Eric Church has achieved his tenth No.1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart with “Hell of a View.” The EMI Nashville single moves 4-1 on the May 29 countdown, in its 29th week. On Hot Country Songs, which is computed not only from airplay but also from sales and streaming, it climbs 3-2, in its 30th week.
The song is from the country star’s Soul, part of his three-part Heart & Soul release, from which the first single was “Stick That In Your Country Song.” Released last year and subsequently included on the Heart album, it peaked at No.22 on the airplay chart in July 2020.
The Heart album entered and peaked at No.3 on Top Country Albums, on which Soul landed at No.2 a week later. The & set, available only to members of the Church Choir fan club, entered the list that same week at No.12.
Church wrote “Hell of a View” with Casey Beathard and Monty Criswell. It was described on release by Taste of Country as “a love song for rebels,” and the artist went on to perform it at the 54th CMA Awards in November 2020.
The new No.1 extends Church’s span of airplay chart-toppers to over nine years. His first such success was with “Drink in My Hand” in January 2012. The same year, he returned to the top with “Springsteen,” followed by “The Only Way I Know,” with Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan in 2013.
“Give Me Back My Hometown” hit the summit in 2014 and “Talladega” in 2015, when Church was also featured on Keith Urban’s “Raise ’Em Up.” “Record Year” made No.1 in 2016 and “Some Of It” in 2019, before another guest appearance in 2020 on Luke Combs’ “Does To Me.”
Rolling Stone’s Jonathan Bernstein called the three-album project “his most ambitious: a 24-song triple album released over the course of a week in three segments. Heart, &, and Soul further refine the melodic, mid-tempo storytelling Church excels at, offering a moving summation of what he has done well throughout his 15-year career.
“You get brash statements that recall his irreverent early days (‘Stick That in Your Country Song’), as well as maximalist rock-and-soul like the Elton John-meets-Meat Loaf ‘Heart of the Night,’ and the roots rock of ‘Hell of a View.’”
Listen to the best of Eric Church on Apple Music and Spotify.
