Each week we 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 one of the following scores: +5, +4, +3, +2, +1, 0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5. 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 +150 and the lowest possible score being a -150. How do I determine the score for the song? The review grade it received on the site or myself will determine this. If it hasn’t been reviewed yet, then I will make the call. The grade it has received or I would give it determines its Pulse score. The grading key: 10 [+5], 9 [+4], 8 [+3], 7 [+2], 6 [+1], 5 [0], 4 [-1], 3 [-2], 2 [-3], 1 [-4], 0 [-5].
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…
- Jason Aldean – “A Little More Summertime” 0 (Up 1)
- Florida Georgia Line (feat. Tim McGraw) – “May We All” +1 (Up 2)
- Brett Young – “Sleep Without You” -2
- Cole Swindell – “Middle of a Memory” -2 (Down 3)
- Old Dominion – “Song For Another Time” -3 (Up 1)
- Brett Eldredge – “Wanna Be That Song” 0 (Up 2)
- Keith Urban – “Blue Ain’t Your Color” -4
- Luke Bryan – “Move” -4 (Down 3)
- Tim McGraw – “How I’ll Always Be” +3
- Carrie Underwood – “Dirty Laundry” 0 (Up 1)
- Granger Dibbles Jr. – “If The Boots Fits” -4 (Up 2)
- Blake Shelton – “A Guy With A Girl” -1 (Up 3)
- Thomas Rhett – “Star of the Show” -3 (Up 1)
- Maren Morris – “80s Mercedes” -1 (Up 2)
- Eric Church (feat. Rhiannon Giddens) – “Kill A Word” +4 (Up 3) [Best Song]
- Dustin Lynch – “Seein’ Red” -5 (Up 3)
- Brad Paisley – “Today” +2 (Up 6)
- Chris Young (feat. Vince Gill) – “Sober Saturday Night” +1 (Up 3)
- Lauren Alaina – “Road Less Traveled” -2 (Up 1)
- Chris Stapleton – “Parachute” +3 (Up 2)
- High Valley – “Make You Mine” -2 (Up 4)
- Michael Ray – “Douchey Pickup Song” -5 (Up 2) [Worst Song]
- Little Big Town – “Better Man” +2 (New to Top 30)
- Brantley Gilbert – “The Weekend” -5 (Up 4)
- Jon Pardi – “Dirt on My Boots” +1 (New to Top 30)
- Brothers Osborne – “21 Summer” +2
- Garth Brooks – “Baby, Let’s Lay Down and Dance” 0
- Chris Janson – “Holdin’ Her” +4 (Up 1)
- Kelsea Ballerini – “Yeah Boy” -5 (New to Top 30)
- Josh Turner – “Hometown Girl” 0 (New to Top 30)
The Current Pulse of Mainstream Country Radio: -29
The pulse drops one spot this week.
Songs That Dropped Out of the Top 30 This Week:
- Kenny Chesney & Pink – “Setting The World on Fire” -2
- Drake White – “Livin’ The Dream” +1
- Miranda Lambert – “Vice” +3
- Jerrod Niemann & Lee Brice – “A Little More Love” -3 (Hopefully this one finally goes away for good. Stop trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, Curb)
Songs That Entered The Top 30 This Week:
- Little Big Town – “Better Man”
- I already gave this a full review, but I just wanted to add that as soon as I saw the announcement that Taylor Swift was the one who wrote this song, I knew country radio would get behind it and sure enough they have. Country radio still loves Taylor. The Swift Effect will take this to #1.
- Jon Pardi – “Dirt on My Boots”
- Pardi landed his first #1 hit earlier this year with “Head Over Boots” and has had a breakout year, showing himself to be one of the more promising names in mainstream country. He’s now back with the follow-up, “Dirt On My Boots,” a song lot of you have expressed you don’t exactly like. Most of the reactions I’ve seen range from meh to outright disdain. And I totally get it. But I disagree. Yes, the production for this song sounds like 2000s Jason Aldean singles plus fiddles. This isn’t ideal, but at the same time the production is admittedly infectious. I really enjoy the fiddles on this song and it gives the song a really fun tone. The lyrics are catchy and it’s nice to have more upbeat songs like this mixed in with more serious material. The reason I can’t get angry at this song like other party songs is because this song has nothing offensive about it. There aren’t any sexist or really stupid lyrics I can dock at for. At worst the lyrics are around middle of the road. On another note, this appears well on it’s way to being a hit, as it’s already in the top 30 after nine weeks and is selling quite well. The silver lining for those who don’t like this song is this being a hit should afford Pardi to release one of the better songs from California Sunrise as a single (fingers crossed for “She Ain’t In It”). 6/10
- Kelsea Ballerini – “Yeah Boy”
- Yeah let’s cut to the chase here: I hate this song. This comes after Ballerini released her best single to date (although admittedly it wasn’t a high bar to beat). I hadn’t heard this song since listening to the album when it was released and after one listen I developed a light headache. I’m going to quote Derek in his review of Ballerini’s debut album with this thoughts on the song: I listen to her song “Yeah Boy” and think of Billy Currington’s “Hey Girl.” In fact, if Currington walked up to Ballerini and just said “hey girl” she’d probably respond with “yeah boy” and off they’d go to some pick-up truck in a field. This song is yet another song where Kelsea Ballerini simply sings a bro-country song from the female perspective. I’m done. 0/10
- Josh Turner – “Hometown Girl”
Biggest Gainers This Week:
- Little Big Town – “Better Man” – Up 11 from #34 to #23
- Brad Paisley – “Today” – Up 6 from #23 to #17
- Jon Pardi – “Dirt on My Boots” – Up 6 from #31 to #25
Biggest Losers This Week:
- Miranda Lambert – “Vice” – Out of the Top 30 & Done
- Kenny Chesney & Pink – “Setting the World on Fire” – Out of the Top 30 & Done
- Drake White – “Livin’ The Dream” – Out of the Top 30 & Done
- Jerrod Niemann & Lee Brice – “A Little More Love” – Out of the Top 30 (to #31)
Songs I See Going Recurrent & Leaving The Top 30 Soon:
- Luke Bryan – “Move”
- Brothers Osborne – “21 Summer”
On The Hot Seat:
- Maren Morris – “80s Mercedes”
- Lauren Alaina – “Road Less Traveled”
- Garth Brooks – “Baby, Let’s Lay Down and Dance” (This still isn’t showing much progress and I find it hard to believe it’ll go any higher than #25)
Next Four Songs I See Entering Top 30:
- Jerrod Niemann & Lee Brice – “A Little More Love”
- Trent Harmon – “There’s A Girl”
- Dierks Bentley – “Black”
- Craig Campbell – “Outskirts of Heaven”
As always be sure to weigh in on this week’s Pulse in the comments below.
