Friday 30 November 2012

Country Billboard Chart News November 28, 2012

Country Billboard Chart News November 28, 2012

With the busy Thanksgiving holiday shopping week underway in America things were all shook up this week on the Billboard 200 albums chart with labels like UMG and Sony discounting their country artist catalogs.
Diva Rihanna with UNAPOLOGETIC debuted at No. 1 on the Top 200 chart with 237,541 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, marking her first chart-topper. This her seventh album, follows six earlier top 10 sets dating back to her first album in 2005.
Of note UK songbird Adele with her mega-selling "21" album continues to rewrite the record books. This week, the XL/Columbia release strode past the 10 million U.S. sales mark in its 92nd week of release. "21" becomes the 21st album to shift 10 million since the firm began tracking data in 1991. The last album to sell as many copies in a shorter span of time was 'N Sync's "No Strings Attached," which raced to 10 million in its 43rd week (January 2001).

Onto country matters Taylor Swift's RED held the No. 2 slot (#1 Country) with 185,391 copies sold, an increase of 28% on last week.

In its first 5 retail weeks RED has been in the top 2 with 3 weeks at #1 on the Top 200.

Comparing sales history with her previous album SPEAK NOW, which sold 8,421 this week (up 66%) and has sold 4,229,677 copies to date reveals:

RED first 5 weeks sales
1 Week :: 1,208,290
2 Week :: 344,249 (-72%)
3 Week :: 196,225 (-43%)
4 Week :: 144,534  (-26%)
5 Week :: 185,391 (+28%) ------- Total 2,078,997 

SPEAK NOW first 5 weeks sales
1 Week :: 1,044,477
2 Week :: 327,493 (-69%)
3 Week :: 209,512 (-36%)
4 Week :: 149,537 (-29%)
5 Week :: 255,991 (+71%)   --------  Total 1,987,010

Jason Aldean's NIGHT TRAIN steamed into the top 10, moving 13-8 on the Top 200 with 103,364 copies sold (up 157%) and retains the #2 slot on the Billboard Country Album chart. Aldean's set was on sale at Target stores to earn him Billboard Greatest Gainer stripes.

Kelly Clarkson’s GREATEST HITS – CHAPTER 1 made its bow at No.11 on the Top 200 with first week sales of 74,036. The album does not appear on the Country chart but does contain tracksDon't You Wanna Stay (duet with Jason Aldean) and her new country single release “Don't Rush” which features Vince Gill and was showcased at the 2012 Country Music Awards.
(Available on Amazon UK CD Format  and Amazon.com)

Another "Idol" legend, Carrie Underwood saw her album BLOWN AWAY blew up 13 spots to #12 on the Top 200 and moved 8-3 on the Country chart. The Sony discounted set saw sales up 349%, selling 73,679 copies for Black Friday savvy Carrie fans and the album crossed the one million scanning mark at retail. Carrie’s album has now amassed 1,009,916,  so the stack em’ high sell em’ cheap policy certainly paid dividends with the sales numbers in its 30th week at retail for Happy Thanksgiving punters!

Blake Shelton’s seasonal release CHEERS IT'S CHRISTMAS moved up to No.18 on the Top 200 and holds the #4 country slot. His sales of 52,499 were up 83% with a total to date of 149,554.
The newly crowned CMA Entertainer of the Year also watched his album RED RIVER BLUE move 21-8 on the country chart and rising 115 places on the Top 200 selling 27,129 copies up a massive 572% (828,327 current total)  

Lady Antebellum dropped 2 slots on the Top 200 with ON THIS WINTER'S NIGHT and moved 3-5 on the country board. Their sales of 51,723 were up 51%  and the album has hauled in 158,340 copies.
On his 6th chart week Scotty McCreery with CHRISTMAS WITH SCOTTY dropped one place despite selling 49,581 copies up 111% (167,618 total)

Black Friday sales proved a winner for Columbia Nashville’s  Kenny Chesney with his Gold-selling WELCOME TO THE FISHBOWL with the second biggest sales jump this week climbing from #86 to #39 (Top 200) and up from 14-9 on the country chart. His sales of 26,144 was a 305% retail boost (535,289 total)  

There was a Top 200 re-entry at #91 for Lionel Richie with TUSKEGEE, his sales of 13,128 were up 528% on last week and this platinum certified album has reached a total of 1,049,272.
Also granted a chart re-entry was at No.101 is George Strait’s ICON. His sales of 12,332 were up 968% as he moves 48-16 on the country chart. This was due to fans picking up $1.99-$3.99 copies at Best Buy, Walmart and Target and they also popped Alan Jackson’s hits package PLAYLIST: BEST OF ALAN JACKSON into their baskets.
Jackons sales of 8,745 were up 646% on last week (12,920 Total sales)  giving him his first showing on the Top 200 with this album which  jumped 73-19 country placings. This Arista Nashville/Legacy offering put him in the percentage-based Pacesettter spotlight.

Elsewhere Catalog album WHITE CHRISTMAS by Martina McBride makes its annual showing on the Top 200 (#152). It sold 8,462 copies up 304% on last week and over the years has hauled in a 1,624,272 number.

Overall album sales, in all genres, in this past chart week (ending Nov. 25) totaled 9.74 million units, up 44% compared with the sum last week (6.76 million) and down less than 1% compared with the comparable sales week of 2011 (9.78 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 267.79 million, down 4% compared with the same total at this point last year (278.72 million).

Billboard Top 200 (Country Album positions #1 - #28)

(TW) This Week, (LW) Last Week, Co (Country Album Chart placing / Movement)



































Top 25 Billboard Hot Country Songs

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, according to BDS it see’s:

Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" holding onto number one for a eighth week on its 15th retail week. 

Taylor now ties the all-time record for the most weeks at No. 1 by a solo female artist, noted as the Big Machine release WANEGBT logged an eighth week at the summit.
The record—matched two months after the chart’s ranking method shifted from core country radio audience to a digital, streaming,and expanded radio hybrid—has been held for 48 years by Connie Smith’s blockbuster 1964 hit “Once a Day.” Widely considered to be peerless among country music’s strongest female singers, Smith was honored with Country Music Hall of Fame membership earlier this year.

Swift’s eight weeks hasn’t been accomplished by any artist since Alan Jackson & Jimmy Buffett spent eight cumulative weeks with “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere Somewhere” a little more than nine years ago, and hasn’t been done in consecutive weeks since Lonestar’s “Amazed” in 1999. Although chart-topping runs of eight or more weeks were commonplace prior to Smith’s streak, the only song to hold that long between “Once a Day” and “Amazed” was the late David Houston’s nine-week stretch with “Almost Persuaded” in 1966.

A song from the TV show "The Voice" bows at No.3 with Cassadee Pope with her take of CMA song of the year “Over You”. It is in the top 10 on the overall Hot Digital Songs chart for the first time since the first season's finale in June 2011. She also tops this weeks Country Digital Chart.

Also of note on Hot Country Songs is the Zac Brown Band’sGoodbye in Her Eyes” (Atlantic/Southern Ground) which lifts 14-12 with Greatest Gainer roses for the chart’s biggest overall airplay gain.
The biggest digital spike is posted by Carrie Underwood’sTwo Black Cadillacs” (19/Arista Nashville), which shoots 49-37 following a performance on the Nov. 19 American Music Awards (ABC).
Outside the top 25 Tim McGraw’sOne of Those Nights” (Big Machine) nets the fattest streaming increase and moved from 34-31.

Top 25 Hot Country Songs

Taylor Swift with ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” stays at #1!
Florida Georgia Line with “Cruise” stays at #2
Cassadee Pope with “Over You” debuts at #3
Luke Bryan with “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” is down one, #3 - #4
Hunter Hayes with former number one “Wanted” is down, #4 - #5
Carrie Underwood with “Blown Away” drops , #5 - #6
Jake Owen with “The One That Got Away” stays at #7
Rascal Flatts with “Come Wake Me Up”stay at #8
Justin Moore with “Til My Last Day”is up one, #10 -#9
Lee Brice with “Hard To Love” drops four, #6- #10
Miranda Lambert with “Fastest Girl In Town” is down 2 spots,  #9 - #11
Zac Brown Band with “Goodbye In Her Eyes” move up two, #14 - #12
The Band Perry with “Better Dig Two” stay at #13
Kip Moore with “Beer Money” drops 3 places, #11 -#14
Gary Allan with “Every Storm” (Runs Out Of Rain) falls, #12 - #15
Eric Church with “Creepin” is down one slot, #15 - #16
Randy Houser with “How Country Feels” is down, #16 - #17
Greg Bates with “Did It For The Girl” is up one, #19 - 18
Jason Aldean (w Luke Bryan & Eric Church) and “The Only Way I Know” is up #21 -#19
Brad Paisley with “Southern Comfort Zone” drops three, #17 -#20
Kenny Chesney with “El Cerrito Place” is up one, #22 -#21
Taylor Swift with “Begin Again” drops four, #18 - #22
Little Big Town with “Tornado” is up one, #24 - #23
Jason Aldean with former #1 “Take A Little Ride” falls, #20 - #24
George Strait with “Give It All We Got Tonight” debuts at #25

Country Songs
*** No. 1 *** (8 weeks) "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” Taylor Swift
** Hot Shot Debut ** No.3 “Over You” Cassadee Pope
** Greatest Gainer/Airplay  ** “No.12 “Goodbye in Her Eyes” Zac Brown Band
** Greatest Gainer/Streaming ** No.31  “One Of Those Nights” Tim McGraw
** Greatest Gainer/Digital **  No.37 “Two Black Cadillacs” Carrie Underwood
New No.25 “Give It All We Got Tonight” George Strait
New No.48 “A Holly Jolly Christmas” Lady Antebellum
Re-Entry No.43 “ Can’t Shake You” Gloriana
Re-Entry No.50 “When She Says Baby” Jason Aldean

Billboard Country Airplay Charts

Jake Owen achieves his third and slowest No. 1 climb with “The One That Got Away” (RCA Nashville), which steps 2-1 in its 29th week on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.  It was released on May 21, 2012 .
His quickest ascent (24 weeks) happened when “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” spent the first of two weeks at the summit on the Sept. 17, 2011, chart, followed by another two weeks with “Alone With You,” which peaked in its 26th chart week in April. The Florida native is one of 10 artists to lead the chart twice this year—he replaces Luke Bryan’s “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” (Capitol Nashville), which dips to No. 3 after leading the chart for two weeks. Bryan is the only artist to crown the chart three times so far this year.
Top audience contributors for Owen’s single during the Nielsen BDS tracking week are led by 1.3 million impressions at WUSN Chicago, followed by KKGO Los Angeles (1.3 million), WYCD Detroit (866,000), KEEY Minneapolis (787,000) and WIL St. Louis, Mo. (784,000).

Just a few days before learning the good news, Jake and his wife Lacey welcomed their first daughter, Olive Pearl Owen. With infectious lyrics and an irresistible driving energy, “The One That Got Away” is a true story written by Jake along with Jimmy Ritchey and Dallas  Davidson. The song is from his chart-topping album Barefoot Blue Jean Night that has launched back-to-back, multi-week No. 1 hits with the PLATINUM-selling title track and the GOLD-certified “Alone with You.”
The four-time American Country Awards nominee will make the television debut performance of “The One That Got Away” on the fan-voted awards show airing on FOX TV on Monday, December 10.
Currently, Jake is on the road with his first headlining tour “CMT ON TOUR JAKE OWEN: THE SUMMER NEVER ENDS 2012” and he continues to make CMT history with the most consecutive sold-out shows for the annual nationwide tour since its inception eleven years ago. In 2013, Jake will join Jason Aldean’s NIGHT TRAIN TOUR.  (RCA Nashville Press Release)

Country Airplay
*** No. 1  (1 week) *** "The One That Got Away" Jake Owen
**  Most Increased Audience ** No.4 “Come Wake Me Up” Rascal Flatts (+3.62 Million)
** Most Added” No. 25 "One Of Those Nights” Tim McGraw  (+31 )
** Hot Shot Debut ** No.57 “Jingle Bell Rock” Blake Shelton feat. Miranda Lambert
Debut No.58 “Forever” Aaron Lewis

TOP DIGITAL SINGLES in Country Music (28 November 2012)

After a head-turning performance of Miranda Lambert’sOver You” on the Nov. 19 episode of “The Voice” (NBC), contestant Cassadee Pope opens atop Billboard’s Country DigitalSongs with 152,128 digital downloads, according to Nielsen Sound-Scan, and also posts the Hot Shot Debut at No. 3 on Hot Country Songs.

Pope’s version also arrives at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, while Lambert’s original re-enters Country Digital Songs at No. 7 jumping up from 54 (Riser of the week) with 40,223 copies sold up 500% on last weeks 6,703 number (1,082,200 total)—it previously peaked at No. 2 in March and topped the May 19 Country Airplay chart.
The song took home the Song of the Year trophy at the 2012 Country Music Assn.Awards. Miranda co-wrote the song with her hubby, “Voice” coach Blake Shelton.

Cassadee Pope (born August 28, 1989) is a 23-year old singer/songwriter and Florida native. Pope has also fronted pop/punk band Hey Monday and released a self-titled solo EP in May that charted for one week in June (No. 25) on the Billboard Heatseekers tally.

Cassadee Pope

Since Hey Monday’s hiatus, Cassadee embarked on a solo career which was announced in December 2011, but reassured fans that the band was not "broken up." In early 2012 she played her first acoustic solo tour before releasing her debut self titled EP on May 22, 2012, featuring four songs; "Original Love", "Secondhand", "I Guess We're Cool", and "Told You So".
In the summer of 2012, she confirmed that she auditioned for Season 3 of The Voice. On September 25, 2012, Cassadee performed for her blind audition on NBC's "The Voice," and she received four button pushes from the four judges. She then competed on Blake Shelton's team
On the Voice’s Episodes 23-24: the Top 10 performances were aired on Nov 19th resulting in Cassadee Pope and Melanie Martinez receiving the iTunes bonus.
Cassadee Pope's version of  "Over You" (Republic Label) sold between the night it was performed, Nov. 19  and Nov. 25 to debut at No. 3 also on the overall Digital charts. Melanie Martinez's take on the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" followed with sales of 55,000 (No. 30)

During a Voice conference , Cassadee responded to some of her critics who claim that she has a vocal cord up on her competition -  "I definitely think going on tour and performing a lot has really helped me, but the same could be said for everyone else who has ever played shows," Pope told reporters: "This just isn't something I've ever experienced before, especially in a competition setting, because a tour definitely isn't anything like that."

Watch Cassadee’s Voice performance of  “Over You” >>  YouTube  it’s available on US iTunes

Last weeks No. 1 Florida Georgia Line with “Cruise” drops to #2. It sold 78,089 (down 3%) and has reached total sales of 1,140,994.

Taylor Swift’sWe Are Never Ever Getting Back” stays at #3 on the country chart selling 63,789 downloads (-35%) and has a 2,649,505 tally. It holds a #24 slot on the overall Billboard Digital Chart. Other songs by Swift which do not show on the Country chart are at #15 “I Knew You Were Trouble” (86,715 sales /861,476 total), “Red” at #112 (19,337 sales/568,856 total) and at #118 “22 “ (18,639 sales/ 209,013 total)
Her country single “Begin Again” sold 24,564 this week (-10%) with a total of 521,774 so far.

Carrie Underwood rounds out the top 5 with former #1 Billboard Country Airplay song  Blown Away” which sold 44,495 copies(+1%) and has sold 1,376,938

George Strait is new at #9 with “Give It All We Got Tonight” selling 38,261 copies in its debut retail week.

Songs dropping out of the Top 30 are Miranda Lambert  “Fastest Girl In Town” (12,615 sales), Thomas Rhett “Beer With Jesus” (11,657 sales) and Kelly Clarkson/Vince Gill “Don’t Rush” . 

Billboard Country Digital Singles Chart Top 30

(LW) Last Week  (TW) This Week 
*Numbers are rounded to nearest 1000th.


 


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