2015 Observations/2016 Predictions

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Dec 1, 2015 15:09:40 GMT -5 Uncle Lumpy said:

On the eve of yet another war , Toby Keith makes a huge comeback with an album of patriotic songs titled "I Love My Country More Than You , You Goat Humping Ass Clown".

And here I thought he was gonna stick with covering "America, Fuck Yeah" from Team America: World Police.

[Deleted]

Here's mine. I don't know how to do serious ones honestly.

- After having huge success with "Backroad Song", Granger Smith continues his stardom with songs from his debut album, "Songs"
Popular hits include "Fishing Song", "Huntin' Song", "Lovin' Song", and of course the biggest hit, "Spot Nobody Knows Song"

- Chris Stapleton suddenly skyrockets up the charts after everyone thinks that Michael Ray's "Real Men Love Jesus" is about him. Surprisingly enough Michael Ray remains as irrelevant as he was before.

- Florida Georgia Line will not be joking when they say they're going to make deeper material. They will now have songs about 40 oz cans instead of usual beer.

- Rascal Flatts officially become irrelevant after radio decides they don't like the sound of that.

- Chase Bryant's hair will continue to get pointier and longer. In interviews, Chase will swear it's not to compensate for something else.

- George Strait and Alan Jackson will officially be considered "alt-country" by mid next year.

- Seeing as how ripping off other artists has done him well before, Thomas Rhett will continue his love song streak with a song that sounds "Call the lawyers" close to "Sweet Child O' Mine"

- Macaulay Culkin will sue Luke Bryan for not crediting him on "Home Alone Tonight"

- After "Running For You" takes forever and a day to climb the charts, Kip will realize he's no Forrest Gump and change the song title to "Walking For You"

- Old Dominion will win a crap ton of awards and record the best songs ever.

Said Nobody! Said Nobody Evvvveeerrr!

- Jamey Johnson and Chris Stapleton's beards will come together to record a duets album. Popular hits from the album will be, "Daddy Doesn't Shave Anymore", "Hair-a-chute", and "Beardilicious"

- In a effort to fit in with the cool kats, Josh Turner will record a song that combines the worst of bro country with the worst of metro-bro. Surprisingly enough however, "Party Like Jesus Ain't Watching" still doesn't take off.

- After subsequent singles from their albums fail for A Thousand Horses, the guys will decide to call it quits and go work for the Pokemon company instead. Their dream is to make 1000 horse pokemon.

[Mr. Thonk Eyes]

No predictions to share, but I must say, your unserious predictions are funny, LMAO.

[onebuffalo]

One prediction for Billboard's year end issue: Even though Kill The Lights is this year's top seller (at 730,000), I believe Billboard will give the #1 slot to Montevallo. I don't think that album spent a week outside the top ten this year.

[kim8]

Nov 30, 2015 0:49:57 GMT -5 phil1996 said:

2016 Predictions:


4. Gary Allan hits top 20 with "Mess Me Up"


9. Chris Young hits #1 with Think of You and Sober Saturday Night.


11. Eric Church has a huge year. Mr. Misunderstood, Record Year both hit #1 and BOTH will garner song/single of the year nominations, along with an album of the year nomination for the album. He also wins EOTY at the CMAs.


20. Randy Housers new album will end up including a cover of "Stay with Me" by Sam Smith and it will drop jaws.

Would love to see all of these come true! I'd take Eric Church winning any award at the CMAs. I hate seeing him go home empty handed. Heard Randy's version of Stay with Me in concert and was floored. Would love to have it on a CD.

[kim8]

Dec 2, 2015 16:09:22 GMT -5 zjames said:

* LoCash shorten their name again to Cash. People are outraged that they are comparing themselves to Johnny Cash. They shorten it again to Ash. Pokemon fans are outraged. They shorten it again to Sh. Librarians are outraged.

Lol, this had me burst out laughing at work! Awesome.

[zjames]

My prediction for 2015 of "Diamond Rings and Old Barstools" getting awards love came true today with its Grammy nomination for Best Country Song.

[onebuffalo]

Dec 3, 2015 8:50:02 GMT -5 onebuffalo said:

One prediction for Billboard's year end issue: Even though Kill The Lights is this year's top seller (at 730,000), I believe Billboard will give the #1 slot to Montevallo. I don't think that album spent a week outside the top ten this year.

Montevallo finished first followed by Kill The Lights.

[myeverything]

Glad to see Keith nowhere in these predictions...

[onebuffalo]

Dec 9, 2015 10:18:05 GMT -5 myeverything said:

Glad to see Keith nowhere in these predictions...

Make some!

[myeverything]

Hahaha, definitely not my speciality! I'm more of the reader and not the poster, for obvious reasons 

[dm2081]

2016 Predictions:

1. Jason Aldean will have a big year, with him and Brantley Gilbert competing for the loudest lead singles ever.  Jason will come swinging just before the ACM's with an uptempo rocker that will skyrocket to #1 and go Gold with relative ease.  The rest of his album will be more reminiscent of the My Kinda Party and Wide Open eras than the previous two.  Jason will surprise many by releasing a second single that will be quite strong lyrically and will resonate well with country music listeners.  The album will debut with just under 200k in sales.  

2.  Thomas Rhett will continue to his ascent to the A-list.  After "Die A Happy Man" spends 3 weeks at #1, Rhett will release "T-Shirt", and it will be another Gold single that reaches #1 and becomes one of the biggest hits of the early summer.  He follows it with the 4th single "Playing With Fire" featuring Jordin Sparks.  That too will be another #1 adding up to a most impressive year.

3. Cole Swindle will have the biggest hit of his career with "You Should Be Here".  It will easily go platinum and turn Cole into a big star while garnering critical praise at the same time.  Cole's next album will debut close to 75k in sales.

4. Sturgill Simpson will release a new album and it will debut at #1 on the Country Album Charts.  The album will receive universal praise, and will continue to spark the debate on whether radio is actually necessary to become a well-known name.

5.  Blake Shleton will come back with a lead single that will sound like the Blake of old days.  It will be very country sounding, a good sense of humor, and will be strong lyrically.  His album will also feature a duet with Gwen Stefani, sparking lots of buzz and publicity.

6.  Cam will struggle to have a follow-up single to "Burning House", with her next single peaking in the 30s or 20s, but it won't get any higher.

7.  Zac Brown Band will have at least one more #1 hit in 2016 from their Jekyll + Hyde album.

8.  Tim McGraw will release "California" as a single off his most recent album Damn Country Music, and it will be the biggest off the album, and will rival the success of "Shotgun Rider".

9. "Nobody To Blame" will just make the top 10 before radio decides that's as far as they'll allow a traditional sounding song to chart.  Chris Stapleton's follow-up single won't have anywhere near the amount of success, and will fizzle out in the 40s, despite strong sales and research.

10.  Jake Owen will come back in January or February with a new lead single that will be very safe, but will still pretty popular and successful.  It will pay off, allowing Jake to get his new album out and release a dynamic, game-changing second single.

11.  Carrie Underwood will finally break her #1 drought on Billboard.

12.  Kane Brown will sign with a big label and became the biggest newcomer of the year.

13.  Brad Paisley will release a new lead single sometime around April or May, but it won't be a strong seller, and will end up being his lowest peaking lead single since his first album.

14.  Miranda Lambert won't release a new album until Fall, but it will be one of the best reviewed album's of the year, and will be nominated for multiple awards, even earning a Grammy nomination eventually for the Best Album category (all genres).

15. After "Mr. Misunderstood" peaks in the top 5, Eric will score two back to back #1's with "Round Here Buzz" and "Record Year".

[Deleted]

This is a really, really long post that I've been working on for the last few days...

I pretty much posted all my 2015 observations in the 2015 predictions thread (quoted myself there to see how I did on my 2015 predictions), so I'll just go with predictions here.

I wish I could be as funny as some of y'all, lol. I can't, though, so only serious predictions from me.

1) Luke Bryan will score 2 Billboard #1's (including "Home Alone Tonight") and another single will be a Mediabase-only #1. Kill The Lights will only sell about half of what Crash My Party sold.

2) Keith Urban will score his 19th #1 with "Break On Me", and his 8th studio album Ripcord will be released in early March with first-week sales of around 80,000. About half of the songs will be a progression from the sound of Fuse -- very electronic-soudning and not very country -- but the other half will be more in line with Keith's past material. The 3rd single will be another #1 for Keith.

3) Charles Kelley won't score a hit, but UMG will graciously release his album anyway. It won't sell all that well, but reviews will be pretty decent. Lady Antebellum will end their hiatus in November by debuting a brand new single at the CMA's.

4) Dierks Bentley will release a critically-acclaimed single sometime in January. It will see a faster climb, similar to "Drunk On A Plane" rather than "Say You Do" and "Riser". Dierks' 8th studio album will be released on Friday, April 1 (no April Fools joke here), just two days prior to the ACM Awards. Dierks will be nominated for Song of the Year (for "Riser") and Male Vocalist of the Year, but he won't win either category. Instead, it'll be at the CMA's in November when Dierks wins his first major award (either for Single or Song of the Year, for one of the singles from his new album).

5) Little Big Town will take a few months off after "Pain Killer" barely scrapes the top 40 (it'll be the final single from the album). They'll release a high-quality yet radio-friendly tune in either May or June; it'll be one of the biggest hits of the year and will peak just in time for the CMA's. Darius Rucker will be quiet for the first part of the year before he announces that Hootie & the Blowfish will release a country-pop album sometime in the fall.

6) Jon Pardi's "Head Over Boots" will be his biggest hit; after 35+ weeks, it will find its way to #1. His sophomore album will sell around 40,000 copies in its debut week, and will be another strong traditional-sounding album. Mickey Guyton's sophomore single will come out no later than March or April; she'll finally reach the top 20, but not until later in the year.

7) Eric Church will receive Album of the Year nominations for Mr. Misunderstood at both the ACM's and CMA's. The title track will be a top 5 hit, and it'll be followed by "Record Year" and "Round Here Buzz", both of which will go #1.

8) Eric Paslay's "High Class" will scrape the top 40 and then fizzle out in the mid 30's. It'll be his next single that gets him back to the top 20. Brothers Osborne's "Stay A Little Longer" will top the charts in January; their album will receive strong reviews, and the 2nd single will be another top 10. Kelleigh Bannen will finally get another single out sometime in the summer; it'll go top 30 and UMG will actually decide to release her album, largely based on the visibility of her blog. Haley Georgia will release a highly-polarizing single that won't even chart.

9) George Strait's "Cold Beer Conversation" will scrape the top 30 and then fade away (unfortunately). George's next single will peak around #48 (also unfortunately). Alan Jackson will release "When God Paints" sometime in the late winter or early spring; it, too, will barely make a dent on the charts. Toby Keith will push "Beautiful Stranger" into the top 50, but none of his other singles (if he releases any) will do much at all.

10) Sam Hunt will release one more single from Montevallo, and it'll be another big #1 hit for him. The lead single from his sophomore album will be another genre-bending song, but it will incorporate both steel guitar and banjo. His sophomore album will be released in the fall; it will sell between 200,000 and 250,000 copies in its first week.

11) Kip Moore's "Running For You" will stall out in the 30's. MCA will release "Girl For The Summer" sometime in April and it'll become Kip's biggest hit since "Hey Pretty Girl". David Nail's "Night's On Fire" will peak somewhere in the 25-30 range, thus delaying the release of his next album. David won't release another single until late summer/early fall. Clare Dunn's next single will be "Cowboy Side Of You"; it will see a slow climb into the top 20, allowing for her debut album to be released toward the end of the year.

12) Shania Twain...I don't know. She'll finally release her album? I have no idea what to expect. Billy Currington will release the 3rd single from Summer Forever in February and it will peak in the teens after 30+ weeks on the chart. Easton Corbin's "Yup" will stall out in the 30's, and Mercury will once again balk at the chance to release "Are You With Me".

13) Radio will continue to shun Kacey Musgraves. She'll perform new single "Late To The Party" at the Grammy's; it'll manage to chart, but won't go top 40. Nevertheless, Pageant Material will see a decent sales bump, bringing its total sales to 300k by the end of the year. Scotty McCreery will finally get back to the top 20, but Lauren Alaina will fail to crack the top 40. Canaan Smith's "Hole In A Bottle" will peak just inside the top 20; Mercury won't release a 3rd single from his album.

14) Chris Stapleton will win both Album of the Year and Best Country Album at the Grammy's. He'll perform "Sometimes I Cry", and it'll be one of the performances of the night. Traveller will see 6-figure sales in the week after the Grammy's, and it'll return to #1 on the Billboard 200. "Nobody To Blame" will be a #1 hit at country radio; the next single will be either "Fire Away" or a re-release of the title track, and it'll be at least a top 20 hit.

15) Carrie Underwood will finally get back to #1 on Billboard Country Airplay with "Heartbeat". "Church Bells" will be the 3rd single, followed by "Renegade Runaway". ("Choctaw County Affair" will be the album's final single, but that won't be released until 2017). Brad Paisley will release a new album, but it'll only produce one top 10 in 2016.

16) Jerrod Niemann's next single will get him back to the top 20, but it'll be the only hit from his next album. Cam will win Best Country Solo Performance at the Grammy's for "Burning House". Her next single will be another big top 10 hit. Logan Mize will release a new single in the spring and it'll take him into the top 20.

17) Kenny Chesney will come back with a new single early in the year, and it'll be his 5th #1 in a row. The album will be considered one of the best of his career. Tyler Farr will see a slow climb into the top 15 with "Better In Boots", but its follow-up will barely scrape the top 40. Chase Rice's next single won't be as much of a departure from Ignite The Night as he's led us to believe so far, but his sophomore album will include at least a few fairly quality songs. The lead single will see another slow climb into the top 20.

18) Maren Morris will see breakout success with "My Church"; her debut album will receive glowing reviews. Miranda Lambert will debut a lead single sometime in March, and her next album will be her best yet. I'll go out on a limb and say that Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood release a duets album; one single will manage to go top 30, but that's it.

19) Chris Young will cruise to #1 with "Think Of You". Big Machine will release Cassadee Pope's next single as soon as "Think Of You" hits #1, and Cassadee will manage to reach the top 20 towards the end of the year, allowing for the release of her sophomore album. Meanwhile, Chris will follow "Think Of You" with one of the more generic, safe songs from I'm Comin' Over (rather than "Sober Saturday Night" or "I Know A Guy").

20) Jake Owen's next single will be a shockingly good song that is the perfect blend of traditional country instrumentation and the modern country sound of the last few years. His next album will be released in the summer. Old Dominion will score another #1 hit with "Snapback", but their momentum will tail off sharply after that when radio finally realizes that they're not all that popular. The Pistol Annies will release a 10-song album in November and it'll receive a lot of acclaim but very little airplay.

21) Blake Shelton will release a brand new, well-written single in January that will be pretty contemporary in sound, but with some steel guitar weaved in as well. The song will go #1; however, Blake's #1 streak will come to an end before 2016 is over. Cole Swindell's "You Should Be Here" will soar to #1 and will go Platinum. His sophomore album will approach 100,000 copies sold in its 1st week.

22) Frankie Ballard will score another Gold #1 hit with "It All Started With A Beer". Dan + Shay's next single (lead single to their sophomore album) will also get them back to #1. Warner Bros. will also see success with Chris Janson, who will score his first Billboard #1 with "Power Of Positive Drinkin'".

23) Charlie Worsham's sophomore album will put him on the map. The lead single will be a #1 hit (I'm reaching here but I can dream, right?) Ryan Kinder's "Tonight" will scrape the top 60; he'll come back with a new single in the spring and that one will finally get him into the top 20. William Michael Morgan will fail to see much success, and Jana Kramer will lose all momentum following a top 10 peak for "I Got The Boy".

24) Brett Eldredge will score two more #1's. Michael Ray will reach the top 15 with "Real Men Love Jesus", but his 3rd single won't do much. Hunter Hayes will release a lead single in the summer; after a slow climb, it'll reach the top 30 toward the end of the year.

25) Tim McGraw's "Top Of The World" will fall short of #1. His next single, however, will be another #1 (and it'll also sell much better). Rascal Flatts will score back-to-back top 10's with "I Like The Sound Of That" and the lead single to their 10th studio album, which will come out sometime in the late summer or early fall. Jennifer Nettles will score her first top 20 as a solo artist, and she'll be nominated for female vocalist of the year at the CMA's.

26) The Cadillac Three will finally score a top 30 hit, and Big Machine will release their debut album. Thomas Rhett will have a big year sales-wise and at radio, but his momentum will take a big hit when he/Valory/Scott Borchetta choose a really bizarre single from Tangled Up (which will receive some push-back from country radio).

27) The Eli Young Band will finally get back to the top 20, but it won't be with "Your Place Or Mine". Still, their overall success will be pretty minimal. Justin Moore's "You Look Like I Need A Drink" will reach #1 after about 30 weeks on the chart. A Thousand Horses' "(This Ain't No) Drunk Dial" will be a top 20 hit, but the follow-up will struggle to make the top 40.

28) Florida Georgia Line will return to #1 with "Confession", and then will quickly release the lead single to their 3rd album. The album will be a mix of bro-country and songs that are a bit more 'grown-up' (like "Dirt" and "Confession"), and it'll sell between 150,000 and 175,000 copies in its 1st week. The Band Perry will release music to the Pop and AC formats but will only see mild success at best.

29) Zac Brown Band's "Beautiful Drug" will reach the top 10 but not #1. They'll release "Dress Blues", which will be a huge #1 for them. Maddie & Tae will return to #1 with "Shut Up And Fish", and its follow-up (which will be the final single from Start Here) will be approaching top 20 by the end of the year. Drake White will finally score a top 20 hit and see the release of his debut album.

30) Steven Tyler's country album will be released without a hit single (it'll be his only album for Dot/BMLG). A few tracks will be receive some praise, but most of the album will be seen as watered-down rock music. Hank Williams, Jr's Nash Icon album will do fairly well. Nash Icon will then release albums for Martina McBride and Ronnie Dunn (both in the spring). Each Nash Icon album will have 1-2 singles, but none of them will go top 40.

31) Broken Bow will fail in their #1 push for Jason Aldean's "Gonna Know We Were Here" (thwarted by Thomas Rhett and/or Cam, and also hurt by the holiday slowdown). Jason's next single will come out early in the year, followed by an album in the spring. The album will see Jason returning more toward the sound of Wide Open and My Kinda Party, and it'll produce two #1 hits for him. "Mind Reader" will be a top 15 hit for Dustin Lynch; he'll release his 3rd album late in the year, and it'll be closer in sound to his debut.

32) Randy Houser's "We Went" will go top 10, but not #1. His next album will be quite impressive, though. Parmalee's next single will struggle, and Thompson Square will take most of the year off (what with Shawna being pregnant and all) before finally releasing a new single late in the year. Lindsay Ell's "By The Way" will be a sleeper hit, but BBR acts Jordan Rager, Jackie Lee, and David Fanning will fail to do much of anything.

33) Joe Nichols' "Freaks Like Me" will fail to make the top 40. His next single will do a little better (peaking around where "Hard To Be Cool" did), but Joe will fail to match the success he saw with "Sunny And 75" and "Yeah". Craig Campbell's next single will spend most of the year crawling to a top 20 peak. Chase Bryant's debut album will be released in the spring without much fanfare. "Little Bit Of You" will make the top 15 but not the top 10. Chase's 3rd single will be a slow-climber, finally cracking the top 20 toward the end of the year.

34) Trace Adkins will make it to the top 30 with "Jesus and Jones", but none of his subsequent singles will do much of anything. Granger Smith will reach #1 with "Backroad Song"; his 2nd single will be an even bigger hit and will be better-received by Pulse. Lee Brice will struggle to a top 20 peak with "That Don't Sound Like You". He'll come back with a new single in late spring or early summer, and that will get him back to the top 10. Lee's next album will be released toward the end of the year.

35) Curb will surprisingly release a new Rodney Atkins album (a new Atkins single won't do much of anything at radio, though). Mo Pitney will fail to make the top 40 with "Boy & A Girl Thing", but his album will also come out. The 3rd single will get him into the top 30. Black River will release a new Craig Morgan album, but it won't produce any top 40 hits.

36) Kelsea Ballerini will score another #1 hit with "Dibs". She'll release one more single from The First Time, and it will be another top 10 hit. Kellie Pickler and John King won't release albums, however. Big Loud Records will score a break-out cross-over hit with Chris Lane's "Fix", but Chris' follow-up will struggle, mostly because artists like Chris Stapleton, Jon Pardi, Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne, etc. will steal enough of the spotlight and bring about a resurgence in the popularity of traditional-leaning country music.

37) Streamsound Records will be the next indie label to fold. Cold River will keep going but will have only minimal success with their new artists. We'll finally get the full story on what happened with Katie Armiger (and this won't help Cold River in radio's eyes). Thirty Tigers Records will score a few top 40 singles, and at least one of them will climb into the top 20. Love and Theft will release a new album that will really showcase their harmonies; it'll feature a good blend of traditional country instruments and contemporary country sounds.

38) Big & Rich will take "Lovin' Lately" into the top 20. Brandy Clark and Sturgill Simpson will release stunningly good albums (rave reviews and all that), but because neither of them has a blow-you-away voice like Stapleton, neither will see much success at radio. Still, each of their albums will sell more than 200,000 copies.

39) The big breakthrough stories of the year will be: Jon Pardi, Brothers Osborne, Chris Stapleton, Cam, Maren Morris, Chris Janson, Charlie Worsham, Granger Smith, and Chris Lane.

40) Already-established artists that will see a surge in momentum: Dierks Bentley, Kip Moore, Chris Young, Cole Swindell, Brantley Gilbert, Thomas Rhett, Justin Moore, Maddie & Tae, Randy Houser, and Kelsea Ballerini.

41) Already-established artists who will see a decline in momentum: Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker, Billy Currington, Easton Corbin, Brad Paisley, Tyler Farr, Blake Shelton, The Band Perry, Jason Aldean, Joe Nichols, and Craig Morgan (Luke, Jason, and Blake will all be plenty big, but I feel that all 3 are past their commercial peak).

42) Artists that will get dropped by their record labels: Haley Georgia (EMI), Steven Lee Olsen (Columbia), Gloriana (Warner Bros), The Railers (Warner Bros), Danielle Bradbery (Big Machine), RaeLynn (Valory), Jackie Lee (Broken Bow), Craig Morgan (Black River), and John King (Black River).

43) Casey James, Greg Bates, JT Hodges, Leah Turner, and The Swon Brothers will all be signed by new labels.

---------

Ok, I'm done now..

[14887fan]

Love love love doing these things every year. OKAY HERE WE GO

Dec 7, 2014 1:43:45 GMT -5 14887fan said:

1. Carrie Underwood will see a healthy birth of her baby boy in March or April.

Isaiah Michael Fisher: born February 27, 2015. Flop. Thanks a million, Carrie.

Dec 7, 2014 1:43:45 GMT -5 14887fan said:

She will release her fifth studio album in Q4 to a #1 opening on the Billboard 200 and sales on par/slightly higher than Blown Away's opening of 270k.

Released in Q4. </3 @ everything else.

Dec 7, 2014 1:43:45 GMT -5 14887fan said:

She will achieve 3 #1s in 2015 -- "Something in the Water" and "Little Toy Guns" being two of them, with the third being the lead single of the fifth album

...this is all my fault.

Dec 7, 2014 1:43:45 GMT -5 14887fan said:

...and receive another Solo Country Vocal Grammy nomination for "Little Toy Guns".

Slay!

Dec 8, 2014 20:24:57 GMT -5 14887fan said:

"Little Toy Guns" will be a multi-week #1, go Platinum (at the very least), and [also get a] nomination for Country Song at the 2016 Grammys.

I'm done being optimistic.

This year, I'm calling this for Carrie Underwood: she'll hit the Top 3 with "Heartbeat" and 2 more singles from Storyteller, her tour will do just as well as the Blown Away Tour did, and she'll continue to be a dominant force in the industry, as well as Country's leading lady and overall leading ambassador for the genre on mainstream/international levels, because nobody else today can do it anymore besides her and Musgraves.

Dec 7, 2014 1:43:45 GMT -5 14887fan said:

Miranda Lambert will tour throughout the year and see 2 more top 5 hits from Platinum.

I suck.

Dec 7, 2014 1:43:45 GMT -5 14887fan said:

She will win her sixth consecutive Female Vocalist of the Year trophy at the ACMs and her first-ever Entertainer of the Year trophy at the show, as well. Her CMA streak will end, but by who is still to be determined.

Yes, an embarrassing nope, and again, no.

Bets for Lambert this year: silence. She'll come back during Q4 with the biggest album debut of her career due to the post-divorce buzz.

Other calls...
-Dierks Bentley wins an ACM or CMA award that isn't for Music Video of the Year.
-Radio will embrace more women, and one of the egotistical men of the format will come out and accuse them of irrationally turning their backs on men. If there's any genre with enough ego to start an actual meninist movement, it's this one.
-Kacey Musgraves will actually score a #1.
-Maren Morris will be the breakout star of 2015.
-Chris Stapleton will see more success in sales and radio, and will embark on his first-ever arena tour during the second half of the year.
-Taylor Swift will sneak back into the genre in some way.
-Dolly Parton will return to the CMAs for the 50th anniversary to present Entertainer.

Just for shits & giggles
1. Blake Shelton will go away forever.
2. Florida Georgia Line will also go away forever.
3. Luke Bryan will actually take more than 12 weeks to hit #1 with a single release.
4. Jason Aldean makes a good music video.
5. Carrie Underwood will win the ACM/CMA (or both) Entertainer of the Year award.

Dec 1, 2015 15:09:40 GMT -5 Uncle Lumpy said:

A Pulse member makes national news when he is found hiding behind shrubbery at Miranda Lamberts home with a sharpened nail file in hand. As he is hauled off he is quoted as saying "Carrie is the one true goddess".

Me!

[Libra]

Dec 23, 2015 19:01:44 GMT -5 14887fan said:

Just for shits & giggles
3. Luke Bryan will actually take more than 12 weeks to hit #1 with a single release.

"Home Alone Tonight" is actually only 5 weeks away from doing this (on BB, anyway), and the likelihood seems a bit more when it's considered that it's (only?) at #11.

[14887fan]

Dec 23, 2015 19:22:21 GMT -5 Libra said:

Dec 23, 2015 19:01:44 GMT -5 14887fan said:

Just for shits & giggles
3. Luke Bryan will actually take more than 12 weeks to hit #1 with a single release.

"Home Alone Tonight" is actually only 5 weeks away from doing this (on BB, anyway), and the likelihood seems a bit more when it's considered that it's (only?) at #11.

Yay, I'm a genius!

[43dudleyvillas]

I'm undeterred by past prediction failures and overly encouraged by the few I've gotten right...

Cam and Chris Stapleton will win their first-ever Grammy Awards. Cam will also win the award for either Song or Single of the Year at the ACMs for "Burning House." Chris Stapleton, in addition to rolling in more industry awards, will have the #1 country album of the Billboard year.

Blake Shelton will be shut out of the ACM nominations. But he will land his first cover of GQ or Esquire magazine.

A mountain-out-of-a-molehill-type of controversy will develop when some media outlets pick up a story about some country radio stations receiving phone call complaints from people who feel that Maren Morris' "My Church" disrespects their religion, worship and/or gospel, launching think pieces about modern country music's relationship or lack thereof with religious belief. The dust-up will not last more for more than a week and it won't adversely impact "My Church"'s rise up the charts.

Jason Isbell will perform at the ACM Awards.

The ACM nominees for Album of the Year will be: Luke Bryan's Kill The Lights, Eric Church's Mr. Misunderstood, Sam Hunt's Montevallo, Kacey Musgraves' Pageant Material and Chris Stapleton's Traveller, giving UMG Nashville all five nominees in the category. The CMA nominees for Album of the Year will be: Dierks Bentley's upcoming album, Brandy Clark's upcoming album, Brothers Osborne's Pawn Shop, Eric Church's Mr. Misunderstood and Carrie Underwood's Storyteller. The Grammy nominees for Best Country Album will be: Brothers Osborne's Pawn Shop, Cam's Untamed, Brandy Clark's upcoming album, Eric Church's Mr. Misunderstood and Miranda Lambert's upcoming album.

More women will consolidate their success at radio, with Maddie & Tae racking up another big hit with "Shut Up & Fish" before releasing the lead single for their sophomore album to strong reviews and strong initial radio reception, Kelsea Ballerini scoring her third top-10 hit via "Peter Pan," Cam generating two more hits and good album sales and Maren Morris following up her first hit "My Church" with solid album sales and second single well on its way to becoming a hit by year's end. Progress at country radio will not include Kacey Musgraves, but she will continue to chart her own path, releasing a hit collaboration (to another format, of course) on a non-country artist's album. Three solo women will hit the top-20 at country radio for the first time in their careers, and three solo women will get their second career top-20 hits, two of them via consecutive hits.

Kip Moore will not garner a top-20 country radio hit from Wild Ones. He will channel his frustration into the sneak release of EPs of new music starting mid-summer.

A buzz song from Miranda Lambert's next album will be a wryly humorous track co-written with Natalie Hemby that deals with the idea of picking yourself back up after public failure.This song will connect Miranda with Amy Schumer.

Brothers Osborne will win the CMA Award for Duo of the Year.

RaeLynn will sign on for a CMT reality show about her life.

Eric Church will film and release a music-based documentary to HBO.

Carrie Underwood will have a bona fide radio hit overseas, outside of the Canadian and Australian country markets.

The lead single from Dierks Bentley's album will be an uptempo and optimistic populist anthem about the values that define us, from curiosity to persistence to our family ties, and its video will be inclusive across gender, religious and racial lines. His new album will include an "electro-grass" song - a bluegrass melody over an electronic beat.

The CMT Women of Country tour will increase in number of shows and venue size, and feature an amped-up guitar pull type set-up with co-headliners Kelsea Ballerini, Maddie & Tae and Cam.

Florida-Georgia Line's next album will be heavily marketed as proof that they are artists of substance, but that line of buzz on the album won't sustain much past the album release. They will continue to generate hits without being at the forefront of mainstream country's new wave, as will Jason Aldean.

Little Big Town will introduce a new single from a new album at the ACMs, and it will be a soulful, groovy and flirty uptempo cowritten by someone signed with Creative Nation.

Sam Hunt's next album, released late in 2016, will feature a collaboration with Brandy Clark.

Speaking of Brandy Clark, I'll bring this prediction over from last year...

Jan 1, 2015 15:10:49 GMT -5 43dudleyvillas said:

Brandy Clark's sophomore album will hit #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart on the back of strong NPR exposure and major advance press.

Also bringing this prediction over from last year:

Jan 1, 2015 15:10:49 GMT -5 43dudleyvillas said:

There will be a fairly major media/online dustup when a well-known country artist suffers the malfunctioning of a pre-recorded vocal track at a "live" performance or a well-known country artist's reliance on live AutoTune is revealed.

Chris Young will be invited to join the Grand Ole Opry.

Starting around late summer of this year, after a year and a half of supporting music that generally meets the approval of critical tastemakers & brings much-needed diversity to the mainstream country landscape, Bobby Bones will start championing at least two singles that the same critical tastemakers intensely dislike.

The usual parade of older (and some younger) country artists will play at a variety of Republican Party-sponsored events, while mainstream country artist with at least two top-10 hits in the past five years will perform at a Democratic Party-sponsored event.

NASH Icons will dissolve as a label and the artists currently signed to it will be re-assigned to other labels within the Big Machine family.

The songwriter with the credits on the most #1 songs in 2016 will be: Ross Copperman.

2016 will be a year in which the conversation on country music is driven more than ever by artists who released their debut albums in 2013 or later, and core country artists who launched prior to that will have more work to do than ever to keep up their buzz.

The momentum artists at the end of 2016 will be: Brothers Osborne, Maren Morris, Cam, Ryan Hurd and Miranda Lambert.

[14887fan]

Dec 27, 2015 0:00:23 GMT -5 43dudleyvillas said:

A buzz song from Miranda Lambert's next album will be a wryly humorous track co-written with Natalie Hemby that deals with the idea of picking yourself back up after public failure.This song will connect Miranda with Amy Schumer.

I could legit see this happening.

[Cody Wants Out...]

I'm late!

I confess that I haven't paid that much attention to country radio as of late (blame it on losing interest and having two part-time jobs while trying to build a better life), but I'll take a stab at these predictions and see how wrong I turn out to be come 2017. So without further ado...here goes nothing.


* Blake Shelton will continue to score big radio hits, but overall public interest will begin to diminish about halfway through the year. The latter may cause a decline in sales which could signal a sooner end to his #1 streak than expected.

* Maddie & Tae will begin to take off as "Shut Up & Fish" brings them back to the top 3 and will be certified Gold by the end of the year. Their fourth single will enter the charts around the end of the summer and will climb at a quicker rate, nearing the top 30 by the end of the year.

* Jason Aldean's lead single from his seventh album will push even more boundaries than "Burnin' It Down" did and radio will semi-retaliate with only a third of the stations on the panel willing to give the song max spins; this will result in a peak outside the top 3. If he's lucky enough, he may end up getting only a single #1 hit from the album, but it won't be during 2016.

* Scotty McCreery will release a single that brings him back to the top 20 and, furthermore, the release of his third album. He will have better luck with his singles (choices, promotion, success, etc.), but it will take a while before he reaches the top 5 on radio.

* Old Dominion will score a top 10 with "Snapback" and a top 20 with their third single, but they will never reach the success of "Break Up With Him" anytime soon.

* Dan + Shay returns to the top 5 with the lead single from their sophomore album, which will see more consistent success and be a bigger seller than their debut era.

* Carrie Underwood's "Heartbeat" will bring her back to the #1 spot (on both BB and MB), but "Choctaw County Affair" will end up as one of the more successful singles from Storyteller, along with "Dirty Laundry".

More to come later...

[M&TSwiftie]

Ok I'm not good with predictions but musically
MADDIE & TAE
SHUT UP AND FISH WILL Go NO.1 on bb and mediabase in spring or summer
Their follow ups will climb quicker by year end
They will be named DUO OF THE YEAR AT EITHER THE CMAS OR ACMS AMONG OTHERS
CARRIR UNDERWOOD
Will finally end her four year drought of not being no.1 on country AirPlay with heartbeat the tour and album will do very well as well the follow up singles that the album will see a fifth single.
Speaking of she will finally return the entertainer of the year boys club at the ACMS this spring and finally get her cma entertainer nomination.
Kelsea ballerini
Tho her song dibs has been struggling it will still go top 5 maybe no.1 depending on its performance but the follow ups will climb quicker than dibs and she will major award nominations and that will propel her album back into the top 10.
Jana Kramer
I know everyone said this song should stop cause it's getting passed by other songs but I have a feeling Jana and I got the boy is going to pull a "let it rain" and be no.1 and break David nail and Canaan smith's record for the longest climb to no.1. It's still selling well on iTunes could go platinum faster than why ya wanna and I think it'll happen.
So her follow up(please be circles pop that bottle or bommerang) will climb faster and she will shock everyone by replacing someone major in the female vocalist category at the cmas and acms.
Blake Shelton
His no.1 streak will end since his album hasn't sold well and his popularity will begin to decline
Chris Stapleton
Will sweep the Grammys, and ACMS
Traveller will go platinum possibly double or triple and continue its no.1 streak
His single nobody to blame will go top 10/5 the follow ups will go top 20/30
Dierks Bentley
Will receive new fans from hosting the ACMS an increase in popularity
And Will receive major acclaim for the new single from his new album which will receive widespread acclaim and become his biggest selling album yet and will lead him to sweep CMA nominations
Luke Bryan
Will continue his no.1 streak although his album kill the lights might not have the success of crash my party or tailgates and tan lines
His tour will break records and include several female artists to open up for him.
Chris young
Will continue his no.1 streak return on billboard and his album will gold he will see award nominations for male vocalist vocal event and single of the year at the cmas and ACMS
Kellie pickler
New album will go.1 and sell very well
Her show with her husband will be picked up for a second season
The album singles will strughle but become sleeper hits
I'll think of more later

[Dustin J.]

Nov 30, 2015 17:39:03 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

NOT SO SERIOUS


* Richard Sterban of The Oak Ridge Boys accidentally goes too low on an "oom papa mow mow" at a concert in Nashville; the aftershock is felt as far away as Michigan

* Sam Hunt, finally burdened by criticism over his style, asks Shane McAnally permission to cover "Are Your Eyes Still Blue", surprises everyone with his twangy take on the tune

* Steve Holy releases six intended lead singles for his fourth album, all of which peak at #54

You just won this thread.

[tim]

I was wanting to come back around to this thread for one last 2016 prediction:

Chris Stapleton will receive a nomination for and win the 2016 CMA Entertainer of the Year.