Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay are charts that rank the top-performing country songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. Hot Country Songs ranks songs based on digital downloads, streaming, and airplay from stations of all formats, a methodology introduced in 2012. [1] Country Airplay, which was first published in 2012, is based solely on country radio airplay, a methodology that had previously been used from 1990 to 2012 for Hot Country Songs. [1]
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In the issue dated January 7, 2023, "You Proof" by Morgan Wallen was at number one on Country Airplay, the song's tenth week in the top spot, [2] extending a record set the previous week for the longest-running number-one single based strictly off country radio rotation. [3] [4] Zach Bryan's "Something in the Orange" was the year's first number one on Hot Country Songs; topping the chart in its 36th week on the listing, it gave the singer his first number-one country single. [5] [6] [7] A week later, Jelly Roll achieved the same feat when he topped the Country Airplay chart with "Son of a Sinner", [8] and Nate Smith did the same in February with "Whiskey on You". [9] Later in February, Katelyn Brown achieved her first number one as a featured artist on her husband Kane Brown's "Thank God". [10] The track was the second duet by a married couple to top a chart based on country radio airplay, following Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's "It's Your Love" in 1997. [11] In August, Oliver Anthony entered the Hot Country Songs listing at number one with "Rich Men North of Richmond" (credited to "Oliver Anthony Music"), his first song to enter any of Billboard's charts. [12] [13] In September, Kacey Musgraves scored her first number one country single as a featured artist on Bryan's "I Remember Everything", which topped Hot Country Songs. [14]
Wallen had the year's most country number ones, having had four songs top one or both charts. Other acts to achieve more than one number one during 2023 include Jelly Roll and Luke Combs, who each had three chart-toppers, and Bryan, Smith, Kane Brown, Bailey Zimmerman, and Lainey Wilson, with two each. In July, Combs reached number one on Country Airplay with a rendition of Tracy Chapman's 1988 song "Fast Car", the first cover of a pop single to top a Billboard chart based on plays on country music radio since Blake Shelton's version of Michael Bublé's "Home" topped Hot Country Songs in 2008. [15] [16] Additionally, it made Chapman the first black woman to solely compose a country number one. [16] [17] Wallen spent the most total weeks at number one on both listings, with 25 on Hot Country Songs and 17 on Country Airplay. His track "Last Night" had the year's longest unbroken run in the top spot of both charts, with 23 weeks at number one on Hot Country Songs and eight weeks atop Country Airplay. It also topped the magazine's all-genre chart, the Hot 100, the first song by a solo male country singer to do so since 1981. [18] "Try That in a Small Town" by Jason Aldean topped both Hot Country Songs and the Hot 100 in July when its sales increased dramatically following controversy around its music video, [19] and another song which was considered controversial by the media, "Rich Men North of Richmond", achieved the same feat in August. [13] "I Remember Everything" became the fourth song of 2023 to top both listings in September. [20]
