Dexter and the Moonrocks’ Debut Hit ‘Sad in Carolina’ Tops Alternative Airplay Chart

Dexter and the Moonrocks’ first entry on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, “Sad in Carolina,” rises a spot to No. 1 on the Dec. 7-dated ranking.

“Sad in Carolina” is the Texas rockers’ first song on any Billboard chart. They’re the second act to earn a first Alternative Airplay No. 1 in 2024, following Myles Smith, whose “Stargazing” topped the Sept. 28-dated survey, and the first band with an introductory leader since Bad Omens ruled with “Just Pretend” in September 2023.

As “Sad in Carolina” also first made any Billboard chart when it debuted on Alternative Airplay on the Aug. 3-dated list, Dexter and the Moonrocks achieve a feat akin to recent Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1 act The Funeral Portrait, whose “Suffocate City,” featuring Spencer Charnas, likewise sparked its first Billboard appearance when it debuted, followed by its coronation in November.

Concurrently, “Sad in Carolina” bullets at its No. 11 high on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 3 million audience impressions (up 4%) in the week ending Nov. 28, according to Luminate.

“Sad in Carolina” is from the act’s Western Space Grunge, released by in July. The group’s first release since signing to Severance/Big Loud Rock has earned 8,000 equivalent album units to date. The band’s drummer, Ryan Fox, describes its sound on the band’s website as “country with twang and grunge with a bite,” inspired in part by Johnny Cash’s cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” and singer-songwriters Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers and Noah Kahan. “When you take that sound and plug it into amps with electric guitars, you get Dexter and the Moonrocks.”