Keith Urban - "Cop Car"

[justme60]

What's happening to this song on radio?? Is it not going to make top ten? Is Country radio trying to do away with artist that are not playing the "bro" game?? :( I love this song.

[onebuffalo]

Apr 10, 2014 12:33:33 GMT -5 justme60 said:

What's happening to this song on radio?? Is it not going to make top ten? Is Country radio trying to do away with artist that are not playing the "bro" game?? :( I love this song.

Cop Car is bulleted at #12 this week. Maybe Luke Bryan will pass Keith Urban next week. I do see at least a top ten for Urban. Maybe #1. After all, the other two Fuse singles made it all the way to the top.

[sabre14]

I am surprised in how relatively slow this has moved up the charts. I thought for sure it would be a top 5 hit and perhaps a #1 with an outside chance in being one of the biggest hits of the year. But I think that the competition on the charts right now is the biggest reason why "Cop Car" has had a abnormal type run for a Keith song. Other singles like "Give Me Back My Hometown", "Bottoms Up", "This Is How We Roll", "Get Me Some Of That", "Automatic", and "Play It Again" have soared past it like it's not even there. And Justin isn't too far behind him on mediabase at the moment. It's call-out scores are relatively low with only a 34.8% total passion which is 27th, and a 23.5% dislike. 

It's coming up on 17 weeks on the charts, so I'm still hopeful this can become a top 5 hit yet, but the performance so far isn't quite what I expected, or what I wanted.

[Deleted]

It's definitely struggling (net loss of 270k over the last 3 days), and despite the current #12 position on Billboard, it's a long way from the top 10. It will probably slide back a notch to #13 on Monday, as Luke Bryan is definitely going to blow right on by, and no one from up ahead seems likely to go recurrent.

Dan + Shay are also in standstill mode but CC has remained just behind them and unable to make the pass. Brett Eldredge is really slowing up but I don't think his song is done yet either. Blake is falling fast but not ready to go recurrent yet.

I think sabre14 is right--just a bit of bad luck/bad timing, and an incredibly tough chart right now. Lot's of strong competition in the top 15. I am not sure if this has enough life in it yet to make the top 5, but I'm willing to take it one step at a time and hope for top 10 in a few weeks. Keith has not missed the top 10 since 1999, after all. What other active country artists can say that? I don't think there are any.

"Cop Car" has consistently been one of the top-selling country songs since February, so I'm not sure why radio is holding back. CC has been out-selling all country songs aside from "Bottoms Up", "This Is How We Roll", and "Play It Again" on a weekly basis, but oddly that doesn't appear to be winning it any favors with radio PD's. Call-out isn't exactly glowing but it's not bad either. This one is testing very well with females, which used to be the target demographic. It doesn't appear to be testing as well with the 'bro' demographic and so that may be why radio hasn't put it into higher rotation as quickly as they normally would with a KU single.

[Deleted]

Apr 10, 2014 19:18:30 GMT -5 @brian said:

If George Strait can still get hits, there isn't a worry.

Except this logic doesn't make sense, because George is struggling immensely. His current single has spent half a year on the chart and hasn't cracked the top 30 yet. "I Believe" only peaked at #50 and "Drinkin' Man" from 2012 only peaked at #37.

There is some evidence that suggests radio is playing the songs that test well with younger men (bro demographic) more and more, and playing other songs that don't fit into that demographic less.

[layne]

This song has sold too well for it to be struggling. I found it odd that Keith decided not to perform it on the ACM's and I'm wondering if the controversy with the co-writer of the song is maybe forcing Capitol and Keith to back off and go with another song? I know the non-party/non-bro type songs have seemed to struggle but just recently "I Hold On" and "Compass" both reached the top without being bigger sellers than this song.

[Deleted]

Apr 10, 2014 19:51:11 GMT -5 layne said:

This song has sold too well for it to be struggling. I found it odd that Keith decided not to perform it on the ACM's and I'm wondering if the controversy with the co-writer of the song is maybe forcing Capitol and Keith to back off and go with another song? I know the non-party/non-bro type songs have seemed to struggle but just recently "I Hold On" and "Compass" both reached the top without being bigger sellers than this song.

I read that the ACM producers asked him to sing "Even The Stars Fall For You". I don't think CC's struggles have anything to do with Sam Hunt.

[Markus Meyer]

Apr 10, 2014 19:40:08 GMT -5 jhomes87 said:

Apr 10, 2014 19:18:30 GMT -5 @brian said:

If George Strait can still get hits, there isn't a worry.

Except this logic doesn't make sense, because George is struggling immensely. His current single has spent half a year on the chart and hasn't cracked the top 30 yet. "I Believe" only peaked at #50 and "Drinkin' Man" from 2012 only peaked at #37.

There is some evidence that suggests radio is playing the songs that test well with younger men (bro demographic) more and more, and playing other songs that don't fit into that demographic less.

A year and a half? Don't think it's that long.

Oops nvm

[jsb]

As noted above this songs struggles have nothing to do with Sam Hunt. For some reason, Capitol and Keith just seemed to use this more of a place holder song at radio. It sold and streamed at really high levels for Keith, reached #4 on the Mongrel Chart, so Top 10 can still be claimed, as Billboard did when they mentioned a few weeks back that Keith has more Top 10 hits since 2000 than all other country artists with the exception of Chesney. I think a clogged chart, slowed its path and Keith and Capitol see the calendar turning towards summer and probably want to move towards an upbeat single and get its run done, prior to the likely September release of Raise 'Em Up, which coincidentally is the name of Keith's summer and fall tour.

[rjz]

Apr 10, 2014 19:51:11 GMT -5 layne said:

This song has sold too well for it to be struggling. I found it odd that Keith decided not to perform it on the ACM's and I'm wondering if the controversy with the co-writer of the song is maybe forcing Capitol and Keith to back off and go with another song? I know the non-party/non-bro type songs have seemed to struggle but just recently "I Hold On" and "Compass" both reached the top without being bigger sellers than this song.

Agree 100%

I don't put much credence in call out scores; unless it is a very low selling song with great call out-that can mean something to me, people aren't hearing it enough to buy but like it.

But yes, Cop Car has sold very well since release so obviously people like it.

But it's Country, it's Not Bro, and it's Slow.


I think it is just clogged charting with all the jostling Bro up there. I can't imagine it not being a top 5 hit.

I suppose Even The Stars is Next? Hope not......I think Red Camaro would be a much better summer song (better song period)

[churchchoir]

layne, the reason for all those unusually low-selling #1 songs a few weeks back (from Lady A, Dierks Bentley, Frankie Ballard) was because they were all competing against each other, rather than a crowd of strong sellers. However, now there are a bunch of big digital hits in the top 10 right now so I don't know if all of those would have gotten to #1 if they were just a few weeks later.

I do think Keith Urban's song can be pushed to #1 since it has consistently been one of the top 5 country songs on iTunes lately. I think it is just hitting a rough patch right now since there's no room in the top 10. On Mediabase, the song has 38 million audience, which is usually good enough for a top 10 slot, but this is only at #13. I think it will just have a few flat weeks until its chart position can catch up to the airplay numbers. However, I also think radio programmers might be hesitant to play this. I've heard two DJs comment that the theme of the song is strange and one rather forward DJ candorously stated that he hasn't warmed up to the song yet. Country PDs can sometimes be picky. Maybe they think Keith is glorifying getting arrested or something. That's just speculation, but other than that and the chart congestion I can't see any other reasons why this would struggle so badly.

[justme60]

I personally don't want Keith to release ETSFFU...my least favorite song on FUSE! Even though it's a rocking song, I like all the others better than the Stars song! Any other song he would release off FUSE would be fine with me! I just hope CC can get higher up the charts.

I just don't under where some of these DJs or others don't understand this song! Maybe because I'm older and these DJs and programmers are younger, but the minute I heard this song, I was back in my younger days and thinking about silly things me & my friends have done that at times included the Cops...speeding, partying too loud, hanging around places you shouldn't be at. I don't see how they could even think Keith was condoning doing something illegal....they(in the song) were young and should I say stupid at times and didn't see the No Trespassing sign or they didn't care!

[churchchoir]

I am starting to wonder if the reason Keith performed a new song at the ACM awards show was because they are about to pull "Cop Car" they way Tim's label pulled his current single. Maybe the song has already been pulled. I guess we'll see soon enough.

[onebuffalo]

Apr 11, 2014 16:05:03 GMT -5 @brian said:

Apr 10, 2014 19:40:08 GMT -5 jhomes87 said:

Except this logic doesn't make sense, because George is struggling immensely. His current single has spent half a year on the chart and hasn't cracked the top 30 yet. "I Believe" only peaked at #50 and "Drinkin' Man" from 2012 only peaked at #37.

There is some evidence that suggests radio is playing the songs that test well with younger men (bro demographic) more and more, and playing other songs that don't fit into that demographic less.

I know what you mean. I should have explained that a little more, but there's no point now since it's a Keith Urban thread.

_____

How many singles do you guys think will be released from this album?

Keith Urban has released five singles from a CD, so I would say two more Fuse singles and another CD to be released (next year).

[.indulgecountry]

This era is going quite well and a bit better than his last, so I also expect five singles from Fuse. The album is also much lengthier, while his last record only had 8 songs, so 5 singles would've been over half the album.

[Deleted]

Apr 13, 2014 15:14:29 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

This era is going quite well and a bit better than his last, so I also expect five singles from Fuse.

Is it though? I would definitely agree that "Little Bit Of Everything" and "We Were Us" were bigger hits than "Put You In A Song" and "Without You", but "Cop Car" is struggling badly and could become his first song to miss the top 10 since his debut single "It's A Love Thing" stalled at #18 back in 1999 (I believe that Keith has the longest top 10 streak of any active country artist). But anyway, "Cop Car" is his slowest climbing single in at least 10-12 years and it certainly looks like it's going to fall short of the top 2 and the #1 peak that "Long Hot Summer" had, and there's always the possibility that the struggles of the 3rd single could hamper momentum for the 4th single.

The singles from Fuse have sold better than those from Get Closer, but yet Get Closer still managed to sell nearly 800k while Fuse is only sitting at about 320k.

I guess it's debatable. LBOE and WWU breezed to #1 more easily (and more quickly) than just about any other KU single since "Sweet Thing", or maybe even before that. But now CC is wrapping up week #17 on the charts...by this time in their respective runs, his last 2 singles were already done at #1 (both songs only charted for 18 weeks total).

[justme60]

Apr 13, 2014 19:16:02 GMT -5 jhomes87 said:

Apr 13, 2014 15:14:29 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

This era is going quite well and a bit better than his last, so I also expect five singles from Fuse.

Is it though? I would definitely agree that "Little Bit Of Everything" and "We Were Us" were bigger hits than "Put You In A Song" and "Without You", but "Cop Car" is struggling badly and could become his first song to miss the top 10 since his debut single "It's A Love Thing" stalled at #18 back in 1999 (I believe that Keith has the longest top 10 streak of any active country artist). But anyway, "Cop Car" is his slowest climbing single in at least 10-12 years and it certainly looks like it's going to fall short of the top 2 and the #1 peak that "Long Hot Summer" had, and there's always the possibility that the struggles of the 3rd single could hamper momentum for the 4th single.

The singles from Fuse have sold better than those from Get Closer, but yet Get Closer still managed to sell nearly 800k while Fuse is only sitting at about 320k.

I guess it's debatable. LBOE and WWU breezed to #1 more easily (and more quickly) than just about any other KU single since "Sweet Thing", or maybe even before that. But now CC is wrapping up week #17 on the charts...by this time in their respective runs, his last 2 singles were already done at #1 (both songs only charted for 18 weeks total).

Do you think it's because of the odd charting now days or is it Keith's song choices?? Or could it be Keith is losing his momentum with country radio? I know Luke and Blake are the IT stars right now, but it seems some stars come and go quicker than they use to...for one example Gretchen Wilson. And Taylor Swift may be hugely popular but not as popular with Country radio like she use to be. Brad Paisley's not climbing as fast as he use to and how about RFs, they are having trouble moving as quick as they had once!

It's as though people get bored so easily and just waiting for the next big thing!

[.indulgecountry]

I didn't realize this was struggling quite that badly. This still seems as perfect choice a for radio as it did when it was first announced, so I'm surprised it's slowed down so much, especially considering it is selling so well. His first singles from Fuse were bigger than anything from his last album, so even though his album sales are lagging a bit, his single success has definitely seen an uptick this era (I guess prior to now, however).

Honestly, I'd be stunned if this missed Top 10. It should be doing just as well as his last two singles on radio. I don't get why it isn't. ???

[someguy]

Apr 13, 2014 21:41:11 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

I didn't realize this was struggling quite that badly. This still seems as perfect choice a for radio as it did when it was first announced, so I'm surprised it's slowed down so much, especially considering it is selling so well. His first singles from Fuse were bigger than anything from his last album, so even though his album sales are lagging a bit, his single success has definitely seen an uptick this era (I guess prior to now, however).

Honestly, I'd be stunned if this missed Top 10. It should be doing just as well as his last two singles on radio. I don't get why it isn't. ???

I agree, this still sounds like the perfect choice for the third single. I'm hoping that this is just a temporary slowdown, but it's not looking too good at the moment. I still think this is going top 10, but its chances at number one are pretty small the moment. I really don't know why either. The only thing I can think of is the Sam Hunt controversy, but that probably isn't it. Maybe if it was called "Cop Truck" it would be doing better?

[kml567]

This should make top 5. The song is only 13 weeks old on Mediabase, so it still has 7 more weeks until it's considered too old. Since it's a 3rd single, I think this will need the usual 20 weeks to reach peak position. The traffic jam should clear soon once Randy/Jerrod give up. I'm not worried yet. A "power up/convert now" ad would be nice though.

[someguy]

All this needs to do is hang on for another week and it should make the top 10. Dan + Shay going recurrent helped this one out. It's up to #11, though it lost a little bit of AI. Luckily, Randy Houser is plummeting out of the top 10, so if "Cop Car" can stay ahead of the also slowing down "Lettin' The Night Roll" it should slide into #10 next week. There is a huge gap between Justin Moore (#12) and Craig Campbell (#13).

[Zazie]

It's hard for songs to tread water for 4 weeks. This song's maintained about the same number of spins and audience impressions three weeks in a row, and my concern is that it will start to pick up the pace and drop faster. I'm hoping for a fast start to the new chart week, and even gains in the 150k to 300k range would constitute enough of a reversal of recent form to reassure me. But tomorrow would be the right day to start this, and end this long stretch of mediocre daily updates.

The 800k+ gap between CC and the JMoore song is tiny, so if KU starts falling fast... let's hope that just doesn't happen. I'm still finding a way to stay hopeful, but I've only got two days left in me to remain optimistic, so the audience has got to start moving up.

[Libra]

Apr 21, 2014 19:51:28 GMT -5 someguy said:

All this needs to do is hang on for another week and it should make the top 10. Dan + Shay going recurrent helped this one out. It's up to #11, though it lost a little bit of AI. Luckily, Randy Houser is plummeting out of the top 10, so if "Cop Car" can stay ahead of the also slowing down "Lettin' The Night Roll" it should slide into #10 next week. There is a huge gap between Justin Moore (#12) and Craig Campbell (#13).

I got confused for a moment and had to realize you were talking about Billboard here cause I'd just looked at today's Mediabase on Kworb...which they're (D+S) still on.

[.indulgecountry]

The way this has slowed down drastically and we're talking about it just maybe making the Top 10 is one of the biggest surprises for me on the charts in a while. I honestly fully expected this to be a huge smash and I am bewildered at how it's doing right now on the charts. Thought for sure it would be another WWU-sized hit.

[jlatn5b]

I really hope this doesn't end Keith's consecutive top 10 streak. That would be a shame. Even if it does, however, I don't see it being a momentum killer for single #4. Stalling out at #11 seems like a big difference from stalling in the upper teens or twenties... peaks that I could see being much more damaging in a situation like this. Even with "Cop Car"'s struggles, it still feels like a song that has left a decent dent at radio and will not be harmful to momentum.

[Zazie]

Up 225k overnight, for a change, thereby gaining almost 300k on J Moore. Leaving out the possibility of Dan + Shay re-entering on Billboard, KU's got a good chance. I'm not so sure about MB but that chart means less to me.

But it's impossible to feel confident based on only one day worth of favorable data. A nice gain tomorrow vs. Moore, and I'll start to believe.

[onebuffalo]

Apr 22, 2014 23:08:57 GMT -5 jlatn5b said:

I really hope this doesn't end Keith's consecutive top 10 streak. That would be a shame. Even if it does, however, I don't see it being a momentum killer for single #4. Stalling out at #11 seems like a big difference from stalling in the upper teens or twenties... peaks that I could see being much more damaging in a situation like this. Even with "Cop Car"'s struggles, it still feels like a song that has left a decent dent at radio and will not be harmful to momentum.

It's too bad that this is not For You we are talking about. Seeing since For You came from the Act Of Valor soundtrack, that single's peak would not have mattered as far as Keith Urban's top ten streak is concerned. It did peak at #6 and kept his name out there between CDs.

[churchchoir]

^I don't understand that. "For You" was still released as a single and promoted to country radio just like all Keith's other singles. Just because it wasn't on a Keith Urban album it's not considered a Keith Urban single? Whose single was it then? Lol.

Anyway, I'm still confident this won't break Keith's top 10 streak. At this point I doubt it has much life left at all, but a top 10 peak seems definitely obtainable as this song hasn't entirely collapsed quite yet. I guess programmers don't like the theme of the song or the way Keith says "ain't this some sh---." Country radio is so sensitive about lyrics sometimes, yet they have had no problem with "Get Me Some of That." ???

[Cody Wants Out...]

Don't forget Kenny Chesney's "Reality" which contained "some days it's a b***h, it's a bummer", which kinda skyrocketed to #1...unedited. Then again, "ain't this some sh**" could be considered a little too strong, but I don't see a reason to gripe about it.

I don't even wanna think about a Keith Urban single not going top 10 these days, but if the "bro-country" disease infects country radio any further, then it may not be impossible to count it out yet.

[matty005]

Apr 23, 2014 17:43:49 GMT -5 Cody Wants Out... said:

Don't forget Kenny Chesney's "Reality" which contained "some days it's a b***h, it's a bummer", which kinda skyrocketed to #1...unedited. Then again, "ain't this some sh**" could be considered a little too strong, but I don't see a reason to gripe about it.

I don't even wanna think about a Keith Urban single not going top 10 these days, but if the "bro-country" disease infects country radio any further, then it may not be impossible to count it out yet.

He's coming off back to back #1's so I think it's preposterous to start saying he may have trouble reaching the top 10 again because of "bro country." All the evidence is showing the exact opposite.