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This year’s Academy of Country Music (ACM) Radio Awards nominees have been revealed, and includes double nominations for KATI-FM (Jefferson City, Missouri), KCLR-FM (Columbia, Missouri), KFRG-FM (Riverside, California), KKWF-FM (Seattle, Washington), KXKT-FM (Omaha, Nebraska), WGGY-FM (Scranton, Pennsylvania), WLHK-FM (Indianapolis, Indiana), and WUBE-FM (Cincinnati, Ohio).
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The winners of the ACM Radio Awards will be revealed prior to the 59th annual ACM Awards, which are slated for Thursday, May 16, at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, streaming exclusively on Prime Video.
The 59th ACM Radio Awards nominees are:
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National daily on-air personality of the year:
Bobby Bones, Amy, Lunchbox, Producer Eddie, Morgan, SZN, Mike D, Abby, Pitts, Kevin, Lauren and Scuba Steve (The Bobby Bones Show)
Ania Hammar (The Highway/Nights with Ania)
Katie Neal (Katie & Company)
Elaina Smith (Nights With Elaina)
Rob Stone and Holly Hutton (The Rob + Holly Show)
National weekly on-air personality of the year
Kix Brooks (American Country Countdown)
B-Dub (B-Dub Radio Saturday Night)
Lon Helton (Country Countdown USA with Lon Helton)
Buzz Brainard (Hot 30 Countdown with Buzz Brainard)
Wayne D and Tay (iHeartCountry House Party)
Kelly Sutton (Y’all Access with Kelly Sutton)
On-air personality of the year – major market:
The Morning Wolfpack with Matt McAllister –Matt McAllister, Gabe Mercer, and “Captain Ron” Koons/KKWF-FM, Seattle, WA
The Jason Pullman Show – Jason Pullman/ KPLX-FM, Dallas, TX
Paul Schadt and Sarah Lee in the Morning – Paul Schadt, Sarah Lee, and Producer Geoff/WKKT-FM, Charlotte, NC
Angie Ward – Angie Ward/WUBL-FM, Atlanta, GA
The Most Fun Afternoons with Scotty Kay – Scotty Kay/WUSN-FM, Chicago, IL
On-air personality of the year – large market:
Dale Carter Morning Show – Dale Carter/ KFKF-FM, Kansas City, MO
Anthony – Anthony/ KFRG-FM, Riverside, CA
Annie & Cole – Annie Fox and Cole Dunbar/ WLHK-FM, Indianapolis, IN
The Wayne D Show – Wayne D and Tay Hamilton/ WSIX-FM, Nashville, TN
Jesse & Anna – Jesse Tack and Anna Marie/ WUBE-FM, Cincinnati, OH
On-air personality of the year – medium market:
Drive Home with Jody Jo – Jody Jo/ KSKS-FM, Fresno, CA
Steve & Gina in the Morning – Steve Lundy and Gina Melton/ KXKT-FM, Omaha, NE
The Doc Show – Doc Medek and Chewy Medek/ WGGY-FM, Scranton, PA
New Country Mornings with Nancy and Woody – Nancy Wilson and Aaron Woods/ WHKO-FM, Dayton, OH
Mo & StyckMan – Mo and StyckMan/ WUSY-FM, Chattanooga, TN
On-air personality of the year – small market:
Hilley & Hart – Kevin Hilley and Erin Hart/ KATI-FM, Jefferson City, MO
Liz & Scotty in the Morning – Liz DelGrosso and Scotty Cox/ KCLR-FM, Columbia, MO
Morning Show with Pat James – Pat James/ KHUT-FM, Hutchinson, KS
The Eddie Foxx Show – Eddie Foxx and Amanda Foxx/ WKSF-FM, Asheville, NC
Steve, Ben and Nikki – Steve, Ben, and Nikki/ WXBQ-FM, Bristol, VA
radio station of the year – major market:
KILT-FM – Houston, TX
KKWF-FM – Seattle, WA
KSON-FM – San Diego, CA
WXTU-FM – Philadelphia, PA
WYCD-FM – Detroit, MI
Radio station of the year – large market
KFRG-FM – Riverside, CA
KNCI-FM -Sacramento, CA
WDSY-FM -Pittsburgh, PA
WLHK-FM – Indianapolis, IN
WQDR-FM – Raleigh, NC
WUBE-FM – Cincinnati, OH
Radio station of the year – medium market
KUZZ-FM – Bakersfield, CA
KXKT-FM – Omaha, NE
WBEE-FM – Rochester, NY
WGGY-FM – Scranton, PA
WTHT-FM – Portland, ME
Radio station of the year – small market
KATI-FM – Jefferson City, MO
KCLR-FM – Columbia, MO
WFLS-FM – Fredericksburg, VA
WNGC-FM – Athens, GA
WRTB-FM -Rockford, IL
Music monitoring company MonitorLATINO has expanded its services to Spain, giving the music community in the country “access to a platform with advice, data and accurate song playback information on radio and digital platforms,” according to a press release. Founded more than 20 years ago in the United States, the reputable music industry firm — […]
Jason and Travis Kelce just won iHeartRadio’s 2024 podcast of the year award, but they’re not letting it go to their heads. While accepting the honors via video Monday (March 11), the two brothers made sure to shout out an enormous group of people who undoubtedly swayed the vote in their favor: Taylor Swift fans.
“Podcast of the year,” marveled the Kansas City Chiefs player, who hosts New Heights with his older bro, in a clip posted on X. “It’s big s–t.”
“Listen, this is an incredible honor, especially for two jabronis like us,” added Jason, who recently retired from the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive line. “To receive an award like this is beyond humbling, and we would be remiss if we didn’t immediately thank all of the 92%ers out there — aka Swifties — who voted for us to win this award.”
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In response, Travis laughed and nodded appreciatively. “Thank you, guys, for everything,” he added. “We truly do have the best fanbase in the entire world.”
Indeed, Swifties have rallied around the Kelces’ podcast in the months since Travis and Swift began dating last summer. In fact, New Heights has served as a core part of the two stars’ love story, with the Chiefs player first professing his crush on the “Anti-Hero” singer on the show back in July.
“I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice,” he said at the time, revealing he’d hoped to give Swift a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it at one of her Eras Tour concerts.
Flash forward to March 2024, and Travis is jet-setting around the world to support the 14-time Grammy winner on her trek. Most recently, the pair linked up in Singapore, where the superstar played six shows.
Before that, Swift was a mainstay at the athlete’s games, up through the Super Bowl in February. Following the Chiefs’ victory against the San Francisco 49ers, the pop star was one of the first people to hug Travis on the field.
Watch Jason and Travis Kelce thank Swifties below.
On Thursday (Feb. 29), three-time Grammy winner Trisha Yearwood led a conversation with reigning CMA entertainer of the year Lainey Wilson, as part of the 2024 Country Radio Seminar in downtown Nashville.
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Among the topics they discussed were the importance of women artists standing up for themselves, the similarities in their respective career paths, and battling imposter syndrome.
Both have carved out multi-faceted careers, with No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits, awards accolades and work in television. (Wilson was featured on the series Yellowstone, while Yearwood is known for her Food Network cooking series Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, as well as roles in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, the live television musical The Passion and a recurring role on the military drama JAG).
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In May 1991, Yearwood’s debut single “She’s in Love With the Boy” appeared on the Country Airplay chart; by early August that same year, it had reached the pinnacle. In 2021, Wilson earned her first No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hit with “Things a Man Oughta Know,” and has followed with a string of chart-toppers.
They discussed their rapid career rises, with Yearwood recalling that time period surrounding the radio success for her debut radio single, “She’s in Love With the Boy” feeling like “a dream come true,” but she also described it as “holding onto a runaway train and just trying to keep up. And a lot of it is a blur, until I made myself figure out how to be in the moment.”
“I’m in the process of that right now… the last few years have been a whirlwind in the best kind of way,” Wilson responded, adding, “Somebody was telling me — I think it was back in 2017 when I signed my first publishing deal — they told me, ‘It’s going to feel like you’re being drug behind a ski boat for years.’”
Taking on country radio
Wilson (who earned her first Grammy this year for her album Bell Bottom Country) has earned four No. 1 Country Airplay hits: “Things a Man Oughta Know,” the Jelly Roll collaboration “Save Me,” the two-week chart-topper “Never Say Never” (with Cole Swindell) and the three-week solo No. 1, “Watermelon Moonshine.”
But Wilson recalled how when she was first taking her music to radio, there was at least one difficult encounter with a radio exec, pointing out the importance of not taking no for an answer.
“Radio tour, it was hard. It was really, really hard, I’m not going to lie to y’all,” Wilson said. “It taught me a lot. I made a lot of friends along the way that I still text and we talk all the time. But I do remember one specific stop: I go in and we waited in the foyer. He brings us into his office and he said, ‘Play me what you got.’ This was my first single, ‘Dirty Looks.’ He said, ‘You should have left your guitar in the car. I don’t want to hear you play. I want to hear what it sounds like through the speakers.’ Well, he had like 1997 computer speakers, so of course you couldn’t understand anything that the song was saying. He listened to it twice, back-to-back. I was just sitting there and he let the second time finish. He leans across his desk and he said, ‘Lainey, you’re just not that good.’ And I leaned across his desk and I said, ‘So-and-so, out of the 10 years that I’ve been in Nashville, you telling me that don’t mean s–t.’”
She went on to add, “It did light another fire underneath me. After I left there, I was like, ‘Okay, at the end of the day you put yourself out there. Not everybody’s going to like you or love you … I think moments like that, they’re not fun. But if anything, they do build character. They give you fun stories to talk about with Trisha Yearwood.”
Yearwood, who has earned five No. 1 Country Airplay hits, offered up her own difficult encounter during one radio interview, when a radio interviewer brought up a fake story about Yearwood that had been in a tabloid.
“I was doing a show and went to the radio station that was sponsoring the show,” Yearwood recalled. “The DJ thought it was funny..and said, ‘Let’s talk about this.’ I said, ‘I can’t believe you would ask me that question.’ And I left, and I’ve never done anything like that.” She went on to add that, “They were very apologetic, but to say to you — and I don’t know if you’ve had that experience yet — but I wish I had learned earlier. I was about your age that I was like, ‘I’m kind and I’m nice, but there’s some things that aren’t okay.’ It’s okay to say that’s not right.”
Leading with purpose — and advice from Dolly
Yearwood also noted the importance of being selective in the projects you agree to take on, to make sure they are in alignment with an artist’s goals.
“I never said, ‘I want to have a cookbook. I want to have a cooking show,’” Yearwood said. “But I was open for the opportunities when they came. And I’ve said no to a lot more stuff than I said yes to. But I say yes to the things that feel right to me. And that’s always the bar to follow. People can read through things when they know it’s not genuine.”
“There’s definitely been times where I felt like I was doing it all,” Wilson said, relating some advice she received from Dolly Parton. “I asked her, ‘How do you decide everything that you’re doing?’ She said, ‘It has to be something that I’m really passionate about and excited to do. It that’s not the case, then I don’t do it.’”
Navigating Social Media
Wilson also shared advice she wrote down shortly after meeting Yearwood for the first time. “She said, ‘For y’all right now, the line between being loved and hated by the world is getting smaller every day. I was like, ‘Oh, Lord’ — because sometimes people love you, people hate you, and then sometimes people hate you because people love you.”
“That’s true: There’s this whole thing of everybody rooting [for you], then when you get to the top of the heap, now we got to figure out a way to make her not superhuman. Now we got to take her down a peg,” Yearwood said. “I guess that’s human nature and the social media aspect makes the world bigger, and smaller.”
She added, “Every time I used to read the comments — good God, don’t do that. I used to read and I’d just get so upset by things and I would call my people and go, ‘We’re getting off of social media.’ And they were like, ‘Actually, you can’t really do that.’ I wanted to interact, but then I realized that I also needed to protect my mental health.”
“Yeah, because even if you put your eyes on it for a split second, it still pings your heart … you’re still human.”
Battling Imposter Syndrome
They also fielded questions from the audience, including one about staying centered as a person during a career rise, and battling imposter syndrome.
“I have a lot of people in my life who remind me of my hard work,” Wilson said. “Even folks like Luke Combs. The day after the CMAs, he texted me this huge novel, and he’s like, ‘Lainey, I just want you to remember that you’re that girl that moved here and lived in that camper trailer and I knew you back then. I’m so proud to see your hard work being recognized and don’t you start thinking that you didn’t deserve this for one second.’ It’s keeping people like those close people who lift you up — also just talking to the Lord. At the end of the day, I got to keep those things close really, really close because this business is hard.”
The radio business’ slog through a slow advertising market appears to be improving in 2024. “As we look to the year ahead, we see 2024 as a recovery year and we expect a return-to-growth mode,” iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman said during the company’s Thursday (Feb. 29) earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2023. Explore […]
As broadcasters begin assembling in Nashville this morning (Feb. 28) for the Country Radio Seminar, expect a lot of talk. About talk.
Radio personalities’ importance has been on the decline for decades. They used to pick the music on their shows. That privilege was taken away. Then many were encouraged to cut down their segues and get to the music. Then syndicated morning and overnight shows moved in to replace local talent.
But once the streaming era hit and started stealing some of radio’s time spent listening, terrestrial programmers began reevaluating their product to discover what differentiates it from streaming. Thus, this year’s CRS focus is talk.
“That’s what’s so important about this year,” says iHeartMedia talent Brooke Taylor, who voicetracks weekday shows in three markets and airs on 100 stations on weekends. “The radio on-air personality is sort of regaining their importance in the stratosphere of a particular station.”
Taylor will appear on a panel designed for show hosts — “Personal Branding: It’s Not Ego, It’s Branding!” — but it’s hardly the only element geared to the talent. Other entries include “On Air Personalities: The OG Influencers,” a research study about audience expectations of their DJs; a podcasting deep dive; and four different panels devoted to the threats and opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI).
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As it turns out, artifice is not particularly popular, according to the research study “On Air Talent and Their Roles on All Platforms,” conducted by media analytics firm Smith Geiger.
“Americans have very mixed feelings about AI,” says Smith Geiger executive vp of digital media strategies Andrew Finlayson. “This research proves that the audience is very interested in authentic content and authentic voices.”
Not to say that AI will be rejected. Sounds Profitable partner Tom Webster expects that it will be effective at matching advertisers to podcasts that fit their audience and market priorities. And he also sees it as a research tool that can assist content creation.
“If I’m a DJ and I’ve got a break coming up, and I’ve pre-sold or back-sold the same record 1,000 times, why not ask an assistant, ‘Give me something new about this record to say’?” Webster suggests. “That’s the easy kind of thing right there that can actually help the DJ do their job.”
CRS has been helping country radio do its job for more than 50 years, providing network opportunities, exposure to new artists and a steady array of educational panels that grapple with legal issues, industry trends and listener research. In the early 1980s, the format’s leaders aspired to make country more like adult contemporary, offering a predictable experience that would be easy to consume for hours in an office situation. The music, and radio production techniques, became more aggressive in the ’90s, and as technology provided a bulging wave of competitors and new ways to move around the dial, stations have been particularly challenged to maintain listeners’ attention during the 21st century.
Meanwhile, major chains have significantly cut staffs. Many stations cover at least two daily shifts with syndicated shows, and the talent that’s left often works on multiple stations in several different markets, sometimes covering more than one format. Those same personalities are expected to maintain a busy social media presence and potentially establish a podcast, too.
That’s an opportunity, according to Webster. Podcast revenue has risen to an estimated $2.5 billion in advertising and sponsorship billing, he says, while radio income has dropped from around $14 billion to $9 billion. He envisions that the two platforms will be on equal financial footing in perhaps a decade, and he believes radio companies and personalities should get involved if they haven’t already.
“It’s difficult to do a really good podcast,” Webster observes. “We talk a lot about the number of podcasts — there are a lot, and most podcasts are not great. Most podcasts are listened to by friends and family. There’s no barrier to entry to a podcast, and then radio has this stable of people whose very job it is to develop a relationship with an audience. That is the thing that they’re skilled at.”
That ’80s idea of radio as predictable background music has been amended. It’s frequently still “a lean-back soundtrack to what it is that you’re doing,” Webster suggests, though listeners want to be engaged with it.
“One of the people in the survey, verbatim, said it’s ‘a surprise box,’ ” Finlayson notes. “I think people like that serendipity that an on-air personality who really knows and understands the music can bring to the equation. And country music knowledge is one of the things that the audience craves from an on-air talent.”
It’s a challenge. Between working multiple stations, creating social media content and podcasting, many personalities are so stretched that it has become difficult to maintain a personal life, which in turn reduces their sources for new material. Add in the threat of AI, and it’s an uneasy time.
“What I see is a great deal of anxiety and stress levels, and I don’t know how we fix it,” concedes Country Radio Broadcasters executive director R.J. Curtis. “There’s just so much work put on our shoulders, it’s hard to manage that and then have a life.”
Curtis made sure that CRS addresses that, too, with “Your Brain Is a Liar: Recognizing and Understanding the Impact of Your Mental Health,” a presentation delivered by 25-year radio and label executive Jason Prinzo.
That tension is one of the ways that on-air talent likely relates to its audience — there are plenty of stressed, overbooked citizens in every market. And as tech continues to consume their lives, it naturally feeds the need for authenticity, which is likely to be a buzzword as CRS emphasizes radio’s personalities.
“Imagine having a radiothon for St. Jude with an AI talent,” Taylor says. “You’ll get a bunch of facts, but you’ll never get a tear. You’ll never get a real story. You’ll never get that shaky voice talking about somebody in your family or somebody that you know has cancer. The big thing that just will never be replaced is that emotion.”
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Six weeks after Audacy filed for bankruptcy, a corporate maneuver that sees Soros Fund Management emerge as the radio company’s primary shareholder.
Soros Fund Management takes its seat at the head of the table after acquiring a sizeable chunk of Audacy’s debt, roughly $414 million in total.
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The private investment management fund takes around 40% of Audacy’s total senior debt, source tells the New York Post, outsizing the stakes held by the likes of PGIM, Capital Commercial Finance, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Mockingbird Credit Opportunities Company, and Solus Alternative Asset Management.
Billboard reached out to Audacy but reps hadn’t responded at press time.
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Led by chairman George Soros, who founded the private investment management fund in 1970, Soros Fund Management has experience working with radio and media assets, including $80 million invested for Latino Media Networks by way of Lakestar Finance, notes Radio Ink, plus investments in Vice Media and Crooked Media.
Addressing the Soros development, Audacy noted, “The decision by our existing and new debtholders to become equity holders in Audacy represents a significant vote of confidence in our company and the future of the radio and audio business.”
Its statement continues, “We expect to emerge from our restructuring process with a strong capital structure and well-positioned to capitalize on our strategic transformation into a scaled leading multi-platform audio content and entertainment company. We intend to continue running our business, executing our strategy and delivering for our listeners and advertisers as we always do.”
The Soros investment comes amid a turbulent time for Audacy, which on Jan. 7 said it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reduce debts.
The Philadelphia-based broadcasting giant, formerly named Entercom, said at the time that a deal with debt holders would reduce its debt load by about 80%, from $1.9 billion, acquired primarily from its 2017 merger with CBS Radio, down to $350 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
That agreement, first disclosed by The Wall Street Journal, would give Audacy’s debt holders equity in the reorganized company.
Audacy’s portfolio includes 230 radio stations, among them WCBS in New York, KROQ in Los Angeles, WFAN Sports Radio in New York and WBBM Newsradio in Chicago. Audacy’s podcasting brands include two studios, Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios, and Popcorn, an online marketplace for connecting creators and brands. Each month, the business claims to engage with over 170 million.
Trouble was brewing back in May 2023 when the business warned that a weak financial outlook could cause it to default on its debt.
Audacy has previously said it does not expect any operational impact due to the bankruptcy and restructuring.
A hearing to approve the Audacy restructuring plan is set for Feb. 20 in a Houston bankruptcy court.
Cumulus Media vp of country Charlie Cook is set to leave the company, with his last day being May 31, Billboard has confirmed. Cook also serves as operations manager for Cumulus’ Nashville cluster and program director for Nashville country stations WKDF and WSM-FM Nashville. Cook’s most recent contract renewal was in 2022.
Country Aircheck first reported the news of Cook’s upcoming departure, noting that Cook told vp/market manager Allison Warren, chief content officer Brian Philips and senior vp of programming operations John Dimick in April 2023 of his desire to pursue new challenges. Cook stated, “They asked me to give them a year. Well, here we are almost a year later and it’s time for me to move away from an experience that I have loved for something new and different. Thanking everyone inside Cumulus and in Nashville would fill these pages so I look forward to personally thanking everyone over the next few months.”
Philips said in a statement, “Charlie Cook’s accomplishments and awards are the stuff of Nashville legend. He is of course, in character, irreplaceable. I foresee a future where we will always rely on his wise counsel. He represents the gold standard among Cumulus employees. We are deeply grateful for his immeasurable contributions.”
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Warren added, “Charlie has been a vital part of the Cumulus and specifically WKDF/WSM-FM family for the past nine years. He has helped shape and drive the format of both 103.3 Country and 99.5 Nash Icon, bringing joy and entertainment to countless listeners. He is not only a talented professional, but also a loyal friend and a passionate music lover. We cannot thank him enough for his years of service, dedication, and creativity. We wish him the very best in whatever adventures are ahead. He will be greatly missed, but never forgotten.”
Cook launched his radio career at Michigan stations in the 1970s, followed by roles at stations in Denver, L.A. and New York. He received Billboard‘s country DJ of the year honor in 1977. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, heserved in roles at McVay Media and Westwood One.
Cook was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2011 before joining Cumulus in 2014. Last year, he was honored with the Academy of Country Music’s service award, alongside Bill Mayne; Cook is the Academy of Country Music’s longest-serving board member.
Cumulus Media has launched a search for Cook’s successor, having posted a job opening for a music & brand content manager.
Tracy Chapman‘s 36-year-old original version of “Fast Car” is coming to radio again.
One of the most beloved moments at the Feb. 4 Grammy Awards was a rare public performance from Chapman, who collaborated with country artist Luke Combs for a duets version of the song. Originally a hit for Chapman in 1988, Combs’ version brought about a chart resurgence of the song last year.
Now, Rhino Records is servicing Chapman’s song to adult alternative, adult contemporary, Americana, classic hits, classic rock, college and non-commercial formats, according to a source. The recording originally came out on Elektra but now falls under Warner Music Group’s catalog division handled by Rhino.
Rhino is also servicing the video of the pair’s Grammy performance and asking radio stations to add the clip to their socials and websites, but there are no plans to make a quality audio version of the clip available to radio.
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Following Chapman and Combs’ duet at the Grammys, the original version of “Fast Car” earned 6 million official U.S. streams from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8, marking a 153% rise, according to Luminate. “Fast Car” also earned 35,000 digital downloads, elevating it to the top of the Digital Song Sales chart for the first time.
On Monday (Feb. 5), the day immediately following the Grammys performance, “Fast Car” earned 949,000 official on-demand streams — a 241% increase from the 278,000 it earned the previous Monday (Jan. 29). The song also saw its digital sales surge, rising 38,400% from “a negligible amount to nearly 14,000,” Billboard previously reported on Feb. 7. Combs also saw streams of his version rise 37% to nearly 1.6 million while it was up nearly 3,900% in sales to just over 6,000.
Chapman’s original “Fast Car” also re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 this week, landing at No. 42. Her version had previously appeared on the Hot 100 in October 1988, peaking at No. 6. Combs’ version reached No. 2 on the same chart in 2023.
Assistance in reporting this story was provided by Melinda Newman.
During Sunday night’s Super Bowl, Beyoncé dropped two new country-flavored songs, the galloping “Texas Hold ‘Em,” and the more reflective “16 Carriages.” But country radio stations have been initially slow to add the Houston-born superstar.
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In the two songs’ first 24-plus hours of release (from Sunday night through the end of Monday), eight reporters to Billboard’s Country Airplay chart played “Texas Hold ‘Em,” and only one, KBAY San Francisco, played it more than once (two spins), for a total of nine early plays at the format, according to Mediabase. No stations on the country chart’s panel, which ranges from 145-to-150 stations, played “16 Carriages” in that span. Overall, “Texas Hold ‘Em” received over 200 all-format plays, largely on pop radio, in that stretch, while “16 Carriages” drew just a handful of plays. Neither song registered enough plays through Monday to appear on Billboard’s 60-position Country Airplay chart.
The situation at country radio may change, however. On Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 13), Columbia officially serviced “Texas Hold ‘Em” to country radio, whereas it had previously been sent to other formats, according to a source. Country radio has traditionally been reluctant to play songs that aren’t serviced to them or then actively promoted by the label. The two songs are part of Renaissance Act II coming from Beyoncé on March 29. Beyoncé has flirted with country music before, releasing “Daddy Lessons” on 2016’s Lemonade and playing the track with the Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks) on that year’s CMA Awards. That song was not actively worked to country radio, according to a Billboard story at the time, and did not chart at country radio, though it did reach No. 41 on the Hot 100.
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Bo Matthews, programming director of Alpha Media’s KBAY, which played “Texas Hold ‘Em” twice on Monday and continues to play it, says listener reaction has been “split.” He says, “I think it’s different to hear Beyoncé on a country radio station. We’re going to play it more and see if it the audience likes it and let them allow to be the decider as to whether or not it continues to be on the playlist.”
KBAY began playing “Texas Hold ‘Em” before Sony Music serviced to country radio, so Matthews grabbed the edit (which bleeps out the word “b—-”) from one of KBAY’s sister stations playing it, had KBAY’s midday host add it and asked listeners to weigh in. “It’s one of the biggest celebrities in the world doing a country song and I think that’s exciting for the format,” he says.
On Tuesday, the Austin American-Stateman ran a news story based on a social media post claiming country station KYKC in Ada, Oklahoma, flat-out rejected a request to play “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The story included a screenshot of a post from X (formerly Twitter) user @jussatto, who said he had requested the station play the song and received the following response, “Hi, we do not play Beyonce on KYKC as we are a country music station.” Another fan posted another response from the KYKC, saying it will “happily play the song when it gets high enough on the chart.”
These claims immediately sparked a broader online debate over whether country stations would play the song. On Tuesday afternoon, the station, which is not a Mediabase reporter, posted on Facebook that there were “lots of calls coming in” for the song and posted a log showing “Texas Hold ‘Em” played at 2:28 p.m. CT, sandwiched between Zach Bryan’s “Tishomingo” and Carrie Underwood’s “Wasted.”
A source at the station, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Billboard that the initial email response posted on X was from the station’s general manager, who did not know that Beyoncé had released two new country songs. KYKC’s sister Top 40 station had already played the song, and while the country station tends not to add songs until they are in the top 30 on Mediabase, “based on the number of calls we got in, we realized we needed to add it to the country station,” the source says. The song is now in the station’s system and it will continue to play it.
CMT immediately added “Texas Hold ‘Em” to its branded streaming stations and anticipates playing a video once one is released. A number of streaming services, including Spotify and Apple Music have also added it to their playlists. The song is currently on Spotify’s Hot Country playlist and it is No. 1 on iTunes’ Top 100 Songs chart, with “16 Carriages” at No. 2. Neither song appears on iTunes Top 100 Country Song chart, which is dominated by songs from Toby Keith’s catalog, following his death Feb. 5.
Beyoncé is just one of several pop artists planning to release country projects, including Post Malone and Lana Del Rey. Ed Sheeran told Billboard that he’d like to make a country album and a country project recorded by Brian Wilson in the ‘70s, is finally coming out next year, according to Rolling Stone.
Audacy and iHeartRadio country executives did not respond to request for comment. Beyoncé’s representative declined to any answer questions about the releases and the plan at radio.
Assistance on this story provided by Gary Trust.