We’re in the final stretch of 2024, and artists are making the most of their final chances to impress voters before the end of the year. A flurry of albums in September and October moved the needle in October’s voting, launching Riley Green into the top 3 for the first time, bringing Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett, and Chase Rice back into the CC50 after seeing strong Wildcard performances, and saving Muscadine Bloodline from what seemed like certain demotion last month. Zach Top is threatening to overtake Zach Bryan in the top five, but the news is less good for some of the summer’s strongest performers, Post Malone and George Strait, who saw some post-album fatigue. October’s full numbers are listed below:
Biggest Risers and Fallers
Zach Top, Ella Langley, and Riley Green – this month’s top risers look like the top contenders for artist of the year. Speaking of which, keep an eye out for the Country Central year-end awards; we’re already working on cooking those up for y’all! If Top keeps this dizzying rise up next month, Zach Bryan may be the second-ranking Zach in the CC50, a thought unthinkable at the start of the year when ZB had never finished anywhere other than #1. Only five artists in the history of the CC50 have broken the 70% Interest mark (Wallen, Combs, Bryan, Green, and Johnson), but Zach Top can smell it, sitting at a career-high 69% Interest this month. Green and Langley similarly have seen wildly successful years, most recently riding the success from their duet “You Look Like You Love Me.” Muscadine Bloodline has been fighting for their CC50 survival, but The Coastal Plain album from August seems to be paying dividends, as they got a much-needed boost from the demotion lineup to #38 this month.
In an interesting turn of events, October marked the first CC50 voting, where four of the five biggest fallers came from the top half of the rankings. While none of these are earthshaking falls, some are worth mentioning. Despite brief runs from Willie Nelson and Randy Travis, George Strait has impressively been the only 90s artist to retain interest in his new music on the CC50 consistently. For the first time, though, Strait seems to be showing some signs of slipping, indicating the build-up to his September album may have raised interest more than the album itself. Still, a top 10 ranking and 50%+ Interest percentage are elite, so he has some cushion for months like these. Post Malone also seems to be seeing a bit of post-album fatigue, but like Strait, he still has very strong numbers. Both Strait and Malone will be worth watching next month to see if this stretches into more of a trend or just a one-off.
Quick Hits
- After what has seemed like a year-long on storylines and light on impactful releases, the month leading up to October’s voting brought new music in spades, albums from Wyatt Flores, Miranda Lambert, Chase Rice, Luke Bryan, Conner Smith, and Keith Urban made it feel like Christmas came a few months early. Storylines like Wallen playing Neyland and Post Malone joining the genre are interesting conversation pieces and move the CC50 voting needle, but usually have a short-lived rankings impact (just ask Willie Nelson and the buzz surrounding his release). New music, particularly albums, typically don’t have the immediate CC50 impact the way headlines do, but their effect lasts and is more meaningful in the long run.
- Mason Ramsey has yet to break into the CC50, but that might change if he continues his hot streak of excellent music. Some of y’all may remember him as the “Walmart yodel kid.” Still, in a remarkable reinvention of his career, he has turned to a classic country sound with a rich melodic voice almost reminiscent of Elvis. “I’ll See You In My Dreams” was released this past month, representing his first full-length project, and it is well worth a listen. As of yet, he has peaked at 33% Interest in the Wildcard voting, but we’ll have to see what bump, if any, he gets.
- Overall listener interest held steady in October, with an Interest percentage of 36.4% (indicating that the average artist on the CC50 has 3.6 in 10 audience members interested in their releases), up from last month’s mark of 36.2%. The overall vote count was 307,299.
Wildcard Watch
October was a solid month for wildcards, with 4 of the 5 (Waylon Wyatt, Bayker Blankenship, the Castellows, and Ty Myers) breaking the #45 mark and hanging on into November’s upcoming voting. Wyatt led the way, debuting at #33. To be completely honest, Wyatt has flown under my radar, bubbling just under the promotion zone in the Wildcard voting, but he finally broke through on the back of his new single “Jailbreak.” With just under a quarter of CC50 voters interested in his latest music, he sits in an excellent position to build off his debut next month. Last month’s darling Scotty McCreery was less fortunate; he tumbled down from his highest ranking (#39) to #50 and the unceremonious demotion. Next month, Lambert, Rice, and Rhett will rejoin the CC50 after releasing a standout, a solid, and an okay album, respectively. November’s voting should give us a clearer picture of how the public received the albums.
With that, we’ll put a bow on this recap, and I’ll resume my intensive non-CC duties of *checks notes* cake testing. Eh, maybe wedding planning isn’t so bad after all. Either way, next time I meet y’all back here, I’ll be a married man, which means I’ll be contractually obligated to only give positive reviews of Thomas Rhett and Dan+Shay’s music. All I ask for a wedding present is y’all vote in November’s CC50; I look forward to seeing what y’all thought on Meg’s deluxe album and Wyatt Flores’s album!
