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Blake Shelton No. 1 Hits: History of His Chart-Topping Tracks

Blake Shelton is known for making country hit after hit. Discover a comprehensive guide to his

The First Blake Shelton No. 1: “Austin”

The debut single from Shelton reached No. 1 and stayed there for five weeks. “Austin” was written by David Kent and Kirsti Manna. The song was originally released on Giant Records but it shut down and it was quickly picked up by Warner Brothers.

The song features a woman who moves to Austin, Texas after she broke up with her boyfriend. Months later, she calls him and goes straight to voicemail. She leaves a recording that tells him where he could be if he took her back.

  • Album: Blake Shelton
  • Year: 2001
  • RIAA: Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “And P.S. if this is Austin, I still love you.”

“The Baby”

Michael White and Harry Allen wrote “The Baby” and it stayed in the top spot for three weeks. The song features the narrator talking about his family before learning that his mother is dying and he has to rush home. He comes home too late, she has already passed.

Shelton stopped performing the song at concerts because of its sensitive subject matter. “I don’t know that I’ve ever listened to or even sang a song that was more painful to get through than ‘The Baby,’ he told Genius. “It’s so freaking honest—it’s unbelievable. It’s like a sore spot. This guy took his mother for granted. Maybe we’re all a little bit guilty of that. I was the baby of my family. And the only thing about this song I can’t relate to is that my mother is still alive, thank God.”

  • Album: The Dreamer
  • Year: 2002
  • Standout lyric: “She loved that photograph of our whole family / She’d always point us out for all her friends to see”

“Some Beach”

 “Some Beach” was written by Rory Feek and Paul Overstreet. Feek told Song Facts that they were originally thinking about creating a song for Kenny Chesney’s beach album. Once someone said the phrase, they giggled like schoolboys. They wrote the beginning portion of the song at Starbucks. “Then we drove to his house and went out and jumped on the boat, and we wrote the rest of it out there on the boat,” he explained. “Paul had a really bad toothache he was fighting at the time, so that’s how that last bridge went in there. But same thing, that song sat around for a good while before anybody ever recorded it. You didn’t know if you had a great song or the world’s worst song in the world, you couldn’t tell for a long time. But when it came out, it sure was a blessing.”

  • Album: Blake Shelton’s Barn & Grill
  • Year: 2004
  • RIAA: Gold
  • Standout lyric: “Singing Margaritaville and minding my own”

“Home”

“Home” was originally written and first recorded by Michael Bublé. In 2008, Shelton released his version that appeared on Pure BS and his collector’s edition record. His ex-wife Miranda Lambert sings backing vocals on the song.

Shelton asked Bublé if he would rewrite a verse to make a Christmas version. The re-written version, featuring Bublé, appears on Shelton’s 2012 album, Cheers, It’s Christmas.

  • Album: Pure BS, etc.
  • Year: 2008
  • RIAA: Gold
  • Standout lyric: “May be surrounded by / A million people I / Still feel all alone”

“She Wouldn’t Be Gone”

The heartbreaking single “She Wouldn’t Be Gone” was written by Jennifer Adan and Cory Batten. They were at a Nashville cafe when their wildflower idea came about.

“Just like in life, it’s the little things that we sometimes fail to notice that could make the biggest difference in our lives,” Cory told The Boot. “Cory and I both knew we had created something special that day.”

  • Album: Pure BS
  • Year: 2008
  • RIAA: Gold
  • Standout lyric: “Yellow sunset slowly dipping down in the rearview / Oh, how she’d love to sit and watch you”

“Hillbilly Bone” Blake Shelton Featuring Trace Adkins

‘Hillbilly Bone” was written by Luke Laird and Craig Wiseman. The song marked the first Academy of Country Music honor for Shelton.

Laird and Wiseman were just goofing around when the song idea came about. “When we finished it, we [said], ‘I don’t know who’s going to like it, but it feels pretty good and fun! There’s something to it,’” Laird told The Boot.

The pair was baffled that Shelton and Trace Adkins would record the song. “I was blown away when we got the phone call that Blake was going to record it. I thought, “Are you serious?” I’d always wanted a Blake Shelton cut. I thought, ‘I can actually hear him sing it!’ A lot of people know me as writing a lot of Carrie Underwood songs, so this is a completely different song.”

  • Album: Hillbilly Bone
  • Year: 2009
  • RIAA: Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “And when the band starts banging and the fiddle saws / You can’t help but hollering, Yee Haw!”
  • Awards: ACM Vocal Event of the Year

“All About Tonight”

“All About Tonight” was written by the Peach Pickers (Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, and Ben Hayslip). The song also became the title track for his 2010 EP.

“We decided that we wanted to write a song about how we just don’t care about tomorrow because tomorrow can wait until tomorrow,” Akins told The Boot. “It’s all about tonight!” Once they knew the basis of the song, they knew it was made for Shelton. Overall, the year-end country chart had the single at No. 8.

  • Album: All About Tonight
  • Year: 2010
  • Standout lyric: “I don’t need your number or a date next Saturday…”

“Who Are You When I’m Not Looking”

Earl Bud Lee and John Wiggins wrote the emotional song, “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking.” The song was first recorded by Joe Nichols for his 2007 record, Real Things. The song is about questioning what kind of person a lover is when the person is not looking.

Lee had the song title in his back pocket for some time before he presented it to Wiggins. Ironically, they both had the exact same song title idea and knew it was fate. But they felt like something was missing.

“It didn’t have that little release in it — that ‘I wanna know, I wanna know, I wanna know …‘ part.,” Wiggins told The Boot. Without that line, he doesn’t believe the song would exist today.

  • Album: All About Tonight
  • Year: 2010
  • RIAA: Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “Who are you when I’m not around? / When the door is locked and the shades are down?”

“Honey Bee”

Blake Shelton premiered “Honey Bee” at the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 3, 2011. Rhett Akins and Ben Hayslip co-wrote the song together.

“We actually had no clue what we were going to write,” Akins recalled to Taste of Country. Akins recalled that he was looking through a magazine when he stumbled across an article about former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. “I thought it said ‘Huckleberry,’” he admitted. “I said, ‘Well let’s write a song about huckleberry … ‘I’m your huckleberry.’ That turned into ‘honeysuckle,’ but we didn’t know what it meant. Then it turned into ‘honeysuckle / honey bee.’”

  • Album: Red River Blue
  • Year: 2011
  • RIAA: 3x Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “You’ll be my Little Loretta / I’ll be your Conway Twitty”
  • Awards: Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Solo Performance

“God Gave Me You” – Blake Shelton Version

“God Gave Me You” was originally a Christan song sung by Dave Barnes. He debuted the track in 2010 off of his record, What We Want, What We Get. Shelton heard the song on a contemporary Christian radio station when he knew he had to record it. Ironically, Barnes never heard his song on the radio prior to Shelton’s instance.

“He was driving home from the Dallas airport to his home in Oklahoma, and the song came on, and due to where he was in his relationship with Miranda. It really connected with him,” Barnes told American Songwriter. “It’s such an amazing story because of the way he heard it,” he continued. “On the radio. No one pitching the song, trying to convince him about it. None of that. And also how it connected with him. there’s no greater thing for a songwriter than to know a song really connects with the people hearing it.”

  • Album: Red River Blue
  • Year: 2011
  • RIAA: 3x Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “And for when I think I lost my way / There are no words here left to say, it’s true / God gave me you”
  • Award: Grammy nomination for Best Country Song

“Drink On It”

“Drink On It” was written by Jessi Alexander, Rodney Clawson, and Jon Randall. Shelton said in a YouTube video that he originally met the trio while in Texas. Once their new demos came across for consideration for his album, he knew to pay attention. “I think it was the last song we ended up cutting for the album,” Shelton said. “Ironically it’s in my top three or four favorites.”

  • Album: Red River Blue
  • Year: 2011
  • RIAA: Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “Drink on it / Put our heads together and think on it”

“Over”

“Over” is a love song like no other. It was written by Paul Jenkins and David Elliott Johnson. It was first released in 2007 through Jenkins’ band, The Royce. After their Burn Out Bright record, they stopped releasing music together. During Season 3 of The Voice, Terry McDermott covered the song and won Shelton’s seal of approval.

  • Album: Red River Blue
  • Year: 2012
  • RIAA: Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “You’ll never have to wonder if I understand / And every time you reach for me you’ll find a hand out”

“Sure Be Cool If You Did”

Rodney Clawson, Chris Tompkins, and Jimmy Robbins created the song. “I had an e-mail from my manager Brandon Blackstock, and he said, ‘Man, this is a cool song, you need to listen to it,’” Shelton recalled to Roughstock per Song Facts. “I did, and I was like, ‘Holy Cow!’ Rodney’s a great singer and it was him singing on the demo and they just did a great job. My only fear was, ‘I hope I can make my record as good as what they’ve done.’”

“The pitching process for Blake was actually incredibly fast on this one,” Robbins told Taste of Country. “It was sent to his manager a few days after we wrote it, who immediately sent it to him [Blake]. He listened to it and put it on hold by the end of that day.”

  • Album: Based on a True Story…
  • Year: 2013
  • RIAA: 2x Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “You don’t have to keep me falling like this / But it’d sure be cool if you did”

“Boys Round Here” Featuring Pistol Annies, RaeLynn

Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, and Craig Wiseman created this epic collaboration. Shelton featured Lambert, Ashley Monroe, and Angaleena Presley along with RaeLynn and the song’s producer and co-writers. This marked his ninth consecutive Number One hit.

“‘Boys ‘Round Here’ is definitely a song that me, Dallas nor Craig knew when we woke up that morning that that would be the song we were going to write that day,” Akins explained to Roughstock. “I didn’t even know if it would get recorded because it was just so crazy. It was one of those where we knew it was going to be really awful or it was going to be the biggest thing ever. “

  • Album: Based on a True Story…
  • Year: 2013
  • RIAA: 3x Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “Well the boys ’round here don’t listen to The Beatles”

“Mine Would Be You”

“Mine Would Be You” is one of the most surprising bridges between a love and breakup song. It was written by Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington, and Deric Ruttan. Going into the first songwriting session, the writers didn’t realize what they were going for.

‘That last verse and that last chorus, where the lyric is different, and you realize, ‘Oh, wow, these two people are broken up, and this is not just a straight-up love song,’” Ruttan told The Tennesseean. “Country songwriters, we aspire to do that on a lot of our songs. I mean they can’t all be that way, with that flip and that twist, but as a lyricist, I’m especially happy when you can come up with something like that … and then we got to play it for my wife Margaret and Jessi’s husband, Jon.  They came down, and we played it for them. And they’re both songwriters, both great songwriters.”

  • Album: Based on a True Story…
  • Year: 2013
  • RIAA: Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “Baby, if I had to choose / My best day ever / My finest hour, my wildest dream come true / Mine would be you”

“Doin’ What She Likes”

Wade Kirby and Phil O’Donnell penned the heartwarming tune. “It’s kind of domestic, and that’s pretty much what I am now,” Shelton told Billboard at the time. “There’s a lot of elements of that song that are just so true to mine and Miranda [Lambert’s] life together. It’s about a guy that’s just, as long as he’s making her happy, then he’s happy.” 

The funniest part? Shelton doesn’t understand a lyric from the song. “The only part of the song that I can’t quite figure out, and it’s actually my favorite part, is I’ve never actually smelled a watermelon candle,” he added. “I’ve smelled pumpkin spice and some Christmas spirit and all kinds of peppermint. I don’t know that I’ve ever smelled a watermelon candle. Maybe I should make them and sell them in my merch.”

  • Album: 2014
  • Year: Based on a True Story…
  • RIAA: Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “She likes hearin’ how good she looks in them blue jeans / Little kisses, sweeter than sweet tea”

“My Eyes” Featuring Gwen Sebastian

“My Eyes” features former The Voice contestant Gwen Sebastian. Andrew Dorff, Tommy Lee James and Josh Osborne wrote the song. James told The Boot that Osborne had the idea for the song. “Josh goes, “I have this idea. I don’t know if it’s any good or not,” But the hook is ‘My eyes are the only thing I don’t want to take off of you.’ We were like, “Oh my God, we have to write that.”

  • Album: Based on a True Story…
  • Year: 2014
  • RIAA: Gold
  • Standout lyric: “My eyes are the only thing I don’t wanna take off of you’

“Neon Light”

“Neon Light” marked Shelton’s thirteenth consecutive single to reach the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Country Airplay Chart. Andrew Dorff, Mark Irwin and Josh Kear co-wrote the song together.  Shelton described his record to Country Weekly as “straight up George Strait, George Jones or Conway Twitty sounding chorus, mixed with the more recent stuff that I have recorded.”

  • Album: Bringing Back the Sunshine
  • Year: 2014
  • RIAA: Gold
  • Standout lyric: “There’s a neon light at the end of the tunnel / It ain’t all that bright, but even though it’s subtle”

“Lonely Tonight” Blake Shelton Featuring Ashley Monroe

Brent Anderson and Ryan Hurd penned Shelton and Monroe’s duet. “That song is just so range-y and, on top of that, I knew Ashley was going to come in and sing on it, and I knew that people were gonna hear her singing in a way they’d never heard her sing before,” Shelton told Song Facts. “We all know she’s a singer/songwriter, and we’ve all heard that side of her, but I don’t think people know the girl can wail like she can. I just wanted to step up to that level, so I was really hard on myself, and tried to make that as best as I could possibly get it.”

  • Album: Bringing Back the Sunshine
  • Year: 2014
  • RIAA: Gold
  • Standout lyric: “I don’t wanna be right, I don’t wanna be strong / I just wanna hold you till the heart breaks stone”
  • Awards: Grammy nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance

“Sangria”

“Sangria” was written by J. T. Harding, Josh Osborne and Trevor Rosen. Surprisingly, both Sara Evans and Kenny Chesney turned down the song. It reached No. 6 on the year-end charts.

  • Album: Bringing Back the Sunshine
  • Year: 2015
  • RIAA: Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “We’re buzzing like that no vacancy sign out front / Your skin is begging to be kissed by a little more than the sun”

“Gonna”

 Luke Laird and Craig Wiseman wrote “Gonna.” “I love a fun song—they don’t have to be brain surgery,” Shelton told Genius. “I still don’t even know for sure what this line means. But it’s just fun. It’s fun to perform. It’s fun to see people singing along out in the audience. And I do love Daytona!”

“My driver is Clint Bowyer,” he added. “He’s my favorite NASCAR Sprint Cup driver. I like Elliott Sadler in the Xfinity Series. And I like me in the Truck Series—I’m pretty good.”

  • Album: Bringing Back the Sunshine
  • Year: 2015
  • RIAA: Gold
  • Standout lyric: “We can pump it on the boulevard / Or kick it in the country”

“Came Here To Forget”

Craig Wiseman and Deric Ruttan co-wrote this masterpiece. “Came Here To Forget” was inspired by a trip to Walgreens. “I thought, ‘There’s no way that hasn’t been written,’” Ruttan laughed to The Country Daily. “And maybe it has been written, I don’t know! Maybe I should have looked.” He added,  “I don’t ever think about artists when I’m writing a song. It’s really hard for me to do that.”

  • Album: If I’m Honest
  • Year: 2016
  • RIAA: Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “Girl getting over him and I’m getting over her / The eyes have it made, ain’t gotta say a word / Misery loves company, that’s why it’s you and me”

“A Guy With A Girl”

Ashley Gorley and Bryan Simpson co-wrote the song. They knew Shelton was the person for the song and he quickly put the tune on hold and later recorded it.

“ ‘A Guy With a Girl’ is my life right now,” Shelton told Billboard of his 2016 record. “Out on the farm or touring, [I’m] that guy, and then at the end of the day, when it’s time to have a life and go to a party or something, I become the guy that’s with Gwen. It’s pretty cool.”

  • Album: If I’m Honest
  • Year: 2016
  • RIAA: Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “I’m invisible, but I stand right there and smile / You’re right beside me, oh and I see the same thing
    they’re seein’”

“Every Time I Hear That Song”

Aimee Mayo, Chris Lindsey, Brad Warren and Brett Warren co-wrote this tune. The song is somewhat out of his typical wheelhouse.

“It’s not like anything else I’ve ever recorded before and I’ll be totally honest — as hard as it is for me to say this — it’s got a little Adam Levine influence in it,” Blake Shelton told Song Facts. “It’s hard to admit. I hope he doesn’t read this because he’d be like, ‘Hahahahahahaha! I’m your hero!’ But melodically it kind of reminds me of something he would do. It’s obviously country, but when people hear the song, they’ll understand what I’m talking about if they’re familiar with his music.”

  • Album: If I’m Honest
  • Year: 2017
  • RIAA: Gold
  • Standout lyric: “There’s something ’bout yesterday / How fast it all flies away”

“I’ll Name the Dogs”

Perhaps one of the most comedic yet relatable and sweet songs is “I’ll Name the Dogs.” Shelton sings about his woman naming the babies while he gets to name the dogs.

We started that day throwing ideas around like we always do,” Hayslip recalled to The Tennesseean. “After about 10 minutes in, Josh throws out this idea called “I’ll Name the Dogs.” … And as soon as I heard that part of it and Drag heard it, well, I immediately told these guys, “If we write this right it’s 100 percent a Blake Shelton song.”

  • Album: Texoma State
  • Year: 2017
  • RIAA: Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “You’ll be the pretty and I’ll be the funny / You’ll plant the flowers, I’ll plant the kisses”
  • Awards: CMT Male Music Video of the Year

“God’s Country”

 Devin Dawson, Jordan Schmidt, and Hardy co-wrote the Southern-rock crossover, “God’s Country.” Hardy recalled to The Boot that if nobody was interested in the song, he would record it for himself. In just one week, they created the song, Shelton recorded it, and it was released as a single.

“For it to go from not existing on Jan. 1 to on the radio, and already in the Top 40 [in April of 2019] — I know it’s happened faster, but in my career, that’s as fast as I’ve ever had something come through. It’s crazy,” Hardy admitted.

  • Album: Fully Loaded: God’s Country
  • Year: 2019
  • RIAA: 3x Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “The Devil went down to Georgia but he didn’t stick around / This is God’s country”
  • Awards: CMA Single of the Year, ACM Single of the Year, Grammy nomination for Best Country Solo Performance

“Nobody but You” Blake Shelton Featuring Gwen Stefani

 Ross Copperman, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, and Tommy Lee James wrote Shelton and fiancee Gwen Stefani’s third duet. “You know the song came through Shane McAnally, who is working on this NBC show called, Songland, Blake Shelton told Cody Alan. “Shane has also written with Gwen before, and he was at our show, on The Voice, to promote his show ‘Songland.’” Blake paused and laughed, “Yeah, I know it’s all inbred.”

Shelton and Stefani were amazed at how much the lyrics mirrored their relationship. They decided on a duet after falling in love with the song.  “We play something over and over and over again, and I think that the first time that we heard it, we played it at least 12 times,” he added.

  • Album: Fully Loaded: God’s Country
  • Year: 2020
  • RIAA: Platinum
  • Standout lyric: “When you love someone / They say you set ’em free / But that ain’t gonna work for me”
  • Awards: CMT Collaborative Video of the Year

Most Recent Blake Shelton No. 1: “Happy Anywhere”

“Happy Anywhere” was written by Ross Copperman, Josh Osborne, and Matt Jenkins. Fans can’t get enough of this adorable couple and duet partners. They released the single during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people needed hope and love most of all.

“Even though Gwen and I just had a single out, we decided that, under the circumstances, this year … man, there’s never been a better time for ‘Happy Anywhere,’” Shelton said in a press release.

  • Album: Fully Loaded: God’s Country
  • Year: 2020
  • Standout lyric: “I’ve always been a rolling stone / With a reckless streak / Yeah, the grass never gets too grown / Underneath my feet”