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:
- Morgan Wallen, “You Proof” (recurrent)
- Lee Brice, “Soul” (recurrent)
- Kelsea Ballerini, “HEARTFIRST” (recurrent)
- Brantley Gilbert & Blake Shelton ft. Vince Gill, “Heaven By Now” (dropped below #50)
Leaving:
- Tyler Hubbard, “5 Foot 9” (down from #1 to #2)
- Ingrid Andress & Sam Hunt, “Wishful Drinking” (down from #4 to #10)
- Russell Dickerson ft. Jake Scott, “She Likes It” (down from #29 to #39)
Zombie Tracks:
- Brett Young, “You Didn’t” (holds at #16 with a solid week, but I don’t think this one will make it out of the teens)
- Dillon Carmichael, “Son Of A” (up from #38 to #36, but gained only twenty-nine spins and nineteen points)
In Real Trouble:
- Randy Houser, “Note To Self” (up from #37 to #34, but lost its bullet)
- Matt Stell, “Man Made” (up from #40 to #37, but gained only nineteen spins and eighty-eight points)
- Ashley Cooke & Brett Young, “Never ‘Til Now” (re-enters at #50, but lost its bullet with a 200+ point loss)
In Some Trouble:
- Dan + Shay, “You” (up from #32 to #31, but lost spins and gained only sixty-two points)
- Drake Milligan, “Sounds Like Something I’d Do” (re-enters at #49, but gained only fourteen spins and six points)
In No Trouble At All:
- Morgan Wallen, “Thought You Should Know” (up from #35 to #25)
- Scotty McCreery, “It Matters To Her” (up from #45 to #38)
- Luke Combs, “Going, Going, Gone” (up from #23 to #18)
- Jon Pardi, “Your Heart Or Mine” (up from #48 to #43)
- Jimmie Allen, “Down Home” (up from #9 to #5)
- Shane Profitt, “How It Oughta Ba” (up from #34 to #30)
- Kenny Chesney & Old Dominion, “Beer With My Friends” (up from #36 to #32)
- Zach Bryan, “Something In The Orange” (up from #39 to #35)
- Carrie Underwood, “Hate My Heart” (up from #49 to #45)
Bubbling Under 50:
- Toby Keith, “Oklahoma Breakdown”
- Easton Corbin, “I Can’t Decide”
- Justin Moore & Priscilla Block, “You, Me, And Whiskey”
- Midland ft. Jon Pardi, “Longneck Way To Go” (6/10)
- Morgan Evans, “Over For You”
On The Way:
- Kelsea Ballerini, “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too)”
- Russell Dickerson, “God Gave Me A Girl”
Overall Thoughts: Okay, now we’re really starting to see some action. After three losses last week, we lost four more this time around, with two more set to depart within the next week or so. With no major debuts, spins were fairly plentiful this week, with a ton of growth concentrated in the teens (seven out of ten songs from #11 to #20 put up 1000+ gains!) and the usual suspects (Combs, Wallen) putting up 2000+ point scores (Allen’s 2000+ points were a bit more surprising). We’ve still got a few notable debuts coming up before the end of the year, but for the most part I think the turnover is finally over…at least until 2023. Look for things to settle down as the holiday season begins and the holiday music starts invading the playlists.
On the coronavirus front, national new case and death numbers are slightly up this week, and while the virus isn’t surging just yet, the combination of COVID-19, RSV, and the flu is already pushing the healthcare system to the brink once again, especially our pediatric units. It’s gotten to the point where people are urging the Biden administration to make a emergency declaration to help address the issue, which means that when we do see a significant rise in coronavirus cases (I still say it’s a matter of when, not if), we’re going to be back in a really bad spot. With Thanksgiving on our doorstep, we need to do everything we can to protect our loved ones and reduce the strain on our health care workers, which means:
- 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 haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, get it as soon as possible. If you’re not vaccinated against COVID-19 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. (There’s no available vaccine for RSV yet.)
- Hand-washing and surface disinfecting turned out to be less than effective at preventing COVID-19 transmission, but they’re still very effective against RSV and the flu, so be sure to follow proper handwashing guidelines to help keep you from getting sick.
It was about this time last year when things started to go off the rails and the original omicron surge started, so we need to be extra careful this time around, especially with several respiratory viruses going around. We all need to take the necessary precautions and continue to follow our best practices to combat these threats and protect the people we care about.
Kyle's Korner 