The 9513 Last.fm Chart Update (1-3-10)

Last.fm Top Artists

The members of the ever-growing The 9513 group (143 and counting) spent their New Year’s holiday by listening to a lot of the Man in Black, so we must be gearing up for a depressing 2010. Johnny Cash had 28 listeners to rank at #1, with Miranda Lambert (27 listeners) and Dixie Chicks (26) following behind. Lady Antebellum, with 22 listeners, is at #5 with Lee Ann Womack. The trio has been lurking at the bottom end of the Top 10 or just outside of it for the most part, but I suspect it’s going to be one of the top artists of 2010, considering how much of a response the lead single from the new album has gotten. Meanwhile, the artists at #10 include former #1s Sugarland, George Strait and Brad Paisley, all with 19 listeners. One week doesn’t amount to a trend, but the 2010 release schedule may shake up the group’s typical listening habits a bit. Leading the Americana singers is Holly Williams with 14 listeners – I’m assuming two country albums without airplay qualifies as “Americana.”

Last.fm Top Albums

See what I mean about Lady Antebellum? Their self-titled debut album had 17 listeners for the week, tying it with Lambert’s Revolution as the #1 album. The Dixie Chicks are #3 with Taking The Long Way, which had 16 listeners, and two of their other albums also landed in the Top 10. Womack’s Call Me Crazy was next with 15, and Taylor Swift’s Fearless tied with Carrie Underwood’s Carnival Ride, both with 14. The Americana contingent placed a few albums at #12, with 11 listeners for Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson’s Rattlin’ Bones and Justin Townes Earle’s Midnight At The Movies. Also with 11 listeners is LeAnn Rimes‘ Family, which may rank as the most inappropriate-in-hindsight album name. At the tail end of the charts, with 6 listeners, we have Old Crow Medicine Show’s Tennessee Pusher tied with Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed A Dream. If you’re someone who listened to both albums last week, kudos on your schizophrenic music collection.

Last.fm Top Tracks

There are five tracks at #1 with 9 listeners: Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now,” Lambert’s “The House That Built Me,” Reba McEntire’s “Consider Me Gone,” “Dixie Chicks’ “Wide Open Spaces” and “Cowboy Take Me Away.” Lady A, the Chicks and Reba have the #6 songs as well, with “I Run To You,” “Goodbye Earl” and “Maggie Creek Road,” respectively. As further proof that the men of country music have completely dropped the ball, there isn’t a single track in the Top 10 (17 songs) with a male solo performance. The see-saw between male dominance and female dominance has definitely tipped heavily in one direction. If the Hat Act and Bare Navel eras are any indication, it could stay that way for a few years.

Billboard Country Songs

Now that McEntire has a #1, she’s not willing to let go. “Consider Me Gone” spends a second week at #1, with “Need you Now” still at #2 and Dierks Bentley’s “I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes” moving up to #3. Darius Rucker’s “History In The Making” moves up a couple spots to #8, and Josh Turner enters the Top 10 with “Why Don’t We Just Dance.” The most movement came from “Temporary Home” by Underwood, which moves to #19, and “Highway 20 Ride” by Zac Brown Band, which moves to #26. The biggest non-holiday debut goes to Rascal Flatts with “Unstoppable” at #56 – what a way to start a new year.

Billboard Country Albums

Fearless is Still #1. Though for once, the sales gainer went to a different album, in this case, The Foundation by Zac Brown Band at #5. Perhaps “Highway 20 Ride” is giving it a justifiably strong sales resurgence. Furthermore, Revolution sneaks back into the Top 10 at #9, putting Miranda Lambert ahead of the blasted Hannah Montana soundtrack that refuses to go away. The purchasing power of the teenage female demographic is downright frightening. God help us all if Taylor Lautner decides to release a country album. Without any debut albums this week, the movement on the charts comes courtesy of current albums like Toby Keith’s American Ride, moving four spots to #12, and Strait’s Twang, which moves up five to #13.

Freebie of the Week

The Americana Music Association is apparently taking a couple weeks off with its chart, so here’s some free stuff from one of the perennial Top 10 bands, The Band of Heathens. They have a deal on their Web site where you can send a free song to as many friends as you like. There are multiple tracks available from the Band’s two studio albums, as well as some live cuts. I’m not suggesting that you e-mail yourself almost two dozen free songs, but if you were to do that and liked them so much that you decided to buy their albums, they probably wouldn’t mind that. Try “Cornbread,” “Jackson Station” and “L.A. County Blues,” for starters.

To see this week’s charts and join our group, head to http://www.last.fm/group/The+9513.

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