trebor's Pulse Country Update 100 - 2015 in Country Music

[trebor]

The Good (NOT!), The Bad and The Ugly
Don't look no further... The 40 worst Country Singles of 2015

Only releases that made the Billboard Airplay Chart.
Index -100 = Haley Georgia type of horror.

So congrats to repeat offenders, Sam Hunt, Michael Ray, Kelsea Ballerini, Lady Antebellum, and Waterloo Revival for such a forgettable year!



01 - Break Up In A Small Town - Sam Hunt - -77.3
02 - Kiss You In The Morning - Michael Ray - -72.7
03 - House Party - Sam Hunt - -69.3
04 - Dibs - Kelsea Ballerini - -67.3
05 - Real Men Love Jesus - Michael Ray - -63.3
06 - Young & Crazy - Frankie Ballard - -62.7
07 - Sun Daze - Florida Georgia Line - -62.7
08 - 21 - Hunter Hayes - -60.7
09 - (This Ain't No) Drunk Dial - A Thousand Horses - -60.0
10 - I Like The Sound Of That - Rascal Flatts - -60.0
11 - Love Me Like You Mean It - Kelsea Ballerini - -58.0
12 - Homegrown Honey - Darius Rucker - -58.0
13 - High Class - Eric Paslay - -56.7
14 - Honey, I'm Good. - Andy Grammer Duet With Eli Young Band - -56.0
15 - Top Of The World - Tim McGraw - -54.7
16 - Smoke Break - Carrie Underwood - -52.0
17 - Pain Killer - Little Big Town - -52.0
18 - Move On - Clare Dunn - -50.0
19 - Take Your Time - Sam Hunt - -50.0
20 - Freestyle - Lady Antebellum - -50.0
21 - Show You Off - Dan + Shay - -50.0
22 - Strip It Down - Luke Bryan - -48.7
23 - Real Life - Jake Owen - -48.7
24 - Live Forever - The Band Perry - -46.7
25 - Hit The Road - Waterloo Revival - -46.7
26 - All Country On You - Austin Webb - -46.0
27 - Bad For You - Waterloo Revival - -45.3
28 - White Lightning - The Cadillac Three - -44.7
29 - Gonna Wanna Tonight - Chase Rice - -44.7
30 - Baby Be My Love Song - Easton Corbin - -44.7
31 - Break Up With Him - Old Dominion - -44.0
32 - Doin' Country Right - David Fanning - -40.7
33 - Yup - Easton Corbin - -40.7
34 - Let Me See Ya Girl - Cole Swindell - -38.7
35 - Already Callin' You Mine - Parmalee - -38.7
36 - Take It On Back - Chase Bryant - -38.0
37 - God Made Girls - RaeLynn - -38.0
38 - Crash And Burn - Thomas Rhett - -37.3
39 - Long Stretch Of Love - Lady Antebellum - -37.3
40 - Love Is Your Name - Steven Tyler - -36.7

Edit/Added a picture of Sam Hunt for @IrishLamb @Airwrecka

[trebor]

trebor's Year in Country music 2015
(December 2014 - November 2015 / Billboard/Mediabase Year)

So it's time to lay out my favourite tracks of 2015 and bare all the guilty pleasures and reveal all the shame! <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="" /><!-- s -->
Every week I chart quite a lot of songs including all of the 60 Billboard airplay tracks.
Since the Billboard songs tend to chart for an eternity I have decided to apply a reverse point system for the 20 best frames for every title that made my chart.
The ranking is solely point based and not a quality assessment; songs going into 2016 may be placed lower than they actually would with a complete chart run.

This is the result:

#400 - #301

400 - Tattoo Hunter Hayes
399 - Destination Nickel Creek
398 - Burnin' It Down Jason Aldean
397 - I Turn To You Jetty Road
396 - Something More Than Free Jason Isbell
395 - Heartbeat Carrie Underwood
394 - Livin' In The Moment Spencer's Own
393 - Come On Kyle Park
392 - Shut Up And Fish Maddie & Tae
391 - Snapback Old Dominion
390 - By The Way Lindsay Ell
389 - Just Don't Know It Yet Chris Chitsey
388 - Power Of Positive Drinkin' Chris Janson
387 - Remembering Ashley Campbell
386 - Save My Soul Jacob Bryant
385 - Bendigo Derek Ryan
384 - Tonight Ryan Kinder
383 - Elvira Home Free Featuring The Oak Ridge Boys
382 - Night Light Blackjack Billy
381 - Nightburn The Cerny Brothers
380 - No More Michael Wilks
379 - Playing With Fire J. Michael Harter
378 - It All Started With A Beer Frankie Ballard
377 - Daddy's Hands | #DaddysHands John Clark Blackwell & Susie McEntire
376 - Break On Me Keith Urban
375 - Running For You Kip Moore
374 - Are You Ready For The Country? Hank Williams Jr. & Eric Church
373 - Getaway Truck Aaron Watson
372 - PICK ME UP Brett Kissel
371 - You Look Like I Need A Drink Justin Moore
370 - Take Me Down Vince Gill Featuring Little Big Town
369 - Afraid Of The Light Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes
368 - If I Was Over You Amanda Watkins Featuring Jamey Johnson
367 - Never Come Back Again Austin Plaine
366 - Break Up In A Small Town Sam Hunt
365 - Confession Florida Georgia Line
364 - Hurts When I Breathe Todd O'Neill
363 - Tell Me Dix Hat Band
362 - High Class Eric Paslay
361 - Livin' Like Me Ricky Gunn
360 - Wasn't Through Lovin' You Yet Alabama
359 - Come On Down High Valley
358 - Nobody To Blame Chris Stapleton
357 - Pushing Up Daisies Hey Romeo
356 - For A Boy RaeLynn
355 - Home Alone Tonight Luke Bryan Featuring Karen Fairchild
354 - Real Men Love Jesus Michael Ray
353 - Next Boyfriend Lauren Alaina
352 - Freaks Like Me Joe Nichols
351 - I Got This George Canyon
350 - Honey, I'm Good. Andy Grammer Duet With Eli Young Band
349 - Guitars, Guns, And God Shawn O'Shields
348 - Thirsty Valley Runner Of The Woods
347 - Party Like You The Cadillac Three
346 - Move On Clare Dunn
345 - Pain Killer Little Big Town
344 - I Like The Sound Of That Rascal Flatts
343 - Drunk On Your Love Brett Eldredge
342 - The Driver Charles Kelley Featuring Dierks Bentley & Eric Paslay
341 - Doin' Country Right David Fanning
340 - Soapbox Fanny Lumsden
339 - Leave The Night On Sam Hunt
338 - Bad For You Waterloo Revival
337 - 2000 Miles To TN Brigginshaw
336 - Sunshine & Whiskey Frankie Ballard
335 - My Mistake Cam
334 - Hanging On A Lie Striking Matches
333 - Party In The Barn James Robert Webb
332 - Hit The Road Waterloo Revival
331 - Used Jess Moskaluke
330 - Cold Beer Conversation George Strait
329 - Let It Go George Strait
328 - Day Drinking Little Big Town
327 - Hole In A Bottle Canaan Smith
326 - Nowhere With You SaraBeth
325 - Our Children's Future Scott Hooper
324 - When I'm Gone Craig Morgan
323 - Mr. Misunderstood Eric Church
322 - Neon Light Blake Shelton
321 - Smokin' And Drinkin' Miranda Lambert Featuring Little Big Town
320 - Head Over Boots Jon Pardi
319 - Dibs Kelsea Ballerini
318 - Jealous Of The Sun Tebey
317 - Shut Me Up Lindsay Ell
316 - What Did You Expect Erick Willis
315 - That Old Flame Don Henley Duet With Martina McBride
314 - Makin' Love Tonight James Robert Webb
313 - Love & Rock N' Roll Mitchell Tenpenny
312 - Lookin' For A Cowgirl Kristy Lee Cook
311 - Hillbilly Girl Greg Shirley
310 - Feelin' It Scotty McCreery
309 - Ringling Road William Clark Green
308 - Better Find A Church JD & The Straight Shot
307 - Hard Times Casey Barnes
306 - Hayride The Hicks
305 - Heading South Moonlight Social
304 - Better In Boots Tyler Farr
303 - Hop In My Truck Tim Cadiere & Wash Board Band
302 - Show You Off Dan + Shay
301 - Love Jana Kramer

[leomedar]

Ill be checking some of your top songs, but seeing Sam Hunt this low makes me think you have something against him! He is not taht bad at all! His songs are even played here in Argentina, which is extremely rare for a country act! But maybe that's the point, he is not THAT country I think.

I dont know it a 300+ position is good or bad?

[NothingFails]

Jason Isbell is so low. His album will show up on my list

[trebor]

Jason Isbell is so low. His album will show up on my list

It's his new radio single that will go for adds in January 2016.
It's charting prematurely here hence the low placing; will certainly be Top 100 in the 2016 year end list.
His album is #10 for the year in my album list:
10 - Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free

[CrazyCrazy]

Any alt-country or country/rock () in here?

[trebor]

Ill be checking some of your top songs, but seeing Sam Hunt this low makes me think you have something against him! He is not taht bad at all! His songs are even played here in Argentina, which is extremely rare for a country act! But maybe that's the point, he is not THAT country I think.

I dont know it a 300+ position is good or bad?

Thanks for stopping by and your comments. I see what you mean. Will add some comments and notes to make it clearer since not everybody is familiar on how Country radio and release schedules for the format work.
Sam Hunt:
On a personal level, no, I don't like him and based on an objective view his songs do not fulfil the minimum requirements to be considered Country: Legacy, storytelling and instrumentation. I don't mind it being modern but it's simply not Country in the conventional meaning. Ranking +300 is "bad" if the song has charted for 10 weeks and hasn't managed to gain more points. Will definitely add some notes. Stay put.

[trebor]

Any alt-country or country/rock () in here?

OK. You drive me Crazy. lol (pun intended). Will also add the Country sub-genre to the songs.
I'm so bad at these things. It's cool, though; that fellow posters take interest in this kind of music. I'm usually always the odd kid with that strange taste in music.

[CrazyCrazy]

You're the hipster of country here. (joke)

No just recommend a few, no need to add all of that info!

[Storyteller]

Flop, so many good songs on your worst songs chart.

Looking forward to seeing what makes your top 100 best songs.
Are these just singles or are album tracks included too?
Hope Ashley Monroe & Kacey Musgraves do well.

[trebor]

Flop, so many good songs on your worst songs chart.

Looking forward to seeing what makes your top 100 best songs.
Are these just singles or are album tracks included too?
Hope Ashley Monroe & Kacey Musgraves do well.

Was afraid you would see that... I'll post a pic of Sam's arms for general appeasement.
Only singles are listed (with the exception of "The Blade" that fooled everybody in thinking it was a proper release).
Spoiler: Kacey Musgraves is... Top 10!
Shocker: Derek Ryan only made it to #385!

[Storyteller]

Flop, so many good songs on your worst songs chart.

Looking forward to seeing what makes your top 100 best songs.
Are these just singles or are album tracks included too?
Hope Ashley Monroe & Kacey Musgraves do well.

Was afraid you would see that... I'll post a pic of Sam's arms for general appeasement.
Only singles are listed (with the exception of "The Blade" that fooled everybody in thinking it was a proper release).
Spoiler: Kacey Musgraves is... Top 10!
Shocker: Derek Ryan only made it to #385!

Disgraceful Waiting for that pic?
Ah right, I thought as much, glad The Blade is gonna sneak in
Slay Kacey
Derek can piss off

[Magnus]

04 - Dibs - Kelsea Ballerini - -67.3
11 - Love Me Like You Mean It - Kelsea Ballerini - -58.0
16 - Smoke Break - Carrie Underwood - -52.0
17 - Pain Killer - Little Big Town - -52.0
24 - Live Forever - The Band Perry - -46.7

I agree with Eoghy that there are some songs in the Worst list that definitely don't belong there. Especially not The Band Perry - Live Forever. That song is top 20 material for me (not just country but out of all new songs I've heard so far in 2015). Based on this, I think I will have to check out all other songs (or at least those by female singers) on this list that I'm not already familiar with, hoping for something great that I have missed!

[trebor]

Derek can piss off

You're killing me! Stay as you are! <3

[Magnus]

Wait, "The Blade" wasn't a proper single? What morons decide these things?

Anyway, nice with a top 400 of country singles! I was just thinking the other day how many more pop songs are released than country songs, at least when trying to count everything and not just from major labels etc. In Spotify there is almost a 10 to 1 ratio (estimated from those releases that have been genre tagged at Last.fm since Spotify doesn't have its own tags). So this is in some ways equivalent to a top 3000 of pop songs from 2015 .

[trebor]

04 - Dibs - Kelsea Ballerini - -67.3
11 - Love Me Like You Mean It - Kelsea Ballerini - -58.0
16 - Smoke Break - Carrie Underwood - -52.0
17 - Pain Killer - Little Big Town - -52.0
24 - Live Forever - The Band Perry - -46.7

I agree with Eoghy that there are some songs in the Worst list that definitely don't belong there. Especially not The Band Perry - Live Forever. That song is top 20 material for me (not just country but out of all new songs I've heard so far in 2015). Based on this, I think I will have to check out all other songs (or at least those by female singers) on this list that I'm not already familiar with, hoping for something great that I have missed!

Thanks for stopping by and for commenting.

This is a personal list/assessment and my very own opinion; and I realise that my understanding of Country differs from the general perception of the genre on UKMiX. That's basically the reason why I don't comment on Country topics here on UKMiX. [For Country music I have a different home base forum]

The Band Perry:
This is not Country to start with and BMLG has pulled the single off the Country airwaves as it was flopping hard. The album release has been postponed giving some dubious reasons and The Band Perry has declared its departure from the genre altogether and going 100% pop. "Live Forever" has been sent to CHR radio now and, if I'm not totally mistaken, has made the Mediabase Hot AC Top 50.
On my year end chart, "Live Forever" is at #285 because it's admittedly kind of cute (for a pop song).
I will add YouTube links to the songs so you can sample them in an easy way.

[trebor]

Wait, "The Blade" wasn't a proper single? What morons decide these things?

Anyway, nice with a top 400 of country singles! I was just thinking the other day how many more pop songs are released than country songs, at least when trying to count everything and not just from major labels etc. In Spotify there is almost a 10 to 1 ratio (estimated from those releases that have been genre tagged at Last.fm since Spotify doesn't have its own tags). So this is in some ways equivalent to a top 3000 of pop songs from 2015 .

Ashley Monroe:
At present Warner is neither promoting the album nor a new track. This Monday will be the last day of the year that the labels will send songs to Country radio and then there will be a 3 to 4 weeks' freeze when Christmas songs take over the airwaves. Maybe there will be news coming for January or February 2016.
Currently, Warner is busy securing #1's for Blake Shelton and Dan + Shay on both Billboard and Mediabase before Jason Aldean will take over a multi-week #1 over the holiday period.**
** Edit/Jan 7, 2016: Thomas Rett went past Jason Aldean and blocked the #1 spot throughout the turn of the year with Jason at #2 which interrupts his 5 #1 in a row streak.

There are more than 50 releases going to Country radio every week, so there are plenty of tracks around, but only a very small fraction (1%-2%) makes the Billboard chart. Country has a market share of about 18% so it's pretty much understandable that Pop is the main genre. Spotify is good for mainstream but lacks most of the alternative and independent label releases; and some of the biggest mainstream acts, too, actually.

[Magnus]

^^ Thanks for replying. Interesting, I didn't know that about The Band Perry. I agree the song is more pop than country, that may be the reason why I like it so much. I think "country flavoured pop" is starting to become my favourite music genre, even though I still like a lot of songs that don't have any country at all in them. I think I can now somehow understand how the song ended up in your Worst country singles list and of course we can have very different opinions about a certain song. I look forward to seeing the rest of the chart!

Edit:
Interesting info about country radio and the labels. 3-4 weeks of Christmas songs . I'm really happy I don't listen to the radio anymore (since almost a decade). Most years I can only tolerate Christmas songs from December 23rd until the 26th or so...

Those independent country songs that are not released to Spotify, where do you find them? iTunes? For pop my understanding was that (except for some high profile mainstream releases like you mentioned) almost everything was on Spotify (sometimes with a bit of delay compared to e.g, YouTube), except of course when there are geographic restrictions.

[trebor]

^^ OK & Thanks!
I really do hope that you will find some songs that fit your bill.

[trebor]

You're the hipster of country here. (joke)

No just recommend a few, no need to add all of that info!

Have to think about this first, you have such an eclectic taste and I don't want to disappoint you with something you'll disapprove...
PS: like the sound of "Country Hipster"! Better than "Hillbilly", "Hobo" and "Howdy" as my friends tease call me.

[Magnus]

Simul-posting mess . I edited the post above to include reply to your second post that I hadn't seen when I first wrote it.

[CrazyCrazy]

You don't need to impress me or anything... this is your personal chart after all buddy. Just something a bit like Bonamassa I guess, I like him.

Justin Townes Earle/Steve Earle? Do you listen to these guys? If so something like that would be nice too.

[Storyteller]

Any chance Reba will make this? Going Out Like That was amazing

You don't need to impress me or anything... this is your personal chart after all buddy. Just something a bit like Bonamassa I guess, I like him.

Justin Townes Earle/Steve Earle? Do you listen to these guys? If so something like that would be nice too.

Listen to Kacey Musgraves, Bill, she’s amazing.

[trebor]

Those independent country songs that are not released to Spotify, where do you find them? iTunes? For pop my understanding was that (except for some high profile mainstream releases like you mentioned) almost everything was on Spotify (sometimes with a bit of delay compared to e.g, YouTube), except of course when there are geographic restrictions.

Artist's home page, label home page, NPR (Indie distribution), iTunes USA (1:30 samples) & CD-Baby Digital.
Artists with bigger promo budgets should all be on Media Base All Access for streaming.
Spotify is geo-restricted so everybody of us has a different artist and song roster available; depending on the licensing agreements with that country.
For example, I'm geo-restricted for Darin's latest album and cannot access "Ta mig tillbaka". To see if a song is on Spotify I open and run the application twice and in the second window I force to open a Spotify song link via Google; and then import it into my library which then will show me an entry in translucent colours which I cannot activate. Although I know that the song exists, the Spotifiy search function will yield no results for it.
I have some Japanese rock songs in my library and this really angers me! Also, the fact that sometimes songs in my play-list change colour and I can no longer activate them as they are pulled from Spotify.

[CrazyCrazy]

Thanks Eoghan (?)

High Time is really pretty, will listen to more of her stuff to see what I make of it.