Pair Of Threes: Top Country Songs/Artists/Trends of ’17 and Top 3 Music Recommendations for ’18

If you like lists, this is your time of the year. It seems like there’s a “Best of 2017” list for just about everything. For those of you who have enjoyed our annual Top Country Songs / Artists / Trends of the Year posts, we trust you’ll enjoy 2017’s at least as much.

Plus, looking ahead, A&O&B sees 2018 presenting both ongoing as well as new challenges for country music programmers, so we’ve included our “Top Three Actions to Take in 2018” recommendations at the end of this blog.

First though, let’s get to the top country songs of 2017. Our rankings are primarily driven by test scores although the number of weeks we’ve recommended a song as well as the total number of weeks a song has played in our Power category are given some consideration as well.

Sam Hunt’s “Body Like A Back Road” checked in as 2017’s top title. Jon Pardi’s “Dirt On My Boots” (which split its time between this and last year’s charts) was our number 2 title of the year. These were the only two songs to score a perfect 1.0 as their final Like A Lot average.

The Top 10

Here is A&O&B’s Top 10 list for 2017:

The Artists

Jon Pardi, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Dustin Lynch and Blake Shelton were the Top A&O&B Artists of 2017 (song rankings plus aggregate song scores). Luke Bryan and Jon Pardi were the only artists to place multiple songs in the Top 1/3. Each had two titles in the Top 1/3 including one each in the Top 10.

No other artist placed more than one song in the Top 1/3. In fact, the number of “songs-per-artist” in the Top 1/3 was one of the lowest in recent years leaving artists with a smaller footprint in 2017.

Meanwhile, Garth Brooks became the first Historical Superstar artist to place a solo hit – “Ask Me How I Know” – in the Top 10 since we began tracking this in 2011.

Also, for the first time since 2013, there were two Historical Superstars in the Top 1/3: Garth Brooks (“Ask Me”) and Vince Gill (featured with Chris Young on “Sober Saturday Night”).

The Songs

The Total Positive scores for all songs in 2017 improved from 73.9-75.9; the Bottom 2/3 showed the greatest improvement. That didn’t surprise us because midway through 2016 we trimmed our list of currents – especially in the two lightest Current categories.

In all we recommended fewer songs this year. As a double check, we took the same number of titles this year and last year and compared their respective Total Positive scores. They were within a few tenths of a point of each other.

Regardless of the reason, it’s good news when scores rise. But a notably greater rise in the Bottom 2/3 compared with the Top 1/3 in both Total Positive and Like A Lot continues a “score compression” trend we first spotted several years ago.

At the same time, the trend of fewer songs testing well enough to make to recurrent continues with this year reaching a new low.

The Genres

To no programmer’s surprise, pop was the dominant genre in 2017.

In aggregate, pop didn’t perform significantly better or worse then any of format’s other five genres. There was just a lot of it.

A&O&B’S Top Three Recommendations for 2018

There are in fact a number of actions stations will want to take regarding their music next year. But here are three of our top recommendations to get your music off to a strong start in 2018:

1. Get maximum spins from your true hits. The percent of songs that make it to recurrent after their life as a current continues to decline so get the most out of your best testers. This is critical in a time when fewer titles are asked to carry a heavier load.

2. Similarly, build Artist Equity. Subscribers to the “you like what you know” theory should see a low “hit songs-to-artist” ratio as a significant challenge – particularly regarding Core Artists.

3. Manage Country’s genres. Country has always been a “big tent” format – meaning that most mainstream listeners are comfortable with a mix of musical styles/genres. Like any current-based format, this works best when the majority of music is at or near the “center” of the format. When one non-centric genre dominates, it creates scheduling challenges that must be addressed.

A&O&B’s annual Top Country Songs piece is always fun to put together because it not only requires a look back but encourages forward thinking as well. We’d love to hear your “takes” on this past and coming year too – so feel free to comment.

Jaye, Mike and Becky hope your 2017 was spectacular and wish you the best in 2018. If we can help in any way, don’t hesitate to give us a call, text or email.

Mike: Mike@AandOandB.com; 732-937-5757

Becky: Becky@‘AandOandB.com; 206-206-595-7086

Related: 2016: Country’s Top 10 Songs, Top 5 Artists, and 2017 Action Items

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