Country Update BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS JANUARY 13, 2020 | PAGE 1 OF 18 INSIDE BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE
[email protected] ‘What If’ Lady A Luke Combs Sails As Country Is No. 1 >page 5 Continues Shift To Streaming In 2019 Blake Shelton Leads Country Country music’s consumers continued the dramatic shift from growth of 29% to 1.147 trillion streams. Equivalent album Grammy Crew traditional consumption avenues to the new streaming model units likewise grew by nearly 15% to 54.6 million units, a >page 10 in 2019, but Luke Combs is a master of both. larger percentage than the total industry’s 11% uptick to Combs’ debut and sophomore albums held two of the top 678 million units. three positions during the last year, Audio ownership continued its according to Nielsen Music, whether decline. Country track sales slid 22% Tanya Tucker, Friends measuring by legacy sales standards to 35.2 million units, a drop that was Bring It At Ryman or by equivalent units, which consider less steep than the industry at large, >page 11 both traditional sales and streams via which slipped 25% to 301 million subscription services. His first album, units. Country album sales similarly This One’s for You, ranks No. 1 on the contracted by 22% to 10.8 million, Reba McEntire On Top Country Albums list while his greater than the overall industry’s 19% A Pedestal second album, What You See Is What dip to 112.8 million units. You Get, logs in at No. 3. Even though Nielsen Music/MRC Data’s 2019 >page 11 the Nov.