‘Try That in a Small Town’ Leads Country Music to Historic Top-Three Sweep on Billboard Top 100

Country singer Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” has hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in its second week on the chart, followed by Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Luke Combs’s “Fast Car” cover in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots respectively, marking the first time country songs have held the top three spots on the music chart.

“Try That in a Small Town,” out since May, makes multiple references to rampant crime and rioting in America’s cities, making it a major point of recent discussion among cultural commentators who have debated whether the song glorifies vigilante justice and violent rhetoric. The recently released music video, featuring clips of burning American flags, armed robberies, rioters, etc., was pulled off the air in July by Country Music Television.

Aldean addressed accusations that he had written a “pro-lynching song” by saying the song was meant to reflect on the “feeling of a community” he had growing up.

He also attacked “cancel culture” during a recent concert in Cincinnati, Ohio, telling fans: “One thing I saw this week was a bunch of country music fans that can see through a lot of the bulls***. I saw country music fans rally like I’ve never seen before and it was pretty bada** to watch. Thank you guys so much.”

“Try That in a Small Town” is also absent from Apple Music‘s and Spotify’s top country playlists. Both playlists included Wallen’s and Combs’s hits as of Tuesday afternoon.

Even Combs’s cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” faced criticism as some in the media suggested that race and gender identity are playing a factor in the song’s renewed success decades later, with one Washington Post columnist writing: “A Black queer woman . . . would have almost zero chance of that achievement herself in country music.”