Carrie Underwood, Other Women Dominate CMT.com Video Streams
It’s been obvious for some time that women country artists have recently outpaced their male counterparts in musical innovation and it seems to be paying off with the listening and viewing public. CMT.com’s year-end ranking of the most-streamed videos for 2007 shows videos by women dominating the top ten list, claiming seven of the top 10 spots. And Carrie Underwood was responsible for three of those. Here are the top ten video streams: “Stay,” Sugarland; “So Small,” Carrie Underwood; “Before He Cheats,” Underwood; “Our Song,” Taylor Swift; “Wasted,” Underwood; “Don’t Blink,” Kenny Chesney; “Because of You,” Reba McEntire with Kelly Clarkson; “Online,” Brad Paisley; “Red High Heels,” Kellie Pickler; and “What Hurts the Most,” Rascal Flatts.
I’m counting “Stay” as a song by a woman, because Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles wrote the song and sings it. Counting Nettles, none of the women in that top 10 list – except McEntire – was even in country music four years ago. It shows what fresh blood can do to a music genre. Fresh voices and fresh musical perspectives can often work wonders. It continues to be a different story at mainstream country radio, where only Underwood and Sugarland cracked the top 10 Billboard radio songs of the year. That accentuates the divide between radio and online listeners. Billboard’s top country album chart shows Underwood holding down the No. 1 and 9 spots, Swift in second place and Sugarland at No. 5.
So what does this all prove? Well, I think it shows that more discriminating country music listeners get their music fix online than from country radio or from buying CDs.
©2008 Country Music Television, Inc., a Viacom company. A division of
john says:
How are these end of year charts compiled, and are they subject to auditing for accuracy and fairness? I couldn’t find Red High Heels under Kellie Pickler’s name on CMT for a long stretch of time this year. Has anyone else had this problem with her or anybody else?
Chris says:
Great article! Something else this proves is that Kellie Pickler’s label and country radio really need to get her singles in the top 5 on radio to meet demand. Kellie is the only one on this list to not yet have a top 5 or even a top 10 single, even though her music is just as great as the others. Something is really wrong with that picture.
I believe the Red High Heels video should be higher than #9 on the most-streamed videos for 2007 list because the video was completely removed from cmt.com in mid-2007. Obviously, removing the video for about half the year means it was streamed about half as many times as it could be if it remained all year. It’s still not on this site. Why was it removed and why is Kellie the only artist with a music video removed? Can someone fix this?
kohanmusic says:
Chet - Is that a consistent trend at CMT, because, as you know, Country radio definitely features more male superstars than female artists? How do you reconcile how the females seem to (genrally) shine on video while the males (generally) reign at radio? Curious about your thoughts.
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Elizabeth says:
I think its great for three very strong women such as you and Kelly, and Taylor have made a place for yourselfs in the music business, you all are the top 3 women i enjoy listen to and i do have your first CD Some Hearts and I just love it but i have to be honest with you i never listened to country and my 5yr. old niece got me hooked on it, and now thats all I listen to, God Bless You.
shannon says:
I LOVE THAT SONG SUGER LAND IS THE BEST GROUP I HAVE EVER HEARD OF IN MY LIFE IT IS SO OUSOME THAT GIRL THAT SINGS IT SHE IS OS PRETTY.LOVE YA TTYL
AMY says:
THAT SONG IS MY FAVORITE SONG I LOVE IT A LOT IT IS REALLY COOL IT MAKES ME WON,T TO CRY.
ashley t says:
i just love me some Taylor Swift that song called Corey’s eyes makes me want to melt! Sugarland is a good band too. that song “Stay” is the s…!
Steven says:
I think the radio programmers need to realize that Underwood, McEntire, Nettles and Swift aren’t the only girls who need airplay. It’s a crying shame that Martina, LeAnn Rimes, Sara Evans, Kellie Pickler, Miranda Lambert and Faith Hill cannot score a top 10 hit in 2008 because no one is requesting their stuff as much as the 4 ladies mentioned above.
me says:
yes kellie pickler and LeAnn Rimes, Sara Evans Miranda Lambert Faith Hill all need on the radio 2 they are just as good or even better then some of the others sorry!