Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead: Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Backroad” Finally Vacates #1 Spot
It’s over.
Sam Hunt’s historic, and likely insurmountable reign at the top of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with his terrible, non-country song “Body Like A Backroad” has finally ended, but only after forever besmirching country music’s history books, and relinquishing the spot to another decidedly non-country “country” performer and song.
“Body Like A Backroad” spent a incredible 34 weeks at the top of the 60-year-old Hot Country Songs chart, aided and abetted by spins on pop and AC radio stations that still count in the country tabulations. The song was initially released on February 2nd as the first single from a still undisclosed sophomore record from Sam, and almost immediately assumed the top position on multiple country song charts.
Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart combines sales, streams, and radio play, including from non-country stations to determine the most popular song at a given moment in time. “Body Like a Backroad” first made history in late June by logging 20 weeks at #1, and breaking a 55-year-old record on the chart previously held by Leroy Van Dyke’s “Walk On By” as the longest-running #1 song by a solo artist in country music history.
Then Hunt made even more history in late July when “Body Like a Backroad” officially logged 25 straight weeks at #1, shattering the record of Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise,” which held the #1 spot from 2012 to 2013 for 24 weeks. By adding another 1o weeks to what was previously thought to be an untouchable record, Sam Hunt basically lapped the field.
“Body Like a Backroad” also spent three weeks at the top of the Country Airplay charts, peaked at #6 on Billboard’s all-genre Hot 100 chart, shattered records on the Country Streaming Songs and Digital Songs Sales charts, and has been officially certified triple platinum by the RIAA, with pure sales over 1.6 million.
The song was replaced on the Hot Country Songs chart this week by Kane Brown’s equally un-country and completely awful “What Ifs” featuring Lauren Alaina, giving fat cat radio programmers a convenient out for criticisms that they don’t play women. Though there is no guarantee “Body Like a Backroad” couldn’t regain the top spot at some point, especially if there is a remix, “What Ifs” is surging at the moment both on radio and in sales and will likely keep the top spot at least for another week.
October 10, 2017 @ 6:45 pm
Are the rankings tabulated on a weighted spin system across the composite charts or on a weighted ranking system? The reason I ask is I see Maren Morris’s Vegas tribute, Dear Hate, jumped to #1 on the Digital Song Sales chart. Is it possible that the rise of that song is actually what caused Sam Hunt to lose his #1 on the Hot Country Song chart? I’m guessing it is a composite spin (or equivalent) system and thus the answer is no, but thought I’d check.
October 10, 2017 @ 7:59 pm
Had a whole thing included here about Maren Morris and “Dear Hate” and pulled it last minute because I didn’t want to bury it in this conversation. It did perform really well this week, coming in at #1 on the Digital Songs Sales chart. I don’t think it made a direct impact on knocking Sam Hunt out of #1, but it did do quite well. The only problem is her label is currently promoting another song as the radio single, so I’m not sure where “Dear Hate” will go from here. If country was in any way intelligent and fleet of foot, they would get that song and Eric Church’s new one on the air ASAP.
October 10, 2017 @ 8:30 pm
I thought I heard/read that they were going to make Dear Hate a single, which would make sense as I Could Use a Love Song is struggling, falling 12 to 14 in the current Billboard chart.
October 11, 2017 @ 6:55 am
Dear hate has been shipped to radio. It’s less clear if the label is still promoting “love song” or if they have dropped promotion & are switching to dear hate.
October 11, 2017 @ 11:58 am
Sales, streams and radio audience impressions each have “point values.” For its Hot charts, Billboard adds up all the points and then ranks the songs accordingly.
Billboard doesn’t publicly disclose its conversion rate, but Hits Daily Double posted the following yesterday:
Hot 100 Points = Sales/6 + Radio Impressions/7K + On-Demand Streams/1.25K + Programmed Streams/2.5K
October 10, 2017 @ 6:50 pm
I doubt we’ll see a remix (since the song already received a lot of AC and pop airplay). Luke Combs is also selling very well (right behind Kane), and then LANCO.
October 10, 2017 @ 6:58 pm
The concept of what ifs is good and there is a good steel part towards the end of the song but the rest of the song is WAY too pop. Still it is good to see Sam Hunt dethroned. Hopefully Luke Combs “when it rains it pours” makes it to number 1.
October 10, 2017 @ 7:06 pm
Oh thank God that Sam Hunt’s reign of terror is over!
On the other hand, blech, Kane Brown. Ugh. No offense to Lauren Alaina, as I love her, but What Ifs is terrible (and Kane Brown can’t sing on key to save his life). I’d much rather see Luke Combs take the number one spot for When It Rains, It Pours. Now that is a good mainstream country song.
October 10, 2017 @ 7:39 pm
Off topic, but yesterday I found out that Jon Pardi has officially announced She Ain’t In It as his next single.
What an excellent song that everyone must hear at least once. George Strait and Alan Jackson would both be so proud. Yeah, Dirt on My Boots sucked and all, but it’s hard not to root for the guy when he’s putting out great music such as She Ain’t In It.
I don’t see a number one in Pardi’s future for this song due to the fact it’s far from radio friendly, but I hope I’m wrong.
October 10, 2017 @ 8:08 pm
Amanda, this is great news for county radio! Maybe Jon’s first 3 singles will have opened the door for a phenomenal traditional country song make some traction on country radio. It’s about time millennials hear true country!
October 10, 2017 @ 8:14 pm
I 100% agree, Patrick! If there is any justice in mainstream country, the song will be a huge hit.
October 11, 2017 @ 8:13 am
Alan Jackson would not be proud of Pardi, since Alan Jackson is the man who destroyed country music. Not to mention he covered Wiz Khalifa’s “We Dem Boyz” and Akon’s “Don’t Matter”. Pardi should slap Alan Jackson for killing country music like how Moe slapped Curly in the Three Stooges.
#AlanJacksonKilledCountry
October 11, 2017 @ 11:41 am
You again?
October 11, 2017 @ 3:40 pm
I get the jokey commenters like lil dale whatever and the other obvious fake comments but what exactly is the point of this comment that appears every so often?
October 11, 2017 @ 5:55 pm
Amanda, I couldn’t agree more. “She Ain’t In It” is a great choice for his next single. I saw Jon Pardi this past Summer with Cole Swindell and Dierks Bentley. JP is a great live performer (imho). I certainly hope that all works in his favor for a sustained career!!!
October 10, 2017 @ 9:07 pm
So the #1 song that I have always turned off after the first 15 seconds has been replaced by a newer song that I have always turned off after the first 15 seconds. I see my CD player and me continuing to spend a lot more time together.
October 10, 2017 @ 9:39 pm
I’ve heard it just once, and it made me want to spit in my mother’s face for giving birth to me.
October 10, 2017 @ 10:11 pm
I am glad that Sam Hunt’s stupid non country song is off the #1 spot after the pain and suffering for 34 weeks on top of the chart. thank you! good riddance.
October 11, 2017 @ 12:02 am
This is the year 2017 and nobody cares about Billboard’s Hot Country Songs anymore.
October 11, 2017 @ 3:45 am
Too many charts. Digital this & streaming that. New, active, most added, indicator or activator. Too much information & too many options to manipul…well…optimize the charts.
Sam Hunt (a b-list pop singer) leading the “country” charts for 30+ weeks is an embarressment for the genre. But the damage is done & the next Sam Hunt single is only one award show performance away.
Better Music:
Stranger Friends – “I Can’t Stop Loving You” (cover version of the Don Gibson song)
Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes feat. Shanley Del – “Basics Of Love”
Jordon Isaac – “Wanderers”
Bryce A. Dicus & The Mercenaries – “Gypsy Soul”
Waiting For:
Jaryd Lane – American Country Southern Rock ‘n’ Roll – Album – 10/27
Tyminski – Southern Gothic – Album – 10/20
Ned LeDoux – Sagebrush – Album – 11/03
Emily Herring – Gliding – Album – 10/13
October 11, 2017 @ 6:50 am
Tyminski – Southern Gothic – Album – 10/20
You are one of the few people (myself included) waiting for this album. Other people I’ve spoken with aren’t enthusiastic mostly because of the new direction he’s taking
October 11, 2017 @ 9:53 am
As long as he is not trying to become the next Sam Hunt or Chris Lane…
October 11, 2017 @ 4:18 am
I lost my shurt betin on the cowboys last weak
October 12, 2017 @ 11:02 am
Did you wind up in the hospital with second and third degree burns?
October 11, 2017 @ 5:36 am
Kind of off the subject, but I’ve been waiting to bring this up on SCM. In the Pittsburgh/Wheeling, WV radio market, we got a new country format/programming/station focusing on the country hits of the 80’s and 90’s – Willie 103.5. I stopped listening to county radio in 2006, so it’s so strange for me to hear Hank Jr. or Randy Travis followed by a weather or traffic report!
I initially assumed the programming was national and they were piping in the local DJ banter, but it seems local.
October 11, 2017 @ 6:35 am
I’ll have to add that to my preset.
October 11, 2017 @ 6:01 pm
hoptowntiger94, I listen to that station, too!!! This is kind of thing I’ve been waiting for 104.7 and 107.9 to do late at night on the weekdays or weekends. Something for a couple of hours, at least. For the whole format to be old school is a breath of fresh air!
October 11, 2017 @ 8:27 pm
What’s funny was my mother was telling me for a couple months about this new station named after that guy I love (Willie Nelson). I thought she must have had a free subscription of Sirius radio and was listening to Willie’s Roadhouse. When Farm Aid was here last month, I saw their banners everywhere at Star Lake.
I’m 41. I’m not sure your age, but do you recall the country station that broadcasted from the Mon/Ohio Valley, Tri State area – Wheeling, Stuebenville, Pittsburgh – in the early 90’s? It may have eventually became a Froggy.
October 12, 2017 @ 2:14 pm
I’m 49, hoptowntiger94. I wasn’t listening to much country music in those days so I can say what station that may have been and what it is now, if it’s even still around. WDSY (Daisy) 107.9 has always been around and then came the addition of BIG 104.7 in the last few years. Froggy has been around for decades, I’d guess as long as WDSY and is on 104.3. Now we have Willie!!! Country music stations are the norm here now!!
October 11, 2017 @ 6:23 am
Your first 2 paragraphs- yep.
Next 2- nope.
Try digging a little deeper.
October 11, 2017 @ 7:35 am
I play in dart leagues a couple nites a week.
Been doing it for years.
You end up playing a lot of the same teams as times go by and getting to know different people.
Lots of songs on the juke box.
For the most part, I am generally playing a lot of country and southern rock.. People know me for it.
Last week, this guy comes up to me and says, “I think you have worn off on me, I am really starting to like country music. Do you like that Sam Hunt song, Body Like a Backroad? I vove it”
I was speechless..
October 11, 2017 @ 7:45 am
The Robespierre of Country music is dead.
Thank God.
October 11, 2017 @ 8:30 am
I shake my head constantly over the ” Hunt ” thing .He , like many new artists , is NOT an exceptional singer ( nowhere near , to my ear ) …the songs are pretty crappy….arrangements are uninteresting and he doesn’t get nearly the TV or award show exposure others seem to ( mercifully , I suppose ) ….and yet he gets all the attention from radio and , apparently , ‘fans ‘. I’ll grant you I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer ….but what am I missing ? Ladies please ….chime in . Is he just easy to look at ….is that it in a nutshell ..?
October 11, 2017 @ 10:13 am
I’m right in his age demographic and find him so unattractive. Those haircuts are the worst! He looks like the Geico Caveman in the above picture. Give me William Michael Morgan, Jon Pardi, or Luke Combs any day over Sam Hunt.
October 11, 2017 @ 2:22 pm
Hell Trig, I’ll take Sam Hunt over that lame ass Kane Brown bastard every day. At least Sam Hunt built his fan base honestly, Kane Brown is a spotify-manufactured arrogant idiot. I wish we could have songs like Missing by William Michael Morgan and Last Time For Everything by Brad Paisley enjoying commercial success and topping that chart, trust me when I say Kane Brown is way worse than Sam Hunt.
October 11, 2017 @ 3:28 pm
I totally agree. As much as I dislike Sam Hunt and hate what he has done to country music, I actually dislike Kane Brown more.
Leave the Night On, Take Your Time, House Party, and Make You Miss Me were decent to good pop songs. Sam Hunt is not an entirely terrble vocalist (at least he sings on key, Kane Brown can’t even do that!). And, Sam seems like an alright guy, whereas Kane Brown seems like a spoiled, arrogant, entitled little brat. Judging by what I’ve seen of Kane, he could very well pass for the live-action version of the titular character of that horrible little kid show, Caillou. Kane is talentless, whereas Sam has some talent for pop music.
However, all things considered, Break Up in a Small Town and Body Like a Backroad are horrible songs regardless of genre.
October 11, 2017 @ 3:46 pm
I kind of look at these things from an impact angle.
Who has the most impact on country music as a whole in a positive or negative way? At this point it’s not even close as Sam Hunt is leading the whole metro bro stuff that practically every male ‘country’ singer is releasing right now. Kane Brown at this point is a big nothing burger in comparison.
Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line are the two most influential mainstream acts of the last ten years in my opinion. Their success altered the path of the industry.
October 11, 2017 @ 3:52 pm
………you know just how sad things have gotten when we’re talking the lesser of two evils ….Hunt or Brown …….and doesn’t it seem like discussions about country music are more and more just that ?……who or what is the lesser of two evils ?
WHERE THE HELL ARE THE COUNTRY MUSIC SiNGERS ON COUNTRY RADIO , …..let alone the songs ? Where are the Haggards and the Jones’ …..the Loretta Lynn’s …..the Patty Loveless’s..?
THIS is one of the major reasons I have become such a huge follower of bluegrass and Americana . The singers . They are REAL …..they sing with real emotion and character and DON’T sound like they’ve been ” fixed in the mix ” . Yes ….there is a similarity due to the musical genre…. but its not a manufactured similarity cuz its marketable , like country radio . It’s REAL respect for the power in the simplicity of the tradition. A great singer singing a great song with heartfelt skilled musical support from real players …..not handclap machines and autotune . Its emotion-filled on all fronts . WHERE ARE THE GREAT singers on ‘country’ radio ? I can think of maybe two or three who qualify as torch-bearers .
October 11, 2017 @ 5:17 pm
So sad that a song breaks records in a format that never should have included it in the first place.
More sad that it’s dethroned by a product just as bad by an idiot with even less talent.
Sadder still that the format is nothing more than a homogenized corporate oligarchy feeding off the herd mentality of pop culture.
The only positive I see in all this is that radio’s importance and influence continue to diminish.
October 11, 2017 @ 9:21 pm
Nice, a dumpster fire replaced by another dumpster fire. Meh. Back to listening to Sturgill, Whitey, Jinks, Colter, Childers, etc for me.
October 12, 2017 @ 8:18 am
Well,technically,because Sam Hunt’s a dude,it should read,”Ding Dong,The WARLOCK’S dead!!!!!!”
October 13, 2017 @ 12:57 pm
It’s times like this we need a victory dance emoji.
November 20, 2017 @ 7:27 am
OK. The Sam Hunt song is horrible but I don’t understand the hate of Kane Brown. I like both Old and New Country. Does it have to be one or the other? The first time I heard What Ifs, I was blown away. And I had to find out who sings this song. If you don’t want to classify it as country, fine but if you have a pulse, this song will move you. This comes from a fan of Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Charley Pride, Donna Fargo, etc. I love that country embraces so many outside of the genre and that so many artists like Kid Rock and Kelly Clarkson love country music. Open minds people!