The Year in Country: Luke Bryan Leads Artist List, Brett Eldredge Rules Radio — billboard.com

2014 could easily be hailed as the year of Luke Bryan. Then again, Florida Georgia Line, Brett Eldredge and Miranda Lambert scored noteworthy genre success, as well. Georgia native Bryan finishes the year as the top overall country artist (and the year's top male artist). He's also the top country albums artist, powered by Crash My Party, which has sold 2.3 million copies since its August 2013 release, according to Nielsen Music. The album yielded 4.4 million in track sales during the 2014 chart year, plus two of the year's biggest hits on Hot Country Songs: "Drink a Beer," which spent five weeks atop Hot Country Songs, and "Play It Again" (nine weeks).

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