BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS EDITED BY TOM ROLAND, tom.roland@billboard.com JULY 2, 2015 | PAGE 1 OF 7

INSIDEMakin’ Tracks: Florida Georgia

Line’s ‘Anything Goes’

>page 2

Kelsea Ballerini’s

Impact Debated >page 3

Questions Answered:

Ryman VP/GM Sally Williams

>page 4

Trisha Yearwood: From Private Studio

To Public Exhibit >page 4

Blake Shelton Races To

NBC Weekend Lineup >page 4

Kacey Musgraves debuts atop Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart (dated July 11) with Pageant Material (Mercury/Universal Music Group Nashville). The set starts with 55,000 copies in its launch week, according to Nielsen Music, marking her best sales week. Musgraves manages her second No. 1 in as many tries, as her debut, Same Trailer Different Park, opened atop the April 6, 2013 chart with 43,000; it returned for a second week at No. 1 on the Feb. 14, 2014 tally following its win for best country album at the 56th Grammy Awards. It has sold 519,000 copies to date.

While the new set launches at No. 1, country radio has largely avoided its music, owed likely in part to Musgraves’ atypical coun-try lyrical themes and/or the battles that women have long faced at the format (see story, page 3). The new set’s “Biscuits” stalled at No. 41 on Country Airplay in May. “I hear a lot in the industry, ‘This is the way it’s done, so you have to follow suit,’ ” Musgraves recently told Billboard. “Why can’t we look at other options?”

Canaan Smith (Mercury/UMGN) also makes an impressive debut on Top Country Albums, as Bronco bows at No. 4 (12,000

sold). The set follows his eponymous debut EP, which debuted and peaked at No. 16 in April. Smith’s first Hot Country Songs top 10, “Love You Like That,” hits a new high on the chart (10-9).

Atop Hot Country Songs, Little Big Town matches a record, as “Girl Crush” (Capitol Nashville) reigns for a 10th week. The

command ties for the longest by a group (of at least three members) in the chart’s history. It matches the domination en-joyed by trio The Browns with “The Three Bells” beginning Aug. 31, 1959.

“Crush” likewise logs a 10th week at No. 1 on Country Digital Songs, down 6 percent to 68,000 downloads sold, and returns for a second week atop Coun-try Streaming Songs (2.6 million U.S. streams, essentially equal to the prior tracking period).

Bookending the top 10 of Billboard’s Country Streaming chart, Kelsea Bal-lerini reaches the region with “Love Me Like You Mean It” (Black River). Her for-

mer Country Airplay No. 1 bounds 16-10 on the list (1.4 million streams, up 19 percent).

This column was written by Billboard country chart manager Jim Asker (jim.asker@billboard.com).

MUSGRAVES

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UPDATE

Musgraves Material-izes At No. 1; Little Big Town Ties Record

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On paper, it probably shouldn’t work.Florida Georgia Line’s “Anything Goes” has an extremely linear melody,

and it breaks an unwritten rule: It’s a party anthem in a minor key. But there’s something insidiously hooky about it. And four singles in, the lead track on the band’s sophomore album is finally officially being worked to radio.

“Everyone was talking ‘single’ from the first,” says songwriter Craig Wise-man (“Live Like You Were Dying,” “Boys ’Round Here”). “It’s the title cut. It’s the name of the crappin’ tour!”

The song is slotted midway in the pair’s current concert set list, and the audi-ence has been enthusiastic about it from the beginning, particularly the hook — “Anything goes on a Friday night” — which is perfect for a live weekend show. There were other contenders for the fourth single, but the duo wasn’t going to wait any longer to put it out.

“We stood our ground,” says lead singer Tyler Hubbard.In some ways, “Anything Goes” is the sequel

to “Cruise.” FGL’s first hit starts with an a cap-pella hook — “Baby, you a song/You make me wanna roll my windows down/And cruise” — then slides into a jangly guitar that slaps relent-lessly at the beat. “Anything Goes” opens with its own almost-a cappella intro — “Alabama on the boombox, baby /’Bout to get a little boondock crazy” — then shifts into that same guitar tone, again hammering the beat.

Had FGL returned to that sonic well in an ear-lier single, it might have been too soon, but the parade of singles in the interim — including the rap-heavy Luke Bryan collaboration “This Is How We Roll,” the trad-country “Dirt” and the reggae-tinged “Sun Daze” — demonstrate that the duo is not a one-trick pony.

While a lot of the sounds on the public version of “Anything Goes,” particularly those tight, in-your-face harmonies created by the duo’s Brian Kelley, make it sound like it was an FGL song from conception, it wasn’t necessarily intended for the act when its writers hunkered down to work on it more than two years ago. And it went through some major changes to be-come a stylized end product for FGL.

“They are making records. They’re not reproducing demos,” says Wiseman. “There’s been a [country production attitude] of ‘Do a better version of the demo, and if a little studio magic happens, so be it.’ They’re in there going, ‘Studio magic will happen, and we’re going to figure out how to trick it out.’ ”

The template for “Anything Goes” started with songwriters Chris Tompkins (“Drunk on a Plane,” “Burnin’ It Down”) and Felix McTeigue, a Vermont-based writer-producer who has landed cuts with Heidi Newfield and Dallas Smith. Writing at Tompkins’ office in the Big Loud Shirt building, they came up with a groove built around the chords of F-minor and A that were rather unusual for an upbeat country song. They fleshed out a large portion of the chorus, and Tomp-kins blurted out “Victoria’s Secret ain’t a secret no more.” Once he said it, he questioned whether it would be viable in a country song in 2012 or 2013.

“It seems like overnight you could say all these things, but not too long ago it was a little more risky,” explains Tompkins. “I wouldn’t necessarily say I thought I couldn’t say it, but you know, sometimes I wonder who’s going to sing it. But from the time that song was written to now, it’s actually pretty PG.”

Near the end of the day they didn’t have much more than that partial chorus, and McTeigue’s time in Nashville was limited, so Tompkins thought they should bring in Wiseman, whose office is literally next door to Tompkins’.

“That’s a pretty awesome luxury to have,” notes McTeigue. “It’s like you pick a basketball team: ‘Hey, Michael Jordan is my next-door neighbor. Let’s have him.’ ”

And Wiseman was all in once he heard the Victoria’s Secret reference. “That is so Chris Tompkins,” he says. “That’s an interior chorus line you’d give your left nut for.”

They started the first verse with a more artful line, “Big stars breaking out through the indigo.” In the second verse, Tompkins pronounced Dos Equis beer (as “DOSE uh-KEES”) to rhyme with “masterpiece,” which ought to leave many Americans, who commonly pronounce it “dose ACHE-ees,” scratching their heads.

“In Alabama, I think everybody says [it the first way], but that just kind of gives it a little bit of extra country flavor,” says Tompkins.

Florida Georgia Line nabbed “Anything Goes” right after the pair first heard it, mostly because of the song’s energy.

“A lot of times when we’re hearing a song, we visualize what it’s going to be like live,” says Hub-bard. “We knew the fans would connect to it, and it was something that we just felt passionate about — we could connect to it as well.”

Producer Joey Moi (Jake Owen, Nickel-back) assembled the cut one instrument at a time with Jimmie Lee Sloas adding high, wan-dering basslines over Moi’s drum programming. It’s a stark contrast to the throbbing bass in the previous single, “Sippin’ On Fire.”

“He always comes in and brings things that you just wouldn’t have thought of,” says Moi. “He can do something incredibly safe and appropriate, or you can let up the leash a bit and he can come up with some good, nice creative stuff.”

The opening and the bridge were both stumbling blocks. The original bridge was a rap — “Not very good at all,” concedes Tompkins. But Kelley improvised that “Alabama on the boombox” phrase, and Moi recognized it as the solution. Not only did they improve the bridge, Moi had Kelley stack multiple harmonies at the front to give “Anything Goes” an extra, identifiable hook.

“We initially wrote that and put it [where] the guitar riff [is] now,” says Moi. “The riff didn’t exist and it was just, ‘Alabama on the boombox, baby,’ and we actually lived with that for a while. Once we started listening to the song as a whole, it’s kind of like, ‘Hmm, maybe it’s not an intro part. Maybe it’s an intro to the intro.’ ”

And McTeigue found it a perfect reference for a duo that has blurred country music’s boundaries. “People were shocked by them,” he recalls about Alabama. “They were kind of rock at the time.”

Republic Nashville released “Anything Goes” to radio via Play MPE on June 8, and it debuted at No. 50 on Country Airplay. It moved to No. 34 in its third chart week. The minor-key party anthem has gone through some major revisions.

“It’s always a process,” says Hubbard, “but it’s fun to take a song from a rough sketch to a master product.”

Thanks to that process, the Victoria’s Secret song clearly ain’t a secret no more.

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JULY 2, 2015 | PAGE 2 OF 7

FGL Finds The Key To ‘Anything Goes’ In Alabama

MAKIN’ TRACKS TOM ROLAND tom.roland@billboard.com

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When Kelsea Ballerini’s “Love Me Like You Mean It” (Black River) hit the top of the Billboard Country Airplay chart (dated July 4), it ended a hefty dry spell for solo females at No. 1. It had been two years and eight months since a woman had reigned as a lead artist: Carrie Underwood had ruled for two weeks with “Blown Away” beginning Oct. 27, 2012.

That’s a long time — the longest drought, in fact, for lead solo female art-ists in the chart’s 25-year history.

But why such a long wait? What’s going on at radio? Is the research not there? Are there biases and misconcep-tions regarding women at country?

Checking in with a sample of program-mers, Billboard found that many PDs say they have been supportive of women, even if national consensus doesn’t ap-pear to back that up. “I have had a lot of success with females here, and in many cases, that didn’t translate nationally,” says Tim Roberts, operations manager/PD of CBS Radio’s WYCD Detroit. “This single worked across the board with us. She came in, played the conference room early on, the staff fell in love with her, and then it tested phenomenally right out of the gate. It had all the ingredients for a hit record.”

Roberts adds another important view-point: Although there has been such a wide gap between No. 1s for solo females, his playlist has long been peppered with women, thanks to female-led groups. “When Karen [Fairchild of Little Big Town] sings lead on ‘Girl Crush,’ that’s a female. Listeners don’t make these rigid industry distinctions that we do. Same thing with Lady Antebellum, The Band Perry and so on.” (Those groups have tallied one, nine and four Coun-try Airplay No. 1s, respectively, since 2009.)

iHeartMedia’s WSIX Nashville senior vp programming Michael Bryan concurs that Ballerini makes a strong case that women can return to domi-nance at the format. “We have almost 1,400 spins on [“Love Me Like You Mean It”], and we’re already playing her new single, ‘Dibs’ [going for adds July 20]. There’s something special about her, and I saw it from day one when she played in my office for me. I supported her from the very beginning, and I don’t often do that. The content of [“Love”] was something we des-perately needed on the charts. I’m hoping that it will create momentum for other women.”

Nate Deaton, GM of Empire Broadcasting’s KRTY San Jose, Calif., notes that there’s an opportunity for new women, and audience, at country in 2015 post-Taylor Swift’s 1989 segue to pop. “I believe that a good amount of listeners changed formats when Taylor went pop, so we needed [Ballerini]. Timing was good, and she got several boosts along the way, including Taylor saying favorable things [on Twitter]. She played our conference room, and I knew there was something unique about her. The song sounded great on the air but also hit the marks in research. That doesn’t happen all the time.

“At this station, we’ve backed females all along; Maggie Rose, Jana Kramer and many others did amazingly well in this market. I’m really glad to see that the Kelsea record achieved enough success nationally to get her a No. 1.

“I hope that this is a prime moment,” says Deaton of a possible upturn for women overall at country radio. “I mean, when I look at the pop charts, it’s full of females.”

What separated Ballerini from other female country aspirants? Tom Jordan, PD of Buck Owens Broadcasting’s KUZZ Bakersfield, Calif., thinks that au-thenticity is key, along with, of course, being armed with a great record. “She played for the staff early in the song’s run, and she blew everyone away. So many new artists are trained on exactly what to say and can come off as a little plastic. With Kelsea, you just know from the second that she opens her mouth that this girl is real. On top of that, and most importantly, every song she sang was outstanding. She was so good, she just had me scratching my head.”

Still, unlike the other programmers sur-veyed, Jordan feels that “Love” may not be a proverbial game-changer for women. “I just don’t hear the quality in the songs when I lis-ten to other new women. However, the Kel-sea song is so good that I can see it inspiring greatness.”

While radio appears open to welcoming more women, it’s ultimately up to labels to provide them. Warner Music Nashville presi-dent/CEO John Esposito says that Ballerini hitting No. 1 can be a step in that direction

(adding that Kramer, who is on his label, and Ballerini are good friends and have toured together). “We were rooting for her. Is this a pivotal moment? I think it might be for this cycle,” he muses. “Kitty Wells was a game-changer back in the 1950s for females, and there have been game-changers for groups, traditional country acts, and on and on. Fundamentally, I think the Kelsea song may provide a boost [to other women].” Notably, Kramer’s “I Got the Boy” bullets at No. 38 on the Country Airplay chart dated July 11.

Esposito adds that songs by women, like all singles, will need to play enough to warrant impressive call-out numbers. “You can’t research a record that you’re barely spinning. The brave PDs are already getting great results on women. We just need a few more bold programmers not afraid to take those chances.”

Overall, when it comes to reacting to Ballerini’s career-opening No. 1 in terms of how labels look at signing artists, Esposito makes it loud and clear that it won’t change their philosophy. It’s not gender, but talent, that dictates deals. “We simply sign the most talented artists. And, we’re never looking for a certain sound, like ‘bro country.’ It’s, ‘Is this a great artist?’ In the end, that’s all that really matters.”

This column was written by Billboard country chart manager Jim Asker (jim.asker@billboard.com).

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JULY 2, 2015 | PAGE 3 OF 7

Is Kelsea Ballerini A Game-Changer For Women At Country?

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it’s an incomparable ex-perience. But until you get in there, we had some problems. We had out-grown our space, so from time to time you were faced with long lines, and not enough bathrooms, and “How can we im-prove that?” The only way to go was east, to-ward Fourth [Avenue], so we got with the architects and talked about what our goals were, and they figured it out.

It’s an older building. What’s the biggest challenge in maintain-ing it? It’s almost 125

years old. In addition to that, the pews that we have are pews that were added in the early 1900s, so I’ll tell you that keeping those pews in order is an ongo-ing process.

You have been in live events your entire career. What is it about this busi-ness that’s appealing? The moment that the artist takes the stage and the audience connects, that’s what makes me want to do it. When I was younger, I wanted to be a writer for Rolling Stone. I always knew that I wanted to work with music. I tried to be a musician, I tried to play the piano, and I tried to play the saxophone, and those were not my callings. Then I tried to be an agent, but for me being an agent was too far from the actual creation of the music. There’s nothing like standing at the back of the balcony at the Ryman Auditorium when the artist comes on and the audience goes crazy, and there’s nothing like know-ing that I had something to do with making that connection.

What principles guide the way that you do business? I try to be a really good listener, I strive to leave wherever I am better than before I got there, and being part of a team is really important to me. Being part of a community is really important to me, and that’s why I love Nashville so much. I feel like this community operates as such, and I think that makes us stronger. And it certainly makes my day-to-day far more impactful. —Tom Roland

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JULY 2, 2015 | PAGE 4 OF 7

Q U E ST I O N S

AnsweredSally Williams

VP/GM, Ryman Auditorium

When the Source Awards are handed out Sept. 29 in Nashville, Sally Williams, who is one of this year’s seven honorees, will be recog-nized for her role with one of the nation’s iconic live venues. A grad-uate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, she briefly worked at William Morris before finding her niche in venues, including Nashville’s now-defunct Starwood Amphitheater. She also did a brief stint at the Country Music Association during the 2000s, but she has made her largest impact at the Ryman, where she had a hand in a recent expansion of the venerable hall, which added a small theater and a cafe.

What does the Source Award mean to you? I’m incredibly grate-ful and honored, and I feel fairly unworthy. I have been attending the Source Awards for years, and the women who are honored by Source are such trailblazers, from Peggy [Bradley] and Frances Preston to Donna Hilley and Barbara [Orbison]and Bebe [Evans] and Mary Ann McCready. These are women who did work at a time when there weren’t templates. I just can’t quite wrap my brain around Sally Williams being in a list with them. Being at the Ryman, it’s interesting because this building has been influenced so much by a woman, and that’s Lula C. Naff, the woman who basically man-aged this building for over 50 years.

The Ryman was already wedged into a fairly small space. How did your organization even have the imagination to think, “We can expand this?” What architects do is absolutely amazing to me. When I came to the Ryman, I started thinking, “How can we improve the experience for guests before they enter the auditorium that Tom Ryman built?” We all know that once you get inside that auditorium,

TRISHA YEARWOOD MAKES A HALL MARKTrisha Yearwood’s first recording session was less than auspicious: a 1983 date where she cut a bunch of Linda Ronstadt covers and “Leav-ing Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” in a makeshift small-town Georgia trailer with mattresses for baffling. The receipt from that session is one of the items in her new Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit, “Trisha Year-wood: The Song Remembers When,”

which opens July 3. Yearwood was toasted with a June 30 party attended by numerous songwriters, label execs Bruce Hinton and Scott Borchetta, and her husband, Garth Brooks. Yearwood will return to the hall at 3 p.m. on July 9 for an interview and performance.

The title track from Blake Shelton’s Bringing Back the Sunshine gets a go-round as a sports theme, debuting July 5 as a NASCAR lead-in for the Coke Zero 400. Shelton shot a video that features appearances by a number of driv-ers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick. Luke Bryan’s “Kick the Dust Up,” which mentions tractors and corn fields in the lyrics, ought to be a fan favorite during the seventh annual Farm Tour, which kicks off Sept. 30 in Fort Wayne, Ind., and winds down Oct. 10 in Valdo-sta, Ga. A portion of the ticket sales is set aside for local college scholarships. “Your Love Amazes Me” singer John Berry, who moved to Nashville last year, is currently plotting a new album. He has established a $50,000 crowdfund-ing campaign at Kickstarter, with plans to begin recording Aug. 17. The proj-ect will feature two discs, a standard studio album and a five-cut Christmas/ inspirational CD. As of July 1, Berry had raised $9,000.

MIDWEEK NEWS UPDATE

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The country music industry’s must-havesource for news, analysis and chart info withexpert commentary from Tom Roland andPhyllis Stark. Sign up for FREE delivery every Monday and Thursday.

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Country UPDATE

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

l1 1 1 30 GIRL CRUSH ★★No. 1 (10 weeks)★★ Little Big Town J.JOYCE (L.ROSE,L.MCKENNA,H.LINDSEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 1 1

2 2 2 35 TAKE YOUR TIME Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) MCA NASHVILLE 1 1

l3 3 3 7 KICK THE DUST UP Luke Bryan J.STEVENS,J.STEVENS (D.DAVIDSON,C. DESTEFANO,A.GORLEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 2

l4 4 4 15 SANGRIA Blake Shelton S.HENDRICKS (J.T.HARDING,J.OSBORNE,T. ROSEN) WARNER BROS./WMN 3

l5 8 16 27 HOUSE PARTY ★★Streaming Gainer★★ Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,Z.CROWELL,J.FLOWERS) MCA NASHVILLE

5

6 5 5 31 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT Kelsea Ballerini F.G.WHITEHEAD (K.BALLERINI,J.KERR,F.G.WHITEHEAD,L.CARPENTER) BLACK RIVER 5

7 6 6 23 LITTLE TOY GUNS Carrie Underwood M.BRIGHT (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,H.LINDSEY) 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 6

l8 7 9 17 TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU ★★Airplay Gainer★★ Jason Aldean M.KNOX (D.DAVIDSON,R.AKINS,A.GORLEY) BROKEN BOW

7

l9 10 11 39 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT Canaan Smith B.BEAVERS,J.ROBBINS (C.SMITH,B.BEAVERS,J.BEAVERS) MERCURY 0 9

l10 9 8 19 LIKE A WRECKING BALL Eric Church J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,C.BEATHARD) EMI NASHVILLE 8

l11 11 15 22 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOLS Tim McGraw With Catherine Dunn B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (L.LAIRD,B.DEAN,J.SINGLETON) MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE 11

l12 12 12 12 CRASH AND BURN Thomas Rhett D.HUFF,J.FRASURE (J.FRASURE,C.STAPLETON) VALORY 12

l13 13 13 34 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG Easton Corbin C.CHAMBERLAIN (J.COLLINS,BRETT JAMES) MERCURY 12

l14 17 18 26 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN Brantley Gilbert D.HUFF (B.GILBERT,M.DEKLE,B.DAVIS) VALORY 14

l15 16 19 10 LOVING YOU EASY Zac Brown Band Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,N.MOON,A.ANDERSON) JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 15

l16 15 17 10 BUY ME A BOAT Chris Janson C.JANSON,C.DUBOIS,B.ANDERSON (C.JANSON,C.DUBOIS) WARNER BROS./WAR 15

17 14 7 22 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (R.CLAWSON,M.DRAGSTREM,C.TAYLOR) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 0 3

l18 19 21 21 CRUSHIN’ IT Brad Paisley L.WOOTEN,B.PAISLEY (B.PAISLEY,K.LOVELACE,L.T.MILLER) ARISTA NASHVILLE 18

l19 22 22 16 KISS YOU IN THE MORNING Michael Ray S.HENDRICKS (J.WILSON,M.WHITE) WARNER BROS./WEA 19

l20 25 24 4 JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 Keith Urban D.HUFF,K.URBAN (S.MCANALLY,R.COPPERMAN,J.OSBORNE) HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE 20

l21 24 25 25 HELL OF A NIGHT Dustin Lynch M.J.CONES (Z.CROWELL,A.SANDERS,J.BOYER) BROKEN BOW 21

l22 23 23 18 YOUNG & CRAZY Frankie Ballard M.ALTMAN,S.HENDRICKS (A.GORLEY,S.MCANALLY,R.AKINS) WARNER BROS./WAR 21

23 21 20 25 HOMEGROWN Zac Brown Band J.JOYCE,Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,W.DURRETTE,N.MOON) JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 2

24 20 14 25 SMOKE A Thousand Horses D.COBB (M.HOBBY,J.M.NITE,R.COPPERMAN) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 5

l25 26 26 10 LOSE MY MIND Brett Eldredge R. COPPERMAN,B.ELDREDGE (B.ELDREDGE,H.MORGAN,R.COPPERMAN,B.BURTON,T.D.CALLAWAY,G.F.REVERBERI,G.P.REVERBERI) ATLANTIC/WMN 25

Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JULY 2, 2015 | PAGE 5 OF 7

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

l26 28 28 5 REAL LIFE Jake Owen S.MCANALLY,R. COPPERMAN (R.COPPERMAN,A.GORLEY,S.MCANALLY,J.OSBORNE) RCA NASHVILLE 26

l27 31 32 7 I’M COMIN’ OVER Chris Young C.CROWDER,C.YOUNG (C.YOUNG,C.CROWDER,J.HOGE) RCA NASHVILLE 8

l28 30 30 19 FLY Maddie & Tae D.HUFF (M.MARLOW,T.DYE,T.VARTANYAN) DOT 28

l29 29 31 16 BREAK UP WITH HIM Old Dominion S.MCANALLY (M.RAMSEY,T. ROSEN,B.TURSI,G.SPRUNG,W.SELLERS) RCA NASHVILLE 29

l30 35 37 11 LET ME SEE YA GIRL Cole Swindell M.CARTER (C.SWINDELL,M.CARTER,J.STEVENS) WARNER BROS./WMN 30

31 32 27 18 GAMES Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,A.GORLEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 21

l32 36 36 21 I’M TO BLAME Kip Moore B.JAMES (K.MOORE,J.WEAVER,W.DAVIS) MCA NASHVILLE 31

l33 42 40 15 BISCUITS ★★Digital Gainer★★ Kacey Musgraves K.MUSGRAVES,L.LAIRD,S.MCANALLY (K.MUSGRAVES,S.MCANALLY,B.CLARK) MERCURY

28

l34 34 35 19 I GOT THE BOY Jana Kramer S.HENDRICKS (T.NICHOLS,C.HARRINGTON,J.L.SPEARS) ELEKTRA NASHVILLE/WAR 31

35 33 33 6 21 Hunter Hayes D.HUFF,H.HAYES (D.DAVIDSON,K.LOVELACE,A.GORLEY,H.HAYES) ATLANTIC/WMN 30

l36 38 39 13 NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU Dan + Shay C. DESTEFANO (D.SMYERS,S.MOONEY,A.GORLEY,C. DESTEFANO) WARNER BROS./WAR 36

l37 39 38 25 GONNA WANNA TONIGHT Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (S.MCANALLY,J.M.NITE,J.ROBBINS) DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 34

l38 41 41 12 STAY A LITTLE LONGER Brothers Osborne J.JOYCE (J. OSBORNE,T.J. OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) EMI NASHVILLE 38

l39 40 42 9 ANYTHING GOES Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (F.MCTEIGUE,C.G.TOMPKINS,C.WISEMAN) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 19

l40 NEW 1 LONG STRETCH OF LOVE ★★Hot Shot Debut★★ Lady Antebellum N.CHAPMAN,LADY ANTEBELLUM (D.HAYWOOD,C.KELLEY,H.SCOTT,J.KEAR) CAPITOL NASHVILLE

40

l41 43 44 12 ALREADY CALLIN’ YOU MINE Parmalee NV (M.THOMAS,S.THOMAS,B.KNOX,P.O’DONNELL,W.KIRBY) STONEY CREEK 41

42 44 43 3 BURNING HOUSE Cam J.BHASKER,T.JOHNSON (C.OCHS,T.JOHNSON,J.BHASKER) ARISTA NASHVILLE 42

l43 47 46 6 I LOVE THIS LIFE LoCash L.RIMES,P.BRUST,C.LUCAS (D.MYRICK,C.JANSON,C.LUCAS,P.BRUST) REVIVER 43

l44 NEW 1 DIME STORE COWGIRL Kacey Musgraves K.MUSGRAVES,L.LAIRD,S.MCANALLY (K.MUSGRAVES,L.LAIRD,S.MCANALLY) MERCURY 44

l45 RE-ENTRY 5 FOR A BOY RaeLynn J.MOI (RAELYNN,L.VELTZ) VALORY 32

l46 NEW 1 SAVE IT FOR A RAINY DAY Kenny Chesney B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (A.DORFF,M.RAMSEY,B.TURSI) BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 46

47 48 47 17 RIDE Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (J.SOMERS-MORALES,D.C.TARPLEY JR.) DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 38

l48 NEW 1 IT FEELS GOOD Drake White R. COPPERMAN,J.S.STOVER (D.WHITE,P.PENCE,D.GEORGE) DOT 48

l49 49 48 4 COUNTRY Mo Pitney T.BROWN (M.PITNEY,B.TOMBERLIN,B.ANDERSON) CURB 48

l50 50 — 2 ALL COUNTRY ON YOU Austin Webb B.GALLIMORE (J.KEAR,MARK IRWIN,C.G.TOMPKINS) STREAMSOUND 50

For week ending June 28, 2015. Figures are rounded. Compiled from a national sample of retail store and rack sales reports collected and provided by Nielsen Music.

For inquiries about any Nielsen Music data, please contact Josh Bennett at 615-807-1338 or josh.bennett@nielsen.com

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.

COUNTRY MARKET WATCHA Weekly National Music Sales Report

Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JULY 2, 2015 | PAGE 6 OF 7

ALBUMSDIGITAL

ALBUMS*DIGITAL TRACKS

This Week 548,000 208,000 2,406,000

Last Week 556,000 172,000 2,480,000

Change -1.4% 20.9% -3.0%

This Week Last Year 499,000 167,000 2,818,000

Change 9.8% 24.6% -14.6%

*Digital album sales are also counted within album sales.

Weekly Unit SalesYear-Over-Year Album Sales2014 2015 CHANGE

Albums 15,302,000 13,355,000 -12.7%

Digital Tracks 72,182,000 60,648,000 -16.0%

YEAR-TO-DATE

Overall Unit Sales

2014 2015 CHANGE

Physical 10,088,000 8,415,000 9.0%

Digital 5,214,000 4,940,000 -5.3%

Sales by Album Format

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

’15

’14

DIGITAL TRACKS SALES

’15

’14

15.3 million

13.4 million

000.0 million

’14

’13

60.6 million

72.2 million

Top-selling paid download country songs compiled from sales reports collected and provided by Nielsen Music. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

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l1 NEW 1 KACEY MUSGRAVES Pageant MaterialMERCURY 022816*/UMGN 1

2 3 4 35 SAM HUNT MontevalloMCA NASHVILLE 021502/UMGN 0 1

3 1 2 9 ZAC BROWN BAND JEKYLL + HYDEJOHN VARVATOS/SOUTHERN GROUND/BMLG 022962/REPUBLIC 1

l4 NEW 1 CANAAN SMITH BroncoMERCURY 022812/UMGN 4

5 2 1 3 VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW That’s What I Call Country, Volume 8SONY MUSIC/UNIVERSAL 023341/UME 1

l6 5 8 36 LITTLE BIG TOWN Pain KillerCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021360*/UMGN 3

7 4 5 4 WILLIE NELSON / MERLE HAGGARD Django And JimmieLEGACY 509378 1

8 6 7 72 ERIC CHURCH The OutsidersEMI NASHVILLE 019402*/UMGN 1 1

9 7 6 58 BRANTLEY GILBERT Just As I AmVALORY BG0200A/BMLG 0 1

10 9 10 38 JASON ALDEAN Old Boots, New DirtBROKEN BOW 7105/BBMG 1 1

11 10 11 37 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE Anything GoesREPUBLIC NASHVILLE /BMLG 0 1

12 15 14 99 LUKE BRYAN Crash My PartyCAPITOL NASHVILLE 018733/UMGN 2 1

13 13 12 16 LUKE BRYAN Spring Break... Checkin’ OutCAPITOL NASHVILLE 022540/UMGN 1

14 8 — 2 TIM MCGRAW 35 Biggest HitsCURB 79413 8

15 11 3 3 A THOUSAND HORSES SouthernalityREPUBLIC NASHVILLE 022613/BMLG 3

16 18 17 29 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Greatest Hits: Decade #119/ARISTA NASHVILLE 500876/SMN 0 1

17 17 19 13 DARIUS RUCKER Southern StyleCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021931/UMGN 1

18 19 15 5 THE LACS Outlaw In MeBACKROAD 265/AVERAGE JOES 3

l19 25 16 6 KELSEA BALLERINI The First TimeBLACK RIVER 2015 4

20 14 9 4 BILLY CURRINGTON Summer ForeverMERCURY 022745/UMGN 3

21 21 21 39 BLAKE SHELTON BRINGING BACK THE SUNSHINEWARNER BROS. 544918/WMN 0 1

22 24 20 45 CHASE RICE Ignite The NightCOLUMBIA NASHVILLE 22573/DACK JANIELS 1

l23 NEW 1 COREY SMITH While The Gettin’ Is GoodSUGAR HILL 14109*/CONCORD 23

24 20 22 40 KENNY CHESNEY The Big RevivalBLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 306274/SMN 1

25 27 24 71 COLE SWINDELL Cole SwindellWARNER BROS. 541372/WMN 2

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l1 2 18 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN

2 1 26 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT

l3 3 5 KICK THE DUST UP LUKE BRYAN

l4 5 5 HOUSE PARTY SAM HUNT

l5 6 12 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH

6 4 14 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l7 8 14 DON’T IT BILLY CURRINGTON

8 7 7 CRASH AND BURN THOMAS RHETT

l9 9 7 SANGRIA BLAKE SHELTON

l10 16 6 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT KELSEA BALLERINI

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l11 12 10 LITTLE TOY GUNS CARRIE UNDERWOOD

l12 13 117 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l13 14 70 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN

14 11 5 21 HUNTER HAYES

l15 15 79 BOTTOMS UP BRANTLEY GILBERT

l16 21 2 JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 KEITH URBAN

17 10 53 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT

l18 17 5 WILD CHILD KENNY CHESNEY WITH GRACE POTTER

l19 20 76 YOU BELONG WITH ME TAYLOR SWIFT

l20 18 66 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN

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 www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

BUILDING AIRPLAY GAINERSTITLE Label Artist GAIN

HOUSE PARTY MCA Nashville Sam Hunt +313

SAVE IT FOR A RAINY DAY Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville Kenny Chesney +244

LOVING YOU EASY Varvatos/BMLG/Southern Ground Zac Brown Band +217

ONE HELL OF AN AMEN Valory Brantley Gilbert +195

TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU Broken Bow Jason Aldean +182

KICK THE DUST UP Capitol Nashville Luke Bryan +161

LET ME SEE YA GIRL Warner Bros./WMN Cole Swindell +139

KISS YOU IN THE MORNING Warner Bros./WEA Michael Ray +137

JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban +132

CRUSHIN’ IT Arista Nashville Brad Paisley +130

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.

TOP COUNTRY ALBUMSCOUNTRY DIGITAL SONGS

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JULY 2, 2015 | PAGE 7 OF 7

STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

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 18 months old or older than 18 months but still residing in the Billboard 200’s top 100. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

COUNTRY STREAMING SONGS

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

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1 1 27 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

2 2 6 KICK THE DUST UP LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

3 3 35 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l4 6 13 HOUSE PARTY SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

5 4 13 SANGRIA BLAKE SHELTON (Warner Bros./WMN)

6 5 20 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l7 7 12 CRASH AND BURN THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)

8 8 10 BUY ME A BOAT CHRIS JANSON (Warner Bros./WMN)

l9 11 20 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT KELSEA BALLERINI (Black River)

l10 12 3 JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 KEITH URBAN (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

11 9 15 TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

12 10 35 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT CANAAN SMITH (Mercury/UMGN)

l13 13 10 LOVING YOU EASY ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

l14 15 16 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN BRANTLEY GILBERT (Valory/BMLG)

15 14 23 LITTLE TOY GUNS CARRIE UNDERWOOD (19/Arista Nashville/SMN)

l16 23 9 LOSE MY MIND BRETT ELDREDGE (Atlantic/WMN)

l17 20 5 REAL LIFE JAKE OWEN (RCA Nashville/SMN)

l18 21 7 I’M COMIN’ OVER CHRIS YOUNG (RCA Nashville/SMN)

l19 22 19 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOL TIM MCGRAW WITH CATHERINE DUNN (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)

20 17 24 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

l21 24 10 KISS YOU IN THE MORNING MICHAEL RAY (Warner Bros./WMN)

22 18 7 BREAK UP WITH HIM OLD DOMINION (RCA Nashville/SMN)

23 19 18 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

24 16 22 SMOKE A THOUSAND HORSES (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

25 25 14 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG EASTON CORBIN (Mercury/UMGN)

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l26 27 6 HELL OF A NIGHT DUSTIN LYNCH (Broken Bow/BBMG)

27 29 14 CRUSHIN’ IT BRAD PAISLEY (Arista Nashville/SMN)

l28 32 6 ANYTHING GOES FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l29 34 19 I GOT THE BOY JANA KRAMER (Elektra Nashville/WMN)

30 28 20 DON’T IT BILLY CURRINGTON (Mercury/UMGN)

l31 44 6 LET ME SEE YA GIRL COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)

l32 42 2 STAY A LITTLE LONGER BROTHERS OSBORNE (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l33 40 7 YOUNG & CRAZY FRANKIE BALLARD (Warner Bros./WMN)

l34 RE-ENTRY COUNTRY GIRL (SHAKE IT FOR ME) LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

35 35 55 BOTTOMS UP BRANTLEY GILBERT (Valory/BMLG)

36 31 18 WILD CHILD KENNY CHESNEY WITH GRACE POTTER (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)

37 38 38 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)

38 30 11 RIOT RASCAL FLATTS (Big Machine/BMLG)

l39 43 6 FLY MADDIE & TAE (Dot/BMLG)

40 33 18 GAMES LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

41 46 83 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

42 39 53 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l43 47 155 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

44 45 41 AMERICAN KIDS KENNY CHESNEY (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)

45 41 81 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

46 48 13 GOING OUT LIKE THAT REBA (Starstruck/Nash Icon/BMLG)

l47 50 103 WAGON WHEEL DARIUS RUCKER (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l48 RE-ENTRY CHICKEN FRIED ZAC BROWN BAND (Home Grown/Atlantic/Bigger Picture)

l49 RE-ENTRY DRUNK ON A PLANE DIERKS BENTLEY (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l50 RE-ENTRY GONNA WANNA TONIGHT CHASE RICE (Dack Janiels)