Florida Georgia Line’s ‘Can’t Say I Ain’t Country’ Debuts At No. 1

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FGL visits “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in Los Angeles. Photo by Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.

Florida Georgia Line’s fourth studio album Can’t Say I Ain’t Country (BMLG Records) debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, with consumption of 300,000 album equivalents.

To promote their latest album, Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley went on a week-long, coast-to-coast jaunt, appearing on both daytime and late-night television. The duo stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show Thursday (Feb. 21) to perform their single “Talk You Out of It,” and then chatted with host DeGeneres –who later surprised Hubbard and his wife Hayley with the gender reveal of their second child due in August. (See video below).

Heading into the 54th Academy of Country Music Awards on April 7,  FGL is nominated for Duo of the Year, Single of the Year, Song of the Year, and Music Event of the Year—all for their 4-times Platinum, “Meant to Be” collaboration with Bebe Rexha.

FGL’s upcoming tour features Dan + Shay and Morgan Wallen, plus special guests HARDY and Canaan Smith on select stops.

FlyteVu Adds 7 Team Members

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FlyteVu, the entertainment marketing agency founded by Laura Hutfless and Jeremy Holley, recently added seven new hires to its Nashville office.

Joining the team are:

Scott Bennett, Director of Finance. He previously worked at Element Three, the largest marketing and digital agency in Indianapolis.

Sarah Duggan, Strategist. Her 12-plus years of experience includes time at VML working with clients Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, Opry Entertainment Group, and Ryman Hospitality Properties.

Taylor Eickenhorst joins FlyteVu’s Accounts team in Client Service. She was previously a Budweiser Music & Experiential Manager at Anheuser-Busch InBev, creating partnerships with Thomas Rhett, Kane Brown, Lindsay Ell and Travis Denning. Eickenhorst was named to Billboard’s 40 under 40 Rising Stars list in 2018.

Kimberly Thuman, Project Manager. She previously worked at Big Machine Label Group, where she helped launch Big Machine Vodka and its partnership with the Brickyard 400.

Sarah Connors, Project Manager. She most recently worked at the Country Music Hall of Fame managing the financial, marketing, and promotional needs for a variety of the museum’s clients. Before moving to Nashville, she was employed at ESPN.

Tiffany Thompson is appointed Project Manager on the Accounts team.

Elise Dransfield joins the Creative team after time as a freelance designer

FlyteVu’s brand clients include Cracker Barrel, Bumble, Norwegian Cruise Line, Enterprise, Journeys, Pilgrimage Festival, ClassPass, Dell, Spotify, Victoria’s Secret PINK, and American Red Cross. They have partnered these clients with artists including The Roots, Keith Urban, The Chainsmokers, HAIM, Meghan Trainor, and Kelly Clarkson. Within the last year FlyteVu executed the first fan-ticketed event with Zac Brown’s Sir Rosevelt for client Enterprise, and the first double-decker mobile bus concert in Chicago with Marshmello for Victoria’s Secret PINK. The award-winning agency had two Super Bowl spots in 2019, including Norwegian Cruise Line, and a Bumble ad featuring Serena Williams.

Weekly Register: Kacey Musgraves’ ‘Golden Hour’ Tops Country Albums Chart Following Grammy Sweep

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Kacey Musgraves

Following its two Grammy wins for Album of the Year (country and overall), Kacey Musgraves’ acclaimed Golden Hour has re-entered the Top 200 Albums chart at No. 9 this week, with 35,000 equivalent album units earned for the week ending Feb. 14, according to Nielsen Soundscan. The stat makes Musgraves’ Golden Hour the first album in the past century to re-enter the Top 200 in the Top 10 following a Grammy Awards show.

The project also tops this week’s Country Albums chart, besting its debut week back in April 2018, when Golden Hour entered the chart at No. 4. This week’s sales mark a 524 percent sales surge for Musgraves’ album. Musgraves earned a total of four Grammy wins on Sunday, Feb. 10, with the additional accolades of Best Country Song (“Space Cowboy”) and Best Country Solo Performance (“Butterflies”).

Other big post-Grammy album winners include Brandi Carlile. Carlile swept the American Roots portion of the awards show, and her By The Way, I Forgive You album re-enters the Top 200 at No. 22, with 20K (marking an 897 percent increase).

Musgraves’ fellow Grammy winners and nominees dominate this week’s Top 5, with Grammy Best New Artist nominee Luke Combs‘ This One’s For You at No. 2 (25K), first-time Grammy winners Dan + Shay at No. 3 with 18K (marking a 17 percent post-Grammy sales surge), and Grammy nominee Chris Stapleton‘s Traveller at No. 4 with 13K. Kane Brown‘s Experiment rounds out the Top 5 with 10K.

On the Top 5 Country streaming songs chart, Luke Combs’ “Beautiful Crazy” leads with 8.9 million streams. Dan + Shay take the No. 2 and No. 3 spots with “Speechless” (8 million) and “Tequila” (7.9 million), respectively. Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” is at No. 4 with 7.5 million streams and Kane Brown’s “Heaven” rounds out the Top 5 with 7.1 million streams.

Weekly Register: Grammy Winners Dan + Shay Continue Country Streaming Reign

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Dan+Shay. Photo: Patrick Tracy

Dan + Shay, who earned their first Grammy on Sunday, continue to reign atop the country streaming chart, according to Nielsen Soundscan. Their song “Speechless” earned 8.5 million spins over the past week. Their Grammy-winning single “Tequila” sits at No. 3, with 7.4 million, while the duo’s self-titled album is at No. 2 on the country albums chart.

Luke Combs‘ “Beautiful Crazy” is at No. 2 on the Top Country Streaming Songs chart, moving 7.8 million streams this week. Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” is at No. 4 with 7.3 million, while Kane Brown’s “Heaven” is at No. 5 with 7 million. The top debut comes from Florida Georgia Line’s “Woman,” a collaboration with Jason DeRulo, which enters at No. 35 with 3 million streams.

Over on the country albums chart, Luke Combs’ This One’s For You extended its power for another week, moving 24K in total consumption. The aforementioned Dan + Shay are at No. 2, followed by Chris Stapleton’s Traveller at No. 3 with 12K. Kane Brown is at No. 4, with Experiment moving 11K units, while Jason Aldean’s Rearview Town is at No. 5 with 9.5K.

Weekly Register: Luke Combs Returns To Top Of Country Albums Chart

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Luke Combs returns to the top of the country albums sales chart this week, with This One’s For You moving 22.5K (3.6K album only), according to Nielsen Soundscan. Last week’s album sales chart saw Combs’ project drop to No. 2, as Cody Johnson debuted at No. 1 with his album Ain’t Nothin’ To It. Johnson’s album falls to No. 5 this week, with 10K (3.9K album only). Dan + Shay‘s self-titled album is at No. 2 with 15K (1.7K album only). Chris Stapleton‘s Traveller ranks at No. 3 with 13K (3.5K album only), and Kane Brown‘s Experiment is at No. 4 with 11K (2.5K album only).

Dan + Shay continue to dominate the country streaming songs this week, again taking the top two spots. “Speechless” ranks at No. 1 with 9.3 million streams, while “Tequila” follows at No. 2 with 7.7 million streams. Combs’ “Beautiful Crazy” is at No. 3 with 7.5 million streams, followed by Brown’s “Heaven” with 6.9 million streams. Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” is at No. 5 with 6.8 million streams.

Weekly Register: Cody Johnson, Maren Morris Top Country Sales Charts

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Cojo Music/Warner Music Nashville artist Cody Johnson makes a triumphant debut atop this week’s Country Album chart, according to Nielsen Soundscan. Johnson’s Ain’t Nothin’ To It moved 34.5K units (12 million song streams). Johnson’s first major label album also debuted at No. 1 on the all-genre Digital Album Sales chart.

Luke Combs‘ This One’s For You follows on the country albums chart this week at No. 2 with 22K (22 million song streams), with Dan + Shay‘s self-titled album at No. 3, moving 15K (16 million song streams). Chris Stapleton‘s Traveller is at No. 4 (11K/10 million song streams), followed by Kane Brown‘s Experiment at No. 5 with 11K and 10 million song streams).

 

Meanwhile, on the Country Song Sales chart, Columbia Nashville’s Maren Morris‘ recently-released “Girl” tops the list with 14K, followed by Dan + Shay’s “Speechless” with 10K, and Luke Combs “Beautiful Crazy” at No. 3 with 8.6K. Old Dominion‘s “Make It Sweet” is at No. 4 with 7K, while Tenille Arts‘ “I Hate This” debuts at No. 5 with 6.5K.

On the Country Streaming Songs chart, Morris also makes a big debut at No. 20 with “Girl,” which was streamed 3.8 million times in its first week. Dan + Shay take the top two slots with “Speechless” at No. 1 (9.2 million) and “Tequila” at No. 2 (7.8 million). Luke Combs’ “Beautiful Crazy” is at No. 3 with 7.7 million, followed by Kane Brown’s “Heaven” at No. 4 with 6.8 million and Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” at No. 5 with 6.8 million.

Weekly Register: Dan + Shay Again Hold Top Two Country Streaming Song Positions

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Dan+Shay. Photo: Patrick Tracy

Country Streams

Dan + Shay again hold the top two slots on the Country Digital Song Sales chart and Country On-Demand Streaming Songs charts, according to Nielsen Soundscan. “Speechless” has sold an additional 14K this past week (292K RTD) and streamed an additional 9.8 million (185 million RTD). The duo’s “Tequila” hits the No. 2 spots on the sales and streaming charts, moving 8.4K (518K RTD) and streaming 8.7M (363M RTD).

Debuting this week is Chris Young‘s “Raised on Country,” at No. 48 this week after moving 5.4K units.

Falling in third on the Country Digital Song Sales chart behind Dan + Shay is Luke Combs‘ “Beautiful Crazy” with 8.4K (276K RTD). Jake Owen moves up one slot from last week to No. 4 with “Down to the Honkytonk” (6.5K, 117K RTD), and again Combs bringing it home with an additional 6.4K on “She Got the Best of Me” (329K RTD).

Following up Dan + Shay’s top two holds for Country On-Demand Streaming Songs chart is Combs’ “She Got the Best of Me” with an additional 8.4M this week (186M RTD). Coming in at No. 4 is Mitchell Tenpenny‘s “Drunk Me” with 8.4M (164M RTD) and No. 5 is Combs’ “Beautiful Crazy” with 8.2M (212M RTD).

Albums

Interesting for albums overall, A Boogie wit da Hoodie‘s Hoodie SZN moved only sold 823 albums, but was streamed 83 million times to become the No. 1 album on the Top 200 (Total Activity: 58K). This marks the lowest sales number for a No. 1 album in chart history.

Turning to country albums this week, there is no debut.

Not much changed this week with the Country Albums chart. The sales chart is the exact same as last week with Luke Combs at the top with This One’s For You (25.5K in total activity this week, 27 million song streams), Dan + Shay’s self-titled effort moving 19K at No. 2, Kane Brown’s Experiment moved 13K units at No. 3. And No. 4 is Chris Stapleton’s Traveller (12), followed again by Thomas Rhett’s Life Changes (11K).

Carrie Underwood, Kacey Musgraves, Jason Aldean Earn Top Apple Music Honors For 2018

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Pictured (clockwise from top L): Carrie Underwood, Kacey Musgraves, Jason Aldean

In 2018, Apple Music saw its country music streaming numbers continue to grow, with streams rising more than 50 percent, year over year (globally). The streaming service recently revealed several of the service’s top-performing country artists over the past year.

Kacey Musgraves‘ Golden Hour, which earned the Country Music Association’s Album of the Year honor in November, and recently earned Grammy nominations for the overall Album of the Year and Country Album of the Year, has earned Apple Music’s overall Album of the Year honor. Musgraves’ “Space Cowboy” has also been named among Apple Music’s Best of 2018 Editorial Picks; the service premiered a live performance video of Musgraves’ “Slow Burn” back in October.

Jason Aldean ranks as the service’s most-streamed country male artist for 2018. His latest album Rearview Town was released to Apple Music with a two-week premium window; the album debuted at No. 1 on Apple’s country albums chart and broke the record for most-streamed country album in its first week.

Carrie Underwood is Apple Music’s most-streamed country female artist for 2018, as her latest album Cry Pretty was the No. 5 most-streamed country album overall this year.

Kane Brown‘s “Heaven” earned the title of most-streamed country song on Apple Music for 2018. Brown’s album Experiment set a new US record on Apple Music for the largest debut of a country album in the first 24 hours of release. Apple Music partnered with Brown on the release of his No. 1 album with Apple Music Presents, an artist-led program that documents the making of the album and includes a live show for fans.

The Apple Music most-streamed breakout country artist of 2018 was Luke Combs. In terms of streams, he trails only behind Aldean in numbers of overall streams. His album This One’s For You Too was the most-streamed country album of the year during its first week of release, and “Beautiful Crazy” is the most-streamed song from a new country artist on Apple Music in 2018. His track “She’s Got The Best of Me” was included in Apple Music’s Best of 2018 Editorial picks.

Apple Music has doubled down on its commitment to country music over the past year. An Apple Music Content Creation office is slated to open in Nashville’s Wedgewood-Houston area in 2019. Earlier this year, Apple executive Jay Liepis relocated to Nashville to begin building and leading a team to become more involved with Nashville’s country music community. Liepis has been at Apple for more than 13 years, and has overseen all music programming and relationships across the music business. His career also includes time as an online marketing manager for Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

UMG Nashville Promotes Stephanie Wright, Brad Clark

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Pictured (L-R): Stephanie Wright, Brad Clark

Universal Music Group Nashville, the label group consisting of Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Records Nashville, MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville, has announced two promotions. Stephanie Wright has been promoted to Senior Vice President of A&R and Brad Clark has been elevated to Vice President of Commercial Development.

Wright, who joined Universal Music Group Nashville almost 20 years ago, previously served as Vice President of A&R and she will continue to handle A&R initiatives for UMG Nashville artists including Adam Hambrick, Billy Currington, Brandon Lay, CB30, Clare Dunn, Gary Allan, Jordan Davis, Kacey Musgraves, Kassi Ashton, Lauren Alaina, Little Big Town, Luke Bryan, Maddie & Tae, Sam Hunt and more. A native of Salt Lake City, Utah, Wright came to the music business through her cousins, the Platinum-selling sibling trio SHeDAISY. Since then, Wright has been instrumental in critically-acclaimed albums including Lee Ann Womack’s Call Me Crazy, Kacey Musgraves’ Same Trailer Different Park and Sam Hunt’s Montevallo. A 2017 and 2018 Nashville Business Journal Woman of the Year honoree, Wright recently became a member of the TJ Martell Foundation’s southern Region Board of Governors.

“When I arrived at UMG six years ago,” says Mike Dungan, UMG Nashville Chairman & CEO, “I was pleasantly surprised to witness the ‘quality ears,’ the professionalism and the full grasp of all things A&R that came from Stephanie. Since then she has proven that she is top of class and I am very happy to recognize her many contributions with this promotion.”

“Nashville’s music community is unparalleled when it comes to collaboration and creativity, and as a result, the artists, writers, songs and ultimately the formats are better for it,” adds Wright. “I am so honored to work with our artists and an incredible team – Mike, Cindy, Brian and the rest of the UMGN staff – who dig into this process, invest time and energy to create the best paths for our roster.”

Originally from a small town in North Carolina, Clark started his career at Capitol Records in 2003 after graduating from Belmont University with a degree in Music Business and Marketing. In his new role, Clark will continue to handle sales and retail strategy for the entire roster of UMG Nashville artists. Some recent notable campaigns include ticket bundles for Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban, in addition to Eric Church’s 61 Days in Church live recordings with Apple Music.

“Brad has worked his way up through the ranks of UMG Nashville with hard work and a very strategic approach to the business,” notes Mike Harris, COO of Universal Music Group Nashville. “He has the keen ability to break down data and translate this information to the overall UMG Nashville retail strategy. Brad is a big reason why we have enjoyed amazing retail success over the past years as well as great relationships with our accounts.”

“With such a talented roster of artists and executives, I’m honored to be a part of the UMG Nashville family,” says Clark. “Each day brings the opportunity to learn, to grow and to adopt as we navigate our business for the future. I’m thankful for this role and the support of the entire team; especially from Mike Harris, Cindy Mabe and Mike Dungan.”

Taylor Swift Teases New ‘Reputation Stadium Tour’ Netflix Film

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Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour, a new movie featuring highlights from Swift’s latest monster tour, is coming to Netflix before year’s end. The mega-star announced the upcoming film will arrive on Netflix before the year is up on social media, and shared a trailer of footage from the upcoming concert film.

Taylor Swift reputation Stadium Tour will premiere on the streaming platform on New Year’s Eve at 12:00 a.m. PT on Dec. 31. According to Netflix the film includes footage from the U.S. tour dates with guest appearances by Charli XCX and Camila Cabello.

Reputation, which kicked off in May, broke U.S. records for the highest-grossing domestic tour, having grossed $266.1 million and selling 2,068,399 tickets according to Billboard.

“Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes!” Swift tweeted. “Today I finally get to show you something we’ve been working on for a while… the trailer for the Reputation Stadium Tour!”