After nearly a quarter century of ruling Billboard’s rock charts, Shinedown crosses over to its first entry on a country ranking, as “Searchlight” debuts at No. 54 on Country Airplay (dated June 27). The song drew 980,000 audience impressions in the June 12-18 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The band holds the record for the most No. 1s in Mainstream Rock Airplay history (dating to 1981), with 23, but its Country Airplay debut reflects a broader reach that the group says is central to its identity — and, in the case of “Searchlight,” rooted in the way the song was reshaped in the studio.
“It was a bit more of a power ballad, and then the guys let me come back in the studio, and I re-sang it with kind of a different intention built around more of that authentic country, really old-school country vibe,” lead singer Brent Smith tells Billboard. “But at the end of the day, we always say that Shinedown is everyone’s band, and it’s been incredible to see the country format and just the audiences embrace the song. Everything we did with it was built from authenticity.”
That thinking was on display this week in Philadelphia, where Beasley Media Group paired country WXTU — which gave “Searchlight” 17 plays in the tracking week, according to Mediabase — and rock WMMR for a joint Shinedown acoustic event. Chuck Damico, who programs both stations, as well as classic rock WMGK, says the promotion, which was on the books well before he took the reins at ‘XTU, brought together listeners from both sides of the building. “We had never done anything like that before,” he tells Billboard. “Two guys from Shinedown, Brent and Zach [Myers], came in and performed five songs and did an interview in front of an audience of about 50 or 60 listeners.”
No divide among the crowd, Damico says, was evident. “Nicole Michalik, who’s the afternoon-drive host for ’XTU, asked the room who listens to both ’XTU and ’MMR, and every single person raised their hand,” he says. “We like to think of people as being rock listeners or country listeners or whatever, but they’re spanning the dial.”
Still, that kind of welcome has been uncommon on Country Airplay, particularly for acts arriving from outside the format without a country collaborator attached. Unlike the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart, which also factors in streaming and sales, Country Airplay reflects country radio playlists, where artists primarily known outside the genre have historically been more likely to break through alongside established country acts.
Those cross-format collaborations have included Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber’s “10,000 Hours,” which reached No. 1 in 2020; Kenny Chesney and P!nk’s “Setting the World on Fire,” which led in 2016; Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles’ “Who Says You Can’t Go Home,” which topped the chart in 2006; and Chesney’s Uncle Kracker team-up “When the Sun Goes Down,” which spent five weeks at No. 1 in 2004. Garth Brooks and Huey Lewis’ “Workin’ for a Livin’” hit No. 19 in 2008, while Toby Keith and Sting’s “I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying” reached No. 2 in 1998. Staind frontman Aaron Lewis has likewise ventured into the format, charting five Country Airplay titles from 2011 to 2021, starting with “Country Boy,” featuring George Jones and Charlie Daniels.
Post Malone may be the most prominent recent example, though his country radio arrival came through a project that looped in Nashville at nearly every level. His 2024 six-week Top Country Albums No. 1 F-1 Trillion drew on the format’s songwriters, producers and artists alike, and has yielded four Country Airplay-charting collaborations, including the multiweek No. 1s “I Had Some Help,” with Morgan Wallen, in 2024, and “Pour Me a Drink,” with Blake Shelton, in 2025. Another collaboration, “Pickup Man” with the late Joe Diffie, charted early that year from HARDY’s star-studded, Diffie-focused HIXTAPE: Vol. 3: DIFFTAPE.
Sheryl Crow, meanwhile, offers another notable bridge from rock and pop to Country Airplay. After reaching the chart with Kid Rock on “Picture,” which peaked at No. 21 in 2003, she made multiple returns with both collaborations and solo singles, including “Easy,” “Callin’ Me When I’m Lonely” and “Shotgun.”
Stand-alone Country Airplay entries by artists primarily associated with pop or rock have been rarer. Bon Jovi reached the chart on its own with “(You Want To) Make a Memory” in 2007 and “Do What You Can” in 2020, and Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ’Em” and “Jolene” arrived in 2024. Shinedown now joins that smaller group.
Asked what helped “Searchlight” connect with country programmers, guitarist Myers points to the song itself. “We’ve always felt a good song is a good song,” he tells Billboard. “It doesn’t matter where it comes from. A good song with a good lyric and a good hook and a good melody is gonna catch on.”
“It means a lot to us,” Myers adds of charting on Country Airplay. “The fact that we can even be accepted by another format is really cool to us. So, thank you to country radio for playing the song. We know they’re a group of people who are very proud of what they do, so thank you very much for letting us in.”
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