This is the time of year I would normally be making my predictions for the number one song of the year. However, not this year. For one, Billboard already announced all their awards last week, almost immediately after the eligibility year ended. For another, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that the number song would be "Last Night" by Morgan Wallen. He had such a commanding apparent lead over the nearest competitors such as "Anti-Hero" by Taylor Swift, "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus, and "Kill Bill" by SZA. Wallen spent sixteen non-consecutive weeks at number one which is the record for a solo act. Other songs have spent longer at number one, but all were collaborations. The main reason why "Last Night" became such a hit is that country music fans finally started to embrace streaming in greater numbers. Rap/hip-hop fans have been using streaming for years, leading such artists to have huge first weeks whenever a new album drops. However, they usually didn't lead to songs with great staying power, as the songs would drop after that first week. Country fans were different, with newcomers coming in after that launch week, leading to songs with a greater staying power. That why so many country songs have had such good debuts, and even staying power this year. Three other country songs debuted at number one this year, with one of them even staying near the top for more than a few weeks. In fact, "Fast Car" by Luke Combs has spent months in the top ten, even without hitting the number one spot. The Combs version of the song has even out-performed the Tracy Chapman original. For the last few decades, country songs have had a hard time reaching the full crossover potential they had throughout the 60s and 70s, and through the early 80s. When rap and hip-hop started to get popular, many larger radio stations started to cut back on country as a way to play the new genres. As such, fewer country acts reached the top of the Hot 100 chart. Garth Brooks, one of the biggest country acts of the 90s, only has had one top ten hit, and that was under his alter ego of 'Chris Baines.' Shania Twain had many hits in the 90s, but most of those songs had pop overtones. Even Taylor Swift didn't start reaching her great heights until she started to turn more towards pop. "Meant to Be" by Bebe Rexha and Florida-Georgia Line spent almost an entire year at number one on the country chart, but peaked at number two on the Hot 100. Now that streaming is becoming more important to a song's popularity, country acts are starting to catch up and are finally appearing on a more regular basis. What's even more compelling is that I am starting to like them. Sure, I would never listen to a country station as my first, or even fifth, choice, but many songs that are already crossing over are appealing to me. I loved Wallen's "Wasted on You" last year, mostly after everyone else already started to move on. I liked "Last Night" as well, but I would buy an entire triple album of country music. One song that really took a hold on me this year, one who I borrowed a lyric from last week as the basis of my post title, has been "Dial Drunk" by Noah Kahan, especially the remix version with Post Malone. I know, the original is sort of folk-rock, but I still consider it county since it is about a guy trying to call his ex after getting arrested for public intoxications and causing a disturbance. I finally got to hear the follow-up "Stick Season" this morning. I weird take on a potential Christmas song, as well as drinking again. I even kind of like "White Horse" by Chris Stapleton, which almost skyrocketed into the top ten this past week based on his performance on the CMA Awards. (Also, I lyric-checked the song for today's title.) Before this, the only song I liked of his was "Blow," which was a collaboration with Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars. I seriously doubt I'l ever be a huge country fan, but I might be liking more later on.
No comments:
Post a Comment