So who wants statistics for Christmas? You do? How endearing — because here comes Santa Claus.
Instead of doing our usual country album and airplay rundowns this week, we’re going to focus on the 60 songs that Billboard says racked up the most airplay in 2019. (See the list.)
The Top 5 songs — again in terms of airplay, which includes chart longevity as well as rank — are, in descending order, Morgan Wallen’s “Whiskey Glasses,” Combs’ “Beautiful Crazy,” Brantley Gilbert and Lindsay Ell’s “What Happens in a Small Town,” Justin Moore’s “The Ones That Didn’t Make It Back Home” and Combs’ “Beer Never Broke My Heart.”
Of the 60 most-played songs, women artists accounted for only these six: Kelsea Ballerini’s “Miss Me More” (No. 13), Maren Morris’ “Girl” (No. 26), Carrie Underwood’s “Southbound” (No. 36) and “Love Wins” (No. 45), Runaway June’s “Buy My Own Drinks” (No. 39) and Miranda Lambert’s “It All Comes Out in the Wash” (No. 59).
Lady Antebellum, which includes a woman in its lineup, came in at No. 49 with “What If I Never Get Over You.” We’ve already established that Lindsay Ell shares a credit in the Top 5.
And yes, to answer your question, there are a few song titles on the list alluding to alcohol in addition to the ones cited above. They are Jake Owen’s “Down to the Honkytonk” (No. 48), Garth Brooks and Blake Shelton’s “Dive Bar” (No. 57) and George Strait’s “Every Little Honky Tonk Bar” (No. 60).
You may notice that there’s a variance in the way “honky tonk/honkytonk” is spelled in the titles above. We are referring the clash to the World Court for settlement.
Of course, we feel honor bound to report that Thomas Rhett’s “Remember You Young” sits atop this week’s country airplay chart, completing a 24-week climb. It’s Rhett’s 14th No. 1 song.
Luke Combs’ What You See Is What You Get continues to dominate the country albums chart.
Happy holidays to all. To quote the great Eddy Arnold (look him up, you newcomers), “I’ll hold you in my heart ’til I can hold you in my arms.”