Scoreboard: Jason Aldean Takes Number One

Jason Aldean puts country back on top in Week 3 of the Fall release season, while Bastille and The Head And The Heart follow with new albums.

Billboard Artist Top 10

For the magazine dated October 1, 2016

See the full chart at http://www.billboard.com/charts/artist-100

Two weeks ago Florida Georgia Line took #1 on the Billboard Artist 100 and this week country is back on top with Jason Aldean. The singer from Georgia just made it to #1 with his new album and his return to the charts is accompanied by new albums from British indie pop band Bastille and West Coast folk group The Head And The Heart.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKYpgIFAwsT/?taken-by=thechainsmokers&hl=en

In other news, @thechainsmokers are #1 on the Hot 100 for the fifth week in a row with Halsey and “Closer”

Jason Aldean’s New Dirt

Jason Aldine Williams first made it on country radio in 2005 and this week his seventh album They Don’t Know takes #1 on the Billboard 200 and puts Aldean at #1 on the Artist 100. Since the beginning, Aldean has brought an outlaw personal style to country, singing about “Johnny Cash” and his “Big Green Tractor.” By the turn of the decade, country music began pivoting to Aldean’s style and he had no trouble adapting to fit in with a new generation of country bros like Florida Georgia Line. With every album, his country rock grew in confidence and his last three albums generated 10 country airplay #1s, including “The Only Way I Know,” a 2012 collaboration with bro country colleagues Luke Bryan and Eric Church. This year Aldean collected his biggest award yet when he was named Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music. @jasonaldean has already earned one country #1 off the new album with rocker “Lights Come On” and he is currently in the country top 10 with “A Little More Summertime,” a seasonally-appropriate song about the end of a summer romance.

@jasonaldean took his old boots to Fenway two weeks ago

Bastille’s Wild World

Bastille’s chart achievements in America have been limited to their breakout hit “Pompeii,” which made the Billboard Top 10 in 2013. This year the band is back with their second album Wild World, which puts them at #15 on the Artist 100. On the new album, the band recycles the “Pompeii” formula on first single “Good Grief.” Nonetheless, Bastille go beyond pop on tracks like the ballad “Fake It” while doing their best to channel Kanye West-like creativity. Thus far Bastille’s singles have not made the Billboard Hot 100 but with the new album out check in on the Scoreboard to see if their fortunes change.

Bastille’s Dan Smith doing his best rockstar look for British mag Wonderland

The Head And The Heart’s Breakthrough

The six members of this week’s third featured artist, The Head And The Heart, have released their third album Signs Of Light and make a debut at #17 on the Artist 100. Unlike Jason Aldean and Bastille, The Head And The Heart are exceeding their past achievements. The new album is their major label debut (on Warner Bros. Records) and they have been #1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative chart with lead single “All We Ever Know.” On the new album, the band has gone from folk-Americana to a mainstream indie rock sound that gets more adventurous than the Lumineers, but stops before crossing into Bastille-like indie pop. If your head or heart enjoys the Lumineers, Of Monsters And Men, and even Mumford & Sons, take a listen to “All We Ever Know” and if you like what you hear you can listen to the full album through the band’s YouTube page.