18 Singles + 1 Classic Certified Gold, Platinum & Double-Platinum
32 Total Songs Across His Career Reach Precious Metal Status
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Hits are easy, songs that last rare. Kenny Chesney has built a career on writing and seeking songs he believes embody the life people actually inhabit, the times they live in and the ways they let go, while always trying to push the music itself. That mantra saw him break Billboard’s record for Most No. 1s on the Country Airplay Chart, as “Get Along” became his 30th chart-topper. Now that philosophy finds 19 songs from across his career receiving gold, platinum and double-platinum certifications, because they’ve become songs people listen to as the soundtrack to their lives.
“I know what music means to me, and I know what songs can do,” says the songwriter/superstar. “Just because something’s fun, that doesn’t mean it can’t matter; just because something’s a ballad, doesn’t mean it needs to mean more. Over the years, I have really tried to push what we were doing, say the stuff people never said for kids like me – and find the sweet spot where melody and lyric reflect each other in a way that makes each song even more than any one thing.”
That philosophy has worked. With 32 total certifications, Chesney just learned 19 songs have been certified gold, platinum or double-platinum, starting with “Me and You,” “She’s Got It All,” “How Forever Feels” and “You Had Me from Hello” striking gold through Cosmic Hallelujah’s “Noise” and “All the Pretty Girls” to join the already platinum “Setting the World On Fire.”
With five multi-platinum, 10 platinum and five gold albums just certified, every album Chesney recorded with Sony Nashville now has precious metal certification. His myriad of singles are also catching up with certifications, proving even the obscure songs – like the now gold album track “Back Where I Come From” – define the way No Shoes Nation experience the world around them.
“When I’m looking at a song, I’m looking at how true does it feel,” explains the eight-time Entertainer of the Year. “I want things I’ve not already said, but also excite me musically. When I heard ‘You and Tequila,’ it so perfectly captured that addiction to people you know aren’t good for you; it never went to No. 1, but it’s double-platinum. Or ‘Noise,’ one of those songs in the moment nobody realized how badly it needed to be said, but I think the way the melody and the track felt, the way those words were – it’s become almost a purging when we do it live.”
Over the course of 10 albums, Chesney’s music found four double-platinum certifications for “American Kids,” “Come Over,” “You and Tequila” and “Somewhere With You,” platinum for “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems,” “Pirate Flag,” “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” “Beer In Mexico,” “Out Last Night,” “I Go Back” and “There Goes My Life,” and gold for “Noise,” “Young,” “Better As A Memory,” “All the Pretty Girls” and the above mentioned songs.
“I don’t watch these things,” confesses the man The LA Times called “The People’s Superstar,” addressing the news. “My only measure is how the people respond when we sing these songs live. But seeing all this on paper, it blows my mind, and it makes me happy for all the songwriters who gave me pieces of their heart and their life, and for all the people listening who’ve found their own turning points, best times, hard truths and realizations in this music. This isn’t mine, but really theirs, because these certifications come from how people found themselves in the music.”
In the midst of his record-smashing Trip Around the Sun Tour with 19 major stadiums, the enduring nature of these songs and albums stands out. Early hits “Don’t Happen Twice” and “How Forever Feels” draw the same roar as “American Kids,” “Somewhere With You” and “Noise.” With all that passion, the heavy metal certification of this rich Sony Nashville catalogue makes complete sense.