Hot 100 First-Timers: Conner Smith Debuts With Country Hit ‘Creek Will Rise’

Singer-songwriter and Nashville native Conner Smith reaches the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time with his single “Creek Will Rise.”

Released in February 2023 on Valory Records, the track debuts at No. 89 on the Feb. 10-dated chart with 14.4 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 2%) and 3.3 million official U.S. streams (up 177%) Jan. 26-Feb. 1, according to Luminate.

The song’s profile was boosted by the Jan. 26 release of his debut full-length, Smoky Mountains. The 12-song set, which includes “Creek Will Rise,” debuts at No. 42 on Top Country Albums with 6,000 equivalent album units earned in its opening week.

“Creek Will Rise” also holds at its No. 14 high on Country Airplay and jumps 31-23 for a new best on the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart.

Previously, the 23-year-old charted two tracks on Country Airplay: “Learn From It” (No. 38 peak, 2021) and “Take It Slow” (No. 52, 2023). He scored his first overall chart appearance in October 2021, when “I Hate Alabama” debuted and peaked at No. 21 on Country Digital Song Sales after going viral on TikTok. The song surged after the third-ranked University of Georgia defeated top-seeded University of Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 10, 2022, giving Georgia its first trophy since the 1980 season. The timely lyrics, “I hate Alabama/ I hate crimson red/ I hate how they yell ‘Roll Tide’ when I got a Braves hat on my head” were particularly prescient.

That breakthrough helped Smith ink a deal with Big Machine’s Valory imprint. In January 2022, Billboard named him Country Rookie of the Month. “The Lord’s timing is perfect and that was true with [“I Hate Alabama”]. We put out this song on a Friday and the very next day, Alabama lost in football for the first time in two years,” Smith told Billboard at the time. “That is what made the song explode. So now anytime Alabama is playing, the song gets some love.”

Smith is the first Valory signee to debut on the Hot 100 in 2024. Three songs on the label entered in 2023: Justin Moore and Priscilla Block’s “You, Me, & Whiskey” (No. 37 peak), Thomas Rhett’s “Mamaw’s House” featuring Morgan Wallen (No. 55), and Rhett’s “Angels Don’t Always Have Wings” (No. 69).

Related Images: