Chart detail Feb. 2 issue

Ooops. I missed a week somehow. No matter. Last week I would've reported that Taylor Swift maintained her lead for a sixth week, making the first song in nearly two years to spend that many weeks at #1 (the last one being "Jesus Take The Wheel" by Carrie Underwood). Sugarland and Rascal Flatts were breathing down #1's neck, pushing down records by Montgomery Gentry and Keith Urban as Brad Paisley crept up to #5.

Which is where we start this week. Paisley leaps to #1, giving him six consecutive #1 hits, spanning approximately two years: "When I Get Where I'm Going", "The World", "She's Everything", "Ticks", "Online", and now "Letter To Me", perhaps the best of the lot. ("Alcohol" was his last song not to reach #1, making it only as far as #4.)

What's perhaps most surprising about Paisley's jump to #1 is the drop of "Stay" by Sugarland from #2 to #4. Montgomery Gentry's "What Do Ya Think About That" is also now unbulleted as they float back up to #3. I should remark that, if my random sampling of radio stations in Arizona, California, and Nevada are any indication, Sugarland's and Montgomery Gentry's records probably got as much airplay as any typical #1, and Taylor Swift's ditty just got more. Sigh.

There's a lot less happening in positions 6-25. #7-25 all have bullets, some moving up, some staying put, some sliding down. Hanging in there are some older records like Chuck Wicks's "Stealing Cinderella" (down to #14), Craig Morgan's "International Harvester", one of my favorites on the chart right now (up to #15), Jason Aldean's "Laughed Until We Cried" (up to #19), Bucky Covington's "It's Good To Be Us" (up to #20), and newcomer group Lady Antebellum, with another one of my favorites, "Love Don't Live Here". That song has taken quite a bit of time to develop at radio, and in its sixteenth week it moves up 3 to #24. Two songs in the top 25 have been on the charts for twenty-seven weeks each: "What Kinda Gone" by Chris Cagle (holding at #18), and Emerson Drive's "You Still Own Me", slipping down to #23. It'll be interesting to see if either of those maintains enough momentum to put it into the top 10, and how long it will take.

Chart detail Jan. 19 issue

The January charts are always a little strange, reflecting radio's recovery from playing Christmas music and "the top songs of whatever year just went by" stuff, so songs make strange moves up, down, and sideways. This week's chart shows songs not doing a whole lot, but I haven't commented in awhile, so the top 10 looks a bit different.

Not so much at #1, though. Taylor Swift's "Our Song" holds down the song for the fifth week, and a sixth week seems likely. The last song to spend five weeks at #1 was last summer's "Never Wanted Nothing More" by Kenny Chesney, but it's been almost two years since someone spent as many as six weeks at #1, so we'll see. Meanwhile, "Stay" by Sugarland holds at #2, and it seems like it could be a contender for the top spot, but it really depends on the strength of "Our Song". (Josh Turner's "Firecracker" seemed like a surefire #1, too, but fell casualty to Taylor Swift as well.) Rounding out the top 5 are Montgomery Gentry, Rascal Flatts, and Keith Urban. Urban's song took forever to make it this far (it seems like it, anyway), so its chances seem slimmer than the other singles in positions #2-4.

Brad Paisley earns the "greatest gainer" label on the chart with "Letter To Me", which moves from #8 to #6, so that's promising for him. The top 5 seems pretty competitive now, though, so who knows. Next week's chart is either going to be very interesting, with songs fighting for rank, or very boring, with songs staying put. Other songs making upward moves in the Top 10 are "Watching Airplanes" by Gary Allan, up two to #7, and Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter with "Ready, Set, Don't Go," entering the top 10 at #10. Billy Ray's last top 10 hit was in 1999, but this is, of course, the first top 10 country hit for his daughter Miley (aka Hannah Montana).

It's hard to comment on positions #11-25. Every song in the top 25 is "bulleted" (meaning it's had significant airplay gains since the preceding week), but since radio is recovering from Christmas and New Year's, that's not surprising. So, for example, #11 is "How 'Bout Them Cowgirls" by George Strait, which moves down a notch, and which already peaked at #3, and is unlikely to start moving back up the charts. So it's hard to know what's going on here in all reality.

Vacation ends... now

So for those of you who don't know, I just got back from a road trip connecting Tucson, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and full circle to Tucson. I encountered a lot of fun country radio along the way. San Francisco's station ("The Wolf") in particular was really fun. They had promo spots inquiring if anyone knew a "closet Wolf listener". The commercial continues with a guy driving his colleague to work. Colleague asks, "Hey, what's on the radio?" upon hearing George Strait's "Give It Away" in the background. Driver gets mildly defensive, saying, "Well, you know. My wife's always messin' with my radio." The two discuss changing the station but decide not to. The ad proceeds with the two of them deciding to call the radio for a contest, and -- wouldn't you know it! -- each of them has the station's phone number on speed-dial. The ad concludes with the two of them deciding that it's a pretty awesome radio station after all, the driver ending with, "Well, you know. My wife's always messin' with my radio!" tongue-in-cheek-like. There's a bizarre homoeroticism to it, although I'm probably reading too much into it. (I was in San Francisco, after all.)

Anyway, more interesting things forthcoming.