It’s that time again. The annual Country Radio Seminar is happening this week in Nashville. Close to a thousand radio, record label, digital, and music business folks will converge on the Omni Hotel for three days of artist performances, industry panels, and networking.
It was four years ago, almost to the day, that I was asked to deliver the seminar’s first-ever “TED Talk” about the changing role of Country radio in the music selection process as we experienced tremendous growth on the digital side. I made some observations, offered some suggestions, and issued a few challenges, acknowledging radio’s “seat at the table” but that the table had gotten bigger.
So, where are we four years later?
Let’s first look at the positives. Digital is now an integral part of the entire three-day seminar, with panels scheduled each day. The criteria for the seminar-ending New Faces show now includes positioning on Billboard’s Hot Country songs chart, which measures digital sales and streaming information along with radio airplay across all formats, to go with the Country Aircheck top 30 taken from the Mediabase Country chart.
So yes, Country radio has not surrendered its seat but has finally acknowledged it is no longer the only chair at the table.
Research has taken more of a central role this year with presentations from the CMA, Strategic Solutions Research, and NuVoodoo surveying different age groups, music listening habits, etc., NOT just confined to radio. We are measuring more than we ever have.
The one big negative comes from one of the several committees formed as one of the challenges from the Ted Talk, and it’s an important one, focusing on the life cycle of a song. Unfortunately, this is where the system breaks down. Songs still take far longer to reach the top, but now, the number one song, more than ever, appears to be a “scheduled event” rather than an organic move. Too often, a number one isn’t the peak of momentum – it’s the end of it.
Songs can live near the top for a long time, but can also collapse immediately after hitting number one. We didn’t simplify the life cycle of a song – we made it more complicated.
According to one of our committee chairmen, Billy McKim of Actionable Insights Group, who researches the charts weekly, “Median weeks to reach No. 1 from a chart debut increased from approximately 20 in 2013–2015 to 29 from 2021–2024. The longer climb reflects crossing additional chart levels rather than slower movement within them. The percentage spin increase required to reach No. 1 rose from 5.4% in 2015 to 18.6% in 2025. In addition, the prior-week spin base has remained roughly flat at about 7,700 spins across the period, indicating increased promotional intensity rather than panel expansion. The longer total ascent is more steps, not slower steps. The increased time on the chart in the 11–40 positions is driven by singles that don’t reach No. 1.”
Through all of this, though, radio is still what I described in the TED Talk as the “anchor leg” for a song’s life cycle. There is NO number one song without country radio. It still legitimizes and reinforces the big hits and long-term careers.
So, what still has to change? There are panels at CRS 2026 that address all the above and more. You can view the week’s agenda here.
Four years ago, I asked country radio to re-think its role in the music selection process. Today, the question is not whether we listened. It’s whether we’re willing to act differently now that we know better. We should have more answers (and questions) following CRS 2026.
