Chase Rice
Alexa King*Chase Rice earns his fourth top 10 on Billboard's airplay-, sales- and streaming-based Hot Country Songs chart, as "Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen.," featuring Florida Georgia Line, leaps 13-8 on the July 10-dated list.
The track surged by 66% to 6.5 million U.S. streams in the week ending July 1, according to MRC Data, helped by more prominent placement on Amazon Music's Country Heat playlist beginning June 25. It also gained by 10% to 1,300 sold.
On Country Airplay, the song rises 8-7, up 11% to 21.6 million impressions in the week ending July 4.
"God," which Rice co-wrote, becomes his fourth Hot Country Songs top 10. He last reached the tier with "Eyes on You," which peaked at No. 3 in April 2019. "Eyes" became Rice's first Country Airplay No. 1, leading for two weeks the following month.
FGL, the duo of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, banks its 20th Hot Country Songs top 10, a sum that includes six leaders. Notably, Rice co-penned FGL's debut hit "Cruise," which reigned for a then-record 25 weeks in 2012-13, aided by its remix with Nelly.
Meanwhile, FGL doubles up in the Hot Country Songs top 10 with its latest Nelly team-up, "Lil Bit," which holds at its No. 3 high. It drew 11.3 million streams in the tracking week (up 9%) and ascends 2-1 on Country Streaming Songs, marking FGL's fifth leader on the chart and Nelly's first.
GARY GETS BACK Gary Allan's first studio set since 2013, Ruthless, enters Top Country Albums at No. 8 with 11,000 equivalent album units earned (9,000 in album sales) in its first tracking week.
The release, which Allan produced with Tony Brown, Greg Droman, Jay Joyce and Mark Wright, awards Allan his ninth Top Country Albums top 10, with all having arrived in the tier. His last album, Set You Free, bowed atop the tally in February 2013, becoming his third No. 1.
PERFECT 10 Luke Combs' "Forever After All" dominates Hot Country Songs for a 10th week and Country Airplay for a sixth frame.
"Forever," which arrived at the Hot Country Songs summit last November and has now added nine more weeks in a row at No. 1, drew 32.8 million in airplay audience and 10.4 million streams and sold 3,600 in the tracking week.
Combs banks his second single to top Hot Country Songs for double-digit weeks, after "Beautiful Crazy" reigned for 11 in 2019. The only other acts with multiple such No. 1s since the chart began as a multi-metric genre ranking in 1958: Florida Georgia Line (three) and Sam Hunt (two). Only 28 of 1,565 total No. 1s, or less than 2%, have dominated for 10 or more weeks each.
On Country Airplay, "Forever" is the 22nd No. 1 to rule for six or more weeks, among 866 total toppers, or just over 2%, since the chart originated in 1990. It's Combs' second, after "Beautiful Crazy" ruled for seven frames in 2019. Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw have each charted three such No. 1s, while Faith Hill, Toby Keith, Lonestar and Keith Urban have also tallied two apiece.
The world leader, who has repeatedly faced criticism for featuring songs from artists who do not want their music connected to his political views, shared a viral clip of We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love) that focused on the lyric: “Me and my truth we sit in silence.”
The footage shows Trump at a rally while the statement “Men can’t have babies and should never compete in women’s sports” appears on screen.
The Team Trump TikTok account posted the video with the caption: “This shouldn’t be controversial! #trump #arianagrande #maga.”
Ariana responded in a comment that was later removed, saying: “Never use my music again. Also, your truth is false.”
Trump has a well known record of opposing transgender rights, and the US Supreme Court recently ruled that states can prohibit transgender women from taking part in women’s sports. In a 6 to 3 ruling, the justices determined that such laws do not breach Title IX or the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.
The decision in June came after several other actions by the Trump administration involving transgender policies. Earlier in May, the Supreme Court also permitted the administration to continue with its “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” order, which would prevent transgender individuals from serving in the US military.
Ariana’s statement arrived soon after Taylor Swift also took steps to stop Trump from using her music on TikTok. Trump had featured a number of her songs in his social media posts, including a video of him and his wife Lady Melania Trump watching fireworks accompanied by August.
The song was later taken off the post and replaced by a notice that read: “This sound isn’t available.”
Trump appeared to deliberately select Taylor’s track, adding the message: “I’m sure @Taylor Swift is going to be super excited we used her song!”
He also responded to the Team Trump video with: “Mood because it’s August and Donald Trump is your president.”
Other Taylor Swift songs that were removed from Trump’s TikTok content included The Fate of Ophelia and Father Figure.
Trump previously made headlines when he wrote “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” on Truth Social after the singer publicly announced that she planned to support Kamala Harris in the previous presidential election.
