Oliver Anthony is the off-the-grid farmer behind the hist song “Rich Men North of Richmond.” He also just made music industry history, as he became the first artist ever to debut at the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while never having had a presence on the chart before.
That’s right. Anthony dominated the chart, blowing past fellow country singers Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen while utterly blowing leftist pop artists like Taylor Swift, Nikki Minaj, and Selena Gomez out of the water.
Check out the Hot 100 chart here, with Anthony at the very top of it despite “Rich Men North of Richmond” being his debut in the music and entertainment industry and his never having a spot on the chart before:
The Top 10 of this week’s Billboard Hot 100. pic.twitter.com/IQ1cbWI1gz
— Pop Base (@PopBase) August 21, 2023
Chart Data, which charts the success of songs and awards in the music industry, called attention to the record Anthony set with his powerful song, saying, “Oliver Anthony Music becomes the first artist in history to debut at #1 on the Hot 100 without previously appearing on any Billboard chart.”
Oliver Anthony Music becomes the first artist in history to debut at #1 on the Hot 100 without previously appearing on any Billboard chart. pic.twitter.com/r6u0nzCdXy
— chart data (@chartdata) August 21, 2023
Circle All Access described Anthony’s feat as well, noting that a few other artists managed to top the chart with their debut singles but that Anthony is the first ever to do so without any prior chart presence, saying, “This remarkable accomplishment establishes Oliver as the very first artist to claim this spot without any prior chart presence of any kind. Additionally, he also joins a select group of artists to achieve this feat with their debut singles, including Zayn, Baauer, Carrie Underwood, Fantasia, and Clay Aiken.”
The success of “Rich Men North of Richmond” has already been substantial. As of the week which concluded on August 17, the song garnered 17.5 million streams and 147,000 downloads, according to Luminate. Further, the song’s YouTube video has amassed more than 30 million views.
Making Anthony’s success even more impressive is that, while a few others have shot to number 1 on their first try, he did so without a record label. He’s a small town farmer, living mostly off the grid, who posted a song online and had a few people in the industry boost him. No record label, no formal relationship with the big music insiders, just raw talent and a song that resonated with Americans who feel spat upon and left behind by the ruling class.
His success on the Billboard Hot 100 comes alongside his success on the Apple iTunes chart, which he shot to the top of on August 7th, dethroning Jason Aldean’s similarly resonant “Try That in a Small Town,” which had previously dominated that chart.
Both songs have inspired conservatives, who see in them a looming backlash to America’s regime and its pro-globalization, soft-on-crime policies, both of which have decimated the American people by devaluing their dollars, shipping the factories in which they used to work abroad, substituting quality American goods for cheap, Chinese ones, and unleashing a mob of violent felons to terrorize law-abiding citizens and loot their businesses. It remains to be seen if that backlash materializes in a politically efficacious way, but many see in these songs signs that the American people are fed up with their ruling class.
Watch Anthony here:
Wife was able to get closer for a better view at #MorrisFarmMarket in #Currituck, NC, to see @AintGottaDollar. Great show. pic.twitter.com/LivzpboQ82
— LukeDuke (@LukeDukeTweets) August 13, 2023
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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