‘Bottle Rockets’ Send Scotty McCreery and Hootie & the Blowfish to Top of Country Airplay Chart

Scotty McCreery and Hootie & the Blowfish ascent 2 spots to the apical of Billboard’s Country Airplay illustration (dated Oct. 4) with “Bottle Rockets,” marking unsocial feats for McCreery and the band’s frontman, Darius Rucker, arsenic good arsenic McCreery’s label, Triple Tigers.

The single, which features recently recorded vocals from Hootie & the Blowfish built astir its classical opus “Hold My Hand,” credits 11 writers, including McCreery, Rucker and shaper Frank Rogers. It accrued by 14% to 30.5 cardinal assemblage impressions successful the Sept. 19-25 tracking week, according to Luminate. “Hold My Hand” became Hootie’s archetypal large hit, reaching No. 10 connected the Billboard Hot 100 successful 1995.

The ascent of “Bottle Rockets” to No. 1 puts Rucker successful exclusive institution with Tyler Hubbard. They are present the lone artists who person ruled Country Airplay some arsenic solo acts and with a duo oregon group, dating to the chart’s commencement successful January 1990. Hubbard scored 16 leaders arsenic fractional of Florida Georgia Line earlier earning the archetypal of 3 solo No. 1s with 2022’s “5 Foot 9.” Rucker has collected 9 No. 1s arsenic a solo artist, opening with “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” successful 2008.

Triple Tigers, launched successful 2016 arsenic a associated task betwixt Thirty Tigers, Sony Music Entertainment-owned distributor The Orchard and Triple 8 Management, besides notches a milestone. Directly pursuing Russell Dickerson’s two-week reign with “Happen to Me,” “Bottle Rockets” gives the statement its archetypal successive Country Airplay No. 1s. To date, the imprint has powered 11 singles to the top, six by McCreery and 5 by Dickerson.

Meanwhile, “Bottle Rockets” joins specified Country Airplay No. 1s that interpolate anterior hits arsenic Cole Swindell’s “She Had Me astatine Heads Carolina,” his 2022 person that reimagines Jo Dee Messina’s 1996 breakthrough single, “Heads Carolina, Tails California.”

For the 31-year-old McCreery, “Bottle Rockets” is his archetypal Country Airplay person since “Damn Strait,” which spent 3 weeks astatine No. 1 successful 2022. He wraps his quickest travel to the apical spot: 20 weeks, astir halving his erstwhile fastest coronation (37 weeks for “This Is It” successful 2018-19).