Oliver Anthony’s Populist, Polarizing ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ on Track to Debut at Number One

UNKNOWN VIRGINIA COUNTRY singer Oliver Anthony and his song “Rich Men North of Richmond” have had an unusual, stratospheric rise over the past several days as the track, championed by conservative pundits and politicians, has unexpectedly become one of the best-selling songs in the country this week. “Rich Men” now sits atop Apple Music and Spotify’s U.S. charts along with the iTunes sales chart, and Anthony — wholly anonymous until last week — is now among the strongest contenders for a Number One on Billboard’s Hot 100 next week.

According to data tracking service Luminate, from last Friday through this Monday, “Rich Men North of Richmond” had garnered over 98,000 digital song sales along with about 7.8 million streams. However, it’s yet to achieve significant radio play given how new the song is. At the top of the iTunes chart since Friday, “Rich Men” has significantly more pure sales than other contenders.

In the same time frame, Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night,” the reigning Number One from this week’s Billboard chart and one of the biggest hits of the year, has 13 million streams but just over 3,000 digital sales, with 41 million airplay impressions. In a major year for the genre, Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” — yet another country smash — has about 10 million streams, about 6,000 sales and 58 million radio audience impressions. “Fast Car” was Number Two this week.