Thirteen-number-one-hit maker Justin Moore has a hefty catalogue of songs from the 2010s that have since defined his career.
But come on, nothin’ beats his iconic track “Bait A Hook,” which has made quite the resurgence in today’s decade thanks to social media. Insanely enough, though, that song didn’t come close to charting #1 at radio; in fact, it didn’t even break the top ten.
In a resurfaced clip from his self-titled podcast with guest Rhett Akins, Moore opened up about this disconnect between a song’s success and a song going number one. Obviously, any song that reaches hit status at radio by definition is “successful”; however, that number one slot doesn’t necessarily mean it automatically becomes a standout track in the artist’s discography.
Moore shares, “I tell people all the time that [Bait A Hook] potentially, at least live, is my biggest song because of the crowd reaction and interaction and all that.” He then admits, “I think the song went to No. 15 or something like that; it wasn’t even one of our big huge so-called radio hits.” To confirm, that track actually only peaked at No. 17 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
Akins hops into the conversation, who surely knows a thing or two about number-one hits with over thirty under his belt, noting that, “sometimes songs that go to number one don’t affect people. It’s like they heard it, they liked it, it got played all the time, but it didn’t push anybody’s buttons.” He then points to Eric Church and Chris Stapleton as prime examples of people who may not have a bucket load of radio success but yet remain two highly successful people in the industry.
Church only has six, and Stapleton has one, yet they can fill stadiums full of people who know every lyric to their discographies. Plainly put, Akins states, “sometimes for whatever reason songs go to one, sometimes they affect a lot of people, and sometimes they’re just kind of background music.”
While this truth has been a fact of the music business for quite some time, it’s certainly amplified in today’s world as streaming takes over and radio fades out. I’d bet that if you turned on country radio right now and compared the trending tracks currently spinning to what’s on your favorite country playlist, the crossover would be slim.
Not to mention that with streaming, you’ve got every song right at your fingertips, so now, with Moore’s 2011 “Bait A Hook” blowing up as a TikTok audio, it’s become one of his top-most-streamed songs on spotify raking in nearly 75 million streams.
With Moore now returning to the road following a short hiatus prioritizing his health in rehab and becoming newly sober, he’ll once again return to the road this Thursday, August 6, in Dorien Center, NY.
Justin Moore Tour Dates:
- August 6: Dorien Center, NY
- August 7: Cuyahoga Falls, OH
- August 8: Bristow, VA
- August 13: Camden, NJ
- August 14: Hartford, CT
- August 15: Bangor, ME
- August 21: Sioux Falls, SD
- August 22: Grand Forks, ND
- August 28: Dieppe, NB
- August 29: Saint-Agapit, QC
- September 4: Detroit, MI
- September 5: New Haven, KY
- September 10: Salem, VA
- September 11: Pineville, KY
- September 12: Independence, KY
- September 17: Pryor, OK
- September 25: Phoenix, AZ
- September 26: Las Vegas, NV
- October 2: Prior Lake, MN
- October 3: Fort Worth, TX
- October 17: Wisconsin Dells, WI
- November 13: Montgomery, AL
- November 21: Des Arc, AR