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 between 5 and 6.5 receive a 0. Songs rated 4.5 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…

1. Chris Young – “I’m Comin’ Over” +1 
2. Blake Shelton – “Gonna” -1 (Up 1)
3. Dan + Shay – “Nothin’ Like You” -1 (Up 1)
4. Jason Aldean – “Gonna Know We Were Here” -1 (Up 1)
5. Carrie Underwood – “Smoke Break” +1 (Down 3)
6. Tim McGraw – “Top of the World” 0 (Up 1)
7. Cam – “Burning House” +1 (Up 1) 
8. Brothers Osborne – “Stay A Little Longer” 0 (Up 1)
9. Thomas Rhett – “Die A Happy Man” -1 (Up 1)
10. LoCash – “I Love This Life” -1 (Up 1)
11. Big & Rich – “Run Away With You” 0 (Up 3)
12. Jana Kramer – “I Got The Boy” +1 (Up 1)
13. Parmalee – “Already Callin’ You Mine” -1 (Down 1)
14. Sam Hunt – “Break Up In A Small Town” -1 (Up 1) [Tied for Worst Song]
15. Kelsea Ballerini – “Dibs” -1 (Up 1) [Tied for Worst Song]
16. Granger Smith – “Backroad Song” -1 (Up 1)
17. Brad Paisley – “Country Nation” -1 (Up 1)
18. Randy Houser – “We Went” -1 (Up 1)
19. Luke Bryan & Karen Fairchild – “Home Alone Tonight” -1 (Up 2) [Tied for Worst Song]
20. Zac Brown Band – “Beautiful Drug” -1 [Tied for Worst Song]
21. Keith Urban – “Break On Me” -1 (Up 1)
22. Eric Church – “Mr. Misunderstood” +1 (Up 3)
23. Chase Bryant – “Little Bit of You” -1
24. A Thousand Horses – “(This Ain’t No) Drunk Dial” -1
25. Rascal Flatts – “I Like The Sound of That” -1 (Up 1)
26. Dierks Bentley – “Riser” +1 (Up 1) [Tied for Best Song]
27. Chris Stapleton – “Nobody To Blame” +1 (Up 2) [Tied for Best Song]
28. Lee Brice – “That Don’t Sound Like You” -1
29. Michael Ray – “Real Men Love Jesus” -1 (New to Top 30)
30. Florida Georgia Line – “Confession” -1 (New to Top 30)

The Current Pulse of Mainstream Country Music: -13

The pulse remains the same this week.

Songs That Dropped Out of the Top 30 This Week:

• Cole Swindell’s “Let Me See Ya Girl” went recurrent and fell from #6 to out of the top 30
• Brantley Gilbert’s “Stone Cold Sober” fell from #30 to out of the top 30 (and likely going recurrent)

Songs That Entered The Top 30 This Week:

• Michael Ray – “Real Men Love Jesus”
• Florida Georgia Line – “Confession”

Song I Predict Will Reach #1 Next Week:

• Blake Shelton – “Gonna”

Biggest Gainers This Week:

• Eric Church – “Mr. Misunderstood” – Up 3 from #25 to #22
• Big & Rich – “Run Away With You” – Up 3 from #14 to #11
• Multiple Songs Moved Up 2 Spots

Biggest Losers This Week:

• Cole Swindell – “Let Me See Ya Girl” – Out of the Top 30
• Brantley Gilbert – “Stone Cold Sober” – Out of the Top 30
• Carrie Underwood – “Smoke Break” – Down 3 from #2 to #5

Songs I See Going Recurrent & Leaving The Top 30 Soon:

• Carrie Underwood – “Smoke Break”
• Dan + Shay – “Nothin’ Like You”
• Lee Brice – “That Don’t Sound Like You”

On The Hot Seat:

• None

Next Four Songs I See Entering Top 30:

• Dustin Lynch – “Mind Reader”
• Brett Eldredge – “Drunk On Your Love”
• Carrie Underwood – “Heartbeat”
• Tyler Farr – “Better in Boots”

Note: Right now I look at the chart and I see a lot of songs that have been on the chart for a while. There are seven songs that have been on the chart for more than 30 weeks. There are a lot of songs I feel like are just treading water and not moving the pulse in the slightest and by pulse I mean there doesn’t seem to be a lot of enthusiasm and support behind pushing them. Songs with terrible callout scores are being pushed higher than they should out of desperation. Basically things are pretty stale, even more than usual. I predict in January there will be a big shakeup, as it’s badly needed.

As always be sure to weigh in on this week’s chart in the comments below.