What do only Morgan Wallen and Chris Gaines have in common?
Not much… other than one monster chart record.
With the grand slam debut of “7 Summers,” Morgan Wallen has firmly cemented himself as the only country male solo artist to debut in the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 other than Garth Brooks, or shall I say, Chris Gaines.
Back in September of 1999, Chris Gaines’ “Lost In You” debuted at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the only solo male artist to ever debut in the top 10 while also having a song on the Hot Country chart. Although Chris was “technically” a pop artist, his song charted on the country charts as well.
And now, after a number 6 debut on the multi-genre Hot 100 and number 1 on the Hot Country chart, Morgan Wallen has joined Chris Gaines in that elite class.
Once you wrap your head around all those numbers and chart technicalities, it’s pretty damn cool huh? To be in a class by yourself with the likes of Chris Gaines? That’s ELITE company.
“7 Summers” also set the single-day record for debut streams for a country song on both Apple Music and Spotify, where he was number 3 on both platform’s all-genre lists. He also currently sits at number 1 on the Top Country Albums, Hot Country Songs, Country Streaming Songs and Country Digital Song Sales charts. Including the Country Airplay chart, only Luke Combs and Kane Brown have topped all 5 at the same time.
“‘7 Summers’ is a song that originally I didn’t even know if it was going to make my album or if I was ever going to put it out. But when quarantine first started, I was challenged to do a demo on Instagram, so I put out the first verse and chorus of ‘7 Summers.’
I heard a lot of good feedback from it on Instagram, and then it started making the rounds on TikTok—I saw how much the song was getting played and how much people were enjoying it, even just the first verse and chorus. Social media played a huge part in me releasing this song, especially this early. It’s a cool thing—me being on the fence about it, then being able to put it out and get people’s feedback. Seeing the response played the biggest part in this release.
I think that speaks to just how much fans mean to me and fans mean to music. I’m glad I’m getting to put it out and glad people are loving it, I can’t wait for y’all to hear the full version.”
Next stop: the MOON.
