Country
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Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up column, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.
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This week: The biggest 4th of July bump comes for a late country legend, while Zach Bryan’s Independence Day-dropped new LP produces a new hit and Bossman Dlow continues his 2024-long winning streak.
Toby Keith, Forever Made in America
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Last Thursday, America celebrated its Independence Day — and as always on the 4th of July, listeners flocked to familiar patriotic, inspirational and/or generally U.S.-themed pop, rock and country classics to soundtrack their holiday. Big gainers from July 3 to July 4 included many of the usual suspects: among them, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” (up 524% in official on-demand U.S. streams to 2.7 million and up 219% in sales to 1,100), Katy Perry’s “Firework” (up 249% to 1.8 million streams and 186% to 500 in sales) and Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” (up 196% to 2.9 million streams and 113% to 800 in sales), according to Luminate. But the artist with the biggest of 4th of July gains might’ve been one folks were particularly sentimental about this year: Country Music Hall of Famer Toby Keith, who died at age 62 on Feb. 5.
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Of course, Keith has always seen some degree of a 4th of July boost — particularly for his most explicitly American-themed hits, which were all up again this year, including “American Soldier” (up 308% from July 3, to 685,000 streams), “Made in America” (up 380% to 914,000 streams) and of course, the controversial post-9/11 anthem “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” (up 356% to a whopping 3.6 million). But this year, it wasn’t just those songs that saw huge streaming gains on July 4: so did non-nationalist signature Keith smashes like 1993’s “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” (up 70% to 864,000), 2003’s Willie Nelson-featuring “Beer for My Horses” (up 124% to 644,000) and 2011’s “Red Solo Cup” (up 119% to 351,000), among many others.
All in all, Keith’s catalog racked up 10.7 million streams and 3,600 digital song sales on July 4 — gains of 165% and 251%, respectively, from his July 3 totals — making for a hell of a nationwide tribute to a performer who made his love of his country as fundamental a part of his artistic identity as any other major act of the past three decades. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
“28,” Days Later: Zach Bryan Has His ‘Bar Scene’ Breakout
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Over the past two years, Zach Bryan has become the type of stadium-occupying superstar who floods streaming charts whenever he puts out a new album; it happened in 2023 with his self-titled full-length, and it’s happening again with The Great American Bar Scene, which was released last Thursday (July 4). And while “Pink Skies,” the lead single from the album, debuted at No. 6 on the Hot 100 following its May release, the best-performing new track from the just-released 19-song project in the first few days of its release has been “28,” the album’s wistful, string-laden sway-along.
“28” bowed with 2.77 million official on-demand U.S. streams on Bar Scene’s release date, according to Luminate, and has stayed steady over the next four days — and actually seems to be growing, scoring a new daily streaming high of 2.90 million on Tuesday, in fact. While multiple songs from Bar Scene could register Hot 100 debuts next week, “28” — which is up to No. 9 on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart, and No. 3 on Apple Music’s Top Songs — should notch the best start out of the new songs on Bryan’s latest. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Bossman Dlow Scores Yet Another Hit Thanks to Viral TikTok Trend
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After making a splash on the Billboard Hot 100 — “Get In With Me” (No. 49) and “Mr Pot Scraper” (No. 93) — and earning a bevy of viral hits along the way (“Big One,” “Talk My Shit” and the Glorilla-assisted “Finesse”), Port Salerno, FL rapper Bossman Dlow stands as one of the year’s biggest breakout stars. With “Shake Dat Ass (Twerk Song)” gaining major traction on socials and streaming, Dlow is eyeing yet another hit.
According to Luminate, “Shake” earned just over 317,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of June 7-13. That figure then jumped by 60% to 508,000 official streams the following week (June 14-20). On June 16, TikTok user @mrflawdaaa shared a 14-second clip of himself exaggeratedly dancing to the song. The clip quickly went viral – it has since collected over three million views on the app – with many users latching onto the part of the choreography that features a glitchy sexy walk. During the period of June 21-27, the first full week with the @mrflawdaaa’s dance trend in the zeitgeist, “Shake” pulled 1.54 million official streams, marking a massive 203% increase from the period prior. The following week (June 28-July 4), the runaway hit leapt a further 117% to a whopping 3.35 million official streams. Over the past three weeks, official on-demand U.S. streams for “Shake Dat Ass” have exploded by over 956%.
Although he peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 earlier this year with his third mixtape, Mr Beat the Road, “Shake Dat Ass” is featured on the rapper’s self-released debut project, Too Slippery, which dropped on Jan. 1, 2023. With everyone from Kehlani to Taye Diggs to Coi Leray hopping on the dance trend, “Shake” looks poised to continue its growth. – KYLE DENIS
Joe Bonsall, a member of The Oak Ridge Boys for 50 years, died on July 9 at age 73 from complications of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
Bonsall joined the act in 1973 after leaving gospel group The Keystones. He last toured with The Oak Ridge Boys last December, before announcing his retirement earlier this year.
The Oak Ridge Boys won two Country Music Association Awards: vocal group of the year in 1978 and single of the year in 1981 for “Elvira” – the track became their biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit, reaching No. 5. The Academy of Country Music likewise awarded the band top vocal group honors in 1978.
The Oak Ridge Boys were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015. “For 50 years, Joe Bonsall was the Oak Ridge Boys’ sparkplug,” Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, shared in a statement upon Bonsall’s passing. “He was as exciting a performer as any who ever hit a gospel or country stage. His tenor voice was high and clear, and his jovial spirit always provided a jolt of energy, immediately rousing audiences to come on in and take a load off. He certainly lightened our cares every time he sang.”
On Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, The Oak Ridge Boys first appeared in 1976. They followed with 1977’s “Y’all Come Back Saloon,” which hit No. 3 that October, granting the act its first of 34 top 10s. “I’ll Be True to You” led in June 1978, becoming the band’s first of 17 chart-toppers, a haul that ran through “No Matter How High” in March 1990. The act last hit the top 10 in 1991 with “Lucky Moon.”
The Oak Ridge Boys’ collection of 17 No. 1s ranks third-best among duos/groups since Hot Country Songs became the genre’s all-encompassing singles survey in 1958. Alabama boasts 33 No. 1s and Brooks & Dunn, 20. (George Strait leads all acts with 44.)
On Top Country Albums, The Oak Ridge Boys have notched three No. 1s among 14 top 10s.
Below, in celebration of the band’s music and Bonsall’s key contributions, count down The Oak Ridge Boys’ biggest hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
The Oak Ridge Boys’ 10 Biggest Billboard Hits recap is based on actual performance on Billboard’s weekly Hot Country Songs chart. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower ranks earning less. To ensure equitable representation of the biggest hits from each era, certain time frames were weighted to account for the difference between turnover rates from those years.
“Love Song”
On the closing song of Megan Moroney’s sophomore major label album, Am I Okay?, out July 12 on Sony Music Nashville/Columbia Records, the Georgia-bred singer-songwriter pulls back the curtain on the off-stage lows that often stand in sharp contrast to the bright smiles, dazzling stage outfits and glittering guitars of the concert stage. “Hell of a Show” was initially a poem Moroney wrote on her tour bus after a performance during a time when the state of her personal life didn’t quite live up to her sparkling onstage aura.
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“It’s so common for people to come up after a show and be like, ‘Hell of a show tonight,’” Moroney tells Billboard. “Someone had said that to me, and I had been crying over something going on in my personal life. It stopped me in my tracks. I was like, ‘Well, I do put on a hell of a show. I just did that, and now I’m about to go cry myself to sleep.’ Having that song on the end of the record is about letting my fans know that everything you see is not always the whole story — but it’s also a thank you to my fans for being there, when they didn’t even know how much I needed them to be there for me.”
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Since releasing her first EP, 2022’s Pistol Made of Roses, and following it with her major label debut Lucky last year, Moroney has excelled in making the personal universal. That openness has made her one of country music’s fastest-rising female artists. With six nominations, she was the most nominated woman artist at this year’s ACM Awards, taking home the trophy for new female artist of the year.
On the 14-song Am I Okay?, she again turns her personal stories into musical vignettes — as with “No Caller ID,” which debuted at No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100 after it was released in January, and climbed into the top 20 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
Moroney and her co-writers had already finished another song that made it to the album, “Noah,” when Moroney again shared her heart with her co-writers, Jessi Alexander, Jessie Jo Dillon and Connie Harrington — telling them, “My ex called me last night. We have to write about it.”
“It took maybe 30 minutes to write ‘No Caller ID,’” Moroney recalls, adding that she began performing it on her headlining Lucky tour last year.
“The album wasn’t done yet, but when I started playing ‘No Caller ID’ [in concert], I realized how urgent it was and how eager people were to have it,” Moroney says — noting that the fanfare over the song also made her realize, “This album might be coming sooner than I think it is.”
Moroney, who initially studied to be an accountant at the University of Georgia, previously worked as an intern for Sugarland singer-songwriter Kristian Bush — who took notice of Moroney’s musical abilities and signed on as her producer. She reunited with Bush for the new album, saying, “He’s a huge part of the sound we’ve created. I love that everything sounds very live. You can tell it’s real people playing the instruments. We go into the studio and we’re like, ‘I’m a songwriter first, so what sounds best to amplify the story I’m telling?’ He’s brilliant, and I don’t see us not working together.”
In 2022, Moroney broke through with the Country Airplay top five hit “Tennessee Orange,” the tale of a star-crossed romance between fans of rival football teams, and followed it with “I’m Not Pretty,” which just climbed to No. 14 on the Country Airplay chart dated July 13. Both are featured on Lucky, which reached the top 10 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.
“I honestly felt more pressure to make my first [album] than this one. I think I can credit that to just being so freaking busy. I didn’t have time to overthink it,” Moroney says. “There would be things going on in my personal life and I wanted to write about it. I wrote it to be therapeutic, and then I look down and I’m like, ‘Oh, I have a whole album, and all these songs go together.’”
While relatability in love and heartbreak has been a cornerstone of Moroney’s work, so has female empowerment. The new album’s “The Girls” builds on the familiar lyrical terrain of both “I Love Me” from Moroney’s Pistol Made of Roses and Lucky’s “Girl in the Mirror.”
“When I play those songs, I see how they have impacted lives — and it’s surreal, because I had artists like that growing up, like Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert,” Moroney says. “So for me now to be able to be an artist that some girls and women look up to… it’s just very surreal.”
Of “The Girls,” she adds, “I was like, ‘I’m tired of singing about boys. Can we please write a song about my friends?’ It’s an anthem for my friends — but I think my fans are going to take ownership over that one, too, because I get told that my show feels like therapy, or a girls’ night. I’m looking forward to giving them that song, because I know it’s going to be a fun moment live.”
The album also touches on loss (“Heaven by Noon”), the first blushes of new romance (“Am I Okay?”) and recalibrating life post-heartbreak (“28th of June”). Moroney says she assigns a color palette to all of her albums “because I associate colors with emotion.” While the artwork for Lucky was wreathed in gold and green, Am I Okay? is swathed in vivid royal blue.
“When I wrote ‘Miss Universe,’ the oldest song on the album, I was like, ‘That’s my royal blue color,’ and I hoped the rest of the songs I wrote for the album would fit into that blue,” she explains. “I think, ‘Indifferent,’ ‘Am I Okay?’ ‘Man on the Moon,’ all of those feel like that. Royal blue is this powerful color — it can be strong and it can be sad. So, everything in my world is blue right now — my nails are blue. The shirt I have on is blue.”
Moroney’s cinematic, story-driven style of songwriting (and eye for details) also made her a perfect fit for the Twisters: The Album movie soundtrack, for which she contributed “Never Left Me.”
“I hope for more soundtracks,” she says — adding that while she’s already cementing her status as a hitmaker within the country genre, she has aims for a wider global reach as well. “I would love to have, at some point, a really big crossover song, maybe with a pop artist or something. It would depend on the song, but I would love to have a song with Olivia Rodrigo. I need to try to convince her to put out a version of ‘Indifferent’ with her on it.”
As with her previous projects, Moroney is a writer on every track on Am I Okay? Despite her prolific songwriting, she says the prospect of having other artists record her songs is “hard, because so many of my songs are so personal, they might not work for someone else… I feel a little possessive over them. I think I would be better purposefully writing a song for another artist rather than giving another artist one of the songs that I’m just not going to cut.”
This year, the UTA-signed Moroney’s career has also surged on the live front, through both her own headlining Lucky 2.0 shows this year and a key opening slot on Kenny Chesney’s 2024 Sun Goes Down stadium run. Moroney, who recalls watching one of Chesney’s shows at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium while she was in college, is still processing the fact that she’s sharing a stage with one of her childhood musical heroes.
“To be able to open shows for him and watch his show every night, it’s a dream come true,” she says. “He believes in me and what I’m doing, and he lets me know that. Coming from someone like him, that means so much to a new artist like me. He’s given me advice on everything from building a fan base to radio to merch. He’ll text me and say, ‘Hey, did you see the merch numbers?’ He’s very involved and supportive.”
Moroney is grateful she has someone like Chesney’s ear and experience to rely on. “I’ll ask him things like, ‘When you do live performances on TV, what do you do about this or that?’ He’s gone through so much, and it’s definitely helpful to have a veteran as your mentor. I take notes. He’s had so many No. 1s, and he still meets with radio folks before every single show. He’s still working, and that’s why he can sell out the same city eight times in a row.”
Seeing a veteran like Chesney navigate his career has also helped her find balance in her own life. Though “Hell of a Show” was created from a collision of onstage career zeniths and heartbreaking personal moments, Moroney says that now she’s in a place she considers better than okay.
“I’m in a relationship with my career, and I sleep good at night,” she says. “I’m thriving right now.”
This week, country singer-songwriter Shaboozey clears the final “Bar” on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated July 13) with his breakout crossover hit.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which heavily interpolates Chingy’s No. 2-peaking 2004 pop-rap smash “Tipsy,” climbs 2-1 in its 12th week on the Hot 100. The single, from Shaboozey’s recently released Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going becomes the second song from a Black artist to top both the Hot 100 and the Hot Country Songs charts in the same week this year — following Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em,” from her Cowboy Carter album, which also features Shaboozey on two separate tracks.
What does the song hitting No. 1 mean for both Shaboozey and for country music? And who could be the next breakout start to reach the Hot 100’s apex for the first time in 2024? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.
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1. Shaboozey scores his first Hot 100 No. 1 with “A Bar Song,” in its 12th week on the chart. What do you think was the biggest factor in it making the jump from viral hit to chart-topping crossover smash?
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Josh Glicksman: Not a sexy answer here, but it’s more of several factors compounding to push “A Bar Song” into the stratosphere. The song’s twang fits squarely within the ever-present mainstream moment for country music in 2024; Shaboozey’s savvy interpolation of J-Kwon’s “Tipsy” plays well with the nostalgia factor that thrives on TikTok (even when the core demographic is probably a touch too young to remember the original in its heyday); and a well-timed radio push has not only kept the hit afloat but helped it get over the hump to No. 1.
Lyndsey Havens: Timing, all around. Shaboozey has had mild success prior to “A Bar Song,” which more importantly points to the fact that he has been building his career prior to “A Bar Song.” He and his team were not only prepared for a viral hit, but also knew how to strategize around it, ensuring the song would sustain beyond a social media spike. Plus, the timing of its release – on the heels of Shaboozey’s features on Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter, and at a time when country music is prevalent in the mainstream, and at the height of summer – has helped boost this smash to the top of the charts.
Jason Lipshutz: “A Bar Song” eventually reached No. 1 because it performed well across platforms and formats. The single has racked up hundreds of millions of streams and has been a mainstay in the top 10 of Spotify’s U.S. top songs chart for weeks on end; meanwhile, “A Bar Song” has also topped charts overseas, reached No. 1 on Hot Country Songs, and hit the top 10 of radio charts like Pop Airplay, Country Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay and Rhythmic. Shaboozey has watched his breakthrough hit’s genre-straddling status unlock new audiences, and transcend its early viral-hit classification to become a multi-quadrant smash.
Melinda Newman: Without a doubt, the Beyoncé bounce. He was already making a nice name for himself as a developing artist, but in the six years since he had released his album debut, he had never charted. There was interest in the new album and music, but his association with Beyoncé poured gasoline on the fire and helped propel “A Bar Song” up many different charts covering several formats.
Andrew Unterberger: Like very few new songs, it’s actually selling! Most contemporary hits have one strong week of sales — if that — and then gently recede from there, but “A Bar Song” has topped Digital Song Sales for eight weeks now, consistently roping in new listeners and new fans. That’s allowed it to stay in range of the Hot 100’s top spot as it’s continued to grow on radio and leveled off (without really dropping off) on streaming.
2. Do you think “A Bar Song” is the start of a long career in hitmaking for Shaboozey, or do you think he’s going to struggle a bit living up to the massive breakout success of first solo chart hit?
Josh Glicksman: There are many instances of artists achieving a breakout hit so massive that it creates a looming shadow, but I don’t think that’s the case here. He’s not coming out of nowhere: late May full-length Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going — which debuted and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 — is already his third album. And between his own tracks, plus features on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, he has had four other songs reach various Billboard charts this year. He’s not at the level of an automatic top 40 artist yet, but his 2024 achievements should give him some reliable status on the charts for the foreseeable future.
Lyndsey Havens: I’m not sure he will ever have another hit quite like “A Bar Song,” but considering the strength of his latest album, Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, I do think Shaboozey is already close to becoming a household name in this era of country music – and as such, think he should have a long career ahead.
Jason Lipshutz: Somewhere in the middle — “A Bar Song” is such a singular hit that it’ll be hard to replicate, but Shaboozey has established himself as a true, new-school star, able to turn a throwback rap hit into a forward-looking country sing-along and imbue that anthem with pop hooks and personality. Shaboozey possesses a unique perspective, and sounds comfortable blending sounds; “A Bar Song” may be his only No. 1 hit for a while, but he’s going to be around for a long time.
Melinda Newman: “A Bar Song” is turning into such a multi-format smash that it’s possible this will be his biggest career hit, but he has enough talent to keep building from here. Not every song will necessarily cross format lines, but it feels like this is just the commercial beginning for an artist who had been putting in the groundwork for years.
Andrew Unterberger: The size of “A Bar Song” maybe feels unrepeatable, but it’s hard to imagine a song this big and this good won’t be the start of a pretty meaningful career in country and pop music for Shaboozey. Hell, he even seemed right at home as a rare country performer among a majority of hip-hop and R&B artists at the BET Awards last week. Even if he never hits No. 1 again, I’d be very surprised if this was anywhere near his last time on the Hot 100.
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3. There’s been a lot of discussion about whether or not Black artists in country music would be getting more opportunities as a result of the early-year success of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album. Does the success of “A Bar Song” demonstrate to you that the Beyoncé Effect is real and demonstrable, or do you think it could still end up being more of a fluke?
Josh Glicksman: I wouldn’t call the song reaching No. 1 a fluke by any stretch whatsoever, but while the Beyoncé Effect is real — very real! — I’m not sure that I’d go so far as to say that it’s demonstrable yet, either. Or, at the very least, the music industry should be cognizant that there is still much work to be done before people should feel ready to pat themselves on the back with regard to giving Black artists in country music the opportunities they’ve long deserved and long been overlooked for within the genre.
Lyndsey Havens: I do think the Beyffect is real, and we are seeing its impact with an artist like Shaboozey — but that said, I also think Shaboozey would be having this moment even without the release of Cowboy Carter. Country music was gaining mainstream attention already, but Carter made sure that the foundational voices in the genre would not be left unheard. And for Shaboozey, I think it works both ways: some were introduced to him through Carter and stayed tuned in for his solo career, while others were attracted to his solo career, only to then discover Beyoncé was “early” on him. Either way, it’s not only a win for Shaboozey but for Black artists in country music as a whole — as he and Bey continue to make history on the charts and set the stage for more record breakers to come.
Jason Lipshutz: The connection between Cowboy Carter and the success of “A Bar Song” cannot be denied, considering how Beyoncé’s latest album introduced Shaboozey to a much wider audience thanks to a pair of features. However, I wouldn’t describe Cowboy Carter as a panacea for the lack of opportunities that Black artists have received in country music prior to this year, or proclaim “A Bar Song” hitting No. 1 as proof positive that those opportunities are finally being given. Artists of color with large and small footprints in the country music community have been gradually enacting change over the course of decades, and while a project like Cowboy Carter or a single like “A Bar Song” scan as important flash points, neither can solve this issue singlehandedly. There’s still a ton of work to do — let’s hope that both chart-toppers help speed up progress.
Melinda Newman: Unfortunately, it still feels more like a fluke. Cowboy Carter is a culturally significant album and one that highlighted the rich role that pioneering Black artists like Linda Martell, who appears on the album, played in country music’s history. But we’re not seeing a huge lift for current artists, and none of the other young Black artists on Cowboy Carter — Willie Jones, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts or Tiera Kennedy — have seen major radio results or ongoing upticks in streams after the initial burst.
Andrew Unterberger: Yeah, it’s not exactly a dam-bursting moment for Black artists in country music, but I do still think it’s a meaningful one. Even for as much chart success as Bey had with “Texas Hold ‘Em,” she didn’t quite reach escape velocity on country radio — the song peaked at No. 33 there, and nothing else from the album has even gotten near that much airplay. But “A Bar Song” is now a certified country radio smash, flying 12-6 on the chart this week and bursting through the door Beyoncé helped open. Hopefully the next Black country artist with a song as undeniable as “Texas” or “Bar” will have an even easier time being accepted into the Nashville fold, thanks in part to both of them.
4. Between Sabrina Carpenter and Shaboozey, it’s been a pretty good stretch lately for 2024 breakout artists scoring their first No. 1 on the Hot 100. Who’s an artist that’s been rising lately who you could see joining them in that club before year’s end?
Josh Glicksman: It’s hard to bet on anyone other than Chappell Roan, right? Listeners cannot get enough of her right now, sending four tracks from her 2023 debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, to the Hot 100 in addition to her April 2024 single, “Good Luck, Babe!,” which enters the chart’s top 10 for the first time this week. Her star trajectory makes a No. 1 hit seem much more like a “when” than an “if” at this point.
Lyndsey Havens: I’m rooting for Role Model. The alternative artist is gearing up to release his second album Kansas Anymore, and while he has had a taste of the spotlight with prior releases and a past (and public) relationship with Emma Chamberlain, the music on his forthcoming effort marks a new direction. While the songs may not be as fun-filled as “Espresso” or “A Bar Song,” they fall more into the singer-songwriter lane that’s also resonating right now.
Jason Lipshutz: The logical answer would be Chappell Roan, based on her across-the-board momentum, and one could make the case that Tommy Richman could push his way up to No. 1 with “Million Dollar Baby” after spending weeks in the top 10, similar to what Shaboozey just achieved. But I’ll still go with Noah Kahan, who has turned into an arena-level A-lister, and is still earning tons of plays with “Stick Season” years after its release. If he drops a new single before year’s end, I could see that single reaching the top of the Hot 100, based on how much his profile has expanded over the past 12 months.
Melinda Newman: Chappell Roan. “Good Luck, Babe!” has just entered the Top 10 and it feels like she is going to be the next pop superstar. Like Shaboozey and Sabrina Carpenter, she has been at this game for years (including a previous record deal with Atlantic), so she’s been honing her craft and now her time has come.
Andrew Unterberger: Chappell Roan and Tommy Richman are probably the leaders in the clubhouse here given their current presence in the top 10, but I’m gonna go with a bit of a longer shot and say Central Cee. He’s been a chart-topping superstar in his home country of the U.K. for some time, and he’s inching ever-closer to being one here too — thanks largely to co-signs from (and collabs with) stateside A-listers like Drake, J. Cole and Lil Baby. Feels like only a matter of time to me until he gets one over the top on the Hot 100.
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5. J-Kwon’s “Tipsy”: certified classic, fun throwback, or best left in 2004?
Josh Glicksman: It’s a classic (that also doubles as a throwback). From the moment the crunchy, clapping production kicks in, it’s on. Few people have made simple counting more fun than J-Kwon in the past two decades, and even fewer have made the radio mix of their hits superior to the explicit version. Kudos to you, J-Kwon.
Lyndsey Havens: Certified classic – and very deserving of the revival.
Jason Lipshutz: Certified classic! Two decades after its release, that beat still makes my head knock when it stomps into view. Mid-00s hip-hop will always have a special spot in my heart, but “Tipsy” still sounds fresh today, even as some of the contemporary hits around it come across as dated. Perhaps that’s why Shaboozey scooped it up and held it high for the world to revisit and appreciate.
Melinda Newman: Total fun throwback. If you’re not old enough to know the original song from 2004, you still can enjoy Shaboozey’s song and if you do, it’s a nostalgic reminder to a time when your double shot of whiskey days were still in full effect
Andrew Unterberger: It’s funny: At the time, I would have been happy to leave it in 2004, since I thought it just sounded like a knock-off Nelly hook laid over a watered-down version of the “Grindin’” beat. But it’s aged much better than I expected — or maybe I’m just less snide about it after a couple of decades (what’s wrong with a knock-off Nelly hook or a watered-down “Grindin’” beat, anyway?) In any event, now I’d say it’s a very fun throwback, and in the right circumstances you could probably talk me into it being a certified classic.
Faith in yourself can take you far. And if country singer-songwriter Drew Baldridge has his way, that belief— and the power of a good song — will take him straight to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart.
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For the current chart dated July 13, his sentimental ballad “She’s Somebody’s Daughter (Reimagined)” stands at No. 10 with a bullet, marking only the second time a self-released single has reached such heights since the chart debuted in 1990. (Aaron Watson accomplished the feat in 2017, when “Outta Style” peaked at No. 10).
Baldridge’s song is still gaining traction: On the July 13-dated chart, it is being played on 144 of 145 reporting stations and drew 18.3 million in audience, up 7% from the preceding week, according to Luminate. (A new chart will be available on Friday (July 12) via the Billboard Country Update, and will be updated on Billboard‘s website as of the following Tuesday.)
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His name may sound familiar to longtime country fans: The Patoka, Illinois native has been in Nashville for 13 years. Previously signed to independent label Cold River, his 2016 album Dirt on Us reached No. 11 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart — and between 2016 and 2018, he charted four songs on the Country Airplay chart, with Dirt on Us’ “Dance With Ya” climbing the highest, to No. 48. But after his record company closed in 2019, Baldridge says he “lost everything,” including subsequently parting ways with his manager and booking agent.
Out of faith in himself (and out of necessity), he began unintentionally laying the groundwork for the success of “She’s Somebody’s Daughter” four years ago. In 2020, as the pandemic shut down the world and students missed in-person graduations, he began promoting a song he’d written earlier called “Senior Year.”
“I posted on social media, ‘Hey, Class of 2020, I’ll do Zoom concerts for anyone who wants one’,” he says. He quickly was doing seven or eight concerts a day for kids around the country from his couch. As the country slowly opened up, he played graduations and backyards around the country, first just for his expenses and then for a modest fee. Over 2021 and 2022, he played 300 backyard concerts and worked on building his TikTok audience. In almost every city he played, he’d call the local country radio station to see if he could stop by and let them know about “Senior Year.” The song peaked at No. 50 on Country Airplay and gave Baldridge a game plan for what was coming with “She’s Somebody’s Daughter (Reimagined).”
Baldridge first recorded “She’s Somebody’s Daughter” in 2019, but Cold River didn’t release it as a single because fellow country artist Tenille Townes put out the similarly titled “Somebody’s Daughter” and the label wanted to avoid confusion, but he did put it on streaming services. He then re-recorded the song for his 2021 wedding as “She’s Somebody’s Daughter (Wedding Version),” for his wife and her father to dance to.
That version quickly went viral. “I posted it on TikTok on our honeymoon, and it got 10 million views in a day,” he says. “All these girls started this trend called the ‘daughter trend,’ where they would act out the song and then in the chorus, they’d have pictures of growing up with their dad. Before long, we had four or five hundred million plays on TikTok, and I had 100 million streams.” The song has now earned more than 1 billion impressions on TikTok, he says.
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At the end of 2022, he recorded a third version — the “Reimagined” one — with more instrumentation that he felt would work at radio as the song continued to gain fans. He played a Fireman’s Picnic festival outside of St. Louis last year and recalls “everybody singing every word” to “She’s Somebody’s Daughter,” he says. “I immediately got off stage, and I’m like ‘You know what? I can’t get labels as excited about this as I am…Screw it. I’m just going to do it myself.’”
Instead of hiring an outside independent company that specialized in promoting songs to country radio, Baldridge, 32, decided to form his own dream promo team, who would work only for his Lyric Ridge Records. He called the friends at radio he’d made during his station tours and asked for recommendations. His timing coincided with major label cutbacks, and he found the market was flooded with great promo people who had been let go during recent restructurings. He built his own staff, handpicked by names that radio programmers suggested. His core team is former MCA exec Louis Newman, former WSOC promo director and Records exec Chele Fassig; Gwen Foster, who worked for Stone Country Records, and former Sony execs RG Jones and Brent Battles.
The team divided the stations up by relationships, as opposed to regions — to take advantage of their experience, and out of economic necessity. “I can’t afford to let these people travel for so long,” he says. “So I had to literally find people that had relationships where they could just sit home and call them and if we need to travel, I’ll travel.”
Baldridge knew many of the program directors from his Cold River days, but there were a number of new ones who he hadn’t met — so he’d go visit them, while also visiting PDs who were “tough on the record,” where he felt a face-to-face meeting would help. “I’d be like, ‘Be honest with me. Where do you need to get it to [on the chart] for you to play it? Do you need to see a 42? Do you need to see a 30 before you jump on it? I still believe in radio. This is what I’ve always dreamed of, and how do I work with you and become a partner with you to get it there?’”
Through his past radio tours and studying and talking to his radio friends, Baldridge grew extremely savvy about the inner workings of radio promotion. In conversation, he’s fluent in radio jargon, familiar with how many daytime spins a certain chain needs before it will even test a record, or how high the song has to reach on the chart before hold-out stations will contemplate adding the tune. “The biggest thing is asking questions: ‘Why do we have to wait for research?’ Why can’t you play it now?’ Figuring out who’s in control of the station. If I didn’t figure it out, I don’t have a career.”
Baldridge also has a little insider knowledge: For the past three years, he’s been a weekend jock on KKGO, Los Angeles’ country station. On Saturday mornings he hosts a regular shift, while his Sunday shift is a greatest hits show focused on music from the ‘60s-‘90s. He doesn’t program his shifts, but the station has added “She’s Somebody’s Daughter” — and two weekends ago, for the first time, “I got to intro my own song and intro out my own song, which is the coolest thing on the planet,” he says with a laugh. “And with these DJs and [programmers], I have a way to connect with them that I didn’t have four years ago.”
One programmer he connected with is Bo Matthews, operations manager/program director for San Jose, Calif.’s KBAY, who tested the song and then quickly added it. “It’s such a great song with beautiful lyrics and a big ol’ hook,” Matthews says. “When everything is in sync, it’s exciting to watch a song take over with listeners. It’s just such a sweet song, and an easy listen.”
The song has reacted well in many other markets after testing, and been immediately added to medium or even power rotation for maximum plays. “There have been times we’d go from eight spins one week to 90 the next,” Baldridge says. “It’s just been a wild roller coaster ride.”
And an expensive one. So far, Baldridge says he’s spent $340,000 on radio promotion, or almost $10,000 for each of the 36 weeks the song had been on the Country Airplay chart. The tally tracks with the estimated $500,000 it generally costs to land a No. 1 country radio hit. “I remember going to my wife and saying, ‘Hey I believe in this song, I know you do too. We’re going to have to spend a lot of money to do this, but I don’t want to look back in 30 years and say, ‘Why didn’t we try?’,” he recalls, adding that his spouse immediately agreed.
Baldridge owns the masters to his music, so his streaming revenue — along with his touring earnings— have largely funded his radio promotion. Baldridge, who has also written songs cut by Bailey Zimmerman, Chase Matthew and LOCASH, is signed to Sony Music Publishing Nashville and credits CEO Rusty Gaston as a longtime supporter.
His costs also include playing radio shows for stations that ask. “I don’t turn radio down — they come first,” he says. He usually plays solo to hold down costs, and has often covered his expenses by selling merchandise at the shows.
With no major label support or leverage behind him, Baldridge has found that radio stations just want to “play songs that people want to hear. They’re not [discounting] us for not being on a major. They’re just playing songs that are reacting to their fan base.”
Indeed, “She’s Somebody’s Daughter” is one of three songs in the current top 10 that doesn’t have a major label behind it: Bryan Martin’s “We Ride” (No. 5) is small indie Average Joes’ biggest hit in 12 years, while Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (No. 6) is on indie Empire, which did not have a strong country presence previously.
“The listener has more power than ever before, and I am proud of country radio for supporting these artists, and doing something different,” Matthews says. “Country is hotter than ever before. The audience is clamoring for great music and finding it on their own… It’s our job to not only introduce them to new music and be curators — but also meet them where they are.”
Not surprisingly, fellow indie artists are reaching out to Baldridge, asking if his team can work their songs to radio. “There are actually some singles on the chart right now that are working really well that I turned down, just because I’m really selfish for this first No. 1 and I just want proof of concept that I can do it — and I need to be focused on me right now,” he says. “Could it be something down the road? I don’t know.”
His biggest piece of advice to artists trying to follow in his footsteps is to work on building their brands at social media, so they have a story before taking the song to radio. For him, he’d hit the 500 million plays on TikTok “and without those social media apps, I don’t have a Top 10 record,” he says.
And of course, he doesn’t discount the appeal of a quality song. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to have a song that draws some sort of emotion and that people want to hear all the time,” he says. “As much as radio may like you and have a relationship with you, they ain’t going to play a turd over and over again.”
Two weeks ago, Baldridge signed with UTA for bookings with a fall headlining tour planned. He’s also in talks with potential managers — but, surprisingly, not a lot of labels have come calling following the song’s success.
While Baldridge is a little curious at the lack of interest, and says he’d love to find the right label partner, he’s also is going in with eyes wide open and isn’t sure there’s a reason to give up the control and money that comes with signing a deal. With Cold River, he earned a 16% royalty, meaning the label kept 84% of the money coming in (and was paying the upfront costs), making it almost impossible to recoup. “If that’s the case, why would I want to be in a record deal if I can’t have a real partnership?” he wonders.
But first, Baldridge wants to reach the top of the charts — and KBAY’s Matthews believes that nice guys can finish first.
“It’s going to go No. 1. He’s already top 10, and that is all real. He doesn’t have a machine behind him. He has a great record, and kindness. That wins,” Matthews says. “He’s one of the nicest humans in Nashville. I haven’t met a person in radio that isn’t rooting for him. Everyone playing it feels like they are a part of something special. I am excited for him to go No. 1 … so is everyone else.”
“I’m going to speak it into existence,” Baldridge says of hoping to reach No. 1 within the next 10 weeks or so. “As soon as we’re No. 1, I want to have the next one ready. And, you know, if that’s with a partner label or that’s just me and my team, I’m not slowing down.”
Joe Bonsall, the tenor in The Oak Ridge Boys, died on Tuesday (July 9) from complications of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), the group announced on its website and social media accounts. He was 76, and died in Hendersonville, Tenn. Bonsall had announced his retirement from touring at the beginning of the year.
In 1973, Bonsall left his position with gospel group The Keystones to join The Oak Ridge Boys. The Oaks, in which Bonsall teamed with Duane Allen, William Lee Golden and Richard Sterban, first found success as a gospel group. They segued into country music in 1977 with “Y’All Come Back Saloon,” their first of 34 top 10 hits on Billboard’s Top Country Songs chart.
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The Oaks landed 17 No. 1 hits on that chart, the third-highest total among duos and groups after Alabama (33) and Brooks & Dunn (20). Two of the Oaks’ country chart-toppers became top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 – “Elvira” (No. 5 in 1981) and “Bobbie Sue” (No. 12 in 1982).
The group landed three No. 1 albums on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, two of which became top 20 albums on the all-genre Billboard 200 – Fancy Free (No. 14 in 1981) and Bobbie Sue (No. 20 in 1982).
The Oaks won five Grammys. The first four were in gospel categories; the fifth in country, for “Elvira.” That platinum-selling smash won best country performance by a duo or group with vocal.
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The Oaks won two CMA awards – vocal group of the year in 1978 and single of the year in 1981 for “Elvira.”
They won four ACM Awards – top vocal group in 1978, album of the year that same year for Ya’ll Come Back Saloon, single record of the year in 1981 for “Elvira” and the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award in 2007.
The Oaks’ 1979 concert trek with headliners Kenny Rogers and Dottie West is considered the first full-fledged country arena tour, Tom Roland reported in this recap of the group’s 50 years.
As a 50-year member of the The Oak Ridge Boys, Bonsall was a member of the Grand Ole Opry and was inducted into the Philadelphia Music Hall of Fame, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and the Country Music Hall of Fame, the latter in 2015.
“For 50 years, Joe Bonsall was the Oak Ridge Boys’ sparkplug,” Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, said in a statement. “He was as exciting a performer as any who ever hit a gospel or country stage. His tenor voice was high and clear, and his jovial spirit always provided a jolt of energy, immediately rousing audiences to come on in and take a load off. He certainly lightened our cares every time he sang.”
“When I think of the Oak Ridge Boys and their place in country music history, the image of Joe with his huge smile and boundless energy comes to mind so clearly,” Sarah Trahern, Country Music Association CEO, said in a statement. “His commitment to serving others while developing country music into a worldwide sensation will never be forgotten and our industry has been made better because of him. Today, we lost an incomparable energy and voice in music. He will be missed greatly by all who were fortunate to know him.”
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Bonsall was also the author of 11 books including his latest, a memoir entitled I See Myself, which is set for release in November.
Bonsall’s final show with the Oaks was on Dec. 17, 2023. In January, he revealed that he had battled the slow onset of a neuromuscular disorder for more than four years. “I am now at a point where walking is impossible, so I have basically retired from the road. It has just gotten too difficult,” he said in a statement. “It has been a great 50 years, and I am thankful to all the Oak Ridge Boys band crew and staff for the constant love and support shown to me through it all. I will never forget, and for those of you who have been constantly holding me up in prayer, I thank you and ask for you to keep on praying.”
At Bonsall’s request, there will be no funeral. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The ALS Association or to the Vanderbilt Medical Center ALS and Neuroscience Research Center.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Ann; daughters Jennifer and Sabrina; granddaughter Breanne; grandson Luke; two great grandsons, Chance and Grey; and a sister, Nancy. He is preceded in death by his parents, Joseph S. Bonsall Sr. and Lillie Bonsall.
Bonsall’s death comes just eight days after the death of William “Rusty” Golden, a musician, songwriter and son of The Oak Ridge Boys member William Lee Golden. The younger Golden died on July 1 at his home in Hendersonville, Tenn. He was 65. William Lee Golden said in a statement at that time, “This is the hardest thing ever for a father to have to face. I love family more than anything. Rusty was a great musician, a talented songwriter and a wonderful son. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers for the days ahead. I love you, son.”
See The Oak Ridge Boys’ announcement below:
The lyrics to hip-hop artist Kid Cudi’s 2009 song “Pursuit of Happiness” include the lines “I’ma do just what I want/ Looking ahead, no turning back.”
Those lyrics also serve as a musically freeing anthem for bluegrass artist and banjo virtuoso Trajan “Tray” Wellington, who includes a fleet-fingered, hip-hop-tinted bluegrass version of the tune on his seven-song project, Detour to the Moon, out July 12 via Mountain Home Music Company.
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“I’ve always considered myself an explorer of the banjo. I always try to look at it as exploration within music and always pushing boundaries,” the 25-year-old Wellington tells Billboard. “I think within roots music, a lot of the time it can get stagnant and people feel like they have to do a certain avenue and appeal to this or appeal to that.”
Wellington grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, and counts his grandfather’s CD collection as his first brush with musical infatuation. Initially, Wellington began playing electric guitar, until six months later he found a Doc Watson greatest hits CD in the collection, which inspired him to learn to flat pick guitar. Then Wellington’s middle school had a Mountain Music Club, where his teacher brought out a banjo and began playing the bluegrass standard “Salt Creek.”
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“I had never heard anything like it,” Wellington recalls of picking up the banjo at age 14. “I fell in love with it, and pretty much immediately put the guitar to the side and began learning banjo.”
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His proficiency on the instrument was apparent even before his graduation from East Tennessee State University’s prestigious Bluegrass, Old Time and Country program, as he had already won the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA)’s 2019 momentum award for instrumentalist of the year while performing as part of the group Cane Mill Road (which also earned the IBMA’s momentum band of the year award that same year).
He followed with the independent EP Uncaged Thoughts in 2020, before signing with Mountain Home Music Company later that year. He’s since performed on the IBMA’s World of Bluegrass main stage, hosted the Momentum Awards ceremony and led banjo workshops at Merlefest and Gray Fox music festivals.
Wellington’s music has always carried within it the indelible influence of jazz music, and that is apparent again on his latest outing, with his bluegrass-meets-new age take on Duke Ellington’s “Caravan,” while nodding to bluegrass artist Bill Keith’s 1970s banjo-spotlighting rendition.
“When I was trying to work it out on banjo, I figured out this cool chord voicing for it,” Wellington says. “I was like, ‘This makes it sound almost like a new-age sound,’ so I tried to take that and make it sound even more spacey in a way. My fiddle player at the time, Josiah Nelson, knew ‘Caravan,’ so I asked him to play the melody of ‘Caravan’ over it and it just gave a totally different vibe from any other version I’ve heard.”
Elsewhere, he offers a stunning rendering of John Hiatt’s “Lift Up Every Stone,” but also melds these re-imaginings with originals such as “Spiral Staircase.”
His sound fuses his musically progressive probing with traditional bluegrass elements. In addition to Nelson, joining him are bassist Katelynn Bohn, drummer Mike Ashworth (of Steep Canyon Rangers), singer/guitarist Nick Weitzenfeld, steel guitarist DaShawn Hickman, vocalist Wendy Hickman and Americana artist Kaia Kate. Detour to the Moon was recorded at Arden, North Carolina’s Crossroads Studios, a recording space often utilized by bluegrass luminaries including Bryan Sutton, Lonesome River Band, Doyle Lawson, and Alison Krauss & Union Station member Barry Bales.
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Wellington has also made considerable strides in dismantling musical boundary lines and stereotypes with his music. Most notably with his 2022 debut full-length album Black Banjo, Wellington has been a fierce advocate for increasing diversity and representation within the genre.
“With the Black Banjo project, No. 1 was the idea that Black people invented this music; they belong here,” he says. “No. 2, and one of the biggest things I would say I face sometimes — but not as much anymore — was people trying to tell me what I need to do with my music, like ‘You have to do this as a Black musician,’ or ‘You need to play some songs on the gourd banjo,’ or ‘You need to play these songs by these people from time to time. People feel the need to say that, but it’s a very one-dimensional way of looking at how to showcase Black art in this music. Really, the best way you can do it is letting these Black individuals have prime slots to showcase their talent. I just had to realize that I’m my own musician, with my own set of influences.”
He expanded on the mission of Black Banjo by teaming with three other Black roots musicians late last year — vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Kater, bassist Nelson Williams and fiddler/vocalist Jake Blount — to form the group New Dangerfield. They released their debut single, “Dangerfield Newby,” in April and Wellington says the group is prepping to release another song later this month and are set to head into the studio to record an album later this year.
“We’re four different artists that have different backgrounds, different sets of musical personalities and what we’re trying to do now is figure out how it all works together,” Wellington says.
He says he has seen representation grow in terms of artists of color within the genre, but there is still much work to be done in terms of representation within the bluegrass genre’s audience.
“When I very first started, I don’t remember seeing many people at all that were Black,” Wellington notes. “As I got older, I started realizing a lot more and was like, ‘It is weird how there are not many people that look like me in this music.’ But I think there has been more representation and I think a lot of organizations are doing work to make sure people feel welcomed. But there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, especially within the audience spectrum, especially. I’d love to see that aspect of it grow. Musicians [are] one thing, but still, most places I go, like 95%, it’s primarily a white audience. And I think it’s as much of a mix of the musicians as well as the actual venues themselves, because there are certain places [where] just a bunch of people of different backgrounds don’t feel comfortable going. If you’re walking into a room that’s primarily white, as a person of color, you do feel like an outlier. It’s about making people feel welcome when they come in.”
While he works to advocate for greater diversity within roots music, and expand the genre beyond traditional boundaries, he also has a bucket list of artists he hopes to one day work with — including bluegrasser Billy Strings, Snarky Puppy’s Cory Henry, and singer Bella White.
“While I’m still building and still growing as an artist, I do feel like I’m getting to do a lot of cool things I’ve always wanted to do,” Wellington says. “I just got back from a short tour in Europe, and I was at the airport last night and had the realization, like, ‘Man, I started playing banjo at 14. And 14-year-old me would’ve never thought I’d be doing what I’m doing now.’”
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Wynonna Judd has a career that’s so expansive, it’s only fitting that Las Vegas be the place she celebrates 40 years in country music with three greatest hits shows in December. The 60-year-old singer-songwriter announced Monday (July 8) that she’s headed to Sin City for a trio of concerts Dec. 11, 13 and 14 at […]
Shaboozey notched his first Billboard Hot 100 chart topper with “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which topped the tally on the chart dated July 13, 2024. Upon seeing the news, the 29-year-old musician took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to celebrate. “WE DID IT YALL,” he wrote alongside a tweet of the new chart achievement, before […]
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