Country Update BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS JANUARY 11, 2020 | PAGE 1 OF 19 INSIDE BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE [email protected] Lady A’s Combs, Barrett, Wallen Lead ‘Champagne’ Bubbles >page 4 Country’s Stream Of Hits In 2020 COVID-19 did a lot of damage in 2020, particularly to the con- One particularly notable new development in the COVID- Memorial cert wing of the music industry, but one thing it did not alter 19 era was the emergence of American Idol graduate Gabby Roll Call was the trend lines in the consumption of prerecorded music. Barrett, whose debut single, “I Hope,” snagged the top spot >page 10 On-demand audio streaming increased by double-digit per- on Most Streamed Country Songs and Top-Selling Country centages across the industry, according to MRC Data, with Digital Songs. country’s streams growing at a 6% faster clip than the total busi- The depth of the digital sales drop is eye-popping. “I Hope” ness. Meanwhile, music owner- is the lone single to surpass Brice, Rhett ship continued to decline, with 300,000 downloads, conclud- Drink Up country album sales shrinking ing the year at 513,000 sold. By >page 11 by one-sixth, while both coun- comparison, that sales volume try and the overall business would not have even made the dropped by over 20%. top 10 year-end list a decade Luke Combs’ trend lines ago, when Taylor Swift’s “You Lynn, Moon continued, too, as he built on Belong With Me” occupied the Key New Projects his upward career growth. His No. 10 position with 809,000 >page 11 first two albums, What You downloads. The No. 1 title that See Is What You Get and This year, Lady A’s “Need You Now,” One’s For You, finished at No. 1 sold nearly 3.2 million copies. and No. 2, respectively, on the On the whole, country sold Makin’ Tracks: COMBS BARRETT Rice, FGL year-end Top Country Albums 27.84 million tracks in 2020, a Say ‘Amen’ chart, ranked by total equivalent 21% drop from the prior year. >page 16 album units earned. (See explanation on the next page.) Those The industry declined 22.3% across all genres, amassing two titles ranked No. 3 and No. 1 on the 2019 year-end chart. 233.84 million downloads. Country’s album sales slid 16.7% Morgan Wallen likewise improved his commercial growth, to 9 million units, while the total business hit 102.4 million, with his If I Know Me debut landing at No. 3 on the year-end down 10.4% from 2019. Country Coda: country albums list, while Wallen likewise claimed three of the With big chunks of the American populace sheltering at home Rabbitt’s top five positions on Most Streamed Country Songs, determined for much of 2020, country’s on-demand audio streams surged a ‘Rainy Night’ by total on-demand streams. “Heartless,” his collaboration with whopping 23.7% to 66.51 billion streams. The total industry’s >page 19 Diplo, finished at No. 2, with “Chasin’ You” and “Whiskey number rose a more modest 17% to 872.59 billion. Glasses” landing at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively. Country and the total industry grew at comparable rates KLEIN ROBBY BARRETT: MASSEY, ZACK COMBS: BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JANUARY 11, 2020 | PAGE 2 OF 19 in total equivalent album units during 2020. Country expanded 11.7% to 61.03 million units, while the industry’s total increased 11.6% to 756.77 mil- lion units. (See explanation below.) The following are the top 10 entries for four country consumption lists compiled by MRC Data for 2020: Top Country Albums, Total Equivalent Album Units, 2020 1 Luke Combs, What You See Is What You Get 1.48 million 2 Luke Combs, This One’s for You 993,000 3 Morgan Wallen, If I Know Me 944,000 4 Sam Hunt, Southside 607,000 5 Chris Stapleton, Traveller 595,000 Russell Dickerson had a Zoom chat with 17-year-old Sarah Frei, of 6 Blake Shelton, Fully Loaded: God’s Country 562,000 Syracuse, N.Y., when he assisted in presenting her with a wheelchair- 7 Gabby Barrett, Goldmine 477,000 accessible SUV, customized by BraunAbility. She was disabled last 8 Maren Morris, Girl 465,000 summer in a head-on collision with a vehicle operated by a drunk driver. 9 Luke Bryan, Born Here Live Here Die Here 457,000 10 Kenny Chesney, Here and Now 440,000 Most Streamed Country Songs, 2020 (By Total On-Demand Audio Streams) 1 Gabby Barrett, “I Hope” 431.1 million 2 Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley Featuring 375.2 million Morgan Wallen, “Heartless” 3 Maren Morris, “The Bones” 358.6 million 4 Morgan Wallen, “Chasin’ You” 329.8 million 5 Morgan Wallen, “Whiskey Glasses” 327.2 million 6 Chris Stapleton, “Tennessee Whiskey” 316.7 million 7 Dan + Shay & Justin Bieber, “10,000 Hours” 314.1 million 8 Old Dominion, “One Man Band” 309.6 million 9 Luke Combs, “Beautiful Crazy” 297.3 million 10 Morgan Wallen, “More Than My Hometown” 230.3 million Jeannie Seely and her fellow SiriusXM hosts took fan questions for a holiday event that aired four times on Willie’s Roadhouse. Clockwise Top-Selling Country Albums, 2020 from top left: Dallas Wayne, Seely, Charlie Monk and Paula Nelson. 1 Kenny Chesney, Here and Now 279,000 2 Carrie Underwood, My Gift 271,000 3 Dolly Parton, A Holly Dolly Christmas 216,000 4 Luke Combs, What You See Is What You Get 184,000 5 Chris Stapleton, Starting Over 177,000 6 The Chicks, Gaslighter 135,000 7 Chris Stapleton, Traveller 124,000 8 Blake Shelton, Fully Loaded: God’s Country 123,000 9 Jimmy Buffett, Life on the Flip Side 123,000 10 Luke Bryan, Born Here Live Here Die Here 102,000 Top-Selling Country Songs, 2020 STEM SCOTT Scotty McCreery (right) presented an RIAA-certified double-platinum 1 Gabby Barrett, “I Hope” 513,000 plaque to the Grand Ole Opry for his single “Five More Minutes” last 2 Blake Shelton Duet With Gwen Stefani, “Nobody But You” 288,000 December. McCreery first performed it publicly during a 2016 Opry 3 Luke Bryan, “One Margarita” 212,000 appearance. He’s joined by Opry director of talent scheduling and 4 Maren Morris, “The Bones” 182,000 logistics Gina Keltner and vp/executive producer Dan Rogers. 5 Jason Aldean, “Got What I Got” 162,000 6 Sam Hunt, “Hard To Forget” 158,000 7 Morgan Wallen, “Chasin’ You” 147,000 8 Chris Stapleton, “Tennessee Whiskey” 141,000 9 Miranda Lambert, “Bluebird” 139,000 10 Dan + Shay & Justin Bieber, “10,000 Hours” 139,000 Equivalent album units — for album titles and chart rankings cited above — comprise traditional album sales, track-equivalent albums and streaming-equivalent albums. Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album, or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. 2020 was the first year on-demand video streams factored into album title totals and chart rankings. Audio-equivalent album units follow the same methodology as described above, but without on-demand video streams. Due to reporting methodology changes from a major video provider, year-over-year video streaming comparisons are not reflective of industry trends and therefore Exile singer J.P. Pennington appeared remotely on WSM-AM Nashville are not included in this story. For the sake of clarity, equivalent album units do not include listening to music on broadcast radio in December, talking up the band’s current material with hosts Megan or digital radio broadcasts. All numbers cited in this story are rounded and for the United States only. Alexander and Charlie Mattos. BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 13, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 19 ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER [email protected] BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JANUARY 11, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 19 SamHunt’s Southside Rules Top Country Albums; Brett Young ‘Catch’-es Fifth Airplay Lea‘Champagne’der; Travis Denning Toast: Makes Lady History A Leads Country Airplay Chart Sam Hunt’s second studio full-length, and first in over five years, Southside sales (up 21%) in the tracking week. On Country Airplay, it hops 18-15 (11.9 mil- (MCA Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville), debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s lion audience impressions, up 16%). Top Country Albums chart dated April 18. In its first week (ending April 9), it Lady A’s “Champagne Night” (Big Machine Label Group), the trio’s 11th No. 1 with “I Run To You” for a week in July 2009 and ruled again for five weeks earned 46,000 equivalent album units, including 16,000 in album sales, ac- TRY TO ‘CATCH’ UP WITH YOUNG Brett Youngachieves his fifth consecutive on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, reigns for a second week (on the list beginning that November with “Need You Now.” Bookending its two No. 1s cording to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. and total Country Airplay No. 1 as “Catch” (Big Machine Label Group) ascends dated Jan. 16). Its audience impressions increased by 14% to 30.4 million in in the ’00s and now two in the ’20s, Lady A landed seven leaders in the ’10s Southsidethe week ending marks Jan.Hunt’s 10, secondaccording No. to 1 MRC on the Data. (“American Honey” in 2010 through2-1, increasing “Bartender” 13% to in 36.6 2014). million impressions. chart andThe threesomefourth top appeared 10.