Willie Nelson Hits #1 with New “Band of Brothers” Album
The winning streak for country music legends releasing new albums continues.
Willie Nelson, who just released his latest record Band of Brothers on June 17th though Sony’s Legacy Recordings, has crested at the very top spot on Billboard’s Country Music Album’s chart, landing at #1. It is Willie’s first #1 in 28 years, since his 1986 album The Promiseland. It is also his second-best showing ever on Billboard’s all genre Billboard 200 chart, coming in at #6. Band of Brothers is only the third time Willie has cracked the Billboard 200’s Top 10. He came in at #2 with Always On My Mind in 1982, and his last album, a duets project To All The Girls came in at #9. Willie sold roughly 37,000 copies of his new album to land the top spot.
Willie Nelson now has a total of ten #1 records to his name in an unprecedented country music career. He joins a resurgent crowd of country music greats who’ve had renewed chart success recently, including Dolly Parton’s May release Blue Smoke. It gave Dolly her first Top 10 on the Billboard 200 of her entire career when she came in at #6. She also charted at #2 on the Country Albums chart. Johnny Cash’s posthumous release of his lost album Out Among The Stars also saw surprising chart success, debuting at #1 in country, and #3 on the Billboard 200.
Band of Brothers is Willie’s fourth album with Legacy Recordings, all of which have been produced by Buddy Cannon. The album is the first from Willie in 17 years to feature mostly self-penned, new material, and also features a duet with Jamey Johnson on Billy Joe Shaver’s song “The Git Go”, and contributions from Vince Gill and Bill Anderson.
READ: Album Review Willie Nelson’s “Band of Brothers”
Why all the surprising chart success for older country music artists in 2014? It’s partly because the fans of older country music stars actually buy albums instead of streaming them online, or just downloading individual songs. This makes older artists more lucrative for labels, and allows the artists to outpace their much younger competition on the charts. Once again with Willie hitting #1, it proves that country music’s older artists can deliver when they’re given a chance, even without any radio play.
June 25, 2014 @ 9:48 am
Thank you for saying “fans of older country music” and not older people. Too many people on this site in the comments section clump all young people together and throw them under the bus, assuming young people don’t enjoy artists like Nelson. A lot of them don’t, but some of us do. Making broad generalizations about entire groups of people isn’t fair.
And congratulations to Willie! Glad to hear Jamey Johnson again too.
June 25, 2014 @ 10:20 am
“Why all the surprising chart success for older country music artists in 2014?”
It’s not surprising. Country music legends have significant fan bases. A big opening week doesn’t mean the album’s going platinum. You’re making mountains out of mole hills. Country music is still dead.
June 25, 2014 @ 10:31 am
It’s still an equal playing field Clint. Whether it’s 1982, 1986, or 2014, Willie Nelson still has to compete with his peers to gain this distinction, and it’s the first time in 28 years that he did. Sure, maybe the current system is gerrymandered somewhat in favor of older artists because their fans actually buy albums, which was acknowledged up above, but they shouldn’t be discounted for that, that is a benefit to their commercial viability.
Of course this album won’t go platinum. It won’t even go gold. But that doesn’t mean this isn’t a worthy accomplishment, and one that we can use to understand the dynamics and possibilities surrounding these older artists.
June 25, 2014 @ 11:04 am
My point is: it sounded like you’re trying to make a case that things might be starting to turn around because of these legends having good first weeks, but it doesn’t mean that at all. And actually, in Willie’s and Johnny’s cases, I doubt if half of their sales were even to Country fans. Willie has been closely associated with Pop/Rock and Indie artists over the last 15 years and has tons of fans in that world, and everybody knows that Johnny is the primary Country singer that hipsters pretend to like.
In reality, these albums’ sales are probably more indicative of how far we are from Country’s heyday, than they are any kind of sign of it’s return. Most people who grew up on real Country music probably aren’t even aware of these albums because they don’t follow entertainment news. Most of them are content with their cassette collections, or CD collections.
June 25, 2014 @ 11:13 am
Oh Clint, always such a pleasure to read your comments, your optimism is so inspiring
June 25, 2014 @ 11:38 am
No need to be a smart-ass. I’m genuinely heartbroken over what’s happened to the music and culture that I love. Sometimes the cold hard truth can sound a little pessimistic. Sue me.
June 25, 2014 @ 11:24 am
It is turning around for these artists. Compared with their peers and per capita when considered the decline of album sales across the board, they’re having a bigger impact now than they were 10 to 20 years ago. This is not an anomaly. The simple fact is, more people are looking back at artists like Willie and Dolly and supporting them in greater numbers. Both artists have also seen big rises in their concert attendance numbers. Is it because of “hipsters” and people from outside of country supporting them? You’re probably right, but those people’s opinions count too, and last time I checked, their money is green like the rest of ours.
Country music is still in terrible straits, and none of this news changes that. But it is a glimmer of hope. I get blamed around here all the time for focusing too much on the negative. Here’s some positive news, and I think we should be grateful for it, and bask in it for a moment.
June 25, 2014 @ 11:48 am
You’ll never hear me criticize you for being too negative.
My comment about who’s buying these albums was to say that, unless Country fans are buying these albums, it’s just a fad that will wane.
June 25, 2014 @ 11:32 am
Cassettes? Hell I bet them out of touch old timers still listen to 8 tracks!
June 25, 2014 @ 11:40 am
You must be a Flake Shelton fan.
June 25, 2014 @ 11:49 am
Or are you? The second paragraph of your original post pretty much is a paraphrase of Shelton’s argument in the ‘Old Farts’ comment.
June 25, 2014 @ 12:17 pm
I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not. Maybe you’re misunderstanding me. I’m saying that most people who grew up on Country music, like me, don’t pay attention to the crappy current music world, and prefer to listen to their cassettes and CD’s.
June 25, 2014 @ 12:25 pm
Nah I’m being mostly sarcastic but Shelton did say that the old farts aren’t buying the albums and you seem to be saying the same thing by saying that older fans don’t follow these things and instead hunker down with their CD collections.
Don’t really disagree with you though.
June 25, 2014 @ 1:29 pm
I would agree with this statement, unfortunately. While it’s nice to see Johnny and Willie have a big first week, this is more likely due to name recognition and the particular artist in question than general support for traditional country music. Cash and Nelson are both American icons that have transcended their genres. Heck, I’ve even had people argue with me for distinguishing Cash as “country” music. Not to discount anyone’s accomplishments, but I think it’s much more meaningful for the cause if people like Sturgill Simpson debut high on the charts. With the former two, I bet even the record labels are cynical about the whole thing: “People don’t want traditional country music, they just want music by Cash, Nelson and Parton.” If Sturgill Simpson were to have debuted at the top of the charts or does so at some point in the future, I actually think it might shock Cashville a bit, if only a little. Almost the country music equivalent of Nirvana, though obviously not of that scope.
June 25, 2014 @ 4:30 pm
Yeah, some of the people buying albums by legacy artists might not be traditional country afficianados, but they are buying traditional country records regardless. I think the good news is that an audience exists for this music. Also, a lot of the people listening to bro-country radio are not “true country” fans either. Many migrated over from rock and pop. The real question is, what will happen to the country format be when those people migrate somewhere else?
As for Sturgill, he went from being a virtually unknown artist (before the release of his first album) to debuting at number eleven on the Country albums chart with a self-released independent record, all in about a year’s time. He is appearing on Letterman and in the major music press. It seems like he’s the closest thing to a Nirvana we could resonably expect at this particular moment, especially considering the current radio and media environment. He’s not going to have big radio and MTV support like Nirvana did. I suppose today’s equivalent would perhaps be releasing a worldwide viral video of himself getting hit in the nuts by a bottle rocket or whatever.
Oh, and by the way, people who try to argue that Johnny Cash wasn’t a country artist annoy the heck out of me. His music had a broad appeal, sure. But the man appeared on the country charts for decades, won country awards, hosted country award shows, and even performed on Hee-Haw for criminey’s sake. Stop trying to dissasociate from the fact you like music from a country artist. I pity the foo’ who says Cash ain’t country!
June 25, 2014 @ 2:28 pm
Clint.. I’m aware that people like you and the older generation, do not pay attention to modern day entertainment news and don’t buy new music anymore… But yall should! You’re clearly competent enough to comment on blog threads and surf the internet, so why couldn’t you find and support modern day artists and bands that are making music genuinely and for the love of music? Those are the artists that need your help the most anyways; the bro-hick-pop artists are doing just fine selling their singles on iTunes to 13 year olds. It’s the older generation of people that clearly still have a big influence on sales numbers, so why don’t you stop whining and go buy a Jamey Johnson/Blackberry Smoke/Sturgill Simpson/Chris Knight/Whiskey Meyers record. And while you’re at it, tell all your friends to do the same. If y’all would actually support those artists, maybe we would hear more of them on the radio.
June 25, 2014 @ 6:25 pm
I am so sick of this argument that if the “old folks” would just buy this or that everything would be ok. maybe if Clear Channel would put some traditional music on the rotation we would listen to their stations. But unfortunately if youre not 20 with a perfect face and well rehearsed personality…you don’t get that chance. there is a huge disconnect between the folks spending the money on records ..and cds and the suits that feel compelled to keep shoving more cookie cutter pretty boys and girls down our throats, The artists have no problem naming their heroes and their influences…yet do ZERO to incorporate that into what they are pumping out. There’s a line in a Willie and Waylon song that sys” don’t give up the music for the show”….seems like a lot of folks forgot to remember that
June 26, 2014 @ 2:12 am
My competency, is why I don’t pay attention to entertainment news, other than what’s on this website. The Country music world used to be independent of pop culture and Hollywood, now it’s all mixed together. I loathe pop culture and everything that goes along with it. So, if I were to make an attempt at paying attention to entertainment news, I’d be forced to hear more about things that make me sick, than about the very few things I might be interested in. So, I refuse to waste my time on it. And I’m not a senior citizen, I’m middle-aged and set in my ways.
I’m not gonna quit “whining” anytime soon. Griping, or “whining” about things that bother me, relieves a lot of stress. For that reason, the pop-“country” bashing articles on this site are my favorite ones to read. I’m aware of the artists that you named, but other than Jamey, I’m not impressed by any of them. Sturgill is an imitator who pushes his hippie left-wing worldview in his songs, a big turnoff for me. Chris Knight is talented, but he’s not traditionally Country enough for me. I prefer mainstream singers like Alan Jackson, Mark Chesnutt, Vince Gill, Josh Turner, Dwight Yoakam, and Daryle Singletary, over any of the singer-songwriter, Americana stuff.
August 20, 2014 @ 7:24 am
Country music isn’t really quite dead. It’s gotten diluted and washed out by bad trendy production techniques and an American Idol style emphasis of image over substance.
HOWEVER: the legends and some of the newer artists are keeping it alive by bringing focus back to the songs.
It’s not just that older music fans actually buy music: sales are beginning to reflect the fact that a LOT of people – young and older – are hungry for quality music.
June 25, 2014 @ 10:28 am
All right! It is very heartening to see this. Another legendary country artist goes to number one on the charts. Seems to be a consistent theme lately.
June 25, 2014 @ 10:55 am
This is a slight digression, but ultimately on topic: Recently Country Weekly revisited the old Blake Shelton “Old Farts” and “Jackasses” incident by republishing the original article from 2013, along with a new article about the history of country music and the various changes over the years that have offended “purists.” Reading the original Blake butt-kissing article pissed me off and made my blood boil all over again. (I won’t go into it.) Anyway, I know I’m beating a very dead horse, but as time goes on, it’s becoming clearer that Blake’s comments were just objectively wrong, in addition to being disrespectful. “Well, that”™s because you don”™t buy records anymore, jackass. The kids do…” In just over a year, albums by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, George Strait, and Garth Brooks have all gone number one, plus Dolly’s album went to number two. Cash, Parton, and Strait, are all still in the top twenty five. All but Strait had no terrestrial radio play. Guess those are all anomlies, huh?
June 25, 2014 @ 11:28 am
I said in the original article that started the whole “Old Farts & Jackasses” thread,
“Blake Shelton also specifically mention “records,” but statistics shows that older music listeners are the ones that still by music in physical formats, while younger listeners (aka “kids”) tend to download music illegally, stream it at very low margins for artists and their labels, or purchase individual songs.”
This news once again proves that. Right now, Rosanne Cash is testifying before Congress about how little money is paid out through iTunes and Spotify. Physical sales should probably count 2 to 1 in the way they help support the industry way much more than what streaming the latest hot songs on Spotify does.
June 25, 2014 @ 11:30 am
Damn, you beat me to that point by one stinkin’ minute.
June 25, 2014 @ 11:52 am
By the way, when I referred to the “original article,” I meant to refer to Country Weekly’s original response article editorialising on the Blake Shelton incident. Obviously it was SCM that reported on that incident in the first place, though I noticed Country Weekly gave no credit or source in that regard.
June 25, 2014 @ 1:33 pm
I take it the low payout margin is Garth’s problem with iTunes as well? Lord, I want to like that guy but he just seems so greedy, even when he’s right.
June 25, 2014 @ 11:29 am
Yep. The more accurate statement would be they don’t buy (download, stream whatever) SINGLES anymore.
While it is very heartening to see these legends top the charts I think it would be more accurate to say that the top artists have seen a much, much sharper decline in album sales (especially after opening big the first week) than have the older skewing acts which has allowed these artists to chart higher.
So I think this is obviously good to see but there are industry wide trends that are facilitating it.
June 25, 2014 @ 11:34 am
Trigger, I love your articles. I read them everyday. Great to hear about Willie!
June 25, 2014 @ 11:52 am
You know, one of the things that bothers me most about the bro-splosion the past several years is the hyper-pandering to youth. Country music to me has always been ageless, not trendy and disposable as pop tends to be. Country music is a song your mom’s listening to on the radio and the kids and grandparents and everyone taps their feet and sings along. By making it more pop and focused ONLY on youth, they take that family element away.
Young people can, and always have, enjoy actual country music. Maybe not those who prefer pop and hip hop, but that’s what pop and hip hop are for! I’d love to see the demographics of who bought this album, but I’m betting it’s not just “old farts” by a long shot. Real country music will always be timeless and ageless. Willie is my parents’ generation but his music fits in just fine with my Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks and whatever current songs I can find to listen to.
And even if some people bought this album cause “he smokes weed dude,” at least it’s good music going into their ears. 🙂
June 25, 2014 @ 12:05 pm
Willie had a major tie-in with QVC on this album and with the duets album he put out last year and I read an article which quoted sources as saying a ‘significant’ amount of the sales came from this. And I have no problem with that in this day and age you have to be creative and if this works than more power to him. But from that I would guess the sales skew pretty old.
To your point about pandering to youth I was looking at the Country Airplay chart the other day and it is amazing how few songs are about relationships, whether good or bad, ballads or uptempo. ‘Who I Am With You’ by Chris Young is in the top ten but other than that it’s pretty much parties, fun going to the beach/river or whatever.
Personally I think the lyrical and subject matter change in the last few years is just as bothersome as the whole rap/EDM rock sound.
June 25, 2014 @ 12:31 pm
“Personally I think the lyrical and subject matter change in the last few years is just as bothersome as the whole rap/EDM rock sound.”
Absolutely agree. It just keeps getting shallower til there’s no water left in the pool. The empty lyrical content goes hand in hand with the empty sound of the music.
While I doubt teens are buying Willie Nelson albums in droves (not because they don’t have taste but they’ve just been so indoctrinated into shitty music their whole lives), I’d be curious about college age/20somethings. I think there’s a thirst for this kind of music in real country fans of all ages, so it doesn’t surprise me he and Dolly are finding success now. The worse it gets on one end of the spectrum, the more you wanna go back to your roots.
June 25, 2014 @ 1:36 pm
I agree. As I’ve said at several other times on other articles, this pandering personally annoys the heck out of me and I’m in my early 20s, which places me firmly within the target demographic. I was watching a documentary on the history of country music by the BBC of all organizations, in which it was stated that unlike other forms of music, “country music is geared towards adults.” Yeah, not anymore it ain’t. In the span of 50 years (or even less depending on where you start) we’ve gone from singing about marriage, jobs and prison to tailgates, partying and nostalgia for the teenage years.
August 20, 2014 @ 8:01 am
Well said Melissa!
June 25, 2014 @ 12:21 pm
It isn’t just old people buying CDs, it’s ranked #4 on iTunes Country albums downloaded.
Btw, Sturgill is sitting #25 right now, up from #35 late last week.
June 25, 2014 @ 12:28 pm
Dang.. Sturgill is actually re-climbing the charts at this point? I wonder what is causing that: the NPR music video stream? Rolling Stone articles? Hmm.
June 25, 2014 @ 1:38 pm
It’s odd because if you go back and look at charts, albums that didn’t necessarily debut at number one sometimes climbed to the top of the chart. Appetite For Destruction by Guns N’ Roses is one example I can think of. Nowadays, that doesn’t typically happen.
June 25, 2014 @ 1:45 pm
Well prior to 1991 when Billboard adopted the Soundscan tracking system all album and singles sales charts were compiled by using the sales lists PROVIDED by the record stores themselves and these were notoriously inaccurate. Pre-Soundscan there were only a couple albums that ever debuted at #1 and almost immediately after the switch it started becoming a common occurrence. “Appetite’ was released in those days and I remember it hanging around the middling sections of the charts for ages before ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ took off at top 40 radio and the album as a whole went into the stratosphere. Who knows what it was actually selling all that time.
Radio charts were also compiled using station lists as well and those were even more sketchy.
June 25, 2014 @ 12:57 pm
Does that 37,000 include digital downloads? The media campaign was very aggressive (traditional and social) and I expected that total number to be closer to 100k.
June 25, 2014 @ 1:07 pm
Yes everything. That is actually a pretty big number for an album by an older srtist with zero radio airplay. The Cash album from a few months ago sold in the 60-70,000 range if I remember right.
One thing that may hurt Willie’s sales in my opinion is his prolific nature. Nobody releases as many new albums as he does nowadays and that may hurt his sales by taking the ‘event’ status from his releases (like the Cash record had).
June 25, 2014 @ 1:25 pm
To put it in perspective, Jerrod Niemann’s album sold 24,000 copies. Nobody is buying music anymore.
And yes, that does include digital downloads of the full album.
June 25, 2014 @ 2:06 pm
Wow! I am out of the loop. I haven’t paid any attention to a first week’s units sold for years.
Willie was really everywhere weeks leading up to the release of “Band of Brothers” – David Letterman, QVC, SportsCenter, NPR. For weeks every Facebook posting in my newsfeed had a link to hear an exclusive cut from the album, too.
Makes me wonder why do the media circuit anymore for such little return? Especially Willie at his age? All that travel, TV, and radio is a lot of work.
June 25, 2014 @ 3:26 pm
All the money in music today is in touring. Still, even at a 37,000 debut, this album will be profitable. However albums are still very important because they mark timelines in an artist’s career, and create the excuse to play things like Letterman.
June 28, 2014 @ 5:49 am
the upwards of 1 million people that paid for Taylor’s most recent abomination during opening week would beg to differ, and Adele’s diamond certified monstrosity certainly blows your hypothesis out of the water. Miranda opened with the biggest numbers of her career a few weeks ago, and you can be guaranteed Carrie’s next album will open with 300+ thousand copies if released during fourth quarter. Sure, album sales aren’t what they were 5 years ago, but people still buy albums when there’s something worth buying, and the artist is someone mass amounts of people actually still care about.
June 25, 2014 @ 1:32 pm
Reading the comments above about album sales and numbers reminded me of this this tweet Jason Isbell made a few weeks ago: https://twitter.com/JasonIsbell/status/475372290897903616
He pointed out the first paragraph in a Billboard article about Mariah Carey’s new album. Here’s the paragraph:
“Mariah Carey collects her 17th top 10 album on the Billboard 200 chart as “Me. I Am Mariah ”¦ The Elusive Chanteuse” enters at No. 3 with 58,000 sold in the week ending June 1 (according to Nielsen SoundScan). Her last non-holiday studio effort, 2009’s “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” also debuted at No. 3, but with 168,000.”
Both albums debuted at no. 3 for Carey, but look at the number difference between the 2009 and 2014 albums. 110,000 difference in albums sold, yet both debuted at no. 3. It isn’t just country music, but all music is getting killed by illegal downloading and streaming. If big names like Carey are getting hurt, just imagine how it hurts all of the little fish in the pond out there. Something has to change soon.
June 25, 2014 @ 4:07 pm
I just checked the billboard country album charts and Willie isn’t even listed…what am I missing?
June 25, 2014 @ 4:21 pm
Those are last week’s tallies. They will be updated tomorrow.
June 25, 2014 @ 8:05 pm
I’m a huge hockey fan . About 15 years ago , Wayne Gretzky retired after an illustrious career . Wayne had lots more hockey in him and most of his records are still intact. One of the reasons he gave for his retirement was that the game had gotten too “gooney” …that is …there were bigger stronger guys coming into the NHL whose job it was to prohibit the skilled play makers and goal scorers from ‘delivering the goods ‘ resulitng in serious injury at times . And they were green-lighted to go to almost any lengths to achieve that end . Wayne suggested that if the NHL continued on its course of bringing in and rewarding less-skilled ‘one-trick-ponies’ to ‘control’ the skilled guys who brought all of the excitement to the game , it would only serve to discourage the potentially GREAT young skilled goalscorers and play makers from choosing pro hockey as a career . It was too unsafe and too big a risk to be a skilled guy with his head on a swivel looking out for the goon hired to take him out . Hockey cont’d to deteriorate for the next few years . Then , many of those issues were addressed by the league and the sport , once again , became attractive and embraced hockey skills and talent…thank goodness .They saw the error of their ways and changed them
I’ve always wondered about how many truly great artists and songwriters we’ve lost by pandering to the lowest common denominator with ‘style’ over substance ( brawn over skill ) in country music. How many gifted , talented insightful songwriters have turned on the radio and said ” Forget it …they aren’t looking for great songs and fresh viewpoints – there’s no money or sense of satisfaction and no opportunity to grow if THAT generic s**t is all they are playing so I guess I’ll look at other more meaningful career choices “.
I’m a longtime writer and I know many , many songwriters …some successful …some not . We’ve had this discussion a few times over the past couple of years and it always saddens me to think that young up and coming writers have nothing to shoot for if all they are exposed to is contemporary country radio . How discouraging that thought must be to someone with a REAL gift …a writer , player …singer ..or worse -all three .