Jason Aldean, Kane Brown, Thomas Rhett Among Top Country Earners In Nielsen 2018 Mid-Year Report

Jason Aldean

Released in April 2018, Jason Aldean‘s Rearview Town sits at the peak of Nielsen’s top five country albums in terms of sales at mid-year 2018. The Broken Bow Records artist’s album earned sales of 522,000 (album+TEA+On-Demand Audio SEA). Columbia Nashville artist Kane Brown‘s self-titled album ranks at No. 2, with 432,000. Luke Combs‘ This One’s For You, Chris Stapleton‘s 2015 album Traveller, and Thomas Rhett‘s Life Changes round out the Top five country albums for mid-year 2018.

Additionally, Aldean’s Rearview Town is among the overall Top 10 albums (total sales) for mid-year 2018, reaching No. 3 overall, with 328,000. Rearview Town ranks only behind The Greatest Showman: Original Soundtrack (1.064 million) and Justin Timberlake‘s Man Of The Woods (403,000).

Top 5 Country Albums. Source: Nielsen 2018 Mid-Year Report

Aldean is also the Top (Country) Genre Artist on Nielsen’s 2018 Mid-Year chart, which ranks sales data (album+TEA+On-Demand Audio SEA) from Dec. 29, 2017 through June 28, 2018. Aldean’s sales topped 862,000 for the first half of the year. Thomas Rhett also makes the Top 5 (Country) Genre Artists list at No. 5, with 524,000 for the first half of 2018.

Top 5 Country Genre Artists. Source: Nielsen 2018 Mid-Year report.

Brown’s track “Heaven” also ranks at No. 2 on Nielsen’s 2018 Mid-Year Top 5 radio songs (ranked by Airplay Audience). “Heaven” garnered more than 205,000 spins (audience of more than 791 million), bested only by Luke Bryan’s “Most People Are Good,” which earned more than 211,000 spins (audience of more than 829 million). “Most People Are Good” was also recently named a Song of the Year at the 30th annual MusicRow awards.

Aldean’s “You Make It Easy” is at No. 4, with 188,000 spins and an audience of more than 727 million. Thomas Rhett’s “Marry Me” is at No. 5, with 182,000 spins and an audience of more than 721 million.

Aldean, Brown and Thomas Rhett also dominate the Top 5 Songs chart, with Brown’s “Heaven” at No. 1 with 1.36 million (Songs w/ SES On-Demand). Brown’s “What Ifs” (ft. Lauren Alaina) is at No. 5 with 916K. Aldean’s “You Make It Easy” is at No. 2, with 1.3 million, while Thomas Rhett’s “Marry Me” is at No. 3 with 1 million.

Overall, country as a genre continued to rank fourth in its share of total volume. Country music’s total volume was 8.4 percent as of mid-year 2018, vs. 8 percent in mid-year 2017. R&B/hip-hop continued to reign as the format with the largest share, at 31.2 percent at mid-year 2018, up from 25.1 percent at mid-year 2017. Rock remained the No. 2 format (23.1 percent share), and pop remained the No. 3 format (15.1 percent share).

Share of Total Volume by Format and Genre. Source: Nielsen 2018 Mid-Year Report.

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Jessica Nicholson

Jessica Nicholson serves as the Managing Editor for MusicRow magazine. Her previous music journalism experience includes work with Country Weekly magazine and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) magazine. She holds a BBA degree in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont University. She welcomes your feedback at jnicholson@musicrow.com.

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