Don Henley and George Strait Top the Charts with New Albums
There was another big battle at the top of the country albums charts last week, and once again the good guys won. Despite the perception by so many in the mainstream country business that radio play and youth is the key to success, two guys in their 60’s with no mainstream radio love topped the charts, and not just from statistical anomalies based on weak numbers, or on an off week for releases, but when one of the most anticipated releases in the mainstream this year in Thomas Rhett’s Tangled Up was in the running.
In the end it was The Eagles drummer, singer, and songwriter Don Henley coming in at #1 with 87,500 albums sold of his traditional country effort Cass County. In an era when album making has come to feel like an automated and habitual process from many artists, including some of the best of our generation, here was a songwriter who made an album because he wanted to, took his time, did it right, and delivered an inspired work without any pretenses that exhibited his passion for traditional country music, and might go on to be considered one of the best country albums all year.
READ: Sorry Jeff Lebowski, But Don Henley’s “Cass County” is Top Notch Traditional Country
Running up was George Strait‘s Cold Beer Conversation, which came in with sales of 82,700, despite limited availability through Wal-Mart and Apple Music only, and was announced less than a week before its release. Those hoping that King George would get another #1 album may only have to wait another week. It’s not out of the question Cold Beer Conversation could come in at #1 next week now that the cat’s out of the bag about the new release.
The couple of old school country albums also accounted for the #3 and #4 in all of music. Thomas Rhett‘s Tangled Up ended up selling 62,900 copies—not bad, but not good enough to top the competition.
But one older country entertainer, the 53-year-old Clint Black, must be disappointed with the performance of his comeback album On Purpose. 3,100 copies is all the release could account for, debuting at #13 in country, and it looks like one of the greatest disappearing acts in country music has completed the magic trick. Though Black received a lot of press ahead of the release, it appears he’s become too much of an afterthought to break through to the masses, especially on a week that saw a surprise release from his old running buddy George Strait.
Slowly but surely, true country appears to be coming back in style, and the steadfast fans willing to show their support with real dollars for hard copies once again result in strong chart showings.
October 6, 2015 @ 8:32 am
Billboard has them listed at No. 3 and No. 4. Are you and I looking at different charts?
http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200
Regardless, all things considered this is still most definitely something to celebrate.
Re: Clint Black ”” I really can’t say I am surprised. Getting back on the horse after taking a hiatus (or redirecting your efforts to other endeavors) is a commendable thing, but it’s not so easy to get your career back to where it was before. Randy Travis lost his deal with Warner Brothers because of his concentrating on his acting career, and while his music career did experience a brief resurgence with his two DreamWorks albums, the same thing more or less happened to him that happened to Clint Black. (Minus the alcoholism and all, of course.)
October 6, 2015 @ 9:08 am
Also, in regards to Clint black, I love his warmly stuff, but everything I read said that wasn’t what I should expect.
October 6, 2015 @ 9:49 am
The article says they were at # 3 and 4 on the Billboard all genre chart. 1 and 2 on Country album chart.
October 6, 2015 @ 9:51 am
Yeah, that’s what I meant. Apologies for the bad wording.
October 6, 2015 @ 10:00 am
I clicked the Billboard link after commenting. It is showing the previous week’s charts still. I don’t think it updates until Thursday. I think that’s where the confusion is coming from
October 6, 2015 @ 2:13 pm
No, I had put #1 and #2 previously, and changed it to #3 and #4 to avoid confusion. As Scotty J points out, they were #1 and #2 on the album specific chart, but #3 and #4 when considering streaming data. I think with the amount of streaming going on, this info should be considered in the tabulations, so that’s why I decided to go with that.
October 6, 2015 @ 12:28 pm
Henley and Strait are one and two on the all genre Top Albums Chart but they are three and four on the Billboard 200 which is no longer a strictly album sales chart it now uses some bizarre mix of albums sales and streams to come up with a consumption ranking. Since Fetty Wap is far ahead in streams he passes Henley and Strait on the Billboard 200.
But for pure albums sales Henley is number one this week.
I see my comments still must await moderation.
October 6, 2015 @ 1:57 pm
It’s 1500 streams on any streaming platform for any song on the album equal one extra album sale
October 6, 2015 @ 2:09 pm
Ah, I see! I had forgotten about the creation of the Top Albums Chart.
October 6, 2015 @ 7:30 pm
That’s an interesting point about Clint Black I remember when Ricky Van Shelton stepped away from music for a while and when he returned it had moved on without him which was a shame because his career was never the same afterwards.
October 6, 2015 @ 8:33 am
Although both of these artists have found plenty of success in their day, congratulations to both Henley and Strait. Very happy to see two great traditional country albums find their way to the top of the charts yet again, as has been the case all year. Real country music continues to gain steam in 2015.
October 6, 2015 @ 8:39 am
It is encouraging to see, no doubt. I have to admit that I was a little nervous about George’s album, with the surprise release, exclusivity, and lack of radio play for the single. But, his fans came out in full force just like they did in getting his 60th number one and Entertainer of the Year. Great job!
One thing that is infuriating me is the local NASHicon affiliate keeps plugging the album and saying how great it is. Then, they will play an old George Strait song. I don’t understand why they won’t play the damn single, but the DJ will plug the album.
I do feel bad for Clint Black not being able to move the needle whatsoever. He’s good enough to deserve better than that, but out of sight, out of mind, I guess. I wonder if he would have been better served to go full-on traditional with it, and really get some critical buzz going the way Henley did.
October 6, 2015 @ 8:49 am
What I think hurt Black (besides the obvious hiatus and never being THAT big to begin with) is just how his album was marketed. I didn’t exactly enjoy trecking to Walmart to pick up the newest Strait album, but I did. In the new releases section of my local store, you saw tons of Strait, Don and Rhett stocked, but none of Clint Black. Even when searching under the “B” section, I couldn’t find anything. I’m not saying it might have made a substantial difference, but more availability could have probably helped it preform better.
October 6, 2015 @ 3:40 pm
I’d argue that Clint was one of the biggest names of the early 90’s but unlike Strait or Jackson his music definitely sounds like it belongs in the neo-traditional era and not anywhere else. Jackson and Strait have a lot more of timeless sound to their stuff while Black’s music always felt like it was from a specific point in time. For this reason I never found the fact his career on the radio basically ended after 90’s were over.
Also I’m sure the fact that being on your own label and having arguable the biggest name in country music release a cd aimed at the same audience took a huge chunk out of his sales. I’m sure he kicked himself when Strait announced his release date.
October 6, 2015 @ 8:50 am
Is a Cold Beer Conversation review coming? I think the only George Strait review I’ve seen on this site have been on his Live at Cowboys Stadium album/DVD
October 6, 2015 @ 9:44 am
I may review the album, I may not. You would be blown away by the amount of albums I receive from folks who would love to have their work reviewed on this site and have no other opportunity if I don’t review their album. Meanwhile George Strait is going to make me slag to Wal-Mart, and I’m just one of hundreds of outlets talking about his album.
October 6, 2015 @ 10:21 am
That is true. But your analysis is the best if you could squeeze it in.
October 6, 2015 @ 10:35 am
Exactly. If I see a stupid NYT review suggesting that Strait should have collaborated with new “progressive” Nashville songwriters I might just throw my smartphone through the bus window.
October 6, 2015 @ 10:42 am
“Cold Beer ‘Round Here, Tailgate Up-late, Dirt Road Likker Flowed, Country Girl Rock My World, Conversation”
October 6, 2015 @ 10:51 am
BWAH! Yep, that’s about right.
October 6, 2015 @ 11:48 am
The autotune that plagued the Cowboy Rides Away Live Album is apparent on Cold Beer Conversation. The only difference between the aforementioned records and Strait’s previous efforts is the replacement of Tony Brown with Chuck Ainlay.
October 6, 2015 @ 4:32 pm
I think Strait deserves your review and I can say we all look forward to hearing it, 🙂
October 6, 2015 @ 11:32 am
I reviewed it, if you’d like to look at that.
October 6, 2015 @ 9:22 am
This is great to see. These 2 artists have been at the top in their own genre for more than a decade and both decide to come back and put Quality music
on the charts again. I think all the saturation of Pop-County,and Bro-Country
have run its course with Most Country Music listeners. Yes, there will be
those who try to mimic pop and bro country,but I don’t think it will have
too much time left. Change does happen, just at a slower pace at times.
October 6, 2015 @ 9:40 am
Still hard to believe that 87,000 albums sold makes this a number one record . Great for these times and certainly great news for fans of honest country music , yes …but WOW ! Not that Don is likely hurting financially … but A VERY quick bit of calculation would indicate that these figures wouldn’t have saved your recording contract years ago. You’d have been touring 366 days a year .
October 6, 2015 @ 9:41 am
Double yay! 😀 I picked up the Strait CD last week, and ordered the deluxe-edition Henley on Amazon over the weekend.
October 6, 2015 @ 10:03 am
George’s new CD not his best but Cass County was really good. Henley’s voice and songwriting still up to par. I agree that these 3s are so low. Under 100,000 for superstar acts are just crazy like last year w/ Brad, Blake, Kenny, Tim, LBT all had low numbers.
October 6, 2015 @ 11:00 am
I was quite confident Don Henley would top Thomas Rhett when all was said and done. On the surface, it didn’t seem like “Cass County” was making much buzz in the mainstream, but he and the Eagles are near-ubiquitous brands in American culture and I’m sure the critical acclaim helped in its final sprint too.
“Cold Beer Conversation” is slightly more of a pleasant surprise, only because of the way it was marketed out of thin air. But it only comes to show that we put too much stock in releasing hit singles in advance of an album release timetable and, while it obviously helps that Strait’s name ID alone is an effective selling point, that legends like him can also use modern technology to their advantage rather than fall behind.
Clint Black’s tragic flop doesn’t surprise me whatsoever. It isn’t like he’s had any major commercial impact since 2000. There’s no guarantee that anyone that amasses 28 Top Ten hits throughout one’s earlier career is going to have that perpetual Midas touch from then on out. Especially if he not only spent about a decade away from cutting albums, but also was already out of favor with the mainstream upon beginning that hiatus.
October 6, 2015 @ 11:35 am
Great day for country music! Not surprised about Clint Black in the least.
October 7, 2015 @ 6:47 am
and it is a mighty fine read.
October 6, 2015 @ 12:45 pm
I am usually very disillusioned with the average person, and then all of a sudden the masses do something that gives me hope. Alan/Isbell, and now this! Maybe the average music listener isn’t stupid after all. (goes and listens to Thomas Rhett.) Nah, we’re all doomed.
October 6, 2015 @ 1:12 pm
Even though it is a good thing, it’s also kind of meaningless. Even 5 years ago those numbers wouldn’t have had them anywhere near the top of the album charts. In this singles driven world we now live in the only people that buy albums anymore (for the most part) are about the same age as the artists you mentioned. Ironically, we are living in a musical culture not unlike the 40’s and 50’s when artists would put out quite a few singles before the labels would ever consider making a full length album. Hence all the one-off singles with special guest artists we get these days. People now have playlists not album collections. As for Clint Black, he’d best start liking gambling and all you can eat buffets because unfortunately, I see a lot of casino gigs in his future.
October 6, 2015 @ 1:25 pm
You could say that, but then on the other hand it isn’t; it makes for a handy reminder that traditional country music fans can make a difference, as we are willing to spend the cash for those full-length albums as opposed to streaming them and the artists barely getting paid for that.
Now, whether Nashville or radio pays attention to that is anyone’s guess, but there you go.
October 6, 2015 @ 2:22 pm
For some album that are only topping that charts with 20,000 copies, I can understand this sentiment. But sales over 85,000 these days are actually excellent, and would have been good for #1 even five years ago on many weeks. I remember specifically when Toby Keith’s “Bullets in the Gun” album was released in 2010, and it debuted at #1 with only 71,000 copies sold. I believe it was the lowest-selling #1 ever at that time. 87,500 I think is really salty, especially considering the streaming climate of today.
October 6, 2015 @ 3:11 pm
……..my two cents , for what its worth, on King George’s new CD .
I have almost always found George’s albums a bit uneven . That is , they always have those gems ..but they always have those absolute stinkers. I am so surprised by the consistency of the collection on COLD BEER CONVERSATION that I’ve just listened to the whole thing through twice . This is a big person’s country record complete with all the ingredients a REAL country record needs starting with the arrangements and production – trad to the max- and the man’s performance- George sounds as committed and as comfortable vocally , as he ever has . But the icing on this musical cake for me ,and I’m certain it would be for ANY Strait or trad country fan , is the quality of the songs . Variety , clever , catchy , heartfelt , age-appropriate ( for the artist ), funny….but mostly just f****** HONEST observations about real life served up on a platter of some of the tastiest playing this side of an Alan Jackson record (hey …there are even major 7th chords here ) . If you’re a George fan there’s LOTS to love on this one . If you aren’t necessarily a George fan , treat yourself to an education in how REAL country is done and why so many are so committed to keeping it that way .
” Is that 1 3/4 guns up Trigger ..or are you just happy to see me ” ?
October 7, 2015 @ 6:15 am
Agree completely. Cold Beer Conversation doesn’t have a bad song on it and you can tell that George really put himself into this one. It’s definitely his best one in a while.
October 6, 2015 @ 3:16 pm
BTW …there are some solid singles on COLD BEER CONVERSATION and it would be tragic if they didn’t get released as such or didn’t find airplay
October 6, 2015 @ 5:30 pm
I went to Walmart the very day George’s new album was released and they didn’t have it, I had to wait another week for it to come in, but it has yet to be taken out of the cd player in my truck, I like it. Although I like everything George does.
I’m 35, I’m not into the modern ways of getting music, I rather go out and buy the album.