Important Developments From This Week’s Country Radio Charts
As we continue to ponder what country radio might look like after the impending implosion of iHeartMedia and corporate radio as we know it, some very interesting developments emerged on the country radio charts this week.
There is also a very interesting discussion finally occurring at radio about the efficacy and burden the industry is putting on radio by demanding that each week we have a new #1 song so that publicists and labels can claim a victory. “It’s this constant push to have a new No. 1 song every week that is stalling this format out,” says KPLX Dallas assistant PD Smokey Rivers in an article posted on Billboard this week. Expect more lengthy debates on this issue in the future, while Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Backroad” will test radio’s round robin system of #1’s to see if a song can’t spend a long succession of weeks at the top due to public demand.
Independent Texas Artists Making Waves
We’ve just assumed, and for good reason, that to be on mainstream corporate radio, you have to be a mainstream corporate performer. Though this is still very much the case, a couple of artists who are independently-signed and have no history of success on national country radio previously have just shattered some significant benchmarks.
Aaron Watson’s song “Outta Style” is now a Top 30 single at country radio. This development is significant to say the least. Though at times singles such as this have been allowed to meander around the mid 40’s, this is major ground gained by the Thirty Tigers-signed artist.
Same can be said for Cody Johnson, whose “With You I Am” cracked the Top 40 this week. Having not just one, but two Texas country artist enjoying significant Top 40 impact cannot go unnoticed. Of course true country fans and many Texas country fans will be quick to point out that these two songs represent some of the worst of Texas country, and from these artists specifically. But this is not the same as Granger Smith signing to a major and launching a super hit.
All these spins have been hard earned by Watson and Johnson, and if they can shatter the radio glass ceiling, perhaps it will open the opportunity for better songs from both them to impact nationally, and other Texas and independent artists to impact the radio charts as well.
Chris Stapleton Debuts As Biggest Spin Gainer
Some were worried when Chris Stapleton’s “Either Way” was selected as the debut single from his second record From A Room: Vol. 1 since it’s a sedated, stripped-down, acoustic effort. But perhaps it’s just the type of left-field selection that will finally solve Stapleton’s radio woes.
So far the signs are all very positive, with “Either Way” debuting at #26, which is the highest debut of the week. It’s also has the most adds of any songs with 79, as well as being the top spin gainer with 1,114. It will have to fight an uphill battle in a very crowded field to get into the Top 10, let alone get to #1. But so far “Either Way” has performed much better than any other Stapleton radio single after it’s first week.
Still Only One Female in the Top 30
Don’t let anyone tell you that “things are changing” for females at country radio. It is still as bad as it has ever been, maybe worse, and the lone single in the Top 30 at the moment is Kelsea Ballerini’s terrible “Yeah Boy” that feels like a bow for pop, not country.
The prospects for the coming weeks look a little brighter. Maren Morris’s “I Could Use a Love Song” will probably continue to slowly move up the charts as we head into summer, and Carly Pierce’s “Every Little Thing” was recently announced as the latest benefactor of iHeartMedia’s “On The Verge” treatment, meaning you can expect it to rocket up the charts in the coming weeks as well.
Miranda Lambert’s “Tin Man” Hits A Rough Patch
There are some troubling signs for Miranda Lambert’s latest single “Tin Man.” It dropped from #38 to #42 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, and from #43 to #45 on the Mediabase chart this week. This has to be disappointing for a brand new single from a major star whose arrow on the charts is supposed to be pointing up, not down. The silver lining is the song actually gained spins this week, but it was a very anemic number of 3, allowing for other singles to pass it. That means it’s too early to declare it “done” in radio jargon, but it is hanging on by a thread.
And if “Tin Man” is declared done in the next week or two, Miranda Lambert’s entire existence on mainstream country radio may follow suit. Lambert fans won’t like to hear this, but after the fate of the first three singles from The Weight of These Wings, this may end up being Miranda’s Americana record in more than just sound and approach. It’s hard to blame Miranda for this development; this has more to do with how country radio handles females, and the fact that if you have a few dud singles, it’s hard to recover. Short of a “Somethin’ Bad” moment, it may be difficult for Miranda to find new life on radio. But we’ll see if “Tin Man” still has some life in it.
Other Observations:
• John Mayer is not going away. “In The Blood” moves up two spots to #57 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
• William Michael Morgan‘s “Missing” has finally cracked the Top 30, coming in at #29. Don’t give up on it just yet.
• Midland‘s “Drinkin’ Problem” cracks the Top 20 at #18 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
• Luke Combs‘ “Hurricane” and Kelsea Ballerini’s “Yeah Boy” are likely the next songs to hit #1, but don’t be surprised if Sam Hunt‘s “Body Like a Backroad” regains the #1 spot in later weeks due to continued public demand, and gains from spins on pop radio.
May 11, 2017 @ 10:46 am
Luke Combs will hit the top at country airplay this week, this is Kelsea’s max week as well, but she won’t hit #1. Sam Hunt will not regain #1 at country radio, he actually lost his bullet on both MB and BB last week. Brett Young will be #1 at country radio in two weeks, probably for a couple weeks.
Sam Hunt will probably continue to be #1 on the hot country charts as long as he continues to be the top seller and streamer. The song is doing pretty well at HAC but so far it’s barely cracked the top 40 at pop. Regardless those spins only count for the hot charts, not the country airplay charts.
I massively wish that Chris had released Broken Halos to radio instead of Either Way. He got the hot shot debut because of the hourly airplay deal with iheart (yeay!), but I suspect the song will do poorly in a heavy rotation testing. Heck I like the song, but don’t want to hear it constantly. Even starbucks which loves Chris, and has several songs from his new album in rotation…but not Either Way. Meanwhile Halos is outselling Either Way, despite the lack of radio play.
(the situation with Miranda frustrates me massively, she actually did lose her bullet on BB last week, it’ll be interesting to see where they go with this album from here)
May 11, 2017 @ 11:09 am
Like this feature…hope it becomes a regular thing!
May 11, 2017 @ 11:14 am
agree
May 11, 2017 @ 12:12 pm
Agreed
May 11, 2017 @ 6:11 pm
Agree.
May 11, 2017 @ 12:15 pm
Exactly!
Either Way will probably follow in My Old Man’s path, namely do great in its first week and then struggle massively. I can’t really understand his team, how could they release it to radio? I love the song, but it’s not something to listen to frequently, especially in the summer.
Broken Halos is perfect, a sterling uplifting and catchy song, I’m so disappointed in its waste.
His new album is being treated so poorly it’s almost unbelievable, since one would think they’d try to do their very best in supporting a superstar’s sophomore effort.
As for Miranda I’m afraid she’ll be tossed away from radio, just like they did with Kacey. I don’t see Tin Man going anywhere, even if it’s doing great on itunes.
May 11, 2017 @ 7:17 pm
Umm sam hunt is currently at 12 on all genre charts (6 being the peak) so i wouldnt say “he barely cracked into the top 40”.
May 11, 2017 @ 7:30 pm
and yet he’s 40th at pop radio..which is barely cracking the top 40 at pop
Never said he hadn’t cracked the top 40 in sales.
May 11, 2017 @ 11:09 am
Miranda is only popular cause her label team buys her noms/awards. Pretty much all of them from the same group has been winning. She’s not that popular. Over rated. But thats just my opinion.
May 11, 2017 @ 12:43 pm
Funny thing you’d mention this cause I was think about the same narrative the other day. I’m beginning to lose faith in the word ‘superstar’ as this days it’s used on just about anyone. Although she’s a really good lyricist I don’t understand how a superstar doesn’t sellout tour dates and yet come awards season she’ll be nominated for entertainer of the year…
May 11, 2017 @ 2:25 pm
The sad part is that with country only allowing it seems 2 women to shine at a time, Miranda has been propped up by WME over other deserving women come award season. We know why just look at how her album came back from the dead and sold after ACMs. Not fair to other deserving acts though when she wins in years she doesn’t even do anything. Cheapens the awards too.
May 11, 2017 @ 6:58 pm
Miranda didn’t do a lot of press for her album when it was released. Like others have stated radio hasn’t given her much exposure but her album had been selling well. Remember it costs double most that are out (b/c it’s a double & she had not reduced the price until the ACMs for a week). Made the most of her ACM performance. Just her and her guitar dazzled the crowd in Vegas & those Watching at home.
May 12, 2017 @ 5:21 am
… her album had been selling well
I stand to disagree because her album fell out of the top 25 on country chart before the ACMs. Selling well is a case that can be made of ripcord which hasn’t left the top 10 since it was released over a year ago
May 12, 2017 @ 10:57 am
She didn’t do interviews but she was on every evening show, day time shows, Ellen, Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade, Home for the Holidays. Sony spent a fortune on marketing her album. She got a tv spot, filmed an Amazon Alexa ad, iTunes ad, Spotify Artist spotlight, paid for Rolling Stone complete breakdown of each track listing.
If other artists like Kacey and Ashley even got half that kind of money spent on them we would have far more women competing against the men instead of just Carrie and Miranda.
May 11, 2017 @ 4:41 pm
Miranda is very successful sales wise. Tin Man has sold about 120,000 so far on itunes. Way more than anyone remotely ahead of her on the charts. If she was a man this song would be in the 20s by now.
May 11, 2017 @ 6:48 pm
This is laughable Chris. Miranda Lambert is a Super Star and the music industry looks to her for representing country music. Out of the gate w/ little to no radio support she sold records. She didn’t have a #1 radio song til album #3 even w/ album of the year award d, 2 Platinum albums, platinum & gold singles. Miranda’s influence on country music songwriters, especially females can be heard today. Without her success & in turn Success of Pistol Annies- the new wave of female singer songwriters w/ substance started getting signed. Musgraves, Clark, Ashley Monroe & Angaleena Presley, etc. She has NEVER been a radio darling or relied on it for her career. Maybe a few vocal trophies could have gone to Carrie but Lambert puts out the BEST mainstream albums & has been for over a decade. Radio fluff singers/songs will come & go but Miranda’s music will stand the test of time.
May 11, 2017 @ 8:12 pm
The fact that you think maybe Carrie could’ve been given a pity trophy while other deserving women, several you listed deserve to be awarded for the stellar work they put out, proves my point. There is no way in hell miranda deserved all the awards. The whole Kacey Musgraves Mama’s Broekn Heart incident is dodgy as hell too.
May 12, 2017 @ 5:39 am
What’s the Mama’s Broken Heart incident about?
May 12, 2017 @ 10:52 am
The story from Miranda is that on her and Blake’s wedding day she told Kacey the wedding can wait the more important thing is she really wanted to record Kacey’s song she wrote Mama’s Broken Heart.
Other sources claimed that Kacey was strong armed into giving the song up to Miranda and it was the reason behind her dirty looks when Miranda won at the CMAs that year.
May 12, 2017 @ 11:19 am
That Mama’s Broken Heart story is always blown way out of proportion. Clearly, Shane and Brandy, the other co-writers, OKed Miranda for the song just like Sam Hunt’s Cop Car situation. Plus, recently Kacey still follows/likes Miranda on social media such as Instagram. They’re not “best friends” but there’s no backstabbing drama or anything.
May 12, 2017 @ 1:17 pm
I wouldn’t go by social media following as an indicator of friendship. Miranda followed Gwen Stefani and unfollowed Luke Bryan. It’s easy to see why Brandy and Shane would be happy with Miranda doing the song, she’s a much bigger star than Kacey, they get more $$$ but that song could’ve been the song that launched Kacey.
May 12, 2017 @ 2:09 pm
Well Kacey would have no reason to like Miranda’s pics on instagram then if she truly disliked her as you state. Anyways, Brandy and Shane are very good friends with Kacey, so I’m guessing they wouldn’t have OKed the song to Miranda if Kacey was so distraught about it as you think she was. She ended up singing background vocals on it and attending the number one party as well so again, I don’t see much drama there.
May 13, 2017 @ 7:02 pm
All the people who wrote with Kacey write with Miranda, write for Blake and Luke and Taylor Swift at one time. You dont shit on the hand that feeds you.
Mama’s broken heart was Kacey’s song. It shouldnt be an honor for her to sing back up vocals on a song she wrote. Thats the problem right here, gather the wagons aroumd the bigger star and screw the little guy.
May 12, 2017 @ 5:28 am
Let’s face it, if she hadn’t won all those awards (which is questionable due to WME influence) she would STILL be struggling like every other female
May 12, 2017 @ 6:22 am
Sam, there is no comparison to Miranda and Carrie. The true mega superstar is without a doubt Carrie. Most if not all of the trophies should have been Carrie’s. How can anyone win FVOTY for all of those years when your music has flopped on Country Radio. WME is certainly buying her those awards, how anyone can deny that is totally wrong……
However songwriters love her music and no problem there, but the awards are bought and paid for… Sorry it is the truth and now becoming a curse…… Shame on WME…..
May 12, 2017 @ 3:20 pm
Carrie is a Pop star. Carrie is definitely more successful no question but Carrie also got Millions of a built in audience from Idol. No one can beat that exposure. She is extremely talented & has won many many awards. Miranda is also a rare talent. She is country singer songwriter. Her voice is beautiful especially acoustic. Miranda is very talented & deserved awards as well. Go look at the critic who sight Miranda’s music as the country quality gold standard. Why are we arguing about this? Radio plays Carrie , Kelsea, Maren to a point and now barely covering Miranda. So 4 ladies that’s pretty weak.
May 12, 2017 @ 3:32 pm
Holly, Carrie got her exposure from AI and Miranda got hers from Nashville Star, but of course Carrie did extremely better in her platform. I dont think anyone is putting Miranda down….. First and foremost Carrie is a Country singer with Pop crossover influence. Of course Miranda is a good country singer, but her awards are not merited and WME is to blame……
Critics are just another person with an opinion, no better than others…….
May 13, 2017 @ 10:01 am
Miranda’s career trajectory has been the most surprising, among today’s mainstream female artists. She got her start on a second tier reality show in 2002, then had several slow years. Her record sales did not peak until 2009. This is roughly the opposite of Carrie’s career trajectory, which peaked on her first album, fueled by publicity and momentum from American Idol.
I think the big difference here was that Miranda had a clear artistic direction, whereas Carrie did not. While Miranda is not the strongest vocalist, she took charge of her career which allowed her to be more creative in her song selections. Another reason why Miranda won so many CMA awards in spite of middling record sales is that this allows the industry to pretend that the “C” in CMA still stands for country at least in a symbolic way, just as sinners go to church on Sunday if only to ask forgiveness.
May 20, 2017 @ 10:15 am
Miranda os on top. Seriously she is one of the best singers in the industry. Not only singing her own stuff. But she can sing anything… Its not yer fault the radio doesnt play female artists.
May 11, 2017 @ 11:43 am
Really – who cares anymore what “hit” radio plays. Trying to force feed us a a limited quantity of at best mediocre quality, just won’t do it. And after all the big labels, radio stations will be next – goodbye, sayonara.
Obviously not playing what the consumer wants, listeners have turned away. Less people spending times on the airwaves, less advertisement income for the stations. iPod or phone, tablet or simply a flash drive hooked up to your car takes the cacophony of the airwaves away and hallelujah some is even commercial-free.
Niche radios like Sun Radio in Austin, or the Range in the DFW area – even though not comparable to each other as they play a different “view” of roots-americana radio have a better chance to survive in the future. Mostly programmed from a huge batch of independent or smaller label releases, they offer the diversity “regular” radio used to offer, but is missing you terribly by now.
Add the genre-specific programming and specialty shows of public radio and voila, you don’t need either IHeart or Cumulus, where the listenable menu changes between a burger and a cheeseburger. If you want a chicken-fried steak with yellow gravy (only real gourmets will get this) then you turn in either on your computer or phone.
If you start listening around and start making a schedule to when and where to tune in, maybe even into the stations from abroad, you will have a musical smörgåsbord that will tickle your inner-ears.
In the long run it will be the so often John Conquest championed “Freeform American Radio” (FAR) that will survive.
May 11, 2017 @ 12:27 pm
Excellent post. The alternatives are out there. You just have to take some effort to find them or assemble them.
May 11, 2017 @ 1:13 pm
Totally agree about Sun Radio. John Conquest was right about a lot of things, God rest him.
May 11, 2017 @ 12:33 pm
The blandness of mainstream country is really unbelievable. The vast majority of it so disposable. Sure you could pick some week from 1974, 1985, or 1997 and find lots of forgotten songs on the charts but you would also find several good to great instantly recognizable songs. Even some that may now be called standards. But now it is just weak. Even if you buy into the old country must evolve BS then couldn’t it evolve into something memorable?
May 11, 2017 @ 12:49 pm
A quote from the Billboard article:
“I do miss the days when a song was a multiweek No. 1 because it deserved to be,” says McKay. An extended hit like “Live Like You Were Dying” by Tim McGraw “couldn’t happen now,” he claims. “It would get a week, maybe two, and it would be someone else’s turn … It’s like kids getting participation ribbons sometimes. Being told about a push week a month or more before it happens really points out the ridiculousness of the process. I can’t tell you how a song will be researching in a month.”
He would’ve hated it in the 80s. Back then, it was not unusual for there to be close to 50 number one songs in a year. Each song was usually spending one week at #1 and then replaced by another. Only acts like Kenny Rogers, Ronnie Milsap, Willie Nelson, or Waylon Jennings ever managed to stay at the top for longer than a week. It wasn’t until the 90s that you started seeing songs regularly spending multiple weeks at the top. Everything comes in cycles.
May 11, 2017 @ 12:59 pm
You are correct but a big reason for that was how they tabulated the chart. Prior to 1991 (I think going on memory) the charts were compiled by taking playlist submitted by the radio stations and these were notoriously inaccurate so you would see some song drop from #1 down to like #15 in one week and be gone from the chart very rapidly when it reality it was still getting a lot of airplay but the radio stations had downgraded on paper to recurrent status.
Once they started using the computerized Soundscan system the charts became much more accurate and you started to see them behave more sensibly with multiple week number ones and more realistic paths up and down the chart.
It has started to revert to a form of the pre Soundscan days in recent years because of consolidation. So many radio stations are programmed by so few people that they can with a click of a mouse cut the number of plays to song on dozens of radio stations at one time. And the reverse of the dropping is the artificial climbing of the On The Verge program and the new release top of every hour promotions. Really leads to a warping of the charts.
May 11, 2017 @ 2:12 pm
Also of note is the Zac Brown Band hitting a snag at radio with their current single “My Old Man”, and which will all but certainly wind up being their lowest-peaking career single at country radio (“All Alright” is the current worst-performing single at #17).
*
On a side note, I have heard five promotional tracks from their album which will be released tomorrow, and I am completely underwhelmed. It’s clear Zac Brown’s passion and interest has shifted to Sir Rosevelt because the songwriting is so blatantly half-assed.
“Family Table” is an egregious example like they’re desperately trying to cut a jingle for Cracker Barrel. Same with “Roots” and dripping shamelessly with platitudes (had to throw an obligatory “Don’t Stop Believin'” reference in there too). And “Real Thing” sounds like a desperate stab at hooking a Jim Bean partnership.
Then you have the John Prine cover, “All The Best”, and it doesn’t sound like a full band effort much like “My Old Man” and “Real Thing”. It sounds like a Zac Brown solo cut.
Yeah, definitely have a bad feeling about their new album.
May 11, 2017 @ 2:40 pm
I’m glad you brought this up, Nadia. I, too, have been really feeling that the songwriting on those promo singles is incredibly half-assed. I appreciate that the band is trying to do a completely organic Dave Cobb produced record, but I also feel like they think that that will cover up how they’re barely trying on any other front. Unless literally EVERY other song on it is great, I don’t think I’m going to like the album either.
May 11, 2017 @ 2:49 pm
Unless the remaining half of the album is better than what has been presented thus far, dare I say I’ll end up liking “Welcome Home” LESS than “JEKYLL + HYDE”?
I’m dead serious. Because as inconsistent and incohesive as the album was, I’ll still emphatically argue it had its share of solid moments better than anything I’ve heard off this album thus far. “Bittersweet” was better than any of the five tracks serviced thus far. “Junkyard” was better than any of the five tracks serviced thus far, and that was a rock song. Obviously their cover of “Dress Blues” was better. “Heavy Is The Head” too. And “Remedy” and “Wildfire” were by no means deep lyrically, but at least they weren’t trying to be anything more than infectious sing-alongs and they were decent for what they’re worth.
Even if “Welcome Home” easily winds up being a much more cohesive, consistent album, it doesn’t instantly make it better. Sometimes consistency can doom an album if there’s nothing poignant or engaging to begin with.
May 11, 2017 @ 2:15 pm
I sure would like to see “Missing” be another hit for William Michael Morgan. Went & bought his album a couple of weeks ago and I really enjoy it; that’s one of my favorite songs on it.
Also, add me to the list of folks who’d like to see this be a regular SCM feature. Great post, Trigger.
May 11, 2017 @ 2:25 pm
‘be a regular SCM feature’
Yep. me too. Could just be musings on the current goings on.
May 11, 2017 @ 3:52 pm
Well goodness, I didn’t think of introducing a weekly segment with this as I generally don’t like to be tied down by any specific schedule. I just saw numerous interesting threads in this week’s charts and decided to broach them all at once. But who knows. If there’s enough to talk about, perhaps this will become a (semi) regular feature.
May 12, 2017 @ 6:58 am
Since we’re talking about adding regular features, I’ll dredge up the call for a few more reviews on lost or obscure morels from the past. The one you did on Randy Howard was excellent. A lot of people (myself included) come here to find new music to listen to, but there is also a lot of old stuff that some folks might not be aware of that could also be brought to light. Perhaps something like Stonewall Jackson’s Little Darlin’ outlaw collection. I think it is called “Mighty Stonewall Sings Modern Hits & Originals”. It’s not earth shattering but it is very entertaining and an interesting bit of country music history!
May 12, 2017 @ 12:32 pm
Agreed! While this sort of article must take a lot of time to compile, it is an excellent Reader’s Digest version of what’s going on in the charts. Most of all, it feels like expert industry analysis without the dryness of industry publications; you actually make the subject exciting and engaging! Even if it was just once a month, it would be a great addition to your repertoire.
May 11, 2017 @ 4:17 pm
The people have spoken! You don’t want to let the people down do you? 😉
Seriously, a spot to comment on the current state of mainstream country occasionally could be fun.
May 11, 2017 @ 3:09 pm
Mark of Spectrum Pulse does a great job highlighting weekly trends on the Billboard Hot 100 via his “Billboard Breakdown” feature Tuesday evenings.
Trigger can take a similar approach with the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
May 11, 2017 @ 3:32 pm
I have to de-lurk to tell you what a great post this is — not only interesting, but it puts the charts in the context of the big picture. The mess that is radio is driving so much of the mediocrity and risk-averse formulas in music right now. The post you linked about iHeart is spot on. I see this across genres, really, and it makes even quite talented artists stay in the safe lane. I’d like to think that corporate radio will hit the rocks and that ultimately, this will help diversify the post-mainstream radio landscape. In the meantime, I agree with the above comment that there are thankfully many great alternatives out there.
May 11, 2017 @ 3:33 pm
Great feature!
Is Billboard testing the water with the article? For sure. The charts are a joke & Billboard knows times are changing.
Be prepared for a new Chris Young single (“Losing Sleep”) & the next Granger Smith single (“Happens Like That”) . Pretty sure SCM will “love” both tracks.
Two new albums to check out: Richard Lynch (Mending Fences) & Long Hard Road by Deryl Dodd.
George Strait fans should listen to Richard Lynch. Nice duet with Rhonda Vincent (“Back In Love Again”).
Except for the the first single (“The Ride”) the new Deryl Dodd album contains duets with other texas music artists like Cody Johnson, Randy Rogers, Pat Green & Bonnie Bishop.
May 11, 2017 @ 3:54 pm
I doubt Trigger is going to give “Losing Sleep” a net-positive review seeing that he’s going even further down the anonymous B-entertainer rabbit hole and even flirting with Sam Hunt persuasions increasingly.
Granger Smith has usually been unimpressive to me as a songwriter, but he had better production in his pre-“Silverado Bench Seat” days. Though unlikely, he could pleasantly surprise me.
May 12, 2017 @ 2:34 am
That’s why i wrote “love” not love.
The full audio version sounds like a massive hit. Chris Young is just another trend-chasing tool.
May 11, 2017 @ 4:32 pm
I don’t understand why radio seems to be giving Miranda’s singles a lukewarm treatment. She’s one of the top 2 females in mainstream country (Carrie Underwood being the other one), you’d think her singles will at least be an automatic top 5 or even top 10. Yet even when her popularity soared high during Revolution, Four The Record and Platinum album eras, her singles were not automatic number 1’s.
Revolution:
1. Dead Flowers – let’s forget the performance of this single lol
2. White Liar – #1
3. The House That Built Me – #1, for 4 weeks I think
4. Only Prettier – #12
5. Heart Like Mine – #1
Four The Record:
1. Baggage Claim – #3
2. Over You – #1
3. Fastest Girl In Town – #3
4. Mama’s Broken Heart – #2
5. All Kinds of Kinds – #15
Platinum
1. Automatic – #3
2. Something Bad – #7
3. Little Red Wagon – #16
4. Smokin’ and Drinkin’ – #33
The Weight of These Wings:
1. Vice – #11
2. We Should Be Friends – #26
Seems like her strongest radio performance was during her Four The Record album period (with the exception of the excellent run of The House That Built Me from her Revolution album), then it started to go downhill with the singles from Platinum. Yet she was just as popular during the album period. I do not understand this.
May 11, 2017 @ 4:42 pm
Can go back even further to ‘Kerosene’ and ‘New Strings’ and ‘Me And Charlie Talking’ which were all good to great songs and none of them made the top ten. Finally ‘Gunpowder & Lead’ creeped barely into the top ten for her first top ten single. It’s always been a mystery to me why radio has been so iffy with her. Lots of her stuff wasn’t that unusual and then she was in a big celebrity couple and started winning awards so it should have been a no brainer. Don’t totally buy that it was a female issue entirely either as they did play her more than anybody not Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift.
Weird.
May 20, 2017 @ 10:17 am
Thank You, Im with you on this. Im tired of radio Not playing her music..
May 11, 2017 @ 6:21 pm
I thought the days of listening to the radio and following charts was long over. Guess I was wrong.
May 11, 2017 @ 7:31 pm
Listening to the radio…maybe, but there will always be charts to follow. People love lists and rankings.
May 11, 2017 @ 6:58 pm
We need more songs like Missing and Drinkin’ Problem on country radio (they are both fantastic songs), and less of Sam Hunt and the bros.
May 11, 2017 @ 7:14 pm
Why is Sony not fighting for Miranda? At least top 20. Is it b/c she is doing n her own label? Yet they push John Mayer? What is happening when Dibs & Yeah Boy are only female #1? Guess if ya don’t wear a once or dance around you are out. Just seems crazy to me.
PS to those above that say Miranda is overrated, let me point you to her ACM performance & her 12 plus years of putting out quality, original country music. She has been critically & financially successful for over a decade. As many critics have stated for years – She is the most important artist in the format in the last 25 years. Her influence can’t be overstated.
May 11, 2017 @ 7:34 pm
Personal musical quality analysis of the top 60:
-Excellent (10/10): Missing (29)
-Great (9/10): Drinkin’ Problem (18), Tin Man (42)
-Good (8/10): My Old Man (19), It Ain’t My Fault (24), Either Way (26), Makin’ Me Look Good Again (33), I Could Use a Love Song (34), In the Blood (57)
-Decent (7/10 or 6/10): Hometown Girl (6), How Not To (9), Something I’m Good At (28), Outta Style (30), Ask Me How I Know (36), A Girl Like You (37), Heartache on the Dance Floor (38), Every Little Thing (39), With You I Am (40), Round Here Buzz (41), Last Time for Everything (43), California (45), Happy People (49)
-Average (5/10): If I Told You (8), Every Time I Hear That Song (11), Speak to a Girl (21), They Don’t Know (53)
-Boring (4/10 or 3/10): Hurricane (2), Black (4), Yours If You Want It (13), No Such Thing As a Broken Heart (22), Do I Make You Wanna (25), More Girls Like You (27), Small Town Boy (36), Woke Up In Nashville (47), Til Tomorrow (51), Greatest Love Story (52), Getting Over You (59), All On Me (60)
-Bad (2/10 or 1/10): In Case You Didn’t Know (3), The Fighter (12), You Look Good (15), Craving You (16), Somebody Else Will (20), She’s With Me (48), Good Company (54), Yours (55), Rebound (56), They Can’t See (58)
-WTF (also known as bottom-of-the-barrel-horrific) (0/10): Body Like a Back Road (1), Yeah Boy (5), God, Your Mama, and Me (10), My Girl (14), Flatliner (17), For Her (23), The Way I Talk (31), Ring on Every Finger (32), What Ifs (46), Love Again (50)
May 11, 2017 @ 11:48 pm
Absolutely cannot stand “Yeah Boy”. As a “country” artist Kelsea serves no purpose except to make the suits in Nashville miss Taylor Swift.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them suits are saying, “Yo Taylor, imma let you finish your pop song, but you belong with us so come on back here and we’ll give you the keys to the kingdom and you can do anything you want.” I hope Taylor will ignore them and stick with the pop scene where she belongs.
May 17, 2017 @ 5:41 pm
Yeah Boy belongs on the Disney Channel, not country radio. If it were on the Disney Channel, where it belongs, it would still annoy the shit out of me, but I’d be more understanding of it.
May 12, 2017 @ 12:34 am
I literally wrote my entire ripping of “Love Again” the day after you pointed it out to me…I’ve been delayed in publishing the ripping because it’s not on YouTube which you mentioned, but i had forgotten 🙂
May 17, 2017 @ 5:40 pm
I can’t wait to read it once it is published! As for Love Again, it’s already going to make my worst songs of the year list. I don’t think it’ll beat you-know-who’s atrocity (hint: it rhymes with Spam Punt), but it’s pretty damn close.
May 12, 2017 @ 3:33 am
While I appreciate Chris Stapleton’s talent, his version of “Either Way” pales in comparison to Lee Ann Womack’s version though I’m hoping it gets some radio airplay. Nearly every time I switch my satellite radio channel 56, I just shake my head in disgust.
May 12, 2017 @ 5:11 am
Tin Man dropped further from #45 to #48 on Mediabase. Unbelievable.
May 12, 2017 @ 2:25 pm
I honestly would have never guessed that they’d stop playing Miranda on the radio BEFORE they stopped giving her Female Vocalist of the Year.
May 12, 2017 @ 3:28 pm
Guess Miranda playing a country song scares COUNTRY radio. Her standout performance from the ACMs was talked about a highlight. Single selling well but radio won’t play? Afraid others will release more country sounding albums? Stapleton hottest thing in country and he gets no country live so why are we surprised. Doesn’t matter, Miranda will be just fine. No worries she will be around for a long time.
May 12, 2017 @ 6:47 pm
I don’t worry about Miranda, Malinda. She knows what she does best and while her “success” on radio may be underachieving she will be writing,recording and performing long after the Kelsea’s of the world become a trivia question. I actually look forward to when she isn’t constrained by radio play and big record company suits. That Tin Man isn’t a bigger hit says more about the consumer than the artist.
May 18, 2017 @ 7:27 pm
As far as radio play is concerned; I personally live in S.E. Fl. a huge metro area, and yet a terrible radio market for practically Any type of music..The biggest stations are either Spanish or Rap, yet the majority of the population is still middle class America. I have come to the conclusion that radio stations don’t think we buy or listen to, Any type of music. We just hum..a lot, to amuse ourselves, at least in their opinion.
I formerly lived in the North East in a smaller market, we had everything, including a jazz station, classic, talk radio, rock, rap and country..go figure..
May 12, 2017 @ 6:19 pm
So while the teenagers (sorry guys and gals) are fighting about who deserves more to be #1 – who’s doing better – whose song-gate matters, I try to find good music.
Have you guys heard of Darin & Brooke Aldridge. Number #1 on the Bluegrass charts, with a sound reminding us, why New Grass Revival was freaking important for the history of Country Music in the 80s. Yes Pat Flynn & John Cowan make guest appearances. So does Vince Gill. Musicianship and actual singing at a superb level. And the song doesn’t have to hide itself either.
I rest my case.
https://youtu.be/DNlcioN6bps
May 13, 2017 @ 8:26 am
I really enjoyed reading this. Reading this along with the knowledge that Warren Buffet just invested millions into sirius xm makes me wonder if all of radio is about to be gobbled up by bad management. For years it was the drivng force behind sales, but honestly I, like so many others want to control what I hear. I would also love to see a split in the country format. I was against that idea for years, but it’s time. I would also like to say this about this article: this does as much or more to enlighten and inform people on the country music genre and help with preserving the genre than anything else you could do.
May 13, 2017 @ 11:51 pm
Great to see Missing climbing the charts!
May 15, 2017 @ 12:36 pm
I heard that horrid “Yeah Boy”, and I couldn’t change the station fast enough! As for “Missing”, I happen to love that song. The problem with kelsea, is who her father is. No doubt he’s paying to influence the air play, and the chart position. I
June 19, 2017 @ 4:27 pm
Midland now that’s a sound long time coming