The 9513 Last.fm Chart Update (7-19-09)

Okay, so Brad Paisley had a little more life in him than a one-week run at the top. He soared to #1 of this week’s Top Artist chart with 29 listeners, and the only person that was even close was George Strait at #2 with 28. If those two were the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, the rest of the field was the Baltimore Orioles. Funny how these two singers would finish 1-2, when Paisley seems to be the most popular answer to the question, “Who’s going to be the next George Strait?” This is assuming, of course, that Strait ever steps aside/falls out of radio favor for there to need a next Strait.

Back in the pack, Sugarland, Patty Loveless and the Dixie Chicks tied for #3 with 22 listeners. Trisha Yearwood, Alan Jackson and Brooks & Dunn (21) were the only artists with more than 20 listeners this week. Hayes Carll and Emmylou Harris (13) are tops among Americana artists, and Ryan Bingham (10) made a fairly strong showing as well. Further down the chart, he’s nice to see that Mindy McCready, Tracy Byrd and Collin Raye (7 listeners each) still have some fans, years after they’ve dropped off the radar.

The Top Album of the week was Taylor Swift’s Fearless, with 14 listeners. The teen queen and future MTV music awards performer was two listeners ahead of the seven albums tied for #2, including two from Sugarland (Enjoy The Ride, Twice The Speed Of Life), two from Paisley (Mud On The Tires, American Saturday Night) and ones from Strait (It Just Comes Natural), Dixie Chicks (Fly) and Carrie Underwood (Carnival Ride). Gary Allan’s Living Hard also made the Top 10 with 9 listeners, and with the new single available, the countdown for his new album starts up in earnest. With other new releases from Strait, Reba McEntire, Sara Evans, Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson (off the top of my head), this is shaping up to be a potentially expensive latter half of 2009 for country fans.

Paisley finds himself at the top of the Tracks chart as well, as “Welcome To The Future” tied with Gloriana’s “Wild At Heart” for #1 with 8 listeners each. Nobody said this was always going to be your grandfather’s country music chart. The rest of the Top 10, all with 7 listeners, include “Boy Like Me” from Jessica Harp, “Dead Flowers” from Miranda Lambert, “Sideways” from Dierks Bentley and the grammatically incorrect “This Is Me You’re Talking To” from Trisha Yearwood. Also in there is “Toes” from the Zac Brown Band, complete with lines about putting your ass in the sand and rolling up a fat one. I haven’t heard the radio edit of that one, but I’m curious as to how they made it safely G-rated.

Freebie of the Week: Marybeth D’Amico has two things going for her that I like. One, she’s a Last.fm user. Two, she’s a journalist. On top of those two strong credentials, she’s an American singer/songwriter living in Germany. She’s got a couple of country/folk tracks available on Last.fm for your downloading pleasure. “Where I Lay My Baby Down” is my favorite of the two, and “Jimmy” is also worth a listen. Her first album, Heaven, Hell, Sin & Redemption, includes “Where I Lay” and is available for purchase at her website or on iTunes.

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

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