Puzzling Single Choices

[sabre14]

We've done variations of this kind of thread before, but figured it was time for a fresh one.

What are some country radio single choices that were head-scratching? You honestly have no idea why they were released.

[sabre14]

Eli Young Band - "Say Goodnight"

[raylatch98]

Dan + Shay "Road Trippin"
Jerrod Niemann "Donkey"
Jana Kramer "Said No One Ever"
Thompson Square "Trans Am"
Hunter Hayes "Invisible"

[gardyfan]

Feb 2, 2022 20:34:25 GMT -5 raylatch98 said:

Dan + Shay "Road Trippin"

But it's their best single to date!

[raylatch98]

Feb 2, 2022 20:46:16 GMT -5 gardyfan said:

Feb 2, 2022 20:34:25 GMT -5 raylatch98 said:

Dan + Shay "Road Trippin"

But it's their best single to date!

Really I have always thought it as their worse and was always confused why it was chosen

[gardyfan]

Feb 2, 2022 20:47:53 GMT -5 raylatch98 said:

Feb 2, 2022 20:46:16 GMT -5 gardyfan said:

But it's their best single to date!

Really I have always thought it as their worse and was always confused why it was chosen

I was hoping the exclamation point would show the sarcasm in the post. 

It is my favorite song from them though.

[jab820]

"Up" Luke Bryan because of how truly terrible it is.
"To Hell & Back" Maren Morris
"the other girl" (feat. Halsey) Kelsea Ballerini. Everything about this was off from the get go. In the moment I was here for it but in hindsight I have no clue why she thought a pure pop song featuring a pure pop artist would work.

[.indulgecountry]

"Tonight" - Sara Evans
She had so much momentum after "Suds" and this as a follow-up made no sense at all. "Rockin' Horse" was RIGHT. THERE.

"Marry Me" - Martina McBride
She could've had a couple more years of scraping the top 20 occasionally, but this song as a single assured her radio career death.

"Me and God" - Josh Turner
He could've gotten to that next level following the 1-2 punch of "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me," but I feel like this single stopped that from ever happening. He had several other poor choices in the years that followed, but I think this was the most pivotal one.

"Delicious Surprise (I Believe It)" - Jo Dee Messina
Her best album with all that comeback hype from her first major hit in several years, and they release one of the only songs on the album that DOESN'T sound like a smash. She literally had like... 8 hit singles to pick from, including the two that were released after this one, but by then the damage was already done and there was no saving her career. </3

"Trying to Love You" - Trisha Yearwood
A similar situation to the Jo Dee example was with Trisha's Jasper County; fantastic album with lots of radio potential, and they picked... one of the only songs that was not going to get radio play. Tragic.

[🌺CountryLineDancer]

Brantley Gilbert - Fire't Up
- What was this? Like ew. Any other song from the album would have been fine, and he had to choose the worst song as a single. Thank got it flopped, but this move definitely killed the momentum from Small Town.

Kip Moore - Good Life
- The worst single by Kip to this day. He should have released some follow-up from the album, like Red White Blue Jean. 

Old Dominion - Never Be Sorry
- This was boring. I'm On It was right there, darn!

Jason Aldean - We Back (or any follow-up from 9)
- This was a lead single, but ended up being the worst song from the bad album. Cant't believe Champagne Town didn't see the radio.

[lady𝓐fan]

"Freestyle" - Lady A
An absolutely terrible song that destroyed their momentum and all but ensured that 747 wouldn't have any more hits. "Lie With Me", "747", "Sounded Good at the Time", and "One Great Mystery" all could've done well, but instead remain album tracks.

"You Look Good" - Lady A
This was one of the worst songs they could've chosen as their comeback single. Extremely polarizing, different from anything they'd done before, and lousy lyrics. "Good Time to Be Alive" was an easy #1.

"Happy People" - Little Big Town
I don't think they had another big hit on The Breaker, but "Night On Our Side" could have easily gone top 10 off of the momentum from "Better Man".

Every single from Keith Urban's Graffiti U
Seriously, "Parallel Line" and "Horses" were right there... Keith wouldn't be in quite as bad of a predicament with radio as he is right now if those two were released.

[sabre14]

Feb 2, 2022 23:14:58 GMT -5 lady𝓐fan said:

"Freestyle" - Lady A
An absolutely terrible song that destroyed their momentum and all but ensured that 747 wouldn't have any more hits. "Lie With Me", "747", "Sounded Good at the Time", and "One Great Mystery" all could've done well, but instead remain album tracks.

I still can't believe that was a single, let alone a second single off an album.

[mnvikings]

Feb 2, 2022 23:14:58 GMT -5 lady𝓐fan said:

Every single from Keith Urban's Graffiti U
Seriously, "Parallel Line" and "Horses" were right there... Keith wouldn't be in quite as bad of a predicament with radio as he is right now if those two were released.

I saw his Graffiti U tour and he sang both of these songs and was devastated he never released "Horses" It's just an epic song that could have been a staple of his concerts for years. To me not releasing "Horses" would be like if Dustin Lynch didn't release "Thinkin Bout You" or Kelsea Ballerini didn't send "Half of my Hometown" to radio.

[mnvikings]

Feb 2, 2022 20:54:57 GMT -5 jab820 said:

"Up" Luke Bryan because of how truly terrible it is.
"To Hell & Back" Maren Morris
"the other girl" (feat. Halsey) Kelsea Ballerini. Everything about this was off from the get go. In the moment I was here for it but in hindsight I have no clue why she thought a pure pop song featuring a pure pop artist would work.

I must be the only one who likes To Hell and Back. It's got a good vibe to it and I'm not much of a Maren Morris fan. It reminds me of "Words I couldn't Say" by Leighton Meester for some reason.

I remember when they announced the song with Halsey I was angry. Passing up Hole in a Bottle and Hometown??? Kelsea must be really good friends with Halsey because the song isn't very good in my opinion. The song she has with Lany is much better.

[onebuffalo]

If I Were A Boy by Reba McEntire and I Still Like Bologna by Alan Jackson.

[carriefan15]

Mama’s Song by Carrie Underwood..mainly because there were so many wayyyy better options (Someday When I Stop Loving You, What Can I Say, Quitter, This Time, Songs Like This)

[fearlessarrow]

Feb 3, 2022 13:55:07 GMT -5 mnvikings said:

Feb 2, 2022 20:54:57 GMT -5 jab820 said:

"Up" Luke Bryan because of how truly terrible it is.
"To Hell & Back" Maren Morris
"the other girl" (feat. Halsey) Kelsea Ballerini. Everything about this was off from the get go. In the moment I was here for it but in hindsight I have no clue why she thought a pure pop song featuring a pure pop artist would work.

I must be the only one who likes To Hell and Back. It's got a good vibe to it and I'm not much of a Maren Morris fan. It reminds me of "Words I couldn't Say" by Leighton Meester for some reason.

I remember when they announced the song with Halsey I was angry. Passing up Hole in a Bottle and Hometown??? Kelsea must be really good friends with Halsey because the song isn't very good in my opinion. The song she has with Lany is much better.

I think a lot of people here like "To Hell & Back" but choosing it as the follow-up to "The Bones" when "All My Favorite People" and "A Song For Everything" was right there... is kind of a choice.

[fearlessarrow]

Haley Georgia - "Ridiculous"
Like who thought this was a good idea? Who approved this? Even if they were going for the Kesha vibe, this was just really bad regardless. Every time I think of really bad country songs, this is one of the first songs that pops into my head. Its existence may live in my head rent-free.

Taylor Swift - "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"
It's obviously a pop song and I get releasing it as the lead single from the album, but sending it to country radio seems like a far stretch. They would've been better off just doing split singles (which they ended up doing because WANEGBT tanked on country radio after the initial hype passed) but it's not like it hurt Taylor's career that much anyways so (it probably had an impact on "Begin Again" and "Red" charting worse than her previous singles tended to do though)...

Tim McGraw - "Truck Yeah"
He had so much good material sitting on Two Lanes of Freedom, but THIS was what they chose as the lead single? "Nashville Without You" deserved. Even "Southern Girl" would've been a better lead than this. I mean his career was also fine after this too so it wasn't catastrophic but still...

Thomas Rhett - "Vacation"
With his momentum during that era, he could've easily released some middle-of-the-road song and hit #1 but instead they pushed this monstrosity to radio. I guess it's kind of catchy but it does not scream radio-friendly material. It flopped deservedly so.

[Deleted]

George Strait - The Weight Of The Badge……Some Nights is the best song on that album and adding Luke Combs or Eric Church singing background could have pushed this to a top 15 on country radio.

[.indulgecountry]

Feb 4, 2022 13:07:48 GMT -5 @jacobl18 said:

George Strait - The Weight Of The Badge……Some Nights is the best song on that album and adding Luke Combs or Eric Church singing background could have pushed this to a top 15 on country radio.

I agree with this but I'd also throw out "I Believe" as an even better example from his late career singles. Like, holy hell what a steaming pile that song was and to release it as the follow-up to a song that was kinda promoted like his 'last hurrah' @ radio pretty much gave PDs all the excuse in the world to not play him. Not to mention it was from his best album from the 2010s, which was stacked with potential hits... 🥴

[zdm1998]

Mama’s Song (even though I know it was released because it meant a lot to Carrie)

[raylatch98]

I like the song but "Kiss Goodbye" by Little Big Town never made sense imo

[sabre14]

Tim McGraw - "Suspicions"

I know Tim loved the song, and that was likely why it was released to radio, but absolutely nobody was shocked when it stalled out after two months inside the top 15. That might be the worst single decision I have ever seen.