A battle between two country heavy hitters fell in favor of the most successful “American Idol” winner.
Carrie Underwood, that immensely successful former “Idol” contestant, scores weekly most-added honors for her new song “Something in the Water.”
First made available Monday but not due to formally impact the country format until 10/6, “Water” commanded a healthy 57 monitored Mediabase adds this week. That gave it the slight edge over Kenny Chesney’s “Til It’s Gone,” which launched at 52 stations this week.
In addition to scoring a strong reception from radio programmers, Underwood’s “Something in the Water” also resonated with music buyers. It is currently #4 on the all-genre iTunes sales chart. Only One Direction’s “Steal My Girl,” Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” and Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” are selling more rapidly.
Underwood and Chesney were not, however, in isolation at the top of the country radio add board. Eric Church’s “Talladega,” which ranked as last week’s most-added track, impressed this week with 49 adds.
With respective add counts of 16 and 12, Sara Evans’ “Put My Heart Down” and Tim McGraw’s “Shotgun Rider” follow as the week’s fourth- and fifth-most-added country songs.
Other songs on the radar this week include Kristian Bush’s “Trailer Hitch” (6th-most-added, 11 adds), Josh Turner’s “Lay Low” (7th, 10 adds), Dierks Bentley’s “Say You Do” (8th, 9 adds), Easton Corbin’s “Baby Be My Love Song” (8th, 9 adds) and Jon Pardi’s “When I’ve Been Drinkin'” (8th, 9 adds).