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Changes to Billboard's country charts

C

ChrisInMI

In a nutshell, Billboard has modified its Country Songs chart to include digital downloads and streaming. And airplay will be counted not only from country stations, but songs that have crossed over to pop will have airplay from pop stations factored in as well. Reaction on Billboard's web site from commenters has been mostly negative, with a number of the positive comments coming from Taylor Swift fans. And why wouldn't they be happy... under the new chart methodology, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" is now #1 on the Country Songs chart, despite having virtually fallen out of the Top 40 on the airplay side. The original airplay-only chart continues but will now be dubbed Country Airplay.

http://www.billboard.com/news#/column/chartbeat/ask-billboard-chart-ch-ch-changes-1007979382.story
 
This is an interesting issue. There's an online petition as well against the new chart. Billboard has historically been a sales-oriented trade. Radio & Records was started as an effort to be an airplay oriented trade. Then Billboard started its own airplay system, and launched the Airplay Monitor many years ago. Billboard used BDS, while R&R used Mediabase. Billboard Monitor was shut down after the merger with R&R, and the R&R chart was merged with Billboard's. That led to Mediabase using USA Today and Country Aircheck.

Billboard is obviously looking to differentiate itself from Mediabase. Their point is the music marketplace involves more than OTA radio. The new Billboard system obviously favors cross-over artists, and those having success on platforms beyond country radio. There's certainly a market for that. It'll be interesting to see how the country media react to the new chart. CMT and GAC have used the Billboard charts in their reporting on country singles. I believe all of the radio countdown shows use Mediabase. So will the two TV networks switch to Mediabase rather than Billboard? I guess we'll see.
 
Hmm. This is much more interesting than I thought. I had no idea the charts would change so drastically. Heck Taylor Swift's Red has gone nothing to #2. Instantly.

I think this is an interesting step, but I am not sure I like it. If we are factoring in other things, such as pop music plays, it will get much more difficult if not impossible for traditional country artists to take #1. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together is also on the Latin charts and that too appears to be counted in. I am not sure someone, like George Strait for example, will ever get on the Latin charts.

I don't think simple radio plays is the right way to go anymore. But including plays from other genres does not make Taylor's songs any bigger of a country hit. It just makes it a bigger hit, not a country hit. Throwing in plays from other genres in my opinion, makes it incorrect and should be fixed.
 
I think you're misunderstanding the article. It's not saying the Latin chart will affect the Country chart. It's saying the Country Chart and the Latin Chart, as well as R&B and Rock charts, will incorporate download sales and streaming data in addition to radio plays. So if George Strait gets tons of streaming plays via Spotify or Pandora, he could do better on Billboard than he might on airplay only charts. This might affect Jamey Johnson's new project, that won't get much OTA radio airplay, but could get some plays via streaming sites. I've read that a lot of Americana artists are getting plays on streaming sites, and that will now count on the Billboard country chart.

A point could be made that older country audiences are less likely to download or stream music than listen via conventional radio. While younger fans are more likely to use the internet.
 
I have mixed feelings about the changes... Glad they're incorporating downloads, thrilled they're including streaming, not so crazy about incorporating airplay from other formats. I agree with Casey that including pop airplay is going to skew and water down the genre charts.

I think the industry needs to reclassify the genres of some tracks. Going with the Taylor Swift example, does anyone really consider "We Are Never..." country? While I don't have a demo breakdown, I'm sure most of the downloads have come as a result of pop rather than country exposure (in addition the general Taylor fans who download it just because they love Taylor). The song is definitely a Pop radio hit but wasn't much of a Country radio hit, likely picked up mostly by MDs who just wanted to spin something from Taylor's forthcoming release (many of whom are now jumping off & adding "Begin Again"). Most Country reviewers I've read don't consider the song country at all.

That said, I'm certainly fine with some of Taylor's new songs being called Country. "Begin" seems to be gaining momentum at Country radio (I added it last week), and several of the other early-released songs from Red would fit on Country radio quite well.

I'm sure the industry would say a genre reclassification would take too much time & money. I realize that & am not asking for a major classification overhaul of everything in the iTunes library. But when it's a song as big and (in some quarters) as polarizing as "We Are Never," is it going to hurt anything to put in a little extra effort?
 
I think the change in the methodology for Billboard is their recognition that people don't just listen to one genre of music and don't just get their music from one source. I'm not saying the new methodology is perfect, but it is an acknowledgment that the antiquated ways of identifying what is hit are somewhat irrelevant in 2012.
 
I have been wondering why Billboard's country charts seemed to kind of go down hill in October so bad after all these years of being one of the best ways of keep track of the top new country songs. I know they needed to incorporate internet and downloads into their figures of what made up the top country songs but I am sick of all the Pop and Rock that is being mixed into country music. Country Music certainly dosen't need anymore watering down and diluting than it already as now. A new gene realignment of music in the country field would be a very very welcome change. If it would get some of diluted music out of country where we could get more new real country music then I would be the first to stand up and cheer for it nation wide. Is it time for it? shoot, Man it is way over due.
 
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