--:-- Noel King: Welcome to Today Explained, I'm Noel King.
--:-- Noel King: Country music is cool again. Billboard's Melinda Newman explains.
--:-- Melinda Newman: Shabuzi's A Bar Song is at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for the 10th week in a row. He's having a moment. Also, Country is having a moment. Shabuzi, Post Malone, Beyonce, they're all crossing over. They're collaborating with Dolly and Willie and Jelly, and they're propelling country up the mainstream charts, even as streaming puts it into the years of millions of new listeners.
--:-- Noel King: Ahead on Today Explained, we've gone country. Support for Today Explained comes from BetterHelp.
--:-- Melinda Newman: Let me tell you a true story. Last weekend, I got an email from a listener who wanted to discuss their problems with me. And I said, look, I don't think that this is about me personally. At least I hope it's not. Why don't you try BetterHelp.com slash Explained. Absolute truth.
--:-- Noel King: As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Find the one with BetterHelp. The one is not me, guys. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash explain. That's BetterHelp.com slash explain.
--:-- Melinda Newman: You're listening to Today Explained, your home for country music. Wait, is that right? Yep. I'm Melinda Newman, and I'm Billboard's Executive Editor for the West Coast of Nashville. I oversee all of our country coverage with a staff in Nashville, but I'm in charge of all of the country output that we do, other than charts and things like that.
--:-- Noel King: Melinda, you look at the charts, you look at downloads, you even look at album sales. These are like blockbuster numbers for any genre. What is driving this?
--:-- Melinda Newman: This is very much driven by the listeners. What had happened was country music fans were not streaming music at the rate that fans of other genres like hip hop, rock, pop, Latin were streaming. And because they were older, because they were still very attached to terrestrial radio, and they've shifted. They're discovering artists via streaming as opposed to waiting to be spoon-fed music by country radio. Streaming numbers last year were up 23.5% over the year before. That indexed higher than any other genre.
--:-- Noel King: Country radio is still very important. It's probably the most important in country than any other genre. But fans are now steering the ship now. So who are the names? Who's getting up to number one and really making this a moment?
--:-- Melinda Newman: We're having a bunch of names. It's coming from kind of across the board. For example, last year, there were four number one songs on the Hot 100 by country artists. And that had not happened since the 70s. And the Hot 100, just so people understand, is all genres. And it's based on streaming, sales, and radio play. It's a multi-metric chart. And so last year, Morgan Wallen's Last Night hit number one. Jason Aldean's Try That in a Small Town hit number one. Oliver Anthony's Richmond, North of Richmond, hit number one. And then Zach Bryan and Casey Musgraves, I Remember Everything, hit number one. And if you know those songs, they're very different songs, four very different songs. And so it just shows the range of what's happening in country and the popularity.
--:-- Noel King: We're seeing, if you look at the two songs this year that have hit the Hot 100 and were our top two songs of the summer, they were both country songs. Some of them crossed over, but they were number one on country as well. I had some help. It ain't like I can make this kind of mess all by myself. Don't act like you. So Post Malone and Morgan Wallen's I Had Some Help was our number one song of the summer. Couldn't tell.
--:-- Melinda Newman: Followed by a bar song, Tipsy by Shaboozy. There's a party downtown near Fifth Street. Everybody at the bar gets tipsy. That was very much a crossover song. But the interesting thing, just to show how popular country is, is last summer, the number one song of the summer was Morgan Wallen's Last Night, followed by Luke Combs' remake of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car. You got a fast car. Is it fast enough so we can fly away? Still gotta make a decision. Leave tonight or live and die this way.
--:-- Noel King: And that had never happened in the history of our charts where we've been tracking this, where the songs of the summer, the top two songs were both country songs. Post Malone's gotten a ton of attention this summer, justifiably so, I guess. What has gone on with him? Can you talk a little bit about the evolution here?
--:-- Melinda Newman: What happened is nine years ago Post Malone said he wanted to make a country album. And then a couple of years ago he started coming to Nashville. He started writing with some of the top songwriters. It's really nice meeting people in Nashville that made me feel so welcome and new friends and kind of building new stuff. And for once, I'm like, I'm not sad anymore. I'm happy, very happy.
--:-- Noel King: He really infiltrated Nashville. He really settled in and was coming to Nashville very frequently, writing with songwriters. Anyone that you talked to that worked with him said he knew country music forward and backwards. We all forget that Post Malone broke on YouTube singing Bob Dylan songs before Wyatt Iverson. But don't think twice, that's all right. He's just making it to where his heart is. And man, I've hung out with that guy. He's one of the best dudes on earth, the sweetest soul on earth. And he knows more about country music than guys in this town that have 10 number ones.
--:-- Melinda Newman: He grew up in Texas outside of Dallas. So he was raised on this music. And he made a very credible country music album, F1 Trillion, that came in at number one on the country chart and on the Billboard 200 all-genre albums chart. Is he like a country music star now? He is.
--:-- Noel King: Huh? I think what really convinced people, he'd convinced people in town already just because of his attitude and how gracious he was and how unassuming he was. There is a very clear reason why Post Malone is everyone in music's favorite person to collaborate with. And it is because you are so ridiculously talented. You are so versatile. And you're the most down-to-earth person. Honestly, so unfailingly polite.
--:-- Melinda Newman: It has taken me forever to get him to stop calling me ma'am. But then if you listen to the album, 15 of the 18 tracks are duets. There are three solo tracks. And then later the morning of the release, he put out nine more all solo tracks. All built on woodcore And they are hardcore country. They're much more country than a lot of the duets on F1 Trillion that tend to lean country pop. And so if you listened to just the solo tracks that he released later that day, that is a very country album. Very traditional country album in some ways.
--:-- Noel King: And he had some help, right, from country stars. No pun intended. So yes. So I Had Some Help was the first single with Morgan Wallen. And that was a very smart move. You know, you're pairing arguably the two hottest male artists out there right now together. And so that took off like a rocket ship. You know, it was number one for many, many weeks. But he also sang with Dolly Parton. He sang with Blake Shelton. He sang with Lainey Wilson. He sang with Jelly Roll. Like he covered the waterfront in terms of artists from all different eras and just showed his adoration.
--:-- Melinda Newman: There's an incredibly cute Instagram of him and Dolly and they're just adorable. You've got lots of fans and I can say I'm cool because of you. No, that's not true. I'm cool because of you. You can tell everyone loves him and he is so respectful, which is the very smart way to approach the genre if you're going to come in.
--:-- Noel King: Who else have we seen pivoting to country in 2024? And of course, I am asking about Beyonce, but who else?
--:-- Melinda Newman: Yeah, so we had Beyonce with Calvary Carter. Now for this next tune, I want y'all to sit back, inhale, and go to that good place your mind likes to wander off to. And if you don't want to go, go find yourself a jukebox. Thank you. Texas Hold'em came in at number one on Hot Country Songs chart, which was also the first time a Black woman had topped that chart. And then she was followed by Shibuzi on the Hot Country Songs chart. So that was history making in terms of that was the first time that two Black artists had ever been back to back on that chart.
--:-- Noel King: So if you can't already tell by our award winners and our performers, the music business is gone. Going. We're going country. So in addition to Beyonce, Lana Del Rey has been working on a country album titled Lasso that we're not sure when we're getting it. It was going to be later this year. Now it looks like it's going to be 2025. I knew it. I said it. It's happening. That's what's happening.
--:-- Melinda Newman: Then there are even traces of country in Sabrina Carpenter's new album. And Ed Sheeran has talked about really wanting to do a country album. He spends a lot of time in Nashville. He's written with a lot of Nashville writers. He and Luke Combs appeared at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2023. So there's probably a lot more to come. It sounds like a big old party.
--:-- Noel King: How does the country music industry feel? Is it embracing these crossover artists?
--:-- Melinda Newman: The country community has not always been so embracing. They're very embracing of this right now. They realize it's just bringing new listeners to the format, and that is a really, really wonderful thing. But they have not always been so embracing. For example, in 1994, when Alan Jackson released Gone Country, It was a great song written by one of the all-time great songwriters named Bob McDill. What it did was it really poked fun at all the carpetbackers coming into the country format.
--:-- Noel King: Support for Today Explained comes from Chime.
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--:-- Noel King: Chime says with qualifying direct deposits, you can be eligible for free overdraft, up to $200 on debit card purchases and cash withdrawals. Plus, they say you don't need to worry about monthly fees or maintenance fees. You can work on your financial goals through Chime today. You can open an account in two minutes at Chime.com slash explained. That's Chime.com slash explained.
--:-- Melinda Newman: Chime feels like progress. Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and debit card provided by the Bancorp Bank N.A. or Stride Bank N.A. Members FDIC. Spot me eligibility requirements and overdraft limits apply. Timing depends on submission of payment file. Fees apply at out-of-network ATMs. Bank ranking and number of ATMs according to U.S. News and World Report 2023. Chime checking account required.
--:-- Noel King: Lainey Wilson maybe said it best. Melinda Newman from Billboard did see it coming. She says country's popularity does tend to wax and wane. This isn't the first time that country music has caused such a stir.
--:-- Melinda Newman: In 1980, when the movie Urban Cowboy came out, starring John Travolta. Real cowboy. Well, it depends on what you think a real cowboy is. It caused a whole wave of country music crossing over, of country fashion crossing over. It was really a movement. And there were songs such as Mickey Gilley's remake of Stand By Me. And Johnny Lee's Looking for Love that did very, very well across the board.
--:-- Noel King: And then again in the early 90s when Garth Brooks just surged in popularity and brought millions of listeners to the country format and was the hottest artist across the board of all genres.
--:-- Melinda Newman: So we've seen this happen before, but this is just a very interesting take in terms of pop artists coming over and people feeling like they're very welcome and that these are very authentic expressions.
--:-- Noel King: To that point, what's happened this year with country artists who are not changing genres? They're not doing crossover. They've just always been making country music that's really, really good. Are they changing what they do at all?
--:-- Melinda Newman: If you look, their artists like Zach Bryan, Casey Musgraves, they are not necessarily on Country Radio because Country Radio has a fairly small playlist. Without getting into too much detail, the country music chart for radio, for the Airplay Songs chart, moves very slowly. So it's a fairly limited playlist and it moves very slowly. So a lot of these artists are just not willing to play the radio game, which means going to country stations and, you know, shaking hands and kissing babies.
--:-- Noel King: And their streaming numbers are so strong. You look at Zach Bryan. He's selling out stadiums. You may have never heard him on country radio other than I Remember Everything with KC Musgraves. So they're finding their audiences through streaming and just through live music.
--:-- Melinda Newman: And they also are a little bit of a blend. If you look at someone like Zach Bryan, there's some rock in there. He tops a number of our charts, not just the country chart. To you, I'm just a man. To me, you're all I am. Where am I supposed to go?
--:-- Noel King: So they're doing it their way and they're saying, if country radio wants to play me, that's fine, but I'm okay if you don't. I'm just going to keep doing my sound. I'm going to keep doing what I do and you know where to find me.
--:-- Melinda Newman: How do we see the larger music industry responding to the popularity of country? What's changing?
--:-- Noel King: What you're seeing is what we call the coastal labels, which are the labels based in New York and LA and are primarily not dealing with country, are now signing country artists.
--:-- Melinda Newman: And for example, Zach Bryan is on Warner Brothers out of Los Angeles. Megan Maroney, who's a rising country star, is signed to both Columbia out of New York and Sony Nashville out of Nashville.
--:-- Noel King: And what the Coastal Label saw by looking at the analytics and the data was that these artists were streaming They necessarily had to go to country radio to have success
--:-- Melinda Newman: Is there a change at all I wonder in the kind of story that country songs are telling You mentioned two songs from 2023. Jason Aldean's Try That in a Small Town, Oliver Anthony's Richmond, North of Richmond. Those were political songs. Those are political songs telling stories, whether you liked them or not.
--:-- Noel King: We don't see as much in 2024. Is that a bit of a pivot?
--:-- Melinda Newman: I don't think it's a bit of a pivot. I think if you go back to the 70s and the 60s, I mean, there was a strong history of country taking on politics or issues, whether it was Loretta Lynn with the pill. Mini skirts, hot paints, and a few little fancy frills. Yeah, I'm making up for all those years since I've got the pill.
--:-- Noel King: Or Merle Haggard with Okie from Muskogee. We still wave old glory down at the courthouse. White lightning's still the biggest thrill of all. People don't do that as much anymore.
--:-- Melinda Newman: So whether you agreed with them or not, and Jason Aldean would actually say, try that in a small town was not political. Many people would disagree. Oliver Anthony, same thing. He would say Richmond, North of Richmond, was really just expressing angst at the scene in general.
--:-- Noel King: But we're not seeing a raft of political songs or issue songs. When you bring a lot of women into the format or you look at Jelly Roll, someone like that, they aren't doing the typical, you know, whiskey, truck, tailgates, girls in cutoffs, jeans and cowboy boots. They're not doing that.
--:-- Melinda Newman: So you are seeing a shift in terms of just a broader topical appeal. And I think that's helping a lot. When you look at Jelly Roll, some of those songs are about mental health. Some of those songs are about really taking on deep, deep issues that are resonating with people.
--:-- Noel King: And that's what country's always done the best. At its best, country music is the best storytelling genre. It is songs about real life, what real life means today. It's songs about struggles, it's songs about triumphs.
--:-- Melinda Newman: And if you look on the chart now, you can kind of find something that represents everything. And I think that's part of the huge appeal, is you are just seeing this broadening of styles, both musically and thematically, that is really capturing listeners.
--:-- Noel King: So what's the vibe in Nashville these days? Is it real cocky?
--:-- Melinda Newman: Oh, man, they are, you know, they are happy as can be. If you follow Nashville at all, you know that any artist with any name recognition at all is opening a bar on Lower Broad. It is the bridesmaids capital of the world in terms of bridesmaids parties. It's kind of crazy what Nashville is like right now.
--:-- Noel King: And Music Row, which used to be where all the labels and publishers and studios were centered, everything's not on Music Row anymore, which is a little sad for people who remember when everything was really contained within these three or four blocks, but it can't be anymore.
--:-- Melinda Newman: It's just kind of taken over the whole town. And so for tourism, it's fantastic. For traffic, it's a little rough, but these are very, very good times in Nashville.
--:-- Noel King: Hey, do you think the times last? So country's gone mainstream again, and people seem to be really liking it. Do you think this is a forever thing, or next year are we talking about a different genre?
--:-- Melinda Newman: I don't think we're talking about a different genre next year. I think it will last for a while. And I think it will be just as when Garth Brooks hit, it brought a whole new audience to country, just as when Taylor Swift hit, she brought in a youth wave. There was just like a whole new wave of young girls that had never listened to country before.
--:-- Noel King: It always subsides, but they always leave the format higher than it was before. So that's what's going to happen. Eventually, something else is going to come in. You know, hip hop has somewhat fallen off. You know, there's the theory that a lot of what's happening is that this is making up for that, you know, filling that void right now.
--:-- Melinda Newman: But some of these listeners that have come to country in 22, 23, 24, they're going to stay. And so even when the industry's moved on, even when some listeners have left, country's still going to be more popular than it was in 2020.
--:-- Noel King: Melinda Newman, Billboard's executive editor, West Coast and Nashville. Today's show was produced by Avishay Artsy and edited by Amina Al-Sadi. It was fact-checked by Laura Bullard and mixed by Rob Byers. I'm Noel King. This is Where the Cowboy Rides Away.
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