Inside the Ambitious Radio Strategy That Tipped Shaboozey’s ‘A Bar Song’ Into the Record Books

Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” updates a long-standing country music tradition — drowning one’s sorrows in whiskey — by way of J-Kwon’s 2004 rap hit “Tipsy.” The first time the singer played it for his label, EMPIRE, one question was top of mind for those in attendance: “Everybody was like, ‘When are you going to country radio?’” recalls EMPIRE CEO Ghazi.

In Ghazi’s view, that was a “very limited” plan. He had a more ambitious one: Push the song to multiple formats simultaneously. “For a record like that,” he says, “it’s a no-brainer.” Shaboozey released “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” in April; within a month, EMPIRE was promoting it to five different segments of the airwaves. 

Radio promotion is traditionally expensive, which is why it’s one of the last frontiers in the music industry that is still dominated by the major labels. Yet “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” released by an independent, recently became the first single in history to crack the top 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay, Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay and Rhythmic Airplay charts. (Adult pop is like regular pop but more sedate, while rhythmic usually mixes rap, R&B and some dance music; the rankings are based on airplay from a panel of stations in each format.) 

“It’s important that Shaboozey has been able to show that you can do that as an independent artist,” says Heather Vassar, senior vp of operations for EMPIRE in Nashville. “We had several offers from majors who wanted to work the record, and it was really important that we were able to stay true to how we operate” — and scale the charts without their help. All that airplay counts towards the Hot 100, which Shaboozey has topped twice in non-consecutive weeks; notably, when “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” rebounded to No. 1 on the latest ranking, it was down in streams and sales, but up 11% in radio audience. 

Songs that do well in multiple spaces on the airwaves usually unite coalitions of similar-minded formats. Miley Cyrus‘ “Flowers” and The Weeknd‘s “Blinding Lights,” for example, both hit No. 1 at pop, adult pop and adult contemporary. “Typically pop will share a lot with adult contemporary,” says Tom Poleman, chief programming officer at iHeartMedia. “It’s a similar group [of listeners], just an older demographic.”

The biggest R&B hits, however, tend to amass a different base of support. Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I.‘s “Blurred Lines” and Mariah Carey‘s “We Belong Together,” both massive radio hits, reached No. 1 at adult R&B, mainstream R&B/hip-hop, rhythmic and pop. 

EMPIRE, which has been traditionally strong in hip-hop and Afrobeats, will often promote songs to mainstream R&B/hip-hop, rhythmic and pop, according to Ghazi. But Shaboozey’s combination of formats is unusual. Only 13 songs have ever appeared on all four of the charts where he is now romping inside the top 10. 

Country radio in particular has faced criticism in recent years for being unwilling to support songs by women or Black artists. Despite this history, 30 stations played “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” in April before EMPIRE sent the track to country programmers on May 3. “The streaming numbers were undeniable, but I was wondering how long it would take to convince a terrestrial country radio program director” to play the track, says Johnny Chiang, lead programmer for country music at SiriusXM and Pandora. “I am pleasantly surprised that they got it pretty quick.”

EMPIRE brought in Magnolia Music, an indie promotion company that has worked with the singer Randy Houser, to handle its country radio campaign. “Country radio, respectfully, always wants loyalty from artists,” Vassar says. “There was curiosity — is this one-and-done? Is Shaboozey going to go elsewhere [and stop paying attention to country radio] after this?” 

Not everyone was concerned, though. For Tim Roberts, Audacy’s vp of country, Shaboozey “was already accepted by a bunch of country artists, so it just seemed natural” to play him. He first learned about “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” from a DJ who told him it was filling the floor at Coyote Joes, a country nightclub outside of Detroit, where Roberts also serves as a brand manager for WYCD. Two Audacy stations, KMLE and WPAW, were among the first prominent supporters of the song.

To quell other programmers’ anxieties, EMPIRE played them the rest of Shaboozey’s album, which has plenty of country signifiers, from pedal steel guitars to a sample of a horse neighing. In addition, Vassar says, the label introduced the singer to programmers when they were able to, “so they can understand the world that he’s building.” Roberts met Shaboozey the week of the Academy of Country Music Awards; the singer Jelly Roll brought him out during a performance at Billy Bob’s.

After EMPIRE officially started pushing “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” to country radio in May, 43 more stations threw it into their playlists immediately, including 38 owned by iHeartMedia. The format accounts for more than 20% of the single’s airplay so far, second only to top 40. 

Shaboozey’s efforts to conquer pop and adult pop were aided by the fact that those formats have been more receptive to country songs recently — last year, Luke Combs’ “Fast Car” and Morgan Wallen‘s “Last Night” both crossed the divide. That sound “has been working at the top 40 format,” says Matt Johnson, program director for WPLW. “And when you combine that with a feel-good song as the weather is getting sweltering, that’s a recipe for a summertime hit.” 

iHeartMedia felt similarly. “We got really aggressive at pop on that song because we saw it taking off,” Poleman says. Pop stations now account for more than 40% of Shaboozey’s airplay. 

While there has been common ground recently between country and pop-adjacent formats, it’s still rare for country and rhythmic stations to share tracks. “Sometimes programmers follow the rulebook too much where it’s like, ‘This song doesn’t fit the normal criteria of what a rhythmic record should sound like,'” acknowledges Jonathan Steele, brand manager for KKFR in Phoenix. “I listen to everything and ask, is this going to alienate our audience? With Shaboozey, I knew my audience was going to get that hook stuck in their head.”

The rhythmic format was slower to welcome “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” relative to country and pop. But the track kept showing up on Shazam charts in places like Columbus, Ohio, where Chris Harris oversees WCKX, another rhythmic outlet. He started playing Shaboozey’s single in May, and he now has his eye on another alcohol-fueled country-rap fusion, Moneybagg Yo’s “Whiskey Whiskey,” a collaboration with Wallen.  

Harris also “took a gamble” at his mainstream R&B/hip-hop station, WIZF, and added “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” there recently. “We got a great response,” he says. But this is the one format EMPIRE targeted where “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has faltered, failing to get near the upper reaches of the chart. 

Still, “Next week, we should be top five at four formats,” Ghazi says. “I’m going to take a stab at going No. 1 at all four. Why not?”

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