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Thursday, August 3, 2023

First-Time Ever: Country Is 1-2-3 On Billboard Hot 100


The rise of Jason Aldean's “Try That in a Small Town”—a song with themes about gun ownership and vigilantism that was thrust into the national spotlight when Country Music Television pulled its music video—has made way for country music songs to take the No. 1, 2 and 3 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in the chart’s 65-year history.

“Try That In A Small Town” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 last week and rose to the top spot this week for the chart dated August 5, rounding out a top-three chart of country hits with “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen at No. 2 and Luke Combs’ “Fast Car”—a cover of the 1988 Tracy Chapman hit by the same name—at No. 3.

The previous week’s No. 1 song, ”Seven” by South Korean singer and BTS member Jung Kook, drops to No. 9 on the latest chart.

Songs from the country genre have never held the top three spots at the same time, Billboard said, and Wallen and Combs made history of their own in June when their songs held the top two positions, the first time both spots were taken up by country songs since 1981.


“Try That In A Small Town” was first released in May but didn't make headlines—or the Billboard chart—until July when its music video, which includes footage of people protesting police alongside lyrics about gun ownership, was pulled from CMT.

The song explores the patriotic sentiments of rural areas and implies gun owners in small towns will take it upon themselves to retaliate against people who “cuss out a cop, spit in his face” or “stomp on the flag."

The song has been criticized by reviewers, fellow musicians and a few politicians—Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones, a Democrat, called it “a shameful vision of gun extremism and vigilantism” that calls “for racist violence.”

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