Florida Georgia Line Skyrocket to No. 1 With ‘H.O.L.Y.’
Florida Georgia Line is used to being at the top of the chart, but "H.O.L.Y." brings Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley one of their biggest jumps ever, going from No. 39 to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in a single week.
"H.O.L.Y." (an acronym for the "high on loving you" chorus) is the duo's newest single, written by Nate Cyphert, William Larsen and busbee (aka Michael Busbee).
The song's vault from No. 39 to No. 1 is the third-greatest in the history of the chart, and it's something they've done before -- but even better. FGL's "Dirt" leapt from No. 40 to No. 1 in its second week. Meanwhile, the leader in this record is Jason Aldean's "Burnin' It Down" which flew from No. 42 to No. 1 in its second week.
Though the song is FGL's fifth No. 1 hit, they almost passed on it. “The song came in, me and BK gave it half a listen, probably not even to the chorus, and said, ‘Nah, that’s not really us. We’re gonna pass,'” Hubbard tells ABC News Radio. “A couple weeks later, we just were both kinda like, ‘Have you been listening to that “H.O.L.Y.,” that song?’ Sure enough, we were both like, ‘Man, we gotta cut this!'”
It's a more mature sound from the duo, and in direct comparison to their massive chart topper "Cruise," it's slow, introspective, romantic and almost spiritual. "After listening a lot, we knew it was the exact direction we wanted to go. There were three instances where our wives asked us about 'H.O.L.Y.,' and when we said we were considering it for FGL, they said we had to cut it. We feel like the song is anointed," adds Hubbard.
“H.O.L.Y.” is the first single from Hubbard and Kelley’s upcoming third album, Dig Your Roots. A release date for the project has not yet been announced, but it should be sometime around August 2016. “H.O.L.Y.” is available for download on iTunes.
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