Chart Rewind: In 2008, Blake Shelton’s ‘Home’ Was No. 1 on Hot Country Songs
Written by djfrosty on July 19, 2023
On July 19, 2008, Blake Shelton’s “Home” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
Michael Bublé co-wrote the ballad with Alan Chang and Amy Foster-Gillies, and his original version topped Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart for two weeks in 2005.
“Home” gave Ada, Okla., native Shelton his fourth of 14 Hot Country Songs leaders, among 33 top 10s. It was released from the bonus edition of his 2007 album Pure BS.
Notably, Shelton’s “Home” features background vocals from Miranda Lambert, to whom he was married from 2011 to 2015.
Plus, “Home” became the first Country Airplay No. 1 reworking of a pop hit since Mark Chesnutt’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” which led in 1999 after Aerosmith’s original topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1998. Following “Home,” no such song ruled Country Airplay again until the list’s latest leader: Luke Combs’ take on Tracy Chapman’s No. 6-peaking 1988 Hot 100 classic “Fast Car.” Combs’ cover has ruled Country Airplay for three weeks running.
Shelton initially signed to Nashville’s Giant Records, which closed its doors in 2001 shortly after releasing his launch single, “Austin”; still the track ruled Hot Country Songs for five weeks. Shelton, along with other acts, shuffled over to Warner Music Nashville, his label since.
In 2011, Shelton joined the original team of coaches for NBC’s The Voice, with Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green and Adam Levine. He met his current wife, pop-punk star Gwen Stefani, when she became a coach in 2014, and they married in 2021. Shelton departed the series after its 23rd season, which wrapped this May.