Morgan Wallen’s ‘You Proof’ Breaks Record as Longest-Leading No. 1 in Country Airplay Chart History
Written by djfrosty on December 23, 2022
Morgan Wallen makes history on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “You Proof” leads the list (dated Dec. 31) for an unprecedented ninth week.
The song, released on Big Loud Records, dethrones two titles that dominated Country Airplay — which began in January 1990 — for eight frames each: Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett’s “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” (2003) and Lonestar’s pop crossover hit “Amazed” (1999).
In the tracking week ending Dec. 22, “You Proof” increased by 2% to 25.4 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. (As previously reported, this week marks a switch to a Friday-through-Thursday tracking schedule for Billboard’s individual-format airplay charts.)
“Breaking this record is simply a testament to a huge song and Morgan continuing to evolve and strengthen as a vital artist to country radio,” Big Loud vice president of promotion Stacy Blythe tells Billboard. “It also shows the consistent work ethic of the Big Loud radio team and support from radio. There were a lot of folks who stepped up on a holiday week to help us get here and it’s not taken for granted.”
Wallen co-wrote “You Proof,” a stand-alone single that in October became his seventh No. 1 on Country Airplay, with ERNEST, Ashley Gorley, Keith Smith and Charlie Handsome, the lattermost of whom also produced it with Joey Moi.
Meanwhile, Wallen’s “Thought You Should Know,” also a non-album single, pushes 11-10 on Country Airplay (16.4 million, up 14%). The song, which Wallen co-authored, becomes his eighth top 10 on the tally, while he boasts concurrent top 10s for the first time.
Another new Wallen track, “One Thing at a Time,” enters Country Airplay at No. 59 (576,000, up 56%). The song launched on the multi-metric Hot Country Songs chart dated Dec. 17 at No. 2; with “You Proof” at No. 1 and Wallen’s “Wasted on You” at No. 3 that week, he became the first act ever to monopolize the survey’s top three in a single frame.