BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS EDITED BY TOM ROLAND, tom.roland@billboard.com MARCH 19, 2015 | PAGE 1 OF 8

INSIDEMakin’ Tracks:

Brothers Osborne’s ‘Stay A Little Longer’

>page 2

Stark Report: Casey James

Turns A Corner >page 4

Questions Answered: WGLR MD

Ryan McCall >page 5

ACMs Pack On Events, Artists

>page 5

Johnny Cash’s All-American

Box Set >page 5

Luke Bryan becomes the first artist to log simultaneous top-five debuts on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, as Spring Break ... Checkin’ Out (Capitol Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville) launches at No. 1 and Spring Break … The Set List: The Complete Spring Break Collection ZinePak arrives at No. 5. The sets start with 89,000 and 6,000 copies sold, respectively, in the week ending March 15, according to Nielsen Music.

As part of Bryan’s double-pronged his-toric feat on Top Country Albums (which originated more than 51 years ago in the Bill-board issue dated Jan. 11, 1964), he scores his fifth No. 1. He previously led with the EP Spring Break 6 ... Like We Ain’t Ever (March 29, 2014), Crash My Party (for 13 weeks, begin-ning Aug. 31, 2013), Spring Break … Here to Party (two weeks, March 2013) and Tail-gates & Tanlines (four weeks, 2011).

On Hot Country Songs, “Games,” a track from Bryan’s new set, bounds to a new peak (29-23), up 37 per-cent in overall activity.

Miranda Lambert jumps 17-5 on Hot Country Songs with “Little Red Wagon” (RCA Nashville). Her 12th top 10 boasts top Streaming and Sales Gainer applause following the March 11 pre-miere of its official video. “Wagon,” which also received notable exposure last month when Lambert performed it at the Grammy

Awards (Feb. 8), blasts onto the Country Streaming Songs chart at No. 1, up by 340 percent to 2.7 million U.S. streams in the track-ing week. Lambert tallies her second No. 1 on Country Stream-ing Songs: “Somethin’ Bad” (with Carrie Underwood) crowned the July 12, 2014 list. On Country Digital Songs, “Wagon” rolls 10-5 (25,000 downloads sold, up 38 percent).

Back on Top Country Albums, Kelsea Bal-lerini makes a notable debut at No. 40 with her self-titled, Black River-released EP, thanks to a little celebrity push. The set, released in No-vember, bows with a 91 percent gain to 1,000 sold after Taylor Swift beamed her endorse-ment on Twitter on March 9: “Driving around with the @KelseaBallerini EP on repeat.. SO lovely:) #yeahboy #lovemelikeyoumeanit.” The tweet has drawn nearly 10,000 retweets and been favorited more than 23,000 times. Ballerini’s single from the set, “Love Me Like

You Mean It,” surges 25-21 on Country Digital Songs (14,000, up 17 percent), while country radio has long supported it: It bul-lets at No. 25 in its 24th week on Country Airplay (10.1 million in audience, up 4 percent).

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

BRYAN

Country MID- WEEK

UPDATE

Bryan Makes Top Five History; Lambert Pulls ‘Wagon’ Into Top 10

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When EMI Nashville duo Brothers Osborne stepped onstage at the Ryman Auditorium during the Country Radio Seminar luncheon on Feb. 26, the pres-sure was on. The show’s format allowed them to perform just one song in front of about 2,000 radio executives and Music Row personnel, and they would be compared against many of the other Universal Music Group Nashville acts — including Josh Turner, Kacey Musgraves and Vince Gill — who faced the same one-song dilemma at the showcase.

The brothers played “Stay a Little Longer,” a song that EMI intended to release on Play MPE on March 9 as the second Osborne single.

“It’s a do-or-die moment,” says lead vocalist T.J. Osborne. “I mean, it’s the coolest place we’ll ever get to play, and you don’t get too many opportunities to do it, so just that alone is enough to kind of put you on edge. Then to walk up there and play the song in front of all the people you’re about to ask to put it on their playlist in a few weeks — oh, man, if it goes south, it’s not going to be beneficial.”

It had the added wildcard of an extended guitar solo, which meant a longer period of time onstage with John Osborne running through an element that — while it works in the right concert setting — is not a favorite of programmers, who are rather adamant about keeping songs at three-and-a-half minutes or less.

The results of that dice roll surprised even the brothers: They received a swift standing ovation.

“I wasn’t really expecting that,” says John.The duo’s previous single, “Rum,” ascended to No. 27 on the Hot Country

Songs chart dated Oct. 18, 2014. But it now has some expectation that “Stay a Little Longer” will become the breakthrough that establishes their unique sound: an Allman Brothers-like blend that leans on T.J.’s warm vocal tone and John’s expressive playing.

“People loved ‘Rum,’ and it was doing really well at radio, but people kept requesting ‘Stay A Little Longer,’ ” explains John. “As we were performing it at clubs and shows, we saw people singing the words to it — to a song that was just released on an EP by a new band. We didn’t think anyone had heard our music ever, and people are singing the words to it. As soon as that mandolin intro hap-pened, people started applauding. That’s when we knew, ‘Wow, this is the song.’ ”

It’s particularly poignant because when they wrote it about three years ago, it was “just another day,” says John.

In fact, it’s a day that almost didn’t happen. The Osbornes had repeatedly tried to schedule a co-writing session with songwriter Shane McAnally (“Downtown,” “Take Your Time”), and it inevitably got canceled. T.J. figured if they had one more scratch, it was a sign they should move on. This appointment did indeed happen, though none of them walked into McAnally’s then-office at the Carni-val Music building — across the street from historic RCA Studio B — with a plan.

“We just kind of talked for a little bit, I started playing kind of a Celtic thing on the guitar, and — boom — a chorus, and we just hit the ground running,” says John.

It wasn’t quite that simple, though. Before they got to the chorus, John’s noodling, Edge-like pattern inspired McAnally to work on what would become the rhythmic, almost chanted, pre-chorus.

“I wanted to write a song that was ‘This leads to this, leads to this, leads to this,’ ” recalls McAnally, “and that section of the song — ‘One more call leads to one more ‘What you doin’ right now’/Leads to one more trip …’ — that was sort of where it started.”

Finishing was a challenge. Carnival was a busy place that day. Songwriters were chatting on a nearby patio, and it was an issue for T.J. and McAnally, who persuaded the writers on the patio to go elsewhere. But 20 minutes later, outside sounds returned. This time, it was song pluggers pitching music upstairs. Mc-Anally pointedly asked them to turn it down. The Osbornes “kept laughing at me because I was getting so annoyed,” he says.

The pre-chorus led to the chorus, which eventually closed on the line “Stay a little longer,” which would become the title. (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys reached No. 2 in 1947 with a similarly named western-swing classic). Once the rapid-fire chorus was finished, they added verses with elon-gated notes that provided some contrasts in the song. Those notes also help establish T.J.’s voice up front for listeners who haven’t connected the dots to “Rum.”

“His voice is sexy,” says McAnally. “You want to hear it — he’s got a very big tone.”

They did a work tape that day, but it de-veloped further as the Osbornes played it live, and when they recorded their self-titled 2014 EP, the Edge-like guitar had been rei-

magined on mandolin.In early 2015, they rerecorded the song with producer Jay Joyce (Eric Church,

Little Big Town) at his St. Charles Studio, a converted church in East Nashville, using the Osbornes’ rhythm section. Pete Sternberg thumped his bass a little harder, and drummer Adam Box threw in staccato, quasi-militaristic syncopa-tion mindful of U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” with John wandering off on a lengthy solo at the close. With Joyce on Hammond B-3, they captured one entire performance with no overdubs except for having T.J. redo his lead vocals, making it easier to feature him more prominently in the final mix.

The entire process on the new version, including mixing, was completed in three days or less, and it was still fresh to the brothers when it was sent to radio.

“It’s still hot off the press,” says John. “People that are hearing it right now are not really hearing it that much more than we have.”

A single edit chops nearly two minutes from John’s guitar solo, but the end result still demonstrates the adventurous spirit that’s signature to their music.

“We don’t like to be uni-dimensional,” says T.J. “We like to play a lot of differ-ent music, and it’s hard for us to represent in one song all that we do. But musi-cally, this has our stamp on it, and since we’re a new act, it’s really important for us to put out there what we are and what we sound like for people to put in their memory banks: This is Brothers Osborne music.”

It’s still early in the process with radio — the official add date is March 30 — but if programmers react like they did at the Ryman, “Stay a Little Longer” could be the duo’s breakout recording.

“It hasn’t been the easiest journey ... because we are quite unconventional,” says John. “When we had that standing ovation, it was a reminder that we’re doing something right, and we have support of radio and our peers.”

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE MARCH 19, 2015 | PAGE 2 OF 8

Brothers Osborne’s ‘Longer’ Sounds Good — Even When It’s Shorter

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

BROTHERS OSBORNE

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https://soundcloud.com/i-r-s-nashville/striking-matches-hanging-on-a-lie-radio-edit/s-3ir9r

After achieving respectable success with his self-titled debut album in 2012, Casey James is fully aware that he’s lucky to have earned a second shot, and he’s leaving nothing on the table as he finishes up his sophomore set for 19/ Columbia Nashville. Fans will get their first taste of the project the singer is ex-tremely proud of when its lead single, “Fall Apart,” goes for airplay on March 30. (The new album doesn’t yet have a release date.)

The Texas native, who recently relocated to Nashville, rose to fame as a top three finisher on American Idol in 2010. His first album entered Billboard’s Top Country Albums Chart at No. 2 and spawned the top 25 singles “Let’s Don’t Call It a Night” and “Crying on a Suitcase.” James says the new album is much more representative of who he is as a person and as an artist than the first. He also says he’s “laser-focused on radio” right now in an effort to make “Fall Apart” a hit. “To a certain extent, there’s nothing you can do about [whether] people [are] going to like it,” he says. “I just hope it gets the shot.”

What can we expect from this next album?With the last record I was in a different place in my life that didn’t necessarily allow me to say as much musically as I am saying with this record. I’ve experi-enced a lot of things, and I’m in a good place in my life where I would say — if I was like a history buff — [that] this is the enlightened period … I’m able to say a lot more in the music and the lyrics. My production is stronger. My guitar play-ing is stronger. My vocals are stronger. People that do know me and know my past music will be really excited, I think, for the evolution of me as an artist.

What came after the enlightened period in history?I have no idea. Hopefully, it’s not, like, the dark ages or something. (Laughs)

A lot of artists describe their third album as the one they always wanted to make. Sounds like you jumped ahead and did that on your second.

That’s exactly it. With the first one I think it was more about just getting through it. For me, 12 years playing in bars and restaurants and nothing ever comes in the way that you want it to … It came through Idol, which is not something I was expecting, and then you’re handed this opportunity and, really … I was not prepared for it. It’s not like a slow journey. It was work, work and work on this one level for 12 years, and then, boom, get everything that you ever wanted.

There’s nothing that’s part of me that’s not on this re-cord. There’s no holding back, because in this day and age, to get a second opportunity when you don’t have mas-sive success with your first, I feel really lucky … If I hold anything back now and I’m not successful, then I think I would have regrets, and I’m living a regret-free life … If I fail, then I know that I did every possible thing that I could as far as work ethic, as far as giving my all in the music.

I can easily see it going not my way as a Sony artist. That’s a huge thing. There’s no place I’d rather be … If you took me out six years ago and said, ‘Where would you want to be in six years?,’ I’d [say], ‘Working on my second record or third record with Sony Music,’ and here I am.

I try not to take that lightly and for granted. I think time off from touring and being on the radio … has given me the perspective to just be really thankful, even more so than I already was.

You took yourself off the road for a while to make this album. Were you aware of the risks of doing that as a new artist?I was, and that’s what made it tough. It’s very difficult when you’re a touring artist and that’s really where your money comes from. In this time period of my career, it’s not like I’m rolling around in the dough, so … it is a lot of risk and a scary thing to do. But I had to do it because if I didn’t, then the record would have suffered. I’m very happy that I did it, because I’m in a completely differ-ent headspace. I feel like a metamorphosis has happened. I feel like a different person than I did a year ago.

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE MARCH 19, 2015 | PAGE 4 OF 8

James’ ‘Enlightened’ Point Of View Shines On New Album

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

JAMES

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Lee Ann Photoglo, 615-376-7931, laphotoglo@gmail.comTO ADVERTISE, CONTACT:

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Country UPDATE

Is there a story behind the name of QueenB Ra-dio? Elizabeth Burns is our owner, and from what I’ve been told, she was always called the queen bee, and someone said, “What are you going to call the orga-nization? Queen Bee Radio?” And she said, “Yeah.” They thought she was joking. She wasn’t. I like to tell people WGLR stands for “We gotta love Ryan.” The reality is Wisconsin Grant Lancaster Radio — Grant is our county; Lancaster’s the town where the trans-

mitter sits. I like my version of it better.

I heard Haley & Michaels on the station, and it fits in the mix really well, even though it’s a left-field, independent record. What’s your approach to those? I try not to think of them as an independent record. When I look at my list, I try to look for the best record that I can play, regardless of what label it’s on or who’s promoting it. That’s paid off before. We played “Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line when that was an independent record and had nothing to do with a major label. Some major-market programmers probably would have told me that was a mistake. Well, that turned out to be our most requested song that year.

You’re a big Barbara Mandrell freak. What about her do you connect to the most? I think it goes to childhood memories. When I first kind of became aware of music, she was really hitting her stride, and these songs bring back re-ally happy times in my life. The first award I ever won in my radio career was for an interview that I did with her, and for the first thing that I ever won just to be associated with her just meant the world to me.

Has she ever called you from the bathtub? Not to my knowledge. When she was in Fontanel [Mansion], her bathroom was essentially her office, and she told me, “I’m calling you from my office, which is really my bathroom.” When I finally got the chance to go through Fontanel on a private tour, they didn’t put anything off limits to me. I mean, in the normal tour you don’t get to go up to the attic. I was up in the attic, and that was kind of neat ... I wanted to see everything. It was funny, we were driving up and they were asking me, “So, what do you know about the house?” And I said, “I know that there’s a door from the bedroom that leads into the garage.” And they said, “I don’t remember that.” When we got into her bedroom, I opened up the door, and there was the garage.

You’re scary, Ryan. I know. Don’t print anything that’s going to make Barbara shy away from me. —Tom Roland

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE MARCH 19, 2015 | PAGE 5 OF 8

Q U E ST I O N S

AnsweredRyan McCall

Music director, WGLR Platteville, Wis.@ryanwglr

He’s “Mr. Country Music,” according to the Afternoon Drive Live theme song, performed by independent artist Tyler Barham. WGLR music director Ryan McCall is celebrating 25 years with the QueenB Radio-owned station, which hyper-serves its local market, situated between Madison, Wis., and Dubuque, Iowa. McCall dances to his own drummer: He cites spaghetti pie — a lasagna-like dish that mix-es spaghetti noodles with ricotta cheese — as his favorite food. His first-ever trophy came for an interview he did with Barbara Mandrell, who has been known to conduct phoners from the convenience of her bathtub.

You were a very busy man during Country Radio Seminar. What’s the best performance you saw? My personal favorite was hearing Trisha Yearwood sing “Blue Bayou” on the Sony boat. I mean, I heard some great music all week long, but that was something that has just stuck and resonated with me. I think it’s the combination of the per-fect singer singing the perfect song for the perfect singer.

During CRS, you hear a lot about radio that is relevant to much larger markets. When you come home, what’s your perspective about where you live and work? The first thing that I take away from it is how appreciative I am to be working with a full staff, because I talk to a lot of other people and they say, “Oh, we have three or four people in our building.” You know, we have like twenty-ish. We have a full staff here on programming, we have a full staff on the sales side, too, so I think I have an unrealistic idea of what’s really going on at other stations because I have it so good.

ACM TACKS ON MORE STARS, EVENTSThe Academy of Country Music continues to bolster ancillary events as the date nears for its first awards show at a stadium, on April 19 in Arlington, Texas. Dierks Bentley leads the ACM Charity Motorcycle Ride & Concert on April 18. The event, on hiatus since 2010, in-cludes Will Hoge, Montgomery Gentry and Thompson Square. Dodge’s Ram Trucks will

attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records with a parade of up to 500 pickups the same day. Additionally, The Band Perry has been added to the One Night, Two Cities, All Music Gala that Garth Brooks and Trisha Year-wood will host April 17 at the Omni Dallas Hotel and the Fort Worth Zoo.

Universal will release all six of Johnny Cash’s latter-career albums for Ameri-can Recordings in a vinyl box set on March 24. Originally issued between 1994-

2010, the collection contains American Recordings, American II: Unchained, American III: Solitary Man, American IV: The Man Comes Around, American V: A Hundred Highways and American VI: Ain’t No Grave. Each were either produced or co-produced by Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers). WSM-AM Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry will observe its 90th anniversary on Nov. 28, and it will mark its nine decades on air with nine months of celebra-tion beginning March 24, when Brad Paisley, Asleep at the Wheel and Old Crow Medicine Show are part of the night’s roster. The evening includes a discussion of a number of artifacts that will go on display in an anniversary exhibit, including the fiddle Uncle Jimmy Thompson played on the inau-gural broadcast and a guitar used by Little Jimmy Dickens.

In case you missed it: Gary Overton is stepping down as Sony Music Nashville chairman/CEO, effective March 31. Go here for details.

MIDWEEK NEWS UPDATE

MONTGOMERY GENTRY

McCALL (LEFT) AND MANDRELL

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LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

l1 1 1 20 TAKE YOUR TIME ★★No. 1 (6 weeks)★★ Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) MCA NASHVILLE

1

l2 2 7 10 HOMEGROWN ★★Airplay Gainer★★ Zac Brown Band J.JOYCE,Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,W.DURRETTE,N.MOON) VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND

2

l3 4 4 24 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY Cole Swindell M.CARTER (C.SWINDELL,A.SANDERS,J.MARTIN) WARNER BROS./WMN 3

l4 5 6 29 MEAN TO ME Brett Eldredge L.LAIRD (B.ELDREDGE,SCOOTER CARUSOE) ATLANTIC/WMN 4

l5 17 18 10 LITTLE RED WAGON ★★Digital & Streaming Gainer★★ Miranda Lambert F.LIDDELL,C.AINLAY,G.WORF (A.MAE,GINSBERG J.) RCA NASHVILLE

5

6 6 5 21 JUST GETTIN’ STARTED Jason Aldean M.KNOX (C. DESTEFANO,R.AKINS,A.GORLEY) BROKEN BOW 5

l7 8 9 26 LONELY EYES Chris Young J.STROUD (J.BULFORD,J.MATTHEWS,L.VELTZ) RCA NASHVILLE 7

l8 7 8 29 DRINKING CLASS Lee Brice M.MCCLURE,K.JACOBS,L.BRICE (J.KEAR,D.FRASIER,E.M.HILL) CURB 6

l9 10 13 29 HOMEGROWN HONEY Darius Rucker F.ROGERS (D.RUCKER,C.KELLEY,N.CHAPMAN) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 9

10 3 2 20 LONELY TONIGHT Blake Shelton Featuring Ashley Monroe S.HENDRICKS (B.ANDERSON,R.HURD) WARNER BROS./WMN 2

l11 11 14 22 SAY YOU DO Dierks Bentley R. COPPERMAN (M.RAMSEY,S.MCANALLY,T. ROSEN) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 11

l12 13 15 25 A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR Tyler Farr J.CATINO,J.KING (M.PEIRCE,J.SINGLETON,B.TURSI) COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 12

13 12 11 20 I SEE YOU Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,L.LAIRD,A.GORLEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 1

l14 15 19 10 SMOKE A Thousand Horses D.COBB (M.HOBBY,J.M.NITE,R.COPPERMAN) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 14

l15 16 21 8 RAISE ‘EM UP Keith Urban Featuring Eric Church N.CHAPMAN,K.URBAN (J.JOHNSTON,J.STEELE,T.DOUGLAS) HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE 15

l16 20 24 17 DON’T IT Billy Currington D.HUFF (J.JOHNSTON,A.GORLEY,R.COPPERMAN) MERCURY 16

17 14 12 26 SUN DAZE Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (C.R.BARLOWE,J.FRASURE,S.BUXTON,T.HUBBARD,B.KELLEY) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 0 3

l18 18 16 15 GIRL CRUSH Little Big Town J.JOYCE (L.ROSE,L.MCKENNA,H.LINDSEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 16

l19 RE-ENTRY 29 WHAT WE AIN’T GOT Jake Owen J.MOI (T.J.GOFF,T.MEADOWS) RCA NASHVILLE 19

l20 21 23 19 SHE DON’T LOVE YOU Eric Paslay M.ALTMAN (E.PASLAY,J.WAYNE) EMI NASHVILLE 20

21 19 17 26 TALLADEGA Eric Church J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,L.LAIRD) EMI NASHVILLE 2

22 22 20 26 SHOTGUN RIDER Tim McGraw B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (H.LINDSEY,M.GREEN,T.VERGES) MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE 0 1

l23 29 25 3 GAMES Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,A.GORLEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 23

l24 24 26 6 WILD CHILD Kenny Chesney With Grace Potter B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (K.CHESNEY,S.MCANALLY,J.OSBORNE) BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 24

l25 25 28 7 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOLS Tim McGraw With Catherine Dunn B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (L.LAIRD,B.DEAN,J.SINGLETON) MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE 25

Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE MARCH 19, 2015 | PAGE 6 OF 8

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

l26 26 31 8 LITTLE TOY GUNS Carrie Underwood M.BRIGHT (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,H.LINDSEY) 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 26

l27 27 29 16 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT Kelsea Ballerini F.G.WHITEHEAD (K.BALLERINI,J.KERR,F.G.WHITEHEAD,L.CARPENTER) BLACK RIVER 27

l28 32 40 7 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (R.CLAWSON,M.DRAGSTREM,C.TAYLOR) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 10

l29 28 27 24 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT Canaan Smith B.BEAVERS,J.ROBBINS (C.SMITH,B.BEAVERS,J.BEAVERS) MERCURY 27

l30 31 41 4 LIKE A WRECKING BALL Eric Church J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,C.BEATHARD) EMI NASHVILLE 30

l31 30 34 19 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG Easton Corbin C.CHAMBERLAIN (J.COLLINS,BRETT JAMES) MERCURY 30

l32 NEW 1 FOR A BOY ★★Hot Shot Debut★★ RaeLynn J.MOI (RAELYNN,L.VELTZ) VALORY

32

l33 37 39 3 SPRING BREAKDOWN Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,A.GORLEY,Z.CROWELL) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 33

l34 33 37 6 CRUSHIN’ IT Brad Paisley L.WOOTEN,B.PAISLEY (B.PAISLEY,K.LOVELACE,L.T.MILLER) ARISTA NASHVILLE 33

l35 34 35 17 LAY LOW Josh Turner F.ROGERS (R.COPPERMAN,T.MARTIN,M.NESLER) MCA NASHVILLE 29

l36 35 36 11 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN Brantley Gilbert D.HUFF (B.GILBERT,M.DEKLE,B.DAVIS) VALORY 35

l37 36 42 14 HARD TO BE COOL Joe Nichols M.J.CONES (R.HATCH,J.SELLERS) RED BOW 36

l38 40 45 4 RIDE Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (J.SOMERS-MORALES,D.C.TARPLEY JR.) DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 38

l39 NEW 1 YOU AND THE BEACH Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,D.DAVIDSON,R.AKINS,B.HAYSLIP) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 39

l40 NEW 1 KISS YOU IN THE MORNING Michael Ray S.HENDRICKS (J.WILSON,M.WHITE) WARNER BROS./WEA 40

l41 38 43 6 I’M TO BLAME Kip Moore B.JAMES (K.MOORE,J.WEAVER,W.DAVIS) MCA NASHVILLE 31

l42 39 44 10 RIOT Rascal Flatts J.DEMARCUS,RASCAL FLATTS (J.BOYER,S.HAZE) BIG MACHINE 39

l43 41 46 10 GOING OUT LIKE THAT Reba T.BROWN (B.HAYSLIP,R.AKINS,J.SELLERS) NASH ICON/VALORY 28

l44 NEW 1 MY OL’ BRONCO Luke Bryan J.STEVENS,J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,J.STEVENS,J.STEVENS) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 44

l45 42 49 10 HELL OF A NIGHT Dustin Lynch M.J.CONES (Z.CROWELL,A.SANDERS,J.BOYER) BROKEN BOW 42

l46 43 50 3 YOUNG & CRAZY Frankie Ballard M.ALTMAN,S.HENDRICKS (A.GORLEY,S.MCANALLY,R.AKINS) WARNER BROS./WAR 43

l47 50 — 4 FLY Maddie & Tae D.HUFF (M.MARLOW,T.DYE,T.VARTANYAN) DOT 47

48 44 47 11 TROUBLE Gloriana M.SERLETIC (R.REINERT,M.GOSSIN,R.COPPERMAN,J.M.NITE) EMBLEM/WARNER BROS./WAR 42

49 45 48 20 MAKE YOU MISS ME Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,M.RAMSEY) MCA NASHVILLE 32

50 47 — 4 I GOT THE BOY Jana Kramer S.HENDRICKS (T.NICHOLS,C.HARRINGTON,J.L.SPEARS) ELEKTRA NASHVILLE/WAR 33

For week ending March 15, 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 MARCH 19, 2015 | PAGE 7 OF 8

ALBUMSDIGITAL

ALBUMS*DIGITAL TRACKS

This Week 542,000 209,000 2,176,000

Last Week 467,000 163,000 2,214,000

Change 16.1% 28.2% -1.7%

This Week Last Year 620,000 239,000 2,638,000

Change -12.6% -12.6% -17.5%

*Digital album sales are also counted within album sales.

Weekly Unit SalesYear-Over-Year Album Sales2014 2015 CHANGE

Albums 6,330,000 5,291,000 -16.4%

Digital Tracks 30,130,000 24,837,000 -17.6%

YEAR-TO-DATE

Overall Unit Sales

2014 2015 CHANGE

Physical 4,124,000 3,288,000 9.0%

Digital 2,207,000 2,003,000 -9.2%

Sales by Album Format

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

’15

’14

DIGITAL TRACKS SALES

’15

’14

6.3 million

5.3 million

000.0 million

’14

’13

24.8 million

30.1 million

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1 1 20 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l2 2 9 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND (Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

l3 NEW FOR A BOY RAELYNN (Valory/BMLG)

4 3 23 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)

l5 10 9 LITTLE RED WAGON MIRANDA LAMBERT (RCA Nashville/SMN)

6 4 12 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

7 6 3 GAMES LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

8 7 27 DRINKING CLASS LEE BRICE (Curb)

l9 9 7 SMOKE A THOUSAND HORSES (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

10 8 19 JUST GETTIN’ STARTED JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

l11 15 5 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l12 11 21 LONELY EYES CHRIS YOUNG (RCA Nashville/SMN)

l13 16 10 RIDE CHASE RICE (Dack Janiels)

14 5 21 LONELY TONIGHT BLAKE SHELTON FEAT.ASHLEY MONROE (Warner Bros./WMN)

l15 14 17 A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR TYLER FARR (Columbia Nashville/SMN)

16 13 28 MEAN TO ME BRETT ELDREDGE (Atlantic/WMN)

l17 NEW YOU AND THE BEACH LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l18 20 3 SPRING BREAKDOWN LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

19 18 13 SHE DON’T LOVE YOU ERIC PASLAY (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

20 17 12 SAY YOU DO DIERKS BENTLEY (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l21 25 5 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT KELSEA BALLERINI (Black River)

22 12 24 MAKE ME WANNA THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)

l23 22 8 LITTLE TOY GUNS CARRIE UNDERWOOD (19/Arista Nashville/SMN)

l24 26 5 DON’T IT BILLY CURRINGTON (Mercury/UMGN)

l25 NEW MY OL’ BRONCO LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

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l26 23 25 HOMEGROWN HONEY DARIUS RUCKER (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

27 19 25 SUN DAZE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

28 24 20 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT CANAAN SMITH (Mercury/UMGN)

l29 30 8 RAISE ‘EM UP KEITH URBAN FEAT.ERIC CHURCH (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville)

l30 33 4 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOL TIM MCGRAW WITH CATHERINE DUNN (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)

l31 42 3 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

32 27 25 TALLADEGA ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

33 29 26 SHOTGUN RIDER TIM MCGRAW (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)

34 28 19 I SEE YOU LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

35 31 29 WHAT WE AIN’T GOT JAKE OWEN (RCA Nashville/SMN)

l36 37 3 WILD CHILD KENNY CHESNEY WITH GRACE POTTER (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)

37 32 24 SOMETHING IN THE WATER CARRIE UNDERWOOD (19/Arista Nashville/SMN)

38 35 39 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

39 34 33 BURNIN’ IT DOWN JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

l40 38 68 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l41 NEW CHECKIN’ OUT LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l42 47 6 LAY LOW JOSH TURNER (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l43 NEW DRESS BLUES ZAC BROWN BAND (Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

l44 45 68 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT.LUKE BRYAN (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

45 43 140 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

46 21 27 LIKE A COWBOY RANDY HOUSER (Stoney Creek/BBMG)

l47 RE-ENTRY GOD MADE GIRLS RAELYNN (Valory/BMLG)

48 39 169 CHICKEN FRIED ZAC BROWN BAND (Home Grown/Atlantic/Bigger Picture)

49 40 29 BREAK UP IN A SMALL TOWN SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l50 48 4 I GOT THE BOY JANA KRAMER (Elektra Nashville/WMN)

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

2 1 1 20 SAM HUNT MontevalloMCA NASHVILLE 021502/UMGN 1

3 2 31 3 SHANIA TWAIN Still The One: Live From Las VegasMERCURY 022017 WMEX/UMGN 2

4 3 3 23 JASON ALDEAN Old Boots, New DirtBROKEN BOW 7105/BBMG 1 1

l5 NEW 1 LUKE BRYAN Spring Break...The Set List: The Complete Spring Break Collection ZinePakCAPITOL NASHVILLE WMEX/UMGN 5

6 4 4 22 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE Anything GoesREPUBLIC NASHVILLE /BMLG 0 1

l7 7 6 30 CHASE RICE Ignite The NightCOLUMBIA NASHVILLE 22573/DACK JANIELS 1

8 6 8 57 ERIC CHURCH The OutsidersEMI NASHVILLE 019402*/UMGN 1 1

9 5 5 14 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Greatest Hits: Decade #119/ARISTA NASHVILLE 500876/SMN 0 1

10 9 9 41 MIRANDA LAMBERT PlatinumRCA NASHVILLE 379278/SMN 0 1

l11 NEW 1 ELI YOUNG BAND Turn It On EPREPUBLIC NASHVILLE DIGITAL EX/BMLG 11

12 10 7 84 LUKE BRYAN Crash My PartyCAPITOL NASHVILLE 018733/UMGN 2 1

13 11 19 18 ZAC BROWN BAND Greatest Hits So Far...ROAR/SOUTHERN GROUND/ATLANTIC 546369/AG 5

14 12 13 18 GARTH BROOKS Man Against MachinePEARL/RCA NASHVILLE 501135/SMN 1 1

15 15 20 56 COLE SWINDELL Cole SwindellWARNER BROS. 541372/WMN 2

16 19 16 43 BRANTLEY GILBERT Just As I AmVALORY BG0200A/BMLG 0 1

17 18 11 24 BLAKE SHELTON BRINGING BACK THE SUNSHINEWARNER BROS. 544918/WMN 0 1

18 17 12 21 LITTLE BIG TOWN Pain KillerCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021360*/UMGN 3

19 8 2 4 AARON WATSON The UnderdogBIG LABEL 400237/THIRTY TIGERS 1

l 22 24 27 LEE BRICE I Dont DanceCURB 79392* 1

21 13 18 26 GEORGE STRAIT The Cowboy Rides Away: Live From AT&T StadiumMCA NASHVILLE 021477/UMGN 2

22 21 21 25 KENNY CHESNEY The Big RevivalBLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 306274/SMN 1

23 24 22 26 TIM MCGRAW Sundown Heaven TownMCGRAW/BIG MACHINE TM0200A/BMLG 1

24 25 23 44 STURGILL SIMPSON Metamodern Sounds In Country MusicHIGH TOP MOUNTAIN 002*/THIRTY TIGERS 8

25 26 26 55 DIERKS BENTLEY RiserCAPITOL NASHVILLE 019404/UMGN 1

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l1 — 1 LITTLE RED WAGON MIRANDA LAMBERT

l2 1 11 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT

l3 2 38 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT

l4 4 55 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN

5 3 14 I SEE YOU LUKE BRYAN

l6 5 51 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN

l7 6 102 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l8 7 21 SUN DAZE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l9 10 8 MAKE ME WANNA THOMAS RHETT

l10 12 64 BOTTOMS UP BRANTLEY GILBERT

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l11 9 18 DRINKING CLASS LEE BRICE

12 8 36 DIRT FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l13 18 4 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND

l14 11 8 LONELY TONIGHT BLAKE SHELTON FEAT. ASHLEY MONROE

l15 15 3 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL

l16 14 83 THAT’S MY KIND OF NIGHT LUKE BRYAN

l17 13 15 TALLADEGA ERIC CHURCH

l18 21 2 LET YOUR LOVE FLOW THE BELLAMY BROTHERS

l19 17 62 YOU BELONG WITH ME TAYLOR SWIFT

l20 — 36 SOMETHIN’ BAD MIRANDA LAMBERT DUET WITH CARRIE UNDERWOOD

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

TAKE YOUR TIME MCA Nashville Sam Hunt +278

HOMEGROWN Varvatos/Republic/BMLG/Southern Ground Zac Brown Band +190

RAISE ‘EM UP Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban Feat. Eric Church +183

AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY Warner Bros./WMN Cole Swindell +172

HOMEGROWN HONEY Capitol Nashville Darius Rucker +153

SAY YOU DO Capitol Nashville Dierks Bentley +152

SIPPIN’ ON FIRE Republic Nashville Florida Georgia Line +144

LONELY EYES RCA Nashville Chris Young +138

A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR Columbia Nashville Tyler Farr +135

DON’T IT Mercury Billy Currington +124

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 MARCH 19, 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

20