Oliver Anthony’s folk ballad “Rich Men North of Richmond” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week — a rare enough feat for any artist, but unprecedented for a performer who had never previously hit any Billboard chart at all.
The song by Mr. Oliver, a Virginia-based singer-songwriter who had very little public profile a mere month ago, blew up on social media after TikTok and then YouTube audiences latched onto the rootsy music and politically charged lyrics.
The song garnered a significant boost online from the political right, who praised its lyrics about high taxes and an out-of-touch political class.
“I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day / Overtime hours for b———- pay,” Mr. Anthony sings, adding later that “your dollar ain’t s—- and it’s taxed to no end.”
He blames that on “these rich men north of Richmond,” presumably the political class in Washington.
“Lord knows they all just wanna have total control / Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do,” Mr. Anthony sings, then reassuring his audience that “they don’t think you know, but I know that you do.”
Among the lines drawing liberal ire are about “the obese milkin’ welfare,” which they claim is a racist trope.
“Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds / Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds,” Mr. Anthony sings.
The song’s success comes out of nowhere for the Farmville resident, who doesn’t even have a signed recording contract.
It’s also the second time this summer that political controversy and conservative support have boosted a song from nowhere to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, following in the wake of Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town,” which liberals also accused of racism.
“Rich Men North of Richmond” first drew buzz on TikTok and then was posted Aug. 11 on the “radiowv” YouTube account, which, according to Billboard magazine “spotlights unsigned Americana and country acts in the Virginia/West Virginia region.”
Several dozen songs have debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 over the chart’s 65-year history, but almost all have been by already major stars like Elton John, Taylor Swift, Drake or Whitney Houston. Even artists whose first Hot 100 hit debuted at No. 1 — such as Carrie Underwood and Clay Aiken — all had some prior charts history.
Artists who never had a song debut at No. 1 include the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Madonna and 50 Cent.
Mr. Anthony, whose real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford, has said that while people may have some problems with the lyrics, he sits right in the middle politically.
“I remember as a kid the conservatives wanting war, and me not understanding that. And I remember a lot of the controversies when the left took office, and it seems like, you know, both sides serve the same master,” he said in a video. “And that master is not someone of any good to the people of this country.”
The Hot 100 gathers data from streaming, radio play and purchases of individual songs to track which hits are the most popular in the U.S. and around the world.
The song, which was released on Aug. 11, was streamed over 17 million times and sold 147,000 digital downloads. The track also got a lot of radio play, mostly on country music stations, gathering 553,000 radio airplay audience impressions.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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