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Country UPDATE

BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS EDITED BY TOM ROLAND, tom.roland@billboard.com JUNE 18, 2015 | PAGE 1 OF 7

INSIDEMakin’

Tracks: Billy Currington’s

‘Drinkin’ Town With A Football

Problem’ >page 2

Stark Report: Backstage With

Keith, Brad >page 3

Questions Answered:

Radio Consultant Joel Raab

>page 4

Little Big Town Sidelined

>page 4

Lee Brice Folds T-Shirt For Charity

>page 4

Country MID- WEEK

UPDATE

For the first time since 2008, a various-artists compilation leads Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. The new Now That’s What I Call Country, Volume 8 (Sony Music/Universal/ Universal Music Entertainment) bounds in atop the tally (dated June 27) with 19,000 copies sold in the week ending June 14, ac-cording to Nielsen Music.

The title, which includes songs by Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt, is the first compilation to lead the list since another Now set, the first Now That’s What I Call Country album, which debuted at No. 1 on the Sept. 13, 2008 ranking. Just six various-artists titles (not including soundtracks) have reached No. 1 in the chart’s 51-year history: Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles (1993), Rhythm Coun-try & Blues (1994), Totally Country Vol. 4 (2005), Totally Country 6 (2007) and the two Now titles.

Two notches lower on Top Country Albums, A Thousand Horses trot in at No. 3 with their self-titled debut (Repub-lic Nashville/Big Machine Label Group). The set starts with 17,000 sold in its first week and includes lead single “Smoke,” which crowned the June 13 Country Air-play chart, and follow-up “(This Ain’t No)

Drunk Dial,” which goes for adds June 29. Montgomery Gentry starts at No. 13 on Top Country

Albums with Folks Like Us (Blaster) (5,000). The pair (Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry) tallied nine top 10s on the chart 1999-2011. Two rose as high as No. 2: 2004’s You Do Your Thing and 2005’s Something to Be Proud Of: The Best of 1999-2005.

On Hot Country Songs, quartet Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” (Capitol Nash-ville) rules for an eighth week, marking the longest reign by a group (of at least three members) in 16 years. It’s the lon-gest command by such an act since Lon-estar also logged eight weeks on top in 1999 with “Amazed.” Only one song by a group has led longer since the list launched as a multimetric ranking in 1958: Trio The Browns’ classic “The Three Bells” rang up 10 weeks at No. 1 in 1959. The most weeks on top by any act? Duo Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” dominated for 24 frames in 2012-13.

This column was written by Billboard co-directors of char ts Keith Caulf ield ( keith .caulf ield@billboard .com) and Gary Trust (gary.trust@billboard.com).

‘Now 8,’ A Thousand Horses Gallop Onto Top Country Albums

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During his high-school years in Georgia, Billy Currington thought he’d use football as a launching pad into adulthood. He played running back on offense for the Effingham County Rebels and split his time between cornerback and defensive end on defense. He was good enough that he had conversations during his junior year with several college recruiters. But non-athletic issues thwarted that game plan.

“I didn’t end up getting to play my senior year,” he says, “because I let my grades slide, thinking that I didn’t need those certain classes for college because they were just a waste of my time.”

H i s play i n g day s m ay h ave ended , but Currington’s passion for the sport did not. The topic is central in his new single, “Drinkin’ Town With a Football Problem,” which Mercury released to radio stations via Play MPE on June 1.

Currington’s not alone in his zeal for the grid-iron. Toby Keith, Trace Adkins, Chase Rice, Sam Hunt and Kenny Chesney all have well-documented football histories, and the latter art-ist channeled the team-building nature of the game into his 2010 hit “The Boys of Fall.” And Tim Mc-Graw took part in two movies, Friday Night Lights and The Blind Side, that hinge on high-school foot-ball in Texas and Tennessee.

But it’s football in central Illinois that played a role in the evolution of “Drinkin’ Town.” The Henningsens hail from Atwood, a town of about 1,300 that boasts one of only two U.S. high schools whose team is known as the Rajahs. (The mascot is a sword-wielding fighter in Bollywood-style clothes.) Brian Henningsen played the defensive line for the Rajahs in the late 1970s. In 1981, two years after he graduated, the school claimed the Illinois state football championship in its division, and the town’s reaction made a lasting impression.

“It was the biggest thing that ever happened,” he says.That’s what he channelled when the Henningsens, including daughter Clara

and son Aaron, sat down to write last summer with Elizabeth Elkins and Van-essa Olivarez, who form the duo Granville Automatic. Elkins threw out the title “Drinkin’ Town With a Football Problem,” and it struck a nerve.

“I about had a cow,” says Brian. “It’s the greatest title I think I’ve ever heard.”They approached it similarly to “American Beautiful,” the Henningsens’ debut

single. Instead of creating an obvious storyline, they built the lyrics with a series of snapshots that are familiar in every U.S. community, including cheerleaders, old men in bleachers and national-anthem performances.

“We had to edit it because you could put in so much small-town imagery,” notes Clara. “There’s so many awesome pictures you could paint for a football town.”

The final two games of the Rajahs’ 1981 championship season were squeak-ers — one was a 35-34 overtime win; the other a 17-16 victory — and they led to a “barn burners, nail-biters” line in “Football Problem.”

The song also needed some late heroics before it became a winner. They gathered several times before they decided the song was finished, and a “hey, y’all” harmony hook — the first vocal in the song — was a late addition. Like-wise, the bridge wasn’t fully realized until just before they recorded the demo. The original lyric for that section played off the final score: “When we win, we celebrate/And when we lose, we commiserate/When we tie, we tie one on.” During the drive to the demo session, Brian changed that last line to “Win or

lose, we tie one on.”“I remember him showing up, saying, ‘I have the bridge. I have it,’ ” recalls

Clara. “We were all pretty impressed.”Ilya Toshinsky introduced a signature guitar lick on that demo session, and

when it was done, everyone decided Currington was the perfect artist to run with it. “Billy’s known for doing those cool, down-to-earth, American, classic-country songs,” says Clara. “That’s what that song came out like.”

The Henningsens’ manager, Dennis Entertainment founder John Den-nis, also manages Currington, which made the pitch pretty easy. Dennis told

Currington to check his email to hear a new song, which definitely caught the singer’s attention.

“Here’s the thing: My manager never sends me songs,” says Currington. “That’s just not really what he does. So that’s the first thing I did.”

Currington needed an uptempo song, and this one had a great melody and a message that he could relate to.

The artist and producer Dann Huff (Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett) conducted the session at John and Martina McBride’s Blackbird Stu-dios, taking care not to overshadow all those high-school images.

“The lyric and the hook on that thing are just deadly,” says Huff. “So the main thing on that one was not to get too tricky. And I don’t think we did.”

Huff instructed the musicians to play it like a rock band, and guitarist Kenny Greenberg used a B-bender Telecaster to stamp it with a few greasy fills and to effect a 15-second solo that ends with a choppy stagger into the bridge.

“He said he was doing his best Brad Paisley that day,” notes Huff with a laugh.Currington nailed his final vocal in just a few takes. He actually spent more

time working on the “hey, y’all” section, where he stacked his voice about six times. It was a new technique for Currington, who hadn’t done his own harmo-nies prior to working on his Summer Forever album.

“I really enjoyed singing the ‘hey, y’all’ part and just listening to it get big-ger and bigger,” he says. “All of a sudden, it sounds like a big ol’ choir. The ‘hey, y’alls’ were the highlight for me.”

Studio singer Russell Terrell filled out the “hey, y’all” sections with even more background voices as the track wound up at four minutes, 14 seconds. The label asked for an edit, and Huff obliged by removing Greenberg’s solo. But the whole thing felt so good that Mercury shipped the original version to radio. It wouldn’t have been Currington’s choice for the next single, though the timing is pretty much perfect: The tempo is built for summer radio listening, and if the single develops similarly to Currington’s previous title, “Don’t It” (No. 1, Country Airplay), it would reach the top 10 in November, the height of football season.

“Football Problem” debuted at No. 41 on Country Airplay, though it slipped to No. 54 in its second week. Assuming a resurgence, it’s not hard to envision Currington making some ESPN appearances or playing college halftime shows this fall to support the song.

“We played quite a few football after-shows or before-the-football-game shows in the past that I really connected with and really loved,” says Currington. “Hopefully during football season this song will lend itself to getting some of those type of gigs.”

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JUNE 18, 2015 | PAGE 2 OF 7

Billy Currington Looks To Score With ‘Football Problem’

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

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Another successful CMA Music Festival is in the rear view, and tens of thousands of fans walked away happy. For the media veterans, having a seat backstage at LP Field during the four nights of press conferences always yields a slew of tidbits and observations. Here are 10 things we learned this year.

1. Brad Paisley and Keith Urban need to take their comedy act on the road.On June 14, Urban was tasked with presenting to Paisley the CMA International

Artist Achievement Award. The two stars barely attempted to play it straight.Urban began by poking fun at Paisley: He indicated that

Paisley’s international performing experience might be lim-ited to Cabo San Lucas, Niagara Falls and a cruise ship in international waters. While accepting, Paisley spoke about the need to expand the reach of country music “so they don’t think we all wear spandex.” Urban shot back, “Not in the open, anyway.” Paisley then thanked Urban “for com-ing here in your rocket ship” and referred to Urban’s native Australia as “floating Texas.” They discussed possibly doing an international tour together someday, but we might just prefer to catch their act at the local comedy club instead.

2. Lady Antebellum’s CMT Music Awards performance with Zedd on June 10 wasn’t their first collaboration with an EDM artist. The group revealed at LP Field that it has recorded a track with DJ- producer Audien called “Some-thing Better” that fans will get to hear later this summer. Lady A’s Hillary Scott said when they were approached about doing the song they were initially “taken aback,” but ultimately, “We loved the lyric and mel-ody.” Bandmate Charles Kelley called it “powerful” and said, “It kind of took us out of our comfort zone. We’re learning as a band to not be too scared about things … We’ll always stay true to the country genre, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun.”

3. Maddie & Tae know how to command a room. While other artists took the stage and waited for questions, these two teens arrived with an agenda, immedi-ately took over the mics and proceeded to thank the media for “telling our story”

and “being a part of this crazy, awesome journey.” They also brought cupcakes.4. Dierks Bentley and Brett Eldredge can still get embarrassed in front of

their mothers, both of whom were in tow at LP Field. Bentley sheepishly deferred to his when asked a question about being named People magazine’s sexiest man in country music. Eldredge looked around the room for his before answering a ques-tion about the sometimes overly enthusiastic reactions he gets from female fans.

5. Eldredge plans to celebrate his third No. 1, “Mean to Me,” by having a five-course meal while suspended in the sky from a crane and strapped into a chair at a dinner table. He marked his first No. 1 by skydiving and his second by shark-diving without a cage. “For me, life is about the story, and at the end of the day I want to be able to share these stories with everybody,” he explained. His mom, meanwhile, is no fan of his stunts.

6. It’s hot as hell. While not technically the hottest week of the year, it typically feels like it. Nashville’s News-Channel 5 reports that on-site medical teams treated more than 800 people for heat-related ailments during the four-day festival.

7. This one time, at band camp, a sixth-grade Thomas Rhett quit after just two days and had his mom come pick him up. Rhett also revealed that the most unique thing a fan has ever asked him to sign was a baby’s forehead.

8. Speaking of babies, Zac Brown’s son Alexander, born in May 2014, weighed 11 pounds, 7 ounces at birth! Zac’s wife, Shelly, weighs 100 pounds. You do the math. And 1-year-old Alexander now weighs more than his 4-year-old sister, Joni.

9. Carrie Underwood’s dog, Ace, is not at all pleased about her newborn baby Isaiah. “His world has definitely been rocked,” she said of the dog, but quipped that she expects the pup to come around once the baby starts dropping food.

10. Darius Rucker is a media junkie. He admitted to having a dozen TVs on his tour bus and watching three at a time. He also bought PlayStations for his open-ing acts on tour so they could join his apparently competitive Madden league.

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JUNE 18, 2015 | PAGE 3 OF 7

10 Things We Learned At CMA Music Festival

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

URBAN (left) and PAISLEY

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

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Country UPDATE

[on ABC], he did something very clever. He would have Creedence Clearwater Revival, Neil Dia-mond, and then Merle Haggard and Charley Pride all on the same show. So he lured the pop music fans into seeing country, and that, combined with my mother’s side of the family, kind of got me into it. And I really was kind of an oddball growing up on Long Island because none of my friends were into it at all. But I was unapologetic. I just loved it.

You have been consulting radio stations for 30 years now. When you started, did you even know there was such a job? I did not know that posi-tion existed. I think I first learned about consultants when I went to WEEP in Pittsburgh, and Ed Salamon was our consultant. And he was a great consultant.

I recently encountered some people in the music business who had no idea this job existed, and they were kind of offended by the idea of it. Do you often have to defend your job? Not to people who understand what I do and use the service and benefit from the service. In the best-case scenario, I’m a resource for the station. I’m another person for them to bounce ideas off of, to get input from, and in the best consultant/station relationship, I’m giving my opinion and they’re making the final decisions. That’s when it works the best.

Radio drives country music more than it does pretty much any other genre. Why do you think that is? I think it’s because the stations have done a good job of being a conduit between the fans and the artists and the music. I don’t think the fans are finding that as much with other music offerings, shall we say. We saw this in Edison’s millennial study last year at CRS, that millennial country fans still like to meet the DJ, still like to win concert tickets, and these are things that nobody does better than country radio.

I kind of feel like part of it is the demographic. Even though country has gotten younger, it’s still got a large number of older listeners who really don’t have the time to be actively searching for new music. The music director becomes much more important for them. Absolutely. We are the curators of presenting the best music when there are so many choices out there. People want to hear a variety of music, but they still want to hear the best music, the really good stuff. People are increasingly busy. We cannot waste their time. So we can’t be presenting the weaker things.

How much of your Hall of Fame acceptance speech have you written at this point? I wrote it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t change. —Tom Roland

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JUNE 18, 2015 | PAGE 4 OF 7

Q U E ST I O N S

AnsweredJoel Raab

Country radio and media consultant@joelraab

When the Country Radio Hall of Fame inducts the new class on June 24 in Nashville, the honorees will include Joel Raab, a Long Is-land native who first heard country on 1,000-watt AM signal WTHE, which also became the first station he worked at as a teen. Raab pro-grammed such important stations as WEEP Pittsburgh, WHN New York and WHK Cleveland during a 30-year run as one of the genre’s most influential consultants. He currently advises stations in 11 of the top 25 markets for such broadcast chains as CBS, Entercom, Beasley and Greater Media.

You have known for several months at this point that you’re be-ing inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame. How are you feeling about that now? You know, I didn’t think I would be ner-vous, but for some reason I feel nervous. I think it’s just the magnitude of it all. It’s a little overwhelming, I guess.

Considering the number of decades that went into getting this, it’s got to make you stop and think about how you got here and why you’re doing it. It has. I started as a teenager. It has been over 40 years; it’s just kind of always been in my blood. It’s been my first love — radio and country music were my two favorite things, and getting to do both together was just one great, wonderful opportunity.

When you were a teenager, country was a very adult format. Why did it appeal to you? It was a combination. My mom’s family is from Hopkinsville, Ky., just up the road from Nashville, so as a kid I got exposed to it. And when I watched the Johnny Cash TV show

LITTLE BIG TOWN SIDELINEDWith “Girl Crush” and the Miranda Lambert collaboration “Smokin’ and Drinkin’ ” in circulation, Little Big Town will likely be well represented on the airplay front during the next six weeks. But the band will be absent from the live arena as Jimi Westbrook undergoes vocal surgery and subsequent recovery. The group announced the development on June 17 on its Facebook page. Little Big Town is forced to cancel all live dates through July 30.

When Lee Brice took over the stage at LP Field during the CMA Music Festival, he fought back tears during his performance of “I Drive Your Truck,” which ended in an embrace with Maj. Ed Pulido, an ambassador for Folds of Honor, in front of tens of thousands of fans. Brice wore a T-shirt that night emblazoned with the phrase “Label Me Proud” — taken from his single

“Drinking Class” — and it all ties together with the announcement that Brice is launching a 30-day Label Me Proud campaign to raise money for Folds, which provides scholarships for the families of wounded veterans. The shirts are available here for $19.99. Hunter Hayes, Scotty McCreery, the Swon Brothers and JT Hodges will take part in the sixth annual ACM Lifting Life Music Camp June 19-23 in Nashville. They will work directly with a group of campers living with Wil-liams syndrome, a genetic condition that creates unique socialization issues. “Lose My Mind” co-writers Ross Copperman and Heather Morgan will also participate in the activities, held in conjunction with the Vanderbilt Ken-nedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. Eric Church’s CMT Music Awards performance of “Like a Wrecking Ball” on June 10 not only provided significant TV exposure, it also became a per-formance video to support the single. The clip debuted June 17 on CMT.

MIDWEEK NEWS UPDATE

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TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

l1 1 1 28 GIRL CRUSH ★★No. 1 (8 weeks)★★ Little Big Town J.JOYCE (L.ROSE,L.MCKENNA,H.LINDSEY) . CAPITOL NASHVILLE 1 1

l2 2 2 33 TAKE YOUR TIME Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) . MCA NASHVILLE 1 1

l3 4 4 5 KICK THE DUST UP Luke Bryan J.STEVENS,J.STEVENS (D.DAVIDSON,C. DESTEFANO,A.GORLEY) . CAPITOL NASHVILLE 2

l4 3 3 13 SANGRIA Blake Shelton S.HENDRICKS (J.T.HARDING,J.OSBORNE,T. ROSEN) . WARNER BROS./WMN 3

l5 7 8 29 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT ★★Airplay Gainer★★ Kelsea Ballerini F.G.WHITEHEAD (K.BALLERINI,J.KERR,F.G.WHITEHEAD,L.CARPENTER) . BLACK RIVER

5

l6 8 10 21 LITTLE TOY GUNS Carrie Underwood M.BRIGHT (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,H.LINDSEY) . 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 6

7 5 5 20 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (R.CLAWSON,M.DRAGSTREM,C.TAYLOR) . REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 0 3

l8 13 16 17 LIKE A WRECKING BALL Eric Church J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,C.BEATHARD) . EMI NASHVILLE 8

l9 14 17 15 TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU Jason Aldean M.KNOX (D.DAVIDSON,R.AKINS,A.GORLEY) . BROKEN BOW 8

10 9 9 19 WILD CHILD Kenny Chesney With Grace Potter B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (K.CHESNEY,S.MCANALLY,J.OSBORNE) . BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 9

l11 11 11 37 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT Canaan Smith B.BEAVERS,J.ROBBINS (C.SMITH,B.BEAVERS,J.BEAVERS) . MERCURY 0 11

l12 15 18 10 CRASH AND BURN Thomas Rhett D.HUFF,J.FRASURE (J.FRASURE,C.STAPLETON) . VALORY 12

l13 12 12 32 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG Easton Corbin C.CHAMBERLAIN (J.COLLINS,BRETT JAMES) . MERCURY 12

14 10 6 23 SMOKE A Thousand Horses D.COBB (M.HOBBY,J.M.NITE,R.COPPERMAN) . REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 5

l15 16 14 20 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOLS Tim McGraw With Catherine Dunn B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (L.LAIRD,B.DEAN,J.SINGLETON) . MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE 13

l16 22 25 25 HOUSE PARTY Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,Z.CROWELL,J.FLOWERS) . MCA NASHVILLE 16

l17 21 22 8 BUY ME A BOAT Chris Janson C.JANSON,C.DUBOIS,B.ANDERSON (C.JANSON,C.DUBOIS) . WARNER BROS./WAR 17

l18 17 15 24 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN Brantley Gilbert D.HUFF (B.GILBERT,M.DEKLE,B.DAVIS) . VALORY 14

l19 19 20 8 LOVING YOU EASY Zac Brown Band Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,N.MOON,A.ANDERSON) . JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 19

20 18 13 23 HOMEGROWN Zac Brown Band J.JOYCE,Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,W.DURRETTE,N.MOON) . JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 2

l21 20 19 19 CRUSHIN’ IT Brad Paisley L.WOOTEN,B.PAISLEY (B.PAISLEY,K.LOVELACE,L.T.MILLER) . ARISTA NASHVILLE 19

l22 23 23 14 KISS YOU IN THE MORNING Michael Ray S.HENDRICKS (J.WILSON,M.WHITE) . WARNER BROS./WEA 22

l23 24 21 16 YOUNG & CRAZY Frankie Ballard M.ALTMAN,S.HENDRICKS (A.GORLEY,S.MCANALLY,R.AKINS) . WARNER BROS./WAR 21

l24 47 — 2 JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 ★★Digital & Streaming Gainer★★ Keith Urban D.HUFF,K.URBAN (S.MCANALLY,R.COPPERMAN,J.OSBORNE) . HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE

24

l25 25 28 23 HELL OF A NIGHT Dustin Lynch M.J.CONES (Z.CROWELL,A.SANDERS,J.BOYER) . BROKEN BOW 25

Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JUNE 18, 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 30 33 8 LOSE MY MIND Brett Eldredge R. COPPERMAN,B.ELDREDGE (B.ELDREDGE,H.MORGAN,R.COPPERMAN,B.BURTON,T.D.CALLAWAY,G.F.REVERBERI,G.P.REVERBERI) . ATLANTIC/WMN 26

27 26 26 16 GAMES Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,A.GORLEY) . CAPITOL NASHVILLE 21

l28 35 27 3 REAL LIFE Jake Owen S.MCANALLY,R. COPPERMAN (R.COPPERMAN,A.GORLEY,S.MCANALLY,J.OSBORNE) . RCA NASHVILLE 27

l29 27 29 23 RIOT Rascal Flatts J.DEMARCUS,RASCAL FLATTS (J.BOYER,S.HAZE) . BIG MACHINE 27

l30 31 34 17 FLY Maddie & Tae D.HUFF (M.MARLOW,T.DYE,T.VARTANYAN) . DOT 30

l31 33 37 14 BREAK UP WITH HIM Old Dominion S.MCANALLY (M.RAMSEY,T. ROSEN,B.TURSI,G.SPRUNG,W.SELLERS) . RCA NASHVILLE 31

32 29 31 5 I’M COMIN’ OVER Chris Young C.CROWDER,C.YOUNG (C.YOUNG,C.CROWDER,J.HOGE) . RCA NASHVILLE 8

l33 32 30 4 21 Hunter Hayes D.HUFF,H.HAYES (D.DAVIDSON,K.LOVELACE,A.GORLEY,H.HAYES) . ATLANTIC/WMN 30

l34 38 38 23 GOING OUT LIKE THAT Reba T.BROWN (B.HAYSLIP,R.AKINS,J.SELLERS) . STARSTRUCK/NASH ICON/VALORY 23

l35 36 36 17 I GOT THE BOY Jana Kramer S.HENDRICKS (T.NICHOLS,C.HARRINGTON,J.L.SPEARS) . ELEKTRA NASHVILLE/WAR 31

l36 34 35 19 I’M TO BLAME Kip Moore B.JAMES (K.MOORE,J.WEAVER,W.DAVIS) MCA NASHVILLE 31

l37 37 40 9 LET ME SEE YA GIRL Cole Swindell M.CARTER (C.SWINDELL,M.CARTER,J.STEVENS) . WARNER BROS./WMN 37

l38 39 39 23 GONNA WANNA TONIGHT Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (S.MCANALLY,J.M.NITE,J.ROBBINS) . DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 34

l39 40 42 11 NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU Dan + Shay C. DESTEFANO (D.SMYERS,S.MOONEY,A.GORLEY,C. DESTEFANO) . WARNER BROS./WAR 39

l40 43 41 13 BISCUITS Kacey Musgraves K.MUSGRAVES,L.LAIRD,S.MCANALLY (K.MUSGRAVES,S.MCANALLY,B.CLARK) . MERCURY 28

l41 41 43 10 STAY A LITTLE LONGER Brothers Osborne J.JOYCE (J. OSBORNE,T.J. OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) . EMI NASHVILLE 41

l42 RE-ENTRY 7 ANYTHING GOES Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (F.MCTEIGUE,C.G.TOMPKINS,C.WISEMAN) . REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 19

l43 NEW 1 BURNING HOUSE ★★Hot Shot Debut★★ Cam J.BHASKER,T.JOHNSON (C.OCHS,T.JOHNSON,J.BHASKER) . ARISTA NASHVILLE

43

44 42 44 10 ALREADY CALLIN’ YOU MINE Parmalee NV (M.THOMAS,S.THOMAS,B.KNOX,P.O’DONNELL,W.KIRBY) . STONEY CREEK 42

l45 NEW 1 STEAL MY KISS Taylor Ray Holbrook NOT LISTED (NOT LISTED) . TAYLORRAYMADE 45

l46 49 48 4 I LOVE THIS LIFE LoCash L.RIMES,P.BRUST,C.LUCAS (D.MYRICK,C.JANSON,C.LUCAS,P.BRUST) . REVIVER 46

47 46 46 15 RIDE Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (J.SOMERS-MORALES,D.C.TARPLEY JR.) . DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 38

l48 50 — 2 COUNTRY Mo Pitney T.BROWN (M.PITNEY,B.TOMBERLIN,B.ANDERSON) . CURB 48

49 48 49 4 WE WENT Randy Houser D.GEORGE (J.WILSON,M.ROGERS,J.KING) . STONEY CREEK 45

l50 NEW 1 WHERE IT ALL BEGINS Hunter Hayes Featuring Lady Antebellum D.HUFF,H.HAYES (H.HAYES,C.KELLEY,D.HAYWOOD,H.SCOTT) . ATLANTIC/WMN 50

For week ending June 14, 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 JUNE 18, 2015 | PAGE 6 OF 7

ALBUMSDIGITAL

ALBUMS*DIGITAL TRACKS

This Week 529,000 186,000 2,527,000

Last Week 531,000 184,000 2,350,000

Change -0.4% 1.1% 7.5%

This Week Last Year 674,000 198,000 2,839,000

Change -21.5% -6.1% -11.0%

*Digital album sales are also counted within album sales.

Weekly Unit SalesYear-Over-Year Album Sales2014 2015 CHANGE

Albums 14,219,000 12,251,000 -13.8%

Digital Tracks 66,522,000 55,761,000 -16.2%

YEAR-TO-DATE

Overall Unit Sales

2014 2015 CHANGE

Physical 9,365,000 7,691,000 9.0%

Digital 4,854,000 4,560,000 -6.1%

Sales by Album Format

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

’15

’14

DIGITAL TRACKS SALES

’15

’14

14.2 million

12.3 million

000.0 million

’14

’13

55.8 million

66.5 million

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

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l1 NEW 1 VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW That’s What I Call Country, Volume 8SONY MUSIC/UNIVERSAL 023341/UME 1

2 2 1 7 ZAC BROWN BAND JEKYLL + HYDEJOHN VARVATOS/SOUTHERN GROUND/BMLG 022962/REPUBLIC 1

l3 NEW 1 A THOUSAND HORSES SouthernalityREPUBLIC NASHVILLE /BMLG 3

l4 4 4 33 SAM HUNT MontevalloMCA NASHVILLE 021502/UMGN 0 1

5 1 — 2 WILLIE NELSON / MERLE HAGGARD Django And JimmieLEGACY 509378 1

6 5 2 56 BRANTLEY GILBERT Just As I AmVALORY BG0200A/BMLG 0 1

l7 7 6 70 ERIC CHURCH The OutsidersEMI NASHVILLE 019402*/UMGN 1 1

8 6 5 34 LITTLE BIG TOWN Pain KillerCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021360*/UMGN 3

9 3 — 2 BILLY CURRINGTON Summer ForeverMERCURY 022745/UMGN 3

10 8 7 36 JASON ALDEAN Old Boots, New DirtBROKEN BOW 7105/BBMG 1 1

l11 11 10 35 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE Anything GoesREPUBLIC NASHVILLE /BMLG 0 1

12 10 9 14 LUKE BRYAN Spring Break... Checkin’ OutCAPITOL NASHVILLE 022540/UMGN 1

l13 NEW 1 MONTGOMERY GENTRY Folks Like UsBLASTER 15003 13

l14 15 14 97 LUKE BRYAN Crash My PartyCAPITOL NASHVILLE 018733/UMGN 2 1

15 9 3 3 THE LACS Outlaw In MeBACKROAD 265/AVERAGE JOES 3

16 14 12 4 KELSEA BALLERINI The First TimeBLACK RIVER 2015 4

l17 21 18 27 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Greatest Hits: Decade #119/ARISTA NASHVILLE 500876/SMN 0 1

18 12 8 9 REBA Love SomebodySTARSTRUCK/NASH ICON /BMLG 1

19 16 15 11 DARIUS RUCKER Southern StyleCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021931/UMGN 1

20 17 16 43 CHASE RICE Ignite The NightCOLUMBIA NASHVILLE 22573/DACK JANIELS 1

21 18 17 37 BLAKE SHELTON BRINGING BACK THE SUNSHINEWARNER BROS. 544918/WMN 0 1

l22 25 22 38 KENNY CHESNEY The Big RevivalBLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 306274/SMN 1

23 19 13 7 TYLER FARR Suffer In PeaceCOLUMBIA NASHVILLE 500719/SMN 2

24 23 19 69 COLE SWINDELL Cole SwindellWARNER BROS. 541372/WMN 2

25 20 11 6 CHRIS STAPLETON TravellerMERCURY 019405*/UMGN 2

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l1 1 24 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT

l2 2 16 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN

l3 5 3 KICK THE DUST UP LUKE BRYAN

l4 3 12 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l5 8 10 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH

6 4 12 DON’T IT BILLY CURRINGTON

l7 9 5 CRASH AND BURN THOMAS RHETT

l8 6 68 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN

l9 7 77 BOTTOMS UP BRANTLEY GILBERT

l10 12 64 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN

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l11 10 51 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT

l12 11 115 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l13 13 5 SANGRIA BLAKE SHELTON

l14 14 3 21 HUNTER HAYES

l15 20 3 HOUSE PARTY SAM HUNT

l16 16 8 LITTLE TOY GUNS CARRIE UNDERWOOD

17 15 17 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND

l18 19 77 WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER TAYLOR SWIFT

l19 24 4 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT KELSEA BALLERINI

l20 25 3 WILD CHILD KENNY CHESNEY WITH GRACE POTTER

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

LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT Black River Kelsea Ballerini +414

TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU Broken Bow Jason Aldean +297

SANGRIA Warner Bros./WMN Blake Shelton +219

HOUSE PARTY MCA Nashville Sam Hunt +214

BUY ME A BOAT Warner Bros./WAR Chris Janson +188

KICK THE DUST UP Capitol Nashville Luke Bryan +174

REAL LIFE RCA Nashville Jake Owen +170

LOVING YOU EASY Varvatos/BMLG/Southern Ground Zac Brown Band +163

BABY BE MY LOVE SONG Mercury Easton Corbin +149

ANYTHING GOES Republic Nashville Florida Georgia Line +148

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 JUNE 18, 2015 | PAGE 7 OF 7

STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

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

COUNTRY STREAMING SONGS

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

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l1 2 4 KICK THE DUST UP LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l2 1 25 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l3 3 33 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l4 4 11 SANGRIA BLAKE SHELTON (Warner Bros./WMN)

l5 5 18 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l6 7 8 BUY ME A BOAT CHRIS JANSON (Warner Bros./WMN)

l7 NEW JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 KEITH URBAN (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l8 6 10 CRASH AND BURN THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)

l9 12 11 HOUSE PARTY SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l10 14 13 TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

l11 13 18 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT KELSEA BALLERINI (Black River)

l12 9 20 SMOKE A THOUSAND HORSES (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l13 10 33 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT CANAAN SMITH (Mercury/UMGN)

l14 18 21 LITTLE TOY GUNS CARRIE UNDERWOOD (19/Arista Nashville/SMN)

15 11 16 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l16 15 8 LOVING YOU EASY ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

l17 19 22 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

l18 26 3 REAL LIFE JAKE OWEN (RCA Nashville/SMN)

l19 17 14 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN BRANTLEY GILBERT (Valory/BMLG)

l20 31 5 BREAK UP WITH HIM OLD DOMINION (RCA Nashville/SMN)

21 8 18 DON’T IT BILLY CURRINGTON (Mercury/UMGN)

22 16 5 I’M COMIN’ OVER CHRIS YOUNG (RCA Nashville/SMN)

l23 25 7 LOSE MY MIND BRETT ELDREDGE (Atlantic/WMN)

l24 21 17 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOL TIM MCGRAW WITH CATHERINE DUNN (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)

l25 20 8 KISS YOU IN THE MORNING MICHAEL RAY (Warner Bros./WMN)

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l26 29 12 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG EASTON CORBIN (Mercury/UMGN)

l27 NEW BURNING HOUSE CAM (Arista Nashville/SMN)

28 22 16 GAMES LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l29 27 12 CRUSHIN’ IT BRAD PAISLEY (Arista Nashville/SMN)

30 23 16 WILD CHILD KENNY CHESNEY WITH GRACE POTTER (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)

l31 32 4 HELL OF A NIGHT DUSTIN LYNCH (Broken Bow/BBMG)

32 24 53 BOTTOMS UP BRANTLEY GILBERT (Valory/BMLG)

l33 NEW STEAL MY KISS TAYLOR RAY HOLBROOK (TaylorRayMade)

l34 34 17 I GOT THE BOY JANA KRAMER (Elektra Nashville/WMN)

l35 RE-ENTRY ANYTHING GOES FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l36 33 5 YOUNG & CRAZY FRANKIE BALLARD (Warner Bros./WMN)

l37 38 51 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l38 RE-ENTRY AMERICAN KIDS KENNY CHESNEY (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)

l39 RE-ENTRY BISCUITS KACEY MUSGRAVES (Mercury/UMGN)

40 28 9 RIOT RASCAL FLATTS (Big Machine/BMLG)

l41 41 79 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l42 35 36 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)

l43 RE-ENTRY GOING OUT LIKE THAT REBA (Starstruck/Nash Icon/BMLG)

l44 40 81 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEATURING LUKE BRYAN (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l45 48 4 FLY MADDIE & TAE (Dot/BMLG)

l46 43 153 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l47 47 4 LET ME SEE YA GIRL COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)

48 37 3 21 HUNTER HAYES (Atlantic/WMN)

l49 RE-ENTRY BURNIN’ IT DOWN JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

50 39 22 RIDE CHASE RICE (Dack Janiels)