One Thing at a Time

One Thing at a Time
Studio album by Morgan Wallen
Released	March 3, 2023 (2023-03-03)
Genre	Country pop
Length	111:36
Label	Big Loud Republic Mercury
Producer	Joey Moi Cameron Montgomery Charlie Handsome Jacob Durrett
Morgan Wallen chronology
Dangerous: The Double Album (2021) One Thing at a Time (2023)
Singles from One Thing at a Time
"You Proof" Released: July 18, 2022 "Thought You Should Know" Released: November 7, 2022 "Last Night" Released: February 6, 2023 "One Thing at a Time" Released: March 13, 2023 "Everything I Love" Released: June 26, 2023 "Thinkin' Bout Me" Released: September 7, 2023 "Man Made a Bar" Released: November 13, 2023 "Cowgirls" Released: April 15, 2024

One Thing at a Time is the third album by American country music singer Morgan Wallen, released on March 3, 2023, through Big Loud Records. ^[1] It features 36 tracks, including the singles "You Proof", "Thought You Should Know", "Last Night", the title track, "Everything I Love", "Thinkin' Bout Me", "Man Made a Bar" and the promotional single "Don't Think Jesus", as well as collaborations with Eric Church, Hardy and Ernest. A sampler containing three tracks from the album—"One Thing at a Time", "Days That End in Why" and "Tennessee Fan"—preceded the album in December 2022. ^[2] The announcement of the album came alongside the release of three more tracks—"Everything I Love", "I Wrote the Book", and "Last Night"—which became his first Billboard Hot 100 number one, staying atop for 16 weeks. ^[3]

The album received mixed reviews from critics, and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 501,000 album-equivalent units, marking the biggest week for a country album by units since 2021. With 19 weeks at number one, it is the longest-running number one country album of all time on the chart. Wallen embarked on the One Night at a Time Tour in support of the album in April 2023. ^[1]

Background

In a statement released January 30, Wallen explained that the album "brings together the musical influences that have shaped [him] as an artist – country, alternative and hip-hop" and the album ended up with 36 songs "because [they] just kept exploring with fresh lyrics, music and production ideas and these are the songs that felt right" to him. ^[4] Billboard described the album as "genre-blending". ^[5]

The cover photograph was taken at Wallen's grandfather's home in Sneedville, Tennessee. ^[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	47/100 [6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Pitchfork	4.1/10 [8]
Slant Magazine	[9]

One Thing at a Time received mixed reviews from critics, with a score of 47 out of 100 based on six critics' reviews at review aggregator Metacritic. ^[6] Paul Attard of Slant Magazine found One Thing at a Time to be "wildly uneven" with "little here that could be considered fresh by Wallen's standards", as "his music is typically concerned with one of three things: getting shitfaced, being lovesick, or Jesus" while still having several "production flourishes" that see Wallen "experimenting, if ever so slightly, with his sound". ^[9]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that the album's "untrammeled sprawl [of 36 tracks] means [it] offers a little something for everybody", with "party songs, sad songs, songs that lift liberally from classic rock standards" as well as "songs about beer, songs about whiskey, and songs about wine". ^[7] Sam Sodomsky of Pitchfork criticized the length, apparent ethos of "Wallen being true to only himself" while having 49 co-writers, and the tracks "covering the same thematic territory", although acknowledging there are occasional "minimalist rhythms" that "accentuate his gift for delivering tugging, bittersweet pop melodies" as well as "couplets clever enough to catch you off guard". Sodomsky felt that the title "seems to acknowledge that Wallen considers this a transitional moment" and concluded that "none of this leads to anything interesting enough to change how you think of Morgan Wallen". ^[8]

Commercial performance

One Thing at a Time debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 dated March 18, 2023, with 501,000 album-equivalent units, including 111,500 pure album sales. It is Wallen's second consecutive US number-one album and marks the biggest week of 2023 for album units earned, and overall biggest week for a country album since Red (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift in November 2021. Its 36 tracks earned a total of 498.28 million on-demand streams. The album has spent 19 weeks at number-one on the chart, ^[10] surpassing Bad Bunny's Un Verano Sin Ti as the album with the most number one weeks this decade, as well as becoming to longest-running number one country album of all time. ^[11]

In the week of the album's release, all 36 tracks entered the Billboard Hot 100, breaking the record set by Drake in 2018 for most songs by an artist on the chart at one time, as well as the record for most debuts on the chart, with 27. ^[12] Wallen also occupied five of the top 10 songs and achieved his first number-one song with "Last Night". ^[13] The album was named the number one album for 2023 in Billboard 's year-end album chart, making Wallen the first country artist to capture both the year-end number one positions for both album and single in the same year.

Track listing

One Thing at a Time track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Born with a Beer in My Hand"	Morgan Wallen Zach Abend Michael Hardy	3:07
2.	"Last Night"	John Byron Ashley Gorley Jacob Kasher Hindlin Ryan Vojtesak	2:43
3.	"Everything I Love"	Wallen Gorley Ernest Keith Smith Vojtesak Gregg Allman Robert Kim Payne	3:05
4.	"Man Made a Bar" (featuring Eric Church)	Rocky Block Jordan Dozzi Larry Fleet Brett Tyler	3:09
5.	"Devil Don't Know"	Travis Denning Jared Mullins Ben Stennis	3:24
6.	"One Thing at a Time"	Gorley Smith Vojtesak Wallen	3:26
7.	"'98 Braves"	Byron Josh Miller Travis Wood	2:58
8.	"Ain't That Some"	Chris LaCorte Chase McGill Miller Blake Pendergrass	2:37
9.	"I Wrote the Book"	Wallen Hardy Cameron Montgomery	3:00
10.	"Tennessee Numbers"	Jordan Minton Pendergrass Wood	3:45
11.	"Hope That's True"	Wallen Smith Vojtesak	3:05
12.	"Whiskey Friends"	Wallen Gorley Jonathan Hoskins Smith Josh Thompson Vojtesak	3:24
13.	"Sunrise"	Byron Pendergrass	3:01
14.	"Keith Whitley"	Thomas Archer Brad Clawson Mullins	3:07
15.	"In the Bible" (featuring Hardy)	Byron Jeff Garrison Jon Hall Ben Johnson Geoffrey Warburton	3:14
16.	"You Proof"	Wallen Gorley Smith Vojtesak	2:36
17.	"Thought You Should Know"	Wallen Nicolle Galyon Miranda Lambert	3:34
18.	"F150-50"	Mullins John Pierce Stennis	3:10
19.	"Neon Star (Country Boy Lullaby)"	Wallen Smith Thompson Vojtesak	2:51
20.	"I Deserve a Drink"	Byron Devin Dawson Jacob Durrett Hillary Lindsey	3:24
21.	"Wine into Water"	Byron Matt Jenkins Pendergrass	3:43
22.	"Me + All Your Reasons"	Wallen Gorley Smith Vojtesak	2:53
23.	"Tennessee Fan"	Wallen Gorley Hardy Mark Holman	3:18
24.	"Money on Me"	Michael Lotten Pendergrass Matt Roy	2:55
25.	"Thinkin' Bout Me"	Byron Gorley Taylor Phillips Vojtesak	2:57
26.	"Single Than She Was"	Byron Johnson Vojtesak	2:40
27.	"Days That End in Why"	Byron Pendergrass Driver Williams	2:41
28.	"Last Drive Down Main"	Jerry Flowers Ryan Hurd Lotten	3:13
29.	"Me to Me"	Wallen Gorley Smith Vojtesak	2:18
30.	"Don't Think Jesus"	Jessi Alexander Holman McGill	3:44
31.	"180 (Lifestyle)"	Block Gorley Holman Pendergrass Smith Vojtesak Bryan Williams Jeffrey Williams Dequantes Lamar London Holmes Arsenio Archer Durk Banks	3:07
32.	"Had It"	Block Alexander Izquierdo Vojtesak	3:18
33.	"Cowgirls" (featuring Ernest)	Block Gorley James Maddocks Smith Vojtesak	3:01
34.	"Good Girl Gone Missin'"	Wallen Gorley Maddocks Smith Vojtesak	2:54
35.	"Outlook"	Wallen Rodney Clawson Jeff Hyde	3:13
36.	"Dying Man"	Johnson Pendergrass Thompson	3:02
Total length:			111:37

Notes

• "Everything I Love" features an interpolation from "Midnight Rider" by The Allman Brothers Band. ^[14]
• "180 (Lifestyle)" features an interpolation from "Lifestyle" by Rich Gang. ^[14]

Personnel

Musicians

• Morgan Wallen – vocals
• Bryan Sutton – acoustic guitar (tracks 1–15, 17–29, 31–34, 36), ukulele (2), mandolin (4, 7, 8, 14, 15, 20, 23, 28–30, 33, 36), banjo (8), Dobro (11), bouzouki (36)
• Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar (1, 3–5, 7–15, 17–24, 26–33, 35, 36)
• Jerry Roe – drums (1, 3–8, 10–12, 14–24, 26–32, 34–36), percussion (1–7, 9, 11, 15, 17–19, 23–25, 27, 28, 30, 32, 34–36)
• Tom Bukovac – electric guitar
• Derek Wells – electric guitar (1, 3, 11)
• Dave Cohen – keyboards (all tracks), Hammond B3 organ (17, 30, 35)
• Zach Abend – programming (1)
• Charlie Handsome – programming (2, 16, 25, 31, 34), electric guitar (3, 25)
• Wes Hightower – background vocals (3, 14, 15, 28, 33)
• Dan Dugmore – steel guitar (4, 10, 14, 20, 36)
• Eric Church – vocals (4)
• Todd Lombardo – acoustic guitar (5, 16, 27, 30, 35), mandolin (17, 30)
• Paul Franklin – steel guitar (5, 7, 17, 30, 32)
• Mark Hill – bass guitar (6)
• Jacob Durrett – programming (8, 9, 13, 19, 31, 33)
• Cameron Montgomery – programming (9)
• Hardy – vocals (15)
• Ben Stennis – programming (18)
• Dominic Frost – electric guitar (23, 29)
• Ernest – vocals (33)
• James Maddocks – programming (34)
• Ashlyne Wallen – background vocals (35)

Technical

• Joey Moi – production, mixing
• Charlie Handsome – co-production (2, 16, 25, 34)
• Jacob Durrett – co-production (9, 13, 19, 31, 33)
• Cameron Montgomery – co-production (9)
• Ted Jensen – mastering (1–5, 7–22, 24–26, 28–36)
• Justin Shturtz – mastering (6, 23, 27)
• Josh Ditty – engineering, editing (all tracks); co-mixing (3, 35)
• Elvind Mordland – editing (all tracks), co-mixing (1, 26)
• Ryan Yount – editing, engineering assistance
• Scott Cooke – editing
• Steve Cordray – engineering assistance (1, 14, 18, 20, 28)
• Joey Stanca – engineering assistance (2, 3, 8–10, 12, 21, 23, 26, 29, 33, 36)
• Sean Badum – engineering assistance (4, 5, 7, 13, 15–17, 19, 22, 25, 27, 30, 31, 35)
• Lucas Glenney-Tegtmeier – engineering assistance (6, 11)
• Ally Gecewicz – production coordination

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for One Thing at a Time Chart (2023–2024) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA) [15] 1 Australian Country Albums (ARIA) [16] 1 Canadian Albums (Billboard) [17] 1 Irish Albums (OCC) [18] 18 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [19] 1 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [20] 9 Scottish Albums (OCC) [21] 30 UK Albums (OCC) [22] 40 UK Country Albums (OCC) [23] 1 US Billboard 200 [11] 1 US Top Country Albums (Billboard) [24] 1

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for One Thing at a Time Chart (2023) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) [25] 4 Canadian Albums (Billboard) [26] 1 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [27] 8 US Billboard 200 [28] 1 US Top Country Albums (Billboard) [29] 1

Certifications

Certifications for One Thing at a Time

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [30]	Platinum	70,000‡
Canada (Music Canada) [31]	Platinum	80,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ) [32]	Platinum	15,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI) [33]	Silver	60,000‡
United States (RIAA) [34]	5× Platinum	5,000,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Wendowski, Andrew (January 30, 2023). "Morgan Wallen Announces 36-Track Album 'One Thing At A Time' Featuring Duets With Eric Church, Hardy & Ernest". Music Mayhem Magazine. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
2. "Breaking: Morgan Wallen Announces New Album, 'One Thing At A Time'". Country Now. January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
3. White, Logan (January 30, 2023). "Morgan Wallen announces new album + to share 3 new songs". Substream Magazine. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
4. Young, Casey (January 30, 2023). "Morgan Wallen Announces 36-Song, Third Studio Album 'One Thing At A Time'". Whiskey Riff. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
5. Bowenbank, Starr (January 30, 2023). "Morgan Wallen Announces 36-Track New Album 'One Thing at a Time'". Billboard . Retrieved January 31, 2023.
6. "One Thing at a Time by Morgan Wallen Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic . Retrieved March 13, 2023.
7. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Morgan Wallen – One Thing at a Time Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic . Retrieved March 13, 2023.
8. Sodomsky, Sam (March 3, 2023). "Morgan Wallen: One Thing at a Time Album Review". Pitchfork . Retrieved March 3, 2023.
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11. Caulfield, Keith (March 12, 2023). "Morgan Wallen's 'One Thing at a Time' Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 With a Half-Million Units". Billboard . Retrieved March 13, 2023.
12. Trust, Gary (March 13, 2023). "Morgan Wallen Charts Single-Week Record 36 Songs on Hot 100 – Every Track From 'One Thing at a Time'". Billboard . Retrieved March 14, 2023.
13. Trust, Gary (March 13, 2023). "Morgan Wallen Notches First Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 With 'Last Night'". Billboard . Retrieved March 14, 2023.
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24. "Billboard Country Update: March 13, 2023" (PDF). Billboard . Retrieved March 14, 2023.
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27. "Top Selling Albums of 2023". Recorded Music NZ. Archived from the original on December 21, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
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30. "ARIA Top 50 Albums for week of 5 February 2024". Australian Recording Industry Association. February 5, 2024. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
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32. "New Zealand album certifications – Morgan Wallen – One Thing at a Time". Recorded Music NZ . Retrieved July 24, 2023.
33. "British album certifications – Morgan Wallen – One Thing at a Time". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved January 18, 2024.
34. "American album certifications – Morgan Wallen – One Thing at a Time". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved December 6, 2023.