The 9513 Last.fm Chart Update (1-31-10)

A couple notes: Because the Last.fm Top Albums chart is messed up (the same chart has repeated all month, and not even the new Lady Antebellum album showed up this week), I’ll be avoiding it until it’s fixed. Secondly, I’ve done a little tallying and have come up with the top artists of the month for The 9513 group. I’ll post the Top 5 here, and the Top 20 will be available to peruse over on our group’s Last.fm page.

Last.fm Top Artists

As expected, a brand new album and a popular lead-off single helped catapult Lady Antebellum to #1 on the list, with 29 listeners. While the trio had tailed off in popularity here in recent weeks, the new album release brought them roaring to the top. They will be hard-pressed, though, to top the track record of #2 artist Miranda Lambert, who had 28. She’s been at or near the top of the charts ever since Revolution was released last fall. Gary Allan, who has a new album of his own out soon, made it up to #5 with 22 listeners, making for his best showing of the month. The Top 20 also includes a few country legends, namely, George Jones, Emmylou Harris and Waylon Jennings, all with 17 listeners. The Americana segment was led by Justin Townes Earle and Ryan Bingham, with 13 apiece.

The 9513 Last.fm Artists of the Month

1. Miranda Lambert: 110 listeners
2. Johnny Cash: 105
3. George Strait: 102
4. Lady Antebellum: 98
5. Alan Jackson: 98

Last.fm Top Tracks

Again, no surprise, as Lady Antebellum’s new album took up most of the Top Tracks. Ten of the top 12 songs were from Need You Now. The title track was #1 with 14 listeners, followed by “American Honey” with 13 and “Perfect Day,” “Our Kind Of Love” and “Hello World” with 11. Lambert’s “White Liar” also had 11 listeners. There are very few songs in the Top 20 that didn’t come from Lady A or Lambert, in fact. Reba McEntire had 7 listeners for “Consider Me Gone” to pace the non-Antelambert songs. There’s a weird-yet-not-unpleasant batch of songs with 6 listeners that include “Mama’s Eyes” and “Black Eyes Suzy” from Earle, “Giving Up The Gun” by Vampire Weekend, “House of Gold” by Patty Griffin and “Breathless” by Taylor Swift. There are anywhere from zero to three country acts in that group, depending on your own personal standards.

The 9513 Last.fm Tracks of the Month

1. “Need You Now” – Lady Antebellum: 43 listeners
2. “The House That Built Me” – Miranda Lambert: 35
3. “Consider Me Gone” – Reba McEntire: 30
4. “White Liar” – Miranda Lambert: 30
5. “American Honey” – Lady Antebellum: 30
6. “Last Call” – Lee Ann Womack: 30

Billboard Country Songs

Three of the Top 5 songs are new and quickly on the rise. “The Truth” moved up to #1, giving Jason Aldean his third chart-topper. No, having “Big Green Tractor” #1 on the ringtones chart doesn’t count. Lambert jumped from #4 to #2 with “White Liar,” and Brad Paisley’s “American Saturday Night” moved to #5 from #8. Many of the fast-rising singles are from Nashville’s established stars, but in the midst of all the Carries and Taylors and Flattses, Easton Corbin moves “A Little More Country Than That” up to #14. “Twang,” from Corbin soundalike George Strait, dropped a couple of spots to #16. There are a flock of debuts this week, but the one with the best showing was “Wrong Baby Wrong” by Martina McBride. She hasn’t had a Top 10 song since 2006, so she needs a smash hit to avoid falling into that “has-been” category that’s ensnared many hitmakers from the ’90s and early ‘00.

Billboard Country Albums

No change in the Top 5 (Fearless, still), but the Crazy Heart soundtrack debuts at #6. Admittedly, the audience for this soundtrack and the Hannah Montana one are pretty different, so it probably won’t have the same staying power. Still, it’s gotten the music of Buck Owens, The Louvin Brothers and Bingham out to a few more people, which is laudatory. Bingham’s Roadhouse Sun moved from #64 to #56, its second straight week of big gains after a long absence from the charts. The other debut for the week was Gretchen Wilson’s greatest hits package, which only came out about four years too late. Among the albums showing the most upward momentum was Luke Bryan’s Doin’ My Thing, which moved from #16 to #12.

Americana Music Association Chart

We finally have a new #1, and the reigning champ is Ray Wylie Hubbard and his ungodly Fiona Applesque A: Enlightenment B: Endarkenment Hint: There Is No C album. It had 353 spins last week, almost 20 more than Rosanne Cash’s The List, which moves to #2. The Crazy Heart soundtrack made a big impact here as well, making it all the way to #3 with 325 spins. The other new entry to the Top 10 is Crows by Allison Moorer, moving from #12 to #9. New debuts for the week include Things We Left Behind, the new album from Canadian Americana (Canadiana?) vets Blue Rodeo (starting at #28) and Somewhere In Time, the return-to-roots by Reckless Kelly (#33). Thank goodness that the countries of Canada and Texas continue to bring us so much good music.

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

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