Jason Aldean, Kane Brown Top Mid-Year 2018 Country Charts
It's now officially halfway through 2018. Wondering which of your favorite country artists have been doing the best, numbers-wise, this year to date?
A check-in mid-year from tracking system Nielsen Music — which keeps an eye on practical matters such as sales and streaming numbers — shows that Jason Aldean ruled the first half of 2018 with Rearview Town, the most popular country album in the U.S. this year (so far).
Kane Brown can report huge success with his monster single "Heaven," which has racked up the title of overall biggest country streaming song (which includes both audio and video streams), top on-demand country audio streaming track, and top on-demand country video streaming track.
While Aldean and Brown were clear powerhouses in the first six months of the year, several other country artists can tout impressive numbers. In particular, Chris Stapleton put a heavy footprint on the Top 10 selling country albums list to date, carrying three out of the top five. From A Room: Volume 2, From A Room: Volume 1 and Traveller made their marks at Nos. 3, 4 and 5, respectively.
Most of the names on the mid-year tally are male, but two female artists made significant showings. The top-selling digital country song of 2018 so far is Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s smash "Meant to Be," while Lauren Alaina shows up for her part in Brown's "What Ifs," which landed on the list for combined audio/video country streaming song as well as the individual audio and video tallies.
Billboard has a complete listing of the various mid-year country Top 10 lists; you can check to see where your favorites landed here.
Our Pick of the Top 10 Country Songs of 2018 (So Far):