Before Zach Bryan was the certified superstar he is today, selling out stadiums with every show announcement, it’s commonly known that he was one of the best-kept secrets in the independent country scene. The “I Remember Everything” singer had already released two critically successful independent records as well as his first major-label release, the Quiet, Heavy Dreams EP.
Despite the critical success in indie country scenes, Bryan had not yet become a powerhouse in the genre. That all changed when he released “Something in the Orange” on April 22, 2022.
“Something in the Orange” was the fourth single released in anticipation of his mammoth, major label debut, American Heartbreak, and became Bryan’s first ever #1 hit on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart as well as their Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.
In an interview with Kelleigh Bannen, Bryan described the song as not being as serious as many think, saying, “‘Something In the Orange’ was a weird song because everyone thinks it was over some deep, dark thing.” And it was just me in a cabin in Wisconsin. And I was like, I thought about the word orange, and I was watching the sunset, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a cool story to tell in a song,’ you know?”
The track has remained the most popular in Bryan’s deep discography, reaching over a billion streams on Spotify alone which would later allow the Oklahoma native to become the second country artist ever to have two separate songs to pass the billion-stream threshold on the music platform. Additionally, “Something in the Orange” has been certified 7x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), selling over 7 million units.
Bryan’s first career #1 hit also broke the record for being the longest-charting country song in the Billboard Hot 100 chart’s history, beating Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheat’s” record of 64 weeks.
“Something in the Orange” also netted Bryan his first major award-show nomination, getting the nod for Best Country Solo Performance at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. It lost to Willie Nelson’s “Live Forever,” however
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