"I Hold On" Holds on For #1!

On Monday, March 24th, "I Hold On" became Dierks Bentley's 11th chart-topper, reaching the summit on both the Mediabase/Aircheck and Billboard Airplay charts. It was, to some, a sweet victory after radio essentially rejected "Bourbon in Kentucky" last year, but that didn't make the climb to the top any easier while it was happening. After 31 long weeks, it finally made it to the top. Woohoo!

I was a bit surprised he snagged the #1 this week, since Blake Shelton's "Doin' What She Likes" was sitting pretty at #1 up until Thursday morning. Apparently Dierks calling to request "I Hold On" on the Bobby Bones Show multiple times - and Bobby kindly playing it - did the trick! As it was, Dierks *just* squeaked ahead and finished a mere 141,000 in audience ahead of Blake on Billboard. Whew, that was close! (No worries, Blake fans - he'll be at #1 this coming week.)

"I Hold On" isn't quite done yet - in sales, that is. After his televised performance during January's Orange Bowl, the sales picked up big time, and the song is just a mere week or two away from hitting 500,000 in sales and GOLD certification. Woohoo, again!

As we all know, this is a hugely personal song for Dierks, and we all knew that the song going to #1 would be a moment filled with immense pride. Sure enough, Dierks tweeted the following on Monday morning:

thank YOU for calling/tweeting Country Radio. I Hold On is the number 1 song in the country today! this one means more to me than any other.

Later on Monday, he posted the following message for his fans (see video below).

Congratulations, Dierks! We know your Dad is smiling in Heaven!

Now we just wait to see what the next single will be. Any ideas, Congress? We should know within the next two weeks... and hopefully this single won't take 31 weeks to make it to the top! ;)

~ Carrie Srebro
DBC Rep/Chart Reporter ~ NC:

Post by Dierks Bentley.

Dierks Celebrates "Home" At His "Second Home"

Dierks got to celebrate another Number One this week in Nashville!  'Home' topped the charts, making this his 9th number one party!  Great job, Congress! 

From Country Weekly :

Dierks Bentley picked an appropriate location to celebrate his latest No. 1 single, "Home", Monday (April 30th): the Nashville diner he often calls his "second home", Arnold's Country Kitchen. 

"I've been coming here [Arnold's] since about 1994 or '95," Dierks told the assembled crowd. During a time when he was going through a rough breakup, and losing weight in the process, Dierks revealed that he ate at Arnold's nearly every day for three months. "They saved me," Dierks said. 

Dierks added that "Home" was "a special song," while conceding that he wasn't sure if it would hit the top. "It had so many layers," Dierks told reporters after the ceremony. "It was just a different type of song." 

When he performs the song in concert, it takes on a communal feeling. "It's a song that seems to bring the whole crowd together," Dierks noted. "I feel really blessed to have this, and to have it go all the way to No. 1 is really cool." This marks the ninth No. 1 single for Dierks.

Dierks hosted the lunchtime event for media and industry members and celebrated with one of the song's co-writers, Brett Beavers. Co-writer Dan Wilson was unable to attend.

Dierks sent thanks to radio and fans, and shared his pride via Twitter:

"we had our #1 party for "home" yesterday at Arnold's (best meat and 3 in nashville!) want to say special thanks to Country Radio and Fans..."


"..the guys and i feel lucky to get to sing and play that song every night out there and feel the groundswell of pride it stirs up. thank you"

 Thank you to all the Congress members who supported this single!!  Keep calling, texting, and tweeting to support our next endeavor, 5-1-5-0!  Can we make 10 number ones??  I think we can! 

~Amy

Delaware 

#1 Plaques and 2 Quarts of Patron

On September 27, 2011, Dierks Bentley, Jim Beavers, Jon Randall Stewart and the members of Team Lonesome gathered at Losers Bar & Grill in Nashville to celebrate Dierks' 8th #1 hit. Before the party, Dierks tweeted the following:

@DierksBentley: headed to my #1 party for AM I THE ONLY ONE. thinking about all our hard core fans out there that made this happen. love you guys.

@DierksBentley: been waaaaay too long since I busted the '67 camero out!! perfect day to do it. headed to the party. thx again for calling Country Radio

The party, held by Capitol, BMI and ASCAP honored Dierks for performing; Dierks, Jim, and Jon Randall for writing; and Team Lonesome for the roles they played in the AITOO video. When Dierks was honored by ASCAP, Evie (who is getting so big!) joined him onstage to accept the award. 

 

(Photos courtesy Nashville Country Club)

The writers, promotion team, and Team Lonesome were all awarded with 2-quart bottles of Patron. 

“This is the first No. 1 that I’ve been really excited about the party and the actual location of the party,” Bentley notes. “[In the song], we wrote ‘I was flying solo / Down at Silverado’s / The joint looking like a morgue.’ Anyone who’s lived in Nashville as long as I have knows what Silverado’s is — it’s the one bar that used to be opened on Sundays. I was really excited to have the No. 1 party at Silverado’s … just have it be a crazy No. 1 party, but Silverado’s is closed. I wanted to have it there, but this is a great spot and is easy for everyone to get to. I don’t get to come here as often as I’d like because I’m on the road, so it was good second choice.”

Congratulations once again, Mr. President! We can't wait to do it all again in a few months - for your 9th #1 single "Home" AND your next #1 album! 

~ Carrie S. (DBC Rep/Chart Reporter-NC) 

LADY A "RUNS" OFF DIERKS!

From Lady Antebellum's Twitter:

We scored our first No. 1 hit this week with "I Run To You!!" Thanks for the support everybody! :)

So there it is, Dierks fans: "Sideways" has ended its reign on top of the Billboard Charts this week, being "run" off by Lady A. No word yet on where "Sideways" will have fallen to, but from what I can tell, it's looking like it will be #3 or #4. I'm still hearing it a lot on the radio, so I can't imagine it will fall too far too fast!

Don't think this means it's time to stop voting. There's still Countdowns on GAC and CMT where our voices can be heard!

No word yet on what the next single will officially be and when it will be sent to radio, but I'm sure we'll know something soon ... and then we'll do this all over again! :)

Congrats to Lady Antebellum on their well-deserved first #1, and congrats to Dierks on having "Sideways" at #1 for two weeks -- it's not easy to do!

~ Carrie S. (DBC Rep/Chart Reporter from NC)

HEY NOW, HERE WE GO!

Well, we already know the fantastic news this week! Dierks got his 7th #1 hit with "Sideways," and I don't know about you, but I am so happy to see all our hard work pay off!

I did some research the last few nights about the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and how it's compiled, and learned that it's based on audience size, rather than airplay. That explains not only how "Sideways" is #1 this week, but also how "Out Last Night" was #1 last week -- even though "Whatever it Is" was the most-played song on Country Radio until today. ("Sideways" is, now! WOOHOO! 9,378 plays!)

So, now that I am armed with that knowledge, hopefully my updates will be a bit more authentic, informative, and correct for you all going forward.

Now the question becomes, can he make it 2 weeks in a row? It's difficult these days, but it can be done (Brad Paisley, I'm looking at you). Let's keep it up and if I find a street date for the next single before it's released to Dierks.com or elsewhere, I will let you know!

Going to Daytona this weekend for the race and the 4th, so no update from me. I hope everybody has a great holiday weekend! I will leave you with this, which I found in Country Aircheck last night ...

~ Carrie (DBC Rep/Chart Reporter from NC)