Rich Men North of Richmond
"Rich Men North of Richmond" is a song by American singer Christopher Anthony Lunsford (credited under the name "Oliver Anthony Music"[2]) that was released in August 2023. The song became an overnight viral hit after gaining traction on social media. Within days of its release, it topped sales and streaming charts, and then debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Anthony the first artist to debut atop the chart without any prior chart history in any form.[3] The song received praise from some conservatives and was discussed at a Republican presidential debate; in response, Anthony rejected attempts to "try to stick me in a political bucket" and described the song as a criticism of both Democratic and Republican politicians.
Production[edit]
Completed less than four hours before recording, the song had stood half-way written two days before.[13] There was just one instrument – an acoustic resonator guitar.[4] The recording was quite raw and unpolished, with background noise and clipping, but this helped to give it an authentic, emotional quality.[4]
The song was first uploaded to YouTube on August 8, 2023,[14] by Radiowv, and the video received over 5 million views in its first three days.[5] Prior to the song's success, Anthony was not a well-known musician, and he had previously self-recorded songs on his cell phone.[15] "Rich Men North of Richmond" was Anthony's first professionally recorded song.[16]
Commercial performance[edit]
"Rich Men North of Richmond" debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 dated August 26, 2023, with 147,000 downloads and 17.5 million streams that week.[3] It made Anthony the first artist to debut a song at number one on that chart with no prior entries in any form (five other solo artists debuted at No. 1 but had prior entries in some forms; for example, Baauer's song "Harlem Shake" first appeared in the dance/electronic chart before it reached the Hot 100).[3][37] It also makes him the third unsigned artist to have a number-one single on that chart, following Lisa Loeb's "Stay (I Missed You)" in 1994 and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Can't Hold Us" and "Thrift Shop" in 2013.[3][38] The song is also the first by a solo male artist to reach No. 1 on both the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs simultaneously in its debut week.[3]
The song stayed at number one on the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, and Digital Songs charts for a second week, with downloads dropping 20% to 117,000, while streaming went up 31% to 22.9 million. Airplay increased by 310% to 2.3 million audience impressions despite the song not being promoted to radio.[39]