The Morgan Wallen Superstar

Morgan Wallen for his Dangerous Album Photoshoot

Halfway through 2023, one artist has been dominating the charts at a career-defining pace. That artist is not Drake nor Bad Bunny, and not even Taylor Swift, currently making her way through the United States on her record-breaking Eras Tour. That artist is Morgan Wallen, a mainstream country giant from outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. Starting his career on the singing show “The Voice,” Morgan Wallen has since amalgamated multiple number 1’s on Billboard’s Hot Country and Top Country Albums charts and sold out stadiums across the country. But what makes him the guy to watch is how his catalog is squaring up to, and even defeating, the pop giants of our time. We’re going to talk about how successful he’s been on the all-genre Hot 100 and album Hot 200 charts, which, to non-country fans, seems to have happened out of nowhere. 

If I Know Me,  Album 1 

His first album If I Know Me (2018) was home to huge country hits like "Whiskey Glasses" and "Up-Down" (ft. Florida Georgia Line). The album peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 200 and established Wallen as country's new guy to watch.

Dangerous (the Double Album),  Album 2

His sophomore album, Dangerous, a double album, came out in January of 2021 and debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 200. It would stay there for a combined 10 weeks. This was a surprise for most chart watchers, and Wallen himself would write a letter to fans, posted via his social media, thanking his fans and explaining how a country album going 10 weeks #1 all-genre was practically unheard of. And, even after leaving the top couple of spots on the Hot 200 as new debuts surfaced, Dangerous did not leave the top ten. In September of 2022, Dangerous broke the record for the album with the most cumulative weeks in the top 10 of the Hot 200 for any single artist all-genre, beating Peter, Paul, and Mary’s 1962 album's record alongside other huge albums like Adele’s 21 (home to the inescapable “Hello” track). From the date of publishing this article, it still has not left. Today, more than 2.5 years since the debut of Dangerous, it sits at #5 on the Hot 200. This means Morgan Wallen has beaten Drake’s record, Bad Bunny’s record, the Weeknd’s record, Taylor Swift’s—you name it. In 2021, Dangerous was the biggest album on the Hot 200, beating Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour and Drake’s Certified Lover Boy. In 2022, it was the third biggest album of the year on the Billboard Hot 200, a full year after its release, beaten only by Bad Bunny and Adele’s releases that year. Dangerous, considered by some a modern classic, had hits "Wasted on You,"  "More Than My Hometown," and "Cover Me Up" (a Jason Isbell cover). 

One Thing At A Time, Album 3

Now, Wallen’s third album One Thing At A Time, released in March 2023, has surged ahead of its predecessor. One Thing At A Time has spent 12 straight weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 200. For reference, Taylor Swift’s 1989, which won Album of the Year at the Grammys, spent 11 weeks, and Drake’s Scorpion, home to the superhit “God’s Plan,” spent 5 at the top spot, both cumulative—not straight. It took Taylor Swift releasing bonus physicals for her latest album Midnights that her dedicated Swifties could buy to beat Morgan Wallen just last week, putting him at #2, and since Midnights has fallen back below One Thing At A Time again. A full 14 weeks later, Morgan Wallen is averaging 100k+ sales a week, numbers that major stars hope to debut with. And, then, there’s the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The song "Last Night" from One Thing At A Time has been #1 on the Hot 100 for 10 weeks and was released 19 weeks ago, meaning that it has spent more than half of its existence as the number one song in the United States. Many of the weeks that "Last Night" was #1 on the Hot 100 were the same weeks that One Thing At a Time was #1 on the Hot 200. This occurred in May and June of 2023, three to four months after the album's release, which means that debut excitement isn’t the reason for Morgan Wallen’s success. In fact, "Last Night" was a grower on the Hot 100, at one point being under #20. On June 7th, Billboard reported that, thus far, Morgan Wallen is the artist with the most Hot 100 entries of 2023, standing firm at 39 entries. SZA comes in at 2nd place with 16 entries. This is certainly a big deal for the country genre, but in saying that, one thing should be made clear. Morgan Wallen isn’t just the star of country music right now; he’s beating his pop contemporaries at their own game. None of the chart and sales darlings that call the battlefield of the Hot 100 and Hot 200 their home are at this level—not Adele, Taylor, Drake, or The Weeknd.

So, where is all of this support coming from? If you go to Billboard and major chart news accounts across the internet and social media, you’ll find pop fans in disbelief in the comments of posts reporting yet another week at #1 for Morgan Wallen. Questions by pop fans begging “who’s streaming this” flood the replies. This disbelief comes from a valid criticism of Wallen’s past major controversy where TMZ caught him using a racial epithet while drunk, as well as a general hesitation towards country music as a whole. While criticisms should be made towards both Wallen’s actions and the culture of casual racism that many country fans uphold, country music itself is a vast and diverse genre that too many music fans lock themselves away from due to cultural disdain and outdated stereotypes. Apart from just the southern accent and the small-town references, country music is home to careful storytelling and some of the most skilled songwriters of all time. Morgan Wallen’s “7 Summers” and “Thought You Should Know” are two examples in his repertoire that highlight the simplicity and deep emotionality of country music.

And, to answer the question more precisely, while much of Wallen’s success is thanks to fans’ love for his work, the structure of his work, country music consumption norms, and Billboard’s tracking metrics all align to create an ideal climate for Wallen’s unforeseen success. Country music, still relies heavily on sales and radio, even as pop and rap move into streaming as the primary juggernaut of music consumption, two metrics that Billboard weighs heavily in its song and album rankings. And, to support the streaming game, Wallen’s albums are long, letting his projects amass huge streaming numbers. Dangerous boasts 31 tracks, and One Thing At A Time, 36. Sonically, his cross-genre appeal makes him a solid candidate for record-breaking success, as well. Wallen’s friendship with rapper and hitmaker Lil Durk has led to two country-rap collaborations. Wallen’s stardom has shown that country music is as strong a genre as ever, and, with the emerging trap beats and pop melodies it continues to mix alongside its homegrown, acoustic roots, the genre is having a revolution that is taking its streamability and chartability to new heights. Purists and “anything but country” music fans be damned.