As the American country chart transitions between songs moving up the chart and those on their way out, only two songs are clearly at the top. In a tight battle for No. 1, Cole Swindell’s “Single Saturday Night” held on to the top spot for the second week in a row and third week overall, narrowly outpacing Chase Rice’s “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.” The two songs are less than half of a percent apart in our algorithm, while the rest of the Top 5 is at least 10 percent behind that. At No. 3 is “Glad You Exist” by Dan + Shay. Luke Bryan’s “Waves” moved up to No. 4, while Thomas Rhett’s “Country Again” surged five spots to land at No. 5.

Chris Young’s “Famous Friends” fell from No. 2 to No. 9 and exited the Top 5 for the first time since June 9. 

The only two exits from the chart were notable, as both had been in the Top 40 for 29 weeks: Dierks Bentley’s “Gone” and Jordan Davis’s “Almost Maybes.” The year’s top song so far, Luke Combs’ “Forever After All” dipped six spots from No. 9 to No. 15 and left the Top 10 for the first time since April 7. Miranda Lambert’s “Settling Down” dropped 13 spots from No. 8 to No. 21, which marked the first time it was out of the Top 10 since May 12, and the first time it was out of the Top 20 since April 7. And Blake Shelton’s “Minimum Wage” is likely only a week away from exiting the Top 40, having dropped 19 spots to No. 39, which marks the first time it’s been out of the Top 20 since May 19.

Other trends in this week’s chart:

Biggest movers:

• “Country Again” by Thomas Rhett (up five from No. 10 to No. 5)
• “We Didn’t Have Much” by Justin Moore (up five from No. 11 to No. 6)
• “One Too Many” by Keith Urban & P!nk (up four from No. 12 to No. 8)
• “Cold Beer Calling My Name” by Jameson Rodgers (up five from No. 17 to No. 12)
• “If I Didn’t Love You” by Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood (up 19 from No. 38 to No. 19)
• “Cold as You” by Luke Combs (up 10 from No. 35 to No. 25)

Biggest drops:

• “Famous Friends” by Chris Young & Kane Brown (down seven from No. 2 to No. 9)
• “Forever After All” by Luke Combs (down six from No. 15 to No. 9)
• “Blame It On You” by Jason Aldean (down 11 from No. 6 to No. 17, down 14 in the last two weeks)
• “Settling Down” by Miranda Lambert (down 14 from No. 8 to No. 21, down 16 in the last two weeks)
• “Minimum Wage” by Blake Shelton (down 19 from No. 20 to No. 39, down 26 in the last two weeks)

Debuts:

• “Give Heaven Some Hell” by Hardy (No. 40 – seven weeks on the Side Burner chart)

Exit:

• “Am I the Only One” by Aaron Lewis (3 weeks on the chart, peak of No. 33, last week No. 39)

Here are this week’s “Personal Picks” — songs that haven’t appeared in either of our charts but that we think deserve at least one listen.

Here is the updated chart for the week of August 5, 2021. Each song is linked to its official video on YouTube, where possible. To listen to the full playlist of these songs, visit our page on Spotify.

There are seven songs that show signs of invading the chart in the coming weeks. Songs that appeared on this list previously are marked with an asterisk for each week they’ve been on the list. (You can listen to them in our “On the Side Burner” playlist on Spotify):

The American charts all have their whims. We look across the pop music landscape to put together a reliable snapshot of what is truly trending today. We are currently tracking 74 songs that have trended in various ways in the past week.

Copyright © 2021 Doug DeBolt.