{"id":2185490,"date":"2026-10-08T14:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2185490"},"modified":"2026-10-08T14:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:32:07","slug":"chart-rewind-in-2016-the-country-music-association-engineered-the-ultimate-group-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2185490","title":{"rendered":"Chart Rewind: In 2016, the Country Music Association Engineered the Ultimate Group Effort"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/620664530-e1791397283171.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tAwards shows are, by their nature, a competitive format, but when the Country Music Association reached a milestone with its 50th annual awards in 2016, the organization projected a spirit of unity with an intricate single that debuted at No. 1 on Billboard<\/em>\u2019s Hot Country Songs chart dated Oct. 8, 2016.<\/p>\n

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\"NASHVILLE,<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tAs Final-Round Voting Opens Today for the 2026 CMA Awards, Here Are the Races We\u2019re\u00a0Watching\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tThe Future of the Country Music Association: Sarah Trahern & Brittany Schaffer Give First Joint Interview in CEO \u2018Evolution\u2019\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Lainey<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tLainey Wilson Set to Host 2026 CMA\u00a0Awards\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\u201cForever Country\u201d brought together 30 former CMA award-winners in a four-minute mash-up of three classic songs: John Denver\u2019s \u201cTake Me Home, Country Roads,\u201d Willie Nelson\u2019s \u201cOn the Road Again\u201d and Dolly Parton\u2019s \u201cI Will Always Love You.\u201d Billed as Artists of Then, Now & Forever, the individual acts recorded their parts separately, cutting their vocals with producer Shane McAnally (Lady A, Kacey Musgraves) in Nashville when it fit their schedules. Video director Joseph Kahn captured most of the visual content in front of a green screen over three days during the CMA Music Festival that June.<\/p>\n

\n\tBrad Paisley and Miranda Lambert were the first two recorded, with the likes of George Strait, Trisha Yearwood, Blake Shelton, Martina McBride and Carrie Underwood adding their voices as the project developed. Randy Travis, who was three years removed from a stroke, appears only in the video.<\/p>\n

\n\tMCA Nashville released \u201cForever Country\u201d on Sept. 16, 2016, and the video premiered four days later on ABC\u2019s Dancing With the Stars<\/em> ahead of its two-week reign on the chart.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to topping the multimetric Hot Country Songs, the single led both Country Streaming Songs and Country Digital Song Sales, while also rising to No. 32 on Country Airplay. On the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, it hit No. 21.<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe following spring, the CMA clip earned the video of the year award from the rival Academy of Country Music.<\/p>\n

\n\tABC airs the 60th CMA Awards on Nov. 18 from Nashville\u2019s Bridgestone Arena.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTake Me Home, Country Roads\u201d cowriter Bill Danoff marveled to Billboard<\/em> in 2017 about \u201cForever Country. \u201cWhen I saw it,\u201d he said, \u201cBrad Paisley, who\u2019s from West Virginia, singing my song \u2026 beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/chart-beat\/forever-country-cma-chart-rewind-2016-1236356217\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/620664530-e1791397283171.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard Awards shows are, by their nature, a competitive format, but when the Country Music Association reached a milestone with its 50th annual awards in 2016, the organization projected a spirit of unity with an intricate single that debuted at No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s Hot Country Songs chart dated Oct. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-2185490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2185490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2185490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2185490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2185490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}