Kane Brown‘s “Like I Love Country Music” becomes his eighth No. 1 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart, as it rises to the top of the tally dated Aug. 20. In the week ending Aug. 14, the song increased by 6% to 25.5 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.
Brown co-wrote the song with Matt McGinn, Taylor Phillips and Jordan Schmidt, and Dann Huff produced it. The track shouts out country cornerstones Johnny and June Carter Cash, Alan Jackson, Willie Nelson and Brooks & Dunn, with the duo making a cameo on the recording. It’s the second single from Brown’s album Different Man, due Sept. 9.
The song was penned “out on the road a few years ago. We recorded it in 2019 and never put it out,” Brown recalls. “I always loved the song, so I went back into the studio with Dann Huff and we re-cut it for Different Man. I’m really proud that we were patient enough to get the song right. I’m especially grateful to Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks, who made it complete.”
The new Country Airplay leader is Brown’s third in a row, following “One Mississippi,” which reigned for a week in March, and “Famous Friends,” his duet with Chris Young that led for a week in July 2021. The latter wrapped as the No. 1 song on the survey for all of 2021.
Meanwhile, as “Country” reaches the Country Airplay penthouse in its 15th frame, it completes the fastest trip to No. 1 since Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood’s “If I Didn’t Love You” began a three-week domination in its 14th week last October. It’s also Brown’s quickest coronation, eclipsing “Good as You” (21 weeks, 2019).
‘Country’ in a Country Song
Additionally, Kane Brown’s newly minted Country Airplay No. 1 is the latest with the word “country” in its title, dating to the chart’s January 1990 inception. Reflecting a proud tradition of artists touting their home format (Faron Young’s “Country Girl” was the first such leader on the all-encompassing multi-metric Hot Country Songs chart in 1959), here is a rundown of all the Country Airplay No. 1s with “country” in their names:
- “A Jukebox With a Country Song,” Doug Stone, hit No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart dated Feb. 1, 1992
- “Gone Country,” Alan Jackson, Jan. 28, 1995
- “Play Something Country,” Brooks & Dunn, Sept. 17, 2005
- “Ladies Love Country Boys,” Trace Adkins, March 10, 2007
- “Country Boy,” Alan Jackson, Jan. 31, 2009
- “She’s Country,” Jason Aldean, May 16, 2009
- “That’s How Country Boys Roll,” Billy Currington, March 20, 2010
- “A Little More Country Than That,” Easton Corbin, April 3, 2010
- “Country Must Be Country Wide,” Brantley Gilbert, Dec. 3, 2011
- “How Country Feels,” Randy Houser, Feb. 2, 2013
- “Girl in a Country Song,” Maddie & Tae, Dec. 20, 2014
- “American Country Love Song,” Jake Owen, Sept. 17, 2016
- “God’s Country,” Blake Shelton, July 13, 2019
- “What’s Your Country Song,” Thomas Rhett, March 27, 2021
- “Country Again,” Thomas Rhett, Sept. 18, 2021
- “Like I Love Country Music,” Kane Brown, Aug. 20, 2022
‘Heads’ Up
Cole Swindell notches his 12th Country Airplay top 10 as “She Had Me at Heads Carolina” jumps 12-6 (20.3 million in audience, up 26%). The song, which Swindell co-authored, tips its hat to Jo Dee Messina’s launch single “Heads Carolina, Tails California,” which hit No. 2 in May 1996.
Swindell’s “Carolina” – whose official video premiered Aug. 11 – is from his album Stereotype, which opened at its No. 6 Top Country Albums peak in April and has ranked in the list’s top 20 since. Lead single “Single Saturday Night” led for two weeks starting in July 2021, and “Never Say Never,” with Lainey Wilson, ruled for two frames starting this April, becoming Swindell’s seventh leader.
On Hot Country Songs, “Heads” holds at its No. 4 high. It drew 10.6 million streams and sold 5,000 downloads in the tracking week.
