Country Sweep: October 27, 2012...

Hey gang, thanks for stopping by, we're up to part four of today's "chart sweeps" of the newest songs making their way on to the Billboard weekly music chart, and this time out it's the country side of the house. Last week the charts got turned upside down when the revered trade magazine changed chart policy that while doing a great thing by including sales and internet streaming to the mix, also made it 10 times worse by including all airplay, crossover or format, to judge what are the biggest songs of the genre. The instant result of that was the pure-pop confection that is Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" went from being the 36th biggest song on country radio to the #1 "country hit" in the US. Their excuse was that they felt since they included all sales (since you can't truly tell "why" a single is bought), then "all" airplay must be included. Which is for once ridiculous, since why would you have a country chart at all, if it uses the same formula as the Hot 100? You could just weed out what's "country" in that order on that chart. Second, the idea that "editors" are deciding what is "country" is rife for abuse and mistakes. Of course, the biggest outcry visible are from people so far have been commenters on their site, which for the most part are casual readers of the magazine who may be fans of a particular artist. But that's demeaning their intent. I pay 300$ a year for this magazine I truly cherish. Hell, before the internets (and I could afford the whole subscription) I would spend a big chunk of time each week finding a newsstand that carried it (thankfully where I lived it wasn't far from one). First, in an editorial response to all this, Bill Werde sort of pigeonholed protestors as fans of a particular artist (in particular Carrie Underwood, since a couple people were pretty vocal) that were upset over a "stolen #1" from her (which in my opinion, isn't relevant, it's the whole idea of the chart's purpose for consumers and radio programmers). It basically said "hey, you still have the "airplay" chart, shut up, already!" even though nobody delves into the chart that much (in fact the "rock" airplay list is only available to subscribers). Then, in this week's "Country Update" that they send to subscribers, Wade Jenssen went over the same thing, riffing that "well, they'll eventually get used to it". Well fuck me with a stick already. It's pretty sad, the country fanbase who lives for the success of core country acts are going to get the shrift since labels will concentrate on the "crossover" style artists over somebody who may just be taking off at country radio, and radio itself may unfortunately change to turn more "pop". I sure hope not.

OK, I promise the last rant about that. Back to what I'm here for...

On the Country Airplay chart, Carrie Underwood's "Blown Away" reaches the #1 spot. It's her twelth #1 country hit.

The highest debut is by Hunter Hayes, whose "Wanted" single broke him through to the #1 spot. His latest, "Somebody's Heartbreak", the third single from his self-titled debut, comes in at #51, and basically if you like Rascal Flatts, you'll love this...

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Canadian country band High Valley, from the northern part of the province of Alberta, score their first American hit at #56 with "Love You For A Long Time", and I guess the Canucks got a hold of an American country cliche' book, though the background music is driving and full of banjo goodness...

 DJ/rock singer-turned country convert Uncle Kracker (nee' Matthew Shafer) may be another of those acts that benefit from the revamps "songs" chart, but in the meantime he debuts on the airplay chart at #57 with "Nobody's Sad On A Saturday Night". He went to #1 in a featured credit on Kenny Chesney's "When The Sun Goes Down", and had a top-10 country hit of his own with the multiformat crossover smash "Smile" in 2009. It's the usual party-style rock song, namechecking Johnny Cougar (Mellencamp), and perfectly illustrates the futility of Billboard thinking they can determine song genres even if there's no airplay on a country station. In this case there is, but what if there wasn't? What are the "requirements"? Blah.

East Illinois native Brett Eldredge gets his third hit at #58 with "Don't Ya". His first, "Raymond", made the top-30 last year. The new one's a sunny, toss-up love song that's no showstopper, but his voice is a nice smooth yet deep but not too deep delight...

That's it for the country side of the house....I'll rap things up at 630PM EDT with the latest dance jams.... Twang on!