Post Malone Secures His First Hit on Country Airplay Chart With ‘Pickup Man’
Written by djfrosty on November 14, 2023
Post Malone scores his first hit on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated Nov. 18), as his duet with the late Joe Diffie on the latter’s 1990s classic “Pickup Man” debuts at No. 54.
The song, billed as Joe Diffie featuring Post Malone, and released Nov. 9 via Mercury/Republic/Big Loud Records, arrives with 826,000 country format audience impressions in the Nov. 3-9 tracking week, according to Luminate. It debuts after just one day of tracking.
Post Malone performed the song at the 57th annual CMA Awards on Nov. 8, alongside Morgan Wallen and HARDY. The latter two artists also covered Diffie’s “John Deere Green.” The trio performed in tribute to Diffie, who died in March 2020 after a battle with COVID-19. His original versions of “Pickup Man” and “John Deere Green” hit Nos. 1 and 5, respectively, on the Hot Country Songs chart in 1994.
Both updates (with Diffie’s vocals recorded in 2006) are set to appear on the third iteration of HARDY’s Hixtape series, Hixtape Volume 3: Difftape, due March 29, 2024. The first, Hixtape, Vol. 1, reached No. 35 on the Top Country Albums chart in 2019 and features songs by 17 country acts, including Wallen, Trace Adkins, Thomas Rhett, Cole Swindell and Keith Urban.
As Post Malone debuts on Country Airplay for the first time, he has now charted on 15 different Billboard radio surveys in his career: Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay, Adult Contemporary, Rock & Alternative Airplay, Alternative Airplay, Adult Alternative Airplay, Mainstream Rock Airplay, R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Rhythmic Airplay, Rap Airplay, Latin Airplay, Dance/Mix Show Airplay, Country Airplay and the all-format Radio Songs chart.
Of those 15 rankings, he has hit No. 1 on 11: Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay, Adult Contemporary, Alternative Airplay, Adult Alternative Airplay, R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Rhythmic Airplay, Rap Airplay, Dance/Mix Show Airplay and Radio Songs.
Billboard has 25 total radio charts. The only ones on which Post Malone hasn’t yet charted are Adult R&B Airplay, Christian Airplay, Christian AC Airplay, Gospel Airplay, Latin Pop Airplay, Latin Rhythm Airplay, Regional Mexican Airplay, Tropical Airplay, Smooth Jazz Airplay and Holiday Airplay.
Dating to when Luminate began tracking airplay data in 1990, Pharrell holds the record for reaching the most radio charts, with 18. Adele and Mariah Carey are next (17 each), followed by Beyoncé, Wyclef Jean, John Legend, Bruno Mars, Santana and Timbaland (16 each). The artists to chart on 15 radio charts each: Christina Aguilera, Akon, Justin Bieber (with a notable country crossover of his own this decade), Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Shaggy and Snoop Dogg.
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