Sam Hunt’s ‘Hard to Forget’ Becomes His Seventh No. 1 Hit
Sam Hunt's newest single is the No. 1 song in country music. "Hard to Forget," a cinnamon sweet pop-country song that includes a nearly 60-year-old country sample, becomes the Georgia-raised singer's seventh country music No. 1 in nine tries.
Thus far only "Break Up In a Small Town" from 2016 and "Downtown's Dead" from 2018 have missed No. 1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart. "Hard to Forget" also took the No. 1 spot on the Mediabase chart. Both charts monitor airplay from a group of radio stations nationwide, and it's fairly common for an artist to top both charts at the same time, although not a given.
Josh Osborne, Ashley Gorley, Shane McAnally and Luke Laird joined Hunt to write "Hard to Forget," but three additional writers were added when a sample of the 1953 song "There Stands the Glass" was added throughout the song. Russ Hull, Audrey Grisham and Mary Jean Shurtz wrote Pierce's song, an often-covered No. 1 hit that spent 12 weeks at No. 1 that year.
The 35-year-old acknowledged his achievement in an unusual way.
"Thanks to everybody who helped make Hard to Forget #1," he writes on Instagram. "Celebrating with some early morning Tennessee Stripers."
"Hard to Forget" follows "Kinfolks" as two straight No. 1 hits from Hunt's most recent Southside album. The project was his first in over five years when it debuted in April. Four of the 12 songs had previously been released as singles or digital singles, but the album debuted at No. 1 and remains in the Top 5 among country albums 15 weeks later. It's not clear what Hunt's next single will be. Like all country artists, he's currently on touring hiatus due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
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