Can country make a comeback on CHR?

[tekkenguy]

We haven't had many country hits on CHR recently. We used to have a whole bunch of them back in the 2000s, such as "Amazed," "Landslide," "Live Like You Were Dying," "You'll Think of Me," "Before He Cheats," and "What Hurts The Most." Now in the 2010s, we have our regular dose of Taylor, but otherwise all we've been getting was "Need You Now," "Wanted," and "Cruise." Can county make a comeback on CHR soon?

[nick64]

Well, I don't think it can make a comeback if it never really was popular on the format in the first place. I don't believe there were any country hits on pop in the 2000s other than the six you listed, Taylor aside. Four years into the 2010s, and we already have four (the three you listed + "If I Die Young"). Country was never popular on the format, and so far, the amount of country hits on pop this decade seems to be on the same track as the last.

On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised to see country become more popular on the format. Lots of country songs have been reaching more wide-spread audiences recently, such as hits by Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Hunter Hayes, and Florida Georgia Line. The hook has been becoming a more prominent aspect of country music recently, and I think that with pop mixes that include less country instrumentation, some of these big digital sellers would be able to become successful crossovers, like "Cruise".

[Linnethia Monique]

I feel that it will take some sort of "Mix" to breakthrough to the Pop format. "Pure" Country wouldn't stand a chance right now.

[tekkenguy]

Feb 16, 2014 1:44:55 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

I feel that it will take some sort of "Mix" to breakthrough to the Pop format. "Pure" Country wouldn't stand a chance right now.

Yeah. A mix is what I meant. I see songs like "That's My Kind of Night" and "Wasting All These Tears" working on CHR. WATT could be a late-spring hit, and TMKON could be this year's "Cruise."

[jdanton2]

hopefully not.

[Joe1240]

Blake Shelton with his success from "The Voice" lately, I'm surprised he hasn't crossed over at all. I agree on "Wasting All These Tears" and "That's My Kind Of Night",those are songs that sound like they would be good on CHR. Speaking of Taylor,I'm surprised "Highway Don't Care" didn't crossover to CHR at all and not even international promotion for it. A few Carrie's songs also would of worked on CHR like "Good Girl".With EDM dying down a bit,maybe country can have it's comeback.

[tekkenguy]

Feb 16, 2014 4:56:25 GMT -5 Joe1240 said:

Blake Shelton with his success from "The Voice" lately, I'm surprised he hasn't crossed over at all. I agree on "Wasting All These Tears" and "That's My Kind Of Night",those are songs that sound like they would be good on CHR. Speaking of Taylor,I'm surprised "Highway Don't Care" didn't crossover to CHR at all and not even international promotion for it. A few Carrie's songs also would of worked on CHR like "Good Girl".With EDM dying down a bit,maybe country can have it's comeback.

Blake Shelton - I think "Boys 'Round Here" was his best shot at a crossover (not counting his Xtina collaboration).
"Wasting All These Tears" - All it needs is a poppy backing track a la "Love Story", and I'd say it's ready to be shipped out.
"That's My Kind of Night" - This is already quite poppy, but I'd pair Luke up with someone like Flo Rida or Pitbull (or maybe even T-Pain) and mix the song a la "Cruise." It has the potential to be a huge summer hit.
"Highway Don't Care" - I don't think Tim is interested in having a CHR hit. I'd leave it for Hot AC.
Carrie Underwood - Carrie only had one big pop hit in "Before He Cheats." She's better suited for Hot AC, but like Tim, she probably isn't interested in CHR.

[sapphire]

I think we'll just have a few songs but not many to be called as a comeback. Hunter will probably try again. Cassadee might as well promote something to CHR because even if she sings country her voice is so Pop sounding. Maybe we can also see Lucy Hale try to crossover especially she already have a fan base outside the genre (though not for her singing, originally). I can't imagine Blake Shelton crossing over big on Pop, his voice just sounds so Country whatever he sings. lol. But what do I know, he's popular in The Voice so there's a chance. What's more probable to happen is to continue the trend of country songs becoming really huge inside the genre, drawing in non-country fans like Luke Bryan's and FGL's.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

I thought country had a bigger presence on pop these days than it has since I started following pop music in 94.

[Deleted]

Feb 16, 2014 1:41:15 GMT -5 nick64 said:

Well, I don't think it can make a comeback if it never really was popular on the format in the first place. 

This is not true. Country had a very big presence on pop radio in the late 70s and early 80s.

I just don't think labels put that same amount of effort into turning their country acts into crossover sensations because there's been a history of country acts not doing as well at Country radio when they start veering too much into a pop music direction. I also don't think the country format of the past decade or so is really churning out a lot of hits that have broad crossover appeal in the first place.

[Lahey's Lucky Star]

Feb 16, 2014 5:22:50 GMT -5 tekkenguy said:

Feb 16, 2014 4:56:25 GMT -5 Joe1240 said:

Blake Shelton with his success from "The Voice" lately, I'm surprised he hasn't crossed over at all. I agree on "Wasting All These Tears" and "That's My Kind Of Night",those are songs that sound like they would be good on CHR. Speaking of Taylor,I'm surprised "Highway Don't Care" didn't crossover to CHR at all and not even international promotion for it. A few Carrie's songs also would of worked on CHR like "Good Girl".With EDM dying down a bit,maybe country can have it's comeback.

Blake Shelton - I think "Boys 'Round Here" was his best shot at a crossover (not counting his Xtina collaboration).
"Wasting All These Tears" - All it needs is a poppy backing track a la "Love Story", and I'd say it's ready to be shipped out.
"That's My Kind of Night" - This is already quite poppy, but I'd pair Luke up with someone like Flo Rida or Pitbull (or maybe even T-Pain) and mix the song a la "Cruise." It has the potential to be a huge summer hit.
"Highway Don't Care" - I don't think Tim is interested in having a CHR hit. I'd leave it for Hot AC.
Carrie Underwood - Carrie only had one big pop hit in "Before He Cheats." She's better suited for Hot AC, but like Tim, she probably isn't interested in CHR.

I'm surprised "Wasting All These Tears" didn't cross over after it peaked on Country, especially after 1.) coming from The Voice and 2.) with Hey Monday already having a top 40 hit.

I think only Nelly would be capable of giving something like "That's My Kind Of Night" some edge and make it able to cross over a la "Cruise".

[nick64]

Feb 16, 2014 14:25:29 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

Feb 16, 2014 1:41:15 GMT -5 nick64 said:

Well, I don't think it can make a comeback if it never really was popular on the format in the first place. 

This is not true. Country had a very big presence on pop radio in the late 70s and early 80s.

I was more referring to the early 2000s like tekkenguy was initially talking about, but you're right.

[tekkenguy]

Feb 16, 2014 14:31:19 GMT -5 Lahey's Lucky Star said:

Feb 16, 2014 5:22:50 GMT -5 tekkenguy said:

Blake Shelton - I think "Boys 'Round Here" was his best shot at a crossover (not counting his Xtina collaboration).
"Wasting All These Tears" - All it needs is a poppy backing track a la "Love Story", and I'd say it's ready to be shipped out.
"That's My Kind of Night" - This is already quite poppy, but I'd pair Luke up with someone like Flo Rida or Pitbull (or maybe even T-Pain) and mix the song a la "Cruise." It has the potential to be a huge summer hit.
"Highway Don't Care" - I don't think Tim is interested in having a CHR hit. I'd leave it for Hot AC.
Carrie Underwood - Carrie only had one big pop hit in "Before He Cheats." She's better suited for Hot AC, but like Tim, she probably isn't interested in CHR.

I'm surprised "Wasting All These Tears" didn't cross over after it peaked on Country, especially after 1.) coming from The Voice and 2.) with Hey Monday already having a top 40 hit.

I think only Nelly would be capable of giving something like "That's My Kind Of Night" some edge and make it able to cross over a la "Cruise".

I understand your point, but with Nelly already having been on "Cruise," I'd think that we should give someone else a turn.

[Deleted]

If its gonna sound anything like 'Cruise" and that's the new template for country crossover then all i can say is, stay in your motherfucking lane and dont even try.

[zjames]

This might just be me, but I think Rascal Flatts' new single Rewind would succeed at CHR. It's unlikely that it gets pushed, but I think it would succeed if it did.

[velaxti]

Didn't I Will Wait by Mumford and Sons get played on both pop and country?

[Hussy]

Plz no, let the country stay in the country !!!

[nick64]

Feb 16, 2014 21:39:18 GMT -5 velaxti said:

Didn't I Will Wait by Mumford and Sons get played on both pop and country?

Yes and so did "Ho Hey". Neither did great on country though.

[jjose712]

Hunter Hayes has totally crossover potential. He is not a stereotypical country singer, and a good bunch of his songs could work on pop with a proper push.

Stay by Florida Georgia Line could work too.

And if Carrie Underwood really wanted a good bunch of her singles could have worked on pop, Blown away was a hit waiting to happen

[alfonzo]

The "Follow Your Arrow" song from the Grammys could be a big hit on CHR.

[funguy10]

Feb 17, 2014 15:09:27 GMT -5 jjose712 said:

Hunter Hayes has totally crossover potential. He is not a stereotypical country singer, and a good bunch of his songs could work on pop with a proper push.

Stay by Florida Georgia Line could work too.

And if Carrie Underwood really wanted a good bunch of her singles could have worked on pop, Blown away was a hit waiting to happen

It looks like "Stay" might happen. It gained a Hot AC add today.

[jjose712]

Feb 17, 2014 20:17:57 GMT -5 alfonzo said:

The "Follow Your Arrow" song from the Grammys could be a big hit on CHR.

I still prefer Merry go round, wich is a fantastic song, maybe someone singing it on Idol or in a commertial ad could make that happen.

Follow your arrow could work too (Kacey is very talented) but it's curious how country radio reacted to that song, practically ignoring it even when it comes from an artist with a previous hit, with a bunch of awards (even when he lost song of the year with I drive your truck, wich in my opinion represents all that is wrong in country music) and with good sales. It seems the message of that song it was simply too much for country radio

[nick64]

Feb 18, 2014 8:10:56 GMT -5 jjose712 said:

even when he lost song of the year with I drive your truck, wich in my opinion represents all that is wrong in country music

A song about mourning a brother who died represents all that's wrong in country music?

[dgarcia3377]

What about Carolina by Parmalee? I think that song is gaining on CHR and Hot AC.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure if country had anywhere to "come back" from in the first place. It seemed like there was about 1 crossover every year or so in the 2000's after "Amazed" broke through. If there was a peak in popularity though, I would have to place it around the 2008-2011 range where several of the songs you listed charted including Taylor Swift. Otherwise I don't really see a decline into nothingness anytime soon. It just seems like country is back to producing one crossover a year like ten years ago ("Wanted" for 2012 and "Cruise" for 2013). I'm sure we'll see another hit or two this year also. 

[Cory | Alan]

The problem with country is that it's even more samey than Pop. Most of the bigger hits are all about the same "night/time" and have cringe-inducing lyrics. Essentially the same song 100 different ways

[Lahey's Lucky Star]

Feb 17, 2014 21:12:20 GMT -5 funguy10 said:

Feb 17, 2014 15:09:27 GMT -5 jjose712 said:

Hunter Hayes has totally crossover potential. He is not a stereotypical country singer, and a good bunch of his songs could work on pop with a proper push.

Stay by Florida Georgia Line could work too.

And if Carrie Underwood really wanted a good bunch of her singles could have worked on pop, Blown away was a hit waiting to happen

It looks like "Stay" might happen. It gained a Hot AC add today.

"Stay" is actually pretty decent.

[jjose712]

Feb 18, 2014 9:49:14 GMT -5 nick64 said:

Feb 18, 2014 8:10:56 GMT -5 jjose712 said:

even when he lost song of the year with I drive your truck, wich in my opinion represents all that is wrong in country music

A song about mourning a brother who died represents all that's wrong in country music?

No, a song that use all the tired metaphors that you hear in country songs a thousand times. There are absolutely nothing in i drive your truck that you don't hear a lot of times first in country songs.
Maybe i went too far in my dislike of the song, but there's no way that i drive your truck is the best country song of the year

[JCMF3]

Given the state of "pop" music today, it won't work.

[jma]

No