It's About F%#&ing Time

The apocalypse is officially upon us: Chris Stapleton has a #1 single at Country radio.

Hold on – this guy doesn't top the Country charts, right? He sells a shit-ton of albums; he's a streaming juggernaut, posting numbers up the wazoo. All music lovers gravitate to him, not just Country fans. His music is genre-agnostic. But, if somebody wants to have total cred and prove to their friends they “get” cutting edge, envelope-pushing Country music, Chris Stapleton is their go-to. He goes on TV and kills.it.every.time. He doesn't always play the current single; sometimes, it's an awesome album cut – which is to say, all the album cuts. People share the TV clips, because he's a total badass. He does live shows and knocks people over. How does he sing like that and not shred his throat? He intros his band like nobody we've ever seen. Jesus, even that could generate a million streams. He's no George Clooney, yet somehow, he's cool AF anyway. He adores the shit out of his wife, Morgane, and seems to be singing exclusively to her at times.

What in the actual the hell just happened? Has he sold his soul? How did planet earth get totally knocked off its axis? Is Country music equally unhinged? What comes next?

This was the flurry of questions racing through my mind as I arose on Sunday, March 18th, perused Mediabase, and witnessed something previously believed unthinkable, impossible, and beyond comprehension. Let me say it again so I'll really believe it: Chris Stapleton has a #1 single at Country radio.

Don't get me wrong – when “Broken Halos” topped the Mediabase Country singles chart, I was genuinely stoked, thinking to myself, “Sheesh! It's about F%#&ing time.” If you remember, I've written several columns in this very space challenging Country radio to treat Stapleton like the low-hanging fruit he is, given the amazing album sales and his overnight insertion to the pop culture ether following the 2015 CMA Awards. Remember that time he shocked the world, appeared out of thin air, and bagged three CMA trophies?

Sorry for the obligatory sports analogy, but that was the equivalent of the University of Maryland-Baltimore Country – a #16 seed – knocking off #1 seeded Virginia in the first round of the NCAA basketball tourney recently. (Fun fact: In the history of the NCAA tourney, that's the only time this has happened in 135 previous #1 versus #16 seed matchups.) For additional icing on the cake at the 2015 CMAs, Stapleton captured the TV moment of a lifetime, collaborating with Justin Timberlake on a scene-stealing, eyebrow-singeing, YouTube clip for the ages.

It's a tossup as to what was the bigger upset, Stapleton's win for Male Vocalist or Album Of The Year. At the time of the 2015 awards, Stapleton had released two singles to radio with little or no fanfare, acclaim, and – for that matter – acknowledgement. In 2013, “What Are You Listening To?” peaked at #48 on the Mediabase Country singles chart; his lead single and title track from 2015's “Traveller” album stalled at #64.

That album, released in May of '15, was (and is) considered a masterpiece by critics, and we all know critical and commercial success are usually two distant planets, orbiting light years apart from one another. On the Wednesday, November 4th CMAs, and six months after its release, “Traveller” had sold less than 100,000 copies, which is actually pretty good, considering its lead single went nowhere. But, within hours of the nationally broadcast CMAs and his unforgettable TV moment, Stapleton had moved an additional 150,000+ units on “Traveller.” The sales have been climbing since; as of this week, Soundscan numbers show the set has sold more than 2.25 million copies.

The momentum spilled over to the following Monday (11/9/15), as “Nobody To Blame,” the second single from “Traveller,” racked up 60 adds then spent 20 weeks on the charts before peaking at a very respectable #10. The next single, “Parachute,” peaked at #16. Neither tested well, we're told, and Stapleton was still considered somewhat of an anomaly – an outlier who created music everybody wanted to buy and stream in absurd numbers, but that couldn't sustain itself when played in medium or power rotation on mainstream Country radio.

Like “Traveller,” Stapleton's next album, “From A Room: Volume 1,” opened to strong acclaim, but the lead single, “Either Way” – while powerful – was such a slow, deliberate song that radio – always starving for tempo – played it begrudgingly and sparingly. The song topped out at #38.

And, so, with no immediate momentum or recent airplay track record to speak of, and while acknowledged by anyone with a halfway decent pair of ears as that rare, insanely talented artist who's considered a between-the-cracks, "non-fit" at radio; a problem child at callout; an MScore nightmare; Stapleton's sixth single, “Broken Halos,” somehow – some way – broke though.

After five years, is radio finally used to Stapleton's sound? Is he shifting closer to Country's sweet spot; its middle lane? Or, is the rest of the format finally getting it and moving toward him?

“I attribute it to several factors,” says Mercury Nashville VP/Promotion Damon Moberly. “With what's going on in our world right now, the subject matter really resonated. With all the negativity, it hit listeners the right way, at the right time.”

And, counter to Stapleton's previous singles, the callout story radio needs to see in order to place a song in high rotation for weeks at a time were finally present. “The research was there for this title,” said Scripps KFDI/Wichita PD Justin Case. “Strong 'like a lot' scores and reduced negatives; the gap between positives and negatives was wider this time.”

Moberly saw it, too. “We know radio stations won't play records in power if they don't test – this one did. And, he's reached critical mass – not only with our audience, but in general. Sometimes familiarity takes a while.”

Aside from the strong data justifying so much airplay, “Broken Halos” had what every other Stapleton cut always does: a strong, emotional connection, and a stunning, show-stopping vocal performance that inspires new Country fans – and many who've been with the format for a while. “’Broken Halos’ is a genuine Country song, sung from the heart, with the conviction and honesty that hits you like a freight train,” says Hunt Media President Phil Hunt. “It's real, it's spiritual; it's about the struggle of life. It's three chords and the truth.” The power of the song, believes Hunt, convinced previous Stapleton holdouts to play this single. “I've been in Country all my life, and we always seem to be uncomfortable with who are. We don't have to sound a certain way or look a certain way to impress people who aren't even P1s. Shine bright, play all types of Country music; make the next song you play as different as you can from the one you're playing now. That's what makes the Country format fun.”

Often, when a “square-peg-round-hole” artist first comes along, he or she will struggle to earn airplay. In some cases, especially with Country radio being historically vital to busting open a career, some will find songs, a production team, and branding designed to get them into that middle or mainstream lane. That's clearly not the case with Stapleton when you look back at the song selection, production, and single choices made from “Traveller” to “From A Room: Volume 1” and “Volume 2.” Stapleton has been doing Stapleton, seemingly telling radio, “You do you.”

Think about where the format was in 2013 at the time of Stapleton's “What Are You Listening To?” and then during the “Traveller” singles two years later. As much as we hate the term, Country radio was defined by “Bro-Country” tunes with titles like “Boys 'Round Here,” “Bottoms Up,” “This is How We Roll,” and “That's My Kind Of Night.” Those tunes dominated the current/recurrent sound coding in 2013-2015. That's not to discredit or disparage those songs and others like them here in 2018. In fact, it should be noted that the songs I listed above are still among the 40 most played gold titles at Country radio during the past week, according to Mediabase.

But, we all know music cycles ebb and flow; I've talked here before about how diverse things are now and how it's kind of like the Wild West in terms of musical styles that work at Country radio one week to the next. All of that said, my point is: during the past three or so years, as the format's texture has shifted, Stapleton hasn't, and maybe – just maybe – the format has moved closer toward Stapleton.

“In programming, it's easy to create content boxes,” believes Hunt. “We hear songs and place them in the appropriate container, then we curate a music log based on the options before us. When Chris Stapleton came out with 'Traveller' in 2015, he didn't fit into any of them. He was Country; he was bluesy; he could rock out, or he could do bluegrass; he could write. He could do it all, but it was all uniquely Chris Stapleton. He was his own box.”

Adds Moberly, “I believe what happened in the past few years is that he's been a trendsetter. His success at awards shows on the sales and streaming charts, a and now on the radio charts, should allow radio to take a deep breath and realize he's led things back to the middle and a more traditional sound.”

And, so, back to my question – and not meant as a rhetorical one – near the beginning of this week's episode of “The 'Ville.” What happens next? Does one #1 earn Chris Stapleton an airplay fast-pass with guaranteed huge add weeks, giving Mercury Nashville's promo team a great big bagel breakfast courtesy of All Access? Or, does he remain like most everybody else, scrapping every week for a spot on radio's crowded playlist?

“Every song from every artist is case-by-case,” says Case, and by that, I mean KFDI's Justin Case. “With so many singles to choose from, you have to select what is right for your audience.”

The next single for Stapleton was not confirmed when Moberly and I spoke, but after taking 30-plus weeks to top the charts on “Broken Halos,” whatever the next choice is, Moberly and his team have high expectations and will continue to challenge their radio partners. “I've said all along that radio needed to find a way to use Chris Stapleton as a weapon,” Moberly reiterated. “If we continue to wait on songs from a guy who has proven his mettle in the format, we're wasting an opportunity. We need to see radio invest in the next single; not only to help us, but themselves, too. If the audience is clamoring for his music – look at streaming, albums, and singles charts and see that they are – there's really no reason to wait.”

The Mercury promotion staff, along with UMG/Nashville SVP/Promotion Royce Risser, and certainly UMG/Nashville Chairman Mike Dungan and President Cindy Mabe, have been waiting patiently – and faithfully – for everybody else to catch up with Stapleton.

“It's really gratifying that the rest of the world – and not just the Country world – is on this journey of discovery with [Chris'] music,” said Moberly. “An artist like Chris comes along once in a lifetime. It's fun to watch the rest of the world become ravenous fans of this artist … there's nothing else like it, and it's ours.”