Inside the CC50 – February ‘24
If these are the voting results we get, Chris Young may need to get arrested more often. I can neither confirm nor deny that the whole incident was staged to get Chris to cruise through the Wildcard qualification process and see an overall CC50 140,000 vote increase month over month, but I certainly don’t think Chris or Country Central will be complaining about the results. Not only was participation up in this month’s voting, but we also saw Zach Bryan unseated at #1 for the first time in the 6 months we’ve been doing these rankings. With a lot of ground to cover, let’s jump into February’s numbers!
The big headliner here is the #1 slot belonging to someone other than Zach Bryan; Morgan Wallen finally broke through with some help from his “Spin You Around” release drama. Combs and Johnson came agonizingly close to the top spot, as well but had to settle for an extremely tight 3rd and 4th place, respectively. Elsewhere, HARDY and Lainey saw poor showings drop them to 15th and 16th, while the old guard of artists saw a resurgence. As a housekeeping note, we’ve changed the terminology from “Agree %” and “Disagree %” to “Interest %” and “Disinterest %” in an attempt to be clearer for first-time readers, the fields are the exact same mathematically.
Biggest Risers and Fallers
After taking a long-term view of risers and fallers last month, we returned to the normal format of highlighting the month-over-month changes. What may seem like a surprising list of risers actually makes a lot of sense when it is contextualized with February’s news cycle. The passing of country legend Toby Keith (more on him later) clearly struck a chord with voters this month, prompting a wave of nostalgia on the CC50 for the other greats in the old guard. Aldean, McGraw, ZBB, and Kenny Chesney (just missing this chart with the 6th biggest gain of the month) all experienced big bumps in support. I anticipate this being fairly short-lived, but it is nice to see them getting a moment in the sun. Darius Rucker’s arrest also clearly gave him some momentum this month.
Most of these fallers can be attributed to strong showings from other artists and general indifference from there being no recent releases/news. The notable exception to that rule is HARDY, who had a rather forgettable month in the eyes of his fans. “QUIT!” did not land the way he hoped. As an artist, he’s absolutely entitled to pivot to rock from country, but that will inevitably prompt a decline in interest within the country community, especially when the aforementioned rock isn’t very interesting or good. The saving grace for HARDY is that he’s released a much better track, “ROCKSTAR,” that may stabilize his CC50 voting totals next month.
Quick Hits
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The purpose of the CC50 has always been to capture the “zeitgeist” of country music every month. In a few years, the big storylines of the past few months will largely be forgotten, but we’ll be able to revisit them through these numbers. That’s what makes months like this with so many storylines that directly impact the voting so exciting. Morgan Wallen’s licensing drama, Chris Young’s Nashville altercation, and HARDY’s controversial release are all chapters being recorded by the CC50, as it attempts to capture the broader country music story playing out today.
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As expected, it was tough sledding for the five January wildcards as they graduated to the big leagues, with only Conner Smith moving over the demotion line and staying up for March’s voting. It’s a great illustration of how hard it is to climb the CC50 without releasing new music (Conner was the only one in the group with a recent release), which is ultimately a sign that the rankings are working as intended.
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As mentioned in the intro, the overall engagement in February was way up from January, with an average interest percentage of 38.9% (almost a full point higher). The overall vote count was the second highest ever, with a 140k vote increase over January at 520,392.
Wildcards to Watch
To no one’s surprise, Chris Young shot to the top of the Wildcard voting after winning a lot of goodwill from his arrest. Unfortunately, his following release Double Down was entirely uninspiring and will likely result in a short-lived promotion. Zach Top, Blake Shelton, and Keith Urban all advanced with their new songs being well-received, while perennial Quad-A Kameron Marlowe rounded out the promotions. Of these five, Top seems to be in the best situation to stay up, as he climbed the chart with far less name recognition than the other four. It will be hard for any of these artists to achieve a dramatic rise like we’ve seen from the Red Clay Strays or Dylan Gossett, but I’m ready to be proven wrong! Also of note, Kacey Musgraves missed the cut despite her recent release, likely because of how far she’s moved away from the country format at this point.
Lyric of the Month
“Try to love on your wife
And stay close to your friends
Toast each sundown with wine
Don’t let the old man in.
“Many moons I have lived
My body’s weathered and worn
Ask yourself how would you be
If you didn’t know the day you were born”
-Toby Keith, Don’t Let the Old Man In
There was only one artist that could be featured for Lyric of the Month here in February. While Toby Keith is best remembered for his light-hearted and patriotic songs, his deep cuts often have surprising profundity to them. Particularly poignant is Don’t Let the Old Man In, where he reflects on aging and how it can control one’s life. It is reminiscent of classics like McGraw’s classic Live Like You Were Dying while striking a more subdued, reflective tone. Keith challenges his audience to ask themselves if they would live their life differently if they weren’t letting their age dictate their life. Yet this message doesn’t encourage youthful irresponsibility, as made obvious in its grim tone. The best artists can mature their catalog as they reach the twilight of their careers, and Toby Keith nailed it in this song.
Well, after all that, take a deep breath. We’re only two months into the year, and country music has already had enough drama for a full season of a telenovela. March will have a tough act to follow, but regardless of what it brings, you can find us back here in a month! Until then, keep lifting those red solo cups high and voting in March’s CC50 and Wildcard selection!
