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Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” grants the singer-songwriter two firsts in the history of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, where it leads for a 10th week.
The track joins Wallen’s 19-week Hot Country Songs No. 1 from 2022, “You Proof,” as the second song from his One Thing at a Time album to reign for double-digit weeks — while the set becomes the first with two such leaders since the chart launched as an all-encompassing genre survey in October 1958. (“You Proof” was released eight-and-a-half months ahead of the LP, but is featured on the collection’s 36-song tracklist.)
Wallen is also the first soloist, and second act overall, with as many as three 10-week-plus Hot Country Songs No. 1s. Duo Florida Georgia Line first achieved the feat; Luke Combs and Sam Hunt boast two each.
Here are Wallen’s three Hot Country Songs No. 1s that have dominated for at least 10 weeks:
10 weeks at No. 1, “Last Night,” beginning Feb. 18, 2023
19 weeks, “You Proof,” May 28, 2022
11 weeks, “Wasted on You,” Jan. 23, 2021
And Florida Georgia Line’s:
50 weeks at No. 1 (a chart record), “Meant To Be,” with Bebe Rexha, beginning Dec. 16, 2017
18 weeks, “H.O.L.Y.,” May 21, 2016
24 weeks, “Cruise,” Dec. 22, 2012
Overall, 32 singles have topped Hot Country Songs for 10 or more weeks, out of over 1,500 No. 1s in the list’s history. Of those 32, 21 have led since the chart adopted the Billboard Hot 100’s streaming-, airplay- and sales-based methodology in October 2012.
“Last Night” simultaneously helms the Hot 100 (dated April 22) for a third week. The song, released on Big Loud/Mercury/Republic Records, drew 36.6 million streams (up 4%) and 34.5 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 16%, good for the chart’s top Airplay Gainer award for a second consecutive week) and sold 10,000 downloads (up 6%) in the April 7-13 tracking week, according to Luminate.
Concurrently, One Thing at a Time tops the Billboard 200 for a sixth frame, with 167,000 equivalent album units earned April 7-13, while Wallen also rules the Billboard Artist 100 chart for a fifth week.
Morgan Wallen concurrently crowns the Billboard Artist 100, Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts (dated April 22), ruling as the top musical act with both the No. 1 song and album in the United States for a third time.
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He becomes just the fifth artist to have spent at least three weeks leading the three charts at the same time.
Wallen first tripled up atop the tallies dated March 18, as his LP One Thing at a Time launched atop the Billboard 200 and its single “Last Night” hit No. 1 on the Hot 100. The album scores a sixth week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 167,000 equivalent album units earned (April 7-13), according to Luminate, while “Last Night” scores a third week atop the Hot 100.
Most Weeks Simultaneously Leading the Artist 100, Hot 100 & Billboard 200 Charts:16, Drake15, Taylor Swift9, Adele5, The Weeknd3, Morgan Wallen2, Ariana Grande2, Ed Sheeran2, Harry Styles1, Beyoncé1, Justin Bieber1, BTS1, Camila Cabello1, Future1, Kendrick Lamar
Wallen places 12 songs on the latest Hot 100. He charted a one-week record 36 songs on the survey dated March 18, all from One Thing at a Time.
The Sneedville, TN, native has now spent 12 total weeks at No. 1 on the Artist 100, extending his record for the most among core country acts. Taylor Swift leads all acts for the most weeks spent at No. 1, with 64.
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
CMT and management services company mtheory have revealed the six new candidates selected to take part in the Equal Access Development Program, its yearlong artist and management training program designed to support underrepresented voices and communities in country music, including Black, Native and Indigenous, Latino, LGBTQ+ and women.
This year’s participants are artists Angie K, Camille Parker and Denitia, as well as music industry executives Ahsaki LaFrance-Chachere, Alex Evelyn and Roberto Martinez.
The Equal Access Program launched in April 2022, spearheaded by mtheory CEO Cameo Carlson and Tiffany Provenzano, as well as CMT senior vp of music & talent Leslie Fram. The program provides funding and training, as well as access to industry leaders, with the goal of creating a multifaceted pipeline of diverse talent in country music.
Angie K previously competed with Team Blake on NBC’s The Voice and is part of CMT’s Next Women of Country Class of 2023. Her music often blends country with her Latin roots, such as her bilingual release “Real Talk,” which made her a Highway Find on SiriusXM. Parker, a member of CMT’s Next Women of Country Class of 2022, also recently competed on AppleTV+’s My Kind of Country. Parker is also currently recording her debut EP with producers Chris McClenny and David Phelps. Texas native Denitia is a multi-instrumentalist who has played saxophone, trumpet and guitar and has roots in a myriad of musical genres, including gospel, folk and alternative rock.
LaFrance-Chachere is a Diné (Navajo) tribal member and African-American woman, who aims to demonstrate that Native Americans/Indigenous people are diverse despite stereotypical depictions. Her LaChachere Management & Publishing represents country music artists Dzaki Sukarno, C’ing Jerome and Jay Brown. Evelyn is CEO/founder of management and development company Big Al Management, which includes clients YSA and Khrys Hatch. Evelyn also serves as radio/TV producer/show host at YoCo 96.7 FM in Nashville. Martinez has worked as a songwriter, producer and recording engineer. After a five-year stint at Warner Music Group, Martinez manages artists in multiple genres as CEO of The Exos Group and is partner in Coco’s Backstage.
Carlson, CEO of mtheory, said via a statement, “Research continues to show the enduring racial and gendered hierarchy within the industry, and its ripple effect throughout every facet of the business: radio airplay, songwriting, publishing, streaming, record label signings, artist development, touring and more. Only through deliberate, consistent efforts like Equal Access, will we begin to see stronger representation of underserved groups in the format, and we’re committed to helping this new group of exceptionally talented individuals successfully prepare for careers in country music, particularly in this current legislative environment that has become an increasingly prohibitive place for creativity to grow and flourish. Thank you to all of our supporters for making this program possible, particularly our title sponsors at CMT and across the Paramount companies.”
Fram added, “CMT, along with Paramount Global and its Content for Change initiative, is proud to partner with mtheory once again and is committed to leading the industry in igniting systemic change. Equal Access accentuates our roster of groundbreaking initiatives including CMT Equal Play and CMT Next Women of Country, and contributes significantly towards leveling the playing field in country music. We look forward to collaborating with this amazing new group of artists and managers to amplify their work to CMT audiences and beyond.”
The inaugural 2022-23 Equal Access cohort included artists Madeline Edwards, Miko Marks and Valerie Ponzio and music management professionals Charlene Bryant, Kadeem Phillips and Marques Vance.
Over the past year, the 2022-23 Equal Access class members have reached numerous goals. Edwards signed a publishing deal with Sony Music Publishing, a recording deal with Warner Music Nashville and has toured with Chris Stapleton and Ingrid Andress. Marks released the album Feel Like Going Home with music reaching the top five on the Americana Radio Albums chart, while her single “One More Night” reached the top 20. Ponzio released her EP Frontera and had her music featured on the Times Square billboard and on CMT. Marks and Edwards both made their Grand Ole Opry debut performances.
Bryant now manages artist Harper Grae and is a consultant for Universal Music Nashville. Vance began a full-time job with a major label and launched a website to feature his work as a manager and marketing consultant. Phillips launched the Empower the Block website to showcase his work as a manager, publisher, distributor and studio owner, and launched a monthly showcase, Spirit of Country, to highlight country artists of color.
Country stars Zach Bryan and Travis Tritt had a public Twitter spat last week over Bud Light teaming with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney for its latest campaign, and now the duo seem to be on good terms.
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It all started when the “Something in Orange” singer tweeted on April 8, “I mean no disrespect towards anyone specifically, I don’t even mind @travistritt. I just think insulting transgender people is completely wrong because we live in a country where we can all just be who we want to be It’s a great day to be alive I thought.”
The thoughts were seemingly in response to Tritt announcing he would no longer be working with Anheuser-Busch and removing all of the company’s products from his tour hospitality rider. “I know many other artists who are doing the same,” the singer claimed.
While Tritt didn’t respond publicly to Bryan’s thoughts, he took to Twitter to try to get the young country star to meet with him in person. “Zach, Been trying to reach out to you through your manager,” he wrote on April 13. “Since we are both playing the Two Step Inn Festival in Georgetown, TX this Saturday, I was hoping we could chat in person. I will be there all day on Saturday. Please let me know if we can chat. Thanks.”
a.@zachlanebryan Zach, Been trying to reach out to you through your manager. Since we are both playing the Two Step Inn Festival in Georgetown, TX this Saturday, I was hoping we could chat in person. I will be there all day on Saturday. Please let me know if we can chat. Thanks.— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) April 14, 2023
It appears that the duo did in fact meet in person at the festival, as Bryan revealed to fans that they talked “eye to eye” for “an hour and a half,” and noted while they do disagree on certain things, “the world did not end.”
Tritt then replied to Bryan’s tweet in support, writing, “So glad we had a chance to chat, Zach. Even better to discover that we have so much common ground. All the best to you on your first European tour!”
So glad we had a chance to chat, Zach. Even better to discover that we have so much common ground. All the best to you on your first European tour!— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) April 16, 2023
Billboard’s weekly must-hear country songs list offers a guide to some essential, recently released country tracks from both signed and independent country and country-adjacent artists.
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This week, Brett Young offers a romantic new tune, newcomer Lauren Watkins delves into jealousy, Kylie Frey returns with her first new music in a few years, and Austin Burke gets a co-sign from music legend Willie Nelson on a new track. Take a listen to this week’s picks below:
Brett Young, “Dance With You”
Young has made a name for himself with his soulful songs such as “In Case You Didn’t Know” and “Catch.” As his current country radio single, the heartbreak anthem “You Didn’t,” rises up Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, Young returns with a slow jam that’s a surefire wedding-season favorite. On this track he wrote with Jimmy Robbins and Jordan Minton, Young reassures his lover of his steadfastness and support, regardless of where life takes them. Perhaps offering a nod to the 1992 John Michael Montgomery hit “Life’s a Dance,” he maintains that his lover will always be the only one on his dance card.
Kylie Frey, “Red Dirt Cinderella”
Louisiana native and third-generation rodeo-er Frey has notched over half a dozen chart-toppers on the Texas regional charts to date, and she returns with “Red Dirt Cinderella,” her first new music in nearly three years. The song depicts someone who refuses to trade her Luccheses for a life of ballgowns and glass slippers. Instead, in her own nonchalant way, she saddles up and heads out, content to take on life on her own terms. This track’s relaxed vibe finds Frey’s earthy voice rippling over accordion, fiddle and guitar.
Lauren Watkins, “Shirley Temple”
Newcomer Watkins recently inked a deal with Nicolle Galyon’s publishing company Songs & Daughters, followed by signing with Big Loud Records. She recently released two new tracks, “Camel Blues” and “Shirley Temple,” the latter of which is a study in contrasts and jealousy. “Shirley Temple” finds Watkins driven by a man who has fallen for an angelic, straight-laced girl, in contrast to her own straight-shooting, challenging ways. There’s an effortlessly smoky quality to Watkins’ voice, with a style of direct-yet-poetic songwriting reminiscent of Kacey Musgraves or Miranda Lambert. Watkins wrote the track with Galyon and Meg McRee.
Austin Burke, “Crazy, Crazy”
Burke’s latest offering incorporates a 62-year-old country music classic, with revamped snippets of the Willie Nelson-penned 1961 hit “Crazy,” made famous by Patsy Cline. Burke’s song begins with a processed version of two verses from Cline’s chorus (laced in reverb and pitched higher than the original), which gives way to Burke’s crafted verses, both brisk and brokenhearted, about a guy who spends his time day-drinking and overthinking. “To tell you the truth/I’m going crazy, crazy over you,” Burke sings, showcasing the enduring relevance of the decades-old song, but fusing it with a hooky, singalong chorus and revisits the Cline vocal throughout the song. Burke wrote “Crazy, Crazy” with Brandon Day, and earned music legend Nelson’s stamp of approval on the track.
RaeLynn with JUDAH, “Somebody Else”
RaeLynn teams with Judah Akers, frontman for the band Judah & The Lion, on this new track, which features a hooky electro-acoustic melody, a singalong-worthy chorus, and a message of empathy. “We’re all talking, but nobody’s listening,” they sing over a pulsating backbeat, as they plead for less self-centered action and more looking out for those around them. Together, there is a surprisingly natural textural blend to their voices, with RaeLynn’s slightly gritty Texas twang layered over JUDAH’s warm, rough-hewn voice. RaeLynn is set to independently release an upcoming album, Funny Girl, via her own Daisy Rae Productions, on Aug. 21.
A federal appeals has rejected a lawsuit claiming Live Nation was “stringing along” a country singer when the company considered – but ultimately passed on – her proposal for an all-female country music festival in Chicago.
Rae Solomon claimed the concert giant led her to believe it would invest in her idea – a “modern” riff on the famed Lilith Fair with a “predominantly country spin” – only to unfairly back out later. She says Live Nation then stole the concept when it organized an all-women day at 2019’s Lake Shake Festival.
But in a ruling Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that Live Nation had not made “any misrepresentations in its dealings with Solomon.” The court said Live Nation had offered only “sales talk, future intention, and opinion,” not concrete plans to work with her.
“An expression of interest in participating in a project is not a promise to do so,” the court wrote. “The statement represents nothing more than Live Nation’s interest in the project.”
All of Live Nation’s interactions with Solomon were “non-specific and noncommittal nature,” the court wrote, and the company “did not conceal its questions, doubts, or lack of commitment” to her project.
Solomon pitched the idea of her “Zenitheve” festival to Live Nation’s Women Nation Fund, a program that aims to help “underrepresented female entrepreneur” in the live music industry. And Live Nation’s interest was initially piqued; in early meetings in 2018, company reps told her that Zenitheve was “right down the fairway for the kind of stuff we’re interested in” and “exactly what the fund is set up for.”
But according to court documents, Solomon soon ran into hurdles. She envisioned a lineup including Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris and other female country stars, but she had not actually booked artists to perform. And after meetings in which Live Nation suggested “keep[ing] the conversation going,” the company soon expressed serious doubts.
Michael Wichser, Live Nation’s senior vice president for mergers and acquisitions, said Solomon’s business plan was “lackluster” and “worried about Solomon’s abilities to obtain artists or get a team in place.” Live Nation’s chief communications officer Carrie Davis, meanwhile, thought her idea was not “compelling or unique” and noted that Solomon had not “confirmed any sponsorships or artists.”
A month after Live Nation formally passed on the idea, the company announced the plan for the all-women day at Lake Shake, a yearly country festival in Chicago. Solomon claims the move led her investors to pull out of Zenitheve, forcing her to halt the project.
She quickly sued, claiming Live Nation had made intentional and negligent misrepresentations to her and demanding more than $25 million in damages. Among other things, she claimed that Live Nation had acted the way that it did so that it could copy her plan.
But in Thursday’s decision, the Sixth Circuit said that motive was directly contradicted by the facts of the case.
“[Solomon] claims that Live Nation misrepresented any intention of working with [her] because it had only one motivation from the start: stringing Solomon along and stealing her idea,” the appeals court wrote. “That speculation, however, crumbles against Live Nation’s uncontradicted evidence that the organizer of the Lake Shake Festival, Brian O’Connell, had no knowledge of the Zenitheve proposal.”
Peachtree Premier and 46 Entertainment have announced the inaugural At the Station Festival, headlined by country star Zach Bryan. At the Station takes place Oct. 21, 2023, at the Snook Rodeo Grounds in Snook, TX. Flatland Cavalry, Treaty Oak Revival and Jacob Stelly have also been added to the lineup.
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“Zach Bryan is one of the hottest talents in country music right now,” says Shane Quick, festival owner. “The community and culture in Texas are unmatched. We’ve wanted to bring a festival there for years. BYE week in the fall gave us the opportunity for “At the Station,” and Zach as the headliner is a dream come true.”
Peachtree Premier is the partnership of two independent promoters: Premier Productions and Peachtree Entertainment. Founded in 1996, Premier Productions has been a top 20 global promoter, producing events with over 20 million tickets sold. Peachtree Entertainment, founded by Bradley Jordan in 2013, has been essential in discovering and developing country music acts throughout the Southeast. 46 Entertainment is an all-encompassing event management and production company.
Pre-sale registration for Live at the Station is available at atthestationfest.com. Pre-sale is Thursday, April 20, from 10 AM – 10 PM CT, and tickets will go on-sale to the public on Friday, April 21 at 10 AM CT.
Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time holds atop the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated April 22) for a sixth consecutive and total week at No. 1. The set earned 167,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending April 13 (down 3%), according to Luminate. One Thing at a Time debuted at No. 1 on the chart dated March 18 and has held firm at No. 1 since.
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Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 chart, NF notches his fourth top 10-charting effort as Hope bows at No. 2, while Linkin Park’s former No. 1 Meteora re-enters the list at No. 8 after its 20th anniversary reissue.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new April 22, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (April 18). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of One Thing at a Time’s 167,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending April 13, SEA units comprise 158,500 (down 2%, equaling 211.05 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 36 songs), album sales comprise 6,000 (down 24%) and TEA units comprise 2,500 (down 1%).
NF’s Hope debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, scoring the artist his fourth top 10-charting effort. The set launches with 123,000 equivalent album units. Of that sum, album sales comprise 80,500 (making it the top-selling album of the week), SEA units comprise 41,500 (equaling 56.85 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 13 songs — NF’s biggest streaming week yet), and TEA units comprise 1,000.
Hope’s handsome first-week sales figure — NF’s second-largest sales week ever — was bolstered by the album’s availability in an autographed CD edition in his webstore, a Target-exclusive CD with a poster packaged inside, four deluxe CD/merch boxed sets, and a both a white vinyl and a standard black vinyl edition.
Hope is the fourth album to debut at No. 2 behind One Thing at a Time, following Melanie Martinez’s Portals (April 15-dated chart), Jimin’s FACE (April 8) and TWICE’s Ready to Be (March 25). It’s not unusual for an album to spend a lengthy amount of time at No. 1 and end up blocking a number of albums from the top slot. Last year, for example, eight different albums peaked at No. 2 behind Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti.
Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Midnights rises 6-3 on the new Billboard 200 with 60,000 equivalent album units earned (down 2%), while SZA’s former leader SOS rises 5-4 with just under 60,000 units (down 7%). Martinez’s Portals dips 2-5 in its second week, with 48,000 (down 66%). Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album bumps 8-6 with 47,000 (up 7%), and Luke Combs’ Gettin’ Old is a non-mover at No. 7 with 46,000 (down 15%).
Linkin Park’s chart-topping Meteora re-enters the chart at No. 8, following the album’s 20th anniversary deluxe reissue on April 7. The set, which spun off such Billboard Hot 100 hits as “Numb” and “Faint” in 2003-04, returns with 38,500 equivalent album units earned (up 635%). Of that sum, album sales comprise 19,500, SEA units comprise 17,000 (equaling 23.65 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 2,000.
Meteora marked Linkin Park’s first of six No. 1s on the Billboard 200, when it debuted atop the chart dated April 12, 2003. The group’s second studio album spent two weeks atop the list. Previously, the rock band logged a pair of No. 2-peaking efforts with its debut studio set Hybrid Theory and the remix project Reanimation (both in 2002).
The 20th anniversary reissue was led by its first single, the from-the-vaults track “Lost” that was recorded for Meteora but didn’t make the original album’s final tracklist. The cut features the vocals of the band’s late lead singer Chester Bennington, who died in 2017. “Lost” debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Feb. 25, 2023 chart) and marked the group’s first new top 40 hit in over a decade. It’s one of a number of unreleased songs on the deluxe Meteora reissue, which also includes demo recordings, live cuts and other rarities.
Meteora was reissued in multiple expansive formats, including an 89-track digital download and streaming edition, a three-CD set, a four vinyl LP box and a super deluxe boxed set priced at $199.98 (containing five vinyl LPs, four CDs, three DVDs, a book and collectibles). All versions of the album, new and old, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.
Rounding out the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 is a pair of former No. 1s: Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains (steady at No. 9 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned; down 14%) and Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti (11-10 with 35,000; down 2%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
When the 58th ACM Award nominations were announced yesterday (April 13), HARDY led all artists with seven nods. While the tally may represent work released during the eligibility period, he says they are actually the culmination of years of effort.
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“My first [publishing] deal was in ’14. [I went] four years without a cut. I probably wrote seven or 800 songs that didn’t get touched until I started having success,” he says. “All that is chipping away at your craft and listening to songs you wrote and comparing them to songs that beat those songs out and then being like, ‘OK, back to the drawing board. Let’s do something different.’ I definitely put in the time and the grind and the hours and I guess it’s finally paying off.”
Five of HARDY’s seven nods are for “Wait in the Truck,” his duet with Lainey Wilson: he receives two nods for both artist and producer in the music event of the year category, one for visual media of the year and two for song of the year as the tune’s artist and co-writer. His two other nominations come in the song of the year category as co-writer of Morgan Wallen’s “Sand in My Boots” and in the artist-songwriter of the year field.
He stresses he is thrilled for any nomination but adds the two song of the year nominations mean the most. “I’ve been nominated a few times [in that category], but I haven’t gotten one yet, so I’m honored to two in that category. That’s so cool.” Though HARDY may not have won in that category, he is reigning songwriter of the year winner. This year, the category was split into songwriter of the year and artist-songwriter of the year.
HARDY found out about his nominations yesterday morning (April 13) when he woke up in Minneapolis on his bus on tour with Wallen. “I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “I don’t keep up with it, not because I don’t care. It’s just an out of sight, out of mind kind of thing. I was just in shock.”
His “Wait in the Truck” collaborator, Wilson, is the second most nominated artist with six nominations. HARDY says he thinks he understands why the murder ballad about a stranger who kills the abuser of a woman he has just met has resonated with people. The song rises to No. 4 this week on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
“It is the first time in a long time that [the subject] was treated with I guess what you would call seriousness. I’m not knocking any of these songs because they were amazing, but [The Chicks’] ‘Goodbye Earl’ was funny. I guess [Carrie Underwood’s] ‘Two Black Cadillacs’ was the last one that was serious,” he says.
“I don’t think there has really been one in a while in the format, so I think people were maybe pleasantly surprised that here’s something a little bit different and something they’re familiar with, but they hadn’t heard in a long time,” he continues. “It means the world to me to know that a song like that can still survive and exist in country music and can be an actual hit on the radio.”
He also woke up yesterday to a text from Wilson. “She said, ‘Congrats. Let’s take some sh-t home.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is awesome. We had a little chat about it. It was great,’” he says.
Between HARDY and his tourmates, Wallen, ERNEST and Bailey Zimmerman, they racked up 15 nominations and he expects some celebrating to go on tonight and tomorrow as they play a two-night stand in Milwaukee. “My booking agent and his whole crew are here and basically my entire record label is up here right now, so we’re probably definitely going to have a big cheer to [the nominations] tonight. We’re looking forward to all having a moment together to celebrate.”
HARDY hasn’t really thought about how he’ll celebrate any wins, though getting a new tattoo is always a possibility. Instead, he’s focused on thank you gifts for his “Wait in the Truck’ collaborators for the song’s success even if it doesn’t win. “Lainey is going to get a really nice gift and I think the [co-writers] are going to get something really cool as well,” says HARDY who wrote the song with Hunter Phelps, Jordan Schmidt and Renee Blair.
“I love giving people gifts,” he continues. “I always think about those days where I didn’t have any money or anything to offer other than just ‘thank yous,’ but it’s really special to know I’m now in a place in my career and, to be candid financially, that I can give gifts. It’s like the best thing in the world.”
Morgan Wallen notches his ninth top 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, as “One Thing at a Time” rises to No. 10 on the list dated April 22.
In the week ending April 13, the song gained by 9% to 17.3 million impressions, according to Luminate.
The track is the title cut to Wallen’s latest LP, which has spent its first five weeks at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart, as well as the all-genre Billboard 200. It drew 173,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 6.
Meanwhile, Wallen becomes the first artist to post three solely-billed songs simultaneously in the top 15 since Country Airplay began in January 1990. “Thought You Should Know,” which ruled for three weeks in February-March, ranks at No. 5 (22.8 million, down 4%) and “Last Night” leaps 17-13 (16.1 million, up 28%, good for Greatest Gainer honors).
Two other artists have charted three songs at once in the Country Airplay top 15 but with other credited acts: Tim McGraw, for two weeks in 2016 (thanks to collaborations with Big & Rich and Florida Georgia Line), and Kenny Chesney, for two frames in 2004 (Jimmy Buffett, Uncle Kracker).
The No. 1 song on the April 15-dated Billboard Hot 100, for a second nonconsecutive week, “Last Night” also pushes to No. 20 on Pop Airplay and No. 21 on Adult Pop Airplay and debuts at No. 27 on Adult Contemporary (all dated April 22).
‘Rock’ Steady
Meanwhile, Bailey Zimmerman’s “Rock and a Hard Place” becomes the first song to lead Country Airplay for four weeks in 2023 (34.2 million, down 1%).
The track is Zimmerman’s second straight career-opening Country Airplay No. 1, after “Fall in Love” led for one week in December. Plus, his new single, “Religiously,” ranks at No. 56 (980,000, up 3%).
