BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS EDITED BY TOM ROLAND, tom.roland@billboard.com JULY 9, 2015 | PAGE 1 OF 7

INSIDEMakin’ Tracks:

Miranda Lambert’s

‘Smokin’ And Drinkin’ ’ >page 2

Stark Report: NBC Offers

‘New’ Country Hopeful >page 3

Questions Answered:

Talent Booker Shanna

Strassberg >page 4

Eli Young Band Hops Labels

>page 4

Paisley, Underwood Lead Hall Benefit >page 4

Easton Corbin’s third album is the charm, as About to Get Real (Mercury/Universal Music Group Nashville) becomes his first No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart (dated July 18). In its launch week, the project moved 20,000 units, according to Nielsen Music. The album’s success is fueled by current single “Baby Be My Love Song,” which rises 5-3 on Country Airplay and 13-11 on Hot Country Songs. Corbin’s previous set, All Over the Road, marked his prior best debut and rank, having started at No. 2 in October 2012.

“I am just thrilled and honored that I put some-thing together that people would go out and buy,” says Corbin, speaking to Billboard from a radio stop at WPOR Portland, Maine. “I am not ever sure I’ve cut something special when I’m recording. I never look at it like that and always just give my absolute best. I’m just truly grateful to my fans.”

Meanwhile, Corbin’s UMGN labelmates Kacey Musgraves (Pageant Material, 1-2) and Sam Hunt (Montevallo, 2-3) join him in the Top Country Albums top three, marking the third time in 2015 that the label has claimed the chart’s top trio of titles. No other label has earned that honor this year.

Also of note on Top Country Albums, country legend Glen Campbell logs an impressive week with I’ll Be Me (48-28 as the

Greatest Gainer). The soundtrack to the documentary of the same name moved 2,000 units, up 195 percent, aided by multiple showings of the film on CNN during the July 4 holiday week-end. The film chronicles Campbell and his family’s journey as he deals with Alz heimer’s disease.

RECORD ‘CRUSH’-ED: On Hot Country Songs, Little Big Town makes history, as “Girl Crush” (Capitol Nashville) ranks at No.

1 for an 11th week, marking the most frames that a song by a group (of at least three members) has reigned in the chart’s 56-year history. The track, with lead vocals from the quartet’s Karen Fair-child, tells the story of a woman’s jealousy of an-other woman and has been creating chatter, and even controversy, for months, surely helping the single’s success. Its 11-week reign passes trio The Browns’ “Three Bells,” which dominated Hot Country Songs for 10 weeks in 1959. “Crush” also

leads Country Digital Songs for an 11th week, with 59,000 down-loads sold, upping its to-date total to 1.4 million.

This column was written by Billboard country chart manager Jim Asker (jim.asker@billboard.com).

Country MID- WEEK

UPDATE

Corbin Gets ‘Real’ With First No. 1 Album; Little Big Town Sets Mark

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE SCHEDULE CHANGEConcurrent with the music industry’s move to a global street date, beginning this Friday, July 10, the Billboard Country Update will be published in one combined weekly edition each Monday evening (starting July 13). The issue will contain a mass of radio, sales and streaming charts, including the multi-source Hot Country Songs ranking, in addition to the columns and features that reflect Billboard’s stature as the definitive authority on the music industry.

“I can always take a happy song and make it sound sad.”Miranda Lambert’s evaluation of “Smokin’ and Drinkin’,” a duet with

Little Big Town that was released to radio on June 8, practically tells the story of its transformation. A nod to a more innocent past, it was originally conceived with some of the same cheer as Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish,” a song that longs to relive a misspent youth. By the time “Smokin’ ” was finished, it became more of an adult reflection on the past, one that acknowledges a personal history with-out trying to rekindle it.

“It went from like a Kid Rock summer song to like a 1970s slow jam, which is cool,” says songwriter Natalie Hemby (“Pontoon,” “Automatic”).

While she had no role in Lambert’s final recording, Hemby was key to the evolution. She introduced the languid, linear verse melody; invoked a tradition from her senior year in high school to create one of the song’s most vivid images; and sang the demo, which ultimately inspired Lambert to dial up Little Big Town.

“When you have a Natalie Hemby vocal, you can take a pretty aver-age demo to another level,” says co-writer Luke Laird (“American Kids,” “Talladega”).

Laird hosted the songwriting ses-sion with Hemby and Shane McA-nally (“Take Your Time,” “Merry Go ’Round”) at his Creative Nation of-fices, and the seed for “Smokin’ and Drinkin’ ” was planted as he pulled into the parking lot that day.

“A lot of times you get an idea when you’re driving, so you record it in your voice memos on your iPhone,” notes Laird. “I didn’t know if it was gonna be a rap song or what, but I just put that down. I made a sample of ‘Smoke, smokin’ and drinkin’,’ and that’s all I had.”

The title practically demanded that it be a good-time anthem, but none of them were interested in writing something that obvious. So they explored the phrase a bit to see what else it might trigger, and they ended up back in another era.

“We just talked about our childhood, mostly our teenage years, and how we either tried to get away with things or thought that it was so cool that we could drink or smoke,” says McAnally. “It’s supposed to feel like those high school years where you’re not an adult, but you’re not a kid anymore.”

Hemby rolled out that steady verse melody, building on an ideal that was in-stilled in her during her own teens.

“One of my favorite things about those types of melodies is that it’s almost like someone’s talking to you,” she explains. “I’ll tell you who I learned that from was Amy Grant. I grew up listening to her, and a lot of her stuff, it sounds like she’s talking to me.”

That linear section unintentionally set up a much more expansive chorus.“That was just the perfect thing for those words,” says Laird. “The funny thing

is — and you can hear it in the [final] cut — that song is really low for a girl to sing in that key. I think we even tried raising the key, but it captures the perfect emo-tion if you keep it down in there and then let it open up a little bit at the chorus.”

Laird and McAnally offered some of the sensory images from a bonfire gath-ering — the lingering smell of smoke in blue jeans, the feeling of connection with classmates — and Hemby pulled from her time at Nashville’s Overton High School, where it was a rite of passage to paint something on a nearby freeway bridge, coincidentally just off of Lambert Drive.

“Your senior year, you painted on the bridge,” she says. “Even the cops knew, and they’d be waiting for you. The worst you would get is a citation, because there was just graffiti all over it saying ‘Senior year’ and ‘Johnny and so-and-so love each other’ and all that kind of stuff.”

Laird built the “Smokin’ ” demo on his laptop as they wrote it, and Hemby sang in unison with herself on the track, inspiring Lambert to bring in a guest when she first heard the song.

“On Natalie’s demo, she had doubled her voice, so we wanted Little Big Town to replicate that sound,” says Lambert. “And it’s funny to me. In parts of it, you can’t really tell the difference between Karen [Fairchild] and me, which I think is a huge compliment to myself!”

Producers Frank Liddell, Glenn Worf and Chuck Ainlay played the demo just once for the musicians when they recorded it at Nashville’s Sound Stage, then let the studio band find its own inspiration. In the process, the synthetic tone of

the demo was replaced by a more sub-dued attitude, kicking off with a trippy handful of bass notes from Worf.

“With her voice and phrasing, Matt Chamberlain’s drumming and Glenn’s bass part, they picked up on a different route to go and just fell into what it became,” says Liddell.

Jedd Hughes added an appropri-ately restrained 15-second guitar solo two-and-a-half minutes in.

“It’s classic in that it’s spacious and it’s melodic, but whatever that tone is,

I’ve never heard it before,” observes Liddell. “It sounds like somebody who is a great instrumentalist playing with a lot of heart.”

Lambert did her final vocal that same day and let Little Big Town overdub its part with Liddell later with little direction.

“I didn’t micro-manage it at all,” says Lambert. “I was like, ‘Whatever you want to do to make it your own, it’s fine.’ Because why would you tell Little Big Town what to do? Ever?”

Liddell found one other way to bring out the nostalgic quality on the track. They used an ARP string ensemble — familiar in such old titles as Gary Wright’s “Dream Weaver,” Parliament’s “Tear the Roof off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)” and the Bee Gees’ “Nights on Broadway” — to approximate a string section.

“It’s a little messed up and hard to use, and it’s kind of quirky and funky, but you hear that machine on a lot of records from the ’70s,” says Liddell.

Lambert and Little Big Town performed “Smokin’ and Drinkin’ ” live for the first time on July 20, 2014 during the Faster Horses Festival in Brooklyn, Mich., and they reprised it during the Country Music Association Awards on Nov. 5. That set up expectations that it would become a single, but when Little Big Town is-sued “Girl Crush” the next month, “Smokin’ ” was delayed. After finally being released to radio in June, it has risen to No. 41 in three weeks on Country Air-play. Combined with “Automatic” and the ’80s-themed “Another Sunday in the South,” it provides a nostalgic undertow for Lambert’s Platinum, which won the CMA Award for album of the year the same evening when she last performed “Smokin’ ” with Little Big Town. But Lambert cautions that remembering her history doesn’t mean she’s living in the past.

“I don’t want to move backwards,” she says, “but I definitely like looking back there.”

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JULY 9, 2015 | PAGE 2 OF 7

Little Big Town Joins Lambert For Trip Down Memory Lane

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

LAMBERT (center) and LITTLE BIG TOWN

The July 7 airing of NBC’s America’s Got Talent was a triumphant moment for singer-songwriter Benton Blount, who sailed through the audition round with the enthusiastic support of all four of the show’s celebrity judges. For country radio, it may have served as a reminder of a talented artist who once slipped through the cracks of the Nashville system.

Radio was just getting to know Blount when his luck changed five years ago. He had been signed to fledgling indie label Golden Music Nashville for two years at that point, and was finally getting his shot in the spring of 2010 when the label abruptly shut down. He was six weeks — and more than 50 station visits — into his radio tour at the time, and less than a week away from the add date for his debut single. In a cruel twist to his already heartbreaking story, that single, “Carolina,” became a chart-topping hit for Parmalee three years later.

In performing on America’s Got Talent, where he has now advanced to the second round, Blount joins a growing group of for-mer Nashville label signees who went on to become finalists on TV talent shows, includ-ing AGT’s Emily West (formerly signed to Capitol), American Idol’s Kree Harrison (Lyric Street) and The Voice’s Meghan Lin-sey (Big Machine).

After AGT producers saw a video of Blount performing, he got the chance to initially audi-tion for them via Skype, where he took a risk by playing an original song he wrote called “Re-member.” He explains, “It was the song that actually brought me to Nashville the first time when I signed my record deal, and it’s a song that’s really close to me. So I knew that [by] singing it they would see exactly who I was as an artist, even if that wouldn’t be the song they’d want me to play on the show.” From there, he was brought to New Jersey to play for the judges and a live audi-ence in the performance of Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away” viewers saw on July 7.

He describes the backstage scene at the show as carnival-like, with hundreds of performers of all types waiting to audition in a holding room. “The differ-ence between a singing competition and this is that in singing you’re up against other singers, so you know what to expect and what to plan for,” he says. “I walked into, basically … it looked like a backstage area of a circus, because you had contortionists doing their routines, and guys juggling and guys practicing magic, and then you’ve got me walking in with a guitar like, ‘I’m here to sing.’

“I was intimidated,” he continues. “I looked around the room for singers and musicians, because I wanted to be around somebody that I at least had some common ground with. I quickly found a guy who was sitting there with no guitar or nothing, but I could tell he was a musician because he had the same ‘holy cow’ face that I had on.”

When he finally got in front of the judges, Blount explained that he was a full-time musician and a stay-at-home dad to 2-year-old son Jaxon (with wife Ashley, a paralegal). But he knew he had the surprise factor on his side, noting that as a biracial, bald, bearded and heavily tattooed man, he doesn’t look the part of a typical country singer.

“Everybody lost their minds because I walked out in a tight T-shirt, and I have tattoos and a beard and bald head and a wallet chain,” he says. “I think they thought I was going out to play a rock’n’roll song. So the image definitely didn’t match the job title at all. That’s what made me unique, I think.”

When he started singing, says Blount, he couldn’t tell whether it was going to go well or not, “but the second line of the song was when I really project. I would be willing to put money on the fact that out of the male vocalists in country music right now, I’m probably louder than almost every one of them. So when I hit that note it literally went from quiet, ‘Let’s figure this guy out,’ to standing ovation.” From there, he says, the audience “proceeded to sing every word of the song with me until the end.”

In his comments afterward, Blount says judge Howard Stern questioned why the country music industry hadn’t given him a chance. That’s something the artist himself has long wondered about too.

While his initial Nashville label experience ended badly, Blount is anything but bitter, saying, “I love everything about Nashville, even the business side of it, as dirty as it can get … I’ve seen way too many people get overly jaded from an experience [there,] and it kind of cost them their career. I try to avoid that.

“I don’t sit around and think, ‘I can’t be-lieve they screwed me over’ in [that] town,” he continues with a laugh. “I went through

that phase for about a week, and then after about a half a bottle of Jack Dan-iel’s I was over it.”

On the show, he also downplays his experience in Music City. “I didn’t want to paint a negative picture about it,” he explains. “The producers know the story, but as far as me sharing it with the public onstage, I didn’t really feel like it was the right time just to take the hammer out and say, ‘I just got the crap kicked out of me for no reason in Nashville, and they never really gave me a chance after that point.’ ”

But his success on the show, says Blount, confirms “what my heart and my mind has already told me, that … the people who even toyed around with the idea of signing me to a [Nashville label] deal and then walked away for some reason missed out on something. It’s been a mission of mine ever since then to prove them wrong. This is my way of doing it without having to go through the hoops.”

Regardless of whether he ultimately makes it to the finals in September, Blount knows the experience will be beneficial to his career, because he’ll be exposed to a different group of people that have never heard of him before.

While he’s not permitted to talk on the record about what he’ll sing in his second televised round on July 28, watch for a surprising song choice from the classic country catalog. “I wanted to make sure I laid it all out on the table when I went out there,” he says of his appearances on the show. “It’s not like playing a normal concert where I’ll have another one next week. This is a one-shot thing for me.”

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JULY 9, 2015 | PAGE 3 OF 7

AGT Gives Benton Blount A Second Chance At Success

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

BLOUNT

an album out. Fast forward to moving to Nash-ville, I was a background singer on the road with a few different artists, and I’ve always had sort of a side project going on while I was working in television just because it’s what I love to do.

Have those experiences influenced your job now? Absolutely. Having been part of a band — whether it’s makeup, wardrobe, the level of exhaustion, the angst of finding out that your single has just been dropped and you have to

go into the studio and put on a happy face — there’s so many different ways in which I understand the life of an artist. Toward the beginning of my career at GAC, I was told that I sided too much with the artist, that I wasn’t maybe on the side of the crew as much as I should’ve been. I think I do it well now, and I have more of a global understanding of all that goes into both sides.

You were at GAC until about two years ago, and then you worked from home. How was that transition? I felt a little bit lonely when I first started working at home. GAC was a real family environment, and we knew what was going on in each other’s lives, so it was challenging. I have some really amaz-ing friends in the industry who offered me space — “Come and work here any time” — and after a few weeks I fell in love with being at home, and I never took any of them up on their offers. I could create my own schedule, I could go out when I wanted, I could work until 11 o’clock at night, and that was fine, because that allowed me to go get a pedicure or go shopping during the day. Now I spend a good part of my time at My Country Nation. That is a big proj-ect that I’ve been working on for almost a year, so I spend a lot of time in their office, and that’s been really great.

How did you end up in Nashville? San Francisco State is not exactly a breeding ground for country music executives. I was in the a capella band, The Flips, and thought I was going to be heading back to L.A., which is where I’m from. The band broke up. I had been in San Francisco for a long time and thought, “Well, it’s time for an adventure.” My brother was going to Vander-bilt, and I thought I’d give that six months and see what Music City USA is all about, and I’ve been here for almost 22 years. I keep getting really cool gigs. The best training I ever could have received was at Asylum Records. That was my first industry job, and I learned about radio and marketing, the publicity department, the art department — everything that I didn’t know that went into what it takes to make music in a business situation. So I bring that to ev-ery job that I’ve had ever since then. —Tom Roland

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JULY 9, 2015 | PAGE 4 OF 7

Q U E ST I O N S

AnsweredShanna Strassberg

Talent booker (@shannas3)

Shanna Strassberg is one of the most connected people in Nashville’s music business — and with good reason. As a freelance talent booker, it’s her job to connect artists with events and media, and to make the process as smooth as possible for both sides. A for-mer backup singer for Chalee Tennison, Lila McCann and Anita Cochran, she has worked for GAC, the Country Music Association, ABC, My Country Nation and the Ryman Auditorium, after starting on Music Row with Asylum Records. She recorded her own Ameri-cana album in the last few years, and is currently assembling a new group, Pearl Tittle & The Lemon Squares.

I’m pretty sure calling yourself a talent booker means more than just calling people and setting it up. It is a little more com-plicated than it sounds. When I’m booking someone, on the front end, I can be part of the creative process of trying to figure out who’s going to be the best person for this particular opportunity, and then I have numerous conversations with the publicists and sometimes manager trying to explain what the opportunity is, how it’s going to serve them, how it’s going to serve us, what sort of exposure they’re going to get. So there’s lots of different details. Then scheduling is oftentimes really challenging, particularly with some of the bigger artists. Once you get that settled, then I’m there more often than not to greet them until we say goodbye at the end. It can be a process that lasts two months, or it can be something that comes up very quickly.

Do you have a recording career on the side? Yes. I was in an a ca-pella band in San Francisco, and we toured all over California and had

ELI YOUNG BAND MAKES A SHIFTFive years after the group signed with Republic Nashville, the Eli Young Band has moved to a sis-ter Big Machine label, the Valory Music Co. The act’s first single on the new imprint will be re-leased later this month.

Rosanne Cash will be the featured act in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s annual Artist-in-Residence program, performing three shows during September. She will play the Grammy-winning album The River and the Thread in its entirety on Sept. 2 in the 800-seat CMA Theater, then will return Sept. 3 for a set with guests Emmy lou Harris and Lucinda Williams. Cash concludes with a Sept. 24 con-cert in the intimate Ford Theater with husband/producer John Leventhal. Surprise guests are often a part of the residency experience, which has included

Alan Jackson, Ricky Skaggs and Kenny Rogers in its previous 12 years. July 13 is the starting date for the new Sony Music Nashville executive team, tipped July 6 by Billboard. Steve Hodges steps in as vp promotion and artist development after a 20-year run with Capitol Nashville. As previously reported, Randy Goodman is the new chairman/CEO, with Ken Robold serving as executive vp/COO. Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will play Oct. 6 during the annual All for the Hall fundraiser at the Best Buy Theater in New York. With tickets start-ing at $1,000, the event — which annually features Vince Gill and Emmylou Harris — is a benefit for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. This year’s installment might also serve as a warm-up for the Country Music As-sociation Awards, which have been slated for Nov. 4. Underwood and Paisley have co-hosted the CMAs for seven straight years.

MIDWEEK NEWS UPDATE

ELI YOUNG BAND

The country music industry’s must-have source for news, charts, analysis and features.• Airplay, album sales, track sales and streaming

charts, as well as the all-encompassing Hot Country Songs chart.

• Expert commentary and insights by Tom Roland, Phyllis Stark and Jim Asker.

Country UPDATE

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NOW, ON E WE E KLY E DITION , STARTI NG ON MON DAY J U LY 13TH

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

1 1 1 31 GIRL CRUSH ★★No. 1 (11 weeks)★★ Little Big Town J.JOYCE (L.ROSE,L.MCKENNA,H.LINDSEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 1 1

2 2 2 36 TAKE YOUR TIME Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) MCA NASHVILLE 1 1

l3 3 3 8 KICK THE DUST UP Luke Bryan J.STEVENS,J.STEVENS (D.DAVIDSON,C. DESTEFANO,A.GORLEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 2

l4 4 4 16 SANGRIA Blake Shelton S.HENDRICKS (J.T.HARDING,J.OSBORNE,T. ROSEN) WARNER BROS./WMN 0 3

l5 5 8 28 HOUSE PARTY Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,Z.CROWELL,J.FLOWERS) MCA NASHVILLE 5

l6 9 10 40 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT ★★Airplay Gainer★★ Canaan Smith B.BEAVERS,J.ROBBINS (C.SMITH,B.BEAVERS,J.BEAVERS) MERCURY 0 6

l7 8 7 18 TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU Jason Aldean M.KNOX (D.DAVIDSON,R.AKINS,A.GORLEY) BROKEN BOW 7

l8 12 12 13 CRASH AND BURN Thomas Rhett D.HUFF,J.FRASURE (J.FRASURE,C.STAPLETON) VALORY 8

l9 10 9 20 LIKE A WRECKING BALL Eric Church J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,C.BEATHARD) EMI NASHVILLE 8

10 6 5 32 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT Kelsea Ballerini F.G.WHITEHEAD (K.BALLERINI,J.KERR,F.G.WHITEHEAD,L.CARPENTER) BLACK RIVER 5

l11 13 13 35 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG Easton Corbin C.CHAMBERLAIN (J.COLLINS,BRETT JAMES) MERCURY 11

l12 16 15 11 BUY ME A BOAT ★★Digital Gainer★★ Chris Janson C.JANSON,C.DUBOIS,B.ANDERSON (C.JANSON,C.DUBOIS) WARNER BROS./WAR

12

l13 14 17 27 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN Brantley Gilbert D.HUFF (B.GILBERT,M.DEKLE,B.DAVIS) VALORY 13

l14 15 16 11 LOVING YOU EASY Zac Brown Band Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,N.MOON,A.ANDERSON) JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 14

15 7 6 24 LITTLE TOY GUNS Carrie Underwood M.BRIGHT (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,H.LINDSEY) 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 6

l16 19 22 17 KISS YOU IN THE MORNING Michael Ray S.HENDRICKS (J.WILSON,M.WHITE) WARNER BROS./WEA 16

l17 18 19 22 CRUSHIN’ IT Brad Paisley L.WOOTEN,B.PAISLEY (B.PAISLEY,K.LOVELACE,L.T.MILLER) ARISTA NASHVILLE 17

l18 20 25 5 JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 Keith Urban D.HUFF,K.URBAN (S.MCANALLY,R.COPPERMAN,J.OSBORNE) HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE 18

19 11 11 23 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOLS Tim McGraw With Catherine Dunn B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (L.LAIRD,B.DEAN,J.SINGLETON) MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE 11

l20 21 24 26 HELL OF A NIGHT Dustin Lynch M.J.CONES (Z.CROWELL,A.SANDERS,J.BOYER) BROKEN BOW 20

l21 22 23 19 YOUNG & CRAZY Frankie Ballard M.ALTMAN,S.HENDRICKS (A.GORLEY,S.MCANALLY,R.AKINS) WARNER BROS./WAR 21

22 17 14 23 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (R.CLAWSON,M.DRAGSTREM,C.TAYLOR) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 0 3

23 23 21 26 HOMEGROWN Zac Brown Band J.JOYCE,Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,W.DURRETTE,N.MOON) JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 2

l24 25 26 11 LOSE MY MIND Brett Eldredge R. COPPERMAN,B.ELDREDGE (B.ELDREDGE,H.MORGAN,R.COPPERMAN,B.BURTON,T.D.CALLAWAY,G.F.REVERBERI,G.P.REVERBERI) ATLANTIC/WMN 24

l25 26 28 6 REAL LIFE ★★Streaming Gainer★★ Jake Owen S.MCANALLY,R. COPPERMAN (R.COPPERMAN,A.GORLEY,S.MCANALLY,J.OSBORNE) RCA NASHVILLE

25

Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE JULY 9, 2015 | PAGE 5 OF 7

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 28 30 20 FLY Maddie & Tae D.HUFF (M.MARLOW,T.DYE,T.VARTANYAN) DOT 26

l27 27 31 8 I’M COMIN’ OVER Chris Young C.CROWDER,C.YOUNG (C.YOUNG,C.CROWDER,J.HOGE) RCA NASHVILLE 8

l28 29 29 17 BREAK UP WITH HIM Old Dominion S.MCANALLY (M.RAMSEY,T. ROSEN,B.TURSI,G.SPRUNG,W.SELLERS) RCA NASHVILLE 28

l29 30 35 12 LET ME SEE YA GIRL Cole Swindell M.CARTER (C.SWINDELL,M.CARTER,J.STEVENS) WARNER BROS./WMN 29

l30 39 40 10 ANYTHING GOES Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (F.MCTEIGUE,C.G.TOMPKINS,C.WISEMAN) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 19

l31 32 36 22 I’M TO BLAME Kip Moore B.JAMES (K.MOORE,J.WEAVER,W.DAVIS) MCA NASHVILLE 31

32 31 32 19 GAMES Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,A.GORLEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 21

l33 35 33 7 21 Hunter Hayes D.HUFF,H.HAYES (D.DAVIDSON,K.LOVELACE,A.GORLEY,H.HAYES) ATLANTIC/WMN 30

l34 37 39 26 GONNA WANNA TONIGHT Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (S.MCANALLY,J.M.NITE,J.ROBBINS) DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 34

l35 36 38 14 NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU Dan + Shay C. DESTEFANO (D.SMYERS,S.MOONEY,A.GORLEY,C. DESTEFANO) WARNER BROS./WAR 35

l36 38 41 13 STAY A LITTLE LONGER Brothers Osborne J.JOYCE (J. OSBORNE,T.J. OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) EMI NASHVILLE 36

37 34 34 20 I GOT THE BOY Jana Kramer S.HENDRICKS (T.NICHOLS,C.HARRINGTON,J.L.SPEARS) ELEKTRA NASHVILLE/WAR 31

l38 40 — 2 LONG STRETCH OF LOVE Lady Antebellum N.CHAPMAN,LADY ANTEBELLUM (D.HAYWOOD,C.KELLEY,H.SCOTT,J.KEAR) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 38

l39 42 44 4 BURNING HOUSE Cam J.BHASKER,T.JOHNSON (C.OCHS,T.JOHNSON,J.BHASKER) ARISTA NASHVILLE 39

40 33 42 16 BISCUITS Kacey Musgraves K.MUSGRAVES,L.LAIRD,S.MCANALLY (K.MUSGRAVES,S.MCANALLY,B.CLARK) MERCURY 28

41 41 43 13 ALREADY CALLIN’ YOU MINE Parmalee NV (M.THOMAS,S.THOMAS,B.KNOX,P.O’DONNELL,W.KIRBY) STONEY CREEK 41

l42 46 — 2 SAVE IT FOR A RAINY DAY Kenny Chesney B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (A.DORFF,M.RAMSEY,B.TURSI) BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 42

43 43 47 7 I LOVE THIS LIFE LoCash L.RIMES,P.BRUST,C.LUCAS (D.MYRICK,C.JANSON,C.LUCAS,P.BRUST) REVIVER 43

l44 RE-ENTRY 5 WE WENT Randy Houser D.GEORGE (J.WILSON,M.ROGERS,J.KING) STONEY CREEK 44

l45 48 — 2 IT FEELS GOOD Drake White R. COPPERMAN,J.S.STOVER (D.WHITE,P.PENCE,D.GEORGE) DOT 45

46 45 — 6 FOR A BOY RaeLynn J.MOI (RAELYNN,L.VELTZ) VALORY 32

47 47 48 18 RIDE Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (J.SOMERS-MORALES,D.C.TARPLEY JR.) DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 38

l48 RE-ENTRY 2 SMOKIN’ AND DRINKIN’ Miranda Lambert Featuring Little Big Town F.LIDDELL,C.AINLAY,G.WORF (N.HEMBY,L.LAIRD,S.MCANALLY) RCA NASHVILLE 38

l49 50 50 3 ALL COUNTRY ON YOU Austin Webb B.GALLIMORE (J.KEAR,MARK IRWIN,C.G.TOMPKINS) STREAMSOUND 49

50 49 49 5 COUNTRY Mo Pitney T.BROWN (M.PITNEY,B.TOMBERLIN,B.ANDERSON) CURB 48

For week ending July 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 JULY 9, 2015 | PAGE 6 OF 7

ALBUMSDIGITAL

ALBUMS*DIGITAL TRACKS

This Week 536,000 192,000 2,444,000

Last Week 548,000 208,000 2,406,000

Change -2.2% -7.7% 1.6%

This Week Last Year 554,000 183,000 2,943,000

Change -3.2% 4.9% -17.0%

*Digital album sales are also counted within album sales.

Weekly Unit SalesYear-Over-Year Album Sales2014 2015 CHANGE

Albums 15,862,000 13,892,000 -12.4%

Digital Tracks 75,124,000 63,092,000 -16.0%

YEAR-TO-DATE

Overall Unit Sales

2014 2015 CHANGE

Physical 10,463,000 8,759,000 9.0%

Digital 5,399,000 5,132,000 -4.9%

Sales by Album Format

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

ALBUM SALES

’15

’14

DIGITAL TRACKS SALES

’15

’14

15.9 million

13.9 million

000.0 million

’15

’14

63.1 million

75.1 million

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1 1 28 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l2 2 7 KICK THE DUST UP LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l3 4 14 HOUSE PARTY SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

4 3 36 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l5 5 14 SANGRIA BLAKE SHELTON (Warner Bros./WMN)

l6 7 13 CRASH AND BURN THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)

l7 8 11 BUY ME A BOAT CHRIS JANSON (Warner Bros./WMN)

l8 6 21 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l9 RE-ENTRY GOD BLESS THE USA LEE GREENWOOD (MCA Nashville/Capitol Nashville/Curb)

l10 10 4 JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 KEITH URBAN (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l11 12 36 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT CANAAN SMITH (Mercury/UMGN)

12 11 16 TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

l13 13 11 LOVING YOU EASY ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

14 9 21 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT KELSEA BALLERINI (Black River)

l15 17 6 REAL LIFE JAKE OWEN (RCA Nashville/SMN)

l16 14 17 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN BRANTLEY GILBERT (Valory/BMLG)

l17 16 10 LOSE MY MIND BRETT ELDREDGE (Atlantic/WMN)

l18 21 11 KISS YOU IN THE MORNING MICHAEL RAY (Warner Bros./WMN)

19 18 8 I’M COMIN’ OVER CHRIS YOUNG (RCA Nashville/SMN)

20 15 24 LITTLE TOY GUNS CARRIE UNDERWOOD (19/Arista Nashville/SMN)

21 19 20 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOL TIM MCGRAW WITH CATHERINE DUNN (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)

l22 22 8 BREAK UP WITH HIM OLD DOMINION (RCA Nashville/SMN)

23 20 25 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

l24 RE-ENTRY COURTESY OF THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE (THE ANGRY AMERICAN) TOBY KEITH (DreamWorks/Show Dog-Universal)

l25 27 15 CRUSHIN’ IT BRAD PAISLEY (Arista Nashville/SMN)

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l26 26 7 HELL OF A NIGHT DUSTIN LYNCH (Broken Bow/BBMG)

l27 28 7 ANYTHING GOES FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

28 23 19 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

29 25 15 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG EASTON CORBIN (Mercury/UMGN)

30 24 23 SMOKE A THOUSAND HORSES (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l31 31 7 LET ME SEE YA GIRL COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)

l32 33 8 YOUNG & CRAZY FRANKIE BALLARD (Warner Bros./WMN)

l33 32 3 STAY A LITTLE LONGER BROTHERS OSBORNE (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

34 29 20 I GOT THE BOY JANA KRAMER (Elektra Nashville/WMN)

35 35 56 BOTTOMS UP BRANTLEY GILBERT (Valory/BMLG)

l36 44 42 AMERICAN KIDS KENNY CHESNEY (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)

37 30 21 DON’T IT BILLY CURRINGTON (Mercury/UMGN)

l38 41 84 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l39 39 7 FLY MADDIE & TAE (Dot/BMLG)

40 43 156 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l41 48 175 CHICKEN FRIED ZAC BROWN BAND (Home Grown/Atlantic/Bigger Picture)

42 45 82 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

43 37 39 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)

l44 NEW AMERICAN SOLDIER TOBY KEITH (DreamWorks Nashville/UMe)

l45 RE-ENTRY ALL SUMMER LONG KID ROCK (Top Dog/Atlantic/AG)

46 42 54 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l47 47 104 WAGON WHEEL DARIUS RUCKER (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l48 RE-ENTRY BISCUITS KACEY MUSGRAVES (Mercury/UMGN)

49 40 19 GAMES LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l50 49 47 DRUNK ON A PLANE DIERKS BENTLEY (Capitol Nashville/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 EASTON CORBIN About To Get RealMERCURY 020915/UMGN 1

2 1 — 2 KACEY MUSGRAVES Pageant MaterialMERCURY 022816*/UMGN 1

3 2 3 36 SAM HUNT MontevalloMCA NASHVILLE 021502/UMGN 0 1

4 3 1 10 ZAC BROWN BAND JEKYLL + HYDEJOHN VARVATOS/SOUTHERN GROUND/BMLG 022962/REPUBLIC 1

5 5 2 4 VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW That’s What I Call Country, Volume 8SONY MUSIC/UNIVERSAL 023341/UME 1

6 6 5 37 LITTLE BIG TOWN Pain KillerCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021360*/UMGN 3

7 8 6 73 ERIC CHURCH The OutsidersEMI NASHVILLE 019402*/UMGN 1 1

8 9 7 59 BRANTLEY GILBERT Just As I AmVALORY BG0200A/BMLG 0 1

9 7 4 5 WILLIE NELSON / MERLE HAGGARD Django And JimmieLEGACY 509378 1

10 10 9 39 JASON ALDEAN Old Boots, New DirtBROKEN BOW 7105/BBMG 1 1

11 11 10 38 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE Anything GoesREPUBLIC NASHVILLE /BMLG 0 1

l12 21 21 40 BLAKE SHELTON BRINGING BACK THE SUNSHINEWARNER BROS. 544918/WMN 0 1

13 4 — 2 CANAAN SMITH BroncoMERCURY 022812/UMGN 4

14 13 13 17 LUKE BRYAN Spring Break... Checkin’ OutCAPITOL NASHVILLE 022540/UMGN 1

15 12 15 100 LUKE BRYAN Crash My PartyCAPITOL NASHVILLE 018733/UMGN 2 1

16 16 18 30 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Greatest Hits: Decade #119/ARISTA NASHVILLE 500876/SMN 0 1

17 15 11 4 A THOUSAND HORSES SouthernalityREPUBLIC NASHVILLE 022613/BMLG 3

l18 29 29 9 CHRIS STAPLETON TravellerMERCURY 019405*/UMGN 2

l19 25 27 72 COLE SWINDELL Cole SwindellWARNER BROS. 541372/WMN 2

20 18 19 6 THE LACS Outlaw In MeBACKROAD 265/AVERAGE JOES 3

21 19 25 7 KELSEA BALLERINI The First TimeBLACK RIVER 2015 4

22 17 17 14 DARIUS RUCKER Southern StyleCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021931/UMGN 1

23 14 8 3 TIM MCGRAW 35 Biggest HitsCURB 79413 8

24 22 24 46 CHASE RICE Ignite The NightCOLUMBIA NASHVILLE 22573/DACK JANIELS 1

25 20 14 5 BILLY CURRINGTON Summer ForeverMERCURY 022745/UMGN 3

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l1 2 27 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT

2 1 19 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN

l3 4 6 HOUSE PARTY SAM HUNT

l4 3 6 KICK THE DUST UP LUKE BRYAN

l5 5 13 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH

l6 8 8 CRASH AND BURN THOMAS RHETT

l7 9 8 SANGRIA BLAKE SHELTON

8 10 7 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT KELSEA BALLERINI

9 7 15 DON’T IT BILLY CURRINGTON

10 6 15 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

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11 11 11 LITTLE TOY GUNS CARRIE UNDERWOOD

l12 13 71 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN

l13 15 80 BOTTOMS UP BRANTLEY GILBERT

14 12 118 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l15 — 3 GOD BLESS THE USA LEE GREENWOOD

l16 14 6 21 HUNTER HAYES

l17 20 67 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN

l18 16 3 JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 KEITH URBAN

19 17 54 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT

l20 23 3 LOVING YOU EASY ZAC BROWN BAND

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

LOVE YOU LIKE THAT Mercury Nashville Canaan Smith +562

BURNING HOUSE Arista Nashville Cam +417

ONE HELL OF AN AMEN Valory Brantley Gilbert +357

KICK THE DUST UP Capitol Nashville Luke Bryan +310

YOUNG & CRAZY Warner Bros./WAR Frankie Ballard +308

GIRL CRUSH Capitol Nashville Little Big Town +229

KISS YOU IN THE MORNING Warner Bros./WEA Michael Ray +228

JOHN COUGAR, JOHN DEERE, JOHN 3:16 Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban +189

HOUSE PARTY MCA Nashville Sam Hunt +184

NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU Warner Bros./WAR Dan + Shay +179

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 JULY 9, 2015 | PAGE 7 OF 7

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