Until Morgan Wallen showed up on country radio, the genre hadn’t spawned a No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s Songs of the Summer chart since John Denver‘s “Annie’s Song” in 1974. But this year, Wallen’s collaboration with Post Malone, “I Had Some Help,” hit No. 1, while Shaboozey‘s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” took No. 2. That follows last summer, when Wallen’s “Last Night” and Luke Combs‘ cover of Tracy Chapman‘s “Fast Car” topped the chart.
“It feels good to know there’s this much quality coming out of Nashville,” says Steve Stewart, director of country content for broadcast chain Cox Media Group. “There’s a great model that’s already been built and thriving, which is why so many artists from other formats have moved to Nashville.”
“I Had Some Help” and “A Bar Song” took dramatically different roads to summer dominance. The former involved two megastars, one known for pop and hip-hop, the other a country fixture for years, joining for Post Malone’s long-awaited dip into the genre. The latter seemed to come out of nowhere, from a Nigerian-American singer-songwriter from Virginia who had put out two albums before Beyoncé collaborated with him on “Spaghettii” and “Sweet Honey Buckiin” earlier this year. Black artists have historically struggled to break into country music, but Shaboozey, who records for EMPIRE, a label most known for hip-hop, may have finally cracked the code and positioned himself for longterm commercial success.
“The power of great songs override everything,” says Tim Roberts, vp of programming and format captain for No. 2 broadcast chain Audacy. “Does it open more doors? Why wouldn’t it?” Adds Scott Donato, program director and operations manager at WGTY, a country station in York, Pa.: “He has an opportunity to continue this with multiple singles. I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s got next.”
The advanced chart metrics, in certain ways, suggest “A Bar Song” was even more dominant than the Post Malone-Wallen collaboration. Shaboozey’s smash topped the Hot 100 for eight weeks throughout the summer, while “I Had Some Help” led the list for just six weeks. But not everybody in country radio is convinced “A Bar Song” fits the format, given its interpolation of J-Kwon‘s 2001 hip-hop hit “Tipsy.”
“I don’t think you can argue that Shaboozey song is the biggest song of the summer, in any genre,” says Nate Deaton, general manager of KRTY.com, an online country station in Los Gatos, Calif. “It’s everything a song should be — except country. This whole concept of country evolving into a melting pot, for lack of a better word, of genres, is an interesting phenomenon. I don’t know if it lasts.”
Country radio has never been a format known for diversity or risk. But as radio ratings decline in general during the streaming era, the genre is one of the few retaining reliable listeners and hit-making clout.
“Country absolutely can keep it going,” says Randy Chase, executive vp of programming for Summit Media, a radio chain in Birmingham, Ala., that owns several country stations. “This is all about being aggressive. Country [radio] needs to move faster — I’ve said that for years. The big difference between country and Top 40, adult contemporary and rhythmic is the amount of music the industry is pumping out. It is still a firehose of music, while in the other formats, the faucet is just trickling.”
