Billboard COUNTRY Chart Updates (Airplay & HCS)

[libby]

The Stark Report today went all through me! The following is what I emailed to PHYLLIS STARK, TOM ROLAND and WADE JESSEN.

Subject: The Stark Report

I don't like the climate at today's radio. I seldom listen anymore. I see/read a lot of what goes on. And nothing has made me see red as fast and as much as what these radio people are saying here (and other places).

There have been good songs released to radio. Some by new artists like Brandy Clark (Stripes). Some by older artists like Ronnie Dunn (Cost of Living). They went nowhere on the charts. There are plenty of others that underperformed compared to what they will chart with the garbage. See Kenny Chesney. It’s no wonder the artists release what they do to radio when they have damn good music sitting on albums. See Tim McGraw. There are many, many more examples but hopefully you get the point.

I say call them out. Ask them why they expect artists to release good music when they won't play it if they do.

Ugh!

[bigfan101]

Update 1/13:

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/country_update_0113.pdf

[Old Fart In NC]

Midweek update 1/16 (Country Songs chart):

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/BCU_mw_0116.pdf

[CoJoFan]

Anyone know if there will be a Country Update tonight since it's MLK Jr. Day?

[Deleted]

Jan 20, 2014 17:32:35 GMT -5 CoJoFan said:

Anyone know if there will be a Country Update tonight since it's MLK Jr. Day?

No. The chart will come out tomorrow evening.

[churchchoir]

January 21, 2014:

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/country_update_0121.pdf

[Deleted]

Bizarre chart. How did "Sweet Annie" lose 1.6 million? Granted, it struggled to stay afloat during the early part of the week, but it still managed to pull out a positive gain for the Mediabase week.

Anyway, I guess with the ZBB and TBP tunes both being 23 weeks old (and both were already moving rather slowly in December), neither had much gas left in the tank, despite great call-out scores for "Sweet Annie" and pretty solid feedback for "Don't Let Me Be Lonely" as well. I am expecting both songs to fall pretty hard, perhaps like "Radio" has been falling.

EDITED to say: lots of songs below the top 30 without bullets once again. Last week, 17 songs in the 31-60 range were without bullets, and this week there are still 12 songs in that same range that are bullet-less. This is the 2nd straight week without a bullet for Sara Evans, Little Big Town, Sheryl Crow, Charlie Worsham, Chase Rice, Kellie Pickler, and Brothers Osborne.

In addition, Toby Keith, Will Hoge, Craig Campbell, Austin Webb, George Strait, Tyler Farr, Craig Morgan, Josh Thompson, and Kip Moore barely held on to their bullets. In fact, most of them actually lost a tiny amount of audience. Dustin Lynch at #24 did lose his bullet and I imagine this chart will be the last week on for "Wild In Your Smile".

I know the charts can sometimes take a bit to get back to normal after the New Year, but I don't remember so many songs outside the top 30 struggling simultaneously at this point in January of previous years.

[McCreerian]

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/BCU_mw_0123.pdf

1/23/14

[CoJoFan]

Does anyone know where I can find the full weekly top 40 Billboard Country songs charts from the 2000's decade for free?

[Deleted]

1/27/14 Country Airplay

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/country_update_0127.pdf

(issue dated 2/8)

[McCreerian]

1/30/14

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/BCU_mw_0130.pdf

Must read article by Stark about Women in Country music, full of quotes by Carrie that are on point!

[Deleted]

Jan 30, 2014 12:27:51 GMT -5 McCreerian said:

Must read article by Stark about Women in Country music, full of quotes by Carrie that are on point!

Agreed--it was a great article. I just hope that radio doesn't get mad at Carrie for speaking her mind ...because lord knows there's plenty of truth in what she said:

“There is certainly not a shortage of talented ladies out there that want so badly to get their fair shot in this business. But there seems to be only room for only a few.” On the flip side, Carrie says, “there seem to be so many male singers out there who can be viewed as similar, and there seems to be plenty of room for all of them.

“We see new male artists have their first single reach No. 1 on the charts, but it generally takes a female a lot longer to build momentum,” Underwood continues. “I know that I am an exception to this, but I [also] know that if I hadn’t made my place in country music via ‘American Idol,’ I probably could have tried to make it for the rest of my life and never made any progress.”

One working theory is that song content has been a potential factor in the male/female disparity. Women—the theory goes—tend to write and/or choose to record songs with more substance and deeper themes than the “Parking Lot Party”-type songs that are working so well for the male artists right now.

Underwood agrees that that theory has some merit. “I don’t think women can get away with the partying, beer-drinking, hung-over, truck-driving kind of music that a lot of the guys have gotten away with lately,” she says.

- Carrie Underwood

**

Other quotes:

“It does kind of seem like it’s a big party right now,” Kellie Pickler agrees. She notes that, “All the women that are played [on the radio] are outselling the men, and people are listening to what they have to say, so I don’t know why more women aren’t played.”

- Kellie Pickler

“I’m really, really sick of trucks and bonfires,” says Suzy Bogguss, who had her hits in the early ’90s at a time female artists were flourishing on the radio, including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Pam Tillis, Kathy Mattea, Patty Loveless and Lorrie Morgan. They collectively turned the derogatory term “chick singer” into something Bogguss says “meant you had some balls.”

“When that radio door opened, it let so many of us through,” she recalls of that time. “I felt at the time that [female listeners] really wanted us to speak about things they related to, and a lot of us did. One of the things we’ve gotta hope for is that the tide will turn and female fans will continue to speak up and say, ‘We need some real material here.’”

- Suzy Bogguss

In the meantime, Underwood says, expectations remain different for male and female artists. “It seems women are expected to be so much more than men, which means we have to work that much harder,” she says. “We’re the ones under the microscope. We’re expected to sound perfect. We’re expected to look perfect all the time. We’re expected to be style-setters, whereas the boys roll onto the stage in their jeans, T-shirts and baseball caps. I don’t know what we all can do to change this. But I do hope it does change. I would love to see more women making their mark in the music that I love so much...There are so many more out there just waiting for their shot. I hope they get it!”

- Carrie Underwood

[areyoureadytojump]

Monday:

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/coutry_update_0203.pdf

[McCreerian]

2/6/14

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/BCU_mw_0206.pdf

More Stark reporting on Females on Country radio.

[onebuffalo]

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/country_update_0210.pdf

[onebuffalo]

From the midweek update:

HOUSEKEEPING: Due to the Presidents Day holiday on Monday, Feb. 17, Billboard Country Update will be serviced to subscribers the following day.

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/BCUmw0213.pdf

[Deleted]

Tuesday, February 18 - Country Airplay

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/country_update_0218.pdf

(issue dated March 1)

[Deleted]

Thursday, February 20 - Hot Country Songs

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/BCU_mw_0220.pdf

(issue dated March 1)

[someguy]

Billboard Country Airplay

Monday, February 24, 2014

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/country_update_0224.pdf

(issue date - March 8)

[McCreerian]

2/27/14

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/BCU_mw_0227.pdf

[McCreerian]

3/3/14

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/country_update_0303.pdf

[McCreerian]

3/6/14

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/BCU_mw_0306.pdf

[McCreerian]

3/10/14

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/country_update_0310.pdf

[McCreerian]

3/13/14

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/BBCUmw0313.pdf

[McCreerian]

3/17/14

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/country_update_0317.pdf

[McCreerian]

3/20/14

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/BCU_mw_0320.pdf

[McCreerian]

3/24/14

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/country_update_0324.pdf

[Deleted]

Monday, March 31

Country Airplay (issue dated 04/12/14)

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/country_update_0331.pdf

[bbbbhsu]

3/27/14

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/BBCU0326.pdf

[bbbbhsu]

4/3/14

www1.billboard.biz/bbbiz/photos/pdf/2013/BCU_mw_0403.pdf