So much for cancel culture, eh?
Jason Aldean has been facing controversy over the last week or so surrounding his latest single, “Try That In a Small Town.”
Released back in May, the song calls out rioting and looting in big cities while also taking a strong stance against gun control. And the video for the song features clips of riots and looting from around the world while Aldean sings in front of the Maury County courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee.
But many online have accused the outspoken country singer of featuring racist lyrics and imagery in both the song and video, with the outcry leading CMT to pull the video from their rotation. And still others cried foul on a pro-gun anthem coming from the headliner of the Route 91 Harvest Festival, after Aldean was on stage when the massacre broke out in Las Vegas in 2017.
While Sheryl Crow joined in those criticizing the song, many country stars have spoken out in support of Aldean, including Cody Johnson, Travis Tritt, and of course Brantley Gilbert. And it’s even got the attention of many politicians, with presidential hopefuls Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump throwing their support behind Aldean.
Of course the controversy surrounding the song really hasn’t hurt Jason or the song any.
Not only did the song shoot to the #1 spot on the iTunes all-genre chart, Aldean’s other albums saw a boost from the controversy too, at one point making up 5 of the top 10 albums on the iTunes country charts.
And now, the song itself is not only already one of the best-selling country songs of the entire year, but it’s now at #2 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as claiming the top spot on the Hot Country Songs chart.
The song made its debut on the Hot 100 chart this week, passing Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car.”
And its sales have absolutely skyrocketed: After being released in May, the song had only sold 1,000 units per day the week before the controversy. But this past week, sales jumped to 228,000 units. And streams of the song have gone from 987,000 before last week to over 11.7 MILLION in the past week, a mind-boggling 999% increase.
Based on just the sales over the last week, it’s enough to make it the fourth-highest selling song of 2023.
Absolutely insane.
