Nan Kelley welcomes Lady Antebellum to the set of Top 20 Country Countdown. Photo by Cheryl Ecton.

Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” spent a whopping five weeks at No. 1 on the country singles charts, and no one’s more surprised about that than the band itself. Group members Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood will talk with host Nan Kelley about that song and their upcoming album on this weekend’s edition of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown.

The band thought “Need You Now” had some potential down the road, but for a lot of music-insider reasons, they were shocked when Capitol Records said it wanted the song to be the lead single for their new album, set for release Tuesday. Currently at No. 5 on the Top 20 Country Countdown, the song is awash in great harmonies, and the instrumental track — from Chad Cromwell’s judicious drum fills to Rob McNelley’s economic guitar solo — is a perfect complement. Even if it contradicted some of the unwritten rules of music marketing, it was too good to pass up.

“Not enough credit is given to the players on this record,” Charles said at last week’s No. 1 party. “[Producer] Paul Worley and all the session players completely took this song to another level. I think [co-writer] Josh Kear would agree that when we wrote this we didn’t know what we had until it got into the studio and Paul’s vision and the players’ vision for this thing came alive.”

“Need You Now” has moved into the pop chart, where it’s slipped into the Top 20 of Billboard’s Hot 100, but it’s not the only song there. With iTunes releasing a track a week in advance of the CD, the album cuts have edged into the Hot 100 as well, with “Ready To Love Again” becoming the fourth Need You Now title to reach the list.

All that sets up a very busy calendar for Lady A. The band performs Jan. 31 on the Grammy Awards, where “I Run To You” has two nominations. It’s headlining two sold-out shows for the first time at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium. And it has a bevy of dates slated as an opening act for Tim McGraw.

Top 20 Country Countdown counts down the week’s top country videos from No. 20 to No. 1 as voted by viewers on each week on GACtv.com. A new countdown premieres every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on GAC and airs again Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET; Sundays at 1 p.m. ET; and Mondays at 10 a.m. ET. Viewers can vote for their favorite videos, as well as purchase Top 20 artists’ albums and ringtones at GACtv.com.

THIS WEEK’S CHART:

1. Zac Brown Band “Highway 20 Ride”
2. Carrie Underwood “Cowboy Casanova”
3. Kellie Pickler “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You”
4. Miranda Lambert “White Liar”
5. Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins “Hillbilly Bone”
6. Lady Antebellum “Need You Now”
7. Reba McEntire “Consider Me Gone”
8. Toby Keith “Cryin’ For Me”
9. Bucky Covington “Gotta Be Somebody”
10. Keith Urban “‘Til Summer Comes Around”
11. Josh Turner “Why Don’t We Just Dance”
12. Jason Aldean “The Truth”
13. Gary Allan “Today”
14. Chris Young “The Man I Want To Be”
15. Keith Urban “Only You Can Love Me This Way”
16. Trace Adkins “All I Ask For Anymore”
17. Radney Foster “Angel Flight”
18. Taylor Swift “Fifteen”
19. Chris Young “Gettin’ You Home”
20. Billy Currington “That’s How Country Boys Roll”

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