This weekend (Sunday April 14th) sees the launch of The UK Country Radio Airplay Chart on Absolute Radio Country. Hosted by Baylen Leonard, the weekly chart will count down the Top 20 songs in the UK’s fastest growing musical genre from 4pm every Sunday. Baylen’s regular Sunday night show, The Front Porch will move to the slightly later time of 5 – 7pm.
Baylen Leonard said: ‘It’s an incredibly exciting time for country music and the creation of this brand-new chart is testament to what a growing force it is as a genre here in the UK. So such an honour to be able to host this countdown and announce that all important Number One every week. Who’s going to be my first? You’ll have to tune in on Sunday to find out!’
Baylen Leonard has been with Absolute Radio Country since 2021, hosting regular weekday shows as well as The Front Porch. This year has seen Baylen nominated for both the Music Week Radio Show of the Year and Radio Academy Specialist Show of The Year.
Announced earlier this year at the C2C Festival, The UK Country Radio Airplay Chart is the first of its kind to be established in the UK and is a collaboration between Radiomonitor and the Country Music Associations’ UK Task Force. The Top 20 songs are compiled each week from an eligible selection of new releases up to three years old, measured by impressions (the number of people each play is heard by).
The chart will include data from the following stations and programmes (in alphabetical order): Absolute Radio Country, BBC Radio 2 – The Country Show with Bob Harris, CountryLine: The Big 615, Downtown Country Radio and Smooth Country Radio.
Airplay will be measured from Friday to midnight on the following Thursday and the chart available to the public at 5pm GMT each Sunday.