No Underdog Watson Debuts At No. 1; Oscars Lift Campbell

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1 Country BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS INSIDE Makin Tracks: Cam s My Mistake >page 2 Stark Report: Why Does Radio Need Promotion? >page 3 Questions Answered: WSIX Nashville PD Michael Bryan >page 4 Five To Join Country Radio Hall >page 4 Big D & Bubba, WUSN Chicago Lead ACM List >page 4 EDITED BY TOM ROLAND, tom.roland@billboard.com MID UPDATE FEBRUARY 26, 205 PAGE OF 7 WADE JESSEN wade.jessen@billboard.com No Underdog Watson Debuts At No. ; Oscars Lift Campbell Texas/red-dirt touring-circuit veteran Aaron Watson becomes the first solo male of the Nielsen Music era (99-present) to debut at No. on Billboard s Top Country Albums chart with a self-released and independently distributed/promoted studio album, as The Underdog (BIG Label/ Thirty Tigers) starts with 26,000 copies sold, his best-ever sales week. Among all acts in that span, Watson is the second to bow atop the chart with such a set, following Martina McBride s Everlasting (April 26, 204). Reinforcing his touring appeal, Watson is also the only artist to debut at the Top Country Albums summit, excluding collaborative, seasonal and comedy sets, without charting previously on the Country Airplay chart. (To further explain the qualifiers, Lionel Richie reigned over that chart with his collaborative Tuskegee in 202, which only later yielded a Country Airplay chart entry. Meanwhile, The Robertsons and Larry the Cable Guy have also topped the albums list, marking two novelty-based acts who wouldn t necessarily be expected to appear on the airplay ranking.) The Underdog marks Watson s 0th studio release (in addition to two live albums) and his sixth to reach Top Country Albums. It surpasses Watson s previous best rank and weekly sum, set when Real Good Time debuted and peaked at No. 9 with 6,000 copies (Oct. 27, 202). That Look, the new set s lead single, charted for a week (Nov., 204) at No. 4 on the Hot Country Songs chart; it became his lone WATSON entry to date on Country Digital Songs the same week, debuting and peaking at No. 0 with 9,000 downloads sold. It has shifted 39,000 to date. Watson is also the top debut at No. 44 on the Billboard Artist 00 (viewable on Billboard.com/biz). The chart ranks the top acts of all genres each week with a methodology that combines sales, airplay, streaming and social data. Meanwhile, Tim McGraw s performance on the Feb. 22 Academy Awards (broadcast on CBS) of Glen Campbell s Oscar-nominated I m Not Gonna Miss You (Big Machine) returns Campbell s recording of the ballad to Hot Country Songs, where it re-enters at No. 37. The track had previously peaked at No. 2 (Nov., 204). Miss returns to Country Digital Songs at new peak (No. 22; 2,000 sold, up 63 percent). Concurrently, Glen Campbell: I ll Be Me (the soundtrack to the documentary of the same name) bows at No. 20 on Top Country Albums (3,000).

2 BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE FEBRUARY 26, 205 PAGE 2 OF 7 MAKIN TRACKS TOM ROLAND tom.roland@billboard.com Cam s My Mistake Puts The Past Into Current Perspective The multilayered, a cappella harmony vocals give it a stark Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers Band opening. The first verse s depiction of a bar stocked with tourists and locals feels like a classic Toby Keith portrait. Russ Pahl s tangy three-note steel guitar figure in the chorus owes a debt to Brooks & Dunn s Ain t Nothing Bout You. And the undulating piano-tinged texture sounds remarkably similar to Fun s anthemic Grammy-winning track We Are Young. My Mistake, the debut single by Arista artist Cam (given name Camaron Ochs), is at once fresh and familiar, that rare mix of daring and comfort that s often the hallmark of a hit. We re not trying to make music that nobody s ever heard before. We re just trying to make country music for 205 and on, says producer Tyler Johnson (OneRepublic, Taylor Swift). I m a huge fan of the past and what s been done. What s so important to me is that it s not just about making something brand-new, it s also about rearticulating something in a new way. Appropriately, My Mistake re-articulates the classic country theme of a broken heart, set in a classic country location: a nightclub. And Cam wasn t just playing with words when she started it. She was reflecting on her own reality when wrote the chorus in the apartment she occupied at the time in Los Angeles. I knew a relationship I was in was ending, she recalls. So I wrote the beginning part of that chorus: Just another heartache in waiting/just another sweet-talking dream that ends in lonely nights. And then I went upstairs to Tyler Johnson s apartment one floor above me and recorded that chorus in his little home studio. When I got to the end I was thinking, Gosh, this is so sad. This isn t really as fun and relatable as I had kind of hoped. On the other hand, she could find a silver lining: The guy might have been a mistake, but, as the close of the refrain notes, He s my mistake to make all night. I added that last tagline as ownership of what I was going through, she notes. It was the part that of the song that won Johnson over and he needed to believe in it to get it completed. They kept revising My Mistake periodically during the next year-and-a-half. We had reason to work on the verses, he says. That chorus was so strong and expressed something so important, which is the idea of owning up to your mistakes, but being casual about it. Being light-hearted about it is such a great message, but I was like, We have to get these verses right. Cam and Johnson worked through it in multiple settings. In addition to writing time in California, they hashed out pieces of My Mistake at a couple of Nashville hangouts near Vanderbilt, Café Coco and the Gold Rush. The latter, on Elliston Place, inspired a bit of a Piano Man vibe. Along the way, they made several recordings one in Los Angeles with a full band; another at the Castle in Franklin, Tenn.; then another L.A. session in which executive producer Jeff Bhasker (Fun, Bruno Mars) turned it into something of a piano ballad. It would not be the final version, but it was a key point in the journey of My Mistake. It could be stripped down with no production, and it really stood on its own, notes Johnson. That was when we knew we had the songwriting done. It had some subtly clever moments. The end of the second verse varies from the opening stanza, providing Cam another extended a cappella note. And the bridge matches her with a potential new boyfriend, debating as the bar shuts down if they have a future. It sounds a lot like a one-night stand an interpretation that neither Cam nor Johnson intended though they eventually accepted it could be read that way. If that s what it needs to be, then that s the best version for you, says Cam. Ultimately, they recorded it a fourth time at John and Martina McBride s Blackbird Studios with Glen Duncan on bouzouki and Tom Bukovac adding plenty of creative electric guitar tones. Bhasker laid down another piano track, and once it was completed, he suggested a new drum beat that might pull it all together. They enlisted Steve Jordan (John Mayer Trio, Sheryl Crow) to overlay that part and give it a final injection of energy. Cam felt she was being tested as she recorded the final vocals since as opposed to a karaoke song, where there s a definitive version to emulate she would be adding the nuances that, with any luck, would make a final imprint on the public. All those trained decisions you make about inflections and ends of phrases, I had to decide, CAM she says. There was nothing to lean on, so it was a little bit of a lonely walk forward as you start proving yourself. Cam overdubbed most of the 6 harmony parts on the a cappella sections, with Johnson adding a couple voices for sonic depth. On some of the tracks, he lowered the pitch of the lead voice before she sang harmony. Then he reset the parts to the proper pitch, in essence changing the timbre of her harmonies. When you speed up a tape player, the voice gets all squeaky, he explains. If you do it to a minor amount, it adds this energy and this punch. Recommended by WSIX Nashville PD Michael Bryan, Cam signed with Arista in mid-204, when My Mistake was still in its piano-ballad form. Once it reached its final format, it jumped into the fray as a potential first single. It s kind of like one of those races on the Jumbotron in the middle of a baseball game where red pulls ahead, and then blue, and it just kind of kept going back and forth between probably three to five different songs, she says. Multiple parties ultimately agreed that My Mistake was the right choice. When she started performing out, you could see that one kept rising to the top, says Sony Music Nashville chairman/ceo Gary Overton. Arista officially released it to radio via Play MPE on Feb. 2. Enough stations went on it early that it charted a month before the official add date. My Mistake is currently at No. 56 in its second week on Country Airplay. Sony believes it s just the beginning of Cam s story, which could take some different paths she s actually co-signed by Arista Nashville with RCA in New York. Whatever uncertainties that creates are right in line with the life lessons in My Mistake. When we re really getting down to it, says Cam, the whole thing is about moving forward when you don t have all the answers. KRISTIN BARLOWE

3 BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE FEBRUARY 26, 205 PAGE 3 OF 7 THE STARK REPORT PHYLLIS STARK phyllis.stark@billboard.com Why Must Country Singles Be Worked To Be Played? When Brandy Clark teamed up with Dwight Yoakam on the Feb. 7 Grammy Awards to perform her album track Hold My Hand, it was a revelatory moment for many in country radio. Based on the chatter on social media that night, many programmers discovered or came to appreciate Clark for the first time in that moment, even though her single Stripes got a bit of attention in 203 when she was still signed to tiny indie label Slate Creek Records. (In November 204 she shifted to Warner Bros. Records, but was signed to the label s Burbank division, not its Nashville branch.) Some broadcasters posed telling questions on Facebook on Grammy night like this one from an CLARK assistant PD/music director: Why does no one work Brandy Clark music? That question raises another: Why should it matter? With as much love as there appeared to be for Clark among country programmers in the wake of the Grammys, there was no corresponding spike in airplay for any of her songs in the week after the show, when Hold My Hand got just spins on monitored country stations, six of those from one outlet (KRTY San Jose, Calif.). Warner Bros. serviced Hold My Hand to radio via Play MPE the day after the show, but it s unclear what radio formats it was ed to and whether country was among them. (Clark s Nashville team hadn t gotten an answer about that from Burbank by press time.) Unusually, the Play MPE notification which came with the subject line Who is Brandy Clark?! included neither an impact date nor label contact information, giving it what one radio industry insider called the softest possible launch. But the questions remain: If radio finds an act like Clark that it loves, why can t or won t it go off the menu and play something it s not being worked by Nashville record promoters? And how much, if any, musical discovery is still happening at terrestrial radio outside the normal channels? The answers center on some of the things radio is most often criticized for: politics, centralized programming decisions and busy programmers lack of time to devote to music discovery. Veteran country radio consultant Joel Raab admits, Sometimes music decisions are made for political reasons. So naturally songs that are worked are often more likely to get airplay... About two years ago I was on a music call with a station, and the moment happened when we all realized that our adds, drops, etc. were being too political. We continued to do the call by making the adds we thought were only the best for the audience at that moment and tuning out other factors. Some people got upset. Realistically, you can t completely tune out the politics, he continues. [Radio and music companies] have to work together but never lose sight of the notion that the best music is what needs to go on the air. A country assistant PD/music director who works for one of the big three radio chains says, For many of us, we don t have the approval to just play a record we love. It is the bane of corporate radio. She says that just a few years ago, her station would have easily added an artist like Clark following an attentiongrabbing awards show performance. Now, however, We can t do that anymore. We were much better [music] champions several years ago, she says. Not so much today. But then we had the freedom to add songs without corporate oversight. It is my hope that radio can get back to that and programmers can find artists that they believe are deserving of airplay. One of the best things in our profession is seeing a young artist you believe in go to the heights of the biz and knowing that you had a small hand in exposing them. Radio consultant Pam Shane, who works with many independently owned stations, says it s more a question of time constraints than corporate oversight for her clients. I think the principal reason radio in general wants to be worked is that people involved in music decisions have so much else to do that they no longer can spend the time listening, making comparisons and then choosing intelligently to find music that will interest their listeners, she says. KPLX (the Wolf) Dallas assistant PD/music director Smokey Rivers also cites lack of time on the programmers part for the lack of musical discovery. It s nice to know that if we are going to give up a valuable portion of our playlist real estate that we re not alone, he says. We want to know that there is some real substantial effort going on to give the artist and project some traction. Otherwise, we re just preaching to our own choir about a song. While you may want to champion a single once in a while, most times you want to know that there is a plan going on behind it. Edison Research vp music and programming Sean Ross notes that programmers sticking to playing what s being worked is an issue in every format, not just country. Even with the phenomenal, a label has to follow up and impact a record or nothing happens, he says. Top 40 doesn t play organically developing YouTube oddities but when there s a major [label] involved, and they ask for the order, it will play Gangnam Style. Ross dates the end of the enterprising PD or MD back to the time of the Eliot Spitzer payola crackdown. Even though the real problem was PDs and groups playing whatever it takes label priorities, it was somehow made to look like the PD who went off the menu had gone rogue, he says of that time. The irony was that these were songs that were being added for the right reasons because listeners wanted them, and not because there was label money. In country, it s probably worse because there are so many planes stacked up at any given time, waiting for half a year to even get out of lunar [rotation], continues Ross. Brandy Clark would be a 46-week process under the easiest circumstances. If the label doesn t want to go through that, a PD doesn t want to get screamed at for taking a slot from the label that does want the add. Shane thinks the rise of automation is another contributing factor for the dearth of musical discovery. There is a lack of talking one on one with listeners in contemporary radio that leads to leaving them out of the equation, she says. If every station still had live jocks who take phone calls, then radio would hear lots more about people like Brandy. Rivers cites Nielsen s Portable People Meter as another component. We re getting so much information now that reaffirms the old adage that what you don t play won t hurt you that stations are sticking closer to home with familiar artists and themes Programmers can t spend a lot of time waiting for an artist or song to catch on. In next week s column, we hear from one such county radio pro KRTY GM Nate Deaton who not only added Hold My Hand after Clark s Grammy performance, but routinely goes off the menu to find hits on his own.

4 BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE FEBRUARY 26, 205 PAGE 4 OF 7 QUESTIONS Answered Michael Bryan Senior vp programming, With Country Radio Seminar underway in Nashville, tons of programmers from the genre will naturally check out what s airing on the dial in Music City, which means WSIX Nashville PD Michael Bryan will have his work under a microscope. The son of a Greenville, Tenn., broadcaster, Bryan s journey has taken him to at least five states. He works with six stations in the Nashville cluster and is executive PD of The Bobby Bones Show, which this month marks two years in syndication through Premiere Networks. A member of the 205 class of Leadership Music, he s a panelist at the Feb. 27 CRS session Unlocking the Secrets to Successful Music Scheduling. What is it like programming a country station in Nashville during CRS? Programming a country station in Nashville as a whole is very interesting in comparison to programming it anywhere else because of the industry being here. All eyes and ears are on us at all times... CRS isn t any different. We always try to focus on the best thing to do for the audience and not worry that there s a couple extra thousand program directors in town. You always want to impress industry folks, too, but really, it s the audience that matters. I imagine that there s pressure in Nashville to add things that, in any other city, you wouldn t be feeling as much. There s pressure to add music no matter what radio station you re at. The pressure is just from different sources here. So while it might be a regional promo guy in a different market, it might be the regional promo guy, the national promo guy, the vp of promotion and the CEO of the label [here]. It s a little bit of a different level of pressure, but I learned a long time ago that I just have to be honest and do the best I can and use my gut. As long as I m not telling them one thing and doing something else, I m in good shape. Country isn t the only format that you oversee. With all of that attention coming to you from that business, how do you make sure that you re still focusing on other iheart brands as well? You have to have really good people, and so I have great program directors that handle different formats. My role is the strategic question-asker, and I try to make sure that I m as looped in as I can possibly be, but at the same time, they have to be able to do their job. As long as that happens then the system works well. How do you handle The Bobby Bones Show? You re overseeing the local market here, but now you have to be thinking about a show that s national in scope. I ve spent a great deal of my career managing talent, so I don t view it a lot differently than that. The number of people that we have to work with and the tools that we have for that show is certainly greater than what you would get in a local market, typically, and the exposure is at a higher level. I look at it almost like programming a different radio station as well. It s a totally different beast than any other radio station, but it also is really nicely aligned with what we do on WSIX as a whole. So I try to integrate it like a local show I mean, it is a local show for Nashville but at the same time, be mindful of what we may need in Boston or what we may need in Tampa. When I listen, it seems like at every break he leaves a cliffhanger, and I m assuming that that s what you want him to do for the Portable People Meter. Teasing makes a big difference, and leaving the audience wanting more you can t give them the whole storyline. If you see television shows, especially dramas, they end with you wondering what s going to happen next week. It s not just for PPM, it s for people s entertainment. We want them to listen longer, so you do whatever you can to tell them what s coming up, to give them a taste of what s going to happen so it forces them to spend more time with us. That s our goal, is to entertain at such a level that they keep coming back over and over and over. Tom Roland MID NEWS UPDATE FIVE ADDED TO COUNTRY RADIO HALL Country Radio Hall of Fame inductees were unveiled Feb. 25 during the opening ceremonies at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville with the newbies hearing their names read by surprise hosts Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. The 205 class, which will be inducted June 24, includes consultant Joel Raab; former WUSY Chattanooga, Tenn., GM/market manager Sammy George; KBEQ Kansas City, Mo., PD Mike Kennedy; KAJA San Antonio personality Randy Carroll; and WMIL Milwaukee talent Karen Dallesandro. Since Nashville began building the Music City Center, Mayor Karl Dean has annually suggested in opening remarks at Country Radio Seminar that the confab leave the Nashville Convention Center. It will leave in 206 but not for the MCC. Instead, CRS is headed to the Omni Nashville Hotel, a building that s integrated with the Country Music Hall of Fame. Next year s edition runs Feb. 7-0, a time slot that drew groans from CRS attendees: Feb. 7 is also the date of the Super Bowl. Syndicated morning show The Big D & Bubba won the national on-air personality honor and WUSN Chicago was represented in two categories as the Academy of Country Music unveiled its Radio Award winners for 205. WUSN was named major-market radio station of the year, and Lisa Dent & Ramblin Ray took majormarket air personality. Other winning personalities included Big Dave, Chelsie and Stattman, WUBE Cincinnati (large market); Steve & Gina, KXKT Omaha, Neb. (medium market); BIG D & BUBBA and Gator, Styckman and Cowboy Kyle, WUSY Chattanooga, Tenn. (small market). Radio stations include WWKA Orlando, Fla. (large market); WQMX Akron,Ohio (medium market); and KCLR Columbia, Mo. (small market). Emmis chairman Jeff Smulyan was presented the Tom Rivers Humanitarian Award during opening ceremonies at the Country Radio Seminar, while Lady Antebellum accepted the Artist Humanitarian Honor. Lady A pointed out in its acceptance speech that it took a cue from country radio s community service efforts, eventually establishing its own foundation, LadyAid. We re all a part of something bigger, said band member Hillary Scott.

5 BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE FEBRUARY 26, 205 PAGE 5 OF 7 Hot Country Songs TWO S AGO PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) Artist IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED l 7 TAKE YOUR TIME No. (3 weeks) Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) l MAKE ME WANNA Thomas Rhett J.JOYCE (THOMAS RHETT,B.BUTLER,L.MCCOY) VALORY l LONELY TONIGHT Blake Shelton Featuring Ashley Monroe S.HENDRICKS (B.ANDERSON,R.HURD) WARNER BROS./WMN I SEE YOU Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,L.LAIRD,A.GORLEY) SUN DAZE Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (C.R.BARLOWE,J.FRASURE,S.BUXTON,T.HUBBARD,B.KELLEY) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 0 3 l MEAN TO ME Brett Eldredge L.LAIRD (B.ELDREDGE,SCOOTER CARUSOE) ATLANTIC/WMN 6 l AIN T WORTH THE WHISKEY Cole Swindell M.CARTER (C.SWINDELL,A.SANDERS,J.MARTIN) WARNER BROS./WMN l JUST GETTIN STARTED Jason Aldean M.KNOX (C. DESTEFANO,R.AKINS,A.GORLEY) BROKEN BOW l LIKE A COWBOY Randy Houser D.GEORGE (R.HOUSER,B.LONG) STONEY CREEK l HOMEGROWN Zac Brown Band J.JOYCE,Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,W.DURRETTE,N.MOON) VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND l DRINKING CLASS Lee Brice M.MCCLURE,K.JACOBS,L.BRICE (J.KEAR,D.FRASIER,E.M.HILL) CURB l LONELY EYES Chris Young J.STROUD (J.BULFORD,J.MATTHEWS,L.VELTZ) RCA NASHVILLE l HOMEGROWN HONEY Darius Rucker F.ROGERS (D.RUCKER,C.KELLEY,N.CHAPMAN) l SAY YOU DO Dierks Bentley R. COPPERMAN (M.RAMSEY,S.MCANALLY,T. ROSEN) TALLADEGA Eric Church J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,L.LAIRD) EMI NASHVILLE l TAKE IT ON BACK Chase Bryant D.GEORGE,C.BRYANT (C.BRYANT,T.L.JAMES,D.ALTMAN) RED BOW l A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR Tyler Farr J.CATINO,J.KING (M.PEIRCE,J.SINGLETON,B.TURSI) COLUMBIA NASHVILLE SOMETHING IN THE WATER Carrie Underwood M.BRIGHT (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,BRETT JAMES) 9/ARISTA NASHVILLE SHOTGUN RIDER Tim McGraw B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (H.LINDSEY,M.GREEN,T.VERGES) MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE l WHAT WE AIN T GOT Jake Owen J.MOI (T.J.GOFF,T.MEADOWS) RCA NASHVILLE LITTLE RED WAGON Miranda Lambert F.LIDDELL,C.AINLAY,G.WORF (A.MAE,GINSBERG J.) RCA NASHVILLE 4 l SMOKE A Thousand Horses D.COBB (M.HOBBY,J.M.NITE,R.COPPERMAN) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 22 l RAISE EM UP Airplay Gainer Keith Urban Featuring Eric Church N.CHAPMAN,K.URBAN (J.JOHNSTON,J.STEELE,T.DOUGLAS) HIT RED/ l GIRL CRUSH Little Big Town J.JOYCE (L.ROSE,L.MCKENNA,H.LINDSEY) l SHE DON T LOVE YOU Eric Paslay M.ALTMAN (E.PASLAY,J.WAYNE) EMI NASHVILLE PEAK POSITION

6 BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE FEBRUARY 26, 205 PAGE 6 OF 7 Hot Country Songs TWO S Artist AGO PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED l DON T IT Digital Gainer Billy Currington D.HUFF (J.JOHNSTON,A.GORLEY,R.COPPERMAN) MERCURY TRAILER HITCH Kristian Bush K.BUSH,T.TAPLEY (K.BUSH,B.BUSH,T.OWENS) STREAMSOUND l LOVE YOU LIKE THAT Canaan Smith B.BEAVERS,J.ROBBINS (C.SMITH,B.BEAVERS,J.BEAVERS) MERCURY l LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT Kelsea Ballerini F.G.WHITEHEAD (K.BALLERINI,J.KERR,F.G.WHITEHEAD,L.CARPENTER) BLACK RIVER l WILD CHILD Kenny Chesney With Grace Potter B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (K.CHESNEY,S.MCANALLY,J.OSBORNE) BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE FREESTYLE Lady Antebellum N.CHAPMAN,LADY ANTEBELLUM (D.HAYWOOD,C.KELLEY,H.SCOTT,S.MCANALLY) l BABY BE MY LOVE SONG Easton Corbin C.CHAMBERLAIN (J.COLLINS,BRETT JAMES) MERCURY l LITTLE TOY GUNS Carrie Underwood M.BRIGHT (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,H.LINDSEY) 9/ARISTA NASHVILLE l DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOLS Tim McGraw With Catherine Dunn B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (L.LAIRD,B.DEAN,J.SINGLETON) MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE l LAY LOW Josh Turner F.ROGERS (R.COPPERMAN,T.MARTIN,M.NESLER) l ONE HELL OF AN AMEN Brantley Gilbert D.HUFF (B.GILBERT,M.DEKLE,B.DAVIS) VALORY l 37 RE-ENTRY 3 I M NOT GONNA MISS YOU Glen Campbell J.RAYMOND (J.RAYMOND,G.CAMPBELL) BIG MACHINE l DRUNK AMERICANS Toby Keith T.KEITH,B.PINSON (B.CLARK,B.DIPIERO,S.MCANALLY) SHOW DOG NASHVILLE l I M TO BLAME Streaming Gainer Kip Moore B.JAMES (K.MOORE,J.WEAVER,W.DAVIS) l CRUSHIN IT Brad Paisley L.WOOTEN,B.PAISLEY (B.PAISLEY,K.LOVELACE,L.T.MILLER) ARISTA NASHVILLE l RIOT Rascal Flatts J.DEMARCUS,RASCAL FLATTS (J.BOYER,S.HAZE) BIG MACHINE l HARD TO BE COOL Joe Nichols M.J.CONES (R.HATCH,J.SELLERS) RED BOW l HELL OF A NIGHT Dustin Lynch M.J.CONES (Z.CROWELL,A.SANDERS,J.BOYER) BROKEN BOW l 44 NEW LIKE A WRECKING BALL Hot Shot Debut Eric Church J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,C.BEATHARD) EMI NASHVILLE MAKE YOU MISS ME Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,M.RAMSEY) l GOING OUT LIKE THAT Reba T.BROWN (B.HAYSLIP,R.AKINS,J.SELLERS) NASH ICON/VALORY l TROUBLE Gloriana M.SERLETIC (R.REINERT,M.GOSSIN,R.COPPERMAN,J.M.NITE) EMBLEM/WARNER BROS./WAR l 48 NEW RIDE Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (J.SOMERS-MORALES,D.C.TARPLEY JR.) DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE I GOT THE BOY Jana Kramer l 50 RE-ENTRY 4 S.HENDRICKS (T.NICHOLS,C.HARRINGTON,J.L.SPEARS) SIPPIN ON FIRE J.MOI (R.CLAWSON,M.DRAGSTREM,C.TAYLOR) ELEKTRA NASHVILLE/WAR Florida Georgia Line REPUBLIC NASHVILLE The week s most popular country songs, ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen Music, sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music and streaming activity data from online music sources tracked by Nielsen Music. Descending titles below No. 25 are moved to recurrent after 20 weeks. PEAK POSITION Year-Over-Year Album Sales 4 5 DIGITAL TRACKS SALES million 3.8 million million 8.2 million For week ending Month TK, 205. Figures are rounded. Compiled from a national sample of retail store and rack sales reports collected and provided by Nielsen Music. COUNTRY MARKET WATCH A Weekly National Music Sales Report Weekly Unit Sales ALBUMS DIGITAL ALBUMS* DIGITAL TRACKS This Week 458,0072,000 2,86,000 Last Week 550,0073,000 2,349,000 Change -6.7% -0.6% -6.9% This Week Last Year 887, ,000 2,692,000 Change -48.4% -44.2% -8.8% *Digital album sales are also counted within album sales. YEAR-TO-DATE Overall Unit Sales CHANGE Albums 4,499,000 3,828, % Digital Tracks 22,268,008,79, % Sales by Album Format CHANGE Physical 2,98,000 2,36, % Digital,58,00,466, % For inquiries about any Nielsen Music data, please contact Josh Bennett at or josh.bennett@nielsen.com

7 BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE FEBRUARY 26, 205 PAGE 7 OF 7 2 S AGO S ON CHT ARTIST Title IMPRINT & NUMBER / DISTRIBUTING LABEL l NEW AARON WATSON BIG LABEL /THIRTY TIGERS The Underdog SAM HUNT Montevallo l /UMGN l3 NEW STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES Terraplane 3 NEW WEST 6328* JASON ALDEAN BROKEN BOW 705/BBMG Old Boots, New Dirt l5 NEW THE MAVERICKS VALORY MV0200A/BMLG Mono REPUBLIC NASHVILLE /BMLG Anything Goes CERT. PEAK POSITION CARRIE UNDERWOOD Greatest Hits: Decade # 9/ARISTA NASHVILLE /SMN /UMGN Crash My Party 2 CHASE RICE l COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 22573/DACK JANIELS Ignite The Night MIRANDA LAMBERT RCA NASHVILLE /SMN Platinum ERIC CHURCH The Outsiders EMI NASHVILLE 09402*/UMGN BLACKBERRY SMOKE Holding All The Roses 3 LEGGED RECORDS/ROUNDER 6366*/CONCORD GARTH BROOKS Man Against Machine PEARL/RCA NASHVILLE 5035/SMN BRANTLEY GILBERT Just As I Am VALORY BG0200A/BMLG ZAC BROWN BAND Greatest Hits So Far... ROAR/SOUTHERN GROUND/ATLANTIC /AG 5 BLAKE SHELTON WARNER BROS /WMN BRINGING BACK THE SUNSHINE COLE SWINDELL l WARNER BROS /WMN Cole Swindell 2 GEORGE STRAIT The Cowboy Rides Away: Live From AT&T Stadium /UMGN 2 STURGILL SIMPSON Metamodern Sounds In Country Music HIGH TOP MOUNTAIN 002*/THIRTY TIGERS 8 l20 NEW SOUNDTRACK BIG MACHINE GC000/BMLG Glen Campbell: I ll Be Me 20 ROBERT EARL KEEN DUALTONE 685* Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions ARTIST TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT 8 l 2 FANCY REBA MCENTIRE I SEE YOU l KENNY CHESNEY The Big Revival BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE /SMN LITTLE BIG TOWN Pain Killer 02360*/UMGN 3 LEE BRICE I Dont Dance CURB 79392* TIM MCGRAW Sundown Heaven Town MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE TM0200A/BMLG LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT IS HOW WE ROLL FEAT YOU BELONG WITH ME l TAYLOR SWIFT SUN DAZE l CRUISE PLAY IT AGAIN DIRT TOP COUNTRY ALBUMS The week s most popular country albums, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music. Albums are defined as current if they are less than 8 months old or older than 8 months but still residing in the Billboard 200 s top 00. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at Copyright 205, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved. COUNTRY STREAMING SONGS ARTIST BOTTOMS UP 6 BRANTLEY GILBERT MAKE ME WANNA l2 3 5 THOMAS RHETT TALLADEGA ERIC CHURCH SOMETHING IN THE WATER CARRIE UNDERWOOD DRINKING CLASS LEE BRICE THAT S MY KIND OF NIGHT WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER TAYLOR SWIFT LONELY TONIGHT BLAKE SHELTON FEAT. ASHLEY MONROE SHOTGUN RIDER TIM MCGRAW MEAN TO ME BRETT ELDREDGE Country Streaming Songs -The week s top Country streamed radio songs, on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at Copyright 205, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved. 7 ARTIST (IMPRINT/LABEL) TAKE YOUR TIME l HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND (Southern Ground/Varvatos/Republic/BMLG) MAKE ME WANNA THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG) AIN T WORTH THE WHISKEY l COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN) LONELY TONIGHT BLAKE SHELTON FEAT. ASHLEY MONROE (Warner Bros./WMN) I SEE YOU (Capitol Nashville/UMGN) SUN DAZE (Republic Nashville/BMLG) DRINKING CLASS LEE BRICE (Curb) BURNIN IT DOWN JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG) JUST GETTIN STARTED JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG) GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN) LITTLE RED WAGON MIRANDA LAMBERT (RCA Nashville/SMN) LONELY EYES l3 7 8 CHRIS YOUNG (RCA Nashville/SMN) A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR TYLER FARR (Columbia Nashville/SMN) MEAN TO ME BRETT ELDREDGE (Atlantic/WMN) SMOKE l A THOUSAND HORSES (Republic Nashville/BMLG) 7 22 TALLADEGA ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN) LIKE A COWBOY RANDY HOUSER (Stoney Creek/BBMG) SOMETHING IN THE WATER CARRIE UNDERWOOD (9/Arista Nashville/SMN) SAY YOU DO DIERKS BENTLEY (Capitol Nashville/UMGN) SHOTGUN RIDER TIM MCGRAW (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG) I M NOT GONNA MISS YOU l22 RE-ENTRY GLEN CAMPBELL (Big Machine/BMLG) HOMEGROWN HONEY DARIUS RUCKER (Capitol Nashville/UMGN) LOVE YOU LIKE THAT l CANAAN SMITH (Mercury/UMGN) SHE DON T LOVE YOU ERIC PASLAY (EMI Nashville/UMGN) COUNTRY DIGITAL SONGS ARTIST (IMPRINT/LABEL) WHAT WE AIN T GOT JAKE OWEN (RCA Nashville/SMN) l27 RIDE RE-ENTRY CHASE RICE (Dack Janiels) LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT l KELSEA BALLERINI (Black River) LEAVE THE NIGHT ON FISHIN IN THE DARK NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND (Warner Bros./Rhino) LIKE A WRECKING BALL l3 RE-ENTRY ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN) TRAILER HITCH KRISTIAN BUSH (Streamsound) TAKE IT ON BACK CHASE BRYANT (Red Bow/BBMG) DON T IT l34 RE-ENTRY BILLY CURRINGTON (Mercury/UMGN) GOD MADE GIRLS RAELYNN (Valory/BMLG) PLAY IT AGAIN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN) LITTLE TOY GUNS CARRIE UNDERWOOD (9/Arista Nashville/SMN) RAISE EM UP KEITH URBAN FEAT. ERIC CHURCH (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville) IS HOW WE ROLL FEAT. (Republic Nashville/BMLG) BREAK UP IN A SMALL TOWN I GOT THE BOY JANA KRAMER (Elektra Nashville/WMN) CRUISE (Republic Nashville/BMLG) DIRT (Republic Nashville/BMLG) BARTENDER LADY ANTEBELLUM (Capitol Nashville/UMGN) AMERICAN KIDS KENNY CHESNEY (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN) BREAK UP WITH HIM l46 NEW OLD DOMINION (ReeSmack/Thirty Tigers) l50 RE-ENTRY DRUNK ON A PLANE DIERKS BENTLEY (Capitol Nashville/UMGN) NEON LIGHT BLAKE SHELTON (Warner Bros./WMN) I DON T DANCE LEE BRICE (Curb) MAKE YOU MISS ME Top-selling paid download country songs compiled from sales reports collected and provided by Nielsen Music. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at Copyright 205, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved. BUILDING AIRPLAY GAINERS Label Artist GAIN DON T IT Mercury Billy Currington +285 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOLS McGraw/Big Machine Tim McGraw W/Catherine Dunn +285 TAKE YOUR TIME MCA Nashville Sam Hunt +27 WILD CHILD Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville Kenny Chesney w/ Grace Potter +264 LITTLE TOY GUNS 9/Arista Nashville Carrie Underwood +263 AIN T WORTH THE WHISKEY Warner Bros./WMN Cole Swindell +227 RAISE EM UP Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban Feat. Eric Church +223 SAY YOU DO Capitol Nashville Dierks Bentley +22 HOMEGROWN HONEY Capitol Nashville Darius Rucker +88 SIPPIN ON FIRE Republic Nashville Florida Georgia Line +83 Building Gainers reflects titles with the top increases in plays from Monday through 5pm ET Wednesday, as compared to the same period in the previous week, according to Nielsen Music.