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BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS EDITED BY TOM ROLAND, tom.roland@billboard.com FEBRUARY 12, 2015 | PAGE 1 OF 7

INSIDEMakin’ Tracks: Tim McGraw’s

‘Diamond Rings And Old

Barstools’ >page 2

Stark Report: Are Radio

Promo Tours Good For

Making Friends? >page 3

Questions Answered:

WGSQ Cookeville’s

Philip Gibbons >page 4

Joe Galante Gets Treated

Like A King(sley) >page 4

Little Big Town, Lee Greenwood

Get Booked >page 4

Sam Hunt nabs his second straight leader on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with “Take Your Time” (5-1) (MCA Nash-ville), becoming the first artist in nearly three years to reign with two introductory singles (counting only promoted, non-seasonal tracks). His first hit, “Leave the Night On,” topped the Nov. 14, 2014 chart. Before Hunt, Brantley Gilbert was the last newcomer to arrive with back-to-back leaders, reigning with “Country Must Be Country Wide” (Dec. 3, 2011) and “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do” (July 21, 2012). Hunt’s new No. 1 adds the chart’s Streaming Gainer nod with 1.9 million total U.S. streams (up 19 percent), according to Nielsen Music. The last artist to score three introduc-tory Hot Country Songs leaders? Dar-ius Rucker (2008-09).

Heartland’s 8-year-old “I Loved Her First” (Lofton Creek) re-enters Hot Country Songs at No. 7, driven by viral video plays for a user-generated clip featuring the wedding ballad’s audio. On-demand, non-Vevo YouTube clicks account for 99 percent of the song’s 4.7 million total U.S. streams (up 1,800 percent) in the tracking week. “First” originally topped the Oct.

28, 2006 Hot Country Songs chart. It concurrently re-enters Country Digital Songs at No. 31, with sales surging by 806 percent to 10,000 downloads sold. The track has sold 1 mil-

lion downloads to date (through the week ending Feb. 8).

Thomas Rhett scores a career-high bow (No. 27) on Hot Country Songs with his cover of Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” (Valory), which soars onto Digital Songs at No. 2 with 28,000 downloads sold (marking his highest debut on the sales list, as well). R hett recorded a nd released t he song as a fa n- appreciation gesture to Mars, who took the original to No. 1 on the Bill-board Hot 100 in 2013. Previously, Rhett started on Hot Country Songs as high as No. 28 with “It Goes Like

This” (June 1, 2013). Also notching a career-high debut on Hot Country Songs is

Kip Moore, who begins at No. 31 with “I’m to Blame” (MCA Nashville). He passes his No. 35 start with “Young Love” (Dec. 14, 2013). “Blame” previews Moore’s as-yet-untitled second album, for which no release date has been announced.

HUNT

WADE JESSEN wade.jessen@billboard.com

Country MID- WEEK

UPDATE

Hunt Goes 2 For 2; Video Streams Drive Heartland Return

Tim McGraw has zig-zagged stylistically in recent years. He followed the amped-up “Truck Yeah” with a solid-country ballad, “One of Those Nights.” He found success with the Auto-Tuned “Southern Girl” in 2013 and earned a Grammy nomination for the folky 2014 duet with wife Faith Hill, “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s.”

On his latest single — “Diamond Rings and Old Barstools,” released to radio via Play MPE on Jan. 12 — McGraw swings ultra-traditional. With the con-templative tempo, the whiskey-and-Coke lyrical ref-erences and David Levita’s out-of-phase electric gui-tar, it feels like a Thursday throwback to the Waylon Jennings-led outlaw era of the late-1970s.

Going against the grain in a tempo-driven era obvi-ously doesn’t bother McGraw, who knows “Diamond Rings” is a bit of a gamble.

“When you go with something that country right now, and certainly a ballad, there’s always that sort of risk,” he allows. “But I just always felt emotionally that it was a needle.”

McGraw had injected serum from both ends of the spectrum into his career at the time “Diamond Rings” was written, on May 8, 2012. He had two top 20 singles on Hot Country Songs: the hard-country ballad “Better Than I Used to Be” and the thumping Kenny Chesney duet “Feel Like a Rock Star.” The writers were definitely aiming in the edgy, modern direction when Luke Laird (“Talladega,” “American Kids”) hosted a writing session at his Creative Nation offices on Music Row.

Laird and co-writers Barry Dean (“Day Drinking,” “1994”) and Jonathan Singleton (“Red Light,” “Why Don’t We Just Dance”) had a laptop blasting beats as they wrote to a track.

“It was tempo, and it was rocking,” says Dean.It was also challenging. They had been focused on the song since the morning,

and around 3 p.m., their frustration turned into goofiness. Laird broke the ten-sion with a few silly lyrics, Singleton and Dean started building on it, and for the next 15 minutes, they funneled their energies into a series of double entendres.

“We were laughing so hard we were crying,” recalls Dean. “I don’t know if that just loosened us up or whatever, but then the best thing happened.”

The “best thing” was an accident. Laird stumbled on the phrase “diamond rings and old barstools,” which had nothing to do with their uptempo track. The trio all jumped on guitars and ventured down what was clearly a side road. Laird threw out another phrase — “One’s for kings, and one’s for fools,” though “kings” soon became “queens” — and in a scant 10 minutes, they had an entire verse and most of the chorus.

They concentrated on writing nouns, and they targeted the dark aspects of a club: late nights, cigarette smoke, watered-down drinks and lonely rides home.

“It’s not like you’re writing it and you think, ‘Wow, this is going to be a huge hit for someone,’ ” notes Laird. “But we knew we had a really good idea, and it’s gratifying to come across something like that.”

Singleton and Dean contributed most of the words for the second verse, and they came up with a series of traditional country images that were a tad decep-tive. The visuals weren’t really about a bar; they were about a breakup. One of the chorus’ key lines, “I guess some things just don’t mix like you hoped,” im-

plied that, but the song needed to be more literal. The answer, “Like me and you,” proved to be rather simple. But arriving at such an easy solution was the song’s biggest challenge.

They sifted through “a million ways to set up ‘dia-mond rings and old barstools’ at the end of that cho-rus,” observes Dean. “It’s very hard sometimes to use just straight language in such a world of flower and similes — you know, everything’s ‘like’ some-thing else — and to say something just directly, ‘like me and you,’ that took a long time.”

But not that long. By 4 p.m., barely 35 minutes after they had started, they banged out a work tape and returned to their previous track. Laird and Dean oversaw the “Diamond Rings” demo a few days later, and Singleton then overdubbed his voice. As they ex-pected, the traditional ballad didn’t get much traction with other artists. But the ones who were interested were major. George Strait had it on hold for a time but never cut it. And McGraw got a copy from Missy Gallimore — the wife of his co-producer, Byron Gal-limore (Hill, Sugarland) — while he was on tour. Even if the specific meaning wasn’t evident on the first listen, the most important component was.

“It was real melancholy, sort of a weighted feel-ing,” says McGraw. He adds, “You feel sorry for ev-

erybody in the song. It gives you that emotion like, dang, you just wish things could work out. Sometimes they just don’t.”

When McGraw took the song into John and Martina McBride’s Blackbird Studios, he and the crew played lemon ball in the control room, essentially see-ing how many times they could toss a ball around without dropping it. But it was all business out on the studio floor, as McGraw encouraged the musicians to capture what became that outlaw sonic spirit.

“I wanted it to be rough around the edges,” says McGraw. “I wanted it to have a sort of dirtiness to it, I guess, with the [Wurlitzer piano] at the beginning. I re-ally wanted that gritty, almost cinematic sort of feel to it, where you get a vivid visual image of it right off the bat.”

Steel guitarist Dan Dugmore melted sorrow into the crevasses beginning with the second chorus, instinctively giving McGraw the right attitude.

“I wanted that crying steel guitar in it that wasn’t real notey, that had a real ache to it,” says McGraw.

Appropriately for such a lonely song, McGraw recorded the final vocal late at night in the solitude of his basement studio after his kids had gone to bed.

“It’s really mini-movies,” he says. “You’re telling a whole movie in a three-minute song, and you try to become a character that’s going through that scene. When a song is written that well and you’re alone in a room, it makes it easy to make that connection.”

McGraw’s cousin, Catherine Dunn, added harmonies, and the end product is already making a connection with the public: It’s No. 33 after only three weeks on the Country Airplay chart.

The songwriters, meanwhile, are heartened that an old-school song has a shot in a notably progressive era.

“I know everything goes in phases,” says Laird. “But it makes me feel good that something like this can still get recorded.”

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE FEBRUARY 12, 2015 | PAGE 2 OF 7

Tim McGraw Polishes A ‘Diamond’ To An Outlaw Shine

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

McGRAW

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When country label reps embark on introductory radio tours with their new art-ists, they hope the acts will not only make a favorable impression on programmers, but perhaps even form a lasting bond with some of them over a nice steak dinner.

Artists generally return from such tours talking about all the “friends” they made at radio. But did they really?

In the conclusion of our three-part series on radio tours, radio programmers weigh in on the artists they bonded with on their first visits to their stations, those they remained friendly with as their careers took off (or leveled off ) and whether such friend-ships are even a good idea.

WGH-FM (Eagle 97.3) Virginia Beach, Va., PD Mark McKay says he has made real friendships as a result of radio tours, “including several with art-ists who no longer have deals, much as I might think that they still should have deals. And several arena-/amphitheater-level artists still remember the circumstances of their first visit, or conversations we might have had during them. At the end of the day, we’re all just people, and sometimes people just click for whatever reason.”

Ditto for iHeartMedia/San Antonio operations manager Don Gosselin, who says, “I remember a few years back when Thompson Square first came through and we really hit it off. We added ‘Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not’ at our first op-portunity, and we have remained close ever since.”

KSON San Diego operations director Kevin Callahan isn’t sure if he would label them friendships, but notes that “a relationship is definitely formed, and that is helpful as the artist’s projects develop. By having a relationship an artist can share new stuff for direct feedback to programmers.”

But other programmers take a more cautious approach. KSCS/KPLX Dal-las operations manager J.R. Schumann says, “For the most part, a lot of the ‘friendships’ between artists and radio [are] pretty superficial, and that goes both ways. There are a few artists that I’ve remained in contact with — some are successful, and others don’t have record deals anymore. I think that is the true

test: When you’re out of work, who do you still hear from?”Rubber City/Akron, Ohio vp operations Sue Wilson also is not sure radio tours

spawn true friendships. “Although I am optimistic and overall think the best of people, I am realistic [enough] to know that they are ‘friends’ because we are in a position to help them, and if I lost my gig tomorrow, very few if any would stay

in touch,” she notes. “Having said that, there are still a few that might. I have bonded with more than one artist and really am rooting for them.”

KSJO (NASH 92.3) San Jose, Calif., PD Mac Dan-iels says artists often talk about being friends with radio, “but they soon forget. It’s strange that after a radio tour I think the artist is led to believe that they have made it and no longer need to do the dreaded radio tours.”

Several programmers say they’re not necessarily looking to form friendships with artists. They include

Hall Communications/Lakeland, Fla., operations manager Mike James, who says, “As much as I truly enjoy meeting new artists, I think it’s important not to get too close, for a variety of reasons.”

WQDR Raleigh, N.C., station manager/PD Lisa McKay says some artists who have visited her station stay in touch personally and professionally, but she adds, “I’m very protective of our staff overstepping our professional bounds and mak-ing the artist feel uncomfortable.”

WDAF Kansas City PD Wes Poe agrees. “I don’t try to build friendships with artists. Doing that makes this job way more complicated than it should be ... I’m a guy who plays their music and respects their talent and picks the best music for my audience based on those factors. At the end of the day, I’d much prefer any artist out there respect me for my fairness and the way I serve my listeners. Because if it ever came down to taking care of friends vs. my listeners, listeners win with me.”

Readers who missed parts one and two of this series can read them here and here.

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE FEBRUARY 12, 2015 | PAGE 3 OF 7

Can Country Artists And Radio Programmers Really Be ‘Friends’?

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

WILSON

JAMES

THE COUNTRY MUSIC INDUSTRY’S MUST-HAVE SOURCE FOR NEWS, ANALYSIS AND CHART INFO EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY

Lee Ann Photoglo, 615-376-7931, laphotoglo@gmail.comTO ADVERTISE, CONTACT:

Get your message front and center with top country radio programmers and other

key music infl uencers

Country UPDATE

I’m still passionate about what I do, still love the music and the format, and so I really don’t guess I’ll move at this point.

You do the Classic Country Cafe on a con-temporary station in the bro-country era. How does the audience react to that? For the most part, it’s very positive. I’ll have people tell me, “What I love about your show the most is the Classic Country Cafe.” I guess what you are con-cerned about with that is you don’t want to chase

off your younger demo. So we try to be very selective of the classic tunes that we play. Obviously if we go back too far, it might not be beneficial to the younger demo. But we research, we are consulted, and we try to pick out those humon-gous country classics that most everybody is familiar with or at least heard.

Your station has a very strong signal. I’m guessing that a lot of artists end up tuning in as they ride the tour bus in and out of Nashville. Do they call the station? Actually, I was the very first radio stop for Lady Antebellum. Josh Turner came by here on his initial radio tour, and he was familiar with the station. So yes, we do have a number of country artists that will stop by. Alan Jackson lived for a while on Center Hill Lake, which is in Smithville, Tenn., and he listened to the Giant. One day, I was giving the Opry lineup on my show and said, “Also playing the Opry this weekend is Alan Jackson.” Alan called me and said, “I had forgotten about that. Thank you so much for reminding me!” I guess it was a good thing I mentioned he was playing the Opry on the air or he might not have shown up that night.

Your station has a really good relationship with the Opry. What’s behind that? We are one of the Grand Ole Opry’s regional radio partners. They work with several regional stations, and on a certain night of the year, those stations can have their special night at the Grand Ole Opry where they offer discounted tickets to the radio station’s listeners. Ours is coming up on Feb. 28: “Country Giant’s Night at the Opry.” I’ll be hosting a segment of the Opry, and this will be my eighth consecutive year to do so. Fans love it. They get an opportunity to go backstage, they get a commemorative poster, and they can save some money on a ticket to the Grand Ole Opry.

Is it distracting to do that? Most times you do a shift and you’re in a really small room with a console. At the Opry, there’s all these people and activ-ity going on to the side. You know, it is jarring, but I just relish it. I get in the zone, and I just absolutely enjoy the whole process. —Tom Roland

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE FEBRUARY 12, 2015 | PAGE 4 OF 7

Q U E ST I O N S

AnsweredPhilip Gibbons

Assistant PD/music director, WGSQ Cookeville, Tenn.@PhilipSGibbons

Since Philip Gibbons first back-announced a record in 1974 on what would become WGSQ Cookeville, Tenn., he has stayed in the mar-ket, spending 40 of his 41 years at the Country Giant. It has been a good run: He was previously nominated for a Country Music Associ-ation broadcast award and the Academy of Country Music currently nominated him for a second time. He’s also a nominee for the Coun-try Radio Hall of Fame. Gibbons’ daily show includes a sprinkling of vintage hits in the Classic Country Cafe, and he’ll wrap this year’s Country Radio Seminar with a guest announcer slot on WSM-AM Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry.

Congratulations on the ACM nomination. How did you find out about it? Thank you. The day before they actually announced the ACM nominees for the artists, they sent out a press release to the me-dia, and a friend of mine in another market who was also nominated sent me a text and said, “Philip, congratulations.” I said, “For what? What have I done?” Then he went on to tell me and I pulled up the news release, and I was obviously thrilled.

You have been on the air for 40 years in Cookeville. Why have you not moved to a larger market? This is my home. This is where I was born. I started radio here when I was 15 years old. I guess you could say I’ve fulfilled most of my dreams here. We became a regional radio station in the early ’90s. I was assistant PD, and I was the music direc-tor, and I was doing the mid-day show. I was very happy, very content, and never really pursued that. In retrospect, sometimes I regret that I didn’t, but I have had an incredible career here. I still love what I do.

JOE GALANTE GETS HIS DUEFormer Sony Music Nashville president Joe Galante received the Bob Kingsley Liv-ing Legend Award on Feb. 10, one year after Kingsley took home the inaugural honor. The event raised money for the Opry Trust Fund and brought out a ton of artists who worked with Galante since he arrived in Nashville in the 1970s, including Kix Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Naomi Judd, K.T. Oslin and Sara Evans.

Two country acts are getting booked soon. William Morrow publishes the first cookbook by Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman, Oh Gussie! Cooking and Visiting in Kimberly’s Southern Kitchen, on April 14. And Lee Greenwood’s third book, Proud to Be an American, is due in stores in late May. Featuring il-lustrations by Amanda Sekulow, Proud is Greenwood’s first children’s book.

Marking the anniversary of his first hit, 1990’s “You’ve Got to Stand for Some-thing,” Aaron Tippin’s Nippit label will release a double-disc album, Aaron Tippin 25, on March 2. It contains new versions of previously released mate-rial, plus a few surprising remakes for a hard-country singer: a cover of Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight” and Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” Parmalee’s new single, “Already Callin’ You Mine,” mistakenly credits drum-mer Scott Thomas as a co-writer in the Feels Like Carolina liner notes. But the band doesn’t mind: It made a pact to share songwriting royalties equally among the foursome, regardless who wrote a specific title. “A lot of times Scott would be at home cutting trees, making money, or Josh [McSwain] would be doing construction or whatever while somebody had a chance to go write, so we all decided that up to a certain point we would divide our songwriting publishing shares evenly,” says lead vocalist Matt Thomas. The track debuts on the Feb. 21 Country Airplay chart at No. 55.

MIDWEEK NEWS UPDATE

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The country music industry’s must-have source for news, analysis and chart info with expert commentary from Tom Roland and Phyllis Stark, and chart analysis from Wade Jessen. Sign up for FREE delivery every Monday and Thursday.

www.billboard.biz/newsletters

Country UPDATE

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

l1 5 6 15 TAKE YOUR TIME ★★No. 1 (1 week)/Streaming Gainer★★ Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) MCA NASHVILLE

1

2 1 1 15 I SEE YOU Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,L.LAIRD,A.GORLEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 1

l3 3 4 21 SUN DAZE Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (C.R.BARLOWE,J.FRASURE,S.BUXTON,T.HUBBARD,B.KELLEY) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 0 3

l4 6 7 24 MAKE ME WANNA Thomas Rhett J.JOYCE (THOMAS RHETT,B.BUTLER,L.MCCOY) VALORY 4

l5 4 5 15 LONELY TONIGHT Blake Shelton Featuring Ashley Monroe S.HENDRICKS (B.ANDERSON,R.HURD) WARNER BROS./WMN 4

6 2 3 21 TALLADEGA Eric Church J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,L.LAIRD) EMI NASHVILLE 2

l7 RE-ENTRY 23 I LOVED HER FIRST Heartland W.ALDRIDGE (W.ALDRIDGE,E.PARK) LOFTON CREEK 1

l8 8 9 16 JUST GETTIN’ STARTED Jason Aldean M.KNOX (C. DESTEFANO,R.AKINS,A.GORLEY) BROKEN BOW 8

l9 9 8 24 DRINKING CLASS Lee Brice M.MCCLURE,K.JACOBS,L.BRICE (J.KEAR,D.FRASIER,E.M.HILL) CURB 6

l10 11 11 24 MEAN TO ME Brett Eldredge L.LAIRD (B.ELDREDGE,SCOOTER CARUSOE) ATLANTIC/WMN 10

11 10 12 35 LIKE A COWBOY Randy Houser D.GEORGE (R.HOUSER,B.LONG) STONEY CREEK 10

l12 12 15 19 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY ★★Airplay Gainer★★ Cole Swindell M.CARTER (C.SWINDELL,A.SANDERS,J.MARTIN) WARNER BROS./WMN

12

l13 14 18 5 HOMEGROWN Zac Brown Band J.JOYCE,Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,W.DURRETTE,N.MOON) VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 4

l14 13 14 21 LONELY EYES Chris Young J.STROUD (J.BULFORD,J.MATTHEWS,L.VELTZ) RCA NASHVILLE 13

15 7 2 20 SOMETHING IN THE WATER Carrie Underwood M.BRIGHT (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,BRETT JAMES) 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 0 1

l16 16 17 24 HOMEGROWN HONEY Darius Rucker F.ROGERS (D.RUCKER,C.KELLEY,N.CHAPMAN) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 16

l17 18 20 17 SAY YOU DO Dierks Bentley R. COPPERMAN (MATT THOMAS,S.MCANALLY,T. ROSEN) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 17

18 15 10 21 SHOTGUN RIDER Tim McGraw B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (H.LINDSEY,M.GREEN,T.VERGES) MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE 0 1

19 17 19 26 TAKE IT ON BACK Chase Bryant D.GEORGE,C.BRYANT (C.BRYANT,T.L.JAMES,D.ALTMAN) RED BOW 17

l20 20 21 26 WHAT WE AIN’T GOT Jake Owen J.MOI (T.J.GOFF,T.MEADOWS) RCA NASHVILLE 20

l21 21 22 20 A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR Tyler Farr J.CATINO,J.KING (M.PEIRCE,J.SINGLETON,B.TURSI) COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 21

l22 23 23 10 GIRL CRUSH Little Big Town J.JOYCE (L.ROSE,L.MCKENNA,H.LINDSEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 22

23 19 13 19 TIL IT’S GONE Kenny Chesney B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (R.CLAWSON,D.L.MURPHY,J.YEARY) BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 8

l24 28 29 5 LITTLE RED WAGON ★★Digital Gainer★★ Miranda Lambert F.LIDDELL,C.AINLAY,G.WORF (A.MAE,GINSBERG J.) RCA NASHVILLE

24

25 22 16 25 PERFECT STORM Brad Paisley L.WOOTEN,B.PAISLEY (B.PAISLEY,L.T.MILLER) ARISTA NASHVILLE 4

Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE FEBRUARY 12, 2015 | PAGE 5 OF 7

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

l26 25 27 5 SMOKE A Thousand Horses D.COBB (M.HOBBY,J.M.NITE,R.COPPERMAN) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 25

l27 NEW 1 WHEN I WAS YOUR MAN ★★Hot Shot Debut★★ Thomas Rhett T.RHETT (BRUNO MARS,P.LAWRENCE II,A.LEVINE,A. WYATT) VALORY

27

l28 26 26 14 SHE DON’T LOVE YOU Eric Paslay M.ALTMAN (E.PASLAY,J.WAYNE) EMI NASHVILLE 26

29 24 24 15 FREESTYLE Lady Antebellum N.CHAPMAN,LADY ANTEBELLUM (D.HAYWOOD,C.KELLEY,H.SCOTT,S.MCANALLY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 24

30 27 25 16 TRAILER HITCH Kristian Bush K.BUSH,T.TAPLEY (K.BUSH,B.BUSH,T.OWENS) STREAMSOUND 25

l31 NEW 1 I’M TO BLAME Kip Moore B.JAMES (K.MOORE,J.WEAVER,W.DAVIS) MCA NASHVILLE 31

l32 31 43 3 RAISE ‘EM UP Keith Urban Featuring Eric Church N.CHAPMAN,K.URBAN (J.JOHNSTON,J.STEELE,T.DOUGLAS) HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE 31

l33 30 — 3 LITTLE TOY GUNS Carrie Underwood M.BRIGHT (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,H.LINDSEY) 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 30

l34 32 31 12 DON’T IT Billy Currington D.HUFF (J.JOHNSTON,A.GORLEY,R.COPPERMAN) MERCURY 30

35 29 28 19 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT Canaan Smith B.BEAVERS,J.ROBBINS (C.SMITH,B.BEAVERS,J.BEAVERS) MERCURY 28

l36 34 30 12 LAY LOW Josh Turner F.ROGERS (R.COPPERMAN,T.MARTIN,M.NESLER) MCA NASHVILLE 29

l37 35 46 6 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN Brantley Gilbert D.HUFF (B.GILBERT,M.DEKLE,B.DAVIS) VALORY 35

38 33 32 14 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG Easton Corbin C.CHAMBERLAIN (J.COLLINS,BRETT JAMES) MERCURY 32

l39 37 34 11 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT Kelsea Ballerini F.G.WHITEHEAD (K.BALLERINI,J.KERR,F.G.WHITEHEAD,L.CARPENTER) BLACK RIVER 34

40 36 33 17 DRUNK AMERICANS Toby Keith T.KEITH,B.PINSON (B.CLARK,B.DIPIERO,S.MCANALLY) SHOW DOG NASHVILLE 33

l41 38 35 15 MAKE YOU MISS ME Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,MATT THOMAS) MCA NASHVILLE 32

l42 48 — 2 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOLS Tim McGraw With Catherine Dunn B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (L.LAIRD,B.DEAN,J.SINGLETON) MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE 42

l43 NEW 1 WILD CHILD Kenny Chesney With Grace Potter B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (K.CHESNEY,S.MCANALLY,J.OSBORNE) BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 43

44 39 36 8 WHEN I’VE BEEN DRINKIN’ Jon Pardi B.BUTLER,J.PARDI (J.PARDI,B.BUTLER,J.SPILLMAN) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 36

l45 41 40 5 RIOT Rascal Flatts J.DEMARCUS,RASCAL FLATTS (J.BOYER,S.HAZE) BIG MACHINE 40

46 40 37 9 HARD TO BE COOL Joe Nichols M.J.CONES (R.HATCH,J.SELLERS) RED BOW 37

47 42 38 20 EX TO SEE Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,MATT THOMAS) MCA NASHVILLE 37

l48 43 39 5 GOING OUT LIKE THAT Reba T.BROWN (B.HAYSLIP,R.AKINS,J.SELLERS) NASH ICON/VALORY 28

l49 45 45 5 HELL OF A NIGHT Dustin Lynch M.J.CONES (Z.CROWELL,A.SANDERS,J.BOYER) BROKEN BOW 45

50 44 42 6 TROUBLE Gloriana M.SERLETIC (R.REINERT,M.GOSSIN,R.COPPERMAN,J.M.NITE) EMBLEM/WARNER BROS./WAR 42

For week ending February 8, 2015. Figures are rounded. Compiled from a national sample of retail store and rack sales reports collected and provided by Nielsen Music.

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

The week’s most popular country songs, ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen Music, sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music and streaming activity data from online music sources tracked by Nielsen Music. Descending titles below No. 25 are moved to recurrent after 20 weeks.

COUNTRY MARKET WATCHA Weekly National Music Sales Report

Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE FEBRUARY 12, 2015 | PAGE 6 OF 7

ALBUMSDIGITAL

ALBUMS*DIGITAL TRACKS

This Week 446,000 160,000 2,138,000

Last Week 460,000 194,000 1,996,000

Change -3.0% -17.5% 7.1%

This Week Last Year 472,000 140,000 2,546,000

Change -5.5% 14.3% -16.0%

*Digital album sales are also counted within album sales.

Weekly Unit SalesYear-Over-Year Album Sales2014 2015 CHANGE

Albums 2,964,000 2,820,000 -4.9%

Digital Tracks 16,866,000 13,644,000 -19.1%

YEAR-TO-DATE

Overall Unit Sales

2014 2015 CHANGE

Physical 1,912,000 1,699,000 9.0%

Digital 1,052,000 1,121,000 6.6%

Sales by Album Format

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

’15

’14

DIGITAL TRACKS SALES

’15

’14

3.0 million

2.8 million

000.0 million

’14

’13

13.7 million

16.9 million

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l1 1 15 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l2 NEW WHEN I WAS YOUR MAN THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)

3 2 16 LONELY TONIGHT BLAKE SHELTON FEAT. ASHLEY MONROE (Warner Bros./WMN)

l4 3 19 MAKE ME WANNA THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)

l5 5 14 I SEE YOU LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l6 10 4 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND (Southern Ground/Varvatos/Republic/BMLG)

l7 6 20 TALLADEGA ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

8 4 20 SUN DAZE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

9 8 22 DRINKING CLASS LEE BRICE (Curb)

l10 9 18 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)

l11 21 28 BURNIN’ IT DOWN JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

12 11 14 JUST GETTIN’ STARTED JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

l13 12 7 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

14 7 19 SOMETHING IN THE WATER CARRIE UNDERWOOD (19/Arista Nashville/SMN)

l15 NEW I’M TO BLAME KIP MOORE (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l16 20 7 SAY YOU DO DIERKS BENTLEY (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l17 16 16 LONELY EYES CHRIS YOUNG (RCA Nashville/SMN)

18 14 23 MEAN TO ME BRETT ELDREDGE (Atlantic/WMN)

l19 34 4 LITTLE RED WAGON MIRANDA LAMBERT (RCA Nashville/SMN)

l20 18 12 A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR TYLER FARR (Columbia Nashville/SMN)

21 13 21 SHOTGUN RIDER TIM MCGRAW (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)

l22 19 22 LIKE A COWBOY RANDY HOUSER (Stoney Creek/BBMG)

23 15 27 GOD MADE GIRLS RAELYNN (Valory/BMLG)

24 17 3 LITTLE TOY GUNS CARRIE UNDERWOOD (19/Arista Nashville/SMN)

l25 29 2 SMOKE A THOUSAND HORSES (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

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l26 23 24 WHAT WE AIN’T GOT JAKE OWEN (RCA Nashville/SMN)

27 22 20 HOMEGROWN HONEY DARIUS RUCKER (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l28 24 8 SHE DON’T LOVE YOU ERIC PASLAY (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

29 26 34 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

30 25 15 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT CANAAN SMITH (Mercury/UMGN)

l31 RE-ENTRY I LOVED HER FIRST HEARTLAND (Lofton Creek)

l32 NEW IF I DRINK THIS BEER WILL CHASE (ABC Studios/Lions Gate/Big Machine/BMLG)

l33 RE-ENTRY FISHIN’ IN THE DARK NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND (Warner Bros./Rhino)

l34 32 63 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l35 39 24 BREAK UP IN A SMALL TOWN SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

36 35 30 DIRT FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l37 NEW CLINT EASTWOOD JESSIE JAMES DECKER (Big Yellow Dog)

38 37 63 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l39 41 38 BARTENDER LADY ANTEBELLUM (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

40 28 23 PERFECT STORM BRAD PAISLEY (Arista Nashville/SMN)

41 27 25 NEON LIGHT BLAKE SHELTON (Warner Bros./WMN)

42 33 4 TAKE IT ON BACK CHASE BRYANT (Red Bow/BBMG)

43 38 34 AMERICAN KIDS KENNY CHESNEY (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)

44 36 3 RAISE ‘EM UP KEITH URBAN FEAT. ERIC CHURCH (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville)

45 40 135 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

46 31 30 GIRL IN A COUNTRY SONG MADDIE & TAE (Dot/BMLG)

l47 42 4 TRAILER HITCH KRISTIAN BUSH (Streamsound)

l48 44 41 DRUNK ON A PLANE DIERKS BENTLEY (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

49 43 7 MAKE YOU MISS ME SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l50 RE-ENTRY SOMETHIN’ BAD MIRANDA LAMBERT DUET WITH CARRIE UNDERWOOD (RCA Nashville/SMN)

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 1 1 15 SAM HUNT MontevalloMCA NASHVILLE 021502/UMGN 1

l2 2 2 18 JASON ALDEAN Old Boots, New DirtBROKEN BOW 7105/BBMG 1 1

3 3 3 9 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Greatest Hits: Decade #119/ARISTA NASHVILLE 500876/SMN 0 1

l4 5 6 17 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE Anything GoesREPUBLIC NASHVILLE /BMLG 0 1

l5 9 8 52 ERIC CHURCH The OutsidersEMI NASHVILLE 019402*/UMGN 1 1

6 6 5 13 GARTH BROOKS Man Against MachinePEARL/RCA NASHVILLE 501135/SMN 1 1

l7 10 13 36 MIRANDA LAMBERT PlatinumRCA NASHVILLE 379278/SMN 0 1

l8 7 7 79 LUKE BRYAN Crash My PartyCAPITOL NASHVILLE 018733/UMGN 2 1

9 4 4 19 BLAKE SHELTON BRINGING BACK THE SUNSHINEWARNER BROS. 544918/WMN 0 1

l10 13 12 13 ZAC BROWN BAND Greatest Hits So Far...ROAR/SOUTHERN GROUND/ATLANTIC 546369/AG 5

l11 11 10 25 CHASE RICE Ignite The NightCOLUMBIA NASHVILLE 22573/DACK JANIELS 1

l12 14 15 21 GEORGE STRAIT The Cowboy Rides Away: Live From AT&T StadiumMCA NASHVILLE 021477/UMGN 2

l13 12 18 38 BRANTLEY GILBERT Just As I AmVALORY BG0200A/BMLG 0 1

l14 26 28 50 DIERKS BENTLEY RiserCAPITOL NASHVILLE 019404/UMGN 1

l15 18 19 16 LITTLE BIG TOWN Pain KillerCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021360*/UMGN 3

l16 15 20 22 LEE BRICE I Dont DanceCURB 79392* 1

l17 19 17 20 KENNY CHESNEY The Big RevivalBLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 306274/SMN 1

18 8 9 39 STURGILL SIMPSON Metamodern Sounds In Country MusicHIGH TOP MOUNTAIN 002*/THIRTY TIGERS 8

19 16 14 3 RALPH STANLEY Ralph Stanley & Friends: Man Of Constant SorrowCB MUSIC /CRACKER BARREL 14

l20 23 24 51 COLE SWINDELL Cole SwindellWARNER BROS. 541372/WMN 2

l21 24 23 21 TIM MCGRAW Sundown Heaven TownMCGRAW/BIG MACHINE TM0200A/BMLG 1

l22 25 22 19 LADY ANTEBELLUM 747CAPITOL NASHVILLE /UMGN 2

l23 RE-ENTRY 8 SOUNDTRACK The Best Of MeRELATIVITY/EMI NASHVILLE 1074/UMGN 11

l24 27 25 67 THOMAS RHETT It Goes Like ThisVALORY TR0100A/BMLG 2

25 17 11 65 BRETT ELDREDGE Bring You BackATLANTIC 525855/WMN 2

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l1 — 1 I LOVED HER FIRST HEARTLAND

l2 1 6 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT

3 2 33 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT

l4 3 9 I SEE YOU LUKE BRYAN

5 4 50 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN

6 7 59 BOTTOMS UP BRANTLEY GILBERT

7 5 97 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l8 8 46 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN

9 6 31 DIRT FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

10 9 10 TALLADEGA ERIC CHURCH

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l11 11 19 SOMETHING IN THE WATER CARRIE UNDERWOOD

l12 12 16 SUN DAZE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

13 10 57 YOU BELONG WITH ME TAYLOR SWIFT

l14 13 13 DRINKING CLASS LEE BRICE

l15 15 78 THAT’S MY KIND OF NIGHT LUKE BRYAN

l16 21 3 MAKE ME WANNA THOMAS RHETT

17 14 14 GOD MADE GIRLS RAELYNN

l18 22 66 WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER TAYLOR SWIFT

l19 18 3 LONELY TONIGHT BLAKE SHELTON FEAT. ASHLEY MONROE

20 16 29 ROLLER COASTER LUKE BRYAN

Country Streaming Songs -The week’s top Country streamed radio songs, on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

BUILDING AIRPLAY GAINERSTITLE Label Artist GAIN

TAKE YOUR TIME MCA Nashville Sam Hunt +248

HOMEGROWN Varvatos/Republic/Southern Ground/BMLG Zac Brown Band +246

RAISE ‘EM UP Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban Feat. Eric Church +246

MEAN TO ME Atlantic/WMN Brett Eldredge +234

WILD CHILD Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville Kenny Chesney With Grace Potter +228

SUN DAZE Republic Nashville Florida Georgia Line +139

I’M TO BLAME MCA Nashville Kip Moore +131

LONELY TONIGHT Warner Bros./WMN Blake Shelton Feat. Ashley Monroe +128

JUST GETTIN’ STARTED Broken Bow Jason Aldean +113

PERFECT STORM Arista Nashville Brad Paisley +104

Building Gainers reflects titles with the top increases in plays from Monday through 5pm ET Wednesday, as compared to the same period in the previous week, according to Nielsen Music.

TOP COUNTRY ALBUMSCOUNTRY DIGITAL SONGS

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE FEBRUARY 12, 2015 | PAGE 7 OF 7

STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

The week’s most popular country albums, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music. Albums are defined as current if they are less than 18 months old or older than 18 months but still residing in the Billboard 200’s top 100. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

COUNTRY STREAMING SONGS

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY