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Top 10 Airplay Country Music Artists in 2008

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Country Aircheck has published the list of the 10 most played artists on radio through the first 6 months of 2008. Trust me, no breaking news here on the list:

  1. Kenny Chesney
  2. Carrie Underwood
  3. Taylor Swift
  4. Brad Paisley
  5. Rascal Flatts
  6. George Strait
  7. Alan Jackson
  8. Montgomery Gentry
  9. Rodney Atkins
  10. Gary Allan

See what I mean. Nothing shocking, but yet interesting. This list always shows alot about country music's current trend and status. Lets dig into this real deep and get my prospective on it.

First and foremost, I have to ask myself, is what country radio playing truly what the listeners of country radio really want to hear? Playlists for radio stations these days are all pre-loaded usually the day before. The "request" lines are there basically to track trends and do setup the next days lists and such, at best. The listener's input I don't believe has too much of an impact on what we hear on the radio. For the sake of argument, if it does, radio still controls what you are introduced to, leading to what you would request. I believe the answer to the question is split probably close to 50/50. Half the listeners do enjoy the programming of country radio these days, because it is was they have become acustom to and actually enjoy the pop-country sound that fills the radio airwaves these days. The proof is above. Spot 1,2,3, and 5 all are lesser traditional artists that perform more of a pop-country. The other half of the listners may enjoy some of what they are hearing, however, want to hear more contemporary traditional artists, hear new songs, hear different styles of country, even some classics mixed in...there soo many artists and songs out there that are just dying to be heard and have extreme talent. Boy, I wish I had the money to open up a radio station. (I'll save that for another entry)

Taylor Swift has 1 album. She is 3rd on the list. Can you imagine how many times her singles are being played over and over. Wow.

Speaking of Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood is the only other female in the top 10.

George Strait and Alan Jackson both really never fall off this list. Why? Well, one that have massive catalogs, always are in demand, and maybe most importantly, they are country. They are traditional, and have talent. These artists, along with Brad Paisley have that magic, that talent it takes to be a true talented country star. I'm not saying 8,9,10 don't have it, because they do, but 4,6,7 are in a just slightly higher category.

Will the end of the year chart look any different? That's waht is sad, no, it will be the same artists, and probably real close to the same order... thats something that is sad about radio in general. Again, I wish Icould open my own station, thats for sure.

1 Comment:

Anonymous said...

Rodney beats out Keith Urban, he can't sell out a 24,000 seat auditorium. I saw him at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky and he rocked. Rodney came as a bck up to our local arena which seats 7,000 with another headliner and couldn't sell it out. Something is wrong here.