BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 1 OF 20

INSIDE

Two Charts Are (Chris) Young At Heart

>page 4

Four Country Acts Take Five AMAs

>page 9

Joey + Rory Plan One More Album

>page 10

Makin’ Tracks: Chris Stapleton’s

‘Nobody To Blame’ >page 14

Stark Report: Second-Gen Writers

Find Their Own Voice >page 15

Country Coda: Rascal Flatts’ ‘These Days’

>page 20

Time, according to the Lee Ann Womack crossover hit “I Hope You Dance,” is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along.

When songwriter Mark D. Sanders looks back on the 15 years that have transpired since its release, he has seen “Hope” roll through numerous peo-ple’s life stories. He’s sung it at funerals and at wed-dings. He’s met siblings who embedded the song on their mother’s grave-stone. He’s met another man who was inspired by the song to end a lifeless marriage.

“Hope” takes another t u r n on Tha n ksg iv i ng when Hallmark Movies & Mysteries premieres I Hope You Dance: The Power and Spirit of Song. The 95-minute special, produced by Spencer Proffer (Gods & Monsters) and directed by John Scheinfeld (The U.S. vs. John Lennon), brings together four sto-ries of rejuvenation linked directly to the song, demonstrating the difference music can make in the world.

“The song and its spirit touched so many people for all the right reasons,” says Proffer, who spent time in the music busi-ness before becoming a film producer, producing Quiet Riot, Eddie Money and Allan Clarke, former lead singer for The Hollies. “We wanted to take it to the next level.”

I Hope You Dance includes a couple who was convinced to get married after seeing a bride and her father dance to the song at a wedding reception, and it recounts the story of a paralyzed woman who used “Hope” as personal inspiration to walk again. There’s another segment on a program that helped homeless

people get back on their feet by teaching t hem ballroom dancing. And the f inal chapter shows how a college student who loved the song was able to change multiple lives as an organ donor.

“I h ave n’t h a d a ny other songs that affected people like this,” says S a n de r s , a Na s h v i l le

Songwriters Hall of Fame member who also has authored “Blue Clear Sky” and “Heads Carolina, Tails California,” among other titles. “I had no idea what it was going to do. But I guess people are looking for a positive message in their lives.”

Womack has seen the effect of “I Hope You Dance” first-hand for years. Co-written by Sanders with Tia Sillers (“There’s Your Trouble,” “That’d Be Alright”), it was named single of the year by the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association, and earned country song honors from the ACM, the CMA and the Grammys. It spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in 2000 and 11 weeks

‘I Hope You Dance’ Waltzes Back In With Multiplatform Project

SANDERS

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE Tom.Roland@billboard.com

Country Update

WOMACK SILLERS

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 2 OF 20

atop the Adult Contemporary list in 2001. But the song was a challenge for a time when Womack inadvertently be-

came an informal psychotherapist. Fans invariably shared with her how “I Hope You Dance” had helped them overcome gripping tragedies, and hear-ing those emotionally charged tales was difficult.

“It doesn’t have a story, so every listener is able to put their own story into it,” she notes. “I think that’s one of the reasons that the song has touched so many people.”

Its power started with intention. Sillers developed the idea after experienc-ing the grandeur of nature on two back-to-back trips: a visit to an ocean beach and a songwriting excursion in the Rocky Mountains. She was inspired by the possibility that those sights represent.

Sanders brought some balance to the song. He had experienced some hor-rific chapters in his early life, including a senior year in high school where he periodically went to bed hungry and the loss of his best friend, who was murdered at age 22. He changed the song’s second line to keep it from being flippant about hunger. And he added the counter-melody that casts time as a wheel in motion to bring some urgency and context.

“When Tia and I write, I usually have to provide some shading. Otherwise it gets so crazily positive that it sort of hurts me,” he says. “I always throw in some negative shading of some sort, and I think that’s what that little section is, because all of a sudden you’re talking about how you’re going to die some day and you don’t want to do nothing with your life. It makes it more than a Hallmark card.”

It took more than a dozen years for the movie to find its way from a sketchy idea to TV. Universal Music Publishing asked Proffer around 2002 if he had any thoughts about how to turn the song’s message into a meaning-ful visual property. It was only within the last three or four years that the film got financial backing and its final direction, with Scheinfeld sifting through hundreds of stories about the song’s impact to find the handful that made the film.

“I Hope You Dance” celebrates hope, faith, love and diligence, and the movie’s arrival at Thanksgiving is appropriate. The holiday was born after the Pilgrims made a bold, uncertain journey from England to America. The song is similarly about taking risks.

“I believe courage is the most important of all the virtues,” late poet Maya Angelou says in the film, “because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”

Proffer is taking a risk with the project, which includes not only the TV special, but a subsequent DVD release and a book that features expanded transcripts from some of the movie’s interview subjects, including Womack, the writers, Brian Wilson, Vince Gill and Graham Nash.

Proffer, in his own way, chose to dance by following through on the proj-ect. And the stories in the movie reinforce for Sanders the power and poten-tial of music.

“They are,” he says, “like brand-new tattoos on my soul.”

Willie Nelson was honored Nov. 17 with the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize in Washington, D.C. From left at a reception are TK, TK, BMI senior vp global policy Ann Sweeney, Nelson and BMI president/CEO Mike O’Neill and vp writer-publisher and industry relations Charlie Feldman.

Wheelhouse artist Granger Smith visited WBCT Grand Rapids, Mich., on Nov. 12 before a concert in the city. From left: Wheelhouse national director of promotion Jennifer Shaffer, WBCT personality Dave Con-rad, Smith and WBCT PD Dave Taft.

Arista recording artist Cam performed Nov. 6 during the grand opening of Seacrest Studios, an in-house entertainment facility at the Sheikh Zayed Campus for Advanced Children’s Medicine in Washington, D.C. From left are Cam, Ryan Seacrest and Children’s National Health System president/CEO Kurt Newman.

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charts, as well as the all-encompassing Hot Country Songs chart.

• Expert commentary and insights by Tom Roland, Phyllis Stark and Jim Asker.

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BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 4 OF 20

Chris Young notches his first No. 1 on Top Country Albums (dated Dec. 5), as his fifth studio set, I’m Comin’ Over (RCA Nashville), opens with 57,000 copies sold in the week ending Nov. 19, according to Nielsen Music. The LP opens at No. 5 on the multigenre Billboard 200, earning 65,000 equivalent album units.

While it’s his first Top Country Albums leader, Young’s new set marks his second-strongest opening-sales week; his 2011 album Neon bowed with 73,000 in pure sales.

The first-week performance of I’m Comin’ Over was fueled in part by its title cut, now in its second week atop Country Airplay, up 6 percent to 51.9 million audience impressions in the tracking week ending Nov. 22. The song is his sixth Country Airplay No. 1. On Hot Country Songs, the single steps 4-2, also powered by its 7-3 leap on Country Streaming Songs (2.3 million U.S. streams, up 8 percent) and its 12-5 flight on Country Digital Songs (23,000 down-loads sold, up 20 percent). In addition, it is the top Streaming and Digital Gainer on Hot Country Songs.

“Over” is Young’s second multiweek Country Airplay No. 1 and his first since 2010’s “The Man I Want to Be” (three weeks). Says Sony Music Nash-ville executive vp promotion/artist development Steve Hodges, “The album is stacked with poten-tial singles, so we’re not done yet. I can’t wait for the fans and our friends at radio to hear the rest of this project.”

iHeartMedia-owned WBWL Boston PD Lance Houston says that Young has grown his audience with each album. “The success that Chris has enjoyed over the years really comes down to a simple formula: give radio great, consistent, down-the-middle hits. Chris has de-livered on album after album, and his songs will be played for many years. He tests really well.”

Notably, “Over” is the third consecutive multiweek leader on Country Airplay, following Old Dominion’s “Break Up With Him” (RCA Nashville)

(two weeks) and Luke Bryan’s “Strip It Down” (Capitol Nashville) (also two weeks). The last time at least three singles dominated Country Airplay for more than a week each consecutively? In August-October 2013, five did so: Randy Houser’s “Runnin’ Outta Moonlight” (two weeks), Brett Eldredge’s “Don’t Ya” (two), Keith Urban’s “Little Bit of Everything” (three), Florida Georgia Line’s “Round Here” (two) and Jason Aldean’s “Night Train” (two).

‘HAPPY’ NEWS Thomas Rhett’s “Die a Happy Man” (Valory), his first No. 1 on the survey, pushes back to the summit (2-1) after first ruling the

Nov. 14 chart. Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whis-key” (Mercury) led the following two weeks, after his multiple wins at the Country Music Association Awards on Nov. 4. On the Dec. 5 chart, “Whiskey” falls 1-10 (down 57 percent in overall chart points).

‘BREAK’ UP Sam Hunt scores his fourth Country Streaming Songs No. 1, all from his album Monte-vallo, as “Break Up in a Small Town” (MCA Nash-ville) rises 2-1, despite a 4 percent loss to 3.7 mil-lion streams. He won new artist of the year at the American Music Awards on Nov. 22.

ALL IN THE FAMILY Ashley Campbell, the daugh-ter of the iconic Glen Campbell, makes her solo Bill-board chart debut as her self-penned tribute to her dad, “Remembering” (Dot), enters Country Airplay

at No. 56 (1.2 million in audience, up 55 percent). The song is a touching tribute to her father’s ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s disease. First released on the Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me soundtrack, which reached No. 15 on Top Country Albums (March 7), the moving song has been remixed with fuller instrumentation for its radio push.

For more on the topic of parents and siblings in country music, check out Phyllis Stark’s Stark Report (page 15).

Young Love: ‘I’m Comin’ Over’ No. 1 On Top Country Albums

ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER jim.asker@billboard.com

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BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 5 OF 20

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

WKS ON

CHART TITLE Imprint/Label ArtistAUDIENCE (IN MILLIONS) PLAYS

THIS WEEK +/– THIS WEEK +/– RANK

l1 1 26 I’M COMIN’ OVER RCA Nashville HH No. 1 (2 weeks) HH Chris Young 51.912 +2.825 8439 282 2

l2 3 14 SMOKE BREAK 19/Arista Nashville Carrie Underwood 50.231 +3.461 8456 403 1

l3 5 18 GONNA Warner Bros./WMN Blake Shelton 45.502 +2.668 7582 342 4

l4 4 40 NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU Warner Bros./WAR Dan + Shay 45.320 +1.131 7838 214 3

l5 7 17 GONNA KNOW WE WERE HERE Broken Bow Jason Aldean 41.833 +3.671 7256 689 5

6 2 33 LET ME SEE YA GIRL Warner Bros./WMN Cole Swindell 34.648 -14.265 5932 -2409 6

l7 8 16 TOP OF THE WORLD McGraw/Big Machine Tim McGraw 33.488 +1.452 5619 452 8

l8 9 22 BURNING HOUSE Arista Nashville Cam 32.862 +1.748 5914 324 7

l9 10 34 STAY A LITTLE LONGER EMI Nashville Brothers Osborne 32.421 +2.259 5306 265 10

l10 11 9 DIE A HAPPY MAN Valory Thomas Rhett 31.961 +4.396 5329 504 9

l11 12 39 I LOVE THIS LIFE Reviver LoCash 26.864 +1.601 4946 257 11

l12 13 42 ALREADY CALLIN’ YOU MINE Stoney Creek Parmalee 24.859 +0.741 4520 43 14

l13 14 39 I GOT THE BOY Elektra Nashville/WAR Jana Kramer 24.545 +1.091 4558 132 13

l14 16 45 RUN AWAY WITH YOU B$R/New Revolution Big & Rich 24.323 +1.980 4711 462 12

l15 17 12 BREAK UP IN A SMALL TOWN MCA Nashville Sam Hunt 23.410 +3.887 3993 374 16

l16 15 21 DIBS Black River Kelsea Ballerini 22.402 -0.030 4040 19 15

l17 18 20 BACKROAD SONG Wheelhouse Granger Smith 19.989 +0.901 3647 212 18

l18 20 12 COUNTRY NATION Arista Nashville Brad Paisley 19.155 +1.062 3611 104 19

l19 19 25 WE WENT Stoney Creek Randy Houser 19.008 +0.261 3935 118 17

l20 22 11 BEAUTIFUL DRUG John Varvatos/Republic/BMLG/Southern Ground Zac Brown Band 13.812 +2.365 2755 395 20

l21 29 4 HOME ALONE TONIGHT Capitol Nashville HH Breaker/Most Increased Audience/Most Added HH Luke Bryan Feat. Karen Fairchild 13.243 +6.180 2133 1126 27

l22 25 5 BREAK ON ME. Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban 12.543 +2.118 2389 416 23

l23 23 32 LITTLE BIT OF YOU Red Bow Chase Bryant 11.821 +0.671 2432 64 21

l24 24 21 (THIS AIN’T NO) DRUNK DIAL Republic Nashville A Thousand Horses 11.104 +0.140 2421 49 22

l25 30 3 MR. MISUNDERSTOOD EMI Nashville Eric Church 10.746 +4.911 1789 739 28

l26 26 10 I LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT Big Machine Rascal Flatts 10.306 +0.492 2319 189 24

l27 27 22 RISER Capitol Nashville Dierks Bentley 10.057 +0.408 2148 9 26

l28 28 24 THAT DON’T SOUND LIKE YOU Curb Lee Brice 9.203 +0.091 2256 49 25

l29 31 3 NOBODY TO BLAME Mercury Chris Stapleton 9.116 +3.362 1641 650 29

l30 32 12 STONE COLD SOBER Valory Brantley Gilbert 6.062 +0.859 1253 86 31

Country Airplay AIRPLAY MONITORED BY

BILLBOARD COUNTRY AIRPLAY PANEL — 150 STATIONSAlbany, N.Y. WGNAAlbuquerque, N.M. KBQI KRSTAllentown, Pa. WCTOAtlanta WKHX WUBLAugusta, Ga. WKXCAustin, Texas KASEBakersfield, Calif. KUZZBaltimore WPOCBaton Rouge, La. WYNKBirmingham, Ala. WDXB WZZKBoise, Idaho KAWO KQFCBoston WKLBBuffalo, N.Y. WYRKCharleston, S.C. WCKN WEZLCharlotte, N.C. WKKT WSOCChattanooga, Tenn. WUSYChicago WEBG WUSNCincinnati WUBECleveland WGARColorado Springs, Colo. KATCColumbia, S.C. WCOSColumbus, Ohio WCOLCorpus Christi, Texas KRYSDallas KPLX KSCSDenver KWOF KYGODes Moines, Iowa KHKI KJJYDetroit WYCD

El Paso, Texas KHEYFt. Myers, Fla. WCKT WWGRFt. Wayne, Ind. WQHKFresno, Calif. KSKSGainesville, Fla. WOGKGrand Rapids, Mich. WBCTGreensboro, N.C. WPAW WTQRGreenville, S.C. WESC WSSLHarrisburg, Pa. WRBTHartford, Conn. WWYZHouston KILT KKBQHuntsville, Ala. WDRMIndianapolis WFMS WLHKJacksonville, Fla. WGNE WQIKJohnson City, Tenn. WXBQKansas City KBEQ WDAF KFKFKnoxville, Tenn. WCYQ WIVKLafayette, La. KMDLLakeland, Fla. WPCVLas Vegas KCYE KWNRLexington, Ky. WBULLittle Rock, Ark. KSSNLos Angeles KKGOLouisville, Ky. WAMZ WQNUMadison, Wis. WWQMMcAllen, Texas KTEXMemphis WGKX

Miami WKISMilwaukee WMILMinneapolis KEEY KMNBMobile, Ala. WKSJMonmouth/Ocean, N.J. WKMKMonterey, Calif.. KTOMNashville WKDF WSIX WSM-FMNassau, N.Y. WJVCNew Bern, N.C. WRNSNew Orleans WNOENew York WNSHNorfolk, Va. WGH WUSHOklahoma City, Okla. KJKE KTSTOmaha, Neb. KXKTOrlando, Fla. WWKAPhiladelphia WXTUPhoenix KMLE KNIXPittsburgh WDSY WOGI WPGBPortland, Maine WPOR WTHTPortland, Ore. KUPL KWJJProvidence, R.I. WCTKRaleigh, N.C. WNCB WQDRRichmond, Va. WKHKRiverside, Calif. KFRGRoanoke, Va. WSLCRochester, N.Y. WBEE

Sacramento, Calif. KBEB KNCI KNTYSt. Louis KSD WILSalt Lake City KEGA KSOP KUBLSan Antonio, Texas KAJA KCYYSan Diego KSONSan Jose, Calif. KRTY KSJOSanta Rosa, Calif. KFGYSarasota, Fla. WCTQSeattle KKWF KMPSShreveport, La. KXKSSpokane, Wash. KXLYSpringfield, Mass. WRNXSpringfield, Mo. KTTSStockton, Calif. KATMSyracuse, N.Y. WBBSTampa, Fla. WFUS WQYKTucson, Ariz. KIIMTulsa, Okla. KTGX KVOO KWENVisalia, Calif. KJUGWashington, D.C. WMZQWest Palm Beach, Fla. WIRKWichita, Kan. KFDI KZSNWilkes Barre, Pa. WGGYWilmington, Del. WXCYYork, Pa. WGTY

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 6 OF 20

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

WKS ON

CHART TITLE Imprint/Label ArtistAUDIENCE (IN MILLIONS) PLAYS

THIS WEEK +/– THIS WEEK +/– RANK

l31 33 11 REAL MEN LOVE JESUS Atlantic/WEA Michael Ray 5.660 +0.664 1347 66 30

l32 40 3 CONFESSION Republic Nashville Florida Georgia Line 5.043 +1.921 833 340 37

l33 34 9 COLD BEER CONVERSATION MCA Nashville George Strait 4.908 +0.479 846 29 36

l34 35 8 MIND READER Broken Bow Dustin Lynch 4.419 +0.091 1032 20 33

l35 37 18 YUP Mercury Easton Corbin 3.960 +0.481 912 33 35

l36 36 13 BETTER IN BOOTS Columbia Nashville Tyler Farr 3.816 +0.206 1227 200 32

l37 42 3 DRUNK ON YOUR LOVE Atlantic/WMN Brett Eldredge 3.575 +0.777 700 160 41

l38 43 17 NIGHT’S ON FIRE MCA Nashville HH Breaker HH David Nail 3.292 +0.669 796 106 38

39 38 8 HEAD OVER BOOTS Capitol Nashville Jon Pardi 3.267 -0.102 943 -34 34

40 39 14 HOLE IN A BOTTLE Mercury Canaan Smith 2.790 -0.345 732 -31 40

l41 44 13 PAIN KILLER Capitol Nashville HH Breaker HH Little Big Town 2.551 -0.040 733 9 39

l42 45 6 HIGH CLASS EMI Nashville Eric Paslay 2.550 +0.336 580 18 43

l43 48 7 I MET A GIRL Warner Bros./WMN William Michael Morgan 2.233 +0.238 474 14 51

l44 47 5 RUNNING FOR YOU MCA Nashville Kip Moore 2.191 +0.097 532 32 46

l45 NEW IT ALL STARTED WITH A BEER Warner Bros./WAR HH Hot Shot Debut HH Frankie Ballard 2.188 +1.549 497 360 50

l46 46 10 SOUTHERN BELLE 19/Interscope/Mercury Scotty McCreery 2.176 +0.051 524 -2 47

l47 51 2 SHUT UP AND FISH Dot HH Breaker HH Maddie & Tae 2.021 +0.303 687 123 42

l48 57 3 YOU LOOK LIKE I NEED A DRINK Valory Justin Moore 1.923 +0.824 461 216 52

l49 50 11 BOY & A GIRL THING Curb Mo Pitney 1.858 +0.057 558 -16 45

l50 49 4 POWER OF POSITIVE DRINKIN’ Warner Bros./WAR Chris Janson 1.836 -0.027 516 8 49

l51 NEW SNAPBACK RCA Nashville Old Dominion 1.755 +0.801 236 146 -

l52 53 6 FREAKS LIKE ME Red Bow Joe Nichols 1.567 +0.017 562 7 44

53 52 7 NEXT BOYFRIEND 19/Interscope/Mercury Lauren Alaina 1.352 -0.340 421 -39 53

l54 55 3 CRAZY OVER ME Curb Dylan Scott 1.309 +0.006 520 -37 48

55 54 12 I AM INVINCIBLE Republic Nashville Cassadee Pope 1.228 -0.095 395 -25 56

l56 NEW REMEMBERING Dot Ashley Campbell 1.227 +0.434 148 38 -

l57 RE-ENTRY BY THE WAY Stoney Creek Lindsay Ell 1.171 +0.220 370 37 57

l58 58 2 ARE YOU READY FOR THE COUNTRY? Bocephus/Big Machine Hank Williams Jr. Feat. Eric Church 1.123 +0.041 305 41 59

l59 NEW WHISKEY ON MY BREATH Hate And Purchase Love And Theft 0.958 +0.038 309 22 58

60 60 2 WHEN I’M GONE Black River Craig Morgan 0.921 -0.074 414 -2 55

Country Airplay AIRPLAY MONITORED BY

11/30

CARRIE UNDERWOOD Heartbeat 19/Arista Nashville

CHRIS CHITSEY Just Don’t Know It Yet Premier Nashville

JODY MEDFORD You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch SMG Nashville

LESLIE COURS MATHER Santa Baby (You’ll Be Mine) LionEyes

12/7

BRECKEN MILES The Anchor Rhyme Partners

CHRIS LANE Fix Big Loud

DAVID FANNING What’s Next Stoney Creek

DRAKE WHITE Livin’ The Dream Dot

12/14

CROSBY LANE Crucified Mansion

GOING FOR ADDS

Written by Brett Beavers and Brett James , the anthem about leaving one’s mark

behind hits Country Airplay’s top five (7-5, 41.8 million in audience, up 10 percent).

5J A S O N

A L D E A N Gonna Know

We Were Here

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 8 OF 20

MOST ADDED®TITLE Imprint/Label Artist ADDSHOME ALONE TONIGHT Capitol Nashville Luke Bryan Feat. Karen Fairchild 52MR. MISUNDERSTOOD EMI Nashville Eric Church 33NOBODY TO BLAME Mercury Chris Stapleton 33SHUT UP AND FISH Dot Maddie & Tae 25BETTER IN BOOTS Columbia Nashville Tyler Farr 22IT ALL STARTED WITH A BEER Warner Bros./WAR Frankie Ballard 21YOU LOOK LIKE I NEED A DRINK Valory Justin Moore 18DRUNK ON YOUR LOVE Atlantic/WMN Brett Eldredge 16CONFESSION Republic Nashville Florida Georgia Line 16BREAK ON ME Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban 12

MOST INCREASED PLAYSTITLE Imprint/Label Artist GAINHOME ALONE TONIGHT Capitol Nashville Luke Bryan Feat. Karen Fairchild +1126MR. MISUNDERSTOOD EMI Nashville Eric Church +739GONNA KNOW WE WERE HERE Broken Bow Jason Aldean +689NOBODY TO BLAME Mercury Chris Stapleton +650DIE A HAPPY MAN Valory Thomas Rhett +504RUN AWAY WITH YOU B$R/New Revolution Big & Rich +462TOP OF THE WORLD McGraw/Big Machine Tim McGraw +452BREAK ON ME. Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban +416SMOKE BREAK 19/Arista Nashville Carrie Underwood +403BEAUTIFUL DRUG John Varvatos/Republic/BMLG/Southern Ground Zac Brown Band +395

MOST INCREASED AUDIENCETITLE Imprint/Label Artist

GAIN(IN MIILIONS)

HOME ALONE TONIGHT Capitol Nashville Luke Bryan Feat. Karen Fairchild +6.180MR. MISUNDERSTOOD EMI Nashville Eric Church +4.911DIE A HAPPY MAN Valory Thomas Rhett +4.396BREAK UP IN A SMALL TOWN MCA Nashville Sam Hunt +3.887GONNA KNOW WE WERE HERE Broken Bow Jason Aldean +3.671SMOKE BREAK 19/Arista Nashville Carrie Underwood +3.461NOBODY TO BLAME Mercury Chris Stapleton +3.362I’M COMIN’ OVER RCA Nashville Chris Young +2.825GONNA Warner Bros./WMN Blake Shelton +2.668BEAUTIFUL DRUG John Varvatos/Republic/BMLG/Southern Ground Zac Brown Band +2.365

AIRPLAY MONITORED BY

BILLBOARD COUNTRY BOXSCOREGross Artist AttendanceTicket Price(s) Venue/Date(s) Capacity Promoter(s)

$696,558 LUKE BRYAN 10,778LIVE NATION$69.75, $39.75 Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville/Sept. 17 sellout

$693,691 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE 16,542LIVE NATION$66.25, $30.50 PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, N.J./Sept. 10 sellout

$684,401 TOBY KEITH 19,524LIVE NATION$83.75, $14.75 Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, Tinley Park, Ill./Sept. 4 23,627

$675,992 TOBY KEITH 19,601LIVE NATION$85, $20 First Niagara Pavilion, Burgettstown, Pa./Sept. 26 22,336

$666,076 LADY ANTEBELLUM 15,032LIVE NATION$64.75, $34.15 Bridgestone Arena, Nashville/Sept. 11 sellout

Reported worldwide boxscore figures for Country artists. Boxscore figures should be submitted to Bob Allen by phone (615-891-1976), fax (615-891-2054) or email (bob.allen@billboard.com).

TEXAS REGIONAL RADIO REPORTWEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 22, 2015

Texas Regional Radio Report Top 100 is compiled from weekly online playlist reports from 86 radio stations located in Texas and surrounding states, including reports from specialty shows, internet and satellite radio outlets. Songs are ranked by total plays. For tracking, complete chart methodology and more information, visit www.texasregionalradio.com, or contact Dave Smith at 817-283-7984. Copyright 2015, Texas Regional Radio Report

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

WKS ON CHART TITLE (Label) ARTIST

TW SPINS

SPINS +/–

l1 2 19 PHONE CALLS (BGM) HH 1 week at 1 HH TJ Broscoff 1821 101

l2 3 22 YOU DREAM I’LL DRIVE (Independent) Josh Grider 1657 86

l3 5 22 MY BOOTS (Independent) Bri Bagwell 1617 89

l4 7 16 DON’T IT FEEL GOOD (Tone Tree) Jon Wolfe 1554 87

5 4 22 GIRLS I DATE (Independent) Mike Ryan 1484 -61

l6 11 17 BEER TIME (Independent) Mario Flores 1461 168

l7 8 15 IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE (Independent) Roger Creager & Cody Johnson 1439 47

l8 12 8 WHISKEY & WHITLEY (Independent) Josh Ward 1380 108

l9 14 13 RED FIRE NIGHT (Residence) Green River Ordinance 1281 101

10 1 18 LOSER (Almost Country) Casey Donahew Band 1281 -581

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

WKS ON CHART TITLE (Label) ARTIST

TW SPINS

SPINS +/–

l11 15 18 TONIGHT WE RIDE (Smith) Micky & The Motorcars 1277 116

l12 13 18 SHE IS (BE) Zane Williams 1274 50

13 10 22 I DON’T (Winding Road) Saints Eleven 1241 -88

l14 16 12 RINGLING ROAD (Independent) William Clark Green 1150 32

l15 19 12 NOTHING’S GOT NOTHIN’ (Independent) Cameran Nelson 1132 137

16 17 23 UNDONE (Independent) Statesboro Revue 1035 -82

l17 20 9 GETAWAY TRUCK (Independent) Aaron Watson 1024 56

l18 22 27 SHE MADE YOUR BED (Independent) Breelan Angel 941 77

19 9 18 LADY BUG (Independent) Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen 906 -438

l20 23 10 AMNESIA (PDT) Josh Abbott Band 903 43

RECURRENTSTHIS

WEEK TITLE Imprint/Label ArtistTOTAL AUD.

(IN MILLIONS)1 BREAK UP WITH HIM RCA Nashville Old Dominion 30.361

2 SAVE IT FOR A RAINY DAY Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville Kenny Chesney 23.253

3 LOSE MY MIND Atlantic/WMN Brett Eldredge 20.117

4 ANYTHING GOES Republic Nashville Florida Georgia Line 18.974

5 STRIP IT DOWN Capitol Nashville Luke Bryan 18.372

6 JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban 16.351

7 HOMEGROWN John Varvatos/Republic/BMLG/Southern Ground Zac Brown Band 13.249

8 21 Atlantic/WMN Hunter Hayes 13.091

9 BUY ME A BOAT Warner Bros./WAR Chris Janson 12.307

10 HOUSE PARTY MCA Nashville Sam Hunt 12.077

NEW AND ACTIVETITLE Imprint/Label Artist

TOTAL AUDIENCE

TOTAL STATIONS ADDS

THE DRIVER Capitol Nashville Charles Kelley Feat. Dierks Bentley & Eric Paslay 0.762 44 2

KIDS WITH CARS Blaster Dallas Smith 0.529 11 1

BEAUTIFUL STRANGER Show Dog Nashville Toby Keith 0.511 19 5

FIX Big Loud Chris Lane 0.499 5 2

TENNESSEE WHISKEY Mercury Nashville Chris Stapleton 0.443 4 2

RAISED ON IT MCA Nashville Sam Hunt 0.352 1 0

Country Airplay

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 9 OF 20

FOUR COUNTRY WINNERS AT AMAsFlorida Georgia Line took home more hardware than any other country act during the Nov. 22 American Music Awards (AMAs), though that wasn’t evi-dent from the ABC telecast.

The duo’s Anything Goes was named favorite album, country in the fan-voted ceremony, and FGL repeated as favorite duo or group, country. Florida Georgia Line helped hand out an award on camera, but neither of its victories was captured during the broadcast.

The genre’s biggest repeat of the night belonged to Luke Bryan, who claimed favorite artist, male for a fourth straight year. Carrie Underwood was also a familiar presence, winning favorite female, country for a second consecu-tive year and third time overall. To date, she has won a total of nine AMAs.

Sam Hunt was the only country artist to win a trophy in a non-country cat-egory. He claimed the all-genre new artist of the year, making him the first country act to top the balloting for that award since Gloriana in 2009. Hunt’s ascendance in country has pushed the stylistic edges of the format, a fact he noted metaphorically during his acceptance speech. “We kind of threw our keys over the fence and never looked back,” he said.

The three-hour TV special included two country performances, both of which gave winning acts a chance to showcase their newest material. Bryan and Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild performed new single “Home Alone Tonight.” And Underwood delivered “Heartbeat,” a single Arista pushed to radio via Play MPE at midnight CT.

MOVERS & SHAKERSNashville Access, a weekly one-hour radio show, is set to debut this week on 25 stations around the globe, including 13 in Mexico. The vehicle is hosted by former WGNE Jacksonville, Fla., personality Dallas Rogers and Cameron “Camo” Tilbury, host of the Tyler, Texas-based TV show Young Country … Westwood One is gearing up for Christmas with a handful of spe-cials targeting country stations. The network has three one-hour holiday titles hosted by Kenny Rogers, LeAnn Rimes and Martina McBride available on specific weekends beginning after Thanksgiving. And Kix Brooks hosts a 24-hour product, An American Country Christmas, available Dec. 21-25 … Tim McGraw will be a featured speaker during the Country Radio Seminar with a session about evolving during a long-term career. CRS runs Feb. 8-10, 2016 at the Omni Nashville … WVFR Wichita, Kan., dropped a new-country format in favor of the Hank-FM brand on Nov. 23, according to the Andover Leader … Jenn Hobby is no longer doing middays with WKHX Atlanta, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported … Bonnie Miller was promoted to PD at WFLS Fred-ericksburg, Va., according to RadioInfo.com. She had been assistant PD/ afternoon drive personality for 19 months … Brewer Media/Chattanooga (Tenn.) added Joe Bell as market manager, RadioInfo.com reported, follow-ing a stint in a similar role for Beasley/Miami. Brewer’s five-station cluster includes country WPLZ … Payne Radio Group owner Bill Payne died Nov. 20 in Tulsa, Okla. A 2014 inductee in the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, he oversaw 12 stations in eastern Oklahoma. The bulk of the signals are country outlets, including KTFX Muskogee and KEOK Tahlequah. Services will be held Dec. 1 in Broken Arrow, Okla.

’ROUND THE ROWThe BBR Music Group has added three new staff members. Director of digi-tal Addie Saloman arrives from the Academy of Country Music, where she was manager of membership; manager of marketing Chelsea Reynolds re-cently served as BMG Nashville creative assistant; and Stoney Creek direc-tor of Northeast regional promotions Penny Mitchell was a longtime PD for multiple Westwood One formats. Reach Saloman here, Reynolds here and Mitchell here … Rounder hired Brad Chelstrom as project and partnership marketing manager following a 16-year run at Universal Music Group Distri-bution, where he was director of partnership marketing. Reach him here … Big Machine Label Group has an opening for a senior staff accountant. Applicants can apply through Melanie Ainsworth here … New publishing company Deluge Music opened in Nashville and Los Angeles, founded by Verse Music Group senior vp/principal Mark Friedman, former Bigger Picture Group CEO David Robkin and artist manager Larry Mazer. Gravity Gone Music owner Stephanie Greene will run the Nashville office. The first country songwriter on the roster is Oran Thornton … LoCash members Chris Lucas and Preston Brust signed an administration agreement with ole that covers songs written in a joint ven-ture with Reviver Publishing and Tim McGraw … Stoney Creek artist David Fanning entered a publishing deal with MV2 Entertainment … Songwriter/ producer Tommy Cecil agreed to a co-publishing deal with Sony/AT V and Missi Gallimore … Hearts Bluff Music purchased the Muy Bueno Music cata-log from George Strait and manager Erv Woolsey. Muy Bueno copyrights in-clude “Baby Blue,” “Write This Down” and “I Can Still Make Cheyenne,” among others … “Blue Bandana” songwriter Ben Goldsmith signed a publishing contract with BMG and Big Deal Music … Sarah Beth Terry agreed to a publishing deal with Creek Valley Music … Grammy nomi-nees will be revealed Dec. 7 … Ramona Jones Gober was buried Nov. 21 in Good-lettsville, Tenn. She frequently performed alongside husband Grandpa Jones on Hee Haw and the Grand Ole Opry dur-ing their 52-year marriage, which ended when he died in 1998. She subsequently remarried, to Rev. W. Eugene Gober.

NASHVILLE & NATIONAL TOM ROLAND

Chris Young (left) sang “I’m Comin’ Over” on Nov. 16 on NBC’s Today, where he chatted with host Matt Lauer.

MV2 Entertainment signed Stoney Creek artist David Fanning to a publishing deal. From left: Rough Hollow Entertainment artist man-ager Chris Alderman, MV2 creative director Clay Myers, Fanning and MV2 office manager Kendra Polling and GM Tony Harrell.

Warner Music Nashville artist William Michael Morgan (left) met up with John Conlee dur-ing the Nov. 14 broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry on WSM-AM Nashville.

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 10 OF 20

MUSIC NOTESAs Joey Martin Feek continues her much-followed stay in hospice, news arrives that Joey+Rory have one more album on the way. Rory Lee Feek indicated in a blog post that the duo cut tracks in Nashville for a gospel album, appar-ently titled Hymns That Are Important to Us, this past summer after Joey had surgery for cervical cancer. Rory and daughter Heidi Feek recorded harmony vocals on Nov. 22 in Indiana, where Joey is spending what will likely be her final days. The album is due in February, and the couple has designated the Loeys-Dietz Syndrome Founda-tion to receive a portion of the proceeds from the project.

Kenny Chesney’s Big Revival Tour was the lone country win-ner during the Billboard Tour-ing Awards on Nov. 19 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. The tou r — wh ich feat u red Eric Church , Jake Owen , Jason Aldean, Brantley Gil-bert, Cole Swindell, Chase Rice, Old Dominion and (for one date) Miranda Lambert — was recognized as the top package of 2015. It’s the eighth time Chesney has received that honor since 2005. Appropri-ately, he also added a pair of sta-dium dates to his 2016 Spread the Love tour. That package — which includes Lambert, Sam Hunt and Old Dominion — plays Gillette Sta-dium in Foxborough, Mass., on Aug. 26-27.

SiriusXM is increasing its embrace of nontraditional programming, adding a “YouTube Country Spotlight” to its weekly On the Horizon show, which airs on The Highway. The feature will highlight new music that’s gaining traction on YouTube. The first beneficiary was indie artist Kane Brown’s “Used to Love You Sober” during the Nov. 21 launch.

The Country Music Association’s Songwriters Series closes Dec. 11-12 at Joe’s Pub in New York. The appearances will feature four established composers: Chris DeStefano (“Smoke Break,” “Just Gettin’ Started”), Ashley Gorley (“Nothin’ Like You,” “Kick the Dust Up”), Matt Jenkins (“Cop Car,” “Con-fession”) and Leslie Satcher (“Troubadour,” “When God-Fearin’ Women Get the Blues”).

JOEY+RORY

Brad Paisley was the subject of a keynote session on Nov. 18 during the Billboard Touring Conference in New York. From left at the event are Paisley band member Kendal Marcy, Paisley, Billboard executive direc-tor of content and programming for touring and live entertainment Ray Waddell and Fitzgerald Hartley manager Bill Simmons.

ON THIS DATE IN COUNTRY MUSIC

Nov. 23• 2009 — Arista releases Carrie Underwood’s “Temporary Home” to radio.• 1995 — Shania Twain, wearing red, fuzzy ear-muffs, sings “Any Man of Mine” while riding a giant turkey float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Nov. 24• 2011 — Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” finishes at No. 1 as CMT’s Top 30 Family Videos debuts.• 2005 — Aaron Tippin has Thanksgiving dinner with American soldiers serving in Iraq at Forward Operating Base Speicher, north of Baghdad.

Nov. 25• 2013 — Big Machine releases Danielle Bradbery’s self-titled debut album.• 2000 — Phil Vassar breezes to No. 1 in Billboard with “Just Another Day in Paradise.”

Nov. 26• 2008 — Four Christmases debuts in movie theaters with acting roles for Dwight Yoakam, Tim McGraw, Sissy Spacek, Robert Duvall, Reese Witherspoon, Mary Steenburgen and Vince Vaughn.

Nov. 27• 2014 — A 60-second Pepsi commercial featuring Blake Shelton and Ashley Monroe performing “Lonely Tonight” debuts during an NFL game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks.

Nov. 28• 1985 — Willie Nelson records “Living in the Promiseland” at the Pedernales Studio in Texas.• 1925 — The WSM Barn Dance begins broadcasting in Nashville, with a one-hour performance by Uncle Jimmy Thompson. It’s later renamed The Grand Ole Opry.

Nov. 29• 2010 — Unanswered Prayers debuts on Lifetime Television. The movie is built around the song by Garth Brooks, who serves as executive producer.

Source: RolandNote.com, the Ultimate Country Music Database

NAME

NASHVILLE & NATIONAL TOM ROLAND

GOOD WORKSBlue collar went black tie when Brad Paisley showed up Nov. 17 at the swanky Plaza Hotel in New York.

Paisley played three songs during the third annual Save the Children Il-lumination Gala, raising money for an agency dedicated to protecting and educating kids around the globe. Eighty-nine percent of the organization’s revenue goes to program services, which include disaster relief, education initiatives and reducing newborn deaths.

Jennifer Garner hosted the event, where Olivia Wilde and Sanjay Gupta M.D. were among the honorees. CMT president Brian Philips served as hon-orary chair.

TWEET OF THE WEEKThis tip from Chase Rice (@ChaseRiceMusic) is probably not something he picked up from a Jack Nicklaus video:

“If you aren’t golfing with Jack Daniels, a cigar and a golfboard, you ain’t golfing”

To follow BCU, go to Twitter.com/bbcountryupdate.

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BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 11 OF 20

Hot Country SongsSALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

l1 2 2 9 DIE A HAPPY MAN HH No. 1 (2 weeks) HH Thomas Rhett D.HUFF,J.FRASURE (THOMAS RHETT,S.DOUGLAS,JOE LONDON) VALORY

1

l2 4 5 28 I’M COMIN’ OVER HH Digital & Streaming Gainer HH Chris Young C.CROWDER,C.YOUNG (C.YOUNG,C.CROWDER,J.HOGE) RCA NASHVILLE 0 2

l3 3 3 32 BREAK UP IN A SMALL TOWN Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY) MCA NASHVILLE 0 3

4 5 7 14 SMOKE BREAK Carrie Underwood J.JOYCE (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,H.LINDSEY) 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 4

5 6 8 24 BURNING HOUSE Cam J.BHASKER,T.JOHNSON (C.OCHS,T.JOHNSON,J.BHASKER) ARISTA NASHVILLE 0 4

l6 11 10 34 NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU Dan + Shay C. DESTEFANO (D.SMYERS,S.MOONEY,A.GORLEY,C. DESTEFANO) WARNER BROS./WAR 6

7 9 11 17 GONNA Blake Shelton S.HENDRICKS (L.LAIRD,C.WISEMAN) WARNER BROS./WMN 7

8 8 6 37 BREAK UP WITH HIM Old Dominion S.MCANALLY (M.RAMSEY,T. ROSEN,B.TURSI,G.SPRUNG,W.SELLERS) RCA NASHVILLE 0 3

9 1 1 4 TENNESSEE WHISKEY Chris Stapleton D.COBB,C.STAPLETON (D.DILLON,LINDA HARGROVE) MERCURY 1

10 7 4 18 STRIP IT DOWN Luke Bryan J.STEVENS,J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,J.M.NITE,R.COPPERMAN) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 1

l11 13 15 17 GONNA KNOW WE WERE HERE Jason Aldean M.KNOX (B.BEAVERS,BRETT JAMES) BROKEN BOW 11

l12 12 12 33 STAY A LITTLE LONGER Brothers Osborne J.JOYCE (J. OSBORNE,T.J. OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) EMI NASHVILLE 12

l13 14 14 40 I GOT THE BOY Jana Kramer S.HENDRICKS (T.NICHOLS,C.HARRINGTON,J.L.SPEARS) ELEKTRA NASHVILLE/WAR 13

l14 15 16 16 TOP OF THE WORLD Tim McGraw B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (J.ROBBINS,J.M.NITE,J.OSBORNE) MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE 14

l15 18 18 27 I LOVE THIS LIFE LoCash L.RIMES,P.BRUST,C.LUCAS (D.MYRICK,C.JANSON,C.LUCAS,P.BRUST) REVIVER 15

16 16 13 22 SAVE IT FOR A RAINY DAY Kenny Chesney B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (A.DORFF,M.RAMSEY,B.TURSI) BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 4

17 20 19 15 DIBS Kelsea Ballerini F.G.WHITEHEAD,J.MASSEY (K.BALLERINI,J.KERR,R.GRIFFIN,J.DUKE) BLACK RIVER 17

l18 26 24 15 RUN AWAY WITH YOU Big & Rich J.RICH,B.KENNY (J.D.RICH,MICHAEL RAY) B$R/NEW REVOLUTION 18

19 19 17 25 JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 Keith Urban D.HUFF,K.URBAN (S.MCANALLY,R.COPPERMAN,J.OSBORNE) HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE 2

l20 22 20 10 BEAUTIFUL DRUG Zac Brown Band Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,N.MOON) JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 20

l21 24 21 33 ALREADY CALLIN’ YOU MINE Parmalee NV (M.THOMAS,S.THOMAS,B.KNOX,P.O’DONNELL,W.KIRBY) STONEY CREEK 20

l22 25 22 25 WE WENT Randy Houser D.GEORGE (J.WILSON,M.ROGERS,J.KING) STONEY CREEK 22

23 27 25 12 COUNTRY NATION Brad Paisley L.WOOTEN,B.PAISLEY (B.PAISLEY,C.DUBOIS,K.LOVELACE) ARISTA NASHVILLE 23

24 23 32 3 MR. MISUNDERSTOOD Eric Church J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,C.BEATHARD) EMI NASHVILLE 23

l25 29 28 9 BACKROAD SONG Granger Smith F.ROGERS,G.SMITH (G.SMITH,F.ROGERS) WHEELHOUSE 25

Hot Country Songs

The second single from Gravity reaches the Hot Country Songs top 20 (26-19),

fueled in part by its 16-14 rise in its 45th week on Country Airplay

(24.3 million in audience, up 9 percent).

18B I G & R I C H

Run Away With You

Two people meet at a bar, scorned by breakups and looking for revenge.

You can guess the rest. Br yan and Fairchild performed the track, up 43-27

on Hot Country Songs, live on the American Music Awards on Nov. 22.

26L U K E B R YA N F E A T. K A R E N

F A I R C H I L D Home Alone

Tonight

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BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 12 OF 20

For week ending November 19, 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 Songs

ALBUMSDIGITAL

ALBUMS*DIGITAL TRACKS

This Week 610,000 192,000 1,595,000

Last Week 752,000 315,000 1,991,000

Change -18.9% -39.0% -19.9%

This Week Last Year 780,000 175,000 1,906,000

Change -21.8% 9.7% -16.3%

*Digital album sales are also counted within album sales.

Weekly Unit SalesYear-Over-Year Album Sales2014 2015 CHANGE

Albums 26,853,000 24,244,000 -9.7%

Digital Tracks 119,736,000 100,487,000 -16.1%

YEAR-TO-DATE

Overall Unit Sales

2014 2015 CHANGE

Physical 17,887,000 15,301,000 9.0%

Digital 8,966,000 8,943,000 -0.3%

Sales by Album Format

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 43 — 5 HOME ALONE TONIGHT HH Airplay Gainer HH Luke Bryan Featuring Karen Fairchild J.STEVENS,J.STEVENS (J.STEVENS,C.TAYLOR,J.DREYER,T.CECIL) CAPITOL NASHVILLE

26

27 21 — 2 WHEN I’M GONE Joey + Rory G.PACZOSA (S.E.LAWRENCE) VANGUARD/SUGAR HILL/CMG 21

l28 32 35 4 BREAK ON ME. Keith Urban N.CHAPMAN,K.URBAN (J.M.NITE,R.COPPERMAN) HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE 24

29 30 29 21 THAT DON’T SOUND LIKE YOU Lee Brice J.STONE,L.BRICE (L.BRICE,R.AKINS,A.GORLEY) CURB 25

l30 38 50 3 NOBODY TO BLAME Chris Stapleton D.COBB,C.STAPLETON (C.STAPLETON,B.BALES,R.BOWMAN) MERCURY 30

l31 39 38 9 I LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT Rascal Flatts J.DEMARCUS,RASCAL FLATTS (M.TRAINOR,J.FRASURE,S.MOONEY) BIG MACHINE 31

l32 37 37 13 LITTLE BIT OF YOU Chase Bryant D.GEORGE,C.BRYANT (C.BRYANT,D.GEORGE,A.GORLEY) RED BOW 32

l33 36 36 13 (THIS AIN’T NO) DRUNK DIAL A Thousand Horses D.COBB (M.HOBBY,C.CROWDER,N.MASON,C.DODDS) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 31

34 17 23 3 TRAVELLER Chris Stapleton D.COBB,C.STAPLETON (C.STAPLETON) MERCURY 17

l35 40 39 3 CONFESSION Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (R.CLAWSON,R.COPPERMAN,M.JENKINS) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 35

l36 NEW 1 RIGHT HERE WAITING HH Hot Shot Debut HH Barrett Baber NOT LISTED (NOT LISTED) REPUBLIC

36

37 42 33 5 USED TO LOVE YOU SOBER Kane Brown M.MCVANEY (K.BROWN,M.MCVANEY,J.HOGE) ZONE 4 15

l38 48 45 6 HEAD OVER BOOTS Jon Pardi B.BUTLER,J.PARDI (J.PARDI,L.LAIRD) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 38

39 47 43 8 COLD BEER CONVERSATION George Strait C.AINLAY,G.STRAIT (A.ANDERSON,B.HAYSLIP,J.YEARY) MCA NASHVILLE 36

l40 RE-ENTRY 9 NIGHT’S ON FIRE David Nail C.AINLAY,F.LIDDELL,G.WORF (J.SINGLETON,D.RUTTAN) MCA NASHVILLE 40

l41 NEW 1 DRUNK ON YOUR LOVE Brett Eldredge R. COPPERMAN,B.ELDREDGE (B.ELDREDGE,R.COPPERMAN) ATLANTIC/WMN 41

l42 NEW 1 STONE COLD SOBER Brantley Gilbert D.HUFF (B.GILBERT,BRETT JAMES,D.LAYUS) VALORY 42

l43 NEW 1 BLAME IT ON YOUR HEART Emily Ann Roberts NOT LISTED (NOT LISTED) REPUBLIC 43

l44 NEW 1 BETTER IN BOOTS Tyler Farr J.KING,J.CATINO (J.WILSON,D.PITTENGER,N.COOKE) COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 44

l45 RE-ENTRY 4 REAL MEN LOVE JESUS Michael Ray S.HENDRICKS (B.WARREN,B.WARREN,L.MILLER,A.SANDERS) ATLANTIC/WEA 45

l46 RE-ENTRY 3 CRAZY OVER ME Dylan Scott M.ALDERMAN,J.E.NORMAN (D.SCOTT,M.ALDERMAN) CURB 36

l47 RE-ENTRY 2 MIND READER Dustin Lynch M.J.CONES (R.AKINS,B.HAYSLIP) BROKEN BOW 43

l48 RE-ENTRY 6 YUP Easton Corbin C.CHAMBERLAIN (S.MINOR,P.O’DONNELL,W.KIRBY) MERCURY 45

49 41 46 3 FIRE AWAY Chris Stapleton D.COBB,C.STAPLETON (C.STAPLETON,D.GREEN) MERCURY 41

l50 NEW 1 SNAPBACK Old Dominion S.MCANALLY (M.RAMSEY,T. ROSEN,B.TURSI) RCA NASHVILLE 50

’15

’14

DIGITAL TRACKS SALES

’15

’14

26.9 million

24.2 million

000.0 million

’14

’13

100.5 million

119.7 million

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 13 OF 20

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 2 16 BREAK UP IN A SMALL TOWN SAM HUNT

2 1 8 DIE A HAPPY MAN THOMAS RHETT

l3 7 23 I’M COMIN’ OVER CHRIS YOUNG

4 4 15 STRIP IT DOWN LUKE BRYAN

5 3 3 TENNESSEE WHISKEY CHRIS STAPLETON

6 5 26 HOUSE PARTY SAM HUNT

l7 10 14 BREAK UP WITH HIM OLD DOMINION

8 6 47 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT

9 9 15 BURNING HOUSE CAM

10 8 39 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN

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11 12 28 CRASH AND BURN THOMAS RHETT

12 13 9 I GOT THE BOY JANA KRAMER

13 15 87 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN

l14 19 100 BOTTOMS UP BRANTLEY GILBERT

15 17 14 ANYTHING GOES FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

16 23 91 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN

17 14 6 SMOKE BREAK CARRIE UNDERWOOD

18 20 11 NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU DAN + SHAY

19 — 136 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

20 25 23 JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 KEITH URBAN

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.

TOP COUNTRY ALBUMSCOUNTRY DIGITAL SONGS

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

Baber , one of the top 12 finalists on NBC’s The Voice, brings country flavor to the 1989 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 by Richard Marx .

The cover bounds onto Country Digital Songs at No. 9 (14,000 downloads sold).

58B A R R E T T

B A B E R Right Here

Waiting

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l1 NEW 1 CHRIS YOUNG I’m Comin’ OverRCA NASHVILLE 506963/SMN 1

2 1 1 29 CHRIS STAPLETON TravellerMERCURY 019405*/UMGN 1

3 2 3 3 ERIC CHURCH Mr. MisunderstoodEMI NASHVILLE 024200*/UMGN 2

4 4 2 4 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Storyteller19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 510539*/SMN 1

5 3 — 2 TIM MCGRAW Damn Country MusicMCGRAW/BIG MACHINE TM0300A/BMLG 3

6 6 6 15 LUKE BRYAN Kill The LightsCAPITOL NASHVILLE 022813/UMGN 1

7 10 8 8 THOMAS RHETT Tangled UpVALORY RT0200A/BMLG 2

8 7 7 56 SAM HUNT MontevalloMCA NASHVILLE 021502/UMGN 0 1

9 8 5 4 BLAKE SHELTON Reloaded: 20 #1 HitsWARNER BROS. 551788/WMN 2

10 14 10 8 DON HENLEY Cass CountyPAST MASTERS HOLDINGS 023512*/CAPITOL 1

11 5 — 2 OLD DOMINION Meat And CandyRCA NASHVILLE 513496/SMN 5

12 15 11 8 GEORGE STRAIT Cold Beer ConversationMCA NASHVILLE 022818 WMEX/UMGN 1

13 13 4 3 CHRIS JANSON Buy Me A BoatWARNER BROS. 552159/WMN 4

14 12 12 57 LITTLE BIG TOWN Pain KillerCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021360*/UMGN 3

l15 23 — 2 VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW That’s What I Call Country ChristmasUNIVERSAL/SONY MUSIC 024032/UME 15

16 17 13 93 ERIC CHURCH The OutsidersEMI NASHVILLE 019402*/UMGN 1 1

17 18 14 30 ZAC BROWN BAND JEKYLL + HYDEJOHN VARVATOS/SOUTHERN GROUND/BMLG 022962/REPUBLIC 0 1

l18 40 — 2 ELVIS PRESLEY Elvis: Ultimate ChristmasRCA 51311 WMEX/SONY COMMERCIAL MUSIC GROUP 18

19 21 19 58 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE Anything GoesREPUBLIC NASHVILLE /BMLG 0 1

20 9 — 2 JOSH ABBOTT BAND Front Row SeatPRETTY DAMN TOUGH 321950/THIRTY TIGERS 9

21 24 21 59 JASON ALDEAN Old Boots, New DirtBROKEN BOW 7105/BBMG 1 1

l22 41 — 2 KENNY ROGERS Once Again It’s ChristmasWARNER BROS. 550651/WMN 22

23 32 24 79 BRANTLEY GILBERT Just As I AmVALORY BG0200A/BMLG 0 1

24 16 — 2 HUNTER HAYES 21 ProjectATLANTIC 552577/WMN 16

25 22 29 9 ALABAMA Southern DrawlTGA 53816215/BMG 2

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l1 2 9 DIE A HAPPY MAN THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)

2 1 4 TENNESSEE WHISKEY CHRIS STAPLETON (Mercury/UMGN)

3 3 44 BREAK UP IN A SMALL TOWN SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

4 6 22 BURNING HOUSE CAM (Arista Nashville/SMN)

l5 12 28 I’M COMIN’ OVER CHRIS YOUNG (RCA Nashville/SMN)

6 5 18 STRIP IT DOWN LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

7 7 3 WHEN I’M GONE JOEY + RORY (Vanguard/Sugar Hill/Concord)

8 14 5 BEAUTIFUL DRUG ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

l9 NEW RIGHT HERE WAITING BARRETT BABER (Republic)

10 4 48 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

11 15 28 BREAK UP WITH HIM OLD DOMINION (RCA Nashville/SMN)

12 9 13 SMOKE BREAK CARRIE UNDERWOOD (19/Arista Nashville/SMN)

l13 19 23 STAY A LITTLE LONGER BROTHERS OSBORNE (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l14 22 40 I GOT THE BOY JANA KRAMER (Elektra Nashville/WMN)

15 10 3 MR. MISUNDERSTOOD ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l16 NEW BLAME IT ON YOUR HEART EMILY ANN ROBERTS (Republic)

17 17 13 GONNA BLAKE SHELTON (Warner Bros./WMN)

l18 30 13 I LOVE THIS LIFE LOCASH (Reviver)

19 16 56 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

20 18 33 CRASH AND BURN THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)

21 8 3 TRAVELLER CHRIS STAPLETON (Mercury/UMGN)

22 11 2 IN THE GARDEN EMILY ANN ROBERTS (Republic)

23 23 34 HOUSE PARTY SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

24 34 17 WE WENT RANDY HOUSER (Stoney Creek/BBMG)

25 28 31 BUY ME A BOAT CHRIS JANSON (Warner Bros./WMN)

THIS

W

EEK

LAST

W

EEK

WKS

ON

CH

ART

TITLEARTIST (IMPRINT/LABEL)

l26 38 18 NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU DAN + SHAY (Warner Bros./WMN)

l27 NEW MY LOVE ZACH SEABAUGH (Republic)

28 24 8 RISER DIERKS BENTLEY (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

29 25 24 JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 KEITH URBAN (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

30 26 41 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l31 NEW IN COLOR SHELBY BROWN (Republic)

l32 RE-ENTRY HOME ALONE TONIGHT LUKE BRYAN FEAT. KAREN FAIRCHILD (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l33 RE-ENTRY PICTURE KID ROCK FEAT. SHERYL CROW (Lava/AG)

34 35 27 KICK THE DUST UP LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l35 41 17 DIBS KELSEA BALLERINI (Black River)

l36 48 4 BREAK ON ME. KEITH URBAN (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

37 31 27 ANYTHING GOES FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

38 33 3 CONFESSION FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l39 47 10 THAT DON’T SOUND LIKE YOU LEE BRICE (Curb)

40 32 5 USED TO LOVE YOU SOBER KANE BROWN (Zone 4)

l41 NEW NOBODY TO BLAME CHRIS STAPLETON (Mercury/UMGN)

l42 RE-ENTRY BACKROAD SONG GRANGER SMITH (Wheelhouse/BBMG)

43 44 12 GONNA KNOW WE WERE HERE JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

44 46 13 TOP OF THE WORLD TIM MCGRAW (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)

45 45 27 LET ME SEE YA GIRL COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)

l46 NEW IN COLOR JAMEY JOHNSON (Mercury/UMGN)

47 13 3 LAST MINUTE LATE NIGHT KANE BROWN (Zone 4)

48 29 19 SAVE IT FOR A RAINY DAY KENNY CHESNEY (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)

l49 RE-ENTRY CRAZY OVER ME DYLAN SCOTT (Curb)

l50 RE-ENTRY AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 14 OF 20

Given his post-show leap to the top of the sales charts, it’s clear that Chris Stapleton’s performance on the Nov. 4 Country Music Association Awards (CMAs) — an eight-minute showcase with Justin Timberlake that included an updated version of George Jones’ “Tennessee Whiskey” — won over a ton of new fans.

But if the view for people watching it all unfold on TV was impressive, the view from the stage was even better.

“I was watching all these incredible country artists, and it looked like their f—ing faces were melting,” says producer Dave Cobb (A Thousand Horses, Sturgill Simp-son), who could be seen on the right side of the screen that night. “It wasn’t a normal reaction.”

Not for artists, not for fans and not for radio programmers, who made Stapleton’s current single — “Nobody to Blame,” the second one from the album Traveller — the No. 2 most-added single the week after the CMAs, beaten out only by Eric Church’s “Mr. Misunder-stood,” which was introduced on that same ABC telecast.

“It’s the country-est thing on the record, I think,” says Stapleton of “Nobody to Blame.” “So to me, it’s an appropriate country single.”

Country indeed. Instead of some happy song about single kids tailgating in a va-cant field, “Nobody to Blame” mines classic country’s predisposition for heartbreak. Making it even more country, the song employs a series of destroyed possessions in a house as metaphors for a broken home, similar to the use of physical domestic pieces in such traditional titles as Jones’ “The Grand Tour” and Randy Travis’ “Diggin’ Up Bones.”

Not surprisingly, “Nobody to Blame” was born from an old-school song-writing method. Stapleton and two bluegrass buddies, Band of Ruhks guitar-ist Ronnie Bowman and Alison Krauss + Union Station bass player Barry Bales, didn’t come up with a melody for an existing set of digital tracks on their laptop. Instead, they used guitars and — in ultra-traditional fashion — kicked it all off with the title.

It was the latter half of 2013 when they penned it at a writing cabin in back of Stapleton’s house. Bowman and his wife, vocalist Garnet Bowman, had had a tiff, and Bowman unloaded when he arrived at the appointment.

“He’s telling the story about what he had done, or hadn’t done,” recalls Bales. “He just kind of shakes his head and goes, ‘But you know, I got nobody to blame but me.’ Then me and Chris just look at each other and go, ‘Well, there’s our song.’ ”

“Getting in an argument with Garnet came in handy,” adds Bowman with a laugh.

The song was one of two or three they penned that day — “All different feels and different types of songs,” says Stapleton — and it tumbled out so quickly that all three writers are a bit hazy about its creation. Once they found a direc-tion for the song, it seems that they wrote it front to back, launching with the image of a woman ripping a wedding photo in two, setting up both the split and the series of tangible objects that follow. In the first verse, she trashes the guy’s fishing rods, pawns his guns and tosses his clothes into the yard. In the second, the destruction turns mechanical as she guts two vehicles: a sports car and a lawnmower.

“By the time she gets to the garage, those things are obviously going to be together,” jokes Bales.

Just what caused the woman to strike out in revenge is a mystery.

“It could’ve been something serious, it could’ve been something small,” says Bowman. “That’s not relative. It’s like ‘insert your own reason for hav-ing your own pain here.’ ”

They made an iPhone recording with Stapleton singing lead and Bowman doing harmonies over acoustic guitar, then moved on. Stapleton, who has penned such titles as Luke Bryan’s “Drink a Beer” and Thomas Rhett’s “Crash and Burn,” wasn’t sure initially where the song belonged. But it stuck with him and was still haunting him a year later when he started working on Traveller.

“I live pretty close to a park,” says Stapleton. “I would take walks in the park and kind of look back at the things that I’ve written, and it was one that I would keep pulling out because I really liked the way it feels.”

His wife, singer-songwriter Morgane Sta-pleton (“Don’t Forget to Remember Me”), championed “Nobody to Blame,” too, and it was tacked onto a list of roughly 60 songs as the Stapletons and Cobb knocked around po-tential material for the album with Warner/Chappell Nashville vp Ben Vaughn and Uni-versal Music Group Nashville senior vp A&R Brian Wright.

“Chris has so many songs that he’s unaware of what he’s got,” notes Cobb. “We could’ve cut any of the songs, and there would’ve been an incredible record. There was no black sheep to the whole thing.”

They cut the album over the course of a week in 2014 at the historic RCA Studio A, which was headed for the wrecking ball at the time they booked it. Stapleton augmented his road band with a few key additions: Cobb on acous-tic guitar, former Waylon Jennings compadre Robby Turner on steel and longtime Willie Nelson sideman Mickey Raphael on harmonica. Drummer Derek Mixon recorded in a booth, but the rest of the players, including Sta-pleton, cut the songs in the center of the main room with their parts bleeding into other microphones, the same way it worked during Studio A’s peak years in the ’60s and ’70s.

With the studio booked for several days in a row, Stapleton took his time with the process. The crew would eat, chat, drink a little and wait until the muse was right to hit the record button — usually after 8 p.m. Invariably, it would get three master tracks before the night was through. “It was a perfect lesson in timing and vibe,” says Cobb. “And that was Chris’ call.”

“Nobody to Blame” uses a Jennings-like thump. “Waylon was country-funk to a big extent,” observes Cobb, “and I think that song has a bit of country-funk.”

Stapleton employed a phaser with a Telecaster to get a Jennings tone and recorded a fairly simple solo, then doubled it to effect a little more outlaw attitude.

“I enjoy a solo that you can kind of sing along to,” says Stapleton. “If you can sing the solo to me, or it’s something that sticks in your head as a distinct part, then I think that’s how a solo’s supposed to function.”

Mercury sent “Nobody to Blame” to radio via Play MPE on Oct. 26. Buoyed by the CMA performance nine days later, it debuted at No. 46 on the Country Airplay chart dated Nov. 21 and No. 50 on Hot Country Songs. It’s at No. 29 and No. 30 on those respective charts in its third week.

Meanwhile, Stapleton refuses to let the public reaction to his CMA night change his grip on reality. His profile was raised in the short term, but he doesn’t fantasize that it’s a guarantee of long-term success.

“You can make music and hope for the best,” he says. “But you can’t make any of this stuff happen. It just kind of happens or it doesn’t.”

Newly Minted Star Chris Stapleton Takes ‘Blame’ To Radio

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

STAPLETON

BE

CK

Y F

LU

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BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 15 OF 20

Imagine growing up in a home where it wasn’t uncommon to see the Dixie Chicks or other stars writing songs with one of your parents in a room filled with gold and platinum record plaques and silver cups commemorating No. 1 hits. For a handful of Nashville’s newly signed artists, this was a normal part of their childhood.

Joining already established stars Thomas Rhett and Lady Ante-bellum’s Hillary Scott — subjects of our 2013 story on second-gener-ation country artists that also included Toby Keith’s daughter Krys-tal Keith — is a new crop of talented artists in their 20s. The group includes Tucker Beathard (son of hit songwriter Casey Beathard), Levi Hummon (son of Grammy-winning writer Marcus Hummon), Aubrie Sellers (daughter of Lee Ann Wom-ack and hit songwriter Jason Sellers) and country legend Glen Campbell’s daughter Ashley Campbell.

Coincidentally — or perhaps not — most of these second-gen stars are clus-tered under one roof. Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) is home to Thomas, Ash-ley, Levi and Tucker. Ashley’s debut Dot Records single, “Remembering,” is at radio now, and she’s currently visiting stations to promote it. (Read Billboard.com’s recent story about Ashley here.) Tucker released a batch of unmastered demos via Spotify in October and, like Levi, will be formally introduced to radio in the first quarter of 2016. Aubrie, best known until now as the little ballerina in her mom’s “I Hope You Dance” music video, is now 24 and will release her debut album, New City Blues, in January 2016 on Carnival Music (via Thirty Tigers).

Meanwhile, keep an eye out for more second-generation stars to emerge in the coming years — after they finish school, that is. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s oldest daughter, 18-year-old Gracie McGraw, performs in an all-girl band called Tingo. She also duets with her dad on a track on his latest album and fearlessly debuted the song with him during a concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena earlier in 2015. And Garth Brooks’ youngest daughter, Allie Brooks, also 18 and a college student like Gracie, performed at the ASCAP Country Awards earlier this month as part of a tribute to stepmother Trisha Yearwood, perhaps telegraphing a future music career of her own.

Dot artist Tucker, 20, had some wild teenage years that became the in-spiration for the Eric Church single “Homeboy.” Casey — a two-time BMI songwriter of the year winner whose numerous hits include “Don’t Blink,” “The Boys of Fall,” “Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo,” “Come Back Song” and “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” — wrote the song about his son.

Two years ago, Tucker made the last-minute decision not to attend col-lege, where he had planned to play baseball, and instead pursue music full time. He had a record deal offer within months of that decision. “It was pretty fast, but it was exciting,” he says. Since then, he has released the demos project, begun work on his debut album and opened a tour for Maddie & Tae, something he says was “a totally different kind of thing for me” after he had become accustomed to “playing a lot of smoky, crappy bars.”

Tucker describes his music as “edgy” and “a mixture of a lot of different influences I had growing up that just kind of molded into my own thing. He calls his father “a role model,” noting, “The best thing I learned from him was just to really take pride in what you’re writing about.” He says that’s something that came naturally to him after seeing Casey do the same thing on hit after hit

over the years. “I learned to put my true emotions or experiences into words.”Casey has been “reassuring” to his son, reminding him, “ ‘You don’t need

to chase what everybody’s doing. Stay true to yourself.’ Hearing that from somebody like him is really good.”

Valory Music artist Levi, 24, originally gravitated to visual arts, includ-ing painting and sculpture, in college before his interest shifted to playing the guitar, singing and songwriting as a way of dealing with what he calls “personal issues.” After transferring to Nashville’s Belmont University he began playing gigs around town with his father and soon picked up label interest. He recalls auditioning for BMLG senior VP A&R Allison Jones

one day, for label president/CEO Scott Borchetta the next and then having an offer a week after that. Like Tucker, he says, “It was kind of an intensely fast experience.”

Levi has spent the last year working on his debut project, most recently with producer Jimmy Robbins, and hopes to have his first single — tentatively sched-uled to be “Life’s for Livin’ ” — to radio in early 2016. Says the singer, “I’m unbe-lievably ready to put out music.”

Dad Marcus signed to Columbia Re-cords in the mid-1990s. But his debut album, All in Good Time, yielded just one charting single, “God’s Country,” which spent only six weeks on the Hot Country Songs Chart before peaking

at No. 73. In the ensuing years, however, other artists discovered songs from that album and turned them into hits: Tim McGraw did so with “One of These Days” and Rascal Flatts did with “God Bless the Broken Road,” which earned Marcus a Grammy for best country song in 2005. His other hits include “Born to Fly,” “Cowboy Take Me Away” and “Ready to Run.”

Levi has only a vague recollection of Marcus as an artist, but does remem-ber going to sleepovers as a kid and getting homesick if his friends’ parents happened to be playing All in Good Time and he heard Marcus’ voice.

“I never thought that what my dad was doing would influence me,” he says. “But as I’ve been experiencing the music business and separating myself from my father, I’m experiencing subconsciously the lessons I learned from him.”

Those lessons are similar to those Tucker picked up from Casey. “My dad always walked to the beat of his own drum,” says Levi. “He was always such an independent force. I kind of realized that growing up, but never understood how important that was. As I’m looking at the music industry today, conformity is the easiest path in a lot of ways to try and get music out faster. The lesson I learned most from my father is just sticking to myself — letting other forces influence me, but also making sure that I’m being who I am.”

Because Marcus has experienced the ups and downs of the music business, Levi says the best advice that Marcus passed down to him was that “it’s all about hearing a thousand nos and waiting for that one yes. [Marcus] always says, ‘I really believe in you as an artist,’ and he always tells me, ‘I feel like you’re more of an artist than I was.’”

The two Hummons continue to collaborate on music, and Levi says they have written some songs together that he loves and that are likely to make his f irst album. “I think for me and Thomas and Tucker, it’s all about having fathers that are an incredible support system, but also know-ing that you’re a different artist, a different person than them,” says Levi. “You’re going to have different stories. The main thing is just to tell your own story.”

Several Of Nashville’s Future Stars Are Literally Next-Generation Talents

THE STARK REPORT PHYLLIS STARK phyllis.stark@billboard.com

TUCKER BEATHARD LEVI HUMMON

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 16 OF 20

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

WKS ON

CHART TITLE Imprint/Label ArtistPLAYS

AUDIENCE (IN MILLIONS)

THIS WEEK +/– THIS WEEK

l1 3 17 GONNA Warner Bros./WMN HH No. 1 (1 week) HH Blake Shelton 4358 +35 5.353

2 2 27 I’M COMIN’ OVER RCA Nashville Chris Young 4200 -158 5.353

3 1 14 SMOKE BREAK 19/Arista Nashville Carrie Underwood 4144 -287 5.368

l4 4 35 NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU Warner Bros./WAR Dan + Shay 4023 +94 5.086

l5 6 16 GONNA KNOW WE WERE HERE Broken Bow Jason Aldean 3986 +334 4.832

l6 7 21 BURNING HOUSE Arista Nashville Cam 3703 +216 4.612

l7 8 16 TOP OF THE WORLD McGraw/Big Machine Tim McGraw 3691 +253 4.261

l8 9 35 STAY A LITTLE LONGER EMI Nashville Brothers Osborne 3653 +219 3.993

l9 12 9 DIE A HAPPY MAN Valory Thomas Rhett 3162 +277 3.415

l10 11 19 DIBS Black River Kelsea Ballerini 2998 +68 3.041

l11 13 36 I LOVE THIS LIFE Reviver LoCash 2886 +127 3.404

l12 14 37 I GOT THE BOY Elektra Nashville/WAR Jana Kramer 2747 +48 3.328

l13 17 26 WE WENT Stoney Creek Randy Houser 2649 +154 3.028

l14 15 12 COUNTRY NATION Arista Nashville Brad Paisley 2614 +25 2.926

15 16 41 ALREADY CALLIN’ YOU MINE Stoney Creek Parmalee 2534 -47 3.074

l16 18 10 BREAK UP IN A SMALL TOWN MCA Nashville Sam Hunt 2349 +116 2.444

l17 19 7 BACKROAD SONG Wheelhouse Granger Smith 2081 +112 2.179

l18 22 5 BREAK ON ME Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban 2058 +343 1.978

l19 20 22 (THIS AIN’T NO) DRUNK DIAL Republic Nashville A Thousand Horses 2012 +35 1.884

20 10 28 BREAK UP WITH HIM RCA Nashville Old Dominion 1981 -970 2.577

l21 21 22 RISER Capitol Nashville Dierks Bentley 1968 +38 1.975

l22 23 10 BEAUTIFUL DRUG Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic Zac Brown Band 1577 +115 1.690

l23 25 10 I LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT Big Machine Rascal Flatts 1477 +89 1.603

l24 24 27 THAT DON’T SOUND LIKE YOU Curb Lee Brice 1397 +4 1.467

l25 39 2 HOME ALONE TONIGHT Capitol Nashville HH Most Increased Plays/Most Added HH Luke Bryan Feat. Karen Fairchild 1326 +765 1.520

l26 27 9 COLD BEER CONVERSATION MCA Nashville George Strait 1168 +23 0.935

l27 37 2 MR. MISUNDERSTOOD EMI Nashville Eric Church 1155 +561 1.305

l28 28 21 LITTLE BIT OF YOU Red Bow Chase Bryant 1151 +30 1.143

l29 35 3 NOBODY TO BLAME Mercury Chris Stapleton 994 +354 0.929

l30 31 11 STONE COLD SOBER Valory Brantley Gilbert 949 +129 0.777

Country Indicator

BILLBOARD COUNTRY INDICATOR PANEL — 106 STATIONS

Abilene, Texas KEANAlexandria, La. KRRVAmarillo, Texas KGNCAsheville, N.C. WKSFAtlantic City, N.J. WPURBeaumont, Texas KYKRBeckley, W. Va. WJLSBiloxi, Miss. WZKXBloomington, Ill. WIBLBluefield, W. Va. WHKXBurlington, Vt. WOKOCape Girardeau, Mo. KEZSCharleston, W. Va WKWS WQBECollege Station, Texas KAGGColumbia, Mo. KCLRColumbus, Ga. WKCN WSTH Cookeville, Tenn. WGSQDothan, Ala. WTVYDuluth, Minn. KKCBEau Claire, Wis. WAXXElizabeth City, N.C. WRSFErie, Pa. WTWFEugene, Ore. KKNUEvansville, Ind. WKDQFargo, N.D. KBVB WSTH

Fayetteville, N.C. WKMLFlagstaff, Ariz. KAFFFlint, Mich. WFBEFlorence, Ala. WXFLFlorence, S.C. WEGXFt. Collins, Colo. KUADFt. Smith, Ark. KTCSFrederick, Md. WFREFredericksburg, Va. WFLSGreen Bay, Wis. WNCYHagerstown, Md. WAYZHot Springs, Ark. KQUSHuntington, Ky. WDGGHuntington, W. Va. WTCRIdaho Falls, Idaho KTHKJackson, Miss. WMSI WUSJJanesville, Wis. WJVL Jonesboro, Ark. KDXYJoplin, Mo. KIXQKalamazoo, Mich. WNWNKalispell, Mont. KDBRKingmah, Ariz. KFLGLafayette, Ind. WKOALaredo, Texas KRRGLansing, Mich. WITLLaurel, Miss. WBBN

Lebanon, N.H. WXXKLincoln, Neb KFGELongview, Texas KYKXLubbock, Texas KLLLLufkin, Texas KYKSMason City, Iowa KIAIMedford, Ore. KRWQMeridian, Miss. WOKKMontgomery, Ala. WLWIMorgantown, W. Va. WKKWMuskegon, Mich. WMUSNew London, Conn. WCTYOdessa, Texas KHKXPalm Springs, Calif. KPLMPensacola, Fla. WXBMPeoria, Ill. WXCL Poughkeepsie, N.Y. WRWDRapid City, S.D. KOUTRockford, Ill. WXXQRocky Mount, N.C. WDWGSaginaw, Mich. WCENSt. Cloud, Minn. KZPKSalina, Kan. KYEZSalisbury, Md. WKTTSan Angelo, Texas KGKLSan Luis Obispo, Calif. KKJG

Santa Barbara, Calif. KRAZSanta Maria, Calif. KSNISheboygan, Wis. WBFMSavannah, Ga. WJCL WUBBShreveport, La. KXKSSioux Cty, Iowa KSUXSouth Bend, Ind. WBYTSpringfield, Ill. WFMBSpringfield, Mo. KTTSTerre Haute, Ind. WTHITopeka, Kan. WIBWTraverse City, Mich. WTCMTupelo, Miss. WWZDUtica, N.Y. WFRGVictor Valley, CA. KATJWaco, Texas WACOWausau, Wis. WDEZWheeling, W. Va. WOVKWilliamsport, Pa. WILQYakima, Wash. KXDDYoungstown, Ohio WQXK WWGYWestwood One HOT COUNTRY MAINSTREAM COUNTRYMusic Choice TODAY’S COUNTRYSirius XM THE HIGHWAY

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 17 OF 20

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

WKS ON

CHART TITLE Imprint/Label ArtistPLAYS

AUDIENCE (IN MILLIONS)

THIS WEEK +/– THIS WEEK

l31 29 9 REAL MEN LOVE JESUS Atlantic/WEA Michael Ray 891 +32 0.840

l32 30 17 YUP Mercury Easton Corbin 887 +43 0.522

l33 32 10 HEAD OVER BOOTS Capitol Nashville Jon Pardi 817 +24 0.549

34 33 13 PAIN KILLER Capitol Little Big Town 798 -8 0.421

l35 34 21 SHINE A LITTLE LOVE Blue Light Brian Collins 750 +27 0.317

l36 36 13 BETTER IN BOOTS Columbia Nashville Tyler Farr 726 +127 0.377

l37 38 18 NIGHT’S ON FIRE MCA Nashville David Nail 597 +19 0.358

l38 47 2 CONFESSION Republic Nashville Florida Georgia Line 521 +137 0.487

l39 44 3 SHUT UP AND FISH Dot Maddie & Tae 502 +100 0.376

l40 43 6 HIGH CLASS EMI Nashville Eric Paslay 501 +60 0.213

l41 42 7 MIND READER Broken Bow Dustin Lynch 495 +72 0.443

l42 41 13 HOLE IN A BOTTLE Mercury Nashville Canaan Smith 475 +26 0.256

l43 53 3 DRUNK ON YOUR LOVE Atlantic/WMN Brett Eldredge 438 +137 0.474

l44 45 8 GETAWAY TRUCK BIG Label/Thirty Tigers Aaron Watson 413 +8 0.140

l45 48 6 THE DRIVER Capitol Nashville Charles Kelley Feat. Dierks Bentley & Eric Paslay 397 +15 0.221

l46 46 11 SOUTHERN BELLE 19/Interscope/Mercury Scotty McCreery 390 +1 0.147

l47 50 4 BEAUTIFUL STRANGER Show Dog Nashville Toby Keith 371 +43 0.149

l48 49 5 RUNNING FOR YOU MCA Nashville Kip Moore 345 +16 0.171

l49 55 3 YOU LOOK LIKE I NEED A DRINK Valory Justin Moore 337 +64 0.171

l50 54 8 BOY & A GIRL THING Curb Mo Pitney 333 +33 0.131

l51 51 9 I AM INVINCIBLE Republic Nashville Cassadee Pope 324 +7 0.264

l52 52 12 CRAZY ENOUGH Willing Nashville Bobby Wills 309 +8 0.031

l53 56 6 WHEN I’M GONE Black River Craig Morgan 290 +14 0.119

l54 57 5 POWER OF POSITIVE DRINKIN’ Warner Bros./WAR Chris Janson 282 +14 0.171

55 58 6 FREAKS LIKE ME Red Bow Joe Nichols 240 -9 0.176

l56 RE-ENTRY I MET A GIRL Warner Bros./WMN William Michael Morgan 213 +24 0.108

l57 RE-ENTRY NEXT BOYFRIEND 19/Interscope/Mercury Lauren Alaina 213 +4 0.071

l58 60 5 BURN A LITTLE COLDER SSM Kayla Adams 212 +6 0.081

l59 59 12 ME AND JOHNNY CASH Cingle/Star Farm Nashville Rainey Qualley 210 +1 0.062

l60 NEW IT ALL STARTED WITH A BEER Warner Bros./WAR HH Hot Shot Debut HH Frankie Ballard 202 +130 0.193

Country Indicator

CHARTS LEGENDRANKINGSCountry Airplay is ranked by total audience impressions for the week ending Sunday based on monitored airplay of 150 stations by Nielsen BDS. Audience totals on the chart are derived, in part, using certain Arbitron Inc. copyrighted Persons 12+ audience estimates (under license © 2015, Arbitron Inc.) Country Indicator is tabulated using reported playlists and Nielsen BDS-monitored airplay at 106 stations, ranked by total plays.

BULLETSl Awarded on Country Airplay to titles gaining audience or remaining flat from the previous week. A song will also receive a bullet if its percentage loss in audience does not exceed the percentage of monitored

station downtime for the format. Titles that decline in audience but increase in detections will also receive a bullet if the total audience erosion for the week does not exceed 3%. Bullets are awarded on Country Indicator to titles gaining plays or remaining flat from the previous week.

TIESOn Country Airplay, if two songs are tied in total audience, the song with the larger increase in audience is placed first. On Country Indicator, if two songs are tied in total plays, the song with the larger increase in plays is placed first.

RECURRENTSOn Country Airplay, descending titles below No. 10 in either audience or detections are moved to recurrent after 20 weeks, provided that they are not still

gaining enough audience points to bullet or if they rank below No. 10 and post a third consecutive week of (non-bulleted) audience decline, regardless of total chart weeks. On Country Indicator, descending, non-bulleted titles below No. 10 are moved to recurrent after 20 weeks or if they post a third consecutive week of decline in plays after 10 weeks.

HOT SHOT DEBUTAwarded to the highest-ranking new entry on Country Airplay and Country Indicator, respectively.

MOST ADDEDThe total number of new adds officially reported to Billboard by each reporting station, or by an automatic-add threshold (seven plays for the first time in a chart tracking week, according to Nielsen BDS) for stations that do not report adds.

MOST INCREASED AUDIENCE/PLAYSMost Increased Audience on Country Airplay and Most Increased Plays on Country Indicator list the songs with the greatest week-to-week increases in total audience or plays, respectively.

AIRPOWERAwarded on Country Airplay to titles ranking inside top 20 in plays and audience rankings for the first time, with increases in both plays and audience.

BREAKERAwarded on Country Airplay to titles achieving airplay (at least one detection) at 60% of reporting stations for the first time.

© 2015 Prometheus Global Media, LLC

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 18 OF 20

Country Airplay IndexA

ALREADY CALLIN’ YOU MINE 27861 Music, BMI/Revelry Music, BMI/Gallo And Landers Music LLC, BMI/Sixteen Stars Music, BMI/HoriPro Entertainment Group, Inc., BMI/Rooster Pecked Music, BMI/Steel Wheels Music, BMI/Big Loud Bucks, BMI/Kirbtone Music, BMI (M.Thomas, S.Thomas, B.Knox, P.O’Donnell, W.Kirby) 12

ARE YOU READY FOR THE COUNTRY? Silver Fiddle Music, ASCAP (N.Young) 58

B

BACKROAD SONG Climbing Windmills, BMI/House Of Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP (G.Smith, F.Rogers) 17

BEAUTIFUL DRUG Day For The Dead Publishing, SESAC/Southern Ground, SESAC/Reach Music Tunes, SESAC (Z.Brown, N.Moon) 20

BETTER IN BOOTS Legends Of Magic Mustang Music, SESAC/W.B.M. Music Corp., SESAC/This Is Magic Mustang Music, ASCAP/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Music Of Platinum Pen, SESAC/Hatchoo Music, SESAC/Thunder Cookie, SESAC (J.Wilson, D.Pittenger, N.Cooke) 36

BOY & A GIRL THING Mike Curb Music, BMI/She’s My Darlin Music, ASCAP/House Of Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP (M.Pitney, D.Sampson) 49

BREAK ON ME. EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/Jon Mark Nite Music, ASCAP/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Songs By Red Room, BMI (J.M.Nite, R.Copperman) 22

BREAK UP IN A SMALL TOWN Universal Music Corporation, ASCAP/Three Mules Music, ASCAP/External Combustion Music, ASCAP/Who Wants To Buy My Publishing, ASCAP/Songs Of Southside Independent Music Publishing, LLC, ASCAP/Smack Ink, ASCAP/Sam Hunt Publishing, ASCAP/I Love Pizza Music, ASCAP (S.Hunt, Z.Crowell, S.McAnally) 15

BURNING HOUSE Marvelous Oaks Records, ASCAP/One Year Yesterday Publishing, BMI/Way Above Music, BMI/Sony/ATV Songs LLC, BMI (C.Ochs, T.Johnson, J.Bhasker) 8

BY THE WAY Magic Mustang Music Inc., BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Lindsay Ell Music, BMI/Country Paper, BMI/Creative Nation Music, BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI (L.Ell, B.D.George, L.Laird) 57

C

COLD BEER CONVERSATION International Dog Music, BMI/Bucked Up Music, BMI/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Thankful For This Music, ASCAP/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Great Day At This Music, BMI/Beattyville Music, BMI (A.Anderson, B.Hayslip, J.Yeary) 33

CONFESSION Big Red Toe, BMI/Farm Town Songs, BMI/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Songs By Red Room, BMI/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Who Wants To Buy My Publishing, ASCAP/External Combustion Music, ASCAP (R.Clawson, R.Copperman, M.Jenkins) 32

COUNTRY NATION House Of Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP/Making The Turn Music, ASCAP (B.Paisley, C.DuBois, K.Lovelace) 18

CRAZY OVER ME Curb Songs, ASCAP/Curb Congregation Songs, SESAC (D.Scott, M.Alderman) 54

D

DIBS Songs Of Black River, ASCAP/KNB Music, ASCAP/DHM Administration, ASCAP/Nyssa Music, ASCAP/Jason Duke Music, ASCAP (K.Ballerini, J.Kerr, R.Griffin, J.Duke) 16

TITLE Publishing-Licensing Org. (Songwriter) Chart Position

DIE A HAPPY MAN EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Cricket On The Line, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Eastman Pond Publishing, BMI/Music Of Big Deal, BMI/Nice Life, BMI/Frederic And Reid Music, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs, BMI (Thomas Rhett, S.Douglas, Joe London) 10

DRUNK ON YOUR LOVE Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/Paris Not France Music, BMI/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Ross Copperman Songs, BMI (B.Eldredge, R.Copperman) 37

F

FREAKS LIKE ME New House Of Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP/Vestal Boy Music, ASCAP/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Dixey Bar Music, BMI/Big Machine Music, BMI (L.Hutton, M.Criswell, J.Thompson) 52

G

GONNA Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Creative Nation Music, BMI/Twangin And Slangin Songs, BMI/Big Loud Shirt Industries, ASCAP (L.Laird, C.Wiseman) 3

GONNA KNOW WE WERE HERE BMG Platinum Songs, BMI/Music Of Big Deal, BMI/Stalefish Music, BMI/BMG Chrysalis Music, ASCAP/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Songs Of Brett, ASCAP/External Combustion Music, ASCAP (B.Beavers, Brett James) 5

H

HEAD OVER BOOTS Golden Vault Music, BMI/The Song Factory, LLC, BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Creative Nation Music, BMI (J.Pardi, L.Laird) 39

HIGH CLASS WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Five Foot Sixteen Publishing, ASCAP/Songs From The Rose Hotel, ASCAP/Rio Bravo Music, Inc., BMI/Telemitry Productions, BMI (E.Paslay, C.Crowder, J.Frasure) 42

HOLE IN A BOTTLE BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP/Skinny Fat Nashville Music, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs, BMI/Music Of Big Deal, BMI/Stalefish Music, BMI/Songs From The Couch, BMI (C.Smith, B.Beavers, D.Couch) 40

HOME ALONE TONIGHT Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Universal Music Corporation, ASCAP/Red Vinyl Music, Inc., BMI/Sixteen Stars Music, BMI/HoriPro Entertainment Group, Inc., BMI (J.Stevens, C.Taylor, J.Dreyer, T.Cecil) 21

I

I AM INVINCIBLE Brett Boyett Music, BMI/Harmony - HLO Music, BMI/Nashty Music, BMI/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI (B.Boyett, N.Overstreet) 55

I GOT THE BOY Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Nichols Boys Music, BMI/Made For This Music, BMI/All For This Music, BMI/Sweet Jamie Music, Inc., BMI (T.Nichols, C.Harrington, J.L.Spears) 13

I LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT Year Of The Dog Music, ASCAP/Rio Bravo Music, Inc., BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Shay Mooney Music, ASCAP/MTrain Music, ASCAP (M.Trainor, J.Frasure, S.Mooney) 26

I LOVE THIS LIFE Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Red Vinyl Music, Inc., BMI/Round Hill Works, BMI (D.Myrick, C.Janson, C.Lucas, P.Brust) 11

I’M COMIN’ OVER EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Goodbye Pants Music, BMI/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Songs From The Rose Hotel, ASCAP/EMI Foray Music, SESAC/Write 2 Be Free Music, SESAC (C.Young, C.Crowder, J.Hoge) 1

I MET A GIRL ReHits Music, Inc., ASCAP/Smacktown Music, ASCAP/Universal Music Corporation, ASCAP/Three Mules Music, ASCAP/Smack Ink, ASCAP (T. Rosen, S.Hunt, S.McAnally) 43

IT ALL STARTED WITH A BEER Not Listed (Not Listed) 45

L

LET ME SEE YA GIRL Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/243 Music, ASCAP/Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing, ASCAP (C.Swindell, M.Carter, J.Stevens) 6

LITTLE BIT OF YOU Orbison Music, LLC, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs, BMI/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Funky Friar Music, ASCAP/Sadie’s Favorite Songs, ASCAP/Combustion Engine Music, ASCAP (C.Bryant, D.George, A.Gorley) 23

M

MIND READER EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Rhettro Music, BMI/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Thankful For This Music, ASCAP (R.Akins, B.Hayslip) 34

MR. MISUNDERSTOOD Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Longer And Louder Music, BMI/Sony/ATV Acuff Rose Music, BMI/Six Ring Circus Songs, BMI (E.Church, C.Beathard) 25

N

NEXT BOYFRIEND Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Lylas Music, BMI/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Thankful For This Music, ASCAP/A Frank Entertainment, ASCAP/Song House Publishing, ASCAP/Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., ASCAP (L.Alaina, E.Weisband, M.McVaney) 53

NIGHT’S ON FIRE Super Big Music, ASCAP/Jett Music, ASCAP/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Doc And Maggie Music, SOCAN/Thankful For This Music, ASCAP (J.Singleton, D.Ruttan) 38

NOBODY TO BLAME WB Music Corp., ASCAP/House Of Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP/Quackhead Music, BMI/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI (C.Stapleton, B.Bales, R.Bowman) 29

NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Beats And Banjos, ASCAP/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Shay Mooney Music, ASCAP/Combustion Engine Music, ASCAP/Sadie’s Favorite Songs, ASCAP/EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/Sugar Glider Music, ASCAP (D.Smyers, S.Mooney, A.Gorley, C. DeStefano) 4

P

PAIN KILLER Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Little Big Town, BMI/Southside Independent Music Publishing, LLC, BMI/Internal Combustion Music, BMI/Kickin’ Grids Music, BMI/HillarodyRathbone Music, ASCAP/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP/Self Made Entertainment, BMI (K.Fairchild, J.Westbrook, B.Daly, H.Lindsey) 41

POWER OF POSITIVE DRINKIN’ Red Vinyl Music, Inc., BMI/Buckkilla Music, BMI/House Of Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP/Green Vinyl Music, ASCAP (C.Janson, Mark Irwin, C.DuBois) 50

R

REAL MEN LOVE JESUS EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Sagequinnjude Music, BMI/Famlove Songs, BMI (B.Warren, B.Warren, L.Miller, A.Sanders) 31

REMEMBERING Not Listed (Not Listed) 56

RISER Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Nan Jam Music Publishing, BMI/She And I, LLC, BMI/It’s Killer Music, BMI (S.Moakler, T.Meadows) 27

RUN AWAY WITH YOU J Money Music, ASCAP/Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., ASCAP/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI (J.D.Rich, Michael Ray) 14

RUNNING FOR YOU Music Of Stage Three, BMI/Songs Of Cornman, BMI/Roll Through Music, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs, BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Songs From The Engine Room, BMI/Southside Independent Music Publishing, LLC, BMI/Internal Combustion Music, BMI/Kickin’ Grids Music, BMI (K.Moore, T.Verges, B.Daly) 44

S

SHUT UP AND FISH Super Big Music, ASCAP/Big Machine Music, BMI/Song Alert Publishing, SESAC/Tunes of R And T Direct, SESAC (M.Marlow, T.Dye, P.Sallis, A.Scherz) 47

SMOKE BREAK Carrie-Okie Music, BMI/EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/HillarodyRathbone Music, ASCAP/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP (C.Underwood, C. DeStefano, H.Lindsey) 2

SNAPBACK Carrot Seed Songs, ASCAP/Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., ASCAP/ReHits Music, Inc., ASCAP/Smacktown Music, ASCAP/Unfair Entertainment, ASCAP/Songs Of Big Deal, ASCAP/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP/Wooden Ships, ASCAP (M.Ramsey, T. Rosen, B.Tursi) 51

SOUTHERN BELLE BMG Platinum Songs, BMI/Gravity Gone Songs, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Little Beluga Music, BMI (J.Saenz, S.McConnell) 46

STAY A LITTLE LONGER WB Music Corp., ASCAP/All The Kings Pens, ASCAP/Universal Music Corporation, ASCAP/Smack Ink, ASCAP (J. Osborne, T.J. Osborne, S.McAnally) 9

STONE COLD SOBER Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Indiana Angel Music, BMI/External Combustion Music, ASCAP/Songs Of Brett, ASCAP/Atlas Music Publishing, ASCAP/Yawyer Three Music, ASCAP (B.Gilbert, Brett James, D.Layus) 30

T

THAT DON’T SOUND LIKE YOU Mike Curb Music, BMI/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Brooks County Boy Music, BMI/External Combustion Music, ASCAP/Out Of The Taperoom Music, ASCAP/Songs Of Southside Independent Music Publishing, LLC, ASCAP/WB Music Corp., ASCAP (L.Brice, R.Akins, A.Gorley) 28

(THIS AIN’T NO) DRUNK DIAL Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Carolina June Publishing, BMI/Greatshakin Music, BMI/Universal Music Corporation, ASCAP/Crowder Taylor Publishing, ASCAP/Nettwerk One Music, BMI/Revelry Music, BMI/Nevada House Music, BMI/Nettwerk One Music Limited Canada, SOCAN/Cale Dodds Publishing, ASCAP/WB Music Corp., ASCAP (M.Hobby, C.Crowder, N.Mason, C.Dodds) 24

TOP OF THE WORLD Extraordinary Alien Publishing, ASCAP/Universal Music Corporation, ASCAP/EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/Jon Mark Nite Music, ASCAP/Songs Of Black River, ASCAP/One Little Indian Creek Music, ASCAP (J.Robbins, J.M.Nite, J.Osborne) 7

W

WE WENT Legends Of Magic Mustang Music, SESAC/W.B.M. Music Corp., SESAC/ole Canalco Publishing, ASCAP/Ole Ole, ASCAP/Songs Of Razor And Tie Music, ASCAP/Songs Of Black River, ASCAP (J.Wilson, M.Rogers, J.King) 19

WHEN I’M GONE Wordspring Music, LLC, SESAC/Word Music, LLC, ASCAP/Son Of Austin Songs, ASCAP (J.Ebach, S.D.Jones) 60

WHISKEY ON MY BREATH Not Listed (Not Listed) 59

Y

YOU LOOK LIKE I NEED A DRINK Round Hill Works, BMI/Farm Town Songs, BMI/Big Loud Proud Crowd, BMI/Round Hill Songs, ASCAP/Big Loud Proud Songs, ASCAP/HappyGoWrucke, BMI/Creative Pulse Music, BMI/These Are Pulse Songs, BMI (R.Clawson, M.Dragstrem, N.Hemby) 48

YUP Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Code Six Charles Music, BMI/Sixteen Stars Music, BMI/Rooster Pecked Music, BMI/HoriPro Entertainment Group, Inc., BMI/Round Hill Works, BMI/Kirbtone Music, BMI (S.Minor, P.O’Donnell, W.Kirby) 35

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 19 OF 20

Hot Country Songs IndexA

ALREADY CALLIN’ YOU MINE 27861 Music, BMI/Revelry Music, BMI/Gallo And Landers Music LLC, BMI/Sixteen Stars Music, BMI/HoriPro Entertainment Group, Inc., BMI/Rooster Pecked Music, BMI/Steel Wheels Music, BMI/Big Loud Bucks, BMI/Kirbtone Music, BMI (M.Thomas, S.Thomas, B.Knox, P.O’Donnell, W.Kirby) 21

B

BACKROAD SONG Climbing Windmills, BMI/House Of Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP (G.Smith, F.Rogers) 25

BEAUTIFUL DRUG Day For The Dead Publishing, SESAC/Southern Ground, SESAC/Reach Music Tunes, SESAC (Z.Brown, N.Moon) 20

BETTER IN BOOTS Legends Of Magic Mustang Music, SESAC/W.B.M. Music Corp., SESAC/This Is Magic Mustang Music, ASCAP/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Music Of Platinum Pen, SESAC/Hatchoo Music, SESAC/Thunder Cookie, SESAC (J.Wilson, D.Pittenger, N.Cooke) 44

BLAME IT ON YOUR HEART Not Listed (Not Listed) 43

BREAK ON ME. EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/Jon Mark Nite Music, ASCAP/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Songs By Red Room, BMI (J.M.Nite, R.Copperman) 28

BREAK UP IN A SMALL TOWN Universal Music Corporation, ASCAP/Three Mules Music, ASCAP/External Combustion Music, ASCAP/Who Wants To Buy My Publishing, ASCAP/Songs Of Southside Independent Music Publishing, LLC, ASCAP/Smack Ink, ASCAP/Sam Hunt Publishing, ASCAP/I Love Pizza Music, ASCAP (S.Hunt, Z.Crowell, S.McAnally) 3

BREAK UP WITH HIM Sonic Geo Music, ASCAP/Calhoun Enterprises, ASCAP/Music Of RPM, ASCAP/HoriPro Entertainment Group, Inc., ASCAP/ReHits Music, Inc., ASCAP/Smacktown Music, ASCAP/Wrensong Publishing Corp., ASCAP/Songs Of Big Deal, ASCAP/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP/Sharkules Music, ASCAP/Tiny Handstand, ASCAP/Wooden Ships, ASCAP (M.Ramsey, T. Rosen, B.Tursi, G.Sprung, W.Sellers) 8

BURNING HOUSE Marvelous Oaks Records, ASCAP/One Year Yesterday Publishing, BMI/Way Above Music, BMI/Sony/ATV Songs LLC, BMI (C.Ochs, T.Johnson, J.Bhasker) 5

C

COLD BEER CONVERSATION International Dog Music, BMI/Bucked Up Music, BMI/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Thankful For This Music, ASCAP/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Great Day At This Music, BMI/Beattyville Music, BMI (A.Anderson, B.Hayslip, J.Yeary) 39

CONFESSION Big Red Toe, BMI/Farm Town Songs, BMI/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Songs By Red Room, BMI/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Who Wants To Buy My Publishing, ASCAP/External Combustion Music, ASCAP (R.Clawson, R.Copperman, M.Jenkins) 35

COUNTRY NATION House Of Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP/Making The Turn Music, ASCAP (B.Paisley, C.DuBois, K.Lovelace) 23

CRAZY OVER ME Curb Songs, ASCAP/Curb Congregation Songs, SESAC (D.Scott, M.Alderman) 46

TITLE Publishing-Licensing Org. (Songwriter) Chart Position

D

DIBS Songs Of Black River, ASCAP/KNB Music, ASCAP/DHM Administration, ASCAP/Nyssa Music, ASCAP/Jason Duke Music, ASCAP (K.Ballerini, J.Kerr, R.Griffin, J.Duke) 17

DIE A HAPPY MAN EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Cricket On The Line, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Eastman Pond Publishing, BMI/Music Of Big Deal, BMI/Nice Life, BMI/Frederic And Reid Music, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs, BMI (Thomas Rhett, S.Douglas, Joe London) 1

DRUNK ON YOUR LOVE Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/Paris Not France Music, BMI/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Ross Copperman Songs, BMI (B.Eldredge, R.Copperman) 41

F

FIRE AWAY WB Music Corp., ASCAP/New Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP/Ole Ole, ASCAP/Black In The Saddle Songs, ASCAP (C.Stapleton, D.Green) 49

G

GONNA Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Creative Nation Music, BMI/Twangin And Slangin Songs, BMI/Big Loud Shirt Industries, ASCAP (L.Laird, C.Wiseman) 7

GONNA KNOW WE WERE HERE BMG Platinum Songs, BMI/Music Of Big Deal, BMI/Stalefish Music, BMI/BMG Chrysalis Music, ASCAP/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Songs Of Brett, ASCAP/External Combustion Music, ASCAP (B.Beavers, Brett James) 11

H

HEAD OVER BOOTS Golden Vault Music, BMI/The Song Factory, LLC, BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Creative Nation Music, BMI (J.Pardi, L.Laird) 38

HOME ALONE TONIGHT Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Universal Music Corporation, ASCAP/Red Vinyl Music, Inc., BMI/Sixteen Stars Music, BMI/HoriPro Entertainment Group, Inc., BMI (J.Stevens, C.Taylor, J.Dreyer, T.Cecil) 26

I

I GOT THE BOY Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Nichols Boys Music, BMI/Made For This Music, BMI/All For This Music, BMI/Sweet Jamie Music, Inc., BMI (T.Nichols, C.Harrington, J.L.Spears) 13

I LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT Year Of The Dog Music, ASCAP/Rio Bravo Music, Inc., BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Shay Mooney Music, ASCAP/MTrain Music, ASCAP (M.Trainor, J.Frasure, S.Mooney) 31

I LOVE THIS LIFE Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Red Vinyl Music, Inc., BMI/Round Hill Works, BMI (D.Myrick, C.Janson, C.Lucas, P.Brust) 15

I’M COMIN’ OVER EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Goodbye Pants Music, BMI/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Songs From The Rose Hotel, ASCAP/EMI Foray Music, SESAC/Write 2 Be Free Music, SESAC (C.Young, C.Crowder, J.Hoge) 2

J

JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 Smack Hits, GMR/Kobalt Music Group Ltd., GMR/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Songs By Red Room, BMI/Songs Of Black River, ASCAP/One Little Indian Creek Music, ASCAP (S.McAnally, R.Copperman, J.Osborne) 19

L

LITTLE BIT OF YOU Orbison Music, LLC, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs, BMI/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Funky Friar Music, ASCAP/Sadie’s Favorite Songs, ASCAP/Combustion Engine Music, ASCAP (C.Bryant, D.George, A.Gorley) 32

M

MIND READER EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Rhettro Music, BMI/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Thankful For This Music, ASCAP (R.Akins, B.Hayslip) 47

MR. MISUNDERSTOOD Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Longer And Louder Music, BMI/Sony/ATV Acuff Rose Music, BMI/Six Ring Circus Songs, BMI (E.Church, C.Beathard) 24

N

NIGHT’S ON FIRE Super Big Music, ASCAP/Jett Music, ASCAP/WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Doc And Maggie Music, SOCAN/Thankful For This Music, ASCAP (J.Singleton, D.Ruttan) 40

NOBODY TO BLAME WB Music Corp., ASCAP/House Of Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP/Quackhead Music, BMI/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI (C.Stapleton, B.Bales, R.Bowman) 30

NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Beats And Banjos, ASCAP/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Shay Mooney Music, ASCAP/Combustion Engine Music, ASCAP/Sadie’s Favorite Songs, ASCAP/EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/Sugar Glider Music, ASCAP (D.Smyers, S.Mooney, A.Gorley, C. DeStefano) 6

R

REAL MEN LOVE JESUS EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Sagequinnjude Music, BMI/Famlove Songs, BMI (B.Warren, B.Warren, L.Miller, A.Sanders) 45

RIGHT HERE WAITING Not Listed (Not Listed) 36

RUN AWAY WITH YOU J Money Music, ASCAP/Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., ASCAP/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI (J.D.Rich, Michael Ray) 18

S

SAVE IT FOR A RAINY DAY Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Endorffin Music, BMI/Sonic Geo Music, ASCAP/Calhoun Enterprises, ASCAP/Music Of RPM, ASCAP/HoriPro Entertainment Group, Inc., ASCAP/Songs Of Big Deal, ASCAP/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP (A.Dorff, M.Ramsey, B.Tursi) 16

SMOKE BREAK Carrie-Okie Music, BMI/EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/HillarodyRathbone Music, ASCAP/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP (C.Underwood, C. DeStefano, H.Lindsey) 4

SNAPBACK Carrot Seed Songs, ASCAP/Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., ASCAP/ReHits Music, Inc., ASCAP/Smacktown Music, ASCAP/Unfair Entertainment, ASCAP/Songs Of Big Deal, ASCAP/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP/Wooden Ships, ASCAP (M.Ramsey, T. Rosen, B.Tursi) 50

STAY A LITTLE LONGER WB Music Corp., ASCAP/All The Kings Pens, ASCAP/Universal Music Corporation, ASCAP/Smack Ink, ASCAP (J. Osborne, T.J. Osborne, S.McAnally) 12

STONE COLD SOBER Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Indiana Angel Music, BMI/External Combustion Music, ASCAP/Songs Of Brett, ASCAP/Atlas Music Publishing, ASCAP/Yawyer Three Music, ASCAP (B.Gilbert, Brett James, D.Layus) 42

STRIP IT DOWN Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Peanut Mill Songs, BMI/EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/Jon Mark Nite Music, ASCAP/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Songs By Red Room, BMI (L.Bryan, J.M.Nite, R.Copperman) 10

T

TENNESSEE WHISKEY Universal-Songs Of PolyGram International, BMI/EMI Algee, BMI (D.Dillon, Linda Hargrove) 9

THAT DON’T SOUND LIKE YOU Mike Curb Music, BMI/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Brooks County Boy Music, BMI/External Combustion Music, ASCAP/Out Of The Taperoom Music, ASCAP/Songs Of Southside Independent Music Publishing, LLC, ASCAP/WB Music Corp., ASCAP (L.Brice, R.Akins, A.Gorley) 29

(THIS AIN’T NO) DRUNK DIAL Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Carolina June Publishing, BMI/Greatshakin Music, BMI/Universal Music Corporation, ASCAP/Crowder Taylor Publishing, ASCAP/Nettwerk One Music, BMI/Revelry Music, BMI/Nevada House Music, BMI/Nettwerk One Music Limited Canada, SOCAN/Cale Dodds Publishing, ASCAP/WB Music Corp., ASCAP (M.Hobby, C.Crowder, N.Mason, C.Dodds) 33

TOP OF THE WORLD Extraordinary Alien Publishing, ASCAP/Universal Music Corporation, ASCAP/EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/Jon Mark Nite Music, ASCAP/Songs Of Black River, ASCAP/One Little Indian Creek Music, ASCAP (J.Robbins, J.M.Nite, J.Osborne) 14

TRAVELLER WB Music Corp., ASCAP/Ken Tucky Music, ASCAP (C.Stapleton) 34

U

USED TO LOVE YOU SOBER Kane Brown Music, BMI/EMI Foray Music, SESAC/Write 2 Be Free Music, SESAC/A Frank Entertainment, ASCAP/Song House Publishing, ASCAP/Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., ASCAP (K.Brown, M.McVaney, J.Hoge) 37

W

WE WENT Legends Of Magic Mustang Music, SESAC/W.B.M. Music Corp., SESAC/ole Canalco Publishing, ASCAP/Ole Ole, ASCAP/Songs Of Razor And Tie Music, ASCAP/Songs Of Black River, ASCAP (J.Wilson, M.Rogers, J.King) 22

WHEN I’M GONE Ocotillo Red Music, ASCAP (S.E.Lawrence) 27

Y

YUP Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Code Six Charles Music, BMI/Sixteen Stars Music, BMI/Rooster Pecked Music, BMI/HoriPro Entertainment Group, Inc., BMI/Round Hill Works, BMI/Kirbtone Music, BMI (S.Minor, P.O’Donnell, W.Kirby) 48

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 23, 2015 | PAGE 20 OF 20

On Nov. 30, 2002, Gary LeVox ( lead vocals), his cousin Jay De-Marcus (bass, keyboards, vocals) and Joe Don Rooney (guitar, vo-cals), better known as Rascal Flatts, marched 2-1 for a three-week stay atop Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with “These Days,” the act’s fifth top 10 — and first No. 1 (of 12 to date).

The track, written by Jeffrey Steele, Steve Robson and Danny Wells, launched the trio’s second LP, Melt, which also became its first No. 1 of eight sets on Top Country

A lbums. It additionally helped solidify Rascal Flatts’ now trade-mark three-part harmonies and mix of pop and traditional country instruments.

A fter R ascal Flatts’ original label, Disney’s Lyric Street Records, closed in 2010, the act signed with Big Machine. The fourth single from latest album Rewind, “I Like the Sound of That” (co-written by Meghan Trainor), ranks at No. 31 on the Dec. 5 Hot Country Songs chart, marking the group’s 50th ca-reer entry on the chart. —JIM ASKER

13 Years AgoRascal Flatts Flew To Its First No. 1The trio landed its initial Hot Country Songs leader with ‘These Days’

Rascal Flatts performed at the American Music Awards in 2003 at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

CODA

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