In last Thursday’s Stark Country, we started to answer a reader question about how many of the new artists being introduced this year would have careers that lasted into next year. In part one of that story, which you can read hereif you missed it, we took a look at the artists introduced in 2008 and discovered that of the 71 new country acts launched to radio that year, just 14% (10 acts) went on to have careers that are still considered viable enough that their newer singles are taken seriously by radio.

In today’s part two, we crunched the numbers from 2009 and 2010 and found that each subsequent year saw fewer new acts introduced than the year before.

The class of 2009 brought 64 newcomers, including big successes like Easton Corbin, and The Band Perry (pictured), along with smooth launches for Gloriana, Josh Thompson, Steel Magnolia, Jaron and the Long Road to Love and others. But the year also brought acts who came and went quickly, including Columbia’s Caitlin and Will, Big Machine’s Kate and Kasey (both acts were graduates of CMT’s “Can You Duet” show), plus the CMT-backed Carter Twins, as well as Stroudavarious’ Shea Fisher, Carolwood’s father and son team The Parks, and Curb’s Tyler Dean, whose not-so-memorable first single was titled “Taylor Swift.”

Other funny, but ultimately unsuccessful novelty titles from 2009 included Jason Mitchell’s “(I’m Yo) Chicken Man” and Dan Mitchell’s “Ode To Gravy.”

The number of acts from each subsequent year still being taken seriously by radio does, of course, increase each year as it gets closer to present day, since many of the young acts are still new enough to be given second and third chances at radio. So for 2009, the percentage of acts still on radio’s consideration list is almost 22% (14 acts), considerably better than the 14% from the previous year.

Last year brought only 55 new acts (16 less than two years prior), and of those, 38% (21 acts) are still viable at radio with new singles, or are still signed to respected labels and recording new songs for another try at radio. Last year’s breakout success was Stoney Creek’s Thompson Square, while three Warner Music acts, the JaneDear Girls, Brett Eldredge and Frankie Ballard got radio’s attention out of the gate, along with Craig Campbell, Sunny Sweeney, Josh Kelley and several others.

Despite a previous pop career, Kelley was considered “new” for the purposes of this research since he was making his country debut last year. Two acts previously introduced to radio on other labels, Jerrod Niemann and Ashley Gearing were not counted as “new,” although Niemann would have boosted the year’s success rate quotient considerably if he had been. We made one exception for Broken Bow’s James Wesley, counting him as “new” even though he previously charted two singles under a different name (James Prosser) and on a different label (Warner Bros.) more than a decade before.

Part one of this story generated quite a lot of reader feedback, including several from artist reps detailing how the acts they work with went on to have successful careers despite a lack of love from radio. We also got a note from Skyville Records president Kevin Herring, who made the point that successful careers are worth the difficulty of building them.

“I don’t think this has changed through the history of recorded music,” Herring wrote. “The odds of hitting big in the music business have always been long odds. Much like making it to the NFL, NHL or any pro sport, only a small fraction of college players get drafted and an even smaller fraction make it to ever play in the pros.

“I imagine the odds of getting a record deal are even longer odds,” he continues. “It’s hard, and it should be hard to become a star. I wonder the odds of winning an Academy Award if you are an aspiring actor?

“Like finding gold, you have to mine through a lot of dirt, but it’s worth it!”