Chart News: ‘Cruise’ sets all-time country record
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With scans of 84,000 units in the most recent tracking week upping its overall sum to 6.32 million downloads, the duo’s hit is now the biggest-selling digital country song since SoundScan began tracking digital sales in 2003. It passes Lady Antebellum’s "Need You Now" which now sits in second place with 6.27 million downloads.
Aided by a remix featuring rapper Nelly (which accounts for 39.5% of the track’s overall sales thus far), "Cruise" became a multi-format radio smash, spanning a chart life that began in the summer of 2012.
The new sales record adds to the song’s previous accolades. In 2013, it broke the record for the longest-running No. 1 in the 70-year history of the Hot Country Songs chart, spending 24 non-consecutive weeks atop the list. It also reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 7 on the Pop Songs radio chart (known as Mainstream Top 40 on billboard.biz).
Notably, like "Cruise," the top five country digital sellers (see below) all had significant pop crossover airplay. Following "Cruise" and "Need You Now" on the all-time best-selling country digital songs list are Taylor Swift’s "Love Story" (5.66 million), the Band Perry’s "If I Die Young" (4.74 million) and Swift’s "You Belong With Me" (4.41 million).
