We recently performed an in-depth analysis of country radio data over the past 3 and a half years, which shined a light on how much of a monster Luke Combs has been on the radio, and also how massive the gender gap is when it comes to radio play.
It was incredibly insightful, but also reinforced some things we already knew about mainstream country radio. Needless to say they got some work to do, but they’re still an important player in how people consume music. Cutting into their market share however… streaming.
Throughout the pandemic, country music streaming numbers have stayed strong compared to other genres.
In fact, artists like Eric Church, Alan Jackson and Cody Johnson have actually seen an increase in streams since the pandemic began, while rap music has seen a 20% decrease, pop a 16.8% decrease, and dance a 13.2% decrease across streaming platforms.
And while Luke Combs is KILLING it on country radio, his steaming numbers are even more impressive.
According to Hits Daily Double, Luke has already surpassed 1.3 BILLION streams this year alone, and it’s barely even August. But what’s more impressive is what happens when you looks at who is in second.
Jason Aldean has over 700 million streams so far this year, nearly HALF of what Luke Combs has. Rounding out the top 5 includes Morgan Wallen at 3, Luke Bryan at 4 and Thomas Rhett at 5.
Maren Morris is the only woman in the top 20.
So Luke is CRUSHING it on country radio and he’s CRUSHING it on streaming platforms and if it wasn’t for this damn pandemic, he’d be CRUSHING it in ticket sales as well.
Luke is nominated for ACM Entertainer of the Year this year, and the jury is still out on the CMA Awards, but it’s only a matter of time before we see Luke playing stadiums, sweeping award shows and reigning as (if he isn’t already) the biggest thing in country music.
And my guess is that it’ll be sooner rather than later.
