BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS EDITED BY TOM ROLAND, tom.roland@billboard.com MAY 7, 2015 | PAGE 1 OF 7

INSIDEMakin’ Tracks:

Thomas Rhett’s ‘Crash And

Burn’ >page 2

Stark Report: Tanya Tucker Talks Trouble

>page 3

Questions Answered:

Jason Michael Carroll >page 4

Hunter Hayes, Chris Young Are X-Men

>page 4

Tommy: A Bluegrass Opry Hits Nashville

>page 4

Zac Brown Band collects its third No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated May 16) as the group opens in the penthouse with Jekyll + Hyde. The set starts with 228,000 equivalent album units in the week ending May 3, according to Nielsen Music. On Top Coun-try Albums, it also arrives at No. 1, likewise marking the group’s third leader.

Jekyll + Hyde is additionally the band’s third straight studio effort to reach No. 1 on each list, fol-lowing the chart-topping bows of Uncaged (2012) and You Get What You Give (2010). The new set opens with 214,000 in traditional album sales, good for the group’s second-largest sales frame; Uncaged ar-rived with 234,000.

Jekyll + Hyde is the group’s first album after departing Atlantic Re-cords for a new deal with South-ern Ground, Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) and Republic Records, which is distributing it. The new LP was preceded by two No. 1 hits on different airplay charts: “Heavy Is the Head” (featuring Chris Cornell) spends its second week atop Mainstream Rock, while “Homegrown” led Country Airplay for three weeks in April. Zac Brown Band is only the second act to top both tallies (following Bon Jovi).

Notably, Zac Brown Band brings the first country album to No. 1 on the all-genre-inclusive Billboard 200 in more than five

months. Country last ruled on the Oct. 18-Nov. 1, 2014-dated charts thanks to Blake Shelton’s Bringing Back the Sunshine (Warner Bros./Warner Music Nashville), Jason Aldean’s Old Boots, New Dirt (Broken Bow/Broken Bow Music Group) and Florida Georgia Line’s Anything Goes (Republic Nashville/BMLG). (If Taylor Swift had not fully segued to pop on 1989, a

country effort would have reigned this year, as the set led for 11 non-consecutive frames between No-vember and February.)

R e m a r k a b l y, Z a c B r o w n Band remains the only coun-try group with more than three members ever to lead the Bill-board 200 (which dates back to 1956 ). (It’s fairly common for multimember pop/rock bands to top the list; in 2015 alone, rock groups Fall Out Boy and Imag-ine Dragons , both quartets,

have hit No. 1.) Previously, the only country groups to com-mand the Billboard 200 have been trios: Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts and Dixie Chicks. Sugarland also tallied three No. 1s, but all led after the act was reduced to a duo following the 2006 departure of Kristen Hall.

This column was written by Billboard associate director of charts/sales Keith Caulfield (keith.caulfield@billboard.com).

ZAC BROWN BAND

Country MID- WEEK

UPDATE

Zac Brown Band Flies Flag For Country Atop Billboard 200

THAT DON’T SOUND LIKE YOUOn Your Desk Now

Impacting 5/11

The follow up to Lee’s #1 SMASH “Drinking Class”

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If it’s possible to be retro, contemporary and edgy in the context of a lone country single, Thomas Rhett does that with “Crash and Burn.”

Thanks to its ’60s pop melodicism and an “ooh”/“aah” rhythmic chant akin to Sam Cooke’s “Chain Gang,” it’s easy to envision girls in minidresses and go-go boots doing the swim to “Crash” on American Bandstand. Thanks to the spunky productions of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off ” and Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass,” it’s likewise easy to think of “Crash” as an extension of modern pop’s appreciation for vintage sound. And thanks to its R&B underpin-nings, it’s likely that “Crash” would have been a stretch for country had it been released as much as three to five years ago.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous at all about putting a song like ‘Crash and Burn’ out on country radio,” confesses Rhett. “But we did, and this is the most-added song that I’ve ever had as an artist.”

Indeed, “Crash and Burn” started at No. 38 on the Country Airplay list dated April 25, behind 52 first-week adds, and it has cracked the top 30 after four charted weeks.

It’s an appropriately happy start for a song that was intended to capture an upbeat period from popular music’s past. Mercury artist Chris Stapleton and songwriter/producer Jesse Frasure (“Sun Daze,” “Hangover Tonight”) had conducted a series of co-writing sessions during several months designed to break country song-writing rules and push the envelope. The demos soon found their way around the Nashville music community.

“I remember getting a text from [The Cadillac Three’s] Jaren Johnston, and they had a copy of ‘Lonely Girl’ and ‘Crash and Burn’ out on his bus playing it,” says Frasure. “That’s kind of how viral these songs have been.”

Frasure initiated “Crash and Burn,” recording a piano chord pattern and a semblance of a melody on an iPhone, and instilling those “ooh”/“aah” grunts in the background with a nod to “Chain Gang.” When they met for the writing appointment, Stapleton immediately kicked the melody to the next level.

“As soon as he takes something, he kind of makes it his own and just really sings the hell out of it,” says Frasure.

The lyrics paint the story of a man who has screwed up the latest in a series of relationships, though the misery in the message is overshadowed by the joy in the musical bed, similar to such proven titles as The Miracles’ “Tears of a Clown,” The Supremes’ “Stop! In the Name of Love” and The Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.”

“Me and Stapleton always joke that it was sad songs for dancefloors,” notes Frasure. “All my favorite songs growing up, they’re like tragic lyrics, but yet the music’s so good. So it was kind of always a theme we kept. I don’t know if we’ve ever written a positive song, but they all feel like they’re positive.”

Stapleton, of course, sang the demo and added a ton of background parts and counter-melodies. And they threw in a whistle at the opening and again at the bridge. Stapleton originally planned to include “Crash” on his first solo album, Traveller, which arrived May 5.

But the tracks started to leak. Rhett, who co-wrote “Something to Do With My Hands” with Stapleton, heard “Crash” through a business manager they shared at the time. Rhett immediately put dibs on it in case Stapleton decided not to

record it. At a later date, a publisher inadvertently sent the demo to Gary Allan, who tried to put it on hold. Since Rhett already had it, Allan ended up writing “Hangover Tonight” with Frasure and Stapleton, which is at No. 47 on the May 16 Country Airplay chart.

Frasure and Dann Huff (Keith Urban, The Band Perry) were teamed as producers for Rhett, and they blended some of the prerecorded pieces of the “Crash” demo with a group of live musicians, including keyboardist Matt Stan-field, guitarists Derek Wells and Rob McNelley, and bassist Jimmie Lee Sloas. The tracking session at Reba McEntire’s Starstruck Studio also included drum-

mer Chris Kimmerer, a member of Rhett’s road band who had not previously played on a coun-try hit. Rhett had to convince Valory executives Kimmerer was right for the job.

“This guy really brought it to the table,” says Huff. “He has a different sensibility, and all those months and years playing [with Thomas] on the road, it really added to the session.”

The band was less a challenge, though, than the vocals, which Rhett finalized at Frasure’s workplace, Major Bob Music. First, they had to lower the key three half-steps for Rhett to handle the melody.

“It hits the lowest [part] of my vocal range and pretty much the highest of my vocal range all within 30 seconds,” explains Rhett. “There was literally one key where that could happen, where I could hit those low notes OK and I could

hit the high notes OK. If we had upped it a step or lowered it even a half-step, none of that would have even been possible.”

Rhett’s other challenge was to divorce himself from the nuances of Stapleton’s demo. The final version took at least two two-hour sessions on separate days.

“There’s a lot of times you want to copy some of those runs and some of those real grungy things Chris Stapleton does, but I just can’t pull any of that stuff off,” says Rhett. “One of the hardest parts was to make the phrases my own and the melodies my own.”

Stapleton also visited Major Bob to re-sing the background parts. Then the team debated the whistle. “Crash” was written before the Frasure-penned “Sun Daze” became a Florida Georgia Line hit and before Little Big Town released “Day Drinking.” But since those songs had come into the public consciousness first, Huff believed a whistle would look like a copycat tactic. They compromised, with Rhett whistling a carefree part for the bridge, inspired by Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’) On the Dock of the Bay.” Big Machine Label Group president/CEO Scott Borchetta ultimately insisted the whistle be reinstated in the intro, too.

“Crash and Burn” was shipped to radio via Play MPE on April 7, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg for Rhett’s sophomore album.

“He’s got singles left, right, center, front and back,” says Huff. “And he’s also doing some album cuts with some more artistic songs that are just fantastic.”

Rhett’s also gotten enough feedback in the field to know he has latched on to a winner.

“A lot of the songs, you don’t really start seeing the fans singing the words until it gets up into the low 30s and the high 20s,” says Rhett. “[Even the first week] on the chart, there [were] a huge group of people already singing every word to the song. That blows my mind.”

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE MAY 7, 2015 | PAGE 2 OF 7

Rhett’s ‘Crash’ Courses Through Classic Soul, Modern Country

MAKIN’ TRACKS TOM ROLAND tom.roland@billboard.com

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Tanya Tucker, who has been a superstar since her early teens, may seem tough as nails on the outside. But for the last few years she has battled something quite common in the showbiz world: depression.

“I got diagnosed with major depression,” she admits. “It’s just been a really, really tough journey.”

Tucker explains, “I got tired,” and she stopped getting excited about things. She began telling close associates that she didn’t know if she wanted to continue with her career.

“I had canceled all my [tour] dates and said I just can’t do it anymore and fired everybody, or let them go, and started trying to be happy,” says the singer, who fi-nally resumed touring last month after three years off the road. She currently has dates scheduled through October.

Her way of “trying to be happy” included going to a Trappist monastery in Snowmass, Colo., with a friend who was battling cancer.

“My girlfriend took me to this great monas-tery [St. Benedict’s] outside of Aspen,” she says. “I didn’t go for me, really. I went for my girlfriend who’s got very critical cancer right now. She went there [previously] and felt like she had a healing,” even though the cancer eventually spread.

Tucker describes her experience at the monas-tery as “incredible,” despite noting with a laugh, “I’m not Catholic … [but] I like the wine.”

She also says she told the amused monks, “ ‘You’ve heard my reputation. You boys better lock your doors tonight.’ They loved that.” At one point during her retreat, she claims to have gotten the monks dancing alongside her to the Chuck Cannon song “If I Was Jesus.”

“There’s 20 monks there, and they have silence,” she says of her more serious monastery experiences. “I was in the center of a room, and they have all these

hands on me, laying hands on me and just saying a prayer over me. I mean, it was the start of … I felt hopeful when I left there … I took away so much.”

Since then, Tucker has been working on continuing to heal, something she says is difficult when “they can’t find nothing wrong with you [physically]. That’s the worst thing.”

As she works on getting her mojo back, she has been preparing a new album, and had an extraordinary opportunity to look back on her career via an exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, which winds down May 10.

Initially, she says, the “Tanya Tucker: Strong Enough to Bend” exhibit “freaked me out,” though she supplied much of the collec-tion with the contents of her own 10,000-square-foot warehouse where she stores items like her stage clothes, equestrian awards, pink Harley-Davidson motorcycle and career me-mentos like a script from her guest appearance on The Love Boat. She helped select those items and more that she most wanted her fans to see.

Despite her extensive collection, Tucker says she has likely lost or given away more items than she still has. But seeing so much of what’s left laid out in the exhibit was ultimately a thrilling experience.

While her battle with depression has slowed the progress of her next album, which she prom-ises will include a few “event songs,” Tucker says of an eventual finish line for the project, “We’re

closing in on it.”Meanwhile, daughter Layla Tucker is working on plans to follow in her

mother’s size 9 footsteps with her band, Reverie Lane, which includes sister Presley. “My shoes are a little big for her,” says Tucker of Layla, “but I told her she could make her own footsteps.”

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE MAY 7, 2015 | PAGE 3 OF 7

Some Kind Of Trouble: Tucker Details Battle With Depression

THE STARK REPORT PHYLLIS STARK phyllis.stark@billboard.com

TUCKER

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Country UPDATE

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what we came up with really was something pretty awesome. It was almost $80,000 that we raised.

Why did you name the label For the Lonely Records? One of my favorite songs that I’ve ever had the chance to write, I wrote with Ter-ry McBride and Tommy Lee James, and it was one of my first writing sessions in Nashville. In five days, we came up with five amazing songs back to back to back to back, all the way through, and that just doesn’t happen normal-ly. One of ’em was a song called “This Is for

the Lonely,” so when I was thinking of the label for business purposes, For the Lonely Records is the one that really popped out at me.

Your dad had bypass surgery in the fall, and I assume that’s while you were working on the album. Is that part of what “Waste Their Life” is about? Kind of. I think it’s just take every opportunity that you can for some-one that means something to you, you know. Every one of us at some point or another has said something along the lines of, “So and so’s died. They’re gone too early. If they were still here, they’d be doing great things.” The inspiration actually came from my friend, Brittany Coppage, that I dedicated “Livin’ Our Love Song” to. I’ve been dedicating it to her for over eight years now.

You still live in North Carolina. Why have you not moved to Nashville? I have three kids with my ex-wife. She lives in Granville County, N.C., and I live about 45 minutes away from them, and that’s as far away from my babies as I was willing to move. Nashville has been a great town to me, and I’ve had opportuni-ties I’ve missed because I don’t live in town — you know, hosting opportunities, opportunities for spots on television and things like that. It’s a decision I made years ago, and there’s been some holdbacks, if you will, but at the same time, I really think that what’s important is being there for my kids whenever I can.

The game is different when you’re on your own label than when you’re on a major. What are your ambitions at this point? When I first got started, the question everybody had was, “What would you consider a successful career?” And my answer has always been the same: “If 20 years from now people are still wanting to hear me play my music, then it’s been worth it.” And I think it’s still the same thing. Whether it’s 200 or 2,000 or 20,000, I just want to keep play-ing. I want to tell my stories, and as long as they matter to somebody, I’m going to keep doing it. —Tom Roland

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE MAY 7, 2015 | PAGE 4 OF 7

Q U E ST I O N S

AnsweredJason Michael Carroll

Singer-songwriter @JMCOfficial

Jason Michael Carroll’s 2007 debut, Waitin’ in the Country, spawned two top 10 singles, “Alyssa Lies” and “Livin’ Our Love Song,” that leaned on rich, low notes, setting him up sonically as a next- generation Tracy Lawrence. But eight months after Carroll’s sopho-more album came out, he was on his own. He released Numbers through Cracker Barrel in 2011, and issued his first album in four years, What Color Is Your Sky, on May 5 on his own label, For the Lone-ly Records. Citing the album Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors as an influence, Carroll recorded Color with his road band.

How difficult was it to revise your life when the major-label chapter closed? It was not as difficult as people think. We’ve just not really been in the public eye, if you will. We did the Cracker Barrel thing right after I left Arista, and then after that, we’ve been touring, been writing like crazy. Anytime I write a new song, I like to take it di-rectly to the fans and get their opinion of it, and after about two years of doing that, I had fans come up to me and say, “Hey, man, all these new songs you’ve been writing, when you gonna put ’em on a record for us?” Oops. I never really made time to make the record, so this is my first go at making our own record.

Did you use the road dates that you have continued to pick up to finance the album? We went through a Kickstarter program. Crowd-funding is the way the world’s going at the moment, especially for in-dependent artists, and so we did our thing, and it was really exciting to have that happen. We set our goal low, just to realistically make an album and get the idea of what we could make with an album, and

X MARKS THE CMA SPOTLittle Big Town is on deck to the cut the rib-bon for the opening day of CMA Music Fes-tival at the AT&T U-Verse Fan Fair X exhibit hall in the Music City Center on June 11. The band will also answer fan questions at the CMA Closeup Stage as the artist of the day. Hunter Hayes, Chris Young and Darius Rucker will also do so on subsequent days. Fan Fair X provides opportunities to buy merchandise and get autographs, with ad-

ditional performances and/or interviews from 80 more acts, including the Oak Ridge Boys, Craig Campbell, Sara Evans and Jamie O’Neal. This sounds like quite the birthday party: RaeLynn turned 21 with a May 4 soiree at John Rich’s Nashville home, Mt. Richmore. The guest list included

Miranda Lambert, Big Kenny, A Thousand Horses vocalist Michael Hobby, The Cadillac Three frontman Jaren Johnston and Big Loud Moun-tain act Chris Lane. Joining in were songwriters Nicole Gallyon (“God Made Girls”), Laura Veltz (“Drunk Last Night”) and Jimmy Robbins (“We Were Us”), plus producer Joey Moi (Florida Georgia Line, Jake Owen). Recipients of this year’s Source Awards for women in Nashville’s music busi-ness include the Recording Academy’s Nancy Shapiro, Ryman Auditorium’s Sally Williams, Universal Music Group Nashville’s Cindy Mabe, William Morris Endeavor’s Gayle Holcomb, Sun’s Phyllis Deen Hill, Almo/Irving’s Mary Del Scobey and late Forerunner Music executive Terrell Tye. The of-ficial ceremony takes place Sept. 29 at the Musicians Hall of Fame. Compass act The Hillbenders covers The Who’s classic album with the June 2 release of Tommy: A Bluegrass Opry. The band will perform the album front to back on May 10 at Nashville’s Station Inn.

MIDWEEK NEWS UPDATE

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TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

1 1 2 22 GIRL CRUSH ★★No. 1 (2 weeks)★★ Little Big Town J.JOYCE (L.ROSE,L.MCKENNA,H.LINDSEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE

1

2 2 1 27 TAKE YOUR TIME Sam Hunt Z.CROWELL,S.MCANALLY (S.HUNT,J.OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) MCA NASHVILLE 0 1

l3 4 3 17 HOMEGROWN Zac Brown Band J.JOYCE,Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,W.DURRETTE,N.MOON) JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 2

l4 11 20 7 SANGRIA ★★Digital Gainer★★ Blake Shelton S.HENDRICKS (J.T.HARDING,J.OSBORNE,T. ROSEN) WARNER BROS./WMN

4

l5 3 4 14 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE Florida Georgia Line J.MOI (R.CLAWSON,M.DRAGSTREM,C.TAYLOR) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 3

l6 7 8 24 DON’T IT Billy Currington D.HUFF (J.JOHNSTON,A.GORLEY,R.COPPERMAN) MERCURY 6

l7 8 7 32 A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR Tyler Farr J.CATINO,J.KING (M.PEIRCE,J.SINGLETON,B.TURSI) COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 7

8 5 6 29 SAY YOU DO Dierks Bentley R. COPPERMAN (M.RAMSEY,S.MCANALLY,T. ROSEN) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 5

l9 10 11 17 SMOKE ★★Airplay Gainer★★ A Thousand Horses D.COBB (M.HOBBY,J.M.NITE,R.COPPERMAN) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE

9

l10 9 9 15 RAISE ‘EM UP Keith Urban Featuring Eric Church N.CHAPMAN,K.URBAN (J.JOHNSTON,JEFFREY STEELE,T.DOUGLAS) HIT RED/CAPITOL NASHVILLE 9

l11 13 14 15 LITTLE TOY GUNS Carrie Underwood M.BRIGHT (C.UNDERWOOD,C. DESTEFANO,H.LINDSEY) 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 11

l12 14 13 13 WILD CHILD Kenny Chesney With Grace Potter B.CANNON,K.CHESNEY (K.CHESNEY,S.MCANALLY,J.OSBORNE) BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 12

l13 15 16 14 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOLS Tim McGraw With Catherine Dunn B.GALLIMORE,T.MCGRAW (L.LAIRD,B.DEAN,J.SINGLETON) MCGRAW/BIG MACHINE 13

l14 18 18 31 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT Canaan Smith B.BEAVERS,J.ROBBINS (C.SMITH,B.BEAVERS,J.BEAVERS) MERCURY 14

l15 19 17 11 LIKE A WRECKING BALL Eric Church J.JOYCE (E.CHURCH,C.BEATHARD) EMI NASHVILLE 15

l16 16 19 23 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT Kelsea Ballerini F.G.WHITEHEAD (K.BALLERINI,J.KERR,F.G.WHITEHEAD,L.CARPENTER) BLACK RIVER 16

l17 20 21 26 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG Easton Corbin C.CHAMBERLAIN (J.COLLINS,BRETT JAMES) MERCURY 17

l18 17 15 26 SHE DON’T LOVE YOU Eric Paslay M.ALTMAN (E.PASLAY,J.WAYNE) EMI NASHVILLE 15

l19 22 26 9 TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU Jason Aldean M.KNOX (D.DAVIDSON,R.AKINS,A.GORLEY) BROKEN BOW 8

l20 25 27 18 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN Brantley Gilbert D.HUFF (B.GILBERT,M.DEKLE,B.DAVIS) VALORY 20

l21 24 24 13 CRUSHIN’ IT Brad Paisley L.WOOTEN,B.PAISLEY (B.PAISLEY,K.LOVELACE,L.T.MILLER) ARISTA NASHVILLE 21

l22 26 28 10 GAMES Luke Bryan J.STEVENS (L.BRYAN,A.GORLEY) CAPITOL NASHVILLE 22

23 12 12 17 LITTLE RED WAGON Miranda Lambert F.LIDDELL,C.AINLAY,G.WORF (A.MAE,GINSBERG J.) RCA NASHVILLE 5

l24 29 31 8 KISS YOU IN THE MORNING Michael Ray S.HENDRICKS (J.WILSON,M.WHITE) WARNER BROS./WEA 24

l25 30 30 10 YOUNG & CRAZY Frankie Ballard M.ALTMAN,S.HENDRICKS (A.GORLEY,S.MCANALLY,R.AKINS) WARNER BROS./WAR 25

Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE MAY 7, 2015 | PAGE 5 OF 7

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TWO WEEKS

AGOWKS ON CHART

TITLE Artist PRODUCER (SONGWRITER) IMPRINT / PROMOTION LABEL CERTIFIED

PEAK POSITION

l26 34 — 2 LOVING YOU EASY ★★Streaming Gainer★★ Zac Brown Band Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,N.MOON,A.ANDERSON) JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND

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l27 32 32 4 CRASH AND BURN Thomas Rhett D.HUFF,J.FRASURE (J.FRASURE,C.STAPLETON) VALORY 21

28 27 33 17 RIOT Rascal Flatts J.DEMARCUS,RASCAL FLATTS (J.BOYER,S.HAZE) BIG MACHINE 27

29 23 25 17 GOING OUT LIKE THAT Reba T.BROWN (B.HAYSLIP,R.AKINS,J.SELLERS) NASH ICON/VALORY 23

l30 35 36 17 HELL OF A NIGHT Dustin Lynch M.J.CONES (Z.CROWELL,A.SANDERS,J.BOYER) BROKEN BOW 30

l31 33 34 11 I GOT THE BOY Jana Kramer S.HENDRICKS (T.NICHOLS,C.HARRINGTON,J.L.SPEARS) ELEKTRA NASHVILLE/WAR 31

l32 38 35 11 FLY Maddie & Tae D.HUFF (M.MARLOW,T.DYE,T.VARTANYAN) DOT 32

l33 36 37 13 I’M TO BLAME Kip Moore B.JAMES (K.MOORE,J.WEAVER,W.DAVIS) MCA NASHVILLE 31

34 31 — 2 LOSE MY MIND Brett Eldredge R. COPPERMAN,B.ELDREDGE (B.ELDREDGE,H.MORGAN,R.COPPERMAN,B.BURTON,T.D.CALLAWAY,G.F.REVERBERI,G.P.REVERBERI) ATLANTIC/WMN 31

l35 40 39 7 BISCUITS Kacey Musgraves K.MUSGRAVES,L.LAIRD,S.MCANALLY (K.MUSGRAVES,S.MCANALLY,B.CLARK) MERCURY 28

l36 39 40 18 TROUBLE Gloriana M.SERLETIC (R.REINERT,M.GOSSIN,R.COPPERMAN,J.M.NITE) EMBLEM/WARNER BROS./WAR 36

l37 NEW 1 TOMORROW NEVER COMES ★★Hot Shot Debut★★ Zac Brown Band Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,N.MOON) JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND

37

l38 NEW 1 WHEN I SEE YOU SMILE Corey Kent White B.APPLEBERRY (D.E.WARREN) REPUBLIC 38

l39 41 41 17 GONNA WANNA TONIGHT Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (S.MCANALLY,J.M.NITE,J.ROBBINS) DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 34

l40 46 43 8 BREAK UP WITH HIM Old Dominion S.MCANALLY (M.RAMSEY,T. ROSEN,B.TURSI,G.SPRUNG,W.SELLERS) REESMACK/RCA NASHVILLE 40

l41 44 45 4 STAY A LITTLE LONGER Brothers Osborne J.JOYCE (J. OSBORNE,T.J. OSBORNE,S.MCANALLY) EMI NASHVILLE 41

l42 45 44 5 NOTHIN’ LIKE YOU Dan + Shay C. DESTEFANO (D.SMYERS,S.MOONEY,A.GORLEY,C. DESTEFANO) WARNER BROS./WAR 42

l43 47 — 3 LET ME SEE YA GIRL Cole Swindell M.CARTER (C.SWINDELL,M.CARTER,J.STEVENS) WARNER BROS./WMN 43

l44 RE-ENTRY 3 TURN IT ON Eli Young Band R. COPPERMAN,J.S.STOVER (M.ELI,J.YOUNG,R.CLAWSON,M.DRAGSTREM) REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 44

l45 NEW 1 BEAUTIFUL DRUG Zac Brown Band Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,N.MOON) JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 45

l46 NEW 1 DAMN GOOD FRIENDS Tyler Farr Duet With Jason Aldean J. KING,J. CATINO (B.ANDREW,C.DUBOIS,N.MEDLEY) COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 46

47 42 42 11 RIDE Chase Rice C. DESTEFANO (J.SOMERS-MORALES,D.C.TARPLEY JR.) DACK JANIELS/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 38

l48 49 48 4 ALREADY CALLIN’ YOU MINE Parmalee NV (M.THOMAS,S.THOMAS,B.KNOX,P.O’DONNELL,W.KIRBY) STONEY CREEK 48

49 37 29 3 LET IT GO George Strait C.AINLAY,G.STRAIT (G.STRAIT,B.STRAIT,K.GATTIS) MCA NASHVILLE 29

l50 NEW 1 I’LL BE YOUR MAN (SONG FOR A DAUGHTER) Zac Brown Band BOUZOUKI,Z.BROWN (Z.BROWN,N.MOON,W.DURRETTE,C.BOWLES,D.SCOTT) JOHN VARVATOS/REPUBLIC/BMLG/SOUTHERN GROUND 50

For week ending May 3, 2015. Figures are rounded. Compiled from a national sample of retail store and rack sales reports collected and provided by Nielsen Music.

For inquiries about any Nielsen Music data, please contact Josh Bennett at 615-807-1338 or josh.bennett@nielsen.com

The week’s most popular country songs, ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen Music, sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music and streaming activity data from online music sources tracked by Nielsen Music. Descending titles below No. 25 are moved to recurrent after 20 weeks.

COUNTRY MARKET WATCHA Weekly National Music Sales Report

Hot Country SongsBILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE MAY 7, 2015 | PAGE 6 OF 7

ALBUMSDIGITAL

ALBUMS*DIGITAL TRACKS

This Week 725,000 295,000 2,226,000

Last Week 574,000 228,000 2,505,000

Change 26.3% 29.4% -11.1%

This Week Last Year 493,000 158,000 2,765,000

Change 47.1% 86.7% -19.5%

*Digital album sales are also counted within album sales.

Weekly Unit SalesYear-Over-Year Album Sales2014 2015 CHANGE

Albums 10,269,000 9,105,000 -11.3%

Digital Tracks 49,716,000 41,303,000 -16.9%

YEAR-TO-DATE

Overall Unit Sales

2014 2015 CHANGE

Physical 6,737,000 5,665,000 9.0%

Digital 3,531,000 3,440,000 -2.6%

Sales by Album Format

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

’15

’14

DIGITAL TRACKS SALES

’15

’14

10.3 million

9.1 million

000.0 million

’14

’13

41.3 million

49.7 million

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1 1 19 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l2 3 5 SANGRIA BLAKE SHELTON (Warner Bros./WMN)

3 2 27 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

4 5 10 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l5 8 12 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l6 11 14 SMOKE A THOUSAND HORSES (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l7 13 12 DON’T IT BILLY CURRINGTON (Mercury/UMGN)

l8 15 27 LOVE YOU LIKE THAT CANAAN SMITH (Mercury/UMGN)

l9 20 34 DRINKING CLASS LEE BRICE (Curb)

10 6 16 LITTLE RED WAGON MIRANDA LAMBERT (RCA Nashville/SMN)

11 14 7 TONIGHT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

12 17 15 LITTLE TOY GUNS CARRIE UNDERWOOD (19/Arista Nashville/SMN)

13 18 15 RAISE ‘EM UP KEITH URBAN FEAT. ERIC CHURCH (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville)

l14 24 11 DIAMOND RINGS AND OLD BARSTOOL TIM MCGRAW WITH CATHERINE DUNN (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)

l15 26 19 SAY YOU DO DIERKS BENTLEY (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l16 NEW WHEN I SEE YOU SMILE COREY KENT WHITE (Republic)

17 22 20 SHE DON’T LOVE YOU ERIC PASLAY (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

18 21 12 LOVE ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT KELSEA BALLERINI (Black River)

19 10 30 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL (Warner Bros./WMN)

l20 27 6 BABY BE MY LOVE SONG EASTON CORBIN (Mercury/UMGN)

l21 42 2 LOVING YOU EASY ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

22 19 10 WILD CHILD KENNY CHESNEY WITH GRACE POTTER (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville/SMN)

l23 29 4 CRASH AND BURN THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)

l24 28 10 GAMES LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l25 32 8 ONE HELL OF AN AMEN BRANTLEY GILBERT (Valory/BMLG)

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26 9 8 GOING OUT LIKE THAT REBA (Nash Icon/Valory/BMLG)

l27 41 2 KISS YOU IN THE MORNING MICHAEL RAY (Warner Bros./WMN)

l28 NEW DAMN GOOD FRIENDS TYLER FARR DUET WITH JASON ALDEAN (Columbia Nashville/SMN)

l29 33 11 I GOT THE BOY JANA KRAMER (Elektra Nashville/WMN)

l30 NEW TOMORROW NEVER COMES ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

31 23 3 RIOT RASCAL FLATTS (Big Machine/BMLG)

32 16 24 A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR TYLER FARR (Columbia Nashville/SMN)

33 4 16 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

34 35 6 CRUSHIN’ IT BRAD PAISLEY (Arista Nashville/SMN)

35 31 17 RIDE CHASE RICE (Dack Janiels)

l36 RE-ENTRY HOUSE PARTY SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l37 NEW SAME OLD SONG BRANTLEY GILBERT (Valory/BMLG)

38 40 75 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

39 37 46 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT (MCA Nashville/UMGN)

l40 RE-ENTRY TALLADEGA ERIC CHURCH (EMI Nashville/UMGN)

l41 49 32 SUN DAZE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

42 45 147 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE (Republic Nashville/BMLG)

l43 50 6 BISCUITS KACEY MUSGRAVES (Mercury/UMGN)

44 30 31 MAKE ME WANNA THOMAS RHETT (Valory/BMLG)

45 43 32 SHOTGUN RIDER TIM MCGRAW (McGraw/Big Machine/BMLG)

46 44 40 BURNIN’ IT DOWN JASON ALDEAN (Broken Bow/BBMG)

l47 NEW I’LL BE YOUR MAN (SONG FOR A DAUGHTER) ZAC BROWN BAND (John Varvatos/Southern Ground/BMLG/Republic)

l48 RE-ENTRY HOMEGROWN HONEY DARIUS RUCKER (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

l49 RE-ENTRY PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN (Capitol Nashville/UMGN)

50 39 28 LONELY EYES CHRIS YOUNG (RCA Nashville/SMN)

Top-selling paid download country songs compiled from sales reports collected and provided by Nielsen Music. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

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l1 NEW 1 ZAC BROWN BAND JEKYLL + HYDEJOHN VARVATOS/SOUTHERN GROUND/BMLG 022962/REPUBLIC 1

l2 NEW 1 TYLER FARR Suffer In PeaceCOLUMBIA NASHVILLE 500719/SMN 2

3 1 1 3 REBA Love SomebodyNASH ICON/VALORY /BMLG 1

4 2 3 27 SAM HUNT MontevalloMCA NASHVILLE 021502/UMGN 1

5 3 7 28 LITTLE BIG TOWN Pain KillerCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021360*/UMGN 3

6 7 8 64 ERIC CHURCH The OutsidersEMI NASHVILLE 019402*/UMGN 1 1

7 11 12 30 JASON ALDEAN Old Boots, New DirtBROKEN BOW 7105/BBMG 1 1

8 9 6 5 DARIUS RUCKER Southern StyleCAPITOL NASHVILLE 021931/UMGN 1

9 6 4 29 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE Anything GoesREPUBLIC NASHVILLE /BMLG 0 1

10 12 9 8 LUKE BRYAN Spring Break... Checkin’ OutCAPITOL NASHVILLE 022540/UMGN 1

11 8 2 3 DWIGHT YOAKAM Second Hand HeartWARNER BROS. 546622/WMN 2

12 5 10 48 MIRANDA LAMBERT PlatinumRCA NASHVILLE 379278/SMN 0 1

13 10 5 5 VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW That’s What I Call ACM Awards: 50 YearsUNIVERSAL/SONY MUSIC /UME 3

14 13 11 91 LUKE BRYAN Crash My PartyCAPITOL NASHVILLE 018733/UMGN 2 1

l15 16 16 31 BLAKE SHELTON BRINGING BACK THE SUNSHINEWARNER BROS. 544918/WMN 0 1

16 14 13 63 COLE SWINDELL Cole SwindellWARNER BROS. 541372/WMN 2

17 20 19 21 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Greatest Hits: Decade #119/ARISTA NASHVILLE 500876/SMN 0 1

18 19 15 37 CHASE RICE Ignite The NightCOLUMBIA NASHVILLE 22573/DACK JANIELS 1

19 15 20 25 GARTH BROOKS Man Against MachinePEARL/RCA NASHVILLE 501135/SMN 1 1

l20 27 24 25 ZAC BROWN BAND Greatest Hits So Far...ROAR/SOUTHERN GROUND/ATLANTIC 546369/AG 5

21 22 23 32 KENNY CHESNEY The Big RevivalBLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASHVILLE 306274/SMN 1

22 25 21 50 BRANTLEY GILBERT Just As I AmVALORY BG0200A/BMLG 0 1

23 24 25 32 TIM MCGRAW Sundown Heaven TownMCGRAW/BIG MACHINE TM0200A/BMLG 1

24 23 18 34 LEE BRICE I Dont DanceCURB 79392* 1

25 17 14 62 DIERKS BENTLEY RiserCAPITOL NASHVILLE 019404/UMGN 1

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1 1 18 TAKE YOUR TIME SAM HUNT

2 2 10 GIRL CRUSH LITTLE BIG TOWN

l3 9 11 HOMEGROWN ZAC BROWN BAND

l4 4 45 LEAVE THE NIGHT ON SAM HUNT

5 3 62 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE FEAT. LUKE BRYAN

l6 7 6 SIPPIN’ ON FIRE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

7 5 58 PLAY IT AGAIN LUKE BRYAN

l8 8 109 CRUISE FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

9 6 8 LITTLE RED WAGON MIRANDA LAMBERT

l10 10 71 BOTTOMS UP BRANTLEY GILBERT

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l11 12 25 DRINKING CLASS LEE BRICE

l12 13 4 LIKE A WRECKING BALL ERIC CHURCH

l13 15 6 DON’T IT BILLY CURRINGTON

l14 16 9 SAY YOU DO DIERKS BENTLEY

15 11 43 DIRT FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE

l16 — 4 A GUY WALKS INTO A BAR TYLER FARR

l17 14 90 THAT’S MY KIND OF NIGHT LUKE BRYAN

l18 21 5 SHE DON’T LOVE YOU ERIC PASLAY

19 19 10 AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY COLE SWINDELL

l20 23 68 YOU BELONG WITH ME TAYLOR SWIFT

Country Streaming Songs -The week’s top Country streamed radio songs, on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

BUILDING AIRPLAY GAINERSTITLE Label Artist GAIN

BUY ME A BOAT Warner Bros./WAR Chris Janson +394

SMOKE Republic Nashville A Thousand Horses +287

LITTLE TOY GUNS 19/Arista Nashville Carrie Underwood +212

RAISE ‘EM UP Hit Red/Capitol Nashville Keith Urban Feat. Eric Church +201

LOVING YOU EASY Varvatos/BMLG/Southern Ground Zac Brown Band +184

SIPPIN’ ON FIRE Republic Nashville Florida Georgia Line +180

SANGRIA Warner Bros./WMN Blake Shelton +164

GIRL CRUSH Capitol Nashville Little Big Town +141

WILD CHILD Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville Kenny Chesney With Grace Potter +130

LIKE A WRECKING BALL EMI Nashville Eric Church +111

Building Gainers reflects titles with the top increases in plays from Monday through 5pm ET Wednesday, as compared to the same period in the previous week, according to Nielsen Music.

TOP COUNTRY ALBUMSCOUNTRY DIGITAL SONGS

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE MAY 7, 2015 | PAGE 7 OF 7

STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

The week’s most popular country albums, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music. Albums are defined as current if they are less than 18 months old or older than 18 months but still residing in the Billboard 200’s top 100. Charts update weekly on Thurdays at www.Billboard.Biz/charts. Copyright 2015, Prometheus Global Media, LLC and Nielsen Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

COUNTRY STREAMING SONGS

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY

SALES, AIRPLAY & STREAMING DATA COMPILED BY