And the award for the Little Single That Could goes to… Jimmie Allen, whose “Make Me Want To” inches into the winner’s circle after a 58-week climb. That’s more than a year, folks, and it’s Allen’s second consecutive No. 1, his first having been “Best Shot” in 2018.
It’s also the longest climb to No. 1 in the history of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart since its launch in January 1990. Meanwhile, Allen and his fiancée Alexis Gale welcomed a baby girl named Naomi Bettie Allen on March 1.
Meanwhile, Luke Combs continues to hold the high ground with the No. 1 and No. 2 albums, with What You See Is What You Get and This One’s for You, respectively. The No. 3 through No. 5 albums are Morgan Wallen’s If I Know Me, Blake Shelton’s Fully Loaded: God’s Country and Kane Brown’s Experiment.
There are no new or returning albums in this week’s Top 25. However, our drone detects three new songs. They are Keith Urban’s “God Whispered Your Name” (No. 28), Sam Hunt’s “Hard to Forget” (No. 58) and Old Dominion’s “Some People Do” (No. 60).
Trailing in directly behind “Make Me Want To” in the Top 5 cluster are Hunt’s “Kinfolks” (last week’s No. 1), Brown’s “Homesick,” Jake Owen’s “Homemade” and Maren Morris’ “The Bones,” in that order. Locash make a comeback with “One Big Country Song,” which returns at No. 26.
As you read this, Nashville is in full recovery mode from the tornadoes that rampaged through town and surrounding communities Monday night and early Tuesday morning. Wish us well.