Radio
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For years, record labels have lamented country radio’s pokey approach to single cycles. But at this year’s Country Radio Seminar (CRS), which started Feb. 19 and concluded Feb. 21, even radio programmers are frustrated with the approach.
“It shouldn’t take a year for a good song to get to No. 1,” Cumulus vp of country Travis Daily said during the “Why Can’t We Be Friends” panel on Feb. 19. “We, on my side, are like, ‘People get bored easy, so let’s slow it down.’ It’s dumb.”
Panelists used Cole Swindell’s “Forever to Me” as an example: The track reached the top 10 on the Country Airplay chart dated March 1 after 45 weeks (see On the Charts, page 4). It had all the hallmarks of a hit — an emotionally appealing release from one of country’s most consistent hit-makers — and yet stations had a difficult time committing to it. Meanwhile, digital streaming providers, based on the data from customer reaction, responded commensurately and ran it through their hit cycle. Thus, country radio — once the genre’s primary source of music discovery — seems slow, uncertain and sheepish next to more nimble competition.
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“[DSPs] had to come off of it because the audience wants fresh,” Warner Music Nashville senior vp of radio and streaming Kristen Williams said. “They want something new and they want it faster.”
As a result, Williams’ team is using a bifurcated marketing campaign for Swindell, pushing country radio toward the label’s goal of a No. 1 single with “Forever to Me” while talking with DSPs about the singer’s latest track, “Kill a Prayer.”
“This is actually more commonplace than not,” Williams said.
The conversation took place as the country industry again reevaluates its tactics and relationships at the annual seminar, founded as an event for broadcasters and labels that has expanded in recent years to include streaming-related panels. CRS hosts a series of educational panels daily with plenty of showcase opportunities available during label-sponsored lunches and nighttime performances. This year’s event has already featured performances by Brothers Osborne, Jelly Roll, Jordan Davis, Avery Anna, Old Dominion, Dylan Schneider and Brad Paisley, who apologized to programmers who had to wait in single-digit wind chill for entry into the Ryman Auditorium at the Universal Music Group Nashville lunch on Feb. 20.
“The temperature outside,” Paisley said sarcastically, “is what it’s like to play for you.”
The joke received an appreciative groan from the programmers in the audience, who have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with Paisley since his introduction to radio in 1999. Country artists have typically gone on expensive radio tours for decades, performing for radio staff in conference rooms and forging a rapport that would hopefully lead to personal investment in the artists’ careers. But the relationship has changed with the maturation of the streaming business.
In an earlier time, country artists released three or four singles per year, and those that succeeded would peak on the chart in 12 to 18 weeks. Around the time that Paisley debuted, CRS attendees were encouraged to hang on to their hits longer, which slowed the number of singles and made it more difficult to establish careers.
With the growth of DSPs, artists are once again able to release more music and cycle through the hits quicker, creating stronger relationships with their consumers. Those expensive radio tours have mostly dried up — Cox Media/Houston director of operations Travis Moon estimated that KKBQ has had only four or five artists visit the station on a radio tour in the last year. Programmers seem to be recognizing that playing the same hits for longer periods may be a competitive disadvantage.
“Music is moving faster than ever, [while] the charts are going slower than ever,” said Sticks Media owner Todd Nixon during the Feb. 20 panel “Cycle of a Song” that focused on Tucker Wetmore’s “Wind Up Missin’ You.” “We just got to go faster on this record.”
Programmers have long believed that listeners prefer familiar music over new songs, though a Nuvoodoo study, “The Country Fan — Reviewing, Retaining, and Recruiting Your Listeners,” presented Feb. 20, suggested that overfamiliarity may be hurting radio more than new music. Commercial breaks are the top reason for tune-out, with 47% of the study’s respondents citing them as a factor. Three different kinds of repetition — playing songs too frequently, burnout and tracks appearing at the same time on successive days — were each cited as a problem by more than 40% of respondents. But only 34% of listeners said they turned off the station because they “don’t know” a song.
Therefore, feeding a healthy amount of new music, slotted in the right position on the playlist, may be one of the ways to counter the repetition issues.
“If you just take conventional wisdom constantly, you create narratives and biases in your own head and you’ll bore the audience to death,” Bonneville/Denver director of operations Brian Michel said during “Sound Off: What Is ‘Mainstream’ Country?” on Feb. 20.
Stations with minimal research of their own might consider watching Spotify’s Hot Country playlist, which features material that’s previously proved itself in other forums.
“You can trust that if something is in Hot Country, it is performing well with the mainstream country audience,” Spotify Nashville head of editorial Rachel Whitney said during the “Sound Off” panel. “Then use your own judgment about whether or not it matters to your audience.”
Even if country radio is considering a course correction, the medium remains a venerable institution, and the artists — all of whom grew up with it playing a significant role in their exposure to the music — continue to show their appreciation.
“You guys have changed my life in the last year,” Wetmore said during the “Cycle of a Song” panel. “Truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
That’s one aspect of CRS that remains the same.
The honorees for the Country Radio Hall of Fame Class of 2025 were revealed Wednesday (Feb. 19) during CRS Honors as part of the Country Radio Seminar, which is happening in downtown Nashville Feb. 19-21.
This year’s radio category honorees are Ginny “Rogers” Brophey, Clay Hunnicutt and Gregg Swedberg. Honorees in the on-air personality category are Big D & Bubba, Mary McCoy and Rowdy Yates.
The honorees will be feted during the Country Radio Hall of Fame Induction and Dinner set for July 21 at the Virgin Hotel Nashville.
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The Country Radio Hall of Fame honors individuals who have made a significant and enduring impact on the industry, with inductees being recognized in the categories of on-air personality (honoring the achievements of on-air talent), and radio (honoring professionals behind the scenes in programming, management and sales). To qualify, potential honorees must have worked in the radio industry for at least 20 years, with 15 years in the country format.
Big D & Bubba first joined forces in 1996 at WTGE in Baton Rouge, La., and launched their self-syndicated morning show three years later. They have been honored by the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music. In 2014, they formed their own company, Silverfish, which continues to be the duo’s radio home, extending to 97 radio stations and partnering with 71 broadcast companies. Since 2011, the duo have been heard on the Armed Forces Radio Network each morning.
McCoy has been drawing in radio listeners in Conroe, Tex., for more than seven decades, a feat that has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records. Her radio career launched in 1951 when she joined KMCO-AM in Conroe. In the early 1990s, McCoy was one of the first voices heard on KVST-FM, a new radio station in Conroe. She has since played country music on K-STAR Country 99.7 for more than 30 years. McCoy is currently heard six days a week with on-air co-host Larry Galla. She was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2010 and was part of the 2024 National Radio Hall of Fame class.
This year, Yates celebrates four decades working in radio. His career launched in Denton, Tex., in the mid-1980s, after which he ascended to dual programming/on-air roles in College Station, Tex., and Oklahoma City, Okla., before rising to roles at KIKK and KILT in Houston as well as KVOO in Tulsa, Okla. In 2004, Yates surged into nationally syndicated radio with an eight-year run hosting Country Gold. Since 2013, he’s owned, operated and worked as a host on Syndicated Media LLC Houston, and since 2019, he’s served as operations manager/PM for RFC Media/Suite Radio Houston, for country radio formats The Brand and The Legend. He also hosts The Rowdy Ride Home. Yates has been honored by the Academy of Country Music and the CRS-Country Aircheck Awards and is a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.
Brophey has worked in the radio industry for more than 40 years, with roles at WBOS, WKLB and WBWL. Since 2022, she has worked as brand manager/air talent/content creator at Townsquare Media’s WOKQ/Dover/Portsmouth. During her time at WBWL, Brophey joined the Country Cares radiothon program benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research, which earned her the “St. Jude Radio Partner of the Year” honor in 2019. Her St. Jude commitment included nine years of service on the St. Jude Radio Advisory Board. Brophey has been honored by the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, as well as by the CRS/Country Aircheck Awards and the New Hampshire Broadcasters Association.
Hunnicutt has earned significant success in the radio and label sides of the business. He started at WUSY/Chattanooga, where he served in roles including production director, imaging director, assistant program director and ultimately program director. He then worked as program director of WGAR/Cleveland, director of programming for Clear Channel’s five-station cluster in Nashville, and held day-to-day program director responsibilities for WSIX. Hunnicutt later took on a similar role for iHeart/Atlanta with country station WUBL, before taking on a series of corporate roles for iHeart, including executive vp of programming for the company’s major markets. At iHeart, he went on to serve as vp/brand manager of country programming for the company’s 143 country stations, as well as vp/GM of iHeartMedia’s national programming platforms. He’s been honored on Billboard‘s Power 31 list and named one of Radio Ink‘s top 50 programmers, and has served on the boards for the CMA, ACM and Country Radio Broadcasters. He also is a member of Leadership Music’s class of 2005. Later in his career, Hunnicutt started Big Loud Records as president, helping to launch the careers of Morgan Wallen, Hardy and more. He subsequently served as GM at Big Machine Records and most recently served as executive vp of label operations for all of Big Machine Label Group’s imprints.
Swedberg has spent 34 years programming at KEEY (K102) in Minneapolis, Minn. He was named K102 program director in 1992, then rose to operations manager, senior vp/programming, regional senior vp/programming and national country format coordinator for the station’s parent company iHeartRadio. Swedberg was previously a board member for the Country Radio Broadcasters and has been a member of Radio Ink’s most influential country program directors every year since 2000. KEEY has won multiple station of the year honors from the ACM and CMA. Several personalities on K102 have also been honored by both organizations during Swedberg’s time as program director.
When the Country Radio Seminar (CRS) comes to a close on Feb. 21, five artists — Warren Zeiders, Dasha, Ashley Cooke, Drew Baldridge and Zach Top — will have 20 minutes apiece to make a lasting impression on programmers at the New Faces of Country Music show.
That 20-minute slot may not sound like much, but it’s significant. In its original incarnation, New Faces allowed artists to perform just two songs, which meant they had about seven minutes to win over a room of professional skeptics. Because of decisions made 25 years ago, this year’s class has nearly triple the amount of stage time to influence programmers from across the country. Many of those gatekeepers will be evaluating these artists’ work for the rest of their careers.
The long-tail importance can’t be discounted. In just the last week, Lee Brice had a conversation with a radio executive who recalled specifics about his New Faces appearance in 2011.
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“I knew that you got to get your face out there, and that people talk about it,” Brice says, recounting the obvious benefits of that appearance. “But they’re still talking about it [14] years later. That I didn’t realize.”
The New Faces show had make-or-break moments in its earliest years, building a reputation as a star-making platform. Alabama in 1980, Randy Travis in 1986 and Tim McGraw in 1994 all impressed the crowd with their two-song sets, solidifying support from broadcasters who inevitably helped them become significant ambassadors for the genre.
Conversely, a few artists snuffed out their possible futures with appearances that ran from amateurish to over the top. In one particular instance, an independent artist thanked the crowd for making her a “star,” though she had never reached the top 25 on Billboard’s country singles chart. The room’s influencers groaned audibly, and she only made one more chart appearance with a single that peaked in the 60s.
More stringent qualifications have since been instituted. The annual lineup was halved in 2000 from 10 artists to five. More recently, CRS instituted a vote of radio employees and other members of the music industry and media to select performers. That has changed the impact of a New Faces appearance. It previously represented an introduction to an artist; now it’s a confirmation of the industry’s embrace.
“The purpose of it is different,” Country Radio Broadcasters executive director RJ Curtis says, “but I still think it has significance and meaning for our event and for the artists’ careers.”
A Billboard study of the 413 artists who appeared at New Faces from 1970 to 2024 underscores the change. During the first 30 years, when the lineup usually featured 10 artists performing two songs apiece, more than half of them — 52% — reached the top 10 on Billboard‘s country singles chart in their careers. Since 2000, when the lineup was reduced to five acts performing for 20 minutes each, a whopping 91% have gone top 10.
The difference is significant, reflecting changes in not only the New Faces show but also the structure of the entertainment landscape. During the early days of CRS, there was no internet or even a country cable TV network. Programmers may not have seen an 8 by 10 glossy of all the artists or, in some cases, even received a 7-inch to sample. A New Faces appearance was literally a chance to make a first impression.
McGraw’s 1994 appearance is a case in point. He had had a polarizing hit with his novelty “Indian Outlaw,” but his second song that night was a still-unreleased “Don’t Take the Girl.” It effectively changed the narrative around his career.
“I’d never heard that song before,” Curtis recalls. “Tim nailed it. It was mind-blowing. The room was beside itself, and rightly so, and Tim has acknowledged that, yes, that was a big moment for him.”
Under current conditions, most attendees have likely met some of the New Faces artists and even had them sing in their conference rooms on radio promotion tours or had them perform for an acoustic, station-sponsored benefit. And with 20 minutes to play, the artists are better able to shape — if they’re so inspired — a set list that represents a musical journey. Curtis points to Eric Church in 2007 as an example.
“It was like an introduction or an autobiography, a statement about who he was as an artist, what he believed in and what his shows were going to look like if you hadn’t seen him live,” Curtis remembers. “To a lot of people who were the big Eric Church fans, it was about the live show. That was an experience — it wasn’t just a concert, it was like a shared experience — and Eric Church came out in 2007 and did a really clever [show], all tied in together. Very strategic.”
The decision to cut the lineup from 10 artists to five was likewise a strategic move by CRS. The late Charlie Monk, one of the seminar’s founders, told Curtis that in the show’s early years, performance slots were based less on the artists’ accomplishments than on their teams’ ability to pull strings.
“I hate to say this, but back in the day, it was kind of a smoke-filled room,” Curtis admits. “There were deals, there were ‘I scratch your back, you scratch mine’ [agreements] — that’s the way the business was back then.”
That meant there were acts appearing on the show who didn’t necessarily warrant the opportunity. The board decided to shrink the field from 10 performers to five in 2000 and institute criteria for the first time, including benchmarks related to airplay charts. (Beginning with the 2026 show, Billboard‘s multimetric Hot Country Songs will figure into eligibility.)
Naturally, requiring a specific level of success led to stronger lineups, and with only five slots, there have been plenty of instances where a worthwhile performer missed one year, but was eligible again the next year and made it. Zeiders, who will perform this year, is a prime example. That also strengthens New Faces, though it also means the showcase experience is different from its original concept. There’s less suspense about the artists, and a surprise breakout is far less likely. Instead, it’s more a celebration of the developing acts that the industry has already generally embraced.
“It was a predictor,” Curtis says, “and now it’s a validation.”
Time, it’s been said, goes by faster as people age.
But in country music, an entire lifetime can transpire in a scant three minutes. In George Birge‘s new “It Won’t Be Long” (No. 58, Country Airplay), the storyline follows the singer from a first-meeting kiss in the parking lot to a starter home, kids and a recognition of his impending senior years. In Russell Dickerson‘s “Bones” (No. 43), the protagonist sees the full sweep of a lifelong relationship, from the first glance to his future burial with his wedding ring wrapped tightly around his finger. And in Jordan Davis‘ “Next Thing You Know,” a 2023 Country Music Association (CMA) Award nominee for song of the year, a young man marries, raises some kids and lets the song — and, presumably, his life — figuratively fade to black in the end.
All of those titles put country music’s storytelling tradition on steroids, relating the life cycle of one human, or of two people’s relationship, in a compact plot. And they were all co-written by the same guy, Chase McGill, who has a special affinity for “life songs,” as he — and several other writers — call them. Since those three-minute biographies have only a small amount of space to hit the highlights, a key to making them work is to pick moments that everyone understands and paint them vividly.
“No one is so special that they’re the only person in the world that’s been through something,” McGill reasons. “If you write it like you know it and make it real, as special as you might be, someone else has been through it, too.”
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One of the strengths that has fueled country’s current uptick is the genre’s ability to tell stories. Throughout the decades, country’s narratives have included Reba McEntire‘s “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” Marty Robbin‘s “El Paso,” Luke Combs‘ “Where the Wild Things Are,” Kenny Rogers‘ “The Gambler” and HARDY‘s collaboration with Lainey Wilson, “wait in the truck.”
Those plots typically detail a short time frame, maybe a few years.
But a life song maximizes that storytelling, covering all — or most — of the passage from cradle to grave, or the whole of a relationship or of one generation.
A life song is “the ultimate challenge,” LANCO‘s Brandon Lancaster says. “To me, that’s always kind of been like the Everest of country music, if you can get to the summit and be like, ‘Wow, look at this mountaintop we just climbed in three minutes.’ “
People associate those kinds of songs with country music because they’ve seemingly always been there. In fact, while story songs were embedded in the genre from its beginning, it appears that the life song was cemented with The Browns‘ “The Three Bells,” a 1959 hit that topped both the pop and country charts. It conveyed the timeline of fictitious Jimmy Brown, using a chapel bell to mark key moments and create a template for the life song.
“Birth, marriage, death — it’s precisely that,” says songwriter Bobby Braddock (“He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “Time Marches On”).
Life songs would emerge sporadically after “The Three Bells.” Loretta Lynn‘s “Coal Miner’s Daughter”; Cal Smith‘s “Country Bumpkin”; the David Houston & Tammy Wynette duet, “My Elusive Dreams”; and George Jones‘collaboration with Wynette on “Golden Ring” — about the journey of a wedding ring, also penned by Braddock — are all strong examples.
Kathy Mattea‘s 1989 release “Where’ve You Been,” written by husband Jon Vezner with Don Henry, seemingly ushered in the golden era of life songs after winning the CMA Award for song of the year. The ’90s featured a large number of those sweeping plotlines: Wynonna‘s “She Is His Only Need,” George Strait‘s”Check Yes or No,” Lorrie Morgan‘s”Something in Red,” Patty Loveless‘ “How Can I Help You Say Goodbye,” Tim McGraw‘s “Don’t Take the Girl” and the Braddock-penned Tracy Lawrence hit “Time Marches On.”
“It’s pretty much an entire lifetime encapsulated into about two minutes and 40 seconds,” Braddock remembers of “Time Marches On.” “That was kind of a short record to be about somebody’s life.”
Typically, the verses in those songs do the heavy biographical lifting, offering narrative details, while the chorus and/or a bridge often deliver an overarching philosophy. A repetitive hook — usually in the chorus, but sometimes embedded in the verses — keeps the story cohesive. And singable.
“The most brilliant examples of that [repetition] can be found with comedians,” says artist-writer Skip Ewing, who co-wrote a couple of 1990s life songs: Bryan White‘s”Rebecca Lynn” and Collin Raye‘s “Love, Me.” “We love it when a comedian has a joke, it’s funny, and a little bit later on in the show, they’ll somehow bring that back into play and it connects the dots. And they might even do it a third time.”
“Love, Me,” a 1992 CMA song of the year nominee, used a letter nailed to a tree to connect the dots between a youthful verse-one elopement and the woman’s death-bed moments in verse two. The singer reveals himself to be their 15-year-old grandchild, giving the listener a sense of the couple’s decades together. But all the interim events in the story of their relationship are missing. That actually allows the listener to participate, filling in the life song’s blanks with their own experience.
“A lot of times it’s what we didn’t say,” Ewing notes. “You don’t have to tell someone much for their own mind to begin to put the story together.”
Life songs have been less prominent since the ’90s, though some certainly broke through, including Brooks & Dunn‘s “Red Dirt Road” and “Believe.” And LANCO’s Lancaster developed a greater understanding of country when he heard Randy Travis‘ 2003 single “Three Wooden Crosses” for the first time as a teen.
“I remember when that song ended,” Lancaster says, “feeling like I had just watched a three-hour movie, like I had just really gone through this journey and realizing it was in three minutes and really appreciating how that’s possible.”
LANCO’s new single — “We Grew Up Together,” released Jan. 27 — extends the current wave of life songs, taking on a larger time frame in its plot than the group tackled in its biggest hit to date, “Greatest Love Story.” Added to the current and recent recordings by Birge, Davis and Dickerson, life songs seem to be resurging as part of an ongoing ’90s country revival that counters some of the genre’s sound in the previous decade.
“The 20-teens capitalized on this very momentary thing — ‘Right now; let’s party right now,’ ” Lancaster says. “I do think that it’s a good time [for life songs] because I think that you’re starting to see more that falls in the category of storytelling.”
Ultimately, the story that life songs tell most often is a reminder that life is short and each moment should be lived fully. McGill embodies that message even outside of his songs. His daughters are fully immersed in gymnastics, and he is devoted to them, regularly attending their practices as they live through an age that only lasts so long.
“I bought my own stadium chair and take it to gymnastics every night, and I sit in a folding chair four nights a week,” he says. “I know that I’m in the sweet spot of my life.”
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U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) is asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take action to prevent radio stations from offering airplay to artists in exchange for performing free shows.
In a letter sent to FCC chairman Brendan Carr on Thursday (Jan. 30), Blackburn decried the alleged practice she says is “critically impacting Tennessee’s content creators,” branding it as “payola” — the practice of accepting payment in exchange for radio airplay without disclosing it.
“As you know, the FCC considers payola a violation of the Sponsorship Identification Rules,” Blackburn wrote. “From what we have learned, it appears that to sidestep these restrictions, radio stations and networks have adopted a troubling new tactic. Instead of demanding cash or lavish perks from record labels in exchange for airplay, they now pressure artists to perform ‘free radio shows’ — also referred to as ‘listener appreciation shows’ or ‘charitable concert events.’”
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She adds that radio stations “often receive the financial benefit of these shows through ticket sales, sponsorships, and other income while the artists and record labels frequently absorb the expense.”
Blackburn claims she has heard from artists in the industry who say “it is not unusual for them to perform anywhere from 10 to 50 such shows in any given year.” She adds that artists early in their careers tend to perform more but that “those that have had more success” are still often expected to perform free shows in exchange for airtime.
“This practice is exploitative and should not be tolerated,” the letter continues. “Federal law and FCC rules prohibit radio stations from receiving undisclosed compensation for broadcasting songs, and this principle must extend to free performances for radio stations and networks. Artists should not be extorted into providing free labor in exchange for airplay. I urge you to take swift action to end this abuse and protect our music community.”
A longstanding issue in the music industry, payola was first regulated by Congress in 1960 and later became the subject of a mid-2000s investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office that led to all three major labels paying millions in penalties and agreeing to reforms, including a vow not to use “commercial transactions…in an explicit or implicit exchange, agreement, or understanding to obtain airplay or increase airplay,” among other concessions.
Despite this, there has been ongoing concern in the industry and beyond about the continued effectiveness of these regulations. In 2019, then-FCC commissioner Michael O’Rielly asked the Recording Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to investigate allegations of payola. In 2022, several music executives met with the New York Attorney General’s office to complain that some independent promoters hired by labels had continued engaging in the practice.
According to Blackburn, whose state’s capital city of Nashville is the heart of the country music business, the alleged free concerts are simply payola in another form, writing that there’s “often an implicit suggestion that declining to perform could result in reduced airplay” — what she characterizes as “forced quid pro quo.”
You can read Blackburn’s letter in full below.
The Honorable Brendan Carr
Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
45 L Street, NE
Washington, DC 20554
Dear Chairman Carr, Thank you for your leadership at the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”). I am writing to bring attention to an issue critically impacting Tennessee’s content creators, particularly its songwriters and music community.
Federal law prohibits radio stations from accepting payment for airtime without disclosing the transaction—a practice commonly known as “payola.”1 As you know, the FCC considers payola a violation of the Sponsorship Identification Rules. 2
From what we have learned, it appears that to sidestep these restrictions, radio stations and networks have adopted a troubling new tactic. Instead of demanding cash or lavish perks from record labels in exchange for airplay, they now pressure artists to perform “free radio shows”— also referred to as “listener appreciation shows” or “charitable concert events.”
We have heard the new scheme works in this manner: radio stations and networks offer more airtime for an artist’s songs if the artist performs a free show. There is often an implicit suggestion that declining to perform could result in reduced airplay. Radio stations and networks often receive the financial benefit of these shows through ticket sales, sponsorships, and other income while the artists and record labels frequently absorb the expense.
This forced quid pro quo applies to essentially all artists, regardless of their level of success. Artists in the industry have told me that it is not unusual for them to perform anywhere from 10 to 50 such shows in any given year. Those just starting out in their career will often perform more, while those that have had more success will have to perform fewer, but they will still be expected to do them.
This practice is exploitative and should not be tolerated. Federal law and FCC rules prohibit radio stations from receiving undisclosed compensation for broadcasting songs, and this principle must extend to free performances for radio stations and networks. Artists should not be extorted into providing free labor in exchange for airplay.
I urge you to take swift action to end this abuse and protect our music community. Thank you for your attention to this pressing matter.
Sincerely,
Marsha Blackburn
United States Senator
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” tends to a 27th week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Radio Songs chart — breaking out of a tie with The Weeknd‘s “Blinding Lights” for the most time spent at No. 1 in the survey’s history.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” previously logged a record-tying 19 weeks at No. 1 on the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Billboard Hot 100, beginning last July.
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The track holds atop Radio Songs with 63.3 million in audience Jan. 24-30, essentially even week-over-week, according to data tracker Luminate. The chart reflects all-format airplay on more than 1,000 monitored radio stations; Pop Airplay chart reporter KDHT (Hits 95.7) Denver has played the song the most to date, more than 4,000 times.
Here’s a rundown of the longest-leading Radio Songs No. 1s, dating to the chart’s December 1990 start:
27 weeks, “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Shaboozey, beginning Aug. 10, 2024
26, “Blinding Lights,” The Weeknd, April 18, 2020
18, “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus, Feb. 25, 2023
18, “Iris,” Goo Goo Dolls, Aug. 1, 1998
16, “Girls Like You,” Maroon 5 feat. Cardi B, Aug. 4, 2018
16, “We Belong Together,” Mariah Carey, May 28, 2005
16, “Don’t Speak,” No Doubt, Dec. 7, 1996
15, “Easy On Me,” Adele, Dec. 4, 2021
14, “High Hopes,” Panic! at the Disco, Dec. 1, 2018
14, “No One,” Alicia Keys, Nov. 3, 2007
14, “Because You Loved Me,” Celine Dion, April 13, 1996
“A Bar Song (Tipsy),” on American Dogwood/EMPIRE and with country radio promotion by Magnolia Music, dominated the Country Airplay chart for seven weeks beginning last August, the longest No. 1 run for a first entry, and ranks in the top 10 for a record-extending 31st week.
The song also made history as the first to hit the top five (or even top 10) on Country Airplay, Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay (two weeks at No. 1 on each chart) and Rhythmic Airplay (No. 3 peak).
“There were many, many doubters of our ability to work this record at radio,” EMPIRE COO Nima Etminan told Billboard after “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” hit No. 1 on the Hot 100. “The industry loves telling independents that there’s a ceiling to what they can do on their own, and this was no different. We were told it can’t be done, and, as we like to do, we proved them wrong. We’ve assembled a fantastic team that we had full faith in – and they delivered.”
All charts (dated Feb. 8, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Feb. 4. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
SiriusXM reported revenue from subscribers fell by nearly 4%, while ad revenue held flat for the full year in 2024, as the satellite radio company’s nascent streaming app failed to jump-start its subscribers as hoped.
The company generated $8.7 billion in revenue and adjusted EBITDA of $2.73 billion last year, representing declines of 3% and 2% respectively from 2023 figures. Subscriber revenue declines were the biggest contributing factor to the ho-hum year, but it was partially offset by the company lowering costs by cutting marketing, business expenses and staff.
“At the end of 2024, we took significant steps to refocus on SiriusXM’s core strengths and enhance operational efficiency,” Sirius Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Witz said in a statement. “By prioritizing our core in-car subscription business, leveraging our streaming capabilities, and growing our leadership in ad-supported audio, we are well-positioned to deliver long-term value. Looking ahead, we are energized by the opportunities to build on this strategy and continue offering unparalleled audio experiences through our platforms.”
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SiriusXM announced in December that was shifting marketing and other resources away from the streaming app it launche in Dec. 2023 to prioritize its subscribers who pay to listen to its music, sports and news radio and podcasts in vehicles.
Sirius is the dominant provider of audio entertainment subscriptions in vehicles in the U.S. but concerns over softening subscriber revenue and an eagerness to attract more younger subscribers pushed the launch of a streaming app last December.
The company met its 2024 financial targets–adjusted EBITDA of $2.73 billion and a margin of 31%–but its executives were peppered by questions about disappointing advertising revenue and internal guidance that 2025 will see sharper declines in adjusted EBITDA than they saw in 2024.
The company has a complicated business model, part of which hinges on customers choosing to start paying for their service after first trying a free trial subscription. Witz told analysts on their earnings call they expect to stabilize conversion rates this year for certain product lines like its 360L, a new premium in-vehicle audio platform with more channels. That said, she advised the number of net new subscribers in 2025 is again expected to decline.
The company said it is expecting $8.5 billion in total revenue in 2025, with $1.15 billion in free cash flow and $2.6 billion in adjusted EBITDA.
Here are the main take-aways from SiriusXM’s fourth quarter and annual earnings report:
The SiriusXM segment of the overall company–which doesn’t include Pandora–reported 2024 revenue of $6.6 billion, down 4% from 2023. The decline was driven by lower susbcriber, equipment and other revenue and a smaller average base of self-pay subscribers.
Average revenue per user in 2024 of $15.21 fell 35 cents from the prior year because of declining ad revenue, lower rates the company gets paid from automakers to offer promotional plans in their cars, and more people subscribing only for the streaming app, which has a lower price than the in-car subscription.
SiriusXM self-pay subscribers fell by 296,000 in 2024. The company had 33 million total subscribers as of Dec. 31, 2024.
SiriusXM gross profit totaled $3.9 billion in 2024, 6% lower than 2023, but with a gross margin of 60%, roughly flat from 2023.
Pandora and Off-platform self-pay subscribers decreased by 101,000 in the fourth quarter to end the year at 5.8 million in total.
Pandora and off-platform revenue totaled $2.15 billion in 2024, up 2% from 2023, helped by increased revenues from subscribers, advertising, podcasting and programmatic sales.
Audacy president/CEO David Field is stepping down, with current Audacy board member Kelli Turner to serve as interim president/CEO, effective immediately. A search is underway for Field’s permanent successor, the company said on Wednesday. Field has served as president of Audacy since 1998, and added CEO duties to his role in 2002. He will continue […]
Surprise!
When Morgan Wallen dropped a new song on Dec. 30, the move came as a double surprise. For starters, the world hadn’t known it was on the way, and “Smile” gave his fans an unexpected bonus to start off 2025. Additionally, the video followed a plot in which Wallen gave fictitious TV producers an unwelcome surprise, performing “Smile” for an in-studio audience when the rundown — and the teleprompter — were queued up for “Love Somebody.”
In the process, Wallen toyed with one of the keys to a successful music career: the art of surprise. It can take all kinds of forms, be it an unpromoted album release, such as Eric Church‘s 2015 project Mr. Misunderstood; an unannounced concert walk-on, as when Willie Nelson appeared onstage during an Oct. 11 performance by Chris Stapleton in Austin; or a simple fashion decision, a la Dolly Parton‘s Dallas Cowboys cheerleader outfit during a Thanksgiving 2023 halftime show.
“We’re in a world where click bait is everything,” independent artist Chris Housman says. “If you’re watching a movie, you want to be shocked, too. I think it applies to music.”
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The word “surprise” is rarely used in connection with a creative target in country music, though surprises often fuel the genre’s songs. The hesitation when Megan Moroney says, “Wait,” in the middle of “Am I Okay?” is a head-turner the first time a listener hears it. The tight, in-your-face harmonies in Dan + Shay‘s “Speechless” carried a level of surprise when that song arrived in 2018. And the odd use of the fishing-related noun “spinner bait” as a verb in Justin Moore‘s current “Time’s Ticking” has a what-did-I-hear value that subtly encourages fans to lean in further to decipher the story.
“I’ve had songs in the past where you look at the title and you think it’s going to be one thing, and then it turns out to be something completely different,” Moore says. “I always like that, when songs surprise you.”
Not everyone does. Radio programmers have operated for decades under the belief that most of their audience is looking for songs they already know they like. When they’re surprised with a new song, they tend to want one that sounds like it already belongs — either the voice is familiar or the general sound of the music fits with what they already know.
“That’s what we’re all chasing, is that fine line of something that’s special and shocking, but also familiar to the fans that we’ve already cultivated,” Carly Pearce says. “How do we make new fans? How do we stretch it within the margins of our artistry? I mean, I think about it all the time: How do I elevate but still keep the base?”
Collaborations often create surprise, allowing both artists to maintain their sound while they develop a joint presence, as Pearce discovered in duet singles with Stapleton, Lee Brice and Ashley McBryde. Cover songs can do that, too — particularly when they’re not obvious. Tigirlily Gold, for example, has caught fans off guard by segueing from “Blonde” into “9 to 5” during concerts, while Drew Baldridge has occasionally slid Dua Lipa‘s most unlikely “Levitating” into his set list.
“People are like, ‘What is happening? This country dude is singing some pop song?’ ” Baldridge says. “That’s really fun. With our set, we try to throw in some songs that people wouldn’t expect some big country boy to do.”
Streaming platforms and social media have built much of their models around the idea of providing subscribers a steady flow of new content — surprises that, thanks to algorithms built to determine users’ tastes, are designed to land favorably.
Streaming has, as the industry knows well, put a major dent in albums’ popularity, and some of that shift is a result of artists uploading a steady flow of new music that feeds fans’ demand for content. Thus, artists now provide surprises to their audience on a regular basis. But in the process, particularly when those songs are advance releases that tease upcoming projects, they take away some of the unknowns that were historically part of the album experience.
“Back in the day, when the Eric Church record would come out, you would go to the store and buy it,” Dylan Marlowe recalls. “You had no idea what was on it, and that was the coolest part to me.”
Thus, those tracks pushed out in advance of an album might bring attention to the project, but releasing too many might actually prove detrimental.
“I think it gives it a shorter shelf life,” Marlowe suggests. “There’s just no surprise. You’ve heard [some of the songs] a million times before you’ve even heard it.”
Heavy repetition is desirable — more performances equal higher royalties — but it also changes the effect of the music. When Little Big Town released “Pontoon” in 2012, the odd sound of the opening instrumental riff — a stinging combination of mandolin and a programmed keyboard — was such a cool surprise that listeners wanted to hear it over and over. But as the song aged, that repetition changed the riff from an edgy, sonic curveball to a comfortable mainstream offering. It’s that constant evolution, from fresh and surprising to familiar and safe, that continues to challenge music makers to find new ways to spark listeners’ imaginations.
“If the surprise is the same surprise over and over again, people are going to get bored,” says songwriter Laura Veltz (“The Bones,” “What If I Never Get Over You”). “You can’t say the same joke over and over again, right? But as a creator, my job is to create a new surprise. Every single time new music is released, the game changes. We have to ebb and flow. That’s the job; that’s the game.”
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Alex Warren is in the middle of packing when he logs on to Zoom, sitting in a bedroom with only a bed and some taped-up boxes behind him. It’s just before the holidays, and the pop singer-songwriter is preparing to move from Los Angeles to Nashville with his wife (and fellow Internet personality) Kouvr Annon. “We’re young,” he reasons, “so let’s go experience some other things and see what we like.”
The 24-year-old is accustomed to whirlwind life changes. His latest single, the piano-backed ode to resilience “Burning Down,” became his first Billboard Hot 100 hit in October, and signaled his breakthrough as a musician. Prior to making music his full-time gig, from late 2019 to 2022, he and Annon were major players in Hype House, a popular group of TikTok content creators that frequently collaborated and lived together. (They both starred in the 2022 Netflix docuseries of the same name, which lasted one season.)
Even before the Hype House disbanded the same year, Warren had already begun to pivot into a music career, a passion of his since he began playing guitar as a child. He released his aching, guitar-driven debut single, “One More I Love You” as an independent artist in June 2021, and the track quickly drew a following on streaming platforms. With a manager already in tow — Odd Projects’ Brian Sokolik, whom he first met four years ago through a former agent — the two began to field major label offers. Warren signed with Atlantic Records in 2022.
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“We were looking for a label that really understood Alex as a person and would teach him what works best,” Sokolik recalls. “Our first meeting with Atlantic, it was pretty obvious that it was home. They came in and were brutally honest about what was good and what wasn’t, but in a really productive, constructive way.”
Austin Hargrave
In the months that followed, Warren’s life, both professionally and personally, continued to accelerate: he dropped his first single under Atlantic, “Headlights,” in August 2022, and followed it with “Chasing Shadows” that December. He then kicked off 2023 by proposing to Annon before embarking on his first headlining tour. He continued releasing more singles through last year all while maintaining his content creation career, pumping out daily TikTok videos and Instagram Reels.
Over time, Warren has become more comfortable with his music reflecting his challenging upbringing. His father passed away when he was nine years old, after which he lived with his mother, who struggled with alcoholism and died in 2021. She kicked Warren out of the house just after he turned 18, and he spent the next five months homeless. Reflecting today, he’s grateful to be able to channel such painful experiences into his music.
“I recently started doing this thing where I write about those [experiences], and I try to take control in a way,” he says. “For me, something really beautiful is taking something so sad and dark, and what most would view as something that ruined their life, and turn it into something that can help people.”
Alex Warren photographed December 19, 2024, in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
Last May, during a set of studio sessions in Los Angeles, Warren felt particularly inspired by such memories, and began to write with collaborators Adam Yaron, Cal Shapiro and Mags Duval. The result was “Burning Down,” which came together in just a day, among other tracks over the course of the productive week.
“I’ve always let people walk all over me, and ‘Burning Down’ was a song I always wanted to write, but never had the balls to do it,” he says of his biggest hit to date, released on Sept. 20, one week ahead of his debut album, You’ll Be Alright, Kid (Chapter 1). Warren’s deep, husky voice frees himself from the blame of an unhealthy relationship over a stomping piano beat.
He put his social media savvy to good use to bolster the song’s hype leading up to its release, posting a number of videos to his 16 million TikTok followers lip synching to the song with Annon. From Warren’s perspective, there’s no gimmick in getting his followers — whom he affectionately calls his “friends” — to listen to his music.
“The drawback for a lot of musicians is that they don’t necessarily understand social media,” he says. “In my career, I have been so open with my friends who follow me. They know everything about me and we’re so connected and I love that. I’m thinking of these people while I’m writing these songs, because I’m thinking about what I would want to hear if I was still going through that.”
“He knows what his fans want and will respond well to,” Sokolik adds. “Alex will tell me, ‘I have an idea for a video. I’m going to tease this and see how people respond to it.’ If they respond the same way we are, then full steam ahead — and that’s exactly what happened.”
“Burning Down” became Warren’s first Hot 100 entry, debuting at No. 76 on the Oct. 5-dated chart, and reaching No. 69 the following week. As the song continued to build both on streaming platforms and at radio, Atlantic’s A&R team reached out to Joe Jonas’ team to gauge interest in a potential remix. Jonas was already a fan. “He told us he heard the song, had it saved to a playlist on Spotify and wanted to jump in and do it with us,” Sokolik recalls.
The “Burning Down” remix arrived in December, with Jonas and Warren trading lines during verses before blending together seamlessly in the chorus. In the week following its release, the song (in all versions) was up 70% (Dec. 6-12) from the week before to 6.2 million U.S. official U.S. streams, according to Luminate. Since the arrival of the remix, “Burning Down” has also lifted on multiple radio-based Billboard charts: in January, the single hit new highs of No. 25 on Pop Airplay and No. 31 on Adult Pop Airplay.
Ahead, Warren is booked for a world tour that kicks off in February in Europe — and he has plenty of songs to come, teasing an impending Chapter 2 installment of his debut album. “I’ve always dreamed of this moment,” he says.
“There are very few people I’ve met in my life who are willing to do whatever it takes,” adds Sokolik. “Alex is one of those people. Whatever he puts his mind to, he will accomplish.”
Brian Sokolik, left, and Alex Warren photographed December 19, 2024, in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
This story appears in the Jan. 25, 2025, issue of Billboard.