Sunday 8 May 2016

Country Billboard Chart News April 25, 2016

Country Billboard Chart News April 25, 2016

In Brief: Billboard Country Charts (Chart issue week of May 7, 2016)

Country Album Chart ** No.1 SAILOR’S GUIDE TO EARTH Sturgill Simpson
Hot Country Songs ** No.1 (2 weeks) ** Somewhere On A Beach” Dierks Bentley
Country Airplay ** No.1 (1 week) ** “Confession” Florida Georgia Line
Country Digital Songs ** No.1 (4 non-consecutive weeks) ** “Humble and Kind” Tim McGraw

Billboard Top 200 / Country Album Chart News (Chart issue week of May 7, 2016)

The Billboard 200 chart measures multi-metric album consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

Prince ruled the Nos.1 and 2 slots on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart (BB200) with the greatest hits set THE VERY BEST OF PRINCE and the PURPLE RAIN soundtrack, as both titles re-enter the chart in the wake of his death on April 21.
The Very Best of Prince marked the Purple One’s fifth No.1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, and first since 3121 debuted atop the list on April 8, 2006, spending one week at No.1.



















The Very Best of Prince earned 179,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 21 (up 10,872 percent compared to the previous week). Of that sum, 100,174 copies were in traditional album sales (up 11,232%).
As for Purple Rain, it shifted 69,000 units (62,544 in pure album sales; up 3,101%).
Prince died on April 21, the final day of the latest tracking week for the new chart, meaning that fans rushed to purchase his music in the roughly half-day left in the tracking week (after the news broke around 10 a.m. PT), enough to send him to Nos.1 and 2.
Another Prince set hit the top 10, as his triple album The Hits/The B-Sides re-entered at No. 6 with 41,000 units (up 8,203 percent), with 24,000 of that sum in album sales (up 10,351%). The album originally debuted and peaked at No.19 on Oct. 2, 1993.
The three titles were also the Nos.1, 2 and 7 selling albums of the week, as reflected on the Top Album Sales chart (which tallies the week’s best selling albums).
Incredibly, in the week ending April 21, Prince’s overall catalog of albums sold 256,000 copies -- an increase of 5,298 percent compared to the previous week (5,000).

At No.3 on the Billboard 200, saw the highest debut of the week from singer/songwriter Sturgill Simpson, as his new SAILOR’S GUIDE TO EARTH entered with 55,000 units (52,464 in pure album sales). It was the first top 40-charting album for the singer-songwriter, who previously went as high as No.59 the week his last album, Metamodern Sounds In Country Music, debuted (May 31, 2014). Metamodern went on to sell 195,000 copies in the U.S. and garnered a Grammy Award nomination for best Americana album. His first album, High Top Mountain, was released in 2013 and reached No. 11 on the Heatseekers Albums chart the following year (it missed the Billboard 200).
Rock band Santana scored its 14th top 10 album with the bow of Santana IV at No. 5 (42,000 units; 40,159 copies in pure album sales). The new album is the first to feature the group’s early 1970s line-up since the 1971 release Santana III. The latter set spent five weeks at No. 1.
Chris Stapleton with TRAVELLER dipped 3-7 with 37,000 units (down 22%)

Billboard Top Country Albums (Chart issue week of May 7, 2016)

 Americana singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson topped the Billboard Top Country Albums survey for the first time as SAILOR’S GUIDE TO EARTH (Atlantic/Atlantic Group) bows with 52,464 sales in its opening week. It also started at No.1 on Top Current Albums, Top Rock Albums and Folk Albums. Simpson’s third appearance on Top Country Albums followeds his No.31-peaking 2014 debut, High Top Mountain (released June 11, 2013  and sold 14,000 copies in its first year), and 2014’s conscious-raising breakout album, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (Peaks: No.8 Top Country Albums; No.59 Billboard 200) which was released on May 13, 2014 and made a debut at No.59 on the Billboard and #11 Country with sales of 5,500 outselling much bigger names and proving that DYI country music was pretty viable in its own right.

Sturgill Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth was also the largest selling record of new releases across all genres according to Billboard. For the second week in a row, following The Lumineers' CLEOPATRA (Dualtone; falling 1-9 Billboard 200) an Americana album has topped the charts and, along with A Sailor's Guide and Chris Stapleton’s Traveller, marked three Americana albums now resting firmly in the Billboard Top Ten. “A glance at Billboard’s Top 200 affirms that the popularity of Americana music is on the rise,” commented Jed Hilly, Executive Director of the Americana Music Association. “It’s an exciting time for the American Roots Music community.”
Produced by Simpson, A Sailor's Guide To Earth was written-beginning to end-as a letter to his first child who arrived during the summer of 2014 and features eight original songs as well as a rendition of Nirvana's "In Bloom."
Recorded primarily at Nashville's The Butcher Shoppe, Simpson was joined in the studio by Grammy Award-winning engineer David Ferguson (Johnny Cash, John Prine, "Cowboy" Jack Clement) and assistant engineer Sean Sullivan. Along with members of his touring band, the album features Dave Roe on bass, Dan Dugmore on steel guitar, Dougie Wilkinson on bagpipes, Garo Yellin and Arthur Cook on cello, Jonathan Dinklage and Whitney LaGrange on violin and special guests The Dap-Kings.

Critical reception for Sturgill Simpson’s Sailor’s Guide to Earth:
6 Tracks/ Time: 38:50 Amazon UK - UK iTunes - Amazon.com -

Allmusic (Rating: 4 STARS) ...it's an old-fashioned concept album, one that tells a story -- it's a letter to his newborn son, telling him how to become a man -- and is dressed in garish art suited to the side of a Chevy van. The overarching aesthetics are a throwback to the golden age of vinyl but Simpson is too smart to succumb to mere revivalism: he seeks to expand, not retract...., Simpson doesn't limit his prog to merely rock. He's equally attracted to the symphonic haze of progressive folk and the boundary-blurring soul of Muscle Shoals, using its thick swathes of horns and smears of slide guitar as binding agents in songs that occasionally need to be pulled together. ..He's certainly not indifferent to songs -- strong ones punctuate the voyage, ones that veer closer to soul than country -- but he cherishes the voyage, so there are times when A Sailor's Guide to Earth threatens to float away on a slipstream of strings and melodies that are heartfelt and hookless. Even at these moments, his ambition remains ingratiating: he might not quite arrive precisely where he intended, but as he makes it so clear throughout the album, what matters is the journey itself.

Entertainment Weekly (Rating: A-) Blending Memphis soul, New Orleans funk (thanks, in part, to the Dap-Kings, who play on five songs), and swamp-rock blues, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth is the Kentucky-native’s most sonically ambitious set yet....Overall, the album is strikingly intimate. At times, it feels like you’ve somehow found yourself in the singer’s hallway, listening as he coos lullabies to his child in a nursery. “It’s all a dream,” he confides on “Breakers Roar” and reiterates on “Oh Sarah.” The same might be said for the collection itself.

Nick Bollinger (RadioNz) delved into an album that combines soul horns and grunge anthems with classic country from Sturgill Simpson.


The Guardian Observer (Rating: 3 STARS) …. Since the days of the wayfaring bards, the touring life has largely been coded male. But not all itinerants enjoy artificial irresponsibility. Breakout country star Sturgill Simpson’s third album is not all about the conflicts
of a male life in motion, but much of it deals with the pull of home, long experienced by sailors, soldiers and musicians. Pushing the boundaries of country even more than his last, faintly psychedelic album, Simpson has stuffed this involving song cycle with the sounds of Motown, Memphis soul and an arresting cover of Nirvana’s In Bloom. Not all of it gels, but as a treatise on male absence, Sturgill’s Guide is heartfelt.

Rollingstone (Rating: 4 STARS) ....But "country" is a limiting term for Simpson, who embodies the word in its most inclusive sense. That's him snarling "Sugar Daddy," the nasty blues-boogie theme song to HBO's Vinyl, a song that doesn't appear here. His cover of Nirvana's "In Bloom" does, however, and it's the album's most brilliant WTF moment: Delivered as a slow-building R&B ballad, it has enough traditional twang to give Kurt Cobain's gun-lust satire a fresh twist, while tweaking the elliptical chorus with an echo of the Bee Gees' Southern-soul exercise "To Love Somebody." Subtle, smart and heart-stabbing, it's one of the best Cobain readings ever. Sailor's Guide is classic album length – nine songs, 39 minutes – and best heard in one sitting; this is Nashville craft less as pop science than as rangy headphone storytelling. That's clearest on "Sea Stories," a cautionary tale that involves an enlisted man in Southeast Asia who gets booted from the Navy and ends up back home with a drug habit he regrets, but not completely. "Flying high beats dying for lies in a politician's war," he hollers. It's one of many powerfully defiant moments from an artist who's just getting started.

Pop Matters (Rating: 9/10) Fast-forward two years and the once-indie king of country music has signed a major label deal. After a relentless tour schedule that yielded no new songs, the first whiff of new music from Simpson was the scuzz-rock “Sugar Daddy”, the theme song for HBO’s new series Vinyl. Hinting at a new direction, the announcement of third album A Sailor’s Guide to Earth was accompanied by the hedonistic roadhouse groove of
first single “Brace For Impact (Live a Little)”. Bearing little resemblance to the songs and sound that made Simpson a household name, a second single—a cover of Nirvana’s “In Bloom”, replete with weeping pedal steel, strings and Motown horns—was issued. Having shed Nashville outsider Dave Cobb who produced Metamodern Sounds and Simpson’s debut LP, High Top Mountain, the hungry hordes questioned if their savior has forsaken them.....Allaying any fears of kowtowing to corporate bosses, Simpson sidesteps any stricture imposed by moneyed suits and rote song forms with A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, the conceit of which is a two-sided song cycle to his newborn son. With seagulls and ship bells ushering in the opening movement of “Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)”, a ceremonial nocturne in which Simpson intones, “Hello, my son / Welcome to Earth”, before swelling strings give way to a brass rave up courtesy of the Dap-Kings in a four-minute span, detailing months on the road and missed growth milestones....The album’s nautical motif is derived from Simpson’s teenage stint in the Navy, recounted in the cautionary tale “Sea Stories”, the album’s most country-inflected moment. Debunking press notes that A Sailor’s Guide to Earth was written in a Kerouacian flurry from front to back—Nirvana cover notwithstanding—“Oh Sarah”, with its lilting strings and marital friction, is a reworked song from Simpson’s days fronting Sunday Valley. Singing, “Out on the road / Is where I’m going to find my way”, the title character is the swallow guiding Simpson’s AWOL sailor home...By taking his own path and not issuing Metamodern Sounds Redux, Simpson has proven a visionary artist unafraid to risk it all by following his muse. As singer, songwriter, producer and bandleader, Simpson juggled his own destiny on A Sailor’s Guide to Earth without dropping the baby. Afforded creative freedom many felt would be stifled, Simpson’s latest musical offspring is a love letter we can all cherish. Ahmet Ertegun would be proud.

Listening to the new Sturgill Simpson album one questions as to why the chart managers deemed it as a country release?
Related post (Feb 2016): Saving Country Music
What is country, and what is not country is a long-standing argument in country music that will never be resolved, and has been around since the very beginning of the genre. In the last few years, the question has become even more heated as acts like Sam Hunt, Kelsea Ballerini, and Chris Lane release singles without a single signifier of the benchmarks people traditionally consider as country music.
But this week the debate took a very strange turn when a band from Texas called Green River Ordinance was told their new album Fifteen was not country enough for Billboard‘s Country Albums Chart. For the last couple of years country fans have been questioning how chart managers for Billboard and other entities could listen to certain songs or performers and consider them country in the slightest. Yet here is a band making music that’s more country than it is anything else, and more country than most of what you hear on country radio, and Billboard is denying their admittance on the country charts....Billboard‘s country chart manager who responded, “Right now we have decided to not flag this project country. That’s a judgement call on our part, but we put a lot of thought into that process. Also, just an FYI; I was a Country radio PD for many years. That experience helps me make these decisions.”

Chris Stapleton with TRAVELLER (Mercury Nashville | UMGN) fell 3-7 Billboard 200 (#1-2 Country) selling another 29,274 copies in his 51st week (Total sales 1,227,200).
Joey + Rory with HYMNS (Farmhouse/Gaither | Capitol CMG) in its 10th frame fell 16-38 BB200 (#2-3 Country; 12,877 sales; 10-week total 328,00)
Thomas Rhett with TANGLED UP (Valory | BMLG) slipped 24-25 BB200 (a non-mover #4 Country) sold another 5,600 copies in his 30th frame.
Sam Hunt with MONTEVALLO (MCA Nashville | UMGN) fell 34-27 BB200 (non-mover #5 Country; 5324 sales; 78-week total 1,110,300)

Wheeler Walker (stand-up comic Ben Hoffman) with his “best country but unplayable album” REDNECK SHIT (Pepper Hill/ Thirty Tigers) made a re-entry at No.108 on the Billboard 200 (#14 Country) selling another 3,003 copies. The album made its first entry on the chart (dated March 5, 2016) arriving at No.9 Country with 5,780 copies sold. This re-entry appears to be a combination of word of mouth, continued reaction against the bland mainstream and lack of “country” music coming out of the Nashville sausage machine and internet buzz following his Joe Rogan Experience podcast. This wave  of response also landed on UK shores where it peaked at #2 on UK Country iTunes Album Chart and reached #115 on all genres and stayed in the Top 10 for several days!

Marie Osmond achieved her first solo top 10 on the Top Country Albums chart in more than 41 years as MUSIC IS MEDICINE (Oliveme) entered at No.189 on the BB200, No.72 Top Albums and No.10 Country Albums selling 3,888 copies. 
She posted her first solo entry since 1989’s No. 68-peaking STEPPIN’ STONE and first top 10 since 1974’s IN MY LITTLE CORNER OF THE WORLD (No. 10). Osmond tallied one top 10 since with brother Donny: 2011’s DONNY & MARIE opened and peaked at No. 7 (16,000).
MUSIC IS MEDICINE is a testimony of how Osmond overcame her depression and her own personal issues with God's help through music. Enlisting the expertise of veteran Country/Pop/Latin producer Jason Deere, Osmond described the disc as "more contemporary. I'm a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll, what can I say," she said. - That Nashville Sound
Another song from the album features a duet with Marty Roe, lead singer of the country group Diamond Rio, on a song that addresses second chances in finding love, something Osmond says she knows about.
"It says, 'I'd love to be your last.' And it's just, oh my gosh, it's just a beautiful song," she says. "The songs are beautiful, and I think they'll touch hearts." "I'd Love to Be Your Last" (writers Rivers Rutherford, Sam Tate, Annie Tate) was previously a tender acoustic closer on Gretchen Wilson's March 2010 released album I GOT YOUR COUNTRY RIGHT HERE.
Watch the official music video for >> "Music Is Medicine," (written by Allen Shamblin, Julia Sinclair and Steve Seskin)
Music Is Medicine (Album Sampler):


Critical reception for Marie Osmond’s Music is Medicine:
10 tracks/ Time: 34:46 Amazon UK - UK iTunes - Amazon.com

Hallels.com (Rating: Mixed) .Marie Osmond's "Music is Medicine" is more than just an album, it's a manifesto.  It's a deeply personal narrative of unadulterated wisdom garnered from a woman who have had experienced God's healing over bouts of
depression, the suicide of her son, divorce and re-marriage. ..."Music is Medicine" doesn't find Osmond stymied in the 80s.  Rather, this "country" record finds more affinity with Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett and Cam than her 80s peers such as Crystal Gayle and Tanya Tucker.  Most obvious is that she has chosen to work with Jason Greene (Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town) as producer....What sounds like an odd combination actually works. Olivia Newton-John has the most country offering on the set.  Her duet with Osmond "Getting Better All the Time" also underscores an indispensable message that God often uses trials to make us
stronger.  Marty Roe of Diamond Rio is in fine voice.  But his duet with Osmond "I'd Love to Be Your Last" is one of those vanilla cringe-worthy love songs that Hallmark is noted for...."Baby It's Crazy" is superbly catchy, "Wild and Sweet" is, as the titular says, sweet, and "Then There's You" is perfect.  The latter finds Osmond dueting with actor and singer Alex Boye.  Boye's gravelly vocal grit gorgeously complements Osmond's teary-sounding melisma.     
Prime Cuts: "Getting Better All the Time" (with Olivia Newton-John). "Then There's You" (with Alex Boye), "Give Me a Good Song "(with Sisqo)
Digital Journal (Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars).... "Give Me a Good Song" is a cool collaboration with Sisqo, while "Getting Better All the Time," where she sings with Olivia Newton-John is the highlight duet on the album...Osmond shows her sassy side on "Baby You're Crazy," where the listener can recall Jennifer Nettles from the country duo Sugarland. Alex Boye is a gem on "Then There's You."
Overall, Marie Osmond's latest studio album Music is Medicine is sensational. It was definitely worth the wait for her fans.

Outside Top 25 Country Albums

Elvis Presley with I'M LEAVIN' (Amazon UK) was new at No.27, The very best of Elvis Folk-Country 1966-1973. This special Record Store Day release includes masters from Elvis' sessions at RCA Victor's Studio B in Nashville in May 1971, a period in which several folk writers material surfaced spontaneously amid gospel and holiday recordings, plus others with similar provenance: from Dylan’s "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" in 1966, to then-contemporary pop-folk such as "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues" in 1973, this is Elvis in an introspective mood.
Willie Nelson And Friends (Cracker Barrel Willie Nelson With Asleep At The Wheel, Tanya Tucker, Sherley Collie) arrived at No.39, Porter Wagoner And Dolly Parton’s THE RIGHT COMBINATION debuted at No.45 and Buck Owens’ CLASSIC #1 Hits made a bow at No.49.

Most notable was The Del McCoury Band with the 12 track DEL AND WOODY (McCoury Music/RED) arrived at No.42.
Del McCoury Band’s Del & Woody, a collection of lyrics left behind by Woody Guthrie and put to music by McCoury, reached #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart. No Woody Guthrie project that included only his songs has ever risen to the top of the Billboard album chart. McCoury—who at 77 is no stranger to the top of the charts himself—said he is proud that it was his unique collaboration with the world-acclaimed folk bard of the depression that pulled Woody to the top.

Del & Woody was the brainchild of Woody’s daughter, Nora Guthrie. Upon hearing the Del McCoury Band, she recalls, she had a feeling that Del would be the right man to write music to some of her father’s lyric sheets. Still, it wasn’t until the Newport Folk Festival’s 50th anniversary in 2009 that she zeroed in on the bluegrass patriarch’s unique fitness for what became Del And Woody.  The Del McCoury Band will be touring in support of this release in 2016. On designated “Del & Woody” shows the band performs this album in its entirety with companion videos to each song playing behind them. It really does bring Woody’s work to life after many years of these lyrics sitting on a shelf. - See more at: cybergrass.com

Critical reception for The Del McCoury Band’s Del and Woody:
12 Tracks/ Time: 35:25 Amazon UK - UK iTunes - Amazon.com

American Songwriter (Rating: 4/5 STARS) ...McCoury has done an excellent job of combining bluegrass melodies, harmonies and
changes with Guthrie’s lyrics, which actually lend themselves to the bluegrass genre in so many ways. Guthrie, an underrated guitar self-accompanist, was never known for complicated music, which only helped add to his everyman legacy. And there’s really not that much difference between the structure of bluegrass and what was once called folk music, with the exception of the occasional blue note that Bill Monroe tossed in, and that McCoury and his players include here as well.....McCoury has done a great job of bringing all the lyrics to life, and as the album’s producer he has wisely kept it simple, with pretty much traditional bluegrass picking and arrangements and none of the out-of-the-box solos that his band members, especially his mandolinist son Ronnie, are capable of. The executive producer here is Guthrie’s daughter Nora, who shepherded a similar project with Billy Bragg and Wilco (Mermaid Avenue) in 1998. There’s nothing ground-breaking or iconic like “This Land Is Your Land” or “Jesus Christ” here, but it’s still a pretty cool record. Recommended for fans of Guthrie, McCoury, and traditional bluegrass in general. Anyone who isn’t a fan of any of the above, though, probably won’t be converted. It is what it is, a traditional music form supporting the words of someone who’s been dead for almost half a century.
The >> New York Trains by The Del McCoury Band. Words by Woody Guthrie music by Del McCoury,
Watch the >> YouTube video about the landmark project featuring "unheard" Woody Guthrie lyrics.

Year-To-Date Albums
7,087,000 (Physical sales 4,660,000 (down 9%) + Digital sales 2,427,000 (down -16.8%)) which is 9.2% down at the same point in 2015 (7,806,000 sales)
Year-To-Date Digital Tracks
29,110,000 down 20.4% at the same point in 2015 (36,573,000)


Billboard Hot Country Songs (Chart issue week of May 7, 2016)

On Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart - which blends:
a) All-format airplay, as monitored by BDS
b) Sales, as tracked by Nielsen SoundScan and
c) Streaming, (tracked by Nielsen BDS from such services as Spotify, Muve, Slacker, Rhapsody, Rdio and Xbox Music, among others) according to BDS it results in:

Dierks Bentley with “Somewhere on a Beach” (Capitol Nashville) led Billboard’s hybrid
Hot Country Songs chart, which encompasses airplay, digital sales and streaming, for a second week, Thomas Rhett’s “T-Shirt” (Valory) entered the top 10 (12-9).

 “T-Shirt” was sparked by a 14% increase on Country Airplay, where it also reached the top 10 (14-10; 28.5 million, up 13 percent). The track zoomed 10-4 on Country Digital Songs (25,000 downloads sold; up 16%) and 10-5 on Country Streaming Songs (2.3 million U.S. streams, up 14%). “T-Shirt” is Rhett’s sixth Hot Country Songs top 10 and seventh Country Airplay top 10.

Hot County Songs
** No.1 (2 weeks) ** “Somewhere On A Beach” Dierks Bentley
** Airplay Gainer ** No.3 “Think Of You” Chris Young duet with Cassadee Pope
** Streaming Gainer ** No.9 “T-Shirt” Thomas Rhett
** Digital Gainer ** No.29 “Running For You” Kip Moore
** Hot Shot Debut ** No.31 “Soulshine” Adam Wakefield
Debut No.35 “What The Hell Did I Say” Dierks Bentley
Debut No.41 “Stars” Cole Swindell
Debut No.43 “Livin' The Dream” Drake White
Debut No.47 “Southern Boy” Jordan Rager with Jason Aldean

Debut No.48 “In Bloom” Sturgill Simpson

Billboard Country Airplay (Chart issue week of May 7, 2016)

Florida Georgia Line with “Confession” (Republic Nashville) crowned Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated May 7), lifting 2-1, up 4% to 44.8 million audience impressions in the tracking week ending April 24, according to Nielsen Music.
Penned by Rodney Clawson, Ross Copperman and Matt Jenkins, “Confession” marked a milestone for the duo of Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard.
The fifth single from FGL’s sophomore album, ANYTHING GOES, is the pair’s fourth to top Country Airplay, following “Sippin’ on Fire” (June 20, 2015), “Sun Daze” (Feb. 28, 2015) and “Dirt” (Oct. 25, 2014). (The title-track fourth single peaked at No. 3 in October.)
Florida Georgia Line’s first full studio set, Here’s to the Good Times, also produced four Country Airplay leaders (2012-14), matching the record for the most No.1s from a debut major-label album, previously set by Brooks & Dunn (Brand New Man, 1991-92) and Zac Brown Band (The Foundation, 2008-10).

FGL join ZBB as the only two acts to accomplish four Country Airplay chart-toppers from each of their first two albums. ZBB’s second full-length, You Get What You Give, produced the No.1s “As She’s Walking Away” (featuring Alan Jackson), “Colder Weather,” “Knee Deep” (featuring Jimmy Buffett) and “Keep Me in Mind” (2010-11).
It still feels like a dream to us and we’re humbled,” FGL’s Kelley told Billboard. “ ‘Confession’ is in our hearts and we are thankful it had a chance to be a single and have an impact. It really opens the door for what we’ve got coming on [April 29].”
This is an amazing achievement and it couldn’t happen to nicer people,” added Big Machine Label Group executive vp and Republic Records President Jimmy Harnen. “On the eve of launching their debut single from their third LP, FGL continues to lead the pack.”
Wait — what was that about April 29 and a new single and album? While not divulging the exact date, Harnen told Billboard that the duo’s third album will arrive in late summer.
KKBQ Houston PD Johnny Chiang feels that Florida Georgia Line gave radio something fresh with “Confession.” “FGL is one of the acts to pioneer a new sound, yet they’ve managed to mature as well,” he told Billboard. “While their music always performs with younger demos, this one also fared well with the older end of our audience.”

Also on Country Airplay, Luke Bryan with “Huntin’, Fishin’ & Lovin’ Every Day” (Capitol Nashville) became his 21st top 10 (12-9; 30 million, up 10%).

Country Airplay
*** No.1 (1 week) *** "Confession” Florida Georgia Line 44.761 million audience (+7.851 million) / 8,238 radio plays (+1446)
** Most Increased Audience ** No.3 “Think Of You” Chris Young with Cassadee Pope +4.526 million audience gain
** Most Added ** No.23 “Church Bells” Carrie Underwood (39 ADDS)
** Hot Shot Debut ** No.53 “Think A Little Less” Michael Ray
Debut No.60 “Someone To Take Your Place” Tara Thompson

Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart (Chart issue week of May 7, 2016)

Tim McGraw with “Humble and Kind” (McGraw/Big Machine/Big Machine Label Group) held at No.1 (#17-25 Digital Songs).
Dierks Bentley with “Somewhere On A Beach" held at #2.
Maren Morris with "My Church" (Columbia Nashville/Sony Music Nashville) climbed 7-3 in her 15th week (#36-39 Digital Songs).
Thomas Rhett with his latest hit "T-Shirt" rose 10-4 in his 14th chart frame (#43-40 Digital Songs), whilst his ACM award winning song “Die A Happy Man” remained at #9 in his 31st week.
Chris Young duet with Cassadee Pope rose 6-5 in their 14-week (#35-41 Digital Songs).
Blake Shelton with “Came Here to Forget” (Warner Bros./ WMN) fell 3-6 in his 7-weeks (#30-43 Digital Songs).
Cole Swindell with “You Should Be Here” fell 5-7 in his 19th week (#34-44 Digital Songs).

Adam Wakefield (The Voice contestant) with his cover of The Allman Brothers Band’s "Soulshine" (Republic) made a debut at #12.
Dierks Bentley with “What The Hell Did I Say” made a debut at #22

Country Aircheck MEDIABASE Chart

25 April 2016

Florida Georgia Line Hits #1 With 'Confession'
Congrats to Tyler Hubbard, Brian Kelley, Matthew Hargis and the Republic Nashville promo apes on scoring the week’s No.1 with Florida Georgia Line’s “Confession.”
The song logged 8,574 radio spins (+452) and 59.028 million audience impressions (+2.712) with 27539 Total Points from 158 tracking stations for the tracking week April 17 to April 23, 2016 and published chart April 25th 2016.
This makes the FGL team five for five off ANYTHING GOES – five singles, five chart-toppers. Some folks might be sippin’ on fire tonight. "Confession" is FGL's ninth career #1 and the duo's fifth consecutive chart-topper from their "Anything Goes" album, following "Anything Goes" (Nov 2, 2015), "Sippin' On Fire" (June 8, 2015), "Sun Daze" (Feb 16, 2015), and "Dirt" (Oct 13, 2014)

Kudos to Kris Lamb and the Dot crew on notching 58 adds for Zac Brown Band’s Castaway,” topping the week’s "Most Added" board.





















Pictured L-R: Dot Dir./Northeast/Midwest Promotion Michelle Kammerer, Coor./Label Resources Mallory Allgood, Promotion Coordinator Brooke Nixon, VP/Promotion Kris Lamb, Ex. Asst. Bernadette Gibbons, and intern Nicole Hunt.

For a detailed report check out Country Aircheck Weekly Issue 496 - April 25, 2016 [PDF File]
For the very latest up to the minute Mediabase Chart (Past 7 Days) go here - www.mediabase.com

Billboard Boxscores (Selective Country concerts)

Rank Artist: #1
Event Venue City/State: Adele, O2 Arena, London, U.K.
Dates: March 15-16, 18-19, 21-22, April 4-5, 2016:   Gross Sales:  $14,759,300 Attend: 126,043/ 126,043
Shows/ Sellouts: 8/8 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices: $136.36, $50.24    

Rank Artist: #35
Event Venue City/State: Blake Shelton, Chris Janson First Niagara Center, Buffalo, N.Y.
Dates: March 17, 2016 Gross Sales: $1,003,452 Attend: 16,980 / 16,980
Shows/ Sellouts: 1/1 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices: $79, $49
Promoters: Live Nation
                                                                       
Rank Artist: #39
Event Venue City/State: Zac Brown Band, CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Neb.
Dates: April 1, 2016 Gross Sales: $866,982 Attend: 13,316 / 13,342 (just 24 unsold)
Shows/ Sellouts: 1/0 Prices: $74.50, $69.50, $59.50, $39.50       

Rank Artist: #43
Event Venue City/State: Carrie Underwood, Easton Corbin, The Swon Brothers, Talking Stick Resort Arena Phoenix, Ariz.
Dates: April 14, 2016 Gross Sales: $829,160 Attend: 12,815/ 12,815
Shows/ Sellouts: 1/1 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices: $76, $46
Promoters: AEG Live
                                                                       
Rank Artist: #60
Event Venue City/State: Alan Jackson, Lauren Alaina, Honda Center, Anaheim, Calif.
Dates: April 16, 2016 Gross Sales: $403,112 Attend: 7,409 / 7,520 (111 unsold)
Shows/ Sellouts: 1/0 Prices: $149.95, $39.95
Promoters: Goldenvoice/AEG Live

Rank Artist: #70
Event Venue City/State: Chris Stapleton, Mesa Amphitheatre, Mesa, Ariz.
Dates: April 14, 2016 Gross Sales:  $186,835 Attend: 4,802/ 4,802
Shows/ Sellouts: 1/1 ** SOLD OUT ** Prices: $40
Promoters: Goldenvoice/AEG Live

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