Morgan Wallen made Billboard chart history with his deeply personal new song, “Don’t Think Jesus.”
According to Billboard, the song, which was released on Good Friday, debuted atop the April 30-dated Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. With this achievement, Wallen is now the first artist to score three No.1 debuts on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart (based on airplay, streaming and sales) since October 1958 when the survey began.
According to Billboard, Wallen’s previous chart-topping debuts came with the release of “Wasted On You,” his current single at country radio, and “7 Summers.” He previously topped the Hot Country Songs chart after a 30-week run with “Whiskey Glasses.”
Since the inception of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, only 11 songs have debuted at the top and only one other artist has scored multiple No.1 debuts: Taylor Swift, who skyrocketed to the top of the chart with the release of “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” and “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” in 2021.
“Don’t Think Jesus” was Chase McGill, Jessi Alexander and Mark Holman with Wallen in mind. It marks Wallen’s first new solo release since he dropped his record-breaking sophomore project, Dangerous: The Double Album, in January of 2021.
From the moment of its release through April 21, “Don’t Think Jesus” raked in 18.1 million U.S. streams, according to the outlet, who referenced data from Luminate (formerly known as MRC Data).
Additionally, the single sold 21,500 downloads, making for a No.1 debut on the Country Digital Song Sales and the all-genre Digital Song Sales charts.
Morgan Wallen First Teased The Song In Fall Of 2021
Wallen first teased “Don’t Think Jesus” on TikTok in the fall of 2021 and admitted that the emotional lyrics brought him to tears upon first listen.
“Some of my friends sent me a song today, I was on the way back home from playing a little golf,” Wallen said at the time. “They wrote this song with me in on their mind and made me cry in the truck.”
The emotion-filled song tells the story of a boy chasing whiskey and women while living life in the fast lane until he realized he couldn’t do it anymore.
“A boy gets a guitar and starts writing songs / about whiskey and women and getting too stoned / he got all three at the first show he played / hometown said ‘I don’t think Jesus done it that way,’” Wallen sings.
The East Tennessee native then belts out the chorus, “If I was him I’d say to hell with you / ain’t no helping you / find someone else to give Heaven to / I’m telling you / I’d shame me, I’d blame me / I’d make me pay for my mistakes / oh, but I don’t think Jesus does it that way.”
@morganwallen Don’t Think Jesus
Wallen Is Currently On His Sold-Out Headlining Tour
Morgan Wallen is currently in the midst of his massive The Dangerous Tour in support of the project. The tour, which is the biggest country tour of 2022 and runs through October, recently sold-out with over 800,000 tickets sold, according to Up2DateCountry.
In addition to HARDY and Larry Fleet, the country hitmaker recently added Lainey Wilson, Kameron Marlowe, Chase Rice, Ian Munsick, and ERNEST to select dates of his sold-out tour lineup.
The singer recently announced his first-ever Stadium show in Arlington, Texas, at Globe Life Field on October 8, 2022, with special guests HARDY, Mike Ryan and Jake Worthington.
