Oliver Anthony Debuts On Hot 100 At No. 1

Oliver Anthony Music’s breakout viral hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. Among other chart achievements for the singer-songwriter, he’s the first artist ever to launch atop the list with no prior chart history in any form.

Billboard reports the Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations.

Here’s a look at the coronation of “Rich Men North of Richmond,” the 1,153rd song to top the Hot 100 over the chart’s 65-year history, and the 69th to debut at No. 1.

Streams, sales & airplay: Officially released Aug. 11, “Rich Men North of Richmond” drew 17.5 million streams and sold 147,000 downloads in the tracking week ending Aug. 17, according to Luminate. Not being promoted to radio, the song also tallied 553,000 radio airplay audience impressions, the bulk on country stations.

The single also debuts at No. 1 on the Digital Song Sales chart, and No. 4 on Streaming Songs.

The track by the Farmville, Va.-based singer-songwriter and former factory worker, born Christopher Anthony Lunsford (whose stage name honors his grandfather, Oliver Anthony), first drew buzz online, including on TikTok, where he boasts 1.5 million followers, prior to its Aug. 11 posting on the radiowv YouTube account, which spotlights unsigned Americana and country acts in the Virginia/West Virginia region. (The radiowv recording features simply Anthony’s voice and a Gretsch guitar.

The song has drawn both praise from the right and opposition from the left, with its lyrics referencing “your dollar taxed to no end ’cause of rich men north of Richmond,” as well as “the obese milkin’ welfare.” Stated Anthony in a video posted Aug. 7, “I sit pretty dead center down the aisle on politics and always have.” He added on Facebook Aug. 17, “I am sad to see the world in the state it’s in, with everyone fighting with each other.”