BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 1 OF 18

Country UpdateBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE Tom.Roland@billboard.comINSIDE

Combs’ ‘All’ In On Charts

Page 4

Songwriters Hall Adds Five Page 10

Maren Morris’ Two TV Gigs

Page 11

Musicians On Call For VetsPage 11

Makin’ Tracks: ‘Divine’ McBryde

SinglePage 15

Country Coda: Nelson’s 40-Year

‘Road’Page 18

Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber sing “10,000 Hours” among 10,000 flowers.

Miranda Lambert is a beautiful caged creature in a turn-of-the-century vaudeville venue.

Carly Pearce and Lee Brice perform “I Hope You’re Happy Now” as former lovers bump into each other in a parking lot.

Jake Owen re-creates the World War II love story of his grandparents.

Chris Stapleton becomes a Lego superhero, destroying a sea monster with sonic waves in the middle of an animated concert.

T h e f i v e f i n a l i s t s for t he C ou nt r y Mu sic Association’s video of the year award are all distinctly different. But those efforts have one thing in common: Each of them conveys and enhances the core emotion of the song they promote.

“The very best videos make you experience and feel another layer of the song emotionally,” says Trey Fanjoy, director of Lambert’s “Bluebird” clip. “Sometimes I’m a ver y narrative storyteller, but sometimes I like better visual metaphors than I do straight on the nose. I like to

tell it so that they hopefully feel another layer, something that is not just so obvious in the lyric.”

With “Bluebird,” Lambert’s 10th video to earn a CMA nom-ination for Fanjoy, she creates a gorgeous palette (Lambert is adorned in blue feathers and Swarovski crystals) and an unspo-ken tension while capturing the hope at the heart of the song.

Along with its four competitors vying for a win at the CMA’s Nov. 11 ceremony, “Bluebird” neatly underscores the creative advance in production since the August 1981 debut of MTV ush-ered in the video age nearly 40 years ago.

T h e i n d u s t r y ’ s earliest efforts were f requent ly refer red t o a s “p r o m o t i o n a l videos” — they were distributed for free to promote the song and artist on TV — though t h e s o p h i s t i c a t i o n around them is more uniform in the current age. They a re much m o r e u b i q u i t o u s , available on demand at multiple sites and i n t e g r a t e d m o r e thoughtfully into the marketing of an artist, both on a creative level and as a branding tool.

CMA Video Of The Year Nominees Showcase The State of The Promotional Art

Stapleton was reimagined as a Lego character in his “Second To Know One” video (left), while Lambert offered a conceptual interpretation for her song “Bluebird.”

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 2 OF 18

“Every video is an opportunity to sort of enhance the brand of the art-ist and allow that to be an opportunity if you want to deliver a slightly dif-ferent viewpoint of the artist,” says Patrick Tracy, who directed “10,000 Hours.” “If you want to stamp a new era, we’ve done that with Dan + Shay throughout various album cycles with different colors. You’re evolving the brand through those visual impressions, but at the same time, you also have to think about the song itself and make sure you’re doing justice as a one-off, stand-alone piece.”

Directors use three standard methods to create those pieces: the nar-rative video, which conveys a story; the concept video, featuring a series of images that add up to an emotion or provide a sense of what the song is about; and the performance video. Most videos employ at least two of those approaches, as “I Hope You’re Happy Now” does with a pair of actors playing out the song’s post-relationship narrative while Pearce and Brice re-create a performance in a small club.

“You don’t want to be on the nose with a video,” says “Hope You’re Happy” director Sam Siske. “When you’re watching the video, you [usually] know the song, you follow the artist, so when you want to see the video, you want it to bring something new to that thought, but in a positive way and not de-tract from it. One thing I saw in each director’s work this year was, ‘How can

we progress this song?’ ”Owen’s “Homemade,” directed by

Justin Clough, brings out the old-fashioned values — dedication, sim-plicity, congeniality — at the heart of the song with a plot based on his grand-father’s sweet, but persistent, pursuit of his grandmother in the 1940s.

Stapleton’s “Second To Know One,” directed by Pure Imagination Studios’ David Coleman, utilizes Lego anima-tion to make a cartoonish adventure out of a burning track. Both the song and the clip are built on conflict, though the video puts a lighter spin on the record-ing’s fiery emotion. The video drops a

number of Easter eggs: details that reward Stapleton superfans or might inform more casual listeners. For example, a stage crasher is inspired by an incident from a real-life Stapleton concert, a Picasso-like painting of him draws from the lyrics of his 2017 album cut “Up To No Good Livin’,” and a bird of prey is a nod to the mascot at Stapleton and Coleman’s high school alma mater in Kentucky: the Johnson Central Golden Eagles. Blasts from Stapleton’s animated guitar also embrace the value in his vocation.

“The power of music can defeat this giant entity, this thing that seems in-surmountable, this thing that looks overwhelming,” says Coleman. “Music helps you get through that, and especially the kind of music that Chris makes.”

The power of music is central to the power of the video, too.“You can make the most amazing video, but if it doesn’t have a song to

support it, it’s not going to have the impact that it needs to have,” observes Siske. “It’s not going to be the piece of art that it needs to be.”

One way to judge a hit video is similar to the test of a hit song: It needs to wear well with successive exposure.

“The replay value” is key, says Tracy. “If you watch a video once and it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s what the lyrics are talking about,’ you might as well just close your eyes and listen to the song. I think when videos are able to tap into a different interpretation of it, it leaves the viewer with a little bit more to sink their teeth into.”

That includes the artist’s personality. In each of the nominated videos, the act had some very specific ideas about how to present the story and imagery in the project, reflecting their own history and experiences. In Stapleton’s case, he sought out the Lego involvement, a fantasy approach that fits with his surprise appearance in an episode of Game of Thrones.

“Chris likes to push boundaries,” notes Coleman. “He likes to do new things and to create sounds that are unique to him. We tried to do that same kind of thing in the video.”

Ultimately, as the video business evolves, this year’s CMA trophy will as-suredly go to a project that does what a great video should — supply a stellar song with a clip that lifts it to another level.

“I am definitely of that MTV generation,” says Fanjoy. “I have to have enough to hold my attention.”

Several country artists participated on Oct. 27 in the second annual Catchin’ Deers Mike Fisher Celebrity Clay Shoot for the Nashville Predators Foundation. From left: High Valley’s Curtis Rempel, Jordan Davis, Dan + Shay’s Shay Mooney, Fisher and High Valley’s Brad Rempel.

Curb Records awarded Lee Brice a plaque acknowledging his recent No. 1 single, “One of Them Girls,” as well as additional career achievements. Participating were executives from exterior renovation company Window World. From left: Curb vp promotion R.J. Meacham and vp artist development and A&R Laurel Kittleson-Cobb, Brice and Window World chairman/CEO Tammy Whitworth and board member Jamie McBride.

Kelsea Ballerini performed “Girasoles” with Latin singer Luis Fonsi during the Oct. 26 CBS special Essential Heroes: A Memento Latino Event.

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BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 18

Luke Combs’ “Forever After All” (River House/Columbia Nashville) blasts in atop Billboard’s airplay-, streaming- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart dated Nov. 7.

The song is just the sixth to arrive at the summit since the chart launched as an all-encompassing genre survey in 1958 and the second this year, after Morgan Wallen’s “7 Summers” (Big Loud) on the Aug. 29 list.

“Forever” concurrently blasts onto the all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100 at No. 2, the highest debut ever by a solo male for a song that has also appeared on Hot Country Songs. It surpasses the No. 5 entrance of “Lost in You” by Garth Brooks’ alter ego, Chris Gaines, in September 1999.

Combs, who wrote his new leader with Drew Parker and Robert Willi-ford, told Billboard “ ‘Forever After All’ doesn’t happen without my wife, Nicole. This song is the next chapter in our story, but it’s awesome to see so many people are able to connect in the same way I feel about her in their own lives. And it will always mean a lot to us because it’s the first song I wrote in our home together, but even more so now with the reaction from the fans.”

He adds of the title, which he first previewed on TikTok in late August, “I had been holding this song back for about two years, so I was really itching to get it out. But it was well worth the wait for me, and I hope it was for the fans, too. I think this will be one we will enjoy for a long, long time.”

“Forever” awards Combs his third Hot Country Songs leader and first No. 1 debut. It follows “Beautiful Crazy,” which reigned for 11 weeks beginning in March 2019, and “When It Rains It Pours,” which led for two frames starting in November 2017.

The track is among the new selections included on the deluxe version of Combs’ second LP, What You See Is What You Get, which was reissued Oct. 23. (It has been dubbed What You See Ain’t Always What You Get in its 23-track deluxe form.)

“Forever” banked 29.1 million U.S. streams in the week ending Oct. 29, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, and debuts atop Country Streaming Songs, marking Combs’ third No. 1. It f lies in at No. 2 on the all-genre

Streaming Songs survey, where it’s his highest-charting hit. The song sold 52,000 downloads in the same frame and bounds in atop Country Digital Song Sales as his sixth No. 1. It also bows at the peak of the all-genre Digital Song Sales tally as Combs’ first leader.

On Country Airplay, “Forever” starts at No. 56 with 762,000 audience impressions in the week ending Nov. 1. (Meanwhile, current promoted single “Better Together” bumps 21-17, up 29% to 11.3 million impressions.)

What You See Is What You Get still reigns over Top Country Albums for a 32nd week, up 399% to 109,000 equivalent album units. It simultaneously returns to the penthouse (21-1) on the all-genre Billboard 200 for a second week, after it debuted at the apex of the list dated Nov. 23, 2019. The 102.3 million weekly

streams for the album’s songs also break its own record for the largest streaming week for a country title. It first set the record in its debut week (74 million).

Further, with What You See Is What You Get crown-ing Top Country Albums and “Forever” dominating Hot Country Songs, Country Streaming Songs and Country Digital Song Sales, Combs is the first artist to rule four country rankings since Wallen led the same four lists dated Aug. 29.

Combs (in 2019) and Kane Brown (in 2017) are the only artists that have led all five country charts simul-taneously, having included Country Airplay coronations to their sweeps.

‘ON’ TOP AGAIN Matt Stell notches his second straight career-opening Country Airplay No. 1 as “Everywhere but On” (RECORDS/Arista Nashville) leaps 5-1 in its 47th week, up 21% to 31.7 million impressions in the week ending Nov. 1. It’s the biggest hop to the pinnacle since Scotty McCreery’s “In Between” leaped 7-1 on June 27.

“Everywhere,” which Stell wrote with Lance Miller and Paul Sikes, is the second single from Stell’s same-named EP that peaked at No. 32 in November 2019. Stell’s introductory hit, “Prayed for You,” led the chart for two weeks in October 2019.

Combs Debuts At Hot Country Songs Peak, Holds At No. 1 On Top Country Albums;

Stell Scores Second Country Airplay Leader

ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER jim.asker@billboard.com

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Sam Hunt’s second studio full-length, and first in over five years, Southside (MCA Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville), debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart dated April 18. In its first week (ending April 9), it earned 46,000 equivalent album units, including 16,000 in album sales, ac-cording to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.

Southside marks Hunt’s second No. 1 on the chart and fourth top 10. It follows freshman LP Montevallo, which arrived at the summit in No-vember 2014 and reigned for nine weeks. To date, Montevallo has earned 3.9 million units, with 1.4 million in album sales.

Montevallo has spent 267 weeks on the list, tying Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party as the sixth-longest-running titles in the chart’s 56-year history.

On the all-genre Billboard 200, Southside ar-rives at No. 5, awarding Hunt his second top 10 after the No. 3-peaking Montevallo.

Hunt first released the EP X2C, which debuted and peaked at No. 5 on Top Country Albums in August 2014. Following Montevallo, Between the Pines: Acoustic Mixtape started at its No. 7 high in November 2015.

Montevallo produced five singles, four of which hit the pinnacle of Country Airplay: “Leave the Night On,” “Take Your Time,” “House Party” and “Make You Miss Me.” “Break Up in a Small Town” peaked at No. 2.

Hunt co-penned all 12 songs on Southside, including “Body Like a Back Road,” which was released in 2017. The smash hit ruled Country Airplay for three weeks and the airplay-, streaming- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart for a then-record 34 frames. It now ranks second only to Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant to Be” (50 weeks atop the latter list in 2017-18).

“Downtown’s Dead,” which is also on the new set, reached Nos. 14 and 15 on Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay, respectively, in June 2018. “Kin-folks” led Country Airplay on Feb. 29, becoming Hunt’s seventh No. 1. It hit No. 3 on Hot Country Songs.

Latest single “Hard to Forget” jumps 17-9 on Hot Country Songs. It’s his eighth top 10, having corralled 8.2 million U.S. streams (up 96%) and 5,000 in

sales (up 21%) in the tracking week. On Country Airplay, it hops 18-15 (11.9 mil-lion audience impressions, up 16%).

TRY TO ‘CATCH’ UP WITH YOUNG Brett Young achieves his fifth consecutive and total Country Airplay No. 1 as “Catch” (Big Machine Label Group) ascends

2-1, increasing 13% to 36.6 million impressions.Young’s first of six chart entries, “Sleep With-

out You,” reached No. 2 in December 2016. He followed with the multiweek No. 1s “In Case You Didn’t Know” (two weeks, June 2017), “Like I Loved You” (three, January 2018), “Mercy” (two, August 2018) and “Here Tonight” (two, April 2019).

“Catch” completes his longest journey to No. 1, having taken 46 weeks to reach the apex. It out-paces the 30-week climb of “Here Tonight.”

On Hot Country Songs, “Catch” pushes 7-5 for a new high.

COMBS ‘DOES’ IT AGAIN Luke Combs’ “Does to Me” (River House/Columbia Nashville), featuring Eric Church, ascends 11-8 on Country Airplay, up 10% to 24.7 million in audience. The song is Combs’ eighth straight career-opening top 10, following a record run of seven consecutive out-of-the-gate, properly promoted No. 1 singles.

Church adds his 15th Country Airplay top 10.

THAT TOOK QUITE ‘A FEW’ MONTHS Travis Denning shatters the record for the most weeks it has taken to penetrate the Country Airplay top 10 as “After a Few” (Mercury Nashville) climbs 12-10 in its 57th week, up 4% to 21.4 mil-lion in radio reach.

The song surpasses two tracks that took 50 weeks each to enter the top 10: Easton Corbin’s “A Girl Like You,” which reached No. 10 in January 2018 be-fore peaking at No. 6 that February, and Aaron Watson’s “Outta Style,” which achieved its No. 10 high in December 2017.

“After” is Denning’s second Country Airplay entry. “David Ashley Parker From Powder Springs” traveled to No. 32 in September 2018.

SamHunt’s Southside Rules Top Country Albums; Brett Young ‘Catch’-es Fifth Airplay

Leader; Travis Denning Makes History

ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER jim.asker@billboard.com

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 13, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 19

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BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 6 OF 18

Country Airplay

RANKINGSCountry Airplay is ranked by total audience impressions for the week ending Sunday based on monitored airplay of 148 stations by Nielsen Music. Audience totals on the chart are derived, in part, using certain Nielsen Audio- copyrighted Persons 12+ audience estimates (under license © 2020, Nielsen Audio). The list of all Country Airplay chart reporters can be viewed on Nielsen Music’s platforms.

BULLETSl Awarded on Country Airplay to titles gaining audience or remaining flat from the previous week. A song will also receive a bullet if its percentage loss in

audience does not exceed the percentage of monitored station downtime for the format. Titles that decline in audience but increase in detections will also receive a bullet if the total audience erosion for the week does not exceed 3%.

TIESOn Country Airplay, if two songs are tied in total audience, the song with the larger increase in audience is placed first.

RECURRENTSOn Country Airplay, descending titles below No. 10 in either audience or detections are moved to recurrent after 20 weeks, provided that they

are not still gaining enough audience points to bullet or if they rank below No. 10 and post a third consecutive week of (non-bulleted) audience decline, regardless of total chart weeks.

HOT SHOT DEBUTAwarded to the highest-ranking new entry on Country Airplay.

MOST ADDEDThe total number of new adds officially reported to Billboard by each reporting station, or by an automatic-add threshold (seven plays for the first time in a chart tracking week, according to Nielsen Music) for stations that do not report adds.

MOST INCREASED AUDIENCEMost Increased Audience on Country Airplay lists the songs with the greatest week-to-week increases in total audience.

AIRPOWERAwarded on Country Airplay to titles ranking inside top 20 in plays and audience rankings for the first time, with increases in both plays and audience.

BREAKERAwarded on Country Airplay to titles achieving airplay (at least one detection) at 60% of reporting stations for the first time.

© 2020 Prometheus Global Media, LLC

COUNTRY AIRPLAY CHART LEGEND

AIRPLAY MONITORED BY

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

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CHART TITLE Imprint/Label ArtistAUDIENCE (IN MILLIONS) PLAYS

THIS WEEK +/– THIS WEEK +/– RANK

l1 5 47 EVERYWHERE BUT ON RECORDS/Arista Nashville HH No. 1 (1 week)/Most Increased Audience HH Matt Stell 31.754 +5.656 7565 1201 1

l2 4 35 LOVE YOU LIKE I USED TO Triple Tigers Russell Dickerson 31.613 +3.990 7158 1041 2

3 3 30 ONE OF THEM GIRLS Curb Lee Brice 29.712 -1.684 6354 -272 3

4 2 30 GOT WHAT I GOT Macon/Broken Bow Jason Aldean 26.860 -4.825 6206 -1033 4

l5 7 23 MORE THAN MY HOMETOWN Republic/Big Loud Morgan Wallen 26.183 +0.713 6021 163 6

l6 8 15 HAPPY ANYWHERE Warner Music Nashville/WMN Blake Shelton Featuring Gwen Stefani 25.962 +1.384 6166 226 5

7 1 50 SOME GIRLS Combustion/River House/Columbia Nashville Jameson Rodgers 25.445 -7.423 5551 -1988 8

l8 9 39 ONE BEER Big Loud HARDY Featuring Lauren Alaina & Devin Dawson 24.687 +0.848 5918 133 7

9 6 21 LOVIN’ ON YOU River House/Columbia Nashville Luke Combs 24.507 -1.433 5289 -162 9

l10 10 43 PRETTY HEART MCA Nashville Parker McCollum 21.160 +1.008 4877 308 11

l11 11 49 BIG, BIG PLANS Big Loud Chris Lane 20.343 +2.248 5095 512 10

l12 12 33 AIN’T ALWAYS THE COWBOY Capitol Nashville Jon Pardi 18.269 +1.024 4342 225 12

l13 13 16 HAPPY DOES Blue Chair/Warner Music Nashville/WEA Kenny Chesney 17.877 +0.874 4169 154 13

l14 14 14 I SHOULD PROBABLY GO TO BED Warner Music Nashville/WAR Dan + Shay 16.339 +1.025 4128 247 14

l15 15 28 CHAMPAGNE NIGHT BMLG Lady A 15.825 +2.660 3813 615 15

l16 16 22 HOLE IN THE BOTTLE Black River Kelsea Ballerini 12.492 +1.247 3580 403 16

l17 21 5 BETTER TOGETHER River House/Columbia Nashville Luke Combs 11.314 +2.548 2625 521 22

l18 18 10 STARTING OVER Mercury Chris Stapleton 11.212 +1.342 2895 286 19

l19 20 13 BEERS AND SUNSHINE Capitol Nashville Darius Rucker 10.810 +1.817 3037 337 17

l20 19 29 GOOD TIME RCA Nashville Niko Moon 10.375 +1.254 2927 362 18

l21 23 20 HOW THEY REMEMBER YOU Big Machine Rascal Flatts 9.848 +1.683 2850 293 20

l22 22 37 MOMMA’S HOUSE Broken Bow Dustin Lynch 9.035 +0.936 2726 214 21

l23 25 8 LONG LIVE BMLG Florida Georgia Line 8.010 +0.631 2310 65 23

l24 29 3 DOWN TO ONE Row Crop/Capitol Nashville HH Breaker/Most Added HH Luke Bryan 6.239 +1.563 1574 566 29

l25 26 11 7 SUMMERS Republic/Big Loud Morgan Wallen 5.815 +0.316 1636 88 28

l26 27 38 SOMEBODY LIKE THAT 19th & Grand Tenille Arts 5.678 +0.450 2140 109 24

l27 28 22 ALMOST MAYBES MCA Nashville Jordan Davis 5.062 +0.377 1897 107 25

l28 31 28 NOBODY Curb Dylan Scott 4.664 +0.546 1793 18 27

l29 30 24 ALL NIGHT EMI Nashville Brothers Osborne 4.511 +0.166 1843 135 26

l30 32 27 LADY BMLG Brett Young 4.006 +0.426 1222 121 33

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 7 OF 18

Country Airplay

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RICK DIAMOND/GETTY IMAGES FOR CMS

ELVIE SHANEMy Boy

Kentucky-born singer-songwriter Shane’s (right) first Country Airplay

entry jumps 60-55 in its fourth week on the chart, up 12% to 807,000

audience impressions.

AIRPLAY MONITORED BY

11/9

JASON ALDEAN Blame It On You Broken Bow

TIFFANY WOYS Do Ya Tiffany Woys

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STEPHANIE NASH Time Changes Stephanie Nash

TROY CARTWRIGHT Hung Up On You Warner Music Nashville/WAR

WARD DAVIS Ain’t Gonna Be Today Ward Davis/Thirty Tigers

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CHART TITLE Imprint/Label ArtistAUDIENCE (IN MILLIONS) PLAYS

THIS WEEK +/– THIS WEEK +/– RANK

l31 35 21 THE GOOD ONES Warner Music Nashville/WAR Gabby Barrett 3.979 +0.869 1469 241 30

l32 33 24 JUST THE WAY Stoney Creek Parmalee x Blanco Brown 3.839 +0.579 1367 89 32

l33 37 4 BREAKING UP WAS EASY IN THE 90’S MCA Nashville Sam Hunt 3.636 +0.672 1040 210 37

l34 34 6 ONE TOO MANY Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban Duet With P!nk 3.576 +0.272 1157 142 35

l35 38 31 TO HELL & BACK Columbia Nashville Maren Morris 3.226 +0.539 1444 234 31

l36 36 14 BETTY Republic/MCA Nashville Taylor Swift 3.084 +0.069 1201 56 34

l37 39 20 HARD DAYS Valory Brantley Gilbert 2.686 +0.165 1049 39 36

l38 56 2 WHISKEY AND RAIN Warner Music Nashville/WEA Michael Ray 2.476 +1.715 442 279 52

l39 41 6 SETTLING DOWN Vanner/RCA Nashville Miranda Lambert 2.463 +0.266 763 107 42

l40 40 15 WINE, BEER, WHISKEY Capitol Nashville Little Big Town 2.358 +0.099 916 35 39

l41 43 24 MADE FOR YOU Big Loud Jake Owen 2.330 +0.412 803 109 41

l42 45 6 JUST ABOUT OVER YOU inDent/Mercury Priscilla Block 2.005 +0.132 597 68 47

43 24 2 GONE Capitol Nashville Dierks Bentley 1.946 -5.526 697 -656 44

l44 44 8 DEAR RODEO CoJo/Warner Music Nashville/WMN Cody Johnson & Reba McEntire 1.939 +0.150 396 16 56

l45 49 11 WHAT DO I KNOW Arista Nashville HH Breaker HH Robert Counts 1.575 +0.016 674 35 45

l46 47 18 SINGLE SATURDAY NIGHT Warner Music Nashville/WMN Cole Swindell 1.558 -0.039 618 9 46

47 46 18 WE WERE RICH Wheelhouse Runaway June 1.538 -0.070 929 54 38

l48 48 6 NEXT GIRL Big Machine Carly Pearce 1.488 +0.129 549 21 48

l49 55 2 WE DIDN’T HAVE MUCH Valory Justin Moore 1.343 +0.472 451 161 51

l50 50 27 THIS IS US RECORDS/Columbia/Stoney Creek Jimmie Allen & Noah Cyrus 1.317 -0.008 847 9 40

l51 51 9 NEVER BE SORRY RCA Nashville Old Dominion 1.262 +0.123 543 46 49

l52 NEW WORSHIP YOU RCA Nashville HH Hot Shot Debut HH Kane Brown 1.047 +0.680 344 204 -

l53 54 7 WAITIN’ ON 5 Warner Music Nashville/WAR Chris Janson 0.927 +0.079 413 44 53

54 52 7 BEERS TO CATCH UP ON Wheelhouse LOCASH 0.836 -0.096 393 15 58

l55 60 4 MY BOY Wheelhouse Elvie Shane 0.806 +0.084 497 35 50

l56 NEW FOREVER AFTER ALL River House/Columbia Nashville Luke Combs 0.762 +0.749 194 192 -

l57 RE-ENTRY ALL OF THE BOYS True To The Song/Mailboat/New Revolution Caroline Jones 0.744 +0.106 719 25 43

l58 59 3 IF IT WASN’T FOR TRUCKS BMLG Riley Green 0.740 +0.031 323 46 -

59 57 4 WHERE I FIND GOD Big Loud Larry Fleet 0.719 -0.015 352 -3 60

60 58 10 A SONG TO REMEMBER Low Country Sound/Elektra/WEA A Thousand Horses 0.715 -0.029 407 -3 55

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 8 OF 18

TEXAS REGIONAL RADIO REPORTWEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 1, 2020

Country Airplay

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AIRPLAY MONITORED BY

Texas Regional Radio Report Top 100 is compiled from weekly online playlist reports from 86 radio stations located in Texas and surrounding states, including reports from specialty shows, internet and satellite radio outlets. Songs are ranked by total plays. For tracking, complete chart methodology and more information, visit www.texasregionalradio.com, or contact Dave Smith at 972-252-8777. Copyright 2020, Texas Regional Radio Report

MOST ADDED®TITLE Imprint/Label Artist ADDSDOWN TO ONE Row Crop/Capitol Nashville Luke Bryan 30BETTER TOGETHER River House/Columbia Nashville Luke Combs 25WHISKEY AND RAIN Warner/WEA Michael Ray 25GONE Capitol Nashville Dierks Bentley 19WORSHIP YOU RCA Nashville Kane Brown 15BROKEN UP Riser House/Columbia Nashville Mitchell Tenpenny 14BREAKING UP WAS EASY IN THE 90’S MCA Nashville Sam Hunt 13MEMORY I DON’T MESS WITH Curb Lee Brice 11TO HELL & BACK Columbia Nashville Maren Morris 10WE DIDN’T HAVE MUCH Valory Justin Moore 10

MOST INCREASED PLAYSTITLE Imprint/Label Artist GAINEVERYWHERE BUT ON RECORDS/Arista Nashville Matt Stell +1201LOVE YOU LIKE I USED TO Triple Tigers Russell Dickerson +1041CHAMPAGNE NIGHT BMLG Lady A +615DOWN TO ONE Row Crop/Capitol Nashville Luke Bryan +566BETTER TOGETHER River House/Columbia Nashville Luke Combs +521BIG, BIG PLANS Big Loud Chris Lane +512HOLE IN THE BOTTLE Black River Kelsea Ballerini +403GOOD TIME RCA Nashville Niko Moon +362BEERS AND SUNSHINE Capitol Nashville Darius Rucker +337PRETTY HEART MCA Nashville Parker McCollum +308

MOST INCREASED AUDIENCETITLE Imprint/Label Artist

GAIN(IN MIILIONS)

EVERYWHERE BUT ON RECORDS/Arista Nashville Matt Stell +5.657LOVE YOU LIKE I USED TO Triple Tigers Russell Dickerson +3.990CHAMPAGNE NIGHT BMLG Lady A +2.660BETTER TOGETHER River House/Columbia Nashville Luke Combs +2.548BIG, BIG PLANS Big Loud Chris Lane +2.248BEERS AND SUNSHINE Capitol Nashville Darius Rucker +1.817WHISKEY AND RAIN Warner Music Nashville/WEA Michael Ray +1.715HOW THEY REMEMBER YOU Big Machine Rascal Flatts +1.683DOWN TO ONE Row Crop/Capitol Nashville Luke Bryan +1.563HAPPY ANYWHERE Warner Music Nashville/WMN Blake Shelton Featuring Gwen Stefani +1.384

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

WKS ON CHART TITLE (Label) ARTIST

TW SPINS

SPINS +/–

l1 2 22 PROJECT (Independent) HH 1 Week at 1 HH Mark Powell 1905 98

l2 3 21 I’D LOOK GOOD ON YOU (Independent) Jesse Raub Jr. 1827 47

3 4 28 LIKE A COWBOY (Independent) Parker McCollum 1707 -21

l4 5 23 WHEN SHE’S DRINKIN’ (Independent) George Navarro 1647 50

l5 8 9 BAD GUY (Independent) Casey Donahew 1512 147

l6 6 20 LONESOME, ON’RY AND MEAN (S.O.T.) Jody Booth and Tracy Byrd 1461 36

l7 9 17 GRAVITY & YOU (Jake Bush Music) Jake Bush 1421 58

8 1 13 COWBOY’S COWGIRL (King Hall Music) Chad Cooke Band 1322 -650

l9 11 10 WANT TO WITH YOU (Independent) Jamie Richards 1310 111

10 10 25 HERE I GO AGAIN (Independent) Clay Hollis 1243 -74

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

WKS ON CHART TITLE (Label) ARTIST

TW SPINS

SPINS +/–

l11 14 8 HEART TO STEAL TONIGHT (Independent) Jon Wolfe 1165 128

l12 12 19 THE LUCKIEST (Independent) Josh Abbott Band 1145 31

13 7 17 HEY COWGIRL (Independent) Randall King 1120 -292

l14 16 6 I DO THING (Independent) Kylie Frey 1037 115

l15 17 9 DEAR RODEO (COJO/Warners Nashille) Cody Johnson 1025 104

l16 21 14 TOO MANY LOVE SONGS (Independent) Kaitlyn Kohler 993 129

l17 24 11 ANOTHER TOWN (Independent) Jon Stork 988 144

18 15 32 WHAT WOULD DOLLY DO (LuckySky Music) Tori Martin 974 -19

l19 18 12 MISSIN’ YOU, MISSISSIPPI (Independent) Dustin Sonnier 967 73

l20 19 5 FOOL’S LOVE AFFAIR (117 Music) Randy Travis 964 93

RECURRENTSTHIS

WEEK TITLE Imprint/Label ArtistTOTAL AUD.

(IN MILLIONS)1 I HOPE Warner Music Nashville/WAR Gabby Barrett 15.852

2 CHASIN’ YOU Big Loud Morgan Wallen 14.766

3 DIE FROM A BROKEN HEART Mercury Maddie & Tae 14.704

4 ONE MARGARITA Row Crop/Capitol Nashville Luke Bryan 13.837

5 NOBODY BUT YOU Warner Music Nashville/WMN Blake Shelton Duet With Gwen Stefani 12.525

6 HARD TO FORGET MCA Nashville Sam Hunt 11.504

7 THE BONES Columbia Nashville Maren Morris 10.973

8 DONE Warner Music Nashville/WAR Chris Janson 10.562

9 ONE MAN BAND RCA Nashville Old Dominion 8.797

10 AFTER A FEW Mercury Travis Denning 8.576

NEW AND ACTIVETITLE Imprint/Label Artist

TOTAL AUDIENCE

TOTAL STATIONS ADDS

YOU TIME Triple Tigers Scotty McCreery 0.655 25 3

MEMORY I DON’T MESS WITH Curb Lee Brice 0.654 12 11

HELL OF A VIEW BigEC/EMI Nasvhille Eric Church 0.641 11 6

SHALLOW Pearl Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood 0.612 6 5

CLASSIC RCA/Triple Tigers Cam 0.526 45 1

SALTWATER GOSPEL Valory Eli Young Band & Jimmy Buffett 0.511 20 1

https://lc.lnk.to/WYSAAWYG

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 10 OF 18

SONGWRITERS HALL ADDS FIVESinger-songwriters Bobbie Gentry and Steve Earle, whose recordings of “Ode To Billie Joe” and “Guitar Town” were genre-changing titles during their respective eras, lead the newest class of Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame members, announced Nov. 2.

The reclusive Gentry and Americana icon Earle are joined in the honor by full-time songwriters Kent Blazy (“If Tomorrow Never Comes,” “Ain’t Goin’ Down Til the Sun Comes Up”) and Brett James (“Jesus, Take the Wheel,” “I Hold On”). Also due for induction is Spooner Oldham (“Cry Like a Baby,” “Lonely Women Make Good Lovers”), who started his career as a Muscle Shoals session keyboardist, supporting hits by Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin.

Originally scheduled to be formally inducted this fall, their ceremony was delayed by the coronavirus shutdown. They will be honored Nov. 1, 2021, at Nashville’s Music City Center along with next year’s class of new members.

RADIO & RECORDS®Big Machine Label Group made four staff moves, led by BMLG Records senior vp Matthew Hargis’ shift to senior vp promotion and marketing from senior vp promotion. The label group also promoted Mitch Beard and Megan Bragg to senior accountant from accountant, while Carolyn Szymanski joined as accounting coordinator … Universal Music Group Nashville promoted Damon Moberly to Mercury Nashville senior vp promotion from vp … Big Loud hired vp business affairs Jeff Tanner, who returns to Nashville after serving as a Dallas-based Raytheon supply-chain legal advisor. He was Sony Music Nashville associate director of legal and business affairs as recently as 2014. Reach Tanner here … Singer-songwriter Catie Offerman signed a recording deal with Universal Music Group … Logan Tucker joined Banner Music’s Banner Believers program, a label-like deal that applies to a single song, “Back To My Boots” … Luke Combs notified the Country Music Association’s Broadcast Awards winners. Broadcast personality victors include Chris Carr, Kia Becht and McKaila Granning, KEEY Minneapolis-St. Paul (major market); “Big Dave” Chandler, Chelsie Shinkle, Jason Statt and Ashley Hempfling, WUBE Cincinnati (large); Clay Moden, Rob Banks and Val Townsend, WYRK Buffalo, N.Y. (medium); “Officer Don” Evans and DeAnn Stephens, WBUL Lexington, Ky. (small); and Country Countdown USA host Lon Helton (national). Radio station of the year winners include KSCS Dallas-Fort Worth (major); KNCI Sacramento, Calif. (large); WUSY Chattanooga, Tenn. (medium); and WKXC Augusta, Ga. (small) … Six sessions were revealed for the virtual edition of the Country Radio Seminar Feb. 16-19, 2021, including panels on handling anxiety, applying data and the pandemic. Go here for details … Former Westwood One on-air personality Chuck Wicks launched the Talk To Chuck podcast on Oct. 29 on Bobby Bones’ Nashville Podcast Network … Meanwhile, Bones signed a development deal with BBC Studios’ Los Angeles production division to develop TV projects … Townsquare/Dubuque, Iowa, promoted Jeff Robb to market president from senior account executive. The cluster

includes country WJOD … Townsquare/Killeen-Temple, Texas, named Ishmael Johnson its market president/chief revenue officer. He retains the same position in the chain’s Lufkin territory. Country signals under his lead include KUSJ Killeen and KYKS Lufkin … Cox Media Group/Tulsa, Okla., hired director of sales Cody Welling, RadioInk.com reported. He was previously Ohio News Network general sales manager. CMG properties include country KWEN … Entercom/Phoenix promoted Chris Hernandez to operations manager from top 40 KALV PD, according to RadioInk.com. The cluster includes country KMLE … Entercom/Miami senior vp/market manager Keriann Worley resigned after three years in the position, RadioInsight.com reported. Regional president Claudia Menegus takes the interim reins. Affected stations include country WKIS … WKLI Albany, N.Y., welcomed Sean McMaster and Andrea Phillips McMaster as morning co-hosts on Nov. 2, according to RadioInsight.com. McMaster moves from mornings at adult contemporary sister WYJB. Former WKLI morning talent Pete Kelly shifts to afternoon drive, replacing operations manager/PD Jon Reilly, who takes afternoons at WYJB … SiriusXM launches 17 holiday channels for 2020, including Country Christmas. The station will start broadcasting on Channel 58 Dec. 3-26, and is currently available on the SiriusXM app.

’ROUND THE ROWDigital marketing and services firm Bubble Up promoted Scott Heuerman to GM from vp marketing. Reach him here … Apple Music hired Australia-based Tim Daley as a country music editor. He spent 18 years at CMC Australia, where he served as group program manager until the channel was discontinued in June … Producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile) signed a songwriting deal with Universal Music Publishing Group Nashville … Sony/ATV Nashville added singer-songwriter Brad Cox to its songwriting roster … Singer-songwriter Jason Nix (“Things a Man Oughta Know”) agreed to a publishing contract with Jody Williams Songs … Teen country singer-songwriter Liam Coleman of Charlton, Mass., signed a management contract with Peter Strickland’s Marathon Talent … Billboard executive editor, West Coast and Nashville Melinda Newman received the Country Music Association’s media achievement award … The CMA launched a seven-part webinar series on Oct. 30 to support music industry members grappling with coronavirus-era issues. Topics include health, finances and reopening prospects. Go here for details … Musically Fed partnered with World Central Kitchen, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee and Rhino Staging to distribute food to 100 Nashville-area families, focused on members of the music industry adversely affected by the live-music shutdown … Singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver died Oct. 28. A key figure in country’s outlaw era, he maintained a solid touring career while penning such titles as Waylon Jennings’ “Honky Tonk Heroes,” John Anderson’s “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be a Diamond Someday)” and his own “I Been To Georgia on a Fast Train.” Shaver joined the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004 … Songwriter-producer-musician Stan Kesler died Oct. 26 in Murfreesboro, Tenn., The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported. Working primarily in Memphis, he played bass on recordings by Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, including “Great Balls of Fire”; produced Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs’ pop hit “Wooly Bully”; and authored several Elvis Presley cuts, including “I Forgot To Remember To Forget,” a No. 1 country single released in 1955.

NASHVILLE & NATIONAL TOM ROLAND

Arista Nashville artist Adam Doleac held a virtual meeting with consultant Joel Raab while promoting his new single, “Whiskey’s Fine.” Clockwise from top left: Arista vp promotion Josh Easler, Sony Music Nashville vp national promotion Lauren Thomas, Raab and Doleac.

Kylie Frey (left) gave a socially distanced Frey-day performance during an office visit at the home of Billboard Country Update editor Tom Roland in October, with fiddler Aria Stiles in support. R

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BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 11 OF 18

Nov. 3• 1990 — Reba McEntire collects a No. 1 country single in Billboard

with “You Lie.”• 1960 — Merle Haggard is released from San Quentin Prison and al-

lowed to complete the two-plus years remaining of his sentence on parole.

Nov. 4• 2015 — Chris Stapleton wins three trophies — male vocalist of the

year, new artist and album, for Traveller — during the 49th annual Country Music Association Awards, telecast by ABC from the Bridge-stone Arena in Nashville.

Nov. 5• 2018 — Carly Pearce sings “Every Lit-

tle Thing” and LANCO performs “Born To Love You” on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, featuring contestants Bobby Bones and John Schneider, who is eliminated. Also performing are Cole Swindell, Lau-ren Alaina and Chris Janson, who covers “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

Nov. 6• 2017 — Big Loud releases the Morgan Wallen single “Up Down,”

featuring Florida Georgia Line, to radio.

Nov. 7• 2000 — Naturalized American citizen Terri Clark stands in line for

two hours so she can cast a presidential vote for the first time.• 1995 — The RIAA certifies Shania Twain’s The Woman in Me triple-

platinum exactly nine months after the album’s arrival.

Nov. 8• 2019 — Columbia releases Luke Combs’ album What You See Is What

You Get.• 2010 — The movie Country Strong, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and

Tim McGraw, premieres at Nashville’s Green Hills 16 theaters, draw-ing Luke Bryan, Sara Evans, Dierks Bentley, Mark Collie, Jerrod Niemann and Little Big Town.

Nov. 9• 2005 — Jamey Johnson, Bill Anderson and Buddy Cannon write

a future George Strait hit, “Give It Away.”• 1970 — Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn record “After the Fire Is

Gone” during an evening session at Bradley’s Barn in Mt. Juliet, Tenn.

Source: RolandNote.com, the Ultimate Country Music Database

Maren Morris has key TV performances on the way in two separate multi-artist events. She’s in the lineup for the Country Music Association’s 54th annual awards on Nov. 11, alongside ap-pearances by Lady A, Florida Georgia Line, Miranda Lambert, Ashley McBryde, Rascal Flatts and Thomas Rhett, who’ll be joined by Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin and Reba McEn-tire. (It has not been announced, but it’s a sure bet that the last performance will be a rendition of “Be a Light.”) Morris is also scheduled as a soloist — and as a member of The Highwomen — on the Dec. 5 CBS special Play On: Celebrating the Power of Music to Make Change. They will share the bill with Sheryl Crow, Yola, Bon Jovi and Andra Day, among others. Also coming up on the tube is Kane Brown’s halftime performance during the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Day football game, launching the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle campaign.

Musicians On Call is hitting the hospitals during the week of Veterans Day, with numerous artists participating in a virtual bedside concert program at VA hospitals across the nation. Scotty McCreery, Chris Janson, Michael Ray, Jimmie Allen, Leon Bridges and Charles Esten will take part in the event, beginning Nov. 9.

Collin Raye has his first all-new project in over a decade set for Nov. 20 release. The Americana-leaning Scars features guests Miranda Lambert and Vince Gill. It’s produced by David Ferguson (John Prine, Margo Price), with The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach on guitar. Other newly announced projects on the way include a Big Machine/CreatiVets collaboration, Veterans Day Special, with Love and Theft, Kalsey Kulyk and Brantley Gilbert, Nov. 6; BlackHawk’s Just About Right: Live From Atlanta, Nov. 13; Sarah Buxton’s Signs of Life EP, Nov. 20; the physical version of Margie Sington’s Never Mind EP, Nov. 20; Kelsey Waldon’s They’ll Never Keep Us Down EP, Nov. 20; Granger Smith’s Country Things, Vol. 2, Nov. 27; and Kip Moore’s Wild World Deluxe, Feb. 12, 2021.

Look for back-to-back livestream concerts from key Nashville venues Nov. 18-19. Charlie Worsham offers an Every Damn Five Years event from the Brooklyn Bowl with Devin Dawson, Tenille Townes, Morgan Evans, Wendy Moten, Jillian Jacqueline, Ketch Secor and Molly Tuttle. Terry McBride will offer a writers round on Nov. 19 from the Bluebird Cafe with fellow songwriters Luke Laird (“Pontoon”), Brice Long (“Heartache on the Dance Floor”) and Marv Green (“I Called Mama”).

THE HIGHWOMEN

Shawn Parr’s Across America host Shawn Parr (left) hung with REO Speedwagon drummer Bryan Hitt (center) and Larry the Cable Guy during the David Wells Perfect 33 Foundation Charity Golf Tournament Oct. 23-24 at the Singing Hills Golf Resort in El Cajon, Calif.

NASHVILLE & NATIONAL TOM ROLAND

Touring In A Pandemic: How Country Artists Have Been Leading The Way

Executive Of The Week: Warner Music Nashville Senior VP Radio And Streaming Kristen Williams

Class Acts: Grounded Touring Artists Turn To Virtual Lessons To Pay The Bills

YouTube Reports Revenue Up 32%, Paid Music And Premium Subscribers Top 30M

Ticketmaster Tech Used To Fight Scalpers Will Now Be Deployed Against COVID-19

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Top Headlines from .comClick on headlines below for more details

ON THIS DATE IN COUNTRY MUSIC

SCHNEIDER

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 12 OF 18

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The weekly Country Songwriters and Country Producers charts are based on total points accrued by a songwriter and producer, respectively, for each attributed song that appears on the Hot Country Songs chart. As with Billboard’s yearly recaps, multiple writers or producers split points for each song equally (and the dividing of points will lead to occasional ties on rankings).

Hot Country SongsSALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

1 #1 12 WKS LUKE COMBS

2 ROBERT “ROB” WILLIFORD

3 DREW PARKER

4 HARDY

TIE 5 GABBY BARRETT

TIE 5 ZACH KALE

7 JON NITE

8 THOMAS ARCHER

9 JAKE MITCHELL

10 JOSH OSBORNE

1 #1 26 WKS JOEY MOI

2 SCOTT MOFFATT

TIE 3 JONATHAN D. SINGLETON

TIE 3 JOSEPH “CHIP” MATTHEWS

TIE 3 LUKE COMBS

7 ROSS COPPERMAN

8 MICHAEL KNOX

9 ZACH KALE

10 JON RANDALL

COUNTRY PRODUCERSTMCOUNTRY SONGWRITERSTM

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL

COUNTRY AIRPLAY

RANKPEAK

POSITION

l1 NEW 1 FOREVER AFTER ALL HH No. 1 (1 week)/Hot Shot Debut HH Luke Combs CHIP MATTHEWS,J.D.SINGLETON,L.COMBS (L.COMBS,D.PARKER,R.WILLIFORD) RIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE

56 1

2 1 1 79 I HOPE Gabby Barrett R.COPPERMAN,Z.KALE (Z.KALE,J.M.NITE,G.BARRETT) WARNER MUSIC NASHVILLE/WAR RC 1

3 2 2 38 GOT WHAT I GOT Jason Aldean M.KNOX (M.TYLER,A.PALMER,T.ARCHER) MACON/BROKEN BOW 4 2

l4 4 4 28 MORE THAN MY HOMETOWN Morgan Wallen J.MOI (M.W.HARDY,E.K.SMITH,CHARLIE HANDSOME,M.WALLEN) REPUBLIC/BIG LOUD 5 4

5 3 3 29 ONE OF THEM GIRLS Lee Brice B.GLOVER,K.JACOBS,L.BRICE (A.GORLEY,B.JOHNSON,D.DAVIDSON,L.BRICE) CURB 3 2

l6 RE-ENTRY 21 BETTER TOGETHER Luke Combs S.MOFFATT (L.COMBS,D.ISBELL,R.MONTANA) RIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 17 6

l7 6 6 44 ONE BEER HARDY Featuring Lauren Alaina & Devin Dawson J.MOI,D.WELLS (M.W.HARDY,H.LINDSEY,J.MITCHELL) BIG LOUD 8 6

l8 7 11 32 LOVE YOU LIKE I USED TO Russell Dickerson D.HUFF,C.BROWN,R.DICKRESON (R.DICKERSON,C.BROWN,P.WELLING) TRIPLE TIGERS 2 7

l9 10 7 25 LOVIN’ ON YOU Luke Combs S.MOFFATT (L.COMBS,T.ARCHER,R.M.L.FULCHER,J.MCNAIR) RIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 9 3

l10 9 10 26 PRETTY HEART Parker McCollum JON RANDALL (P.MCCOLLUM,R.MONTANA) MCA NASHVILLE 10 9

11 5 5 32 SOME GIRLS Jameson Rodgers C.FARREN,M.J.CONES (M.W.HARDY,J.MITCHELL,C.J. SOLAR) COMBUSTION/RIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 7 5

l12 11 9 14 HAPPY ANYWHERE Blake Shelton Featuring Gwen Stefani S.HENDRICKS (R.COPPERMAN,J.OSBORNE,M.JENKINS) WARNER MUSIC NASHVILLE/WMN 6 9

l 12 14 31 EVERYWHERE BUT ON HH Airplay Gainer HH Matt Stell A.BOWERS,M.STELL (M.STELL,P.SIKES,L.MILLER) RECORDS/ARISTA NASHVILLE

1 12

14 8 8 14 I SHOULD PROBABLY GO TO BED Dan + Shay D.SMYERS (D.SMYERS,S.MOONEY,S.M.DOUGLAS,J.G.EVIGAN) WARNER MUSIC NASHVILLE/WAR 14 7

l15 13 12 11 7 SUMMERS Morgan Wallen J.MOI (M.WALLEN,S.MCANALLY,J.OSBORNE) REPUBLIC/BIG LOUD 25 1

l16 15 15 10 STARTING OVER Chris Stapleton D.COBB,C.STAPLETON (C.STAPLETON,M.HENDERSON) MERCURY NASHVILLE 18 10

17 14 13 27 AIN’T ALWAYS THE COWBOY Jon Pardi B.BUTLER,R.GORE,J.PARDI (B.KINNEY,J.THOMPSON) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 12 13

l18 16 17 35 BIG, BIG PLANS Chris Lane J.MOI (J.DURRETT,C.LANE,E.K.SMITH) BIG LOUD 11 16

l19 NEW 1 THE OTHER GUY Luke Combs CHIP MATTHEWS,J.D.SINGLETON,L.COMBS (L.COMBS,B.KINNEY,R.WILLIFORD) RIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE - 19

l20 45 46 6 WITHOUT YOU HH Streaming & Digital Gainer HH Luke Combs Featuring Amanda Shires L.COMBS,CHIP MATTHEWS,J.D.SINGLETON (L.COMBS,W.B.DURRETTE,D.ISBELL) RIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE

- 15

21 17 19 22 GOOD TIME Niko Moon N.MOON,J.MURTY (N.MOON,J.MINTON,A.MOON,J.MURTY,M.TRUSSELL) RCA NASHVILLE 20 17

l22 NEW 1 COLD AS YOU Luke Combs CHIP MATTHEWS,J.D.SINGLETON,L.COMBS (L.COMBS,S.MINOR,R.MONTANA,J.D.SINGLETON) RIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE - 22

l23 20 20 20 HOLE IN THE BOTTLE Kelsea Ballerini J.FRASURE,K.BALLERINI (K.BALLERINI,S.JONES,H.LINDSEY,J.FRASURE,A.GORLEY) BLACK RIVER 16 20

l24 22 23 29 CHAMPAGNE NIGHT Lady A S.MCANALLY,A.DEROBERTS (D.HAYWOOD,C.KELLEY,H.SCOTT,P.CONROY,E.R.DEAN,A.DEROBERTS,T.A.GEMZA,S.MCANALLY,M.R.MERLO,R.B.TEDDER,D.THOMSON) BMLG 15 20

25 18 22 15 HAPPY DOES Kenny Chesney B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (B.CLAWSON,J.PAULIN,B.BERRYHILL,G.JAMES) BLUE CHAIR/WARNER MUSIC NASHVILLE/WEA 13 18

13

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 13 OF 18

COUNTRY MARKET WATCHA Weekly National Music Sales Report

Hot Country SongsSALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

For inquiries about any Nielsen Music data, please contact Josh Bennett at 615-807-1338 or josh.bennett@nielsen.com

ALBUM CONSUMPTION

AUDIO ON-DEMAND

VIDEO ON-DEMAND

This Week 1,178,000 1,296,234,000 133,375,000

Last Week 1,162,000 1,293,102,000 129,078,000

Change 1.4% 0.2% 3.3%

This Week Last Year 994,000 1,028,683,000 265,401,000

Change 18.5% 26.0% -49.7%

WEEKLY UNIT COUNT YEAR-OVER-YEAR

2019 2020 CHANGE

Album Consumption 45,477,000 50,297,000 10.6%

Album Sales 8,416,000 6,977,000 -17.1%

Audio On-Demand 45,355,170,000 55,212,476,000 21.7%

Video On-Demand 11,612,968,000 5,826,269,000 -49.8%

YEAR-TO-DATE

ALBUM CONSUMPTION’19

’20

TOTAL ON-DEMAND STREAMS’19

’20

56.96 billion

45.47 million

61.03 billion

50.29 million

All data measures U.S. activity as of the week ending October 29, 2020. All units counts are rounded to the nearest thousand. Album consumption units — also known as albums plus TEA plus SEA — consists of album sales; track-equivalent album (TEA) sales whereby 10 tracks equal one consumption unit; and stream equivalent albums (SEA) whereby 1,250 paid and/or 3,750 ad-supported audio on-demand streams (OAD) equal one consumption unit. Nielsen Music/MRC Data has reprocessed year-to-date figures to account for a change in methodology, resulting in a restatement in streaming data from a provider, which has resulted in a shift in some previously reported data, most notably for video streams.

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL

COUNTRY AIRPLAY

RANKPEAK

POSITION

l26 23 27 13 WINE, BEER, WHISKEY Little Big Town LITTLE BIG TOWN (T.BROWN,K.FAIRCHILD,S.MCCONNELL,K.SCHLAPMAN,P.SWEET,J.WESTBROOK) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 40 23

l27 NEW 1 MY KINDA FOLK Luke Combs CHIP MATTHEWS,J.D.SINGLETON,L.COMBS (L.COMBS,J.DAVIS,R.FULCHER,D.ISBELL,D.NUNLEY) RIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE - 27

28 21 21 7 ONE TOO MANY Keith Urban Duet With P!nk K.URBAN,PHD,CUTFATHER (D.H.DAVIDSEN,P.WALLEVIK,M.H.HANSEN,J.NORTON,C.TIGHE) HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE 34 13

29 24 24 19 THE GOOD ONES Gabby Barrett R.COPPERMAN,Z.KALE (G.BARRETT,E.LANDIS,J.MCCORMICK,Z.KALE) WARNER MUSIC NASHVILLE/WAR 31 23

l30 NEW 1 LIL BIT Nelly & Florida Georgia Line J.M.SCHMIDT (T.HUBBARD,J.M.SCHMIDT,B.REDFERRIN,C.HAYNES, JR.) RECORDS/COLUMBIA - 30

l31 27 29 8 LONG LIVE Florida Georgia Line C.CROWDER,T.HUBBARD,B.KELLEY (T.HUBBARD,B.KELLEY,C.CROWDER,D.A.GARCIA,J.MILLER) BMLG 23 27

32 25 28 24 ALMOST MAYBES Jordan Davis P.DIGIOVANNI (J.DAVIS,J.FRASURE,H.LINDSEY) MCA NASHVILLE 27 25

33 28 31 12 BEERS AND SUNSHINE Darius Rucker R.COPPERMAN (D.RUCKER,R.COPPERMAN,J.T.HARDING,J.OSBORNE) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 19 25

34 29 34 23 MOMMA’S HOUSE Dustin Lynch Z.CROWELL (D.SCHNEIDER,M.LOTTEN,R.CLAWSON,J.T.WILSON) BROKEN BOW 22 29

35 31 33 26 LADY Brett Young D.HUFF (B.YOUNG,R.COPPERMAN,J.M.NITE) BMLG 30 22

36 30 35 13 WHO YOU ARE TO ME Chris Tomlin Featuring Lady A C.TOMILN,C.CROWDER,T.HUBBARD,B.KELLEY (C.TOMLIN,C.KELLEY,D.HAYWOOD,H.SCOTT) SPARROW/CAPITOL CMG - 30

37 32 32 37 JUST THE WAY Parmalee x Blanco Brown D.FANNING (M.THOMAS,K.BARD,N.W.SIPE) STONEY CREEK 32 29

l38 44 37 8 HOW THEY REMEMBER YOU Rascal Flatts D.HUFF (M.BEESON,J.OSBORNE,A.SHAMBLIN) BIG MACHINE 21 37

l39 RE-ENTRY 16 1, 2 MANY Luke Combs & Brooks & Dunn S.MOFFATT (L.COMBS,D.ISBELL,T.KING,D.PARKER) RIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE - 20

l40 46 — 2 GONE Dierks Bentley D.GARCIA (N.GALYON,B.JOHNSON,N.MOON) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 43 40

l41 37 38 21 TO HELL & BACK Maren Morris BUSBEE,M.MORRIS (M.MORRIS,J.J.DILLON,L.J.VELTZ) COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 35 35

42 33 25 11 ALL NIGHT Brothers Osborne J.JOYCE (J. OSBORNE,T.J. OSBORNE,A.DEROBERTS) EMI NASHVILLE 29 25

l43 RE-ENTRY 11 REFRIGERATOR DOOR Luke Combs S.MOFFATT (L.COMBS,J.BROOKER) RIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE - 20

44 34 36 14 BETTY Taylor Swift A.DESSNER,J.M.ANTONOFF,T.SWIFT (T.SWIFT,W.BOWERY) REPUBLIC/MCA NASHVILLE 36 6

l45 NEW 1 SHALLOW Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood G.BROOKS (S.G.GERMANOTTA,M.D.RONSON,A.ROSSOMANDO,ANDREW WYATT) PEARL - 45

l46 RE-ENTRY 2 DOWN TO ONE Luke Bryan J.STEVENS,J.STEVENS (K.FISHMAN,D.DAVIDSON,J.EBACH) ROW CROP/CAPITOL NASHVILLE 24 34

47 41 50 4 SETTLING DOWN Miranda Lambert J.JOYCE (M.LAMBERT,L.DICK,N. HEMBY) VANNER/RCA NASHVILLE 39 41

48 39 41 5 SOMEBODY LIKE THAT Tenille Arts A.KLINE (T.ARTS,A.KLINE,A.M.CRUZ) 19TH & GRAND 26 39

l49 RE-ENTRY 7 MOON OVER MEXICO Luke Combs S.MOFFATT (L.COMBS,R.M.L.FULCHER,D.ISBELL,J.D.SINGLETON) RIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE - 21

l50 RE-ENTRY 4 NOTHING LIKE YOU Luke Combs S.MOFFATT (L.COMBS,D.PARKER,R.WILLIFORD) RIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE - 41

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 14 OF 18

The week’s top-streamed and top-selling paid download country songs, respectively, from sales reports collected and provided by Nielsen Music. Charts update weekly on Tuesdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2020, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

TOP COUNTRY ALBUMS COUNTRY DIGITAL SONG SALES

Top Country Albums ranks the most popular country albums of the week, as compiled by Nielsen Music, based on multi-metric consumption (blending traditional album sales, track equivalent albums, and streaming equivalent albums). Copyright 2020, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

Americana/Folk Albums ranks the most popular Americana/folk albums of the week, as compiled by Nielsen Music, based on multi-metric consumption (blending traditional album sales, track equivalent albums, and streaming equivalent albums). Copyright 2020, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

AMERICANA/ FOLK ALBUMS

COUNTRY STREAMING SONGS

Bluegrass Albums ranks the most popular bluegrass albums of the week, as compiled by Nielsen Music, based on album sales. Copyright 2020, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

BLUEGRASS ALBUMS

SALES, DATA COMPILED BY

STREAMING & SALES DATA COMPILED BY

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l1 1 1 51 LUKE COMBS WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GETRIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 595687*/SMN 1 1

l2 3 3 178 LUKE COMBS THIS ONE’S FOR YOURIVER HOUSE/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 538883*/SMN 3 1

3 4 2 126 MORGAN WALLEN IF I KNOW MEBIG LOUD 783* 1 1

4 5 5 11 KANE BROWN MIXTAPE, VOL. 1 (EP)RCA NASHVILLE DIGITAL EX/SMN 2

5 6 6 287 CHRIS STAPLETON TRAVELLERMERCURY 019405*/UMGN 4 1

6 7 7 19 GABBY BARRETT GOLDMINEWARNER MUSIC NASHVILLE 629930/WMN 4

l7 14 10 4 DOLLY PARTON A HOLLY DOLLY CHRISTMASBUTTERFLY RECORDS 23435/12TONE 1

8 8 9 49 JASON ALDEAN 9MACON/BROKEN BOW/BMG 32944*/BBMG 1

9 9 11 8 HARDY A ROCKBIG LOUD 836* 4

10 13 13 30 SAM HUNT SOUTHSIDEMCA NASHVILLE 031776*/UMGN 1

11 12 12 235 GEORGE STRAIT 50 NUMBER ONESMCA NASHVILLE 000459/UMGN (25.98) 7 1

12 11 8 5 CARRIE UNDERWOOD MY GIFTCAPITOL NASHVILLE 032601/UMGN 1

13 17 16 68 TYLER CHILDERS PURGATORYHICKMAN HOLLER 001*/THIRTY TIGERS 12

14 15 15 86 MAREN MORRIS GIRLCOLUMBIA NASHVILLE 590186*/SMN 0 1

15 10 — 2 PARKER MCCOLLUM HOLLYWOOD GOLD (EP)MCA NASHVILLE DIGITAL EX/UMGN 10

16 19 18 273 ZAC BROWN BAND GREATEST HITS SO FAR...HOME GROWN 546369*/BMG 3

17 23 22 123 DAN + SHAY DAN + SHAYWARNER MUSIC NASHVILLE 570796/WMN 1 1

18 20 21 85 ELVIS PRESLEY THE ESSENTIAL ELVIS PRESLEYRCA/SONY STRATEGIC MARKETING GROUP 89048*/LEGACY (25.98) 1 12

19 22 19 46 BLAKE SHELTON FULLY LOADED: GOD’S COUNTRYWARNER MUSIC NASHVILLE 607343/WMN 0 1

20 25 23 204 KANE BROWN KANE BROWNZONE 4/RCA NASHVILLE 530947*/SMN 2 1

21 24 20 12 LUKE BRYAN BORN HERE LIVE HERE DIE HEREROW CROP/CAPITOL NASHVILLE 031777/UMGN 1

22 18 17 4 RASCAL FLATTS TWENTY YEARS OF RASCAL FLATTS: THE GREATEST HITSLYRIC STREET/BIG MACHINE RF0650A*/BMLG 9

23 26 26 256 TAYLOR SWIFT REDBIG MACHINE 310400A*/BMLG (18.98) 7 1

24 27 25 22 DIPLO PRESENTS THOMAS WESLEY CHAPTER I: SNAKE OILMAD DECENT DIGITAL EX/COLUMBIA 6

25 21 14 6 KEITH URBAN THE SPEED OF NOW, PART 1HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE 032456/UMGN 1

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l1 NEW FOREVER AFTER ALL LUKE COMBS

l2 10 5 BETTER TOGETHER LUKE COMBS

3 1 22 GOT WHAT I GOT JASON ALDEAN

l4 4 25 MORE THAN MY HOMETOWN MORGAN WALLEN

5 3 53 I HOPE GABBY BARRETT

6 2 20 ONE OF THEM GIRLS LEE BRICE

l7 5 11 7 SUMMERS MORGAN WALLEN

l8 8 12 PRETTY HEART PARKER MCCOLLUM

9 6 186 TENNESSEE WHISKEY CHRIS STAPLETON

10 7 21 ONE BEER HARDY FEAT. LAUREN ALAINA & DEVIN DAWSON

l11 14 130 BEAUTIFUL CRAZY LUKE COMBS

l12 22 76 BEER NEVER BROKE MY HEART LUKE COMBS

13 12 89 WHISKEY GLASSES MORGAN WALLEN

14 11 69 THE BONES MAREN MORRIS

l15 21 14 LOVIN’ ON YOU LUKE COMBS

16 15 63 HEARTLESS DIPLO PRESENTS THOMAS WESLEY FEAT. MORGAN WALLEN

17 13 6 SOME GIRLS JAMESON RODGERS

l18 NEW THE OTHER GUY LUKE COMBS

19 9 43 CHASIN’ YOU MORGAN WALLEN

l20 RE-ENTRY WITHOUT YOU LUKE COMBS FEAT. AMANDA SHIRES

21 16 13 I SHOULD PROBABLY GO TO BED DAN + SHAY

22 17 2 LOVE YOU LIKE I USED TO RUSSELL DICKERSON

l23 19 9 STARTING OVER CHRIS STAPLETON

24 18 62 ONE MAN BAND OLD DOMINION

l25 25 5 HAPPY ANYWHERE BLAKE SHELTON FEAT. GWEN STEFANI

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l1 NEW 1 BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN LETTER TO YOUCOLUMBIA 981158* 1

2 2 1 233 CHRIS STAPLETON TRAVELLERMERCURY NASHVILLE 019405*/UMGN 4 1

3 3 2 85 TYLER CHILDERS PURGATORYHICKMAN HOLLER 001*/THIRTY TIGERS 2

l4 NEW 1 THE MOUNTAIN GOATS GETTING INTO KNIVESMERGE 716* 4

5 4 3 279 HOZIER HOZIERRUBYWORKS 309996*/COLUMBIA 2 1

6 1 — 2 STURGILL SIMPSON CUTTIN’ GRASS, VOL. 1: THE BUTCHER SHOPPE SESSIONSHIGH TOP MOUNTAIN DIGITAL EX/THIRTY TIGERS (58784* 56285) 1

7 5 5 238 THE LUMINEERS CLEOPATRADUALTONE 1738* 1 1

8 6 6 135 KACEY MUSGRAVES GOLDEN HOURMCA NASHVILLE 027921*/UMGN 0 1

9 7 7 196 SIMON & GARFUNKEL SIMON AND GARFUNKEL’S GREATEST HITSCOLUMBIA 31350/LEGACY 3

10 8 8 190 JACK JOHNSON IN BETWEEN DREAMSJACK JOHNSON/BRUSHFIRE /REPUBLIC 2 5

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1 1 — 2 STURGILL SIMPSON CUTTIN’ GRASS, VOL. 1: THE BUTCHER SHOPPE SESSIONSHIGH TOP MOUNTAIN DIGITAL EX/THIRTY TIGERS (58784* 56285) 1

2 3 1 17 GARY BREWER & THE KENTUCKY RAMBLERS 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONSTRETCH GRASS 4050 1

l3 4 2 57 BILLY STRINGS HOMEROUNDER 610063*/CONCORD 1

4 2 — 2 STEEP CANYON RANGERS ARM IN ARMYEP ROC 2698* 2

l5 7 3 19 YO-YO MA/STUART DUNCAN/EDGAR MEYER/CHRIS THILE NOT OUR FIRST GOAT RODEOSOUND POSTINGS/SONY CLASSICAL 973855*/SONY MASTERWORKS 1

l6 RE-ENTRY 17 CHOSEN ROAD APPALACHIAN WORSHIP: DELUXE EDITIONSONG GARDEN 1255 4

7 8 9 38 THE STEELDRIVERS BAD FOR YOUROUNDER 610080*/CONCORD 1

l8 RE-ENTRY 27 THE WHITE BUFFALO ON THE WIDOW’S WALKSNAKEFARM 862780* 1

9 9 10 55 THE DEAD SOUTH SUGAR & JOYSIX SHOOTER 129* 1

l10 15 — 2 THE PETERSENS LIVE SESSIONS, VOL. 02THE PETERSENS 4725 10

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l1 NEW FOREVER AFTER ALL LUKE COMBS

l2 NEW LIL BIT NELLY & FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l3 NEW THE OTHER GUY LUKE COMBS

l4 NEW COLD AS YOU LUKE COMBS

l5 NEW MY KINDA FOLK LUKE COMBS

l6 3 17 WINE, BEER, WHISKEY LITTLE BIG TOWN

7 1 61 I HOPE GABBY BARRETT

l8 6 18 BETTER TOGETHER LUKE COMBS

9 4 26 ONE OF THEM GIRLS LEE BRICE

l10 RE-ENTRY WITHOUT YOU LUKE COMBS FEAT. AMANDA SHIRES

11 8 19 MORE THAN MY HOMETOWN MORGAN WALLEN

l12 NEW ARKANSAS CHRIS STAPLETON

13 5 27 GOT WHAT I GOT JASON ALDEAN

14 7 9 STARTING OVER CHRIS STAPLETON

15 10 14 HAPPY ANYWHERE BLAKE SHELTON FEAT. GWEN STEFANI

16 2 13 I SHOULD PROBABLY GO TO BED DAN + SHAY

l17 NEW GONE DIERKS BENTLEY

18 13 11 7 SUMMERS MORGAN WALLEN

l19 NEW GOOD FOR SOMEBODY KAITLYN BRISTOWE

20 11 7 ONE TOO MANY KEITH URBAN DUET WITH P!NK

21 14 14 ONE BEER HARDY FEAT. LAUREN ALAINA & DEVIN DAWSON

l22 22 3 THIS IS US JIMMIE ALLEN & NOAH CYRUS

l23 RE-ENTRY NOBODY BUT YOU BLAKE SHELTON DUET WITH GWEN STEFANI

24 16 4 THE GOOD ONES GABBY BARRETT

25 15 5 GOOD TIME NIKO MOON

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 15 OF 18

When Ashley McBryde co-hosted the CMT Music Awards on Oct. 21, three of her band members wore black face masks with a strip of duct tape during their blistering version of “Martha Divine.”

The silver adhesive raised some eyebrows among viewers who failed to connect that detail to the song’s video, including one who assumed it was a political statement.

“Somebody on Twitter was talking about some sort of liberal agenda, and blah, blah, blah, and how lame it was,” says McBryde with an audible smirk. “I was like, ‘Wow, interesting take.’ It’s just from the music video, and you can go check it out here, and thanks for tuning in. We didn’t put that much thought into putting duct tape on, other than it would look cooler than just having plain black masks on.”

The tape is important in the video — it’s essential to keep a victim quiet when stuffing them in the trunk — and it thus underscores the darkness in “Martha Divine.” The song captures a vengeful death in progress, adding to the lineage of country songs in which a character is killed: The Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl,” Marty Robbins’ “El Paso,” Reba McEntire’s “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” and the extended version of Garth Brooks’ “The Thunder Rolls,” to name a few.

“I think Ashley’s one of those artists who is going to matter in 20 or 30 years,” predicts “Martha Divine” co-writer Jeremy Spillman (“Arlington,” “Hell on the Heart”). “I think she’s got that thing like Merle [Haggard], like all those old cats did, where she’s mak-ing good music, and you’ll pull up ‘One Night Standards’ in 2050 and go, ‘Man, that was a good song.’ ”

“Martha Divine” is a good one, too, carved out during a nighttime cowrite three or four years ago in Spillman’s small, blue-lit base-ment writing room at the St. Charles Studio in East Nashville. It was the composers’ first co-write, but instead of treating the appoint-ment with kid gloves, McBryde announced she was in a mood to go dark. With Spillman’s encouragement, she started sharing stories about urban legends in Arkan-sas. In turn, Spillman told her about Martha Divine Hole, a rural swimming spot a few miles outside of Glasgow, Ky., that he splashed in during his youth. A young girl, Martha Devine, allegedly drowned there in the 1800s, and a variety of ghostly phenomena have scared visitors after dark over the years.

“We combined that with the fact that when I was 17, there was this woman that my dad was dating that I absolutely could not stand,” recalls McBryde. “The name ‘Martha Divine’ was just so much fun to say, and what if this was kind of the other side of what ‘Jolene’ could have sounded like? Instead of ‘Please don’t take my man,’ it would be, ‘Now that you’ve taken him, I’m going to break your face.’ ”

McBryde offered the menacing first lines, “I got this feeling/And I got this shovel,” over an A-minor chord and filled out an opening verse in which the singer identifies the cheater who has lured her daddy. Her name, Martha Divine, became the driver for a chorus loaded with threatening anger, justifying — in the singer’s mind, anyway — the impending death of this Jezebel, addressed with coarse language and the threat of eternal damnation. Spillman convinced McBryde to shift into a related key, C-major, during that chorus, creating a sonic lift and giving all that vitriol an improbable

singalong quality.“Going to that major one chord there kind of took her to that melody,” says

Spillman. “That chorus melody, to me, feels like 1975 country music gold.”The shovel from the opening verse came back into play at the end of

“Martha Divine,” as the singer tells Jezebel, “It ain’t murder if I bury you alive.” McBryde considered the shovel’s impact, and the depth of the victim’s likely physical injuries, in gruesome, meticulous detail.

“Seriously,” she says with a laugh, “I’ve got to stop listening to murder podcasts.”

Spillman commandeered the demo, loaded with ghoulish guitar tones and a steady electrified pulse. McBryde, in turn, introduced it to her band during preproduction for Never Will, conducted at the Co-Op in East Nashville. Producer Jay Joyce (Eric Church, Miranda Lambert) checked in periodically during that process, and between those rehearsals and the actual recording

session, they created distinct peaks and valleys for “Martha Divine.”

“That was really tricky,” says McBryde. “It was trying to make the song go somewhere knowing that the chords didn’t change. And we thought we had developed enough of the musical arcs, but of course, Jay was happy to increase that and really exaggerate it with us.”

Most obvious in that f inal version is an extended drums-only opening (Spillman compares drummer Quinn Hill’s rhythms to Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People”), fol lowed by a spi k y g u ita r sec t ion a nd eventually a down verse before it revs back up to its forceful conclusion. Guitarist Chris Harris added a unison voice in a lower octave during the second verse to yield a subliminal haunting element.

“The character of the song, she’s contem-plating, going back into her mind, remember-ing why she’s doing this: ‘Honor thy father, honor thy mother,’ ” explains McBryde. “So Chris, I guess you could say he’s almost her father’s voice or that Bible-beating thing that

never leaves your mind.”McBryde delivered her vocal live during the tracking session, with the

band set up in a circle outside the drum room. She was positioned so that her voice did not project toward Hill.

“They usually have to either point my face away from the drum room or just make sure there’s plenty of baffling,” she says. “Whereas most of the time drums have a tendency to leak into vocal mics, on this record and the first record, I’m so damn loud that it would start to bleed into the drum room.”

The album’s first single, “One Night Standards,” reached a personal best, No. 11, on Country Airplay and was also certified gold by the RIAA. With the unconventional drum section, neither McBryde nor Spillman thought “Martha Divine” had a shot at ever becoming a single. But Warner Music Nashville went the risky route, betting on her uniqueness by releasing it to country radio via PlayMPE on Sept. 23.

“It wasn’t my idea, but it seems like the right one,” she says. “Do you know how happy I would be if I had a ‘Martha Divine’ gold record plaque in my house? Like, the most unlikeliest of singles — I would just be abso-lutely tickled.”

Which is, of course, better than spooked.

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

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Ashley McBryde Brings Sinister ‘Martha Divine’ From Rural Kentucky To Country Radio

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 16 OF 18

Country Airplay IndexTITLE Publishing-Licensing Org. (Songwriter) Chart Position

7 SUMMERS Big Loud Mountain, BMI/Bo Wallace Publishing, BMI/Round Hill Compositions, BMI/Tempo Investments, GMR/Smackstreet Music, GMR/Warner Geo Met Ric Music, GMR/Sony/ATV Accent, ASCAP/Smackborne Music, ASCAP (M.Wallen, S.McAnally, J.Osborne) 25

A

AIN’T ALWAYS THE COWBOY Peermusic III, Ltd., BMI/Whiskey Tub Music, BMI/Big Music Machine, BMI/Two Laine Collections, BMI (B.Kinney, J.Thompson) 12

ALL NIGHT All The Kings Pens, ASCAP/Trampy McCauley, ASCAP/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Songstein Publishing, ASCAP/Songs In The Key Of Claire, ASCAP/Patriot Games Publishing, ASCAP/DTCM Ave, ASCAP (J. Osborne, T.J. Osborne, A.DeRoberts) 29

ALL OF THE BOYS Bare Feet Publishing LLC, BMI/Day For The Dead Publishing, SESAC (C.D.Jones, Z.Brown) 57

ALMOST MAYBES Ole Red Cape Songs, ASCAP/Jordan Davis Music, ASCAP/Anthem Entertainment, ASCAP/Songs Of Roc Nation Music, BMI/Telemitry Rhythm House Music, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/BIRB Music, ASCAP/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP (J.Davis, J.Frasure, H.Lindsey) 27

B

BEERS AND SUNSHINE Sony/ATV Accent, ASCAP/GrowingMusic Publishing, ASCAP/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Iris In The Sky With Diamonds, BMI/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Detroit Records And Tapes, ASCAP/Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing, ASCAP/Smackborne Music, ASCAP (D.Rucker, R.Copperman, J.T.Harding, J.Osborne) 19

BEERS TO CATCH UP ON Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Ritten By Rhettro, BMI/Ole Red Cape Songs, ASCAP/Real Big Red Tunes, ASCAP/Universal Music Corp., ASCAP (R.Akins, J.S.Stover, P.DiGiovanni) 54

BETTER TOGETHER Big Music Machine, BMI/50 Egg Music, BMI/Straight Dimes Publishing, BMI/Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Sullivan S Guns Music, BMI (L.Combs, D.Isbell, R.Montana) 17

BETTY TASRM Publishing, BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/William Bowery Music Publishing.BMI (T.Swift, W.Bowery) 36

BIG, BIG PLANS Magic Mustang Music, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Big Loud Mountain, BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Tree Vibez Music, LLC, BMI/Ern Dog Music, BMI (J.Durrett, C.Lane, E.K.Smith) 11

BREAKING UP WAS EASY IN THE 90’S Universal Music Corp., ASCAP/Sam Hunt Publishing, ASCAP/BIPOD, ASCAP/Spirit Two Nashville, ASCAP/Miller Crow Music, ASCAP/Kyler’s Kinda Night, ASCAP/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Ern Dog Music, BMI/Big Loud Mountain, BMI/Tree Vibez Music, LLC, BMI/Sony/ATV Accent, ASCAP/Smackborne Music, ASCAP (S.L.Hunt, C.La Corte, Z.Crowell, E.K.Smith, J.Osborne) 33

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CHAMPAGNE NIGHT WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Haywoodja Cut That Song, ASCAP/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/RADIOBULLETSPublishing, BMI/W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC/EKT Publishing, SESAC/Sllaight Music Publishing, SOCAN/Round Hill Songs BLS JV, ASCAP/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Dat Damn Dean Music, BMI/Songs In The Key Of Claire, ASCAP/Patriot Games Publishing, ASCAP/Downtown DLJ Songs, ASCAP/G23 Publishing, SESAC/Eligible Music dba Songland Television Publishing, SESAC/BMG Cicada, SESAC/Tempo Investments, GMR/Smackwood Music, GMR/Warner Geo Met Ric Music, GMR/MerloJamsPublishing, ASCAP/Deluge Music, ASCAP/Kobalt Songs Music Publishing LLC, ASCAP/Write Me A Song Publishing, GMR/Downtown Global Two, GMR (D.Haywood, C.Kelley, H.Scott, P.Conroy, E.R.Dean, A.DeRoberts, T.A.Gemza, S.McAnally, M.R.Merlo, R.B.Tedder, D.Thomson) 15

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DEAR RODEO Songs From The Couch, BMI/Cori’s Daddy’s Publishing, BMI (D.Couch, C.D.Johnson) 44

DOWN TO ONE Play It Again Entertainment, BMI/Kyle Fishman Music, BMI/Round Hill Compositions, BMI/Natalia’s Music Money, BMI/Memory Days, SESAC/Curb Wordspring Music, SESAC/W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC (K.Fishman, D.Davidson, J.Ebach) 24

E

EVERYWHERE BUT ON Sony/ATV Accent, ASCAP/Pedal Down Music, ASCAP/W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC/Presley Jake Music, SESAC (M.Stell, P.Sikes, L.Miller) 1

F

FOREVER AFTER ALL Big Music Machine, BMI/50 Egg Music, BMI/Straight Dimes Publishing, BMI/Works For RHA Music, BMI/Rowdy Rob Music, BMI (L.Combs, D.Parker, R.Williford) 56

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GONE Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/A Boy Named Ford, BMI/Ben There Wrote That Publishing, BMI/Artist 101 Publishing Group, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Hits From The Tape Room, BMI/Round Hill Compositions, BMI/W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC/Niko Moon Publishing, SESAC (N.Galyon, B.Johnson, N.Moon) 43

THE GOOD ONES GBF Music Global, BMI/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs US, BMI/BMG Blue, BMI/Fox Landis Lyrics, BMI/Songs Of Jim McCormick, BMI/Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/Revinyl House, BMI (G.Barrett, E.Landis, J.McCormick, Z.Kale) 31

GOOD TIME W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC/Niko Moon Publishing, SESAC/Here Comes The Boom Music, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Anna Moon Publishing, ASCAP/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Joshua Murty Publishing, ASCAP/Mark Trussell Music, ASCAP/Future Heartbeat Publishing, ASCAP (N.Moon, J.Minton, A.Moon, J.Murty, M.Trussell) 20

GOT WHAT I GOT Peertunes, Ltd., SESAC/MTNoize, SESAC/Peermusic III, Ltd., BMI/Alexander Palmer Songs, BMI/MV2 Music, BMI/Hits Like Hurricane, BMI (M.Tyler, A.Palmer, T.Archer) 4

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HAPPY ANYWHERE EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Endurance Romeo Charlie, BMI/Highly Combustible Music, ASCAP/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Who Wants To Buy My Publishing, ASCAP/One77 Songs, ASCAP/Combustion Five, ASCAP/Smackborne Music, ASCAP/Big Blue Nation Music, ASCAP (R.Copperman, J.Osborne, M.Jenkins) 6

HAPPY DOES Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Murphy The Wolf Music, BMI/Five Miles West Songs, BMI/Mandy’s Favorite Songs, BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Songsfortatum Publishing, BMI/Don’t Be A Gypsy, BMI/Hold On Can I Get A Number 1 Music, BMI (B.Clawson, J.Paulin, B.Berryhill, G.James) 13

HARD DAYS Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Indiana Angel Music, BMI/Don’t Be A Gypsy, BMI/Spirit Of Nashville One, BMI (B.Gilbert, J.Bell, B.Berryhill, J.Brunswick, L.Wall) 37

HOLE IN THE BOTTLE Sony/ATV Accent, ASCAP/Vistaville Music, ASCAP/Steph Jones Who Music, ASCAP/Big Deal Hits, ASCAP/410 Music, ASCAP/Telemitry Rhythm House Music, BMI/Songs Of Roc Nation Music, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Round Hill Songs II, ASCAP/Caleb’s College Fund, ASCAP (K.Ballerini, S.Jones, H.Lindsey, J.Frasure, A.Gorley) 16

HOW THEY REMEMBER YOU Son Of Ron Songs, ASCAP/Downtown DLJ Songs, ASCAP/Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing, ASCAP/Smackville Music, ASCAP/Smack Songs LLC, ASCAP/Kobalt Songs Music Publishing LLC, ASCAP/Built On Rock Music, ASCAP (M.Beeson, J.Osborne, A.Shamblin) 21

I

IF IT WASN’T FOR TRUCKS Peermusic III, Ltd., BMI/Sullivan S Guns Music, BMI/Back 40 Publishing International, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI (R.Green, Erik Dylan, R.Montana) 58

I SHOULD PROBABLY GO TO BED Beats And Banjos, ASCAP/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Shay Mooney Music, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Eastman Pond Publishing, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs US, BMI/Bad Robot Music, BMI (D.Smyers, S.Mooney, S.M.Douglas, J.G.Evigan) 14

J

JUST ABOUT OVER YOU Scilla’s Song Shop Publising, BMI/91 Dogs Publishing, BMI/Emily Kroll Music, ASCAP (P.Block, S.Jones, E.K.Kroll) 42

JUST THE WAY Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/JM Thomas Music, BMI/Sony/ATV Tunes LLC, ASCAP/Kevin Bard Music, ASCAP/Margetts Road Music, ASCAP/Nolan W. Sipe Music, ASACP (M.Thomas, K.Bard, N.W.Sipe) 32

L

LADY Super Big Music, ASCAP/Caliville Publishing, ASCAP/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/Iris In The Sky With Diamonds, BMI/Nite Writer Music, ASCAP (B.Young, R.Copperman, J.M.Nite) 30

LONG LIVE Big Loud Mountain, BMI/T Hubb Publishing, BMI/Pranch Ringle Music, BMI/Round Hill Works, BMI/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Big Crowd Publishing, ASCAP/Georgia Song Vibez, ASCAP/Spirit Two Music Inc., ASCAP/4TheKidz Music, ASCAP/Spirit Vault Songs, ASCAP/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Jack 10 Publishing, BMI/Songs Of The Corn, BMI (T.Hubbard, B.Kelley, C.Crowder, D.A.Garcia, J.Miller) 23

LOVE YOU LIKE I USED TO BMG Platinum Songs US, BMI/Kailey’s Dream, BMI/Blue Corolla Oklahoma, SESAC/Feel Your Creative Pulse Music, SESAC/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Songs Of Home Team Music, BMI/Tunes Of TrailerParker, BMI (R.Dickerson, C.Brown, P.Welling) 2

LOVIN’ ON YOU Big Music Machine, BMI/50 Egg Music, BMI/Straight Dimes Publishing, BMI/MV2 Music, BMI/Larkin Hill Publishing, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/Stay Creative Music, BMI/Works Of RHA, BMI/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI (L.Combs, T.Archer, R.M.L.Fulcher, J.McNair) 9

M

MADE FOR YOU Plaid Flag Music, BMI/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Dixie Stars Music, ASCAP/Son Of a Carl Music, ASCAP/HoriPro Entertainment Group, Inc., ASCAP (B.Davis, J.Hyde, N.A.Medley) 41

MOMMA’S HOUSE Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing, ASCAP/Two Black Dogs, ASCAP/ole Music Of Parallel, BMI/Lucky Mic Publishing, BMI/Round Hill Compositions, BMI/Ford Drives A Chevy, BMI/Shirt At Work, BMI/Legends Of Magic Mustang Music, SESAC/BMG Cicada, SESAC (D.Schneider, M.Lotten, R.Clawson, J.T.Wilson) 22

MORE THAN MY HOMETOWN Relative Music Group, BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Big Loud Mountain, BMI/Em Dog Music, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Round Hill Compositions, BMI/Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI (M.W.Hardy, E.K.Smith, Charlie Handsome, M.Wallen) 5

MY BOY Rome Phrey Songs, ASCAP/Kobalt Songs Music Publishing LLC, ASCAP/Rome Phrey Publishing, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Nick Columbia Publishing, ASCAP/Block Of Marble Music, BMI/Lee Starr Publishing, BMI/SNG Music, LLP, BMI (E.Shane, R.Sutton, N.Columbia, L.Starr) 55

N

NEVER BE SORRY WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Kobalt Songs Music Publishing LLC, ASCAP/Smackville Music, ASCAP/Smack Songs LLC, ASCAP/Rezsongs, ASCAP/MeGusta Music, ASCAP/Reehits World, ASCAP/Smacktown Music, ASCAP/Smack Blue, LLC, ASCAP/Unfair Entertainment, ASCAP/We’re Really Doin’ It Publishing, ASCAP/Smack Hits, GMR/Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing, ASCAP/Tempo Investments, GMR/Warner Geo Met Ric Music, GMR (M.Ramsey, T. Rosen, B.F.Tursi, S.McAnally, J.Osborne) 51

NEXT GIRL Smackborne Music, ASCAP/Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing, ASCAP/Warner Geo Met Ric Music, GMR/Tempo Investments, GMR/Smackwood Music, GMR/For The Kids Gold, ASCAP/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP (C.Pearce, S.McAnally, J.Osborne) 48

NOBODY Curb Congregation Songs, SESAC/Good Vibes, Good Times Music, SESAC/Curb Songs, ASCAP/Songs Of Riser House, BMI (D.Scott, M.Alderman, D.Wilson) 28

O

ONE BEER Relative Music Group, BMI/BIRB Music, ASCAP/New Writers Of Sea Gayle Music, BMI/West Pass Music, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP (M.W.Hardy, H.Lindsey, J.Mitchell) 8

ONE OF THEM GIRLS Caleb’s College Fund, ASCAP/Round Hill Songs II, ASCAP/Big Blue Nation Music, ASCAP/Natalia’s Music Money, BMI/Round Hill Compositions, BMI/Love Cannons Publishing, SESAC/W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC (A.Gorley, B.Johnson, D.Davidson, L.Brice) 3

ONE TOO MANY Kobalt Songs Music Publishing LLC, ASCAP/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Reservoir 416, BMI/WC Music Corp., ASCAP (D.H.Davidsen, P.Wallevik, M.H.Hansen, J.Norton, C.Tighe) 34

P

PRETTY HEART Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Parkermac Publishing, BMI/Sullivan S Guns Music, BMI (P.McCollum, R.Montana) 10

S

SETTLING DOWN Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Pink Dog Publishing, BMI/Emileon Songs, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Wrucke For You Publishing, BMI (M.Lambert, L.Dick, N. Hemby) 39

SINGLE SATURDAY NIGHT Round Hill Songs II, ASCAP/Caleb’s College Fund, ASCAP/Relative Music Group, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Art In The Fodder Music, BMI/Hark Molman Songs, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs US, BMI/Ju Jettsu Music, BMI (A.Gorley, M.W.Hardy, M.L.Holman) 46

SOMEBODY LIKE THAT Oven Music Inc., BMI/Ziggys Z Music, SESAC/Tunes Of Big Deal Music, SESAC/Songs Of Porterfied Music, SESAC (T.Arts, A.Kline, A.M.Cruz) 26

SOME GIRLS Harding Road Music, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Watsky Music, LLC, BMI/New Writers Of Sea Gayle Music, BMI/West Pass Music, BMI/New House Of Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP (M.W.Hardy, J.Mitchell, C.J. Solar) 7

A SONG TO REMEMBER Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Carolina June Publishing, BMI/Greatshakin Music, BMI/Big Loud Shirt Industries, ASCAP/Moody Producer Music, BMI/Meaux Mercy, BMI (M.Hobby, B.D.Warren, B.Warren, C.Stevens) 60

STARTING OVER I Wrote These Songs, ASCAP/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Straight Six Music, BMI/Wixen Music Publishing, BMI (C.Stapleton, M.Henderson) 18

T

THIS IS US KMR II GT Publishing Limited, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Big Loud Mountain, BMI/Round Hill Works, BMI/Georgia Song Vibez, ASCAP/We-Volve Music, ASCAP/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Sony/ATV Songs LLC, BMI/Sparko Phone Music, BMI/Medina Sound, BMI/DII Music LLC, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs US, BMI/Sony/ATV Accent, ASCAP/Pile Of Schmidt Songs, ASCAP/The Money Tree Vibez, ASCAP (N.Cyrus, T.Hubbard, J.M.Schmidt, I.Juber, D.Emile II) 50

TO HELL & BACK International Dog Music, BMI/Downtown DMP Songs, BMI/Jay Gatsby Music, BMI/Revelry Music, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Oh Denise Publishing, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Big Music Machine, BMI (M.Morris, J.J.Dillon, L.J.Veltz) 35

W

WAITIN’ ON 5 ole Red Vinyl Music, BMI/Buckkilla Music, BMI/Round Hill Songs BLS JV, ASCAP/Big Loud Proud Songs, ASCAP/Red Toe Rocker, ASCAP/Sony/ATV Songs LLC, BMI/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Songs Of XO, BMI/We In Good Company, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs US, BMI (C.Janson, Shy Carter, T.Cecil, C.Wiseman) 53

WE DIDN’T HAVE MUCH Universal Music Corp., ASCAP/Paulywood Music, ASCAP/Sullivan S Guns Music, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Tunes From The Red White And Blue School, ASCAP/Anthem Music Publishing II, ASCAP (P.DiGiovanni, R.Montana, J.S.Stover) 49

WE WERE RICH EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Endurance Romeo Charlie, BMI/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Combustion Engine Music, ASCAP/Round Hill Songs II, ASCAP/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI (R.Copperman, A.Gorley, N.Galyon) 47

WHAT DO I KNOW Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing, ASCAP/EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/Dos Hobos Music, ASCAP/Relative Music Group, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/New Writers Of Sea Gayle Music, BMI/West Pass Music, BMI (R.Counts, M.W.Hardy, J.Mitchell) 45

WHERE I FIND GOD Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Make It Better Music, BMI/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI (L.Fleet, C.R.Harrington) 59

WHISKEY AND RAIN Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Telemitry Rhythm House Music, BMI/Songs Of Roc Nation Music, BMI/Big Music Machine, BMI/Two Laine Collections, BMI (J.Frasure, J.Thompson) 38

WINE, BEER, WHISKEY Razor And Tie Music Publishing, BMI/Tofer The Musical, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Silent Desert Music, BMI/Self Made Entertainment, BMI (T.Brown, K.Fairchild, S.McConnell, K.Schlapman, P.Sweet, J.Westbrook) 40

WORSHIP YOU Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Kane Brown Music, BMI/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP/AIX Publishing, ASCAP/Kobalt Group Music Publishing, SESAC/McGinntellectual Property, SESAC/True Blue Works, SESAC/Krispy Pork Gang, BMI (K.Brown, A.Izquierdo, M.J.McGinn, Charlie Handsome) 52

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 17 OF 18

Hot Country Songs Index1, 2 MANY Big Music Machine, BMI/50 Egg Music,

BMI/Straight Dimes Publishing, BMI/Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/Copyright Control/Works Of RHA, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Oak Tree Swing Publishing, BMI/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI (L.Combs, D.Isbell, T.King, D.Parker) 39

7 SUMMERS Big Loud Mountain, BMI/Bo Wallace Publishing, BMI/Round Hill Compositions, BMI/Tempo Investments, GMR/Smackstreet Music, GMR/Warner Geo Met Ric Music, GMR/Sony/ATV Accent, ASCAP/Smackborne Music, ASCAP (M.Wallen, S.McAnally, J.Osborne) 15

A

AIN’T ALWAYS THE COWBOY Peermusic III, Ltd., BMI/Whiskey Tub Music, BMI/Big Music Machine, BMI/Two Laine Collections, BMI (B.Kinney, J.Thompson) 17

ALL NIGHT All The Kings Pens, ASCAP/Trampy McCauley, ASCAP/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Songstein Publishing, ASCAP/Songs In The Key Of Claire, ASCAP/Patriot Games Publishing, ASCAP/DTCM Ave, ASCAP (J. Osborne, T.J. Osborne, A.DeRoberts) 42

ALMOST MAYBES Ole Red Cape Songs, ASCAP/Jordan Davis Music, ASCAP/Anthem Entertainment, ASCAP/Songs Of Roc Nation Music, BMI/Telemitry Rhythm House Music, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/BIRB Music, ASCAP/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP (J.Davis, J.Frasure, H.Lindsey) 32

B

BEERS AND SUNSHINE Sony/ATV Accent, ASCAP/GrowingMusic Publishing, ASCAP/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Iris In The Sky With Diamonds, BMI/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Detroit Records And Tapes, ASCAP/Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing, ASCAP/Smackborne Music, ASCAP (D.Rucker, R.Copperman, J.T.Harding, J.Osborne) 33

BETTER TOGETHER Big Music Machine, BMI/50 Egg Music, BMI/Straight Dimes Publishing, BMI/Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Sullivan S Guns Music, BMI (L.Combs, D.Isbell, R.Montana) 6

BETTY TASRM Publishing, BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/William Bowery Music Publishing.BMI (T.Swift, W.Bowery) 44

BIG, BIG PLANS Magic Mustang Music, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Big Loud Mountain, BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Tree Vibez Music, LLC, BMI/Ern Dog Music, BMI (J.Durrett, C.Lane, E.K.Smith) 18

C

CHAMPAGNE NIGHT WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Haywoodja Cut That Song, ASCAP/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/RADIOBULLETSPublishing, BMI/W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC/EKT Publishing, SESAC/Sllaight Music Publishing, SOCAN/Round Hill Songs BLS JV, ASCAP/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Dat Damn Dean Music, BMI/Songs In The Key Of Claire, ASCAP/Patriot Games Publishing, ASCAP/Downtown DLJ Songs, ASCAP/G23 Publishing, SESAC/Eligible Music dba Songland Television Publishing, SESAC/BMG Cicada, SESAC/Tempo Investments, GMR/Smackwood Music, GMR/Warner Geo Met Ric Music, GMR/MerloJamsPublishing, ASCAP/Deluge Music, ASCAP/Kobalt Songs Music Publishing LLC, ASCAP/Write Me A Song Publishing, GMR/Downtown Global Two, GMR (D.Haywood, C.Kelley, H.Scott, P.Conroy, E.R.Dean, A.DeRoberts, T.A.Gemza, S.McAnally, M.R.Merlo, R.B.Tedder, D.Thomson) 24

COLD AS YOU Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Bootleg Lyrics, BMI/Cowboy Revival Music, BMI/No Man Can Eat 50 Eggs Music, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Sullivan S Guns Music, BMI/Spirit Two Nashville, ASCAP/Prestige Countrywide, ASCAP (L.Combs, S.Minor, R.Montana, J.D.Singleton) 22

TITLE Publishing-Licensing Org. (Songwriter) Chart Position

D

DOWN TO ONE Play It Again Entertainment, BMI/Kyle Fishman Music, BMI/Round Hill Compositions, BMI/Natalia’s Music Money, BMI/Memory Days, SESAC/Curb Wordspring Music, SESAC/W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC (K.Fishman, D.Davidson, J.Ebach) 46

E

EVERYWHERE BUT ON Sony/ATV Accent, ASCAP/Pedal Down Music, ASCAP/W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC/Presley Jake Music, SESAC (M.Stell, P.Sikes, L.Miller) 13

F

FOREVER AFTER ALL Big Music Machine, BMI/50 Egg Music, BMI/Straight Dimes Publishing, BMI/Works For RHA Music, BMI/Rowdy Rob Music, BMI (L.Combs, D.Parker, R.Williford) 1

G

GONE Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/A Boy Named Ford, BMI/Ben There Wrote That Publishing, BMI/Artist 101 Publishing Group, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Hits From The Tape Room, BMI/Round Hill Compositions, BMI/W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC/Niko Moon Publishing, SESAC (N.Galyon, B.Johnson, N.Moon) 40

THE GOOD ONES GBF Music Global, BMI/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs US, BMI/BMG Blue, BMI/Fox Landis Lyrics, BMI/Songs Of Jim McCormick, BMI/Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/Revinyl House, BMI (G.Barrett, E.Landis, J.McCormick, Z.Kale) 29

GOOD TIME W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC/Niko Moon Publishing, SESAC/Here Comes The Boom Music, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Anna Moon Publishing, ASCAP/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Joshua Murty Publishing, ASCAP/Mark Trussell Music, ASCAP/Future Heartbeat Publishing, ASCAP (N.Moon, J.Minton, A.Moon, J.Murty, M.Trussell) 21

GOT WHAT I GOT Peertunes, Ltd., SESAC/MTNoize, SESAC/Peermusic III, Ltd., BMI/Alexander Palmer Songs, BMI/MV2 Music, BMI/Hits Like Hurricane, BMI (M.Tyler, A.Palmer, T.Archer) 3

H

HAPPY ANYWHERE EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/Endurance Romeo Charlie, BMI/Highly Combustible Music, ASCAP/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Who Wants To Buy My Publishing, ASCAP/One77 Songs, ASCAP/Combustion Five, ASCAP/Smackborne Music, ASCAP/Big Blue Nation Music, ASCAP (R.Copperman, J.Osborne, M.Jenkins) 12

HAPPY DOES Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Murphy The Wolf Music, BMI/Five Miles West Songs, BMI/Mandy’s Favorite Songs, BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Songsfortatum Publishing, BMI/Don’t Be A Gypsy, BMI/Hold On Can I Get A Number 1 Music, BMI (B.Clawson, J.Paulin, B.Berryhill, G.James) 25

HOLE IN THE BOTTLE Sony/ATV Accent, ASCAP/Vistaville Music, ASCAP/Steph Jones Who Music, ASCAP/Big Deal Hits, ASCAP/410 Music, ASCAP/Telemitry Rhythm House Music, BMI/Songs Of Roc Nation Music, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Round Hill Songs II, ASCAP/Caleb’s College Fund, ASCAP (K.Ballerini, S.Jones, H.Lindsey, J.Frasure, A.Gorley) 23

HOW THEY REMEMBER YOU Son Of Ron Songs, ASCAP/Downtown DLJ Songs, ASCAP/Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing, ASCAP/Smackville Music, ASCAP/Smack Songs LLC, ASCAP/Kobalt Songs Music Publishing LLC, ASCAP/Built On Rock Music, ASCAP (M.Beeson, J.Osborne, A.Shamblin) 38

I

I HOPE Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/GBF Music Global, BMI/Revinyl House, BMI/EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/Nite Writer Music, ASCAP/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI (Z.Kale, J.M.Nite, G.Barrett) 2

I SHOULD PROBABLY GO TO BED Beats And Banjos, ASCAP/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Shay Mooney Music, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Eastman Pond Publishing, BMI/BMG Platinum Songs US, BMI/Bad Robot Music, BMI (D.Smyers, S.Mooney, S.M.Douglas, J.G.Evigan) 14

J

JUST THE WAY Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/JM Thomas Music, BMI/Sony/ATV Tunes LLC, ASCAP/Kevin Bard Music, ASCAP/Margetts Road Music, ASCAP/Nolan W. Sipe Music, ASACP (M.Thomas, K.Bard, N.W.Sipe) 37

L

LADY Super Big Music, ASCAP/Caliville Publishing, ASCAP/EMI Blackwood Music Inc., BMI/EMI April Music, Inc., ASCAP/Iris In The Sky With Diamonds, BMI/Nite Writer Music, ASCAP (B.Young, R.Copperman, J.M.Nite) 35

LIL BIT Big Loud Mountain, BMI/T Hubb Publishing, BMI/Round Hill Works, BMI/Sony/ATV Accent, ASCAP/Pile Of Schmidt Songs, ASCAP/The Money Tree Vibez, ASCAP/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI (T.Hubbard, J.M.Schmidt, B.Redferrin, C.Haynes, Jr.) 30

LONG LIVE Big Loud Mountain, BMI/T Hubb Publishing, BMI/Pranch Ringle Music, BMI/Round Hill Works, BMI/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Big Crowd Publishing, ASCAP/Georgia Song Vibez, ASCAP/Spirit Two Music Inc., ASCAP/4TheKidz Music, ASCAP/Spirit Vault Songs, ASCAP/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Jack 10 Publishing, BMI/Songs Of The Corn, BMI (T.Hubbard, B.Kelley, C.Crowder, D.A.Garcia, J.Miller) 31

LOVE YOU LIKE I USED TO BMG Platinum Songs US, BMI/Kailey’s Dream, BMI/Blue Corolla Oklahoma, SESAC/Feel Your Creative Pulse Music, SESAC/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Songs Of Home Team Music, BMI/Tunes Of TrailerParker, BMI (R.Dickerson, C.Brown, P.Welling) 8

LOVIN’ ON YOU Big Music Machine, BMI/50 Egg Music, BMI/Straight Dimes Publishing, BMI/MV2 Music, BMI/Larkin Hill Publishing, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/Stay Creative Music, BMI/Works Of RHA, BMI/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI (L.Combs, T.Archer, R.M.L.Fulcher, J.McNair) 9

M

MOMMA’S HOUSE Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing, ASCAP/Two Black Dogs, ASCAP/ole Music Of Parallel, BMI/Lucky Mic Publishing, BMI/Round Hill Compositions, BMI/Ford Drives A Chevy, BMI/Shirt At Work, BMI/Legends Of Magic Mustang Music, SESAC/BMG Cicada, SESAC (D.Schneider, M.Lotten, R.Clawson, J.T.Wilson) 34

MOON OVER MEXICO Big Music Machine, BMI/50 Egg Music, BMI/Straight Dimes Publishing, BMI/Works Of RHA, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/Super Big Music, ASCAP/Jett Music, ASCAP/Larkin Hill Publishing, BMI/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI (L.Combs, R.M.L.Fulcher, D.Isbell, J.D.Singleton) 49

MORE THAN MY HOMETOWN Relative Music Group, BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Big Loud Mountain, BMI/Em Dog Music, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Round Hill Compositions, BMI/Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI (M.W.Hardy, E.K.Smith, Charlie Handsome, M.Wallen) 4

MY KINDA FOLK Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Bootleg Lyrics, BMI/Lunkertown Music, BMI/Keep Choppin Publishing, BMI/Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI/DS Nunley Music, ASCAP (L.Combs, J.Davis, R.Fulcher, D.Isbell, D.Nunley) 27

N

NOTHING LIKE YOU Big Music Machine, BMI/50 Egg Music, BMI/Straight Dimes Publishing, BMI/Works Of RHA, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Rowdy Rob Music, BMI/Oak Tree Swing Publishing, BMI/Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI (L.Combs, D.Parker, R.Williford) 50

O

ONE BEER Relative Music Group, BMI/BIRB Music, ASCAP/New Writers Of Sea Gayle Music, BMI/West Pass Music, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/BMG Gold Songs, ASCAP (M.W.Hardy, H.Lindsey, J.Mitchell) 7

ONE OF THEM GIRLS Caleb’s College Fund, ASCAP/Round Hill Songs II, ASCAP/Big Blue Nation Music, ASCAP/Natalia’s Music Money, BMI/Round Hill Compositions, BMI/Love Cannons Publishing, SESAC/W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC (A.Gorley, B.Johnson, D.Davidson, L.Brice) 5

ONE TOO MANY Kobalt Songs Music Publishing LLC, ASCAP/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Reservoir 416, BMI/WC Music Corp., ASCAP (D.H.Davidsen, P.Wallevik, M.H.Hansen, J.Norton, C.Tighe) 28

THE OTHER GUY Big Music Machine, BMI/Straight Dimes Publishing, BMI/Peermusic III, Ltd., BMI/Whiskey Tub Music, BMI/Works For RHA Music, BMI/Rowdy Rob Music, BMI (L.Combs, B.Kinney, R.Williford) 19

P

PRETTY HEART Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Parkermac Publishing, BMI/Sullivan S Guns Music, BMI (P.McCollum, R.Montana) 10

R

REFRIGERATOR DOOR Big Music Machine, BMI/50 Egg Music, BMI/Straight Dimes Publishing, BMI/New House Of Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP/Station West, ASCAP (L.Combs, J.Brooker) 43

S

SETTLING DOWN Sony/ATV Tree Publishing, BMI/Pink Dog Publishing, BMI/Emileon Songs, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Wrucke For You Publishing, BMI (M.Lambert, L.Dick, N. Hemby) 47

SHALLOW Sony/ATV Songs LLC, BMI/Warner-Barham Music LLC, BMI/SG Songs Worldwide, BMI/Warner-Olive Music LLC, ASCAP/Songs Of Universal, Inc., BMI/Concord Publishing, BMI/Zelig Publishing, BMI/Stephaniesays Music, ASCAP/Downtown DLJ Songs, ASCAP/White Bull Music Group, BMI/Downtown DMP Songs, BMI (S.G.Germanotta, M.D.Ronson, A.Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt) 45

SOMEBODY LIKE THAT Oven Music Inc., BMI/Ziggys Z Music, SESAC/Tunes Of Big Deal Music, SESAC/Songs Of Porterfied Music, SESAC (T.Arts, A.Kline, A.M.Cruz) 48

SOME GIRLS Harding Road Music, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Watsky Music, LLC, BMI/New Writers Of Sea Gayle Music, BMI/West Pass Music, BMI/New House Of Sea Gayle Music, ASCAP (M.W.Hardy, J.Mitchell, C.J. Solar) 11

STARTING OVER I Wrote These Songs, ASCAP/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Straight Six Music, BMI/Wixen Music Publishing, BMI (C.Stapleton, M.Henderson) 16

T

TO HELL & BACK International Dog Music, BMI/Downtown DMP Songs, BMI/Jay Gatsby Music, BMI/Revelry Music, BMI/Songs Of Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc., BMI/Oh Denise Publishing, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Big Music Machine, BMI (M.Morris, J.J.Dillon, L.J.Veltz) 41

W

WHO YOU ARE TO ME Capitol CMG Paragon, BMI/S.D.G. Publishing, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/RADIOBULLETSPublishing, BMI/WC Music Corp., ASCAP/Haywoodja Cut That Song, ASCAP/W.C.M. Music Corp., SESAC/EKT Publishing, SESAC (C.Tomlin, C.Kelley, D.Haywood, H.Scott) 36

WINE, BEER, WHISKEY Razor And Tie Music Publishing, BMI/Tofer The Musical, BMI/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI/Silent Desert Music, BMI/Self Made Entertainment, BMI (T.Brown, K.Fairchild, S.McConnell, K.Schlapman, P.Sweet, J.Westbrook) 26

WITHOUT YOU Big Music Machine, BMI/50 Egg Music, BMI/Straight Dimes Publishing, BMI/Island South, SESAC/Rosest Music, SESAC/Sony/ATV Countryside, BMI (L.Combs, W.B.Durrette, D.Isbell) 20

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 2, 2020 | PAGE 18 OF 18

On Nov. 8, 1980, Willie Nelson’s “O n t h e R o a d A g a i n” t o p p e d

Billboard’s Hot Countr y Songs chart. He wrote the classic for the f ilm Honeysuckle Rose, in which h e s t a r r e d a s c o u nt r y s i n ge r Buck Bonham.

The song became Nelson’s ninth of 21 Hot Country Songs No. 1s (tal-lied between 1975 and 2003) and crossed over to No. 20 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, where it marked his highest-charting hit to that point. It won the Grammy Award for best country song in 1981.

Nelson, 87, has mounted a career of legendary status. He became a

major force in the ’70s country outlaw movement and was later in-ducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993.

In July, Nelson posted his record-ex tending 53rd top 10 on Top Country Albums with First Rose of Spring. The set made him the first artist with top 10s in every decade, starting in the ’60s. He has since been joined by Dolly Parton, whose Holly Dolly Christmas launched atop the Oct. 8-dated list.

A longtime political activist, Nel-son recently released an animated video for his 2018 track “Vote

’Em Out.” —JIM ASKER

Nelson onstage in New York in 1980.

CODA

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40 Years AgoWillie Nelson Took The ‘Road’ To No. 1His mass-appeal smash from 1980 film Honeysuckle Rose crowned Hot Country Songs