NEWS
Chase Rice
Alexa King*Chase Rice hoists his second leader on Billboard's Country Airplay chart, as "Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen," featuring Florida Georgia Line, ascends from No. 2 to No. 1 on the survey dated Aug. 14. It drew 32.5 million audience impressions in the week ending Aug. 8, according to MRC Data.
FGL, which comprises Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, adds its 16th Country Airplay leader.
Rice co-wrote "Beer" with Corey Crowder, Cale Dodds and Hunter Phelps.
"I knew that if I ever did a major collaboration, I wanted it to be natural and meaningful, which is what we were able to accomplish," Rice tells Billboard.
While the song is the first chart hit with Rice and FGL sharing artist credit, he co-wrote the duo's breakthrough smash "Cruise" with Hubbard and Kelley, Joey Moi and Jesse Rice. The track topped Country Airplay for three weeks in December 2012 and dominated the airplay-, sales- and streaming-based Hot Country Songs chart for 24 frames into 2013.
Rice adds, "There's nobody more special in my musical life than Brian and Tyler, so to be able to come back together after first making music together and to not only have a blast doing it, but to also get to see the song reach the top of the chart, is a dream come true. I'm so thankful to everyone who helped make this my second No. 1 as an artist and I can't wait to share what we have coming next."
Rice first ruled Country Airplay as a recording act with "Eyes on You" for two weeks in May 2019. He has also hit the top 10 with "Ready Set Roll" (No. 5, 2014) and "Gonna Wanna Tonight" (No. 2, 2015).
Born in Florida and raised in Asheville, N.C., Rice, 35, previously worked as a NASCAR pit crew member for Hendrick Motorsports and placed second on CBS' Survivor: Nicaragua in 2010.
Florida Georgia Line last led Country Airplay No. 1 with "Long Live" (April 10). The pair moves closer to Brooks & Dunn's record for the most leaders among duos or groups (20) in the chart's 31-year history. Rascal Flatts ranks third with 14 No. 1s.
Meanwhile, FGL's other current single, "Lil Bit," with Nelly, ranks at No. 45 on Country Airplay (1.6 million).
On Hot Country Songs, "Beer" bounds 7-3 for a new high. The track drew 7.1 million streams (up 7%) and sold 1,900 downloads (up 10%) in the week ending Aug. 5.
'WAVES' CRASHES INTO TOP 10 Luke Bryan's "Waves" soars 11-6 on Hot Country Songs, sparked by its 40% swell to 6.5 million streams (helped by more prominent Amazon Music playlist placement). On Country Airplay, the single holds at its No. 6 high, up 4% to 26.7 million impressions.
Bryan earns his 32nd Hot Country Songs top 10. It follows "Down to One," which hit No. 5 in March (and led Country Airplay the same month, becoming his 24th No. 1). Bryan banked his first Hot Country Songs top 10 with his 2007 debut hit "All My Friends," which hit No. 5 that September.
'TIME' FOR ANOTHER TOP 10 Scotty McCreery achieves his sixth Country Airplay top 10 as "You Time" climbs 11-10 with a 2% advance to 17.7 million in audience.
The latest from McCreery, who won American Idol in 2011, follows "In Between," which became his third total and consecutive No. 1 in June 2020. "You Time," which he co-wrote, is the lead single from his fifth LP, Same Truck, due Sept. 17.
'COWBOY' RIDES IN Parker McCollum's first major label LP, Gold Chain Cowboy, debuts at No. 6 on Top Country Albums with 12,000 equivalent album units.
The 10-track set follows his EP Hollywood Gold, which arrived as his first entry at its No. 10 peak last October (9,000).
"To Be Loved by You," the new album's sophomore single, leaps 41-28 for a new high on Hot Country Songs, up 35% to 3.5 million streams. It holds at No. 33 on Country Airplay (4.7 million, up 21%), after reaching No. 32 so far. Launch track "Pretty Heart" led Country Airplay for a week and hit No. 4 on Hot Country Songs last December.
NEWS
Supergrass are teasing an upcoming announcement with fans, according to a new post.
The British band, fronted by Gaz Coombes, shared a cryptic new post across their social media channels this morning (September 13), suggesting to fans that a new announcement is on the way.
Posted at 9am BST, the post simply shared artwork of the band’s logo in red, alongside next Monday’s date, September 16. In the caption, the band simply wrote: “Sign up now”, alongside a link to their website’s homepage.
Upon clicking the link, the page prompts fans to sign up for future updates, and asks them to input both their email address and the country they live in. Check out the post below.
While details on the announcement remain sparse, the post has already caught fans’ attention, with some speculating that the news could be around the upcoming 30th anniversary of their debut album, ‘I Should Coco’.
Released in May 1995, the release marked the record that first put the band on the map, and contained singles ‘Mansize Rooster’, ‘Caught By The Fuzz, ‘Lose It’ and ‘Lenny’. It also saw Coombes and Co. nominated at the 1995 Mercury Prize, and contained what would soon become their biggest track to date, the Ivor-Novello winning ‘Alright’.
At time of writing, the band haven’t shared any further indication as to whether the announcement is related to the huge upcoming milestone – whether it be an anniversary tour or reissue – nor whether it has anything to do with new music that could be on the way.
The band’s last studio album was ‘Diamond Hoo Ha’, which arrived in 2008. Since then, they have shared remastered versions of both their 1999 self-titled album and their 2003 record ‘Life On Other Planets’.
In other news around the band, last year it was reported that the band’s frontman joined Johnny Marr onstage last month to perform The Smiths‘ classic ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ at Lakefest 2023.
Before then, Coombes opened up about how “nervous” he was about reuniting Supergrass following the success of his solo albums.
Supergrass split up in 2010 but reunited for a series of live shows in 2019. They released a live album in 2020, Live On Other Planets, to celebrate their 25th anniversary and raise money for grassroots venues affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Having got into a flow and the last two albums having done so well, it seemed a bit odd, like a backward step,” he said. “But then I was confident that I could operate both things together and it seems that I did, because I was obviously writing this record mainly during the reunion so I feel like I made best use of both things.”
Coombes’ fourth solo album, ‘Turn The Car Around’, came out in January of last year.
