Several years ago, Josh Schott started a weekly feature on the Country Perspective blog that asked a simple question: Based on Billboard’s country airplay charts, just how good (or bad) is country radio at this very moment? In the spirit of the original feature, I decided to try my hand at evaluating the state of the radio myself.
The methodology is as follows: Each song that appears is assigned a score based on its review score. 0/10 songs get the minimum score (-5), 10/10 songs get the maximum (+5), and so on. The result (which can range from +250 to -250) gives you an idea of where things stand on the radio.
This week’s numbers are from the latest version of Country Aircheck, but I’m going to link to their archives since I never remember to update this from week to week. Without further ado, let’s crunch some numbers!
*Preliminary Grade
Best Song: “Wait In The Truck,” 8/10
Worst Song: “Fall In Love,” 2/10
Gone:
- Brett Eldredge, “Songs About You” (recurrent)
Leaving:
- Morgan Wallen, “You Proof” (down from #1 to #2)
- Kelsea Ballerini, “HEARTFIRST” (down from #21 to #26)
Zombie Tracks:
- Dustin Lynch, “Party Mode” (down from #15 to #17, bullet-less for a second consecutive week. It’s trying to staunch the bleeding on the daily charts, but this one is on life support)
- Lee Brice, “Soul” (down from #18 to #19, lost its bullet)
- Dillon Carmichael, “Son Of A” (holds at #39, but gained only twenty-two spins and forty-six points)
In Real Trouble:
- Sam Hunt, “Water Under The Bridge” (down from #26 to #27, lost its bullet)
- Keith Urban, “Brown Eyes Baby” (down from #29 to #31, gained only seven spins and eighteen points)
- Kenny Chesney & Old Dominion, “Beer With My Friends” (down from #34 to #35, lost its bullet)
- Eric Church, “Doing Life With Me” (down from #41 to #42, lost its bullet)
- Parmalee, “Girl In Mine” (down from #42 to #44, gained only eleven spins and forty-three points)
In Some Trouble:
- Keith Urban, “Brown Eyes Baby” (up from #30 to #29, but gained only fourteen spins and lost points)
- Cody Johnson, “Human” (down from #32 to #33, gained only nine spins and eighty-eight points)
- Dylan Scott, “Can’t Have Mine” (holds at #49, but gained only twenty-eight spins and forty points)
In No Trouble At All:
- Luke Combs, “Going, Going, Gone” (up from #37 to #29)
Bubbling Under 50:
- Kolby Cooper, “Excuses”
- Ashley Cooke & Brett Young, “Never ‘Til Now” (5/10)
- Midland ft. Jon Pardi, “Longneck Way To Go” (6/10)
- Morgan Wallen, “Thought You Should Know”
On The Way:
- Carrie Underwood, “Hate My Heart”
Overall Thoughts: Wow, this might be my best prediction yet: I called out Lynch, Brice, and Ballerini for taking up space on the charts, and all three took notable losses during a week that wasn’t super tight on spins. Ballerini is done, and while it looks like the other two are kinda-sorta recovering on the daily charts, I don’t think either one lasts much longer.
Wallen essentially replaced himself this week with “Thought You Should Know” reaching #54, and Ballerini’s losses countered most of Combs’s gains, so for the most part there were spins to go around (yet we still had six songs lose their bullets, not including Wallen and Ballerini). With only an Eldredge-for-Milligan trade this week, I expect to see a bit more chaos on the charts before the holiday slowdown, and honestly, I think we could use it.
On the coronavirus front, NPR didn’t update its coronavirus page this week, so I had to draw information from the New York Times’s site, and the picture in paints is…well, complicated. National numbers appear to be relatively flat (slight increase in new daily cases and hospitalizations, 14% drop in daily deaths), but there’s some serious variations in state-by-state numbers, with some states seeing cases increase over 50% over the the last two weeks (mainly in the South and West) while others seeing cases decrease over 20% (mainly in the Northeast and Northwest). I’m not sure exactly what defines a COVID-19 ‘wave,’ but we’re certainly seeing some concerning trends in parts of the country, and given how quickly this virus can spread, I don’t think I’d feel too safe anywhere right now. You can, however, increase your level of safety by using our oft-repeated best practices:
- Wear a high-quality mask and maintain proper social distance from others when in public. A high-quality mask that fits well can still provide solid protection, even if you’re the only one wearing one.
- If you’re not vaccinated yet, get your shots at the earliest opportunity, get your booster shot once you become eligible, and schedule your appointment to get the omicron-specific booster as soon as possible. Experts remain optimistic that the latest shots will still offer some protection against omicron’s BQ variants. (And hey, get your flu shot while you’re at it!)
So is a wave coming? Is it already here? Regardless, there’s never a bad time to start taking steps to protect yourself and the people you care about, and you sooner you start, the better prepared you’ll be when the you-know-what hits the fan.
Kyle's Korner 