Each week I take a look the Billboard Country Airplay chart and grade the top 30 songs. The grading format I use each week is every song will receive either a +1, -1 or a 0. These will then be tallied up for an overall score, or pulse of the current top thirty country songs, with the highest possible score being a +30 and the lowest possible score being a -30. How do I determine if a song is rated a +1, -1 or 0? The rating it received on the site or myself will determine this. If it hasn’t been rated yet, then I will make the call. Songs rated between 7 and 10 receive a +1. Songs rated a 5 or 6 receive a 0. Songs rated 4 or lower receive a -1.
The goal of this exercise is to evaluate the current state of mainstream country music and determine if it’s improving or getting worse. Let’s take a look at this week’s top thirty…
- Cole Swindell – “You Should Be Here” -1
- Rascal Flatts – “I Like The Sound of That” -1 (Up 1)
- Florida Georgia Line – “Confession” 0 (Up 1)
- Brett Eldredge – “Drunk on Your Love” -1 (Down 2)
- Chase Bryant – “Irrelevant Song A Label is Pushing That Nobody Cares About”-1
- Old Dominion – “Snapback” -1 (Up 1)
- Chris Young & Cassadee Pope – “Think of You” 0 (Up 1)
- Dierks Bentley – “Somewhere On A Beach” -1 (Up 2)
- Dustin Lynch – “Mind Reader” -1 (Up 2)
- Tim McGraw – “Humble and Kind” +1 (Up 4)
- Lee Brice – “That Don’t Sound Like You” -1 (Up 4)
- Blake Shelton – “Came Here To Forget” -1 (Up 4)
- Maren Morris – “My Church” +1
- Chris Stapleton – “Nobody To Blame” +1 (Down 2)
- Thomas Rhett – “T-Shirt” -1 (Up 2)
- Luke Bryan – “Huntin’, Fishin’ & Lovin’ Ever Day” -1 (Up 2)
- Jon Pardi – “Head Over Boots” +1 (Up 2)
- Kenny Chesney – “Noise” 0 (Up 3)
- Brantley Gilbert – “Stone Cold Sober” -1 (Up 1)
- Keith Urban – “Wasted Time” -1 (New to Top 30)
- Chris Lane – “Fix” -1 (Up 1) [Worst Song]
- Eric Church – “Record Year” +1 (Up 1) [Best Song]
- Frankie Ballard – “It All Started With a Beer” +1 (Up 1)
- Jake Owen – “American Generic Country Love Song” -1 (Up 3)
- Justin Moore – “You Look Like I Need A Drink” +1 (Up 1)
- David Nail – “Night’s On Fire” -1 (Down 1)
- Dan + Shay – “From The Ground Up” 0 (Up 2)
- Canaan Smith – “Irrelevant Song A Label is Pushing That Nobody Cares About”-1
- Jason Aldean – “Light’s Come On” -1 (New to Top 30)
- Kip Moore – “Running For You” +1
The Current Pulse of Mainstream Country Music: -10
The pulse dropped one spot this week.
Songs That Dropped Out of the Top 30 This Week:
- Carrie Underwood – “Heartbeat”
- Zac Brown Band – “Beautiful Drug”
Songs That Entered The Top 30 This Week:
- Keith Urban – “Wasted Time”
- Jason Aldean – “Light’s Come On”
Song I Predict Will Be #1 Next Week:
- Rascal Flatts – “I Like The Sound of That”
Biggest Gainers This Week:
- Tim McGraw – “Humble and Kind” – Up 4 from #14 to #10
- Lee Brice – “That Don’t Sound Like You” – Up 4 from #15 to #11
- Blake Shelton – “Came Here To Forget” – Up 4 from #16 to #12
Biggest Losers This Week:
- Zac Brown Band – “Beautiful Drug” – Out of the Top 30
- Carrie Underwood – “Heartbeat” – Out of the Top 30
- Brett Eldredge – “Drunk on Your Love” – Down 2 from #2 to #4
Songs I See Going Recurrent & Leaving The Top 30 Soon:
- Florida Georgia Line – “Confession”
- Brett Eldredge – “Drunk on Your Love”
- Chase Bryant – “Irrelevant Song A Label is Pushing”
- Chris Stapleton – “Nobody To Blame”
- Maren Morris – “My Church”
- Brantley Gilbert – “Stone Cold Sober”
- Chris Lane – “Fix”
On The Hot Seat:
Next Four Songs I See Entering Top 30:
- Sam Hunt – “Make You Miss Me”
- William Michael Morgan – “I Met A Girl”
- Carrie Underwood – “Church Bells”
- Eric Paslay – “High Class”
Comment: This is a case of same old shit, different week. While the rest of country music embraces Stapleton, radio dismisses him. I can’t say I’m surprised. But Stapleton is further proof that country radio is meaningless and those with true talent do not need it. Only the likes of Lynch, Bryant, Lane, Ballard, Ballerini and the rest of the B and C-level artists “need it.” They need it so they can convince some asshole in a suit they’re marketable, so he can turn around and tell a bunch of gullible mainstream fans they’re great and they matter. The ultimate truth is country radio is a house of cards that continues to get closer to collapse. I look forward to the day it dies. It can’t come soon enough. You can dismiss my argument as sour grapes, but deep down you know over half of the artists listed above are disposable hacks. They’re not true artists who have paid their dues and honed their craft. They’re pretty people with marketable personalities who are willing to bend over backwards for suits on Music Row and cater to their word. I feel bad for every artist with talent on big labels not named Chris Stapleton because the machine will eventually get them. The great news though is you don’t need country radio. Nobody needs it because the amount of talent in country and Americana outside of the radio bubble is immense and it will never die.
Few other thoughts: Maren Morris’ “My Church” losing airplay is once again is an absolute joke and should have went on to be #1. Instead room is made for Lee freaking Brice’s “That Don’t Sound Like You.” It’s a whiny, douche-y song that should have went recurrent months ago, but since Curb Records has scared away every smart artist in Nashville to the point that Brice is their only artist slightly close to marketable left that they have to resort to behind the scenes payola to continue to prop this forgettable song up the chart. Why else would Curb be picking up the scraps from other labels? They’re an absolute joke of a label and they represent the true corruptness of Nashville. I can only hope Mo Pitney gets the hell out of there as quickly as possible before they torpedo his career before it begins.
Nobody talks about this artist, but why would you? I’m referring of course to Dustin Lynch, who manages to have about every song of his rise up to the top of the airplay charts, yet who the hell cares about this guy outside of radio? His cowboy hat is about as sincere as the lyrics in his songs. If Lynch stopped making music tomorrow, the world wouldn’t notice because we’re too busy thinking about artists that actually matter. Then you have Brantley Gilbert’s “Stone Cold Sober.” This song flat-lined weeks ago and yet here it is still sitting in the top 20. The song should have never even cracked the top 30, but once again we have a label propping up a zombie song that should have went bottoms up.
Finally country radio continues to ignore female artists. I see all of these articles talking about how radio is starting to be more inclusive to female artists and this is a load of bullshit. Once Morris drops out of the top 30 there will be zero solo female acts. Sure Carrie Underwood will be back in the top 30 in a couple of weeks, but we all know by now how her runs on the Billboard chart go: rises up really fast to the top ten, slows down, reaches the top three and then goes recurrent. Just like an assembly line! I guarantee “Church Bells” won’t reach #1. But I bet Kelsea Ballerini’s “Peter Pan” will because her label will pony up the money needed for it. This is why I scoff at the likes of Ballerini helping the cause of females at country radio. We need talented female country artists, not any female country artists (we just need talent period, men and women, of course). Ballerini is Disney pop that panders to the bros, her label and radio executives. She has made this clear from the start. The same goes for Jana Kramer, who inexplicably released a great song and is now back to putting out crap like “Said No One Ever.” Miranda Lambert has went missing from radio and if I were her I would just give them the one finger salute like Kacey Musgraves did. If you’re a female artist who wants to make actual music and not kiss some guy in a suit’s ass to make it, you shouldn’t bother with country radio.
If you’re an artist and you have any kind of self-respect, you will not play the country radio game. You will be making real art that captures the hearts and minds of people everywhere. You will be a true artist, damn commercial expectations. Because as one great movie taught us, “If you build it, they will come.”
As always be sure to weigh in on this week’s chart in the comments below.
