Ashley McBryde scored her very first #1 on country radio yesterday.
Her duet with Carly Pearce, “Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” became just the second solo female duet to reach the #1 in that 30-year time span, making it Ashley’s first #1 on country radio (and Carly’s third), as it hit the top spot on Mediabase and Billboard Country Airplay this weekend (the two charts labels use to officially track their songs performance).
Just last month, Miranda Lambert and Elle King became the first solo female duet to reach #1 at country radio since “Does He Love You” by Reba and Linda Davis in 1993 with “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home).”
From Carly’s 2021 album 29: Written In Stone, “Never Wanted” was written by Carly, Ashley and Shane McAnally. The girls go back and forth on the ballad, realizing they’re both being cheated on by the same guy and admitting that they never thought something like that would happen to them.
Of course, having a #1 song was a dream come true for Ashley, who posted a heartfelt message on her Instagram about just how much it means to her.
She’s one of my favorite people in all of country music, and it’s so exciting to see good things happening for such a down-to-earth, talented and badass lady:
“First times only happen once. I’ll always remember I was in Leeds, England when I got the news. I’ll always love that Carly and I got to ride this rocket of a song together.
I’ll always love that she, Shane and I trusted each other and ourselves to be brutally honest when we wrote it. It doesn’t get a whole lot better than that.”
Carly also took to Instagram to share how excited she was to have a third #1 song on country radio, and how special it is to share that accomplishment with Ashley:
“When @ashleymcbryde and I were writing ‘Never Wanted To Be That Girl’ with @shanemcanally, we were just in the moment, thinking about the women we want to be and the way that’s not always how life and love turn out.
But nobody ever paused long enough to think about having a #1 record or winning an Academy of Country Music Award. We wanted to shake off an honest mistake, and now here we are with the No. 1 song at Country radio and the ACM trophy for Music Event of the Year.
Sometimes out of something bad comes something good. Thank you to everyone who plays Country music, our fans, our record labels, management teams, agents, our bands and everyone in between.
Ashley, I am so proud to call you my friend, my sister and I will forever be grateful for this song bringing us together. Gonna go cry for the 100th time!”
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m never mad at a little girl power on country radio… a huge congratulations to these two talented ladies on an incredible run up the charts with a truly deserving and meaningful song.
“Never Wanted To Be That Girl”
