Shaboozey has notched his first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” the publication reported on Monday (July 8). The record initially came out in April, and its accompanying music video has over 69 million views on YouTube to date.
The achievement marked a first for the Virginia native, simultaneously making him the only Black man to top both the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts. He’s also the second Black artist overall to achieve the feat, coming just a few months after Beyoncé’s “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” skyrocketed in popularity.
“I had been wanting to flip a 2000s song for a while,” Shaboozey told Billboard. “I just said, ‘Everybody at the bar getting tipsy,’ and then we were like, ‘Oh, s**t!’ The producer picked up the guitar and started playing the chords, and then we started writing, just having fun and being creative.”
The chart-topping track was housed on the Virginia native’s debut album, Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going. The 12-song offering featured Noah Cyrus, BigXthaPlug and Paul Cauthen, who each appeared on “My Fault,” “Drink Don’t Need No Mix” and “Last Of My Kind,” respectively.
It’s also worth mentioning that Shaboozey’s success came on the heels of his appearance on the COWBOY CARTER tracks “SPAGHETTII” and “SWEET * HONEY * BUCKIIN’.” Detailing the collaborative process, he explained, “Everyone’s working at the same time and [in] different rooms, and I came in a couple of days and recorded some parts. [Beyoncé] heard them later and liked them. It’s cool how you don’t know until the last moment if your part made it or not.”
“That’s how Beyoncé likes to put things together, taking different parts of different things and different bridges, always experimenting with the sound, so very free-form over there,” Shaboozey added.