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Why Can’t Miranda Lambert Get A Hit Single?

So first, what’s a hit song? For this, we’re going to draw the line at a top 10 single. Which basically means it’s getting played at nearly every country radio station in the country. There might be a couple of stations that didn’t pick it up for one reason or another, but it’s a song that people are familiar with hearing. So now that we’ve defined a “hit song” let’s try and figure out why Miranda Lambert hasn’t had a hit song since her duet with Carrie Underwood “Something Bad.”
Since 2003, Miranda Lambert has been in the limelight. After taking 3rd place on Nashville Star behind Buddy Jewel and “the answer to a trivia question you’ll never ever ever get right” 2nd place finisher John Arthur Martinez. She had some success early on. After her single “Me And Charlie Talking” went to number 27 on the radio airplay charts. Not bad for a first single. Not a huge debut, but respectable. Something she could definitely build off of.
She broke out with her first ‘hit’ with ‘Gunpowder and Lead’ in 2008 that went to number 7. Which seemed to capitalize on her early fairly successful ‘Kerosene’ single’s theme.
She remained an artist that seemed unable to break out of the small city three thousand seat venues. A good living can be made that way, but that’s not where you become a household name. That all changed when she hit the next level after releasing “The House That Built Me.”

“The House That Built Me” was originally set to be recorded by Blake Shelton, but Miranda heard the demo from the song written by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin and immediately wanted to record it. I wonder how that conversation played out, they did get engaged two months after it was released as a single.
Since “The House That Built Me” she’s had 7 ‘hit’ singles. Including “Heart Like Mine” “Baggage Claim” “Over You” “Fastest Girl In Town” “Mama’s Broken Heart” “Automatic” and then of course her last ‘hit’ “Something Bad” with Carrie Underwood. It appeared at the time like nothing could slow her down. But since then she’s had a string of singles released and not one has reached the top ten.
What changed? Is it because girls are becoming less successful in the country genre? It wouldn’t seem so given other acts like Carrie Underwood who hasn’t had a single NOT reach “hit song’ status in the top ten since her first single when she left American Idol. Twenty four of them as of today. Seriously, I counted. Those are just her singles. She’s also been featured on another four singles by other artists that went into the top ten.
It’s not as if she’s being ignored by Nashville since her break-up with Blake Shelton. She was awarded the ACM Female vocalist of the year this year. FOR THE EIGHTH YEAR IN A ROW. She beat out Reba McEntire’s record with that one.
While I personally didn’t think “Vice” was a good single to release, I was however, a big fan of “We Should Be Friends.”

That song ended up stalling out at 26. I thought it seemed a real return to her “Kerosene” roots. Honest about who she is and what she likes. The attitude has always been the thing that’s driven me and many others to her music. Her current single “Tin Man” seems to be dying on the vine as well. Currently sitting at 43 on the Mediabase Rolling Country Chart.
So this question again, “Why can’t Miranda Lambert get a hit single these days?


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