Anthem lands No. 1 across the globe

John Rich has a global No. 1 single on the Apple Music charts with his new American anthem “Progress.” The country star released the song independently via conservative outlets Rumble and the Donald Trump-owned Truth Social on Friday (July 22nd), and it was already at the top of the charts by midday.

“HUGE THANK YOU to Rumble and Tru-th Social for the support on my new single #PROGRESS that launched today! It’s now #1 worldwide across all genres! ‘Stick your progress where the sun don’t shine:) You can download it here 👇Feel free to share!” he says on Twitter.

The song out performed superstars Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Kate Bush to land at the top without the help of radio, TV or a record label.

“Felt good to beat the machine today:) Thanks to all of you for the massive support! We are making good #Progress #NumberOne #Worldwide” he tweets a short time later.

The chorus reads: “Stick your progress where the sun don’t shine/Keep your big mess away from me and mine/If you leave us alone, we’d all be just fine/So stick your progress where the sun don’t shine.”

“I, like you, have been watching and living through the systematic destruction of our country. And in the name of progress, we see our border is standing wide open. And in the name of their progress we see our children targeted. And in the name of progress we see crime coast to coast like we’ve never seen it before. And in the name of progress we see people wanting to take our rights away to defend ourselves and our families as we see fit. And so on and so forth in the name of progress.” Rich shares in a statement.

“And it just struck me as such an ironic thing that everything they claim to be progressive is actually regressive, it’s actually destructive. It’s the opposite which is kinda like they want to do as we’re all learning now.”

Rich wrote the song with Jeffrey Steele and Vicky McGehee, but doesn’t expect much support from country radio.

“I don’t expect many country stations to be playing this song — they should, but I don’t expect them to. But I’m putting this out anyway because I think one of my talents, my God given blessings, is that I can write a song. If you feel like me, there’s so many bad things going on at the same time, and they’re all in your head at the same time, and you’re seeing them all at the same time, you almost feel, the word I would use is apoplectic about it, where there’s so much that you want to talk about, you pretty much want to stammer and stutter your way through it. It’s overload. It’s impossible to get it all out. It’s very frustrating,” he states.

“I took this really simple idea for ‘Progress’ and put it in a three cord, simple country song. And it’s the way I feel, I bet it’s the way you feel, too.”

Despite the negatives, Rich sends encouragement about America’s progress.

“I believe that this country and the principles it was founded will outlast what we see today and will outlast the people perpetrating this on our country.”