Rosanne Cash Is Back on a Billboard Airplay Chart Thanks to The National
For the first time since 1993, Rosanne Cash appears on a Billboard airplay chart as The National’s “Crumble,” on which Cash is featured, debuts at No. 38 on the Adult Alternative Airplay tally dated Nov. 11.
“Crumble” marks The National’s ninth Adult Alternative Airplay appearance, but the first for Cash; the airplay survey began in 1996.
Cash, the daughter of late legend Johnny Cash and a four-time Grammy Award winner, had last appeared on a Billboard airplay list in 1993, when “The Wheel” peaked at No. 46 on Adult Contemporary that July. That followed a run of her radio hits that included 11 No. 1s on the Hot Country Songs chart in the 1980s, beginning with her classic “Seven Year Ache” in May 1981 and running through her cover of The Beatles’ “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” in June 1989. Also among her leaders: her take on her father’s “Tennessee Flat Top Box,” which topped Hot Country Songs in 1988.
After “The Wheel,” Cash has continued to reach Billboard’s album charts, most recently with 2018’s She Remembers Everything, which hit No. 5 on Americana/Folk Albums and No. 16 on Top Country Albums. That stretch includes Cash’s top-charting Billboard 200 career entry, The River & the Thread, which peaked at No. 11 in February 2014, along with her second-highest-charting set, The List (No. 22, October 2009).
“Crumble” is from Laugh Track, The National’s second album of 2023, following First Two Pages of Frankenstein. The former’s “Weird Goodbyes” featuring Bon Iver hit No. 6 on Adult Alternative Airplay in November 2022; then a standalone single, it’s now on Laugh Track. First Two Pages of Frankenstein, meanwhile, generated a pair of top 10s on the chart in “Tropic Morning News” (No. 1 for five weeks, beginning in March 2023) and the Taylor Swift-featuring “The Alcott” (No. 9, July).
Laugh Track debuted at No. 56 on the Top Album Sales chart dated Sept. 30 and has earned 19,000 equivalent album units to date, according to Luminate.
Kevin Rutherford
Billboard