BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 13, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 19 ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER [email protected] Bulletin SamHunt’s Southside Rules Top Country YOURAlbu DAILYms; BrettENTERTAINMENT Young ‘Catc NEWSh UPDATE’-es Fifth AirplayMARCH 12, 2021 Page 1 of 33 Leader; Travis Denning Makes History INSIDE Executive of the Week: 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 GroupWarner Nashville), debuts at No. Music 1 on Billboard’s lion Group audience impressions, Senior up 16%). VP New Top Country• Fare Play: Albums Could chart dated April 18. In its first week (ending April 9), it earnedSoundCloud’s 46,000 equivalent User- album units, including 16,000 in album sales, ac- TRY TO ‘CATCH’ UP WITH YOUNG Brett Youngachieves his fifth consecutive cordingCentric to Nielsen Streaming Music/MRC Data. Business & Venturesand total Country Airplay No. Alex 1 as “Catch” (Big Kamins Machine Label Group) ascends SouthsidePayouts Catchmarks On?Hunt’s second No. 1 on the 2-1, increasing 13% to 36.6 million impressions. chart and fourth top 10. It follows freshman LP BY DAN RYS Young’s first of six chart entries, “Sleep With- Montevallo• Are Real, which MCs arrived in at the summit in No - out You,” reached No. 2 in December 2016. He vemberGermany 2014 and Getting reigned for nine weeks. To date, followed with the multiweek No. 1s “In Case You Over the weekend, Atlantic Records band Why Don’t senior vp new business and ventures Alex Kamins — MontevalloFake hasStreams? earned 3.9 million units, with 1.4 Didn’t Know” (two weeks, June 2017), “Like I Loved million in album sales. We performed an exclusive live show of their latest who works You”with (three, Roblox January and other 2018), new “Mercy” platforms (two, August • How VR Fitness Montevallo has spent 267 weeksalbum, on the list,The tying Good Times and the Bad Ones, on online on behalf of2018) WMG’s and “Hereartists Tonight” — the title (two, of AprilBillboard 2019).’s Apps Like Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party as thegaming sixth-longest- platform Roblox, which brought together a Executive of the“Catch” Week. completes his longest journey to No. 1, Supernatural Could running titles in the chart’s 56-year history. having taken 46 weeks to reach the apex. It out- Change The Music potent mix of Why Don’t We’s younger fans with the “It was the culmination of months of hard work On the all-genre Billboard 200, Southside ar- paces the 30-week climb of “Here Tonight.” Industry platform’s huge user base, which is played by more across Warner Music Group in partnership with rives at No. 5, awarding Hunt his second top 10 On Hot Country Songs, “Catch” pushes 7-5 for than half of U.S. kidsHUNT under the age of 16, accordingYOUNG to Roblox and the band and their management — a truly after the• BlackNo. 3-peaking Artist Montevallo. a new high. the company. And — which consisted of collaborative effort,” Kamins tells Billboard. Here, HuntRepresentation first released the EPX2C , which debuted the event and peakedin Country at No. Music 5 on Top Countryfour performances Albums in August and a 2014. Q&A Following over a three dayCOMBS period ‘DOES’ heIT AGAIN discusses Luke the Combs Why’ “Does Don’t to We Me” event, (River the House/Columbia streaming MontevalloRemains, Between Woefully the Pines: —Acoustic was a Mixtapemajor success started for at its both No. the 7 high band, in theNashville), platform, featuring and merchandisingEric Church, ascends boosts 11-8 that on Country the band Airplay, earned up from10% to NovemberLow: 2015.New Study Atlantic Records and the Warner Music Group,24.7 whichmillion in audience.the collaboration The song is and Combs’ why eighthRoblox straight is one career-opening of the more Montevallo produced five singles, four of which hit the pinnacle of Country top 10, following a record run of seven consecutive out-of-the-gate, properly made an in Roblox this promising platforms for music artists moving forward. Airplay: “Leave• ‘Fortnite’ the Night On,” “Take Youreight-figure Time,” “House investment Party” and “Make promoted No. 1 singles. You MissCelebrating Me.” “Break Up in a SmallJanuary Town” as peaked part of at a No. $520 2. million funding round.Church adds his“We’re 15th Country standing Airplay on the top precipice 10. of a new golden age HuntGrammys co-penned With BTS,all 12 songs onIn Southside total, more, including than 3.2 “Body million Like players a Back visited the in the music business.” Road,”Dua which Lipa was & More released in 2017.shows, The adding smash hit up ruled to over Country 33 million Airplay minutes for THAT of inter TOOK- QUITEWhy ‘A FEW’ Don’t MONTHS We’s Roblox Travis Denning shows shattersgenerated the record more for three weeks and the airplay-, streaming- and sales-based Hot Country Songs the most weeks it has taken to penetrate the Country Airplay top 10 as “After TikTok Dance Emotes action across the weekend, according to Warner. Not than 3.2 million player visits and 33 million min- chart for a then-record 34 frames. It now ranks second only to Bebe Rexha and a Few” (Mercury Nashville) climbs 12-10 in its 57th week, up 4% to 21.4 mil - Florida• Indie Georgia Venues Line Plan’s “Meant tobad Be” for (50 a weeksband atopthat theearned latter its list first in 2017-18). No. 1 albumlion inon radioBill- reach.utes of interaction across the weekend. What key “Downtown’sMarquee Campaign Dead,” which isboard also ’s onTop the new Album set, reachedSales chart Nos. in14 andJanuary 15 withThe the song surpassesdecisions two tracks did you that make took 50 to weeks help each make to enterthis partner the top 10:- on Hot Countryfor One-Year Songs and Countryrelease, Airplay, and respectively, for a platform in June that 2018. debuted “Kin -on theEaston New Corbin ’sship “A Girl a success? Like You,” which reached No. 10 in January 2018 be- folks” Anniversaryled Country Airplay of on Feb.York 29, Stock becoming Exchange Hunt’s this seventh week No. in 1. a Itdirect hit listingfore peaking that at No.As 6 that part February, of the business and Aaron development Watson’s “Outta team, Style,” I’m which No. 3 on HotShutdown Country Songs. achieved its No. 10 high in December 2017. carried a $41.9 billion valuation. And the success of looking at every aspect of experiences we put together Latest single “Hard to Forget” jumps 17-9 on Hot Country Songs. It’s his “After” is Denning’s second Country Airplay entry. “David Ashley Parker the collaboration has earned Warner Music Group’s (continued) eighth top 10, having corralled 8.2 million U.S. streams (up 96%) and 5,000 in From Powder Springs” traveled to No. 32 in September 2018. ETHAN MICHAEL YOUNG: VIA MARTIN/NHLI GETTY HUNT: IMAGES. IMAGES MILLER/GETTY BEST ACTRESS GOLDEN GLOBES WINNER THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY NEW SINGLE “TIGRESS & TWEED” FROM THE MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK: THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY OUT NOW ! BRAND NEW ALBUM COMING SOON! LOVE, YOUR WARNER RECORDS FAMILY Page 3 of 33 IN BRIEF within the broader interactive media space. partnerships are forged over time and built we’re writing the playbook in real time. From deal negotiations to creative execu- on a shared and forward-facing vision. Each integration is a first-of-its-kind and tion, our focus is on delivering value for our What streaming and social data did you so it’s critical we learn and iterate rapidly, artists and ensuring that content feels native guys see stemming from the shows? something we’re very good at. The Why to each platform. Atlantic raised that Why There was an uptick in the band’s social Don’t We event leveraged our experience Don’t We grew up playing Roblox, and we media engagement, and a boost on YouTube from the Ava Max launch party in Septem- know their fans are active gamers, so the where Roblox has a strong presence. It’s ber, and the next launch party will build on integration made sense. I think a huge part very early days for in-game social music ex- key lessons learned from both. of its success was an emphasis on creating periences and we’re still in experimentation In every instance, meticulous attention to a fun world for fans. Beyond the band’s in- mode, testing the best ways to drive value detail is essential. Roblox users are digital credible performance and Q&A on the main for our artists through the interconnectiv- natives — they are incredibly discerning screen, we spent significant time designing ity between the gaming, social and music consumers and they expect high-quality and implementing mini-games like quests, ecosystems. We take a holistic view of what content. As stewards of the Warner Music challenges and scavenger hunts. a win looks like for a virtual event, factoring Group brand, as well as the brands of our How did the collaboration come to- in things like revenue generated and level of labels and our artists, we are adamant that gether? audience engagement. With all this in mind, whatever we create reflects the highest Warner Music Group invested in Roblox the experience was a huge success. quality and delivers a premium experience. earlier this year, and we’ve been in con- There was also a merch component.