Florida Georgia Line’s ‘Dirt’ Plows To No. 1 On Hot Country Songs
The duo blasts 40-1 and debuts on the Hot 100 at No. 11 with the first single from its sophomore album.
Florida Georgia Line cleans up with its highly-anticipated new single, “Dirt,” the new No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. The song rockets from No. 40 to No. 1 following its first full week of availability.
“Dirt” makes the biggest vault to No. 1 since the chart switched from covering core country radio audience to a sales/airplay/streaming hybrid almost two years ago. The mid-tempo track surpasses the 35-1 leap that Luke Bryan’s “That’s My Kind of Night” took (Aug. 31, 2013).
The lead single from the duo’s forthcoming second album arrives atop Country Digital Songs with 182,000 first-week downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It also bows at No. 1 on Country Streaming Songs with 2.2 million U.S. streams (with 74 percent from Vevo On YouTube), according to Nielsen BDS. With 19 million audience impressions, the song storms Country Airplay at No. 16, where it’s the act’s highest launch.
Its video premiered July 8, the same day that the pair performed the song on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
“Dirt” is Florida Georgia Line’s fourth Hot Country Songs No. 1. Debut smash “Cruise” led for a record 24 weeks beginning on Dec. 22, 2012, while “Stay” (2013) and “This Is How We Roll,” featuring Bryan (this year), reigned for six weeks each. The act’s first three leaders are from its debut album “Here’s to the Good Times,” which has sold 1.9 million copies in the U.S.
Following hits like party anthems “Cruise” and “Roll,” “I think it’s a good move for Florida Georgia Line to come back with more of a ballad,” says B-Dub, assistant program director/music director of KUPL Portland, Ore. “It shows their maturity and diversity in sound as artists. Listener reaction has been great so far.”
On the overall Billboard Hot 100, “Dirt” debuts at No. 11, marking the highest entrance for a country duo in the chart’s nearly 56-year history.
All charts, including Hot Country Songs and the Hot 100, will refresh tomorrow (July 17) on Billboard.com. The latest charts will also appear in the next issue of Billboard magazine (on sale on Friday, July 18).