Chart Beat Podcast: Mariah Carey’s ‘Christmas’ Present & Guest Lindsay Ell
Gary & Trevor discuss Carey's 23-year sleigh ride to the Hot 100's top 10. Plus, Billboard's Jim Asker chats with rising country artist Lindsay Ell.
Welcome to the Billboard Chart Beat Podcast, where each week co-hosts Gary Trust and Trevor Anderson, from the Billboard charts department, discuss why what’s on the charts … is on the charts, while also looking at current chart action in a historical context for even greater insights.
On the latest podcast, we discuss Mariah Carey‘s climb to the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which reaches the region at last after its 1994 release. Gary and Trevor analyze the factors that have led to the song performing well consistently this decade; perhaps most key: streaming.
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Plus, Billboard‘s Nashville-based senior chart manager Jim Asker chats with rising country singer-songwriter Lindsay Ell, who this week earns her first top 40 hit on the Country Airplay chart with “Criminal,” which blasts 54-40. Ell muses about her new album, The Project, which debuted at No. 1 on Country Album Sales and No. 4 on Top Country Albums in September; the challenges of being a woman in country at a time when the charts are populated heavily by male artists; and, how, in the past, her relationship with syndicated country air personality Bobby Bones affected certain programmers’ decisions about playing her music.
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Ell also recalls hearing a song of hers on radio for the first time. “We had just finished dinner in Phoenix, with a station, and they said, ‘Hey, your song is coming up.’ So, we walked out of the restaurant, we hailed a cab to the side of the road. And we were like, ‘Can you turn on the station?’ The cab driver was like, ‘Ok.’
“So, we turn it on, I’m sitting in the front seat, the label and the people from the radio station are standing around. Finally, it comes on the air, and I freak out. I stand up, I’m hugging everybody, high-fiving everybody, running around the car … and the cab driver is totally into it. He’s high-fiving everybody. And I realize, the meter is running. He’s like, ‘We could do this for the rest of the day!’ “
Enjoy the entire latest Chart Beat Podcast and check back for more upcoming episodes with artists, label executives, radio programmers and personalities, songwriters, producers and more. And, to receive every episode automatically in your inbox, subscribe to (and rate) the Billboard Chart Beat Podcast on iTunes!
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