

Country Music Star Morgan Wallen Places Record-Setting 36 Songs in One Week on the Billboard Hot 100

Love him or loathe him, country music superstar Morgan Wallen has a dedicated following, and with the recent release of his new album, One Thing at a Time, his fans have made their devotion known. The album, which has a whopping 36 tracks, debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 album charts, and Wallen set a record with every single one of the 36 tracks appearing on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
To put it in perspective, the previous record holder, rapper Drake, placed 27 songs on the chart at once in 2018, while Taylor Swift had 26 songs on the chart at the same time in 2021. Even at the height of Beatlemania, the Fab Four only managed to put 14 songs on the Hot 100 at the same time in 1964, which was the record that stood for a long time.
Here’s how Wallen’s songs landed on the Hot 100 (thanks to Outkick for compiling the list so I didn’t have to):
Six of the songs were already climbing the charts when the album dropped, and two of them re-entered the charts this week, including last year’s standalone Easter single “Don’t Think Jesus,” which appears on the album. That means 28 of the songs debuted on the Hot 100 this week.
Billboard hasn’t trumpeted Wallen’s impressive achievement as of this writing, although two articles on the magazine’s website highlighted the fact that he has 30 titles on the Top Streaming Songs chart and that he landed his first Hot 100 number one with “Last Night,” which is the first song by a solo male to top the Hot 100 and the Hot Country Songs chart simultaneously since “I Love a Rainy Night” by Eddie Rabbitt in 1981 (almost to the week), a whopping 12 years before Wallen was born.
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It was a good week for country music, with 13 other country songs on the Hot 100 by my count (15 if you count Taylor Swift, which I don’t). That means that just short of half of the Hot 100 is country, which is notable for a chart that hip-hop has come to dominate.
Wallen’s impressive chart record is continued testimony to his ability to overcome cancel culture. Early in 2021, TMZ leaked video of Wallen using the n-word, which led to streaming services, radio stations, and his record label dropping him.
Wallen made multiple apologies, all of which appeared sincere, including one where he asked his fans not to defend him, and he made donations to charities that benefit black musicians. Fans reacted by buying his music in droves, and the grassroots backlash was impossible for the music industry to ignore. As a result, he has experienced astounding success, and the entirety of One Thing at a Time hitting the Hot 100 at once is the latest example.
So, whether you’re a fan of Wallen or not (confession: I’m not crazy about him, although I like a few of his songs), the way he’s been able to overcome cancel culture is worth celebrating, and his chart record just might stand for a long time.