New Country Releases Rankdown Thread

[🌺CountryLineDancer]

Having "Take Her Home" as my #1 was not something I was expecting to do myself, but I found the list to be not as strong as other months with quite a few average songs, so the Kenny's song that I had been familiar with ended up getting the spot. His modern outputs are likely to be hit than miss for me, and THH was a hit, if not extra-base. 

[.indulgecountry]

13. "South Dakota" - Chris Stapleton

Total: 186

Kris Kringle : 1
Darkest Hour : 2
SHOOTER : 7
tim : 9
zaclord 🌈 : 11
castleoblivion26 : 11
nuggie99 : 13
LBTrocks : 13
kluen : 14
kw9461 : 17
.indulgecountry : 17
George Strait Junkie : 23
bboat11 : 24
🌺CountryLineDancer : 24

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
Bet You Break My Heart
Cigarettes
Dirt Cheap
Growin' Up Raising You
Hooker
Hurricane
One Bad Habit
Smoky Mountains
The Table
Tennessee Don't Mind
This Is My Dirt
This Ol' Rodeo

[.indulgecountry]

Chris Stapleton's "South Dakota" is the next to go. Kris Kringle loses his #1 and Darkest Hour their #2, while a trio of posters lose something from their bottom 5. The majority of us put this one in the 11-17 range, however, so it's natural that it ends up where it did. I thought this was one of the better songs I've heard from Stapleton, honestly.

[.indulgecountry]

12. "This Is My Dirt" - Justin Moore

Total: 179

nuggie99 : 2
🌺CountryLineDancer : 3
George Strait Junkie : 5
kluen : 7
kw9461 : 7
bboat11 : 7
castleoblivion26 : 14
LBTrocks : 15
Darkest Hour : 15
Kris Kringle : 16
.indulgecountry : 19
tim : 22
SHOOTER : 23
zaclord 🌈 : 24

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
Bet You Break My Heart
Cigarettes
Dirt Cheap
Growin' Up Raising You
Hooker
Hurricane
One Bad Habit
Smoky Mountains
The Table
Tennessee Don't Mind
This Ol' Rodeo

[.indulgecountry]

In the battle of the dirt tracks ("This Is My Dirt" vs. "Dirt Cheap"), Justin Moore loses and comes in at #12, nearly 20 points shy of a top 10 finish that he flirted with briefly at times, but it was not to be. I do feel like this song would go over better if it weren't coming out at such an inconvenient time because Cody Johnson's song is basically the same thing, but delivered stronger imo. That said, not everyone agreed as there were at least a few who ranked Justin's higher! He landed six top 10s, including a #2 from nuggie99. OTOH, three bottom 5 ranks weighed it down in the end.

[.indulgecountry]

11. "Cigarettes" - Laci Kaye Booth

Total: 164

SHOOTER : 1
kluen : 1
zaclord 🌈 : 3
castleoblivion26 : 3
tim : 7
bboat11 : 8
nuggie99 : 12
🌺CountryLineDancer : 14
Darkest Hour : 17
kw9461 : 19
LBTrocks : 19
Kris Kringle : 20
.indulgecountry : 20
George Strait Junkie : 20

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
Bet You Break My Heart
Dirt Cheap
Growin' Up Raising You
Hooker
Hurricane
One Bad Habit
Smoky Mountains
The Table
Tennessee Don't Mind
This Ol' Rodeo

[.indulgecountry]

Unfortunately for Laci Kaye Booth, she has the unlucky distinction here of being the final song to miss the top 10 as "Cigarettes" comes up shy by a mere 3-point margin. She managed to score a double dose of #1 ranks from SHOOTER and kluen, plus four other top 10s. She didn't land in a single poster's bottom 5, either, though five of us slotted her in the 19-20 range, holding back her top 10 possibilities.

[.indulgecountry]

The top 10:

Bet You Break My Heart - MacKenzie Porter
Dirt Cheap - Cody Johnson
Growin' Up Raising You - Gabby Barrett
Hooker - Ashland Craft
Hurricane - The Castellows
One Bad Habit - Tim McGraw
Smoky Mountains - Conner Smith
The Table - Lauren Watkins
Tennessee Don't Mind - Kameron Marlowe
This Ol' Rodeo - Chayce Beckham

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}George Strait Junkie :
kluen :
Darkest Hour :
Kris Kringle :
🌺CountryLineDancer :
nuggie99 :
tim :
zaclord 🌈 :
castleoblivion26 :
kw9461 :
bboat11 :
LBTrocks :
SHOOTER :
.indulgecountry :

[kluen]

cigarettes is such a good song

[nuggie99]

South Dakota-- I like this, but I like Arkansas and Cross Wind better. Good a swampy otherwise.

This is My Dirt-- I gave this one the edge over Dirt Cheap because the vibe I got was the JMo was singing about himself and CoJo was telling a story about someone else (nothing I can put my finger on that makes me think that, they both are in third person). And I liked the pace a little better.

Cigarettes-- This is all right.

[Darkest Hour]

13. This being close to White Horse in terms of ranking is eh. A middle-tier song from his new album tbh. He has better swampy rock songs.
12. As much as Dirt Cheap being overrated everywhere online, CoJo's vocals are still better than Justin Moore's, and also sounds like any of his other songs which weakens the storytelling impact.
11. Don't really like her way of singing especially in the chorus.

This Ashland Craft song is much weaker than the previous one. Why did that make top 10...

[SHOOTER]

Musty.

[.indulgecountry]

10. "Smoky Mountains" - Conner Smith

Total: 161

bboat11 : 3
castleoblivion26 : 4
Kris Kringle : 5
zaclord 🌈 : 7
LBTrocks : 7
Darkest Hour : 8
.indulgecountry : 8
🌺CountryLineDancer : 11
kluen : 12
SHOOTER : 16
kw9461 : 18
nuggie99 : 19
tim : 21
George Strait Junkie : 22

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
Bet You Break My Heart
Dirt Cheap
Growin' Up Raising You
Hooker
Hurricane
One Bad Habit
The Table
Tennessee Don't Mind
This Ol' Rodeo

[.indulgecountry]

Conner Smith's debut LP finally dropped at the top of this year, and its title cut "Smoky Mountains" is the first casualty this side of the rankdown top 10. Conner managed to land in the top 10 of exactly half the participant pool, so this seems like a fitting end for him here. This Applachian-tinged number is definitely where he shines, more so than generic fluff like "Take It Slow," and it went over well here! There were two bottom 5s, however, so it wasn't all fanfare.

[🌺CountryLineDancer]

Did not expect the late night reveal, but I'm here tonight (mountain time zone today)! "Smoky Mountains" is alright, but I do like that Conner is putting out another fast tempo song. I would vote for Roulette On The Heart as the follow-up to CWR, however. 

[.indulgecountry]

Mar 14, 2024 1:35:32 GMT -5 🌺CountryLineDancer said:

Did not expect the late night reveal, but I'm here tonight (mountain time zone today)! "Smoky Mountains" is alright, but I do like that Conner is putting out another fast tempo song. I would vote for Roulette On The Heart as the follow-up to CWR, however. 

Same! It's hard to go wrong with the male/female duet dynamic at country radio plus 1) "Roulette" is an excellent song and 2) it would give more exposure to Hailey Whitters who truly deserves it.

[.indulgecountry]

9. "One Bad Habit" - Tim McGraw

Total: 156

castleoblivion26 : 2
kw9461 : 3
tim : 3
Kris Kringle : 8
George Strait Junkie : 8
zaclord 🌈 : 8
bboat11 : 9
SHOOTER : 9
kluen : 10
Darkest Hour : 12
.indulgecountry : 16
nuggie99 : 21
🌺CountryLineDancer : 23
LBTrocks : 24

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
Bet You Break My Heart
Dirt Cheap
Growin' Up Raising You
Hooker
Hurricane
The Table
Tennessee Don't Mind
This Ol' Rodeo

[.indulgecountry]

Tim McGraw made an odd decision to move on from his latest full-length album merely months after its release, dropping an EP titled Poet's Resume and pivoting to "One Bad Habit" as his new radio single. It was a head-scratching move for most, and the song itself while solid in its own right, struck some as being a bit of an odd choice to make waves as a new single at radio. Still, Timmy is a Pulse favorite and racked up the top 10 ranks here nonetheless, though a trio of bottom 3s sunk it to the bottom of the top 10.


ETA: Also the timing of this reveal is interesting as apparently the music video premieres in the morning, lol.

[🌺CountryLineDancer]

Here is the potential 2024 winner of "Worst Single Choice of the Year." One Bad Habit is so average and it is frustrating that they release this song to the radio over strong songs from the album. I mean Tim may not care about the radio success as much anymore, but still annoying that some of the better songs are overlooked while this is seeing some radio success.

[kluen]

Mar 14, 2024 1:38:51 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

Mar 14, 2024 1:35:32 GMT -5 🌺CountryLineDancer said:

Did not expect the late night reveal, but I'm here tonight (mountain time zone today)! "Smoky Mountains" is alright, but I do like that Conner is putting out another fast tempo song. I would vote for Roulette On The Heart as the follow-up to CWR, however. 

Same! It's hard to go wrong with the male/female duet dynamic at country radio plus 1) "Roulette" is an excellent song and 2) it would give more exposure to Hailey Whitters who truly deserves it.

Agree

They should push Roulette on the Heart

Great song and Hailey Whitters deserve so much more

[LBTrocks]

"Smoky Mountains" is a great sound for Conner Smith! With the right songs, this guy is SO freaking good. He was a lot of fun when I saw him live. It'll be hard for him to beat "Creek Will Rise" for me but this is such a damn great song.

"One Bad Habit" is one bad song. I couldn't even make it all the way thru, it is so awful. Hate that this is a single.

[.indulgecountry]

8. "Tennessee Don't Mind" - Kameron Marlowe

Total: 151

LBTrocks : 3
bboat11 : 4
nuggie99 : 5
Darkest Hour : 7
tim : 8
George Strait Junkie : 9
zaclord 🌈 : 9
Kris Kringle : 11
kw9461 : 11
🌺CountryLineDancer : 13
.indulgecountry : 13
SHOOTER : 17
kluen : 19
castleoblivion26 : 22

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
Bet You Break My Heart
Dirt Cheap
Growin' Up Raising You
Hooker
Hurricane
The Table
This Ol' Rodeo

[.indulgecountry]

Kameron Marlowe's "Tennessee Don't Mind" is next to go. This dark, smoky number with a lot of enjoyable country instrumentation racked up tops 10s from half the participant pool, and only one rank came from the bottom 5.

[.indulgecountry]

7. "Hooker" - Ashland Craft

Total: 145

George Strait Junkie : 3
kw9461 : 4
LBTrocks : 5
SHOOTER : 5
🌺CountryLineDancer : 6
castleoblivion26 : 8
.indulgecountry : 9
Kris Kringle : 9
nuggie99 : 11
bboat11 : 12
zaclord 🌈 : 14
kluen : 17
tim : 18
Darkest Hour : 24

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
Bet You Break My Heart
Dirt Cheap
Growin' Up Raising You
Hurricane
The Table
This Ol' Rodeo

[.indulgecountry]

Ashland Craft only just scraped the top 20 in the prior month's rankdown, but she far surpasses that in this set as "Hooker" comfortably settled into the lower half of the top 10. It boasts an uber neo-traditional country arrangement and a very fun hook (pun not intentional). Over half of us put this one top 10, including four top 5s. Only one contrarian slotted this bottom 5, courtesy of Darkest Hour.

[🌺CountryLineDancer]

Hooker may not be her best song, but she would have been an interesting figure if Big Loud ever tried a radio single. 

[.indulgecountry]

6. "Growin' Up Raising You" - Gabby Barrett

Total: 143

.indulgecountry : 1
tim : 1
kluen : 2
SHOOTER : 3
bboat11 : 6
nuggie99 : 8
🌺CountryLineDancer : 9
Darkest Hour : 10
kw9461 : 13
zaclord 🌈 : 15
George Strait Junkie : 16
Kris Kringle : 17
LBTrocks : 17
castleoblivion26 : 25

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
Bet You Break My Heart
Dirt Cheap
Hurricane
The Table
This Ol' Rodeo

[.indulgecountry]

The final song to bow out prior to the top 5 is Gabby Barrett's "Growin' Up Raising You," which does so by a mere 2 points, sadly. This ode to young motherhood was one of the more buzzed-about tracks from Chapter & Verse and recently got a music video, despite the label ultimately throwing a curveball and not choosing it as the next single at country radio. Despite this, it's clearly got plenty of fans on Pulse as it comfortably sat in the top 5 for most of its run, picking up a double dose of #1 ranks from myself and tim. OTOH, castleoblivion26 finally loses their last place, the last one remaining in the game.

[.indulgecountry]

5. "This Ol' Rodeo" - Chayce Beckham

Total: 141

🌺CountryLineDancer : 2
kw9461 : 2
bboat11 : 5
Darkest Hour : 5
zaclord 🌈 : 5
Kris Kringle : 7
George Strait Junkie : 10
LBTrocks : 10
.indulgecountry : 10
tim : 12
nuggie99 : 17
castleoblivion26 : 17
SHOOTER : 19
kluen : 20

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
Bet You Break My Heart
Dirt Cheap
Hurricane
The Table

[.indulgecountry]

A surprisingly more organic fiddle-laden song from Chayce Beckham, "This Ol' Rodeo" sneaks into the top 5 by a narrow two-point margin over Gabby Barrett. Despite being suspiciously cut from the final tracklisting for Chayce's upcoming debut LP, it won over the hearts of Pulse as it managed a pair of #2 ranks from kw9461 and 🌺CountryLineDancer and a trio of additional top 5s, plus four further top 10s and no bottom 5 ranks!