Chart history is made again
Three country songs occupy the top three spots of the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart for the second time in a month. Viral sensation Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Luke Combs’ “Fast Car” and Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” appear at No. 1, 2 and 3, respectively. It’s the second time in the chart’s 65-year history that the top three spots are country artists/songs, following Jason Aldean, Wallen and Combs nabbing those spots earlier this month.
Anthony, who was born Christopher Anthony Lunsford, becomes the first artist to ever debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 without any prior chart history and the first artist to top the chart not signed to a label. The song also debuts on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, marking the 23rd song to have topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Country Songs charts concurrently.
“Rich Men,” officially released on August 11th independently, earned its title after going viral on TikTok and YouTube. While not being promoted to radio, the song tallied 553,000 radio airplay audience impressions, mostly in the country format, and drew 17.5 million streams with 147,000 downloads, ending August 17th. The track is also the first solo-written Hot 100 chart topper since Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” dominated the chart in March and April 2022, according to Billboard.
“They don’t think you know, but I know that you do / ‘Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end / ‘Cause of rich men north of Richmond,” Anthony sings in the chorus.
The politically-charged song has drawn praise from the right and opposition from the left even though Anthony says he sits “pretty dead center down the aisle on politics.”
Anthony is the sixth artist to debut a first solo entry at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. He follows Zayn, Baauer, Carrie Underwood, Fantasia and Clay Aiken. The Virginia native has even turned down multi million dollar from labels, artists and producers eager to work with the former miner.
Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” is still dominating the charts three months after its release. The song continues Combs’ successful run with the single as it was recently certified 2x Platinum just five months since its release and has garnered over 435 million global streams to date. “Fast Car” is also currently No. 1 on the Hot AC chart for the second-consecutive week and recently spent five consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, marking Combs’ 16th consecutive No. 1 at country radio and yet another historic feat. “Fast Car” is the first song by a male solo artist to ever top both the Hot AC and Country Airplay charts. Moreover, the single has remained in the top three of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the past several weeks and is currently top 10 on the American Top 40 chart as well as No. 1 on the New Zealand Airplay chart and the Australian Hot 100 Radio Airplay chart.
Wallen’s “Last Night” drops to No. 3 following a 16 week reign atop the chart since March. The song breaks the tie with Harry Styles’ “As It Was” for the longest No. 1 for a non-collaboration in the chart’s history. The song is the third single from his recently-released triple album, One Night at a Time, and and was the first country song by a solo male vocalist to top the Hot 100 in more than 42 years, following Eddie Rabbit’s “I Love a Rainy Night” in 1980.
“Last Night” has also topped Billboard’s Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay, Country Airplay and Songs of Summer chart multiple weeks.
In late June, Wallen and Combs made history on the chart with their respective singles reaching the top two spots. It marked the first time in 42 years country hits reached the top two spots on the Billboard Hot 100, following Eddie Rabbit and Dolly Parton in 1981.
