Nate Smith achieves first No 1 single

The Gold-certified “Whiskey On You” tops the country charts

Arista Nashville/Sony Music Nashville rising star Nate Smith’s breakout, debut Gold-certified single “Whiskey On You” has hit No. 1 on both the Billboard Country Airplay and Mediabase/Country Aircheck Charts this week.

“When I released ‘Whiskey On You’ I wasn’t sure what would happen. I just knew I loved it!” Nate tells Billboard. “First my fans were super encouraging on social media and then country radio welcomed the song with open arms, and for that I couldn’t be more grateful! This is such a proud moment for me and I feel so blessed to get to say I have the No. 1 song on country radio! Meanwhile, my dad is just glad I have a job! A huge thank you to country radio, my fans, my team, and everyone who has lifted this song up!”

The track was also No. 1 on Canada’s country radio chart for six weeks – making the song the longest running No. 1 country debut by a male vocalist in their chart history.

Just in time for the achievement, Nate released a MOTi remixed version of “Whiskey On You” last Thursday.

Nate earned multiple 2023 “Artist to Watch” accolades this year including Amazon’s Breakthrough Artists to Watch, MusicRow’s Next Big Thing, CMT’s Listen Up, CRS New Faces, among others. His debut self-titled album is set to arrive April 28th.

Smith’s journey to Nashville and the challenges he endured along the way are traceable in his gravelly tone, including losing his hometown of Paradise, CA to Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive fire in the state’s history. Following the fire, Smith turned to music to cope, eventually inspiring a cross-country road trip to Nashville to pursue music full-time.

Through all the hardships, the rising star found purpose and hope. Like Smith, the 20-song collection is honest, raw, real, and threaded together with optimism. While each song tells its own story, Smith unveils two sides of his artistry through the project: deep, heartfelt ballads and fun-loving, drink in the air, country jams. The two are intertwined with undeniable hooks and his signature velvet thunder vocals.

Smith will be appear at Stagecoach Festival for the first time this year. He’ll also join Thomas Rhett on his Home Team Tour 23, which will kick off May 4th in Des Moines, and will hit a total of 40 cities this summer.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com