Here's a top 10 list of why, in the words of nominee Alan Jackson, "the whole world's gone country":

1. SALES: Through the first six months of 2006, country music CD sales were up 18% over the same period last year while sales in the general marketplace declined 6.1%.

2. AIRPLAY: There are over 10,000 commercial radio stations in the US. Country music is the most popular format with 2000 stations. Talk radio is second with 1,300 stations.

3. GEOGRAPHY: Country music's appeal is no longer geographically relegated to the South. The two biggest selling markets are NY and LA even though neither city has a country music radio station on the FM dial.

4. RATINGS: The CMAs is the highest-rated music awards show on TV followed by the Grammy Awards.

5. CHICKS: Despite the hullabaloo over their political stance, the Dixie Chicks remain the biggest selling female group in music history.


6. GARTH: Garth Brooks' record 51 weeks at #1 in the albums charts remains unbroken. His groundbreaking "Ropin' the Wind" spent 18 weeks at #1 - a feat that has yet to be matched by any other country act.

7. FLATTS: Rascal Flatts who are nominated for three CMAs scored 2006's biggest first week sales with 722,000 CDs sold. Justin Timberlake's "Future Sex/Love Sounds" holds the second slot with 684,000 copies.

8. ROAD WARRIORS: Five country acts (Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw & Faith Hill, Brad Paisley, George Strait, Rascal Flatts) are included in the top 20 list of top grossing tours for the first half of 2006.

9. DOLLY: With a career that spans four decades and 73 albums with 25 #1 singles including what has been hailed as the #1 greatest country love song, "I'll Always Love You", Dolly Parton, who's nominated for 3 CMAs, will receive Kennedy Center Honors this December alongside Steven Spielberg, Smokey Robinson, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Zubin Mehta.

10. FEAR NO 'PAIN': Urban — last year's Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year — releases "Love, Pain and the whole Crazy Thing," one of the year's most anticipated CDs, just one day after the CMA awards. Despite all he's been through in the past few months, it's almost a sure thing that the CD will debut at No. 1.




Glad to see we're on the rise again. Anyone else excited about the CMA's? I AAAAAM!