Jackson Dean becomes the first artist to score a top 10 with a first entry on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart this year unaccompanied by another act. On the list dated Oct. 1, his debut single “Don’t Come Lookin’” rises from No. 11 to No. 10 with a 3% gain to 15.4 million in airplay audience in the week ending Sept. 25, according to Luminate.
Dean co-wrote “Lookin’” with Luke Dick. It’s the freshman single from Dean’s debut studio album, released in March, Greenbroke, which Dick also produced.
The 21-year-old Dean, from Odenton, Md., gained early traction when “Lookin’” was featured in the seventh episode (which premiered Dec. 12, 2021) of the fourth season of Paramount+‘s Yellowstone.
“Lookin’” is the second launch Country Airplay entry to reach the upper tier in 2022. It follows BRELAND’s first, “Beers on Me,” with Dierks Bentley and HARDY; it led the list dated April 23.
The last artist not teamed with another act to achieve a top 10 with a rookie entry was Elvie Shane, whose “My Boy” topped the tally last October.
On the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart, “Lookin’ ” lifts 16-14 for a new high. It drew 4 million official streams and sold 1,000 downloads in the U.S. in the Sept. 16-22 tracking week.
‘Hell’ Yes
Koe Wetzel’s Hell Paso bounds onto Top Country Albums at No. 3 with 25,000 equivalent album units earned – a new career best for the singer-songwriter in both rank and weekly units.
Wetzel, from Pittsburg, Texas, adds his third Top Country Albums top 10 in as many visits. Sellout opened at its No. 10 high in December 2020 (11,000 units) and Harold Saul High started at its No. 10 peak in July 2019 (10,000).
The new LP also begins at No. 2 on Americana/Folk Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Albums. It’s Wetzel’s first top 10 among two charted titles on the former and his first entry on the latter.
Here Comes ‘Sun’
Little Big Town logs its seventh Top Country Albums top 10 as Mr. Sun enters at No. 10 (14,000 units). The set follows Nightfall, which opened in February 2020 as the quartet’s fourth No. 1. The group scored its first top 10 with A Place to Land, which began at its No. 10 best in November 2007.
