HARDY cracks the top 10 of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart for a fifth time as “Favorite Country Song” surges 12-7 on the list dated Nov. 29, up 17% to 20.5 million in audience Nov. 14-20, according to Luminate.
The track, which HARDY cowrote alongside six others, including Nate Smith, reaches the region almost two years after “Truck Bed” last put him there in February 2024. That song went all the way, becoming his third No. 1 that March, further cementing his momentum as both an artist and a writer.
“Favorite Country Song” is just one piece of HARDY’s current chart impact. He’s on the list three times over as his own rising hit joins two Morgan Wallen singles with a HARDY writing credit. HARDY cowrote Wallen’s “I Got Better,” which topped the chart in October and ranks at No. 6, as well as “I Ain’t Coming Back” (featuring Post Malone), at a new No. 24 high (8.2 million, up 10%).
HARDY has stacked 14 Country Airplay No. 1s as a cowriter, including three that he recorded, a run that began with Wallen’s “Up Down” (featuring Florida Georgia Line) in 2018. To date, 41 songs by 31 artists have reached the chart with HARDY’s name in the liner notes as a writer.
Dawn of ‘Midnight’
Nate Smith shows up elsewhere on Country Airplay as he and Tyler Hubbard bow at No. 34 with “After Midnight” with 4.6 million in audience. The track gives Smith his second-highest debut, following “Drinkin’ Buddies,” his 2024 collaboration with Lee Brice and Hailey Whitters, which opened and peaked at No. 26 that May. It’s Hubbard’s fourth top 40 premiere as a solo act (apart from his output in Florida Georgia Line); he started at a No. 19 best with “Undivided,” with Tim McGraw (an eventual No. 16 hit), in 2021.
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