CHART BEAT BONUS

Billboard Staff
Updated ·2 min read

‘AWAY’ TEAM: Uncle Kracker and Dobie Gray make a potent team on Billboard’s Hot 100, as their remake of Gray’s 1973 hit “Drift Away” finally moves into the top-10 this week. The song, which rules the Adult Contemporary list for the ninth week, advances 12-9 on the Hot 100.

This is the first week that Gray has been in the top-10 of this chart since the week of May 26, 1973. That was the final week that the first hit version of “Drift Away” spent in the top-10, falling from No. 7 to No. 8. That gives Gray a gap of 30 years, two months and one week between top-10 hits.

The new recording of “Drift Away” is the second top-10 hit for both Gray and Uncle Kracker. Gray’s 1973 version of “Drift Away” peaked at No. 5. Uncle Kracker also peaked at No. 5, with “Follow Me” in June 2001.


TRIPLE-A: The top three titles on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart have something in common: they are all on the Arista label. Brooks & Dunn move 2-1 with “Red Dirt Road,” racking up their 18th chart-topper. Alan Jackson & Jimmy Buffett leap 6-2 with “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” and Brad Paisley is up 4-3 with “Celebrity.”

Arista is the first label to own the top three positions on this tally since — Arista. The label also had the top three spots locked down the week of Oct. 29, 1994. Before that, MCA held the top three places in March 1992.


‘FIVE’ TO TWO: Speaking of Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett’s “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” the single is poised to take over the No. 1 slot when Brooks & Dunn are ready to decline. This would be the 21st chart-topper for Jackson and the first for Buffett. “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” is already Buffett’s biggest country hit by miles. Before this current release, Buffett’s highest-ranked country song was “Margaritaville,” which peaked at No. 13 in 1977.


TWO NATIONS, ‘INVISIBLE’: Irish quartet D-Side score their second top-10 single in the U.K., as “Invisible” (Blacklist/Edel/WEA) debuts at No. 7. Written by Chris Braide, the song is scheduled to be included on the debut album by Clay Aiken, set for release in September. Aiken is performing the song on the American Idols Live tour.

If it becomes Aiken’s second U.S. single, it won’t be the first time that the same song has been a hit in the two countries by different artists. The most recent example of a U.S. No. 1 also being a top-10 hit in the U.K. by another artist is “Angel of Mine.” Monica topped the Hot 100 in 1999 after the British female group Eternal took it to No. 4 in the U.K.

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