STATE OF THE STATE: BIG LOUD RECORDS

Seth England and Joey Moi’s multifaceted company had the biggest album of the year—in any genre—with Morgan Wallen’s unstoppable Dangerous: The Double Album. Wallen’s giant, now well past 1m in activity, surpassed Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill as the second-longest-running album in the Top 10 of the Nielsen era and earned a slew of platinum and gold certifications. Wallen’s “Wasted on You” is the #1 streaming country song YTD with 143m+ streams, and two of his other songs, “Whiskey Glasses” and “Sand in My Boots,” sit in the Top 10. His headline tour is similarly massive.

But Wallen is far from the only big thing coming out of Big Loud. HARDY, for one, has graduated from top writer to rising star, earning plaudits and strong streams with A ROCK (certified gold, with two platinum singles); he’s earned 1.4b+ career streams. Jake Owen’s “Best Thing Since Backroads” is coming on strong and sits in the Top 10 at Country radio as of this writing. ERNEST’s “Flower Shops” f/Wallen is Top 20. Chris Lane turned heads with “Stop Coming Over” and “Dancin’ in the Moonlight” f/Lauren Alaina, as did MacKenzie Porter when she featured on Dustin Lynch’s huge hit “Thinking ’Bout You.”

Debut projects are on the way from Jake Worthington, Griffen Palmer and Ben Burgess, while singles from Madison Kozak and newest inking Ashley Cooke should amplify the label-wide buzz. Look for the volume to get louder around Ashland Craft, Lily Rose, Larry Fleet and Hailey Whitters as well. Speaking of volume, new imprint Big Loud Rock is living up to its name with acts like Blame My Youth and Jagwar Twin.

Big Loud Publishing, meanwhile, signed young hitmakers Rocky Block, Grady Block, Jordan Dozzi and John Byron, while proven writers like Jamie Moore, Mark Holman, Mark Trussell and Big Loud partner/founder Craig Wiseman hit new heights.

On the executive side, Greg Thompson was tapped as President of Big Loud Management and Big Loud Rock, which was not only great news for the roster but also for everyone else at the company who didn’t want to take calls from HITS.

England also promoted Patch Culbertson to SVP/GM, Stacy Blythe to SVP Promotions and Candice Watkins to SVP Marketing; Austen Adams continues as COO. Lloyd Aur Norman and AJ Kassen were named SVP and SVP A&R at Big Loud Rock, respectively. Tori Johnson was upped to VP Creative of Big Loud. Kelsey Brown was brought aboard by Thompson to run digital for Big Loud Management.