Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay are charts that rank the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. Hot Country Songs ranks songs based on digital downloads, streaming, and airplay, not only from country stations but from stations of all formats, a methodology introduced in 2012. [1] Country Airplay, which was published for the first time in 2012, is based solely on country radio airplay, a methodology which had previously been used for several decades for Hot Country Songs. [1] In 2015, 10 different songs topped the Hot Country Songs chart and 39 different songs topped Country Airplay in 52 issues of the magazine.
In the first issue of Billboard of the year, Craig Wayne Boyd entered the Hot Country Songs chart at number one with "My Baby's Got a Smile on Her Face". Boyd, winner of the seventh season of NBC's reality TV singing competition The Voice , was only the second artist in the chart's 57-year history to enter at number one. [2] The following week, however, the song dropped off the chart completely, meaning that its entire chart run consisted of a single week at number one. [3] In addition to Boyd, one other artist was a first-time chart-topper on Hot Country Songs. Following a critically acclaimed performance at the 49th Country Music Association Awards, Chris Stapleton's version of "Tennessee Whiskey", which had spent a single week at number 46 six months earlier, [4] re-entered at number one, [5] despite never having been officially released as a single or serviced to radio. [6] Nine acts gained their first career country number ones by topping the airplay listing. Ashley Monroe made her first appearance at number one under her own name when she featured on Blake Shelton's hit "Lonely Tonight", [7] although she had previously reached the top spot as part of the group Pistol Annies, who had been featured on another of Shelton's songs two years earlier. [8] Between May and August, Tyler Farr, [9] Kelsea Ballerini, [10] Canaan Smith, [11] Michael Ray, [12] and the band A Thousand Horses [13] were all first-time chart-toppers, as was Grace Potter, [14] who was featured on veteran country star Kenny Chesney's song "Wild Child". Later in the year, the band Old Dominion and the duo Dan + Shay made their first appearances at number one. [15] [16]
The group Little Big Town had the longest unbroken run at number one on Hot Country Songs, spending 13 consecutive weeks in the top spot with "Girl Crush" during the summer. Sam Hunt had the highest total number of weeks at number one, spending a total of 17 weeks atop the chart with "Take Your Time" and "House Party". Hunt was one of two acts with more than one chart-topper on the hybrid listing, along with Luke Bryan, who reached number one with "I See You", "Kick the Dust Up" and "Strip It Down". On the Country Airplay listing, songs had much shorter runs at number one; no song spent more than three consecutive weeks in the top spot, a feat achieved by three songs during the year: "Homegrown" by the Zac Brown Band, "Save It for a Rainy Day" by Kenny Chesney and "I'm Comin' Over" by Chris Young. Chesney and Bryan tied for the most total weeks at number one, each spending five weeks in total atop the chart. The two singers also tied with Blake Shelton for the highest number of individual number ones, each taking three songs to the top spot during 2015. At the end of the year, Shelton was at number one on the airplay chart with "Gonna" and Thomas Rhett held the top position on Hot Country Songs with "Die a Happy Man", which would ultimately spend a total of 17 weeks at number one. [17]
† | Indicates number one on Billboard's year-end Hot Country Songs chart. [19] "Drinking Class" by Lee Brice topped the year-end Country Airplay chart, although it never reached number one on the weekly listing. [20] |
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in Billboard magazine. Billboard biz, the online extension of the Billboard charts, provides additional weekly charts, as well as year-end charts. The two most important charts are the Billboard Hot 100 for songs and Billboard 200 for albums, and other charts may be dedicated to a specific genre such as R&B, country, or rock, or they may cover all genres. The charts can be ranked according to sales, streams, or airplay, and for main song charts such as the Hot 100 song chart, all three data are used to compile the charts. For the Billboard 200 album chart, streams and track sales are included in addition to album sales.
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.
British rock band Coldplay have released 10 studio albums, 6 live albums, 12 compilation albums, 18 extended plays, 44 singles, 13 promotional singles, and 5 charity singles. According to Parlophone, they have sold over 100 million albums worldwide as of May 2021, making them the most successful group of the 21st century and one of the best-selling artists of all time. Luminate revealed that, in terms of pure sales, they have tallied 18.2 million albums and 33.6 million song downloads in the United States alone as of February 2015. Moreover, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) attributed the rise in British music exports to their success multiple times, adding that it boosted the balance of payments of the United Kingdom.
American country music singer Carrie Underwood has released nine studio albums, one greatest hits album, and 29 singles. Underwood rose to fame after winning the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. Her debut album, Some Hearts, was released in 2005 and is the fastest-selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history. It also became the best-selling solo female country debut in Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) history, as well as the top-selling debut album of any American Idol contestant in the United States.
Thomas Rhett Akins Jr. is an American country singer-songwriter. He is the oldest son of singer Rhett Akins.
American country music singer and songwriter Chris Young has released nine studio albums, twenty three singles, and nineteen music videos. Eleven of his singles have reached number one on either the US Billboard Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay charts. In 2006, Young rose to fame as the winner of season four of American reality singing competition Nashville Star. He released his debut self-titled album in October of that year, which produced two singles that failed to reach the Top 40 of the Country Songs chart.
Kelsea Nicole Ballerini is an American country pop singer and songwriter. A four-time Grammy Award nominee, she began having success in the 2010s, being honored with the Gene Weed Milestone Award at the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Rising Star Award at the Billboard Women in Music.