Hot 100 First-Timers: Noeline Hofmann Earns Chart Debut With Zach Bryan Duet ‘Purple Gas’

Noeline Hofmann had never appeared on a Billboard chart before this week. But now, thanks to a new duet with Zach Bryan, the singer-songwriter is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist. The pair’s “Purple Gas” debuts on the June 22-dated Hot 100 at No. 70 with 6.9 million official U.S. streams and 1,000 sold June 7-13, according to Luminate.

The song was released on Belting Bronco/Warner Records and is slated to appear on Bryan’s upcoming album, The Great American Bar Scene.

“Purple Gas” was originally a solo song written and recorded by Hofmann. Bryan discovered it after recruiting Hofmann for his Belting Bronco YouTube series, in which artists perform original songs in the back of his Ford truck. He has previously featured acts including Slade Coulter, Charles Wesley Godwin and Kat Hasty.

After hearing Hofmann’s version, Bryan hopped on the track to transform it into a duet. Ahead of the release of the pair’s new version, Bryan took to Instagram to share his thoughts. “This song brought me to tears the first time I heard it so it was really important for me that Noeline gave me the privilege to sing it with her,” he wrote. “I have never covered another musician on an album and it’s because I was waiting on someone to write a song like this. Noeline resonates like Gillian Welch to me, and Gillian is one of my favorite musicians to ever live; now Noeline is too.”

The collaboration also opens at No. 19 on the Hot Country Songs chart, while Hofmann arrives at No. 46 on Emerging Artists.

Hofmann, 20, hails from Southern Alberta, Canada. She’s currently touring with Charley Crockett and Wyatt Flores.