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Beyonce Country Project

I pulled out my Joel Whitburn, and yes they peaked at #37 on 10/5/74 with a song called Fairytale. TBH I never heard of this song. I know Slow Hand, which they recorded, was also a hit for Conway Twitty. But that's it.

Fairytale peaked at #13 on the Hot 100 and #13 on AC charts. But how it charted country is beyond me.
Listen to the song. It's got steel and walking bass and everything. It is absolutely a country record. I wish I was listening to country radio at the time, but I definitely remember AC WHEN(AM) in Syracuse playing it.

 
Here's the status at the end of the week:


It's breakout in other formats, but off to a slow start in country. Very much wait & see. She has no heritage in the format, so she's like a new artist. Plus the rest of the chart is jammed with certified hits.
 
LA based music/media pundit Bob Lefsetz has written a commentary on the Beyonce song, with perhaps more detail and more inside baseball than most people can handle:


He points out the situation in a convoluted way. The simple way to put it is nobody really knows who is streaming the song. Nobody knows what music they like or what age they are or anything. But streaming is the driving force behind any of the Billboard Hot charts. That means Hot 100 and Hot Country. So yes, the song is #1 in the Hot Country chart, but that doesn't mean the country fans like it. The Country Airplay chart is a better barometer because we know what's driving that chart.
 
Here's how Billboard explains why the Beyonce song is #1 in the Hot Country chart:

The track rises to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and leads Hot Country Songs for a second week. In the Feb. 16-22 tracking week, it surged by 51% to 29 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate, and takes over atop Streaming Songs and Country Streaming Songs. On Country Airplay, it flies 54-34.

So as we've said, the song is being driven by streaming. But we don't know if the streamers are country music fans at all. Just that their streams are being counted this way because Billboard and Columbia Records have designated the song for country (as well as five other formats).
 
Here's how Billboard explains why the Beyonce song is #1 in the Hot Country chart:



So as we've said, the song is being driven by streaming. But we don't know if the streamers are country music fans at all. Just that their streams are being counted this way because Billboard and Columbia Records have designated the song for country (as well as five other formats).
Country radio adds for Beyonce continue strong, with 41 in her second full week, topped only by the 68 stations that added Dierks Bentley's banjo-driven remake of Tom Petty's "American Girl."

FWIW, I haven't heard "Texas Hold 'Em" on any of our area stations yet. Two of them spotlight new songs every Monday and Tuesday, and neither has picked up on Beyonce.
 
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I saw on one of my socials that Texas Hold 'Em is officially the first song to simultaneously chart on the Top 40, Hot AC, AC, Country, Rhythmic, Urban, Urban AC and Triple-A Mediabase charts.

Fun fact, if true. I'll admit that I didn't spend the time to verify the claim, though.
 
Country adds for Beyonce continue strong, with 41 in her second full week, topped only by the 68 stations that added Dierks Bentley's banjo-driven remake of Tom Petty's "American Girl."

When you look at which stations are playing Beyonce, it's mainly big cities: Houston, San Francisco, Kansas City, and Indianapolis. What you don't see are small towns, especially in the south.

I saw on one of my socials that Texas Hold 'Em is officially the first song to simultaneously chart on the Top 40, Hot AC, AC, Country, Rhythmic, Urban, Urban AC and Triple-A Mediabase charts.

Once again, that's being driven by streaming, and we don't know who the streamers are. The only reason it's topping all those charts is the song was designated for those charts by the label and Billboard. So it's very possible that all of those charts are affected by traditional Beyonce fans, who don't listen to AAA or country music. That's the problem with streaming: It's not based on genre or format.

Letsetz makes a good point that Lil Nas X could have done the same thing with Old Town Road. He & Billy Ray Cyrus performed that song at CMA Fest in Nashville, and everyone in the stadium knew that song.
 
Only for radio airplay. Yes, airplay is included. But as you can see from what I wrote in post 68, the streaming number is bigger.

OK, you made me go look it up on Mediabase which is what my post was about after all:
Texas Hold 'Em is officially the first song to simultaneously chart on the Top 40, Hot AC, AC, Country, Rhythmic, Urban, Urban AC and Triple-A Mediabase charts.

This is where Beyonce's Texas Hold 'Em ranks this week on Mediabase's Published 7-Day charts, which are based on radio airplay reported by radio stations on its Published Panel:

#21 - Top40
#24 - Hot AC
#33 - AC
#41 - Country
#31 - Rhythmic
#40 - Urban
#25 - R&B (Urban AC)
#42 - Triple A
 
OK, you made me go look it up on Mediabase which is what my post was about after all:

I misread your previous post. I'd love to hear the explanation from the AAA editor. Seems to me Adele had the record before this.

Among the top AAA spinners is WFUV NY. Might be a first for Beyonce on that station. Also on The River in Boston and WXPN in Philadelphia.
 
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Among the top AAA spinners is WFUV NY. Might be a first for Beyonce on that station. Also on The River in Boston and WXPN in Philadelphia.

Triple-A was the first place I expected to see it since that's where so many songs end up that don't fit anywhere else. Interesting to see that that it's got something going at so many other formats, though.

The song is either on the way up or in its first significant week on the chart in most of those formats. Just the novelty factor or real traction? I guess we'll see.
 
Triple-A was the first place I expected to see it since that's where so many songs end up that don't fit anywhere else. Interesting to see that that it's got something going at so many other formats, though.

AAA is the oddball on the list. Neither Adele nor Lil Nas X charted AAA when they were current. All three songs are on Columbia.
 
AAA is the oddball on the list. Neither Adele nor Lil Nas X charted AAA when they were current. All three songs are on Columbia.
Huh? Adele has had plenty of success at AAA. In fact, “Rolling In The Deep” got its start there before crossing over. It also charted top 20 at Alternative, odd enough.


I remember “Easy On Me” going top five at AAA, but I can’t find the archived chart.
 
OK, you made me go look it up on Mediabase which is what my post was about after all:


This is where Beyonce's Texas Hold 'Em ranks this week on Mediabase's Published 7-Day charts, which are based on radio airplay reported by radio stations on its Published Panel:

#21 - Top40
#24 - Hot AC
#33 - AC
#41 - Country
#31 - Rhythmic
#40 - Urban
#25 - R&B (Urban AC)
#42 - Triple A
#41 in country means that few stations are playing it and those that are are not putting it in power.
 
I remember “Easy On Me” going top five at AAA, but I can’t find the archived chart.

That was the specific song I was referring to. It didn't show up on Billboard's AAA chart.

However you are correct about Rolling In The Deep. She has 5 songs on that chart, including that one.

 


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