Facing a social media campaign to push a rap song to the #1 hit on the country charts – despite getting no air play on country radio – Billboard is in a very bad position. Having a rap song at the top of the Country chart makes it clear how out of touch Billboard is. Saying that a black “musician” is not eligible to make country music would be riot worthy material. So Billboard disallowed the song on the basis that it as not “country enough”. So Billy Ray Cyrus is “helping” by doing a remix to add some real country cred to the song and putting Billboard on the path to incineration.
(Billy Ray Cyrus is the father of Miley Cyrus)
So if you can get to #1 without being on any country music stations, what does that say about radio?
It appears Billboard did this to themselves six years ago, or this guy is a prophet!
https://www.change.org/p/billboard-stop-the-use-of-multi-format-airplay-in-determining-hit-country-r-b-rock-songs
Some more info on how they did the charts in 2016:
https://www.theringer.com/2016/7/26/16047050/billboard-hot-100-singles-chart-broken-313cbe9094b9
Back in my media-buying days in the late 1990’s, I subscribed to Billboard for a year. As an aspiring musician, I also had an interest in how well the rag reflected the ‘scene’.
After 6 weeks, I decided the magazine was more useful at the bottom of my bird cage.
There was a time (decades ago) when Billboard reflected and -controlled- the biz & buzz… but local record stores and radio stations are not the movers and shakers they once were. I’ve been following this saga for the past few weeks, and it demonstrates how badly they have mis-managed the brand. They’re making buggy-whips for Teslas.
A Digital Music News article from 2016 summed up the problem with Billboard, and how some record labels gamed the system for chart topping ‘album sales’ without selling any albums. The web page title bar is quite blunt:
“If You Think the Billboard Album Charts Matter, You’re an Idiot”
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/08/16/billboard-album-charts-kill-joke/
BTW, I think “Old Town Road” has plenty of ‘country’ elements in the composition, both the original and remix. It’s a 2 minute modern country groove.
Billboard has just committed hara-kari.
A little more background on how people manipulate Billboard
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-most-songs-billboard-hot-100/
The first comment (by ‘Wine Correspondent’) on that article sums it up perfectly. i.e. Billboard is merely counting the number of ‘listens’, not sales or subscribers. It’s very flawed. For example, I listened to both versions of “Old Town Road” on YouTube, yet have no intention of buying songs by Lil Nas X or Billy Ray Cyrus, nor would I attend their concerts.
Country music is more than just a sound…
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/cody-johnson-lays-down-the-truth-about-todays-country/