Keith Urban just spent a year in the ARIA Album Top 30, and country is only going to get bigger

Keith Urban’s Ripcordhas just notched up a full year in the Top 30 of the ARIA Album charts, as of this week’s chart.

Released in May 2016 and quickly reaching platinum status for 70,000 sales, his ninth studio album debuted at #1 on the ARIA chart – his third consecutive #1 debut.

It simultaneously debuted at top spot in the US and Canadian charts, making it the second time he’d achieved the trifecta.

It went on to be certified platinum last month in the US for 1 million sales (and returned last week to #1 on the Billboard chart) and gold in Canada for 40,000 units.

Each of Urban’s nine albums have been certified platinum in the US. And although Ripcord was a more eclectic sound for Urban, it was still nominated for Best Country Album at the 59^th Grammy Awards, and took out all four international categories at the CMC Awards.

Aided by his arena tour last December with Carrie Underwood through promoter TEG Live a sell-out shifting over 90,000 tickets, Ripcord was the second biggest selling album in Australia in 2016, behind Adele’s 25.

To date it has spent 27 weeks in the Top 10 and 45 weeks in the Top 20. Album sales were fuelled by the Top 10 gold single The Fighter.

The milestone comes in the final ARIA Album chart before streaming becomes a factor in the calculations, but Ripcord was also a strong streaming title. Of the total 3.4 billion streams generated by Urban, Ripcord had 524 million. The Fighter had 6.4 million in Australia alone.

“Country music fans are exceedingly loyal to the artists they like,” says Dobe Newtown, President of the Country Music Association of Australia.

“Country music fans tend to understand that few Australian country acts cross over to mainstream radio, and hence record sales are not a primary source of revenue. So they do make the effort to go out and see the shows.

“The band that I play in, The Bushwackers, have never had a mainstream hit. But we’ve managed to survive for 47 years because of that loyalty.”

In Urban’s case, the loyalty has intensified because he has consistently toured here.

“Having returned to Australia about every two years to tour has definitely rusted his fans on,” says country music promoter Rob Potts. “[Michael Chugg] and I did seven tours, and took him from playing small clubs to the biggest arenas and special events in the country.

“We promoted Keith to everyone and his fans who are pretty much hardcore country fans that ranged from 6 to 60 years old.”

The longevity of Ripcord is also attributed to the fact that more and more Australians are discovering him.

“He is still growing his fanbase and the impact of him appearing on The Voice and finally getting into the lounge rooms of people in Australia was a big discovery process for many of these new fans,” Potts explains.

“The new album is also one of his very best albums to date and great music always wins.”

It’s hard to determine how big the Australian country music sector is, because the data is limited and underreported – not helped by the fact that many of its sales are at regional festivals and not officially recorded.

But record labels and retailers estimate it to make up between five and six percent of the Australian music industry.

Executives that TMN spoke to suggest it might be higher, with the market attracting a younger demographic primarily due to the rise of the Americana genre.

An indication of its size could be the huge crowds consistently drawn to its festivals, now targeted by tourism authorities because of the way they draw fans from across Australia and from abroad.

CMC Rocks Queensland, which had its second sell-out this year, estimates that 40–45% of its 15,000-strong crowd came from outside the state. It injected $10 million into the local economy and also noted that six of its featured acts occupied the Top 10 of the ARIA Country chart the week after.

The Tamworth Country Music Festival draws 50,000 over ten days, with an economic impact of $50 million.

Broadbeach Country in Queensland drew 40,000 this year.

The Deni Muster regularly draws 18,000 pumping an extra $11 million into the NSW economy.

The Gympie Muster in Queensland creates an extra $6.78 million from its 16,000 attendance.

CMC Rocks and the CMC Awards the same week also attracted a delegation from the Country Music Association – a clear sign that the powerful US body sees Australia as a strong growth market.