August 15, 2022, Issue 820
Airplay Shift Decades In The Making
“The chart’s too slow.” “Labels (and managers) don’t know when to let go.” “There’s too much product.” “Radio has ceded music discovery.” Those statements and variations thereof are oft-repeated complaints that point to an unprecedented two-decade-long shift in the country business. An analysis of airplay from 1989 to the present as reflected by the Radio & Records, R&R/Mediabase and Country Aircheck/Mediabase chart shows the average number of weeks a song spends on the chart has grown from less than 12 (1989) to more than 32 so far this year (see graph page 5). Yearly averages are only part of the story, however. In January of this year, Priscilla Block’s “Just About Over You” set a new record for weeks-on at 62, breaking the then-18month-old record of 61 set by labelmate Lee Brice Travis Denning (see list page 15). No song had broken the 30-week barrier prior to Chely Wright’s “It Was” in March of 2000. The one-year on-chart mark famously fell in 2010 with Lee Brice’s “Love Like Crazy,” and the numbers keep growing. In 2021, 42 songs spent more than 30 weeks on the chart (see Heat Map, page 5); 29 of them reached No. 1. Country Priscilla Block crossed into double digit songs at 45-plus weeks-on per year in 2019 (10), and 2020 and 2021 both registered six songs lasting more than 50 weeks. Of the 20 songs in the history of the format that have spent 52 weeks or more on the chart, only two peaked before 2016: Craig Campbell’s “Outta My Head” (2012) and Brice’s “Love Like Crazy.” (See Historical Most Weeks-On page 15.) (continued on page 12)
Insane Brown Posse: Warner Music Nashville‘s Zac Brown with WIL/St. Louis‘ Marty Brooks (l) and WUBE/Cincinnati‘s Grover Collins at Hollywood Casino Amphitheater and Riverbend Music Center, respectively.
Q&A: Vere’s Rusty Harmon Label Head Rusty Harmon reflects on the first year of Vere Music, which has John King and Lucas Hoge on its roster, among others. CA: Where did the idea for Vere Music originate? RH: Vere evolved after managing artists for more than 30 years and running a label for about four. With all the ways artists have to release music today, [A&R head] Alyssa [Logan] and I wanted to develop a company
Rusty Harmon
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