Country Update BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS JANUARY 14, 2019 | PAGE 1 OF 18 INSIDE BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE [email protected] Dustin Lynch’s Country Consumption Up In 2018 ‘Good’ News >page 4 As Shift To Streaming Continues Garth Fan Gets Settlement Buy it. Stream it. Watch the video. albums hit 617.98 million, up a whopping 23 percent from 2017. >page 8 Fans have multiple ways to consume music in 2019, and Streaming growth contributed mightily to those bumps. in appropriate fashion, three different artists led four year- Country amassed 50.88 billion streams, a 46 percent inflation end Nielsen Music country lists for 2018 with Luke Combs, over the 2017 numbers. That performance slightly outpaced Florida Georgia Line and Jason Aldean feeling the love on the overall industry, which counted 901 billion streams, a Loretta Lynn’s different platforms. 43 percent increase. All-Star Birthday Actual product sales were down by double digits as consumers FGL’s collaboration with pop singer Bebe Rexha, “Meant >page 9 continue to move in overwhelming numbers to streaming. to Be,” benefited most from that growth as a runaway winner On balance, overall in both on-demand consumption — streaming and measured through digital downloads. Brad Paisley audio-equivalent It racked up 721.6 Has A Field Day album units, which million streams, >page 9 is a combination of outpacing Brown’s album sales, track- “Heaven,” which equivalent album landed at No. 2 Makin’ Tracks: sales and on-demand with 470.5 million Kane Brown’s audio streaming — streams. (Due to an grew by 10 percent for internal technical ‘Good As You’ FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE and REXHA >page 13 country, which racked error, the original up 48.38 million version of this story audio-equivalent album units. omitted “Meant to Be” from the list.) Brown’s “What Ifs,” a Combs, Aldean, Kane Brown and Chris Stapleton titles duet with Lauren Alaina, was listed as No. 5 among 2018’s Country Coda: fared best in that multipoint hybrid measurement, with on-demand country streams, just a year after placing at No. 3. Conlee’s ‘Eyes’ Stapleton landing two albums — 2015’s Traveller and 2017’s “Meant to Be” easily owned the Digital Songs championship In Focus From A Room: Volume 1 — among the top 10. Combs topped for the year, accruing more than 1 million downloads. >page 18 the heap with 1.075 million audio-equivalent units of This Aldean’s “You Make It Easy” earned 598,000 downloads to One’s for You. claim the No. 2 slot, edging out “Heaven,” which accumulated Country moved in the same direction as the total industry, 589,000 downloads. though not as dramatically. Total industry audio-equivalent Country registered 46.05 million track sales in 2018, a ASSOCIATION MUSIC COUNTRY COURTESY / JONES DONN #1 NEW AND ACTIVE 51 First Week Stations WNSH – KKGO – WEBG – WUBL – WXTU – WBWL – WKLB – KMLE – KNIX – KYGO WFUS – WQYK – WJVC – KUPL – WKKT – WSOC – WDSY – WPGB – WOGI – KSOP KUBL – KCYE – KWNR – KBEQ – KRTY – WMIL – WUSH – WGNE – WQIK – WTQR – WIRK WNOE – WWYZ – WKHK – WKMK – WKLI – KHGE – WCTQ – WRBT - WOGK – KXLY WTHT – KJUG – WKXC – WXBQ – WQHK – KKIX – WKML – KPLM – KTOM – KBUL BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JANUARY 14, 2019 | PAGE 2 OF 18 steep 33 percent drop from the prior year. The industry’s total volume of downloaded tracks likewise dipped with the 411.5 million total, representing a 27 percent decline. Aldean’s Rearview Town ruled country’s album sales, the most traditional form of transactions in the current consumption scheme. It accrued 463,000 purchases to outdistance Carrie Underwood’s Cry Pretty (No. 2, 401,000 sales) and Keith Urban’s Graffiti U (No. 3, 273,000 sales). Stapleton nailed down the No. 4-6 positions with Traveller and both volumes of From A Room. Country totaled 14.14 million album sales in 2018, receding 28.5 percent from its 2017 numbers. That percentage was larger than the industry as a whole, which logged 141.4 million album sales, a 17.7 percent decline. Nielsen Music’s 2018 tracking year ran from Dec. 29, 2017, through Jan. 3, 2019, a quirk in the calendar that covered 53 chart weeks instead of the usual 52. For comparison, Nielsen Music used a 53-week year to represent 2017: Dec. 30, 2016, through Jan. 4, 2018. Thus, the 2017 statistical base for this story is slightly different than the numbers that were compiled a year ago, based on the official 52-week calendar. Following are the 10 best-selling country albums and tracks for 2018, as well as the genre’s 10 most-streamed titles: Chris Young stopped by Cumulus’ Nashville office to promote his new single, “Raised On Country,” on The Ty Bentli Show. From left: Bentli, Top Country Albums, Total Audio-Equivalent Units, 2018 Young and Cumulus personality Chuck Wicks. 1) Luke Combs, This One’s for You 1,075,000 2) Jason Aldean, Rearview Town 915,000 3) Kane Brown, Kane Brown 820,000 4) Chris Stapleton, Traveller 733,000 5) Thomas Rhett, Life Changes 635,000 6) Carrie Underwood, Cry Pretty 590,000 7) Dan + Shay, Dan + Shay 570,000 8) Brett Young, Brett Young 523,000 9) Chris Stapleton, From A Room, Volume 1 441,000 10) Luke Bryan, What Makes You Country 441,000 Top-Selling Country Albums, 2018 1) Jason Aldean, Rearview Town 463,000 2) Carrie Underwood, Cry Pretty 401,000 3) Keith Urban, Graffiti U 273,000 4) Chris Stapleton, From A Room, Volume 2 249,000 5) Chris Stapleton, Traveller 245,000 6) Chris Stapleton, From A Room, Volume 1 230,000 7) Luke Combs, This One’s for You 223,000 8) Kane Brown, Kane Brown 199,000 9) Alan Jackson, Precious Memories Collection 186,000 10) Dierks Bentley, The Mountain 181,000 Maren Morris visited with Jimmie Allen (right) met with Top-Selling Country Digital Songs, 2018 SiriusXM host Buzz Brainard WQMX Akron, Ohio, PD Ken 1) Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line, “Meant to Be” 1,042,000 on the satcaster’s channel The Steel when he played the Dusty 2) Jason Aldean, “You Make It Easy” 598,000 Highway. Armadillo in nearby Rootstown. 3) Kane Brown, “Heaven” 589,000 4) Dan + Shay , “Tequila” 509,000 5) Thomas Rhett, “Marry Me” 365,000 6) Florida Georgia Line, “Simple” 364,000 7) Brett Young, “Mercy” 352,000 8) Chris Stapleton, “Broken Halos” 334,000 9) Chris Stapleton, “Tennessee Whiskey” 332,000 10) Kenny Chesney, “Get Along” 320,000 Most-Streamed Country Songs, 2018 (By Total On-Demand Streaming, Audio and Video Combined) 1) Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line, “Meant to Be” 721,618,000 2) Kane Brown, “Heaven” 470,494,000 3) Dan + Shay, “Tequila” 354,587,000 4) Chris Stapleton, “Tennessee Whiskey” 340,814,000 5) Kane Brown feat. Lauren Alaina, “What Ifs” 313,430,000 6) Thomas Rhett, “Marry Me” 308,375,000 7) Sam Hunt, “Body Like a Back Road” 272,741,000 Carlton Anderson dropped by the Billboard office in Nashville to play 8) Jason Aldean, “You Make It Easy” 249,390,000 new music for the staff. From left: Anderson, Billboard contributor 9) Luke Combs, “When It Rains It Pours” 232,052,000 Deborah Evans Price and Morris Higham day-to-day manager Robert 10) Brett Young, “In Case You Didn’t Know” 226,996,000 Filhart. PHOTOGLO ANN LEE ANDERSON: “STUNNING! It’s an acoustic ballad that will hit you smack in the middle of your heart. Exquisitely written and performed. An illustration of country music greatness drawn by a master of the genre.” –ROBERT K. OERMANN IMPACTING NOW BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JANUARY 14, 2019 | PAGE 4 OF 18 ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER [email protected] Dustin Lynch Lands Sixth No. 1 On Country Airplay Chart — And First As A Writer — With ‘Good Girl’ Dustin Lynch’s “Good Girl” (Broken Bow) ascends 2-1 on Billboard’s “Speechless” scores a 10th week atop Country Digital Song Sales (14,000 Country Airplay chart (dated Jan. 19), up 11 percent to 41.2 million audience sold, down 13 percent), holds at its No. 2 high on Country Streaming Songs impressions in the tracking week ending Jan. 13, according to Nielsen Music. (11.3 million U.S. streams, up 8 percent) and dips to No. 2 after four weeks The song becomes his sixth Country Airplay No. 1 and first as a writer. atop Country Airplay (38.4 million audience impressions). He co-authored it with Justin Ebach, who notches the second No. 1 he has penned, and Andy Albert, who achieves his first. BRYAN ‘MAKES’ TOP 10 Luke Bryan’s “What Makes You Country” (Capitol “Shout-out to all of you who continue to support and believe,” Lynch tells Nashville) rises 11-10 on Country Airplay, increasing by 4 percent to Billboard. “Before we even had the lyric finished 26.6 million audience impressions. on this song, I knew it was a special one, and, man, It is Bryan’s 27th Country Airplay top 10, it has been. What a way to kick off 2019.” a total that includes 20 No. 1s. He ties Carrie “Good Girl” — the lead single from his Underwood for 15th place among all acts for upcoming fourth full-studio album — is Lynch’s the most top 10s, dating to the chart’s launch first Country Airplay No. 1 since “Small Town 29 years ago this week (Jan. 20, 1990). George Boy,” which led for four weeks starting in Strait leads, with 61 top 10s. September 2017. Before that, he reigned with Bryan is working on a streak of 13 straight “Seein’ Red” (February 2017, one week), “Mind Country Airplay leaders, the longest active run Reader” (2016, one), “Hell of a Night” (2015, one) among all artists.