Zach Bryan is, quite literally, taking over the charts.
He had a monster debut week with his self-titled album, as his duet with Kacey Musgraves “I Remember Everything” debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a first for both of them.
In addition, every single song on Zach Bryan also debuted within the Top 50 of the all-genre chart, also marking the first time that 20 country songs have placed in Hot 100’s top 40 (Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen and Oliver Anthony also have singles within the Top 20):
Behind the duet comes another feature in “Hey Driver” featuring The War & Treaty at #14, and a few spots after that is “Spotless” featuring The Lumineers at #17, with “East Side of Sorrow” taking #18 and
“Tourniquet” coming in at #20.
This puts five of his singles within the Top 20, making Zach just the second country act to land at least five songs in the Hot 100’s top 20 simultaneously, after Morgan Wallen, who has placed five in the top 20 twice previously.
25 country songs in total rank in the top 50, matching the record initially established when Wallen releaesed One Thing at a Time earlier this year.
Once again second to only Morgan Wallen, Zach is just the second country act to chart at least 13 Hot 100 hits in the top 40 in a single week, which also happened when One Thing at a Time debuted.
According to Billboard, with 18 total songs on the Hot 100, Zach becomes the second country act to log that many songs on the chart in a single frame, after (you guessed it) Morgan Wallen, who holds the record among all acts at 36, which again happened when One Thing at a Time was released in March.
In terms of hit singles, “I Remember Everything” marks the the fourth country song of 2023 to reach the top spot as the #1 song in all of music, dethroning Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” which spent 2 weeks at #1, and now falls to #6.
Billboard also says:
“The only year, dating to the Hot 100’s 1958 inception, with more country No. 1s was 1975, when five topped the chart: B.J. Thomas’ ‘(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song’; Freddy Fender’s ‘Before the Next Teardrop Falls’; John Denver’s ‘Thank God I’m a Country Boy’; Glen Campbell’s ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’; and Denver’s ‘I’m Sorry.'”
Wild…
Here is the full rundown of where each single debuted:
No. 1, “I Remember Everything,” feat. Kacey Musgraves
No. 14, “Hey Driver,” feat. The War and Treaty
No. 17, “Spotless,” feat. The Lumineers
No. 18, “East Side of Sorrow”
No. 20, “Tourniquet”
No. 22, “Overtime”
No. 23, “Summertime’s Close”
No. 24, “Fear and Friday’s”
No. 29, “Ticking”
No. 31, “El Dorado”
No. 37, “Holy Roller,” feat. Sierra Ferrell
No. 38, “Smaller Acts”
No. 39, “Fear and Friday’s (Poem)”
No. 41, “Jake’s Piano – Long Island”
No. 44, “Tradesman”
No. 47, “Oklahoman Son”
No. 76, “Dawns,” feat. Maggie Rogers (holds in place; peaked at No. 42 in February)
No. 88, “Oklahoma Smoke Show” (down from its No. 81 peak)
I said it when the album first came out and I think it’s pretty apparent here judging by the numbers, the features on this record really are the standouts, and Zach Bryan is a bonafide superstar well beyond country music.
The fully self-produced project was entirely representative of Zach and who he is, and the world was certainly ready and eager to listen.
It’s crazy to think this is just the beginning, too… I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who has had these three songs on repeat for the last week and a half.
“I Remember Everything”
“Hey Driver”
“Spotless”
