BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS EDITED BY TOM ROLAND, tom.roland@billboard.com APRIL 9, 2015 | PAGE 1 OF 8

INSIDEMakin’

Tracks: Lady Antebellum’s ‘Long Stretch

Of Love’ >page 2

The Stark Report: Trace

Adkins Has Hit The ‘Lottery’

>page 4

Questions Answered:

Play It Again’s Dallas Davidson

>page 5

Songwriters Salute

Kris Kristofferson

>page 5

ACM Honors Alabama >page 5

Darius Rucker debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Al-bums chart, as Southern Style sells 52,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen Music. The set is Rucker’s fourth No. 1 in as many tries on the tally, counting only his proper studio albums; his prior release, the seasonal Home for the Holidays, reached No. 3 in December 2014. Rucker first charted on the list with the No. 1 Learn to Live in 2008 and followed with fellow toppers Charleston, SC 1966 (2010) and True Believers (2013). All four of his No. 1s have started at the summit.

Rucker’s run is impressive, but he doesn’t hold the record for the most proper studio albums that an artist has taken to No. 1 on Top Country Albums dating to a first entry on the chart. That honor is Glen Campbell’s: In 1967-69 his f irst seven sets hit the top. Meanwhile, Tim McGraw (1994-2001) and Miranda Lam-bert (2005-14) share the record for debuting at No. 1 with the most studio albums from a first chart appearance: five each. (Lambert’s streak is still active.)

Of course, Rucker’s chart history far predates his Top Coun-try Albums résumé. With him fronting country-tinged pop-

rock band Hootie & The Blowfish, the act placed seven en-tries on the Billboard 200 in 1995-2005, including the No. 1s Cracked Rear View (1995) and Fairweather Johnson (1996)

(the group’s first two LPs). With 10.3 million copies sold, Cracked Rea r Vi e w is t he 17t h-b est- selling album since Nielsen began tracking sales in 1991. Rucker also charted a solo R&B album, Back to Then, which reached No. 42 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in 2002.

For all his musical career turns, Rucker recently told Billboard that he doesn’t necessarily divide his catalog, or his singing style, into noticeable separate buckets. “I never think that way,” he says. “I try to keep my approach pretty simple and straightforward. I just sing what I feel. I never think I’m doing anything that different.

“Then, you listen back and you go, ‘That doesn’t really sound like [Hootie & The Blowfish’s debut Billboard Hot 100 top 10] ‘Hold My Hand.’ But, you know, I’m just singing.”

This column was written by Billboard associate director of charts/radio Gary Trust (gary.trust@billboard.com).

RUCKER

Country MID- WEEK

UPDATE

Darius Rucker Is Still In Fashion: He Enters At No. 1 With ‘Southern Style’

Lady Antebellum has earned comparisons to Fleetwood Mac practically since the band’s 2007 debut. The rich harmonies, the shared male/female leads and the pop-based melodies all aided the correlation, and Lady A took it even further when it teamed with Stevie Nicks for a well-executed 2013 install-ment of CMT Crossroads.

Still, the band has never sounded quite as Mac-ish as it does in “Long Stretch of Love,” a new single that borrows the big sound and underlying drama that were hallmarks of the Rumours era.

“We make absolutely no apologies about being hugely influenced by Fleetwood Mac,” says Lady A vocalist Charles Kelley. “I think we’d be lying if we said [“Long Stretch”] wasn’t almost like a little tribute, a little nod, a little wink to Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac.”

“Long Stretch ” owes a par ticular debt to “The Chain,” the first song on side two of the vinyl edition of Rumours. Both rely on a dark mel-ody, a harmonic sheen and an intro built upon an acoustic stringed instrument. And there’s an additional lyrical link, as Hillary Scott sings, “I don’t ever wanna break this chain.”

“That,” says Kelley, “was the wink.”The Mac, however, wasn’t really on the radar

when the first notes in “Long Stretch of Love” were conceived by songwriter Josh Kear (“Need You Now,” “Neon Light”). In fact, Lady A wasn’t even on his mind when the initial notes came pouring out of his Woodrow, a skinny, four-string instrument manufactured by the Woodrow String Instru-ment Co.

“The Woodrow is kind of a cross between the banjo and the Appalachian dulcimer,” explains Kear. “There’s a guy named Dan Williams that makes them over in Asheville, N.C. It’s a truly unique instrument, and to the best of my knowledge, this is the first major record that has featured the instrument.”

The Woodrow established a mountain thread (a Dobro creates a swampy vibe in “The Chain”), and Kear began to envision the idea of stomps and claps on top of it. In a departure from his usual process, he laid out a musical bed on his laptop without any words attached. It was only after the track had been de-veloped that Kear went back to his trusty list of titles to search for something appropriate. He found “Long Stretch of Love,” and once it suggested a melodic hook, the idea suddenly had Lady A written all over it.

“The title was probably from me thinking about my wife,” says Kear. “We’ll be married 10 years next year, and I was probably thinking about how much more time we’ve got together. Another 40 or 50 years is gonna be a long stretch.”

Ironically, it appears Kear wrote “Long Stretch” during a long stretch of miles while he was away from her on Valentine’s Day weekend. Kear vaguely remem-bers Wichita, Kan., and Kansas City on the itinerary for a writing appointment with Lady A, and the Take Me Downtown Tour rolled through those markets during mid-February 2014.

Lady A was definitely receptive to the concept when Kear played the track for them. The music had an edge, but the “Long Stretch” title matched the com-mitment that’s required to keep a group together.

“We talk about it as a band that throughout all the ups and downs, the ba-bies, the marriages and wives, and all the little journeys, we’ve always stuck

together,” says Kelley. “We’re in it for the long haul.” Kelley started singing a melody on the first verse that hit a gritty spot in his

voice. That part of his register increased the tension already built into the track, and the words they picked for that opening verse — “You’re hit, then miss/You’re fire and ice/You’re water and whiskey burn” — enhance the Mac backdrop. Rumours was famously made while all the members were experiencing break-ups, and the relationship that “Long Stretch” portrays is loaded with intensity.

“It’s more like my wife and I,” admits Kel-ley. “Cassie and I, the way that we fight and we love, is very strong and it’s very up and down, you know. We fight hard, and we love hard, and that’s just the way we’ve always been. It’s what makes us work so well.”

Once the course of the song was laid out, Kear and Lady A’s Dave Haywood kept working on the track in a mini-studio in the back of the bus Haywood shares with Kelley. They enlisted Scott and Kelley to tack on vocal parts when needed, and lured the band’s bass player, Dennis Ed-wards, to give the demo a foundation.

When the band was recording at the House of Blues studio in Nashville’s Berry Hill neighbor-hood, Kelley took a few moments in the kitchen to play “Long Stretch” on his iPhone for producer Nathan Chapman (Taylor Swift, The Band Perry). It was obvious that the song needed to be

included in the next round of recording.“The demo was pretty mapped out,” says Chapman. “I think the only thing

that we could have done with that demo was go in the studio and screw it up.”When they did go back in, they kept fragments of that demo — particularly the

Woodrow — and had the studio band play to it. It only took 90 minutes to nail.“There was so much energy in the room,” notes Chapman. “It was really kind

of exhilarating. You were kinda tired at the end of it, had to keep your rock face going the whole time.”

Kear was brought in to add some more harmonies, and the band decided to revisit the “I don’t wanna break this chain” line one more time just before the song came to an abrupt stop.

Once the parts were completed, Chapman suggested they ship it off to Los Angeles-based mixing engineer Chris Lord-Alge (Bruce Springsteen, Green Day) to get a sound that would jump out of radio speakers.

“He took every rock element that might be in there that’s not acoustic, and he cranked those up,” says Chapman. “Obviously, he kept the centerpiece and inspiration front and center, but the record hits when you get to that chorus. It doesn’t hit like an acoustic song.”

Based on that mix, Lady A hired Lord-Alge at triple the typical Nashville rate to mix the entire 747 album. The band considered “Long Stretch” a flagship for the project and envisioned it as a first single, though Capitol persuaded it that “Bartender” was a better choice. (It reached No. 1 on Country Airplay.) Second single “Freestyle” stalled at No. 16. “Long Stretch,” released to radio via Play MPE on March 9, is off to a promising start: It ranked at No. 42 after three weeks.

“This was always our baby,” says Kelley. “It’s something new and fresh from us, and it means a lot that the label let us kind of get back to it.”

It’s certainly got Mac to it.

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 9, 2015 | PAGE 2 OF 8

Lady A Pulls In Its Fleetwood Mac Influences On ‘Long Stretch’

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

LADY ANTEBELLUM

Trace Adkins wrote and demoed his first single, “There’s a Girl in Texas,” 20 years ago, but its lyrics resonate more with him now than ever as he em-barks on a brand-new label deal with BBR Music Group that has him looking both backward and eagerly forward. That song peaked at No. 20 in 2006, but his next four singles all went top five, launch-ing what has been a long, varied and very suc-cessful career.

Sitting in a conference room at BBR’s Music Row headquarters, Adkins quietly recites the lyrics in his distinctively deep, gravelly voice: “When I rode out of Dallas chasing down a dream I thought I knew what I was looking for/But the neon nights of Nashville had blinded me and I’m lost in Tennessee/I’m not sure I know who I am anymore.”

“It’s kind of a milestone for me,” he says of “There’s a Girl in Texas.” “I wrote that in 1995, and now it means more to me than it did when I wrote it.” He has been nostalgically playing the song lately in his live shows while giving some thought to how he might mark the 20th anniversary of his career.

While those plans are still to be determined, Adkins is fired up about the BBR Label Group deal, which Billboard broke news about on April 6. After previous deals with Capitol Records Nashville and Show Dog Records, he’s already at work on his first album for his new label home and is excited about the songs Music Row is sending him.

“I’m so fortunate,” he says. “I’ve been in this town for 20 years or so. And after you’ve had a record deal for a certain amount of time, songwriters and people in this town get to know who you are [and] what you like to sing about. You start getting those songs. They write ’em for you … I get songs that sound like I wrote them for myself.”

Adds BBR Music Group executive vp Jon Loba, “That was an indication to me of how many people were still so passionate about Trace. In the A&R pro-cess, when people started hearing underground [we were working with him] everybody in the world wanted to send me songs for Trace Adkins. There was a lot of music to choose from, thankfully.”

Here are some additional highlights from our chat with Adkins:

Had you seen what BBR Music Group did for Joe Nichols, and was that part of the attraction in signing with the company?Not just Joe Nichols, but Randy Houser. (Laughs.) There were some Show Dog rejects that showed up over here. I thought I’d like to be a part of that.

How is your new deal structured?I don’t really know. Let the lawyers work that crap out. It don’t matter to me. These guys put their faith in me to do a record, and I’m going to do my best to deliver the best record I can deliver. If they want to do something beyond that, cool. This is a single-driven industry anyway nowadays, so what difference does it make how many albums you’re signed for? Let’s do this single, and if this one don’t work you may never hear from me again. I’ll do casinos and Christmas shows. [For the record, Adkins is signed to a one-album deal with multiple options.]

You’re the only artist I have ever seen stick a pin in his own single while it was ascending the charts, as you did with “Brown Chicken Brown Cow” in 2011.Oh, yeah. (Laughs.) Oh, my god. The people at [Show Dog] didn’t know I was

going to do that. It was at CRS, and I walked out onstage … and said, “Hey, by the way, this ‘Brown Chicken Brown Cow’ thing, I’m sorry about that. Could I have a do-over? Just forget about it. Don’t play it no more.” The [Show Dog] people were sitting in the back of the room, and they freaked out. I was like, “Hey, don’t get mad at me for doing your f—ing job. You can’t get the song played, so what do you want me to do?” When that song came out I thought maybe 60 percent of the panel won’t play it. Maybe 40 percent will. But it was worse than that. It was like 80/20, so I was like, “Let’s just pull it.” But they wouldn’t do it, so I had to do it for them.

To what do you attribute your career longevity?I don’t really know what to attribute it to. I just kept working hard, and I’ve tried to not confine myself to [music]. I do other stuff. I do voiceovers, I do television, I do movies, I do reality shows. I do whatever I want to do.

I think I’ve won the lottery in this life because I can do whatever I want. It’s worked in my career. I’ve kept myself viable by doing all that stuff.

Like your two seasons on NBC’s The Celebrity Apprentice?I will say The Celebrity Apprentice stuff, I wouldn’t have done. It wasn’t my choice.

Even the second time, when you won?The second time it was my choice, because the first time I think I should have won, so I [went] back to do what I should have done the first time: win it. The first time I was kind of shamed into doing it. But the second time I went back because I wanted to redeem myself. [I thought,] “These people don’t have any-thing on me. I can win this game.” That was my only incentive for going back.

How are you enjoying your new weekly radio show on SiriusXM’s Y2Country channel, The Throwback 30, which counts down the top tracks of the week from Billboard’s Hot Country Songs charts of the 2000s?I love doing that. I have so much fun … It’s been a real cool learning experi-ence for me. I’m hoping that show will grow into doing interviews with some people that I was working with back in those days [the 2000s], a where-are-they-now kind of thing.

And finally, any comment on your distinctive onstage dancing?I’ll still dance. I don’t care if it grosses my grandkids out; I’ll still do it. I was at the Opry and thinking the other night, “Man, when I’m 80 years old my grandkids are going to be here, and they’re going to be so grossed out when-ever I go out to do “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” and I do the pelvic thrust.

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 9, 2015 | PAGE 4 OF 8

Adkins On His Two-Decade Career: ‘I’ve Won The Lottery’

THE STARK REPORT PHYLLIS STARK phyllis.stark@billboard.com

ADKINS

AD

KIN

S: K

RIS

TIN

BA

RLO

WE

Tyler Farr on Houston Phillips, and then we had David Nail on Kyle Fishman. Just to come out of the gate like that, it tells me we’re doing the right thing, and it’s about as good a feeling as getting up onstage for a No. 1.

So from a businessman’s perspective, is starting your own publishing company a risk? That’s a good question. I personally did not do a co-venture with anybody. I didn’t team up

with an established publisher. I just went all in and funded it all myself. It’s cer-tainly a gamble. It’s not like throwing dice or playing blackjack in Vegas, but it’s an educated risk and there’s a huge reward that comes with it. So it’s a risk I’m willing to take. I believe in my writers. I wouldn’t sign someone that can’t bring it. And the people I’ve got writing for me can bring it and I feel confident in them.

How will your approach be different than the other publishing houses along Music Row? I think the way I’m going to do business from a creative standpoint is to let my writers be creative. And that means letting them write what songs they want to write and coaching them through what’s productive and getting with Austin, and not just throwing them out there and feeding them to the lions, but having a game plan behind it, a strategy of what each writer brings to the table and who they need to be with.

It sounds like you’re putting together a football team … If you look at the Braves [on opening day], it’s a brand-new team on the field. And I’m like, “Who are these guys?” Well, they won. They won the first game against the Marlins with a bunch of people I’ve never heard of, and I can relate to that. Our writers, they’ve all got talent to write songs. But when you put people together it is like a sports team and we’re putting them together to win. They’re all going to be playing and playing hard, and I do that by instilling the work ethic. And I do that by showing up every day myself and working hard. I come in there to give them pep talks. I’m kind of the coach and the cheerleader.

You aren’t on that roster officially, however. Your rights still belong to Sony/ATV. Will that change? I’ve got a little shy of 10 months left on my contract, and I’ve got a big decision to make. I’ve been using Austin and Han-nah over the last few years to do my book, to do everything involving me as a writer, so it only makes sense that I would join my own team. We’re here to stay. We want to be a major publishing company. You’ve got to start somewhere, so here we go. —Chris Talbott

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 9, 2015 | PAGE 5 OF 8

Q U E ST I O N S

AnsweredDallas Davidson

President/CEO, Play It Again Music Publishing @playitagainpub

If you listen to country, you know who Dallas Davidson is, even if his name doesn’t immediately come to mind. With more than 20 No. 1 songs and 250 cuts, Davidson has helped rewrite the face of modern country music with an accessible, open-to-anything attitude that has connected with millions of fans. Davidson now has founded Play It Again Music Publishing, signing Maggie Rose, Brian Kolb, Houston Phillips and Kyle Fishman as his first writers and executive vp Austin Marshall and creative director Hannah Montgomery to run the operation.

Why go through the trouble of starting your own company? What’s your motivation? The motivation comes from, first, want-ing to give new writers a shot like I had. The second motivator is prob-ably I love business. I love doing business. I set out to have a company. I was a businessman before I came to Nashville in the real-estate world. Although I’ve been with Sony/ATV and EMI, I have done most of my work in-house with my relationships with artists and other peo-ple around town. So it only makes sense to do my own thing and use the staff I’ve been successful with all along. And I’ve let some people come through my office, and you know they’re going to have hits — you can just tell — and I’ve let them slip away. I told myself I wasn’t going to let that happen again.

What did it feel like to sell your first song as president/CEO? Well, technically, I didn’t sell it. I issued a license for somebody to use it (laughs). I guess our first official cut was Selena Gomez and Mag-gie Rose, and that was right at the beginning. Soon thereafter we had

SONGWRITERS SALUTE KRISTOFFERSONPerforming in front of an industry audience with cameras carrying you live to the Inter-net is nerve-wracking enough. Try it with Kris Kristofferson staring at you from 8 feet away. That’s the challenge some of Nashville’s brightest songwriters faced while performing on April 7 with and for the 78-year-old star during a Skyville Live! broadcast. “They didn’t tell us when we came in to run through all this

that he would be sittin’ right in front of us,” says Jason Isbell. Isbell, with expectant wife Amanda Shires, Lady Antebellum, Brandy Clark and Raul Malo joined Kristofferson. Each played a Kristofferson classic and numbers from their own catalogs. “In the rehearsal, I’m singing ‘Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends,’ and he’s sitting 3 feet away from me while I’m singing,” says Clark.

The Academy of Country Music announced its off-camera winners on April 7, and Alabama has yet another ACM trophy for the mantle: It will be presented with a career achievement award at the ACM Honors ceremony in Nashville in the fall. Other recipients that were announced include Loretta Lynn, Luke Bryan and Eric Church. A full list of winners is available here.

Former (and probably future) country artist Taylor Swift is up for 14 tro-phies at the May 17 Billboard Music Awards, including top artist. Discount her from the country crowd, however, and the format had very little impact on the all-genre categories (only Florida Georgia Line scored a nomination for top duo-group). FGL and Luke Bryan lead country nominees with four nods apiece. See the full story here.

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are the subjects of SiriusXM’s next Town Hall broadcast. It will air 11 a.m. on April 15 on The Highway.

MIDWEEK NEWS UPDATE

KRISTOFFERSON

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

l1 1 1 23 TAKE YOUR TIME ★★No. 1 (9 weeks)★★ Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) MCA NASHVILLE 0 1

l2 2 2 13 HOMEGROWN Zac Brown Band J.JOYCE,Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,W.DURRETTE,N.MOON) VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 2

l3 4 3 27 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY ★★Digital Gainer★★ Cole Swindell M.CARTER (C.SWINDELL,A.SANDERS,J.MARTIN) WARNER BROS./WMN

3

l4 5 4 29 LONELY EYES Chris Young J.STROUD (J.BULFORD,J.MATTHEWS,L.VELTZ) RCA NASHVILLE 4

5 3 17 18 GIRL CRUSH Little Big Town J.JOYCE (L.ROSE,L.MCKENNA,H.LINDSEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 3

l6 6 5 32 DRINKING CLASS Lee Brice M.MCCLURE,K.JACOBS,L.BRICE (J.KEAR,D.FRASIER,E.M.HILL) CURB 5

l7 8 7 25 SAY YOU DO Dierks Bentley R. COPPERMAN (M.RAMSEY,S.MCANALLY,T. ROSEN) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 7

8 7 6 32 HOMEGROWN HONEY Darius Rucker F.ROGERS (D.RUCKER,C.KELLEY,N.CHAPMAN) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 6

l9 9 11 28 A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR Tyler Farr J.CATINO,J.KING (M.PEIRCE,J.SINGLETON,B.TURSI) COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 9

l10 13 13 11 RAISE ‘EM UP ★★Streaming Gainer★★ Keith Urban Featuring Eric Church N.CHAPMAN,K.URBAN (J.JOHNSTON,JEFFREY STEELE,T.DOUGLAS) HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE

10

l11 12 15 20 DON’T IT ★★Airplay Gainer★★ Billy Currington D.HUFF (J.JOHNSTON,A.GORLEY,R.COPPERMAN) MERCURY

11

l12 10 12 13 SMOKE A Thousand Horses D.COBB (M.HOBBY,J.M.NITE,R.COPPERMAN) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 10

l13 14 18 10 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (R.CLAWSON,M.DRAGSTREM,C.TAYLOR) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 10

14 11 10 13 LITTLE RED WAGON Miranda Lambert F.LIDDELL,C.AINLAY,G.WORF (A.MAE,GINSBERG J.) RCA NASHVILLE 5

l15 17 22 11 LITTLE TOY GUNS Carrie Underwood M.BRIGHT (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,H.LINDSEY) 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 15

l16 15 19 22 SHE DON’T LOVE YOU Eric Paslay M.ALTMAN (E.PASLAY,J.WAYNE) EMI NASHVILLE 15

l17 18 21 10 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOLS Tim McGraw With Catherine Dunn B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (L.LAIRD,B.DEAN,J.SINGLETON) MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE 17

l18 22 23 9 WILD CHILD Kenny Chesney With Grace Potter B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (K.CHESNEY,S.MCANALLY,J.OSBORNE) BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 18

l19 20 26 27 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT Canaan Smith B.BEAVERS,J.ROBBINS (C.SMITH,B.BEAVERS,J.BEAVERS) MERCURY 19

l20 23 25 7 LIKE A WRECKING BALL Eric Church J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,C.BEATHARD) EMI NASHVILLE 20

l21 24 24 19 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT Kelsea Ballerini F.G.WHITEHEAD (K.BALLERINI,J.KERR,F.G.WHITEHEAD,L.CARPENTER) BLACK RIVER 21

22 21 16 23 I SEE YOU Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,L.LAIRD,A.GORLEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 1

23 16 14 23 LONELY TONIGHT Blake Shelton Featuring Ashley Monroe S.HENDRICKS (B.ANDERSON,R.HURD) WARNER BROS./WMN 2

24 19 9 24 JUST GETTIN’ STARTED Jason Aldean M.KNOX (C. DESTEFANO,R.AKINS,A.GORLEY) BROKEN BOW 5

l25 26 27 22 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG Easton Corbin C.CHAMBERLAIN (J.COLLINS,BRETT JAMES) MERCURY 25

Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 9, 2015 | PAGE 6 OF 8

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

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Country UPDATE

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

l26 27 29 9 CRUSHIN’ IT Brad Paisley L.WOOTEN,B.PAISLEY (B.PAISLEY,K.LOVELACE,L.T.MILLER) ARISTA NASHVILLE 26

l27 31 30 6 GAMES Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,A.GORLEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 23

l28 30 32 14 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN Brantley Gilbert D.HUFF (B.GILBERT,M.DEKLE,B.DAVIS) VALORY 28

l29 28 31 20 LAY LOW Josh Turner F.ROGERS (R.COPPERMAN,T.MARTIN,M.NESLER) MCA NASHVILLE 28

l30 32 35 4 KISS YOU IN THE MORNING Michael Ray S.HENDRICKS (J.WILSON,M.WHITE) WARNER BROS./WEA 30

l31 35 39 6 YOUNG & CRAZY Frankie Ballard M.ALTMAN,S.HENDRICKS (A.GORLEY,S.MCANALLY,R.AKINS) WARNER BROS./WAR 31

l32 34 34 17 HARD TO BE COOL Joe Nichols M.J.CONES (R.HATCH,J.SELLERS) RED BOW 32

33 29 28 3 BISCUITS Kacey Musgraves K.MUSGRAVES,L.LAIRD,S.MCANALLY (K.MUSGRAVES,S.MCANALLY,B.CLARK) MERCURY 28

l34 45 — 5 TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU Jason Aldean M.KNOX (D.DAVIDSON,R.AKINS,A.GORLEY) BROKEN BOW 8

35 33 36 13 GOING OUT LIKE THAT Reba T.BROWN (B.HAYSLIP,R.AKINS,J.SELLERS) NASH ICON/VALORY 28

l36 46 — 3 SANGRIA Blake Shelton S.HENDRICKS (J.T.HARDING,J.OSBORNE,T. ROSEN) WARNER BROS./WMN 35

l37 36 37 13 HELL OF A NIGHT Dustin Lynch M.J.CONES (Z.CROWELL,A.SANDERS,J.BOYER) BROKEN BOW 36

l38 41 42 7 FLY Maddie & Tae D.HUFF (M.MARLOW,T.DYE,T.VARTANYAN) DOT 38

l39 38 40 9 I’M TO BLAME Kip Moore B.JAMES (K.MOORE,J.WEAVER,W.DAVIS) MCA NASHVILLE 31

l40 37 41 13 RIOT Rascal Flatts J.DEMARCUS,RASCAL FLATTS (J.BOYER,S.HAZE) BIG MACHINE 37

41 39 38 7 RIDE Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (J.SOMERS-MORALES,D.C.TARPLEY JR.) DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 38

l42 44 46 7 I GOT THE BOY Jana Kramer S.HENDRICKS (T.NICHOLS,C.HARRINGTON,J.L.SPEARS) ELEKTRA NASHVILLE/WAR 33

l43 43 43 14 TROUBLE Gloriana M.SERLETIC (R.REINERT,M.GOSSIN,R.COPPERMAN,J.M.NITE) EMBLEM/WARNER BROS./WAR 42

44 42 44 13 GONNA WANNA TONIGHT Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (S.MCANALLY,J.M.NITE,J.ROBBINS) DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 34

l45 47 48 4 BREAK UP WITH HIM Old Dominion S.MCANALLY (M.RAMSEY,T. ROSEN,B.TURSI,G.SPRUNG,W.SELLERS) REESMACK/CRESCENDOMUSICPROJECTS 45

46 25 — 2 BACKROAD SONG Granger Smith F.ROGERS,G.SMITH (G.SMITH,F.ROGERS) PIONEER 25

l47 50 49 11 SPEAKERS Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,B.HOOD,K.SACKLEY) MCA NASHVILLE 40

48 48 47 4 FOR A BOY RaeLynn J.MOI (RAELYNN,L.VELTZ) VALORY 32

l49 NEW 1 NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU ★★Hot Shot Debut★★ Dan + Shay C. DESTEFANO (D.SMYERS,S.MOONEY,A.GORLEY,C. DESTEFANO) WARNER BROS./WAR

49

50 49 45 6 SPRING BREAKDOWN Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,A.GORLEY,Z.CROWELL) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 33

For week ending April 5, 2015. Figures are rounded. Compiled from a national sample of retail store and rack sales reports collected and provided by Nielsen Music.

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

The week’s most popular country songs, ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen Music, sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music and streaming activity data from online music sources tracked by Nielsen Music. Descending titles below No. 25 are moved to recurrent after 20 weeks.

COUNTRY MARKET WATCHA Weekly National Music Sales Report

Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 9, 2015 | PAGE 7 OF 8

ALBUMSDIGITAL

ALBUMS*DIGITAL TRACKS

This Week 540,000 173,000 2,408,000

Last Week 463,000 172,000 2,271,000

Change 16.6% 0.6% 6.0%

This Week Last Year 635,000 240,000 2,752,000

Change -15.0% -27.9% -12.5%

*Digital album sales are also counted within album sales.

Weekly Unit SalesYear-Over-Year Album Sales2014 2015 CHANGE

Albums 8,076,000 6,741,000 -16.5%

Digital Tracks 37,976,000 31,659,000 -16.6%

YEAR-TO-DATE

Overall Unit Sales

2014 2015 CHANGE

Physical 5,280,000 4,239,000 9.0%

Digital 2,796,000 2,502,000 -10.5%

Sales by Album Format

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

’15

’14

DIGITAL TRACKS SALES

’15

’14

8.1 million

6.7 million

000.0 million

’14

’13

31.7 million

38. million

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1 2 23 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

2 1 15 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l3 5 26 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)

4 3 12 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND (Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

l5 6 8 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l6 9 6 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

7 7 10 SMOKE A THOUSAND HORSES (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l8 10 23 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT CANAAN SMITH (Mercury/UMGN)

9 8 12 LITTLE RED WAGON MIRANDA LAMBERT (RCA Nashville/SMN)

l10 14 11 LITTLE TOY GUNS CARRIE UNDERWOOD (19/Arista Nashville/SMN)

l11 11 30 DRINKING CLASS LEE BRICE (Curb)

l12 13 20 A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR TYLER FARR (Columbia Nashville/SMN)

l13 17 28 HOMEGROWN HONEY DARIUS RUCKER (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l14 12 24 LONELY EYES CHRIS YOUNG (RCA Nashville/SMN)

l15 15 8 DON’T IT BILLY CURRINGTON (Mercury/UMGN)

l16 19 8 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT KELSEA BALLERINI (Black River)

17 16 16 SHE DON’T LOVE YOU ERIC PASLAY (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l18 29 6 WILD CHILD KENNY CHESNEY WITH GRACE POTTER (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)

19 21 7 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOL TIM MCGRAW WITH CATHERINE DUNN (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)

l20 28 11 RAISE ‘EM UP KEITH URBAN FEAT. ERIC CHURCH (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville)

l21 22 15 SAY YOU DO DIERKS BENTLEY (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

22 18 13 RIDE CHASE RICE (Dack Janiels)

l23 25 31 MEAN TO ME BRETT ELDREDGE (Atlantic/WMN)

l24 26 28 SUN DAZE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l25 RE-ENTRY CHICKEN FRIED ZAC BROWN BAND (Home Grown/Atlantic/Bigger Picture)

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l26 30 6 GAMES LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

27 24 22 JUST GETTIN’ STARTED JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

l28 35 36 BURNIN’ IT DOWN JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

l29 RE-ENTRY CRUSHIN’ IT BRAD PAISLEY (Arista Nashville/SMN)

30 27 24 LONELY TONIGHT BLAKE SHELTON FEAT. ASHLEY MONROE (Warner Bros./WMN)

31 23 3 BISCUITS KACEY MUSGRAVES (Mercury/UMGN)

32 32 42 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l33 RE-ENTRY WAGON WHEEL DARIUS RUCKER (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

34 31 27 MAKE ME WANNA THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)

35 33 28 TALLADEGA ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l36 39 71 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l37 RE-ENTRY TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

38 36 29 SHOTGUN RIDER TIM MCGRAW (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)

l39 44 7 I GOT THE BOY JANA KRAMER (Elektra Nashville/WMN)

l40 RE-ENTRY BOYS ‘ROUND HERE BLAKE SHELTON FEAT. PISTOL ANNIES & FRIENDS (Warner Bros./WMN)

l41 43 143 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l42 47 4 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN BRANTLEY GILBERT (Valory/BMLG)

43 34 4 GOING OUT LIKE THAT REBA (Nash Icon/Valory/BMLG)

44 40 22 I SEE YOU LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

45 42 27 SOMETHING IN THE WATER CARRIE UNDERWOOD (19/Arista Nashville/SMN)

l46 RE-ENTRY GOD GAVE ME YOU BLAKE SHELTON (Warner Bros./WMN)

l47 46 71 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

48 45 9 LAY LOW JOSH TURNER (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l49 RE-ENTRY TOES ZAC BROWN BAND (Home Grown/Bigger Picture/Atlantic/AG)

l50 RE-ENTRY BABY BE MY LOVE SONG EASTON CORBIN (Mercury/UMGN)

Top-selling paid download country songs compiled from sales reports collected and provided by Nielsen Music. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

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l1 NEW 1 DARIUS RUCKER Southern StyleCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021931/UMGN 1

2 1 1 4 LUKE BRYAN Spring Break... Checkin’ OutCAPITOL NASHVILLE 022540/UMGN 1

3 2 2 23 SAM HUNT MontevalloMCA NASHVILLE 021502/UMGN 1

l4 NEW 1 VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW That’s What I Call ACM Awards: 50 YearsUNIVERSAL/SONY MUSIC /UME 4

l5 5 3 26 JASON ALDEAN Old Boots, New DirtBROKEN BOW 7105/BBMG 1 1

6 4 — 2 VARIOUS ARTISTS 2015 Academy Of Country Music Awards ZinePakZINEPAK 70255 WMEX 4

l7 6 4 25 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE Anything GoesREPUBLIC NASHVILLE /BMLG 0 1

l8 8 6 60 ERIC CHURCH The OutsidersEMI NASHVILLE 019402*/UMGN 1 1

9 7 15 24 LITTLE BIG TOWN Pain KillerCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021360*/UMGN 3

l10 10 7 17 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Greatest Hits: Decade #119/ARISTA NASHVILLE 500876/SMN 0 1

11 9 5 33 CHASE RICE Ignite The NightCOLUMBIA NASHVILLE 22573/DACK JANIELS 1

l12 11 9 87 LUKE BRYAN Crash My PartyCAPITOL NASHVILLE 018733/UMGN 2 1

13 12 8 44 MIRANDA LAMBERT PlatinumRCA NASHVILLE 379278/SMN 0 1

l14 13 14 59 COLE SWINDELL Cole SwindellWARNER BROS. 541372/WMN 2

15 3 — 2 VARIOUS ARTISTS Nashville: On The Record, Volume 2ABC STUDIOS/LIONS GATE/BIG MACHINE DIGITAL EX/BMLG 3

l16 18 17 46 BRANTLEY GILBERT Just As I AmVALORY BG0200A/BMLG 0 1

17 14 16 21 GARTH BROOKS Man Against MachinePEARL/RCA NASHVILLE 501135/SMN 1 1

18 15 13 21 ZAC BROWN BAND Greatest Hits So Far...ROAR/SOUTHERN GROUND/ATLANTIC 546369/AG 5

l19 RE-ENTRY 28 TIM MCGRAW Sundown Heaven TownMCGRAW/BIG MACHINE TM0200A/BMLG 1

20 17 19 28 KENNY CHESNEY The Big RevivalBLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 306274/SMN 1

l21 21 20 30 LEE BRICE I Dont DanceCURB 79392* 1

22 19 18 27 BLAKE SHELTON BRINGING BACK THE SUNSHINEWARNER BROS. 544918/WMN 0 1

l23 27 27 47 STURGILL SIMPSON Metamodern Sounds In Country MusicHIGH TOP MOUNTAIN 002*/THIRTY TIGERS 8

24 20 10 6 SHANIA TWAIN Still The One: Live From Las VegasMERCURY 022017 WMEX/UMGN 2

l25 NEW 1 JON WOLFE Natural ManFOOL HEARTED PRODUCTIONS/TONE TREE 9888/THE FUEL 25

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l1 1 14 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT

2 2 6 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN

l3 4 58 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN

4 3 41 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT

l5 7 54 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN

6 5 105 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l7 8 67 BOTTOMS UP BRANTLEY GILBERT

8 6 4 LITTLE RED WAGON MIRANDA LAMBERT

l9 9 21 DRINKING CLASS LEE BRICE

l10 10 24 SUN DAZE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

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l11 11 39 DIRT FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l12 15 17 I SEE YOU LUKE BRYAN

l13 14 7 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND

14 12 6 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL

15 13 11 LONELY TONIGHT BLAKE SHELTON FEAT. ASHLEY MONROE

l16 17 86 THAT’S MY KIND OF NIGHT LUKE BRYAN

l17 25 2 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l18 — 1 HOMEGROWN HONEY DARIUS RUCKER

l19 20 65 YOU BELONG WITH ME TAYLOR SWIFT

l20 18 18 TALLADEGA ERIC CHURCH

Country Streaming Songs -The week’s top Country streamed radio songs, on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

BUILDING AIRPLAY GAINERSTITLE Label Artist GAIN

CRASH AND BURN Valory Thomas Rhett +478

DON’T IT Mercury Billy Currington +354

SIPPIN’ ON FIRE Republic Nashville Florida Georgia Line +310

SANGRIA Warner Bros./WMN Blake Shelton +280

A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR Columbia Nashville Tyler Farr +183

LITTLE TOY GUNS 19/Arista Nashville Carrie Underwood +167

RAISE ‘EM UP Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban Feat. Eric Church +163

SMOKE Republic Nashville A Thousand Horses +112

SAY YOU DO Capitol Nashville Dierks Bentley +112

DRINKING CLASS Curb Lee Brice +103

Building Gainers reflects titles with the top increases in plays from Monday through 5pm ET Wednesday, as compared to the same period in the previous week, according to Nielsen Music.

TOP COUNTRY ALBUMSCOUNTRY DIGITAL SONGS

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 9, 2015 | PAGE 8 OF 8

STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

The week’s most popular country albums, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music. Albums are defined as current if they are less than 18 months old or older than 18 months but still residing in the Billboard 200’s top 100. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

COUNTRY STREAMING SONGS

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY