ 1:08 pm
Carnival Ride will always be my favorite. But Cry Pretty is better than her last 2 in my opinion!!
September 24, 2018 @ 8:20 pm
I’m glad I don’t live in America otherwise I’d have little to no respect for country radio at this point.
Why don’t they just call a spade a spade – in this case it’s a heap of stuffy white guys who are keeping woman out of country radio because they don’t think woman can do it, they don’t believe in woman enough to support them and give them the platform to show and prove what they can do, yet they look after the guys and give them all the opportunities – there is a term for this…what’s it called again…oh yeah sexism. They can make up any excuse they like it’s still an act of sexism – the systematic shutting out of woman from country radio, based on their gender and a belief that woman aren’t good enough aka sexism. You only have to google the definition of sexism to see it’s relevance here. And it seems the more woman who stand up for themselves and others and speak out against it the more the men close the door on them. It’s time country radio owned it and called themselves out for what they are – sexists who are stopping woman from reaching their career potential. I mean what century are they living in? This is not 1802 it’s 2018 and 125 years ago my country became the first to give woman the right to vote. We’ve come so far in terms of equality between sexes, I suggest country radio thinks very hard about which side of history it wants to be on. Because the train to the future is moving full speed of ahead and you can either jump on board and head into the wonderful unknown that’s coming or you can stay stuck as you are and be left behind. And I am afraid at this rate country radio will be left behind.
September 25, 2018 @ 7:02 am
Are you familiar with Don Quixote? Why can’t people just think CU music in unimaginative, repetitive, and boring?
September 25, 2018 @ 12:26 pm
Country radio today is no different than top 40 radio or any other for profit commercial genre, they want to maximum ratings for ad buys. Cougar women listen to country radio and they want to hear the guys. They can find all the women they want screaming at the top of their lungs “I want to hear women!” But the research shows that to not be true with the overall masses. You dip all country radio listeners in truth syrup, and you’ll discover that the cougar women want to hear the guys. That is the main reason country radio has about a 7:1 ratio of guys songs to gal songs on radio. They are doing it to maximize ratings for ad buys. It’s all about the business dollar. For the listeners who do want to hear women, it drives them away from country radio even more, which is exactly what the PDs want, because it drives that small segment of the audience away, and allows them to focus on continuing to pour on the lettuce in the bowl of salad.
September 25, 2018 @ 1:25 pm
Hold up no it’s not, Top 40 actually play and promote woman, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Pink, Ariana Grande, Cardi B, Beb Rexha, Anne-Marie, Selena Gomez etc – if you look at the Top 40 on Billboard right now there are 14 songs with female artists in them 9 of those are by females on their own aka solo artists. Compare that to Country Airplay where you only have 4 songs, 3 by solo female artists and 1 by Sugarland. Big difference. Yes the men still out number the woman but not as much as on country radio and woman are being played a lot more on Top 40 than country. As for salad gate who seriously sits there saying ‘you know what this salad could do with more lettuce’ staring at a bowl filled with lettuce and a few slices of tomato and cucumber? No one, cause everyone in all honesty knows they’re thinking ‘god I wish this salad had more tomato and cucumber’
September 25, 2018 @ 2:23 pm
I didn’t mean that top 40 radio plays the same ratio of female to male driven songs (as you point out, it’s actually quite the opposite, the top 40 market wants to hear female driven songs more than they do male driven songs). I meant what I said after the comma, they want maximum ratings for ad buys.
The people listening to top 40 radio primarily want to hear young female singers, that’s why you hear more female than male songs on top 40 radio, because that’s what the audience primarily wants.
The PDs really don’t care what they play, as long as what they play maximizes listener ratings. Even PDs themselves may hate a song and prefer a song they like better, but if the song they hate gets better ratings, then they’re going to push that song. Everything is packaged in a formula for ratings. It’s all about the dollar.
September 25, 2018 @ 5:58 am
Let’s also remember Carrie’s album sold 251k PHYSICAL sales, while Cardi B’s were only digital. 😀
September 25, 2018 @ 5:36 pm
That’s partly because country fans still have CD players, and hiphop fans listen to music on their phone.
September 25, 2018 @ 3:58 pm
Impressive numbers, and glad for her to get this good news after all the negative in the last year.
A quick look-up and it does sound like it’s similar to ‘Blown Away’, less than ‘Play On’ first week totals. ‘Carnival Ride’ over half million first week sales.
Enough of us ‘Music nerds’ out there who want the actual ‘item’. Plus I do like the little pamphlet and pictures, also to read the song credits. I can tell in recent years, Artists are very thankful to whoever is ‘reading their notes’ at that time. “Thank You for buying this Album!”, I’ve seen a lot.
I respect those comments on this Site, people saying they don’t like Carrie’s music. She is ‘Country-Pop’ and according to some Music Reviewers, is even in the ‘Country-R&B’ category with this Album. I agree with those saying they aren’t sure where she fits into ‘Saving Country Music’.
Also agree with Mike Honcho–the SNF has to go. I do like the song, better than Oooh Sunday Nite……. After 6 years, though, not sure why she wants to do it still, or ever in the first place. I thought it was a step down, an Artist attached to a product like that. Either they use the Artist or the other way around. I’ve never liked to see that. Maybe thinking of all the years of Rock Artists being against anything like that.