How country radio airplay and album sales matched up in 2017

To what extent does airplay actually influence sales? 2017 was the year country music made a move to Australia’s commercial hit radio, increasing its cumulative audience and exposing the genre to new and increasingly receptive listeners. It’s possible that radio was more pivotal to the country genre this past year than other type of music (besides mainstream pop) – but did the numbers match up?

Unsurprisingly, it was Keith Urban who reaped the most sales for a second straight year as multi-Platinum record Ripcord continued to generate big numbers on theARIA Country Albums Year-End Chart after more than 18 months on shelves. Three of the five singles taken off Urban’s Ripcord appear on the TMN Country Airplay Chart of 2017, the highest being ‘Sun Don’t Let Me Down’ at #5. Other album singles ‘The Fighter’ ft. Carrie Underwood (#93) and ‘Blue Ain’t Your Color’ (#96) snuck in the lower end of the chart.

The likes of Urban, Shania Twain, Lee Kernaghan and Kasey Chambers will always sell records in Australia, regardless of the amount of attention from radio. A comparison of the two charts shows this clearly. If airplay is of no significance to artists of this calibre, how does radio fit into the mix? The answer lies with younger and less established artists.

Sam Hunt ran away with 2017’s TMN Country Airplay Year-End Chart, with radio showing unabashed affection for ‘Body Like A Back Road’ throughout 2017. When you compare Hunt’s radio numbers to ARIA’s Year-End Chart, apositivecorrelation exists between airplay and sales output.

The 33-year-old’s debut album Montevallo claims its ARIA year-end spot at #14. Released back in 2014, it’s hardly reasonable to expect the album to top the sales chart in 2017 – not only based on it being far from new, but also based on the standard of competition in the country arena and the success of only one single at radio.

ABC Country label manager Jenny Peachey tells TMN that “cherry picking” singles when purchasing digitally or streaming can take away from the traditional album sale,a possible reason for Hunt not charting even higher.

“I think this reflects the ongoing shifts in consumer behaviour,” Peachey says, noting ABC Music’s 50/50 split on physical and digital album sales for their country roster in 2017. “We have a lot of artists with #1 airplay hits, strong streaming numbers but they don’t seem to equate them to a full album purchase.”

Yet Hunt’s record label MCA/Universal will no doubt look back on the past year with positive eyes. Debuting at #39 on the sales chart in 2015, Montevallo fell to #51 the following year as the album succumbed to the inevitable gravity of age. However, in accordance with his advent on commercial radio in 2017, Hunt’s fortunes miraculously turned with the album rising 37 frames to #14.

Country-pop artist Kelsea Ballerini’s singles ‘Legends’ and ‘Yeah Boy’ garnered significant airplay at #4 and #38 on the TMN chart last year. Her latest album Unapologetically placed at #66 on the ARIA chart, withnational airplay argurably having a larger effect on sales output when compared to the likes of Urban or Chambers.

The same can be said for Kane Brown. The Sony artist released his debut self-titled album in 2016, placing at #51 on ARIA’s Year-End Chart in 2017. Country radio spun album single‘What Ifs’ ft. Lauren Alainacopiouslytowards the end of the year,exhibiting a clearrelationship between the two charts.

According to David Burton, content director at Southern Cross Austereo’s digital country radio station The Range, radio makes the hit, which then builds the artist’s stature and leads to sales – as seen with Ballerini and Brown, and Urban and Chambers before them.

“It’s only repeated exposures to new songs that turns them into hits,” Burton says. “Everyone can relate to hearing a song for the first time, not been overly impressed, then after 20 random exposures to the song on the radio it’s become one of your favourites.

“Research around the world shows that the majority of country music lovers still discover their new music via traditional broadcast radio. It’s the random nature of radio listening that’s the key.”

Peachey added: “Radio remains a key element and focus when we are working an artist’s single. The recent airplay with metro commercial stations for the likes of Florida Georgia Line and Morgan Evans gives hope there is a lot more potential and growth for country within a more mainstream market.”