weekly December 8, 2025, Issue 990
Big Loud,Wallen, Langley:YE Preview Morgan Wallen is the Top Overall Airplay Performer for the fourth consecutive year, powering Big Loud to its third straight win as Label of the Year. Wallen posted 33% more airplay points than the year’s runner-up, Jelly Roll. Wallen charted nine songs in 2025, with five of them peaking in the Top 15. Four of those hit No.1 for a total of seven weeks, including “Love Somebody” at three weeks and “I’m The Problem” for two. “Just In Case” and “I Got Better” each spent a week on the top of the charts. It should be noted that all five of Wallen’s Top 15s were No. 1 hits with “Lies, Lies, Lies” hitting No. 1 on the final chart of 2024, while its peak position in 2025 was No. 2. Wallen leads a Top 10 Performers list that includes only three who made the 2024 Top 10 – Wallen, Mr. Roll and Luke Combs. New to this year’s Top 10 are Dylan Scott, Jason Aldean, Jordan Davis, Riley Green, Ella Langley, Jessie Murph and Koe Wetzel – the latter two on the strength of this year’s No. 1 song, “High Road.” Langley was the Top Female Artist, LoCash were Top Duo/Group Morgan Wallen and John Morgan was the Top New Artist. See this year’s top overall artists and top 20 songs on pages 5 and 3, respectively. And see the full year-end Top 100, Top Performers in Male, Female, Duo/Group and New Artist categories in Country Aircheck’s upcoming December print issue. Elsewhere in the issue, CMA Awards week is recapped, with this year’s Broadcast Awards winners sharing stories from the week. Major Market Personality Ella Langley Chris Carr from KEEY/Minneapolis discussed his ploy for smuggling a photo of too-pregnant-to-travel co-host Sam Sansevere into the official acceptance moment. “I may have made a slight, yet not too specific inference that this was a posthumous deal,” he laughs. “In the end, he was totally cool and we’re all so happy she made the shot!” We Had Some Help: In addition to being three-time Label of the Year, Big Loud is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of launching its label division. “We had a long enough runway to take chances and be (continued on page 5)
Habits And Hard Chartbreaks: The Big Loud team celebrates its third-straight Label of the Year crown. Pictured (back, l-r) are Lauren ”LT” Thomas, Patch Culbertson, Seth England, Stacy Blythe, Country Aircheck’s Chuck Aly, Tyler Waugh and Joey Moi; (front, l-r) Ashley Petro, Marie Chailosky, Kelley Bradshaw, Lisa Smoot and Country Aircheck’s Caitlin DeForest.
Quirky Merch: Annual Gift Guide Looking for an unusual gift for the country music lover in your life? Country Aircheck is back to help with this year’s list of the 13 quirkiest items on artists’ websites priced at $50 or less. No need to thank us, just send over some Reba tater tots when you make ’em. • Chris Stapleton You Should Probably Leave doormat $50: Not looking forward to entertaining this holiday season? This flocked mat with a less-than-inviting message from Stapleton’s song title should do the trick. • Reba McEntire Tots Collection $35: This kit features almost everything you need to make the singer’s favorite tater tots at home, including an apron, red basket, branded wax paper and a copy of her Not That Fancy album. Spuds sold separately. (continued on page 3)
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