It's hard to keep track of the amount of music Navy veteran Zach Bryan has released. Last year (2022) alone it was around 70 songs, including his first studio album for Warner Records with 34 songs ("American Heartbreak"). In comparison, 2023 seems almost modest with only 22 songs released, the majority of which stem from his second studio album simply titled "Zach Bryan" with 16 songs.
With "Zach Bryan", the 27-year-old songwriter unterredly continues on
his path. The project, which by now has garnered over
800 mio. streams on Spotify, sold around 200,000 units
(physical, digital and as streams) in the first week of its release alone, at the end
of August 2023, bringing it to number 1 on the Billboard 200 [pop] Album
charts.
"It simultaneously topped the rock, rock & alternative, Americana/folk, and country charts, as well as Spotify, iTunes, and iTunes Country", Rolling Stone added on September 6. "All 16 of its tracks landed in the Top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100, with Kacey Musgraves 'I Remember Everything' his duet with Kacey Musgraves, debuting at Number One."
On X (formerly Twitter) Zach Bryan said about the album: "I self-titled it because I hear every cell of my being in it. Some of it’s slow and low, some of it’s reckless, some of it’s loud, some of it’s quiet, but it’s all me at twenty-seven." A personal view of his world that he underscores with the spoken word intro of the album.
Zach Bryan examplifies much of what country music has gone through this past year. Despite the fact that he sees himself primarily as a songwriter who describes human emotions next to personal experiences and puts them into words and music. Such as when he talks about taking on the best qualities of a loved one, even if they are no longer there (on the song 'Jake's Piano - Long Island' on his current album).
Or as Rolling Stone's Jeff Gage writes: "At heart, Bryan isn’t a country songwriter. He follows the folk storytelling tradition. The tumbling verse, the cascading imagery, the footloose wanderings, the hard luck and heartaches — they’re the vernacular of a Woody Guthrie, of a Steinbeck or Faulkner, or his hero Bruce Springsteen, not Harlan Howard’s three-chords-and-the-truth. His South is Southern Gothic."
CROSSOVER + STREAMING
Nevertheless he is primarily assigned to the country genre and therefore also stands for the greatest crossover success that the genre has had for a long time in 2023. For Zach Bryan is one of 4 artists who have had a number one hit on the pop charts (Billboard Hot 100) this year. Country artists with the most popular songs across America! A situation last seen in the 1980s.
Even if two of the number 1 hits ('Try That In A Small Town' by Jason Aldean and 'Rich Men North of Richmond' by Oliver Anthony, who hasn't even had a record deal at the time) were due to political controversy.
The most successful one however was Morgan Wallen, who first hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March of 2023. From then on, his single 'Last Night' was at the top of the most popular songs in America for a full (non-consecutive) 16 weeks! Not only did he set a record for the longest stay at number 1 by a solo artist in the history of the Billboard charts, but that also made the single the most commercially successful song of the year on the US Billboard Hot 100.
But 'Last Night' by Morgan Wallen was not only a mega-hit in the USA, where the song has been certified 6x platinum for 6 million units sold to date, but it also became a hit worldwide. The song ended up at number 10 in Billboard magazine's year-end Global 200 of the most successcul songs worldwide, and even at number 1 in Apple Music's year-end resume. The latter placing it ahead of global hits like 'Flowers' by Miley Cyrus and 'Kill Bill' by SZA.
Morgan Wallen also dominated the annual ranking of the most successful albums (Billboard 200) with his third studio album "One Thing At A Time", which was released on March 3, 2023. It spent also 16 weeks at number 1 this year, more than any other album since Adele's "21" in 2011/12. However, the volume of music on the album contributed to this. Morgan Wallen had recorded no fewer than 36 songs with pruducer Joey Moi for the project. And thus set another record, as all 36 songs appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time.
A central reason why country music has entered the commercial mainstream so much lately is the fact that, as a typical latecomer, it finally seems to have embraced music streaming! Statistics company Luminate reported audio and video growth for the country genre in the US in the first three quarters of 2023 at +24% compared to the previous year. More than any other genre!
A growth that is also evident internationally. Great Britain reports a streaming growth in the country segment of +35%, while Germany looks at +33% and Canada at +32% compared to 2022. Which leads to the next impression from 2023.
INTERNATIONAL
In the spring of 2023, Zach Bryan toured clubs and small theatres in Dublin, Manchester, Glasgow, London, Utrecht (Netherlands), Hamburg (Germany) and Copenhagen (Denmark). Because international tours are becoming increasingly important for the country genre. A consequence which has been made realistically possible by streaming and its limitless expansion of the market and its audience.
Morgan Wallen's One Thing At A Time World Tour 2023 focused primarily on stadiums in the USA, but also visited Australia, New Zealand and Canada, as well as the O2 Arena in London, which was sold out with 20,000, at the beginning of December 2023. And Kip Moore performed in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and of course North America with his first real World Tour.
Luke Combs has had his first international experiences already in 2018. In 2023 he has not only had one of the most successful songs of the year with 'Fast Car', the cover of the Tracy Chapman hit (scoring number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 annual ranking of 2023), but also his biggest tour to date, simply dubbed Luke Combs World Tour. It included 14 concerts in Europe, 8 in Australia / New Zealand and 22 in North America. And none of the international shows took place at US Military bases, but were mostly arena sized shows. Apart from Garth Brooks' World Tour in the 1990s, it was probably by far the genre's largest international tour to date. But at the same time the next logical step on Luke Combs' career path.
Even though it's not any easy step, as his manager Chris Kappy had warned him. After all he had reached stadium level in the USA, while only beginning to successfully play mid-sized theatres or even arenas internationally. "You’re not going to make as much money as you do in [the United States], but you’re going to put the entire genre on your back, and you’re going to take it to the people and you’re going to show promoters, DSPs, record labels, publishers [and] venue buyers that country music is not only alive and well, but as strong or stronger than any other format that can tour over there", Chris Kappy is quoted by Billboard Magazine.
Not an easy task. But with over 5 billion streams outside of the US (according to Sony Music Nashville), Luke Combs is no longer an unknown. Even if, for example, German media hardly lost a word about his sold-out show at the Barclays Arena in Hamburg at the beginning of October 2023, which holds some 11,000 fans. But Chris Kappy remains optimistic: "Outside-U.S. dates broke even, and next time Combs tours internationally, he will likely be in stadiums. We could have already done stadiums in Australia, but we couldn’t get them because the Women’s World Cup was at the same time."
At the end of 2023, Zach Bryan came to Melbourne, Australia for a single concert of December 9, 2023. He was originally scheduled to perform in a small theatre there, but demand forced organizers to quickly move the show to Flemington Racecourse, a larger open-air venue. In just under 20 minutes, some 30,000 tickets were sold. And after the show Zach Bryan wrote on his Instagram page: One of the most surreal week of my life.
And a fan added: The only concert I've been to where everyone sang every word to every song!
So while it seems to have beome a worldwide phenomenon to hear audiences loudly sing entire song lyrics of Zach Bryan songs, it is still difficult to say, whether he is the future of the genre or just America's biggest cult star of 2023.
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