Since launching the country HitPredictor chart in Airplay Monitor in February, several interesting trends have emerged in the numbers. These trends say as much about country music as they do about the chart.

Like the format in general, the country HitPredictor dances to the beat of a different drummer than that of other formats.

Country scores overall have fallen into a pattern similar to those of other “passion� formats. The passion formats are those with a clearly defined listener base of active fans.

Where the scores for top 40, adult top 40, modern rock and other formats HitPredictor has been tracking for several years are balanced by wide ranging listeners’ tastes, passion format listeners have far less deviation from the core. So those formats, which include R&B/hip-hop, active rock and now country, experience higher peaks and deeper valleys in their respective charts.

One only needs to look at the recently tested country songs for an example of this. Nearly every song on the list has a score of 90 or better. On the top 40 mainstream chart, a score that high is an anomaly. This suggests that country fans’ tastes are more homogeneous.

Radio mirrors this. The top 40 charts are dotted with songs from every other genre. But save for the occasional Sheryl Crow song, that type of cross-pollination typically only works one way in reference to country.

The content of country music is always changing. HitPredictor has been early witness to some of the changes the format is now experiencing. For instance, we saw early indicators of the return in popularity of female singers to the format. Current hits that we accurately predicted such as Terri Clark’s “Girls Lie Too� and Gretchen Wilson’s “Redneck Woman� are perfect examples.

Similarly, we saw a new batch of drinking songs—a country format staple—scoring consistently well before they took hold of the country charts earlier this year. Current tracks like Brad Paisley’s chart climber “Whiskey Lullaby� and Toby Keith’s “Whiskey Girl� are just two examples of boozy hits that HitPredictor saw coming before they were served up.