(New York) A country song with highly political lyrics against the elites in the United States, released on social media by a completely unknown farm worker, tops the American music charts, according to Billboard on Monday .
Oliver Anthony and his track Rich Men North of Richmond, named after Virginia’s capital 175 miles south of Washington, overtook stars Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen and Olivia Rodrigo to take the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. dated the week of August 26 and will be released this Tuesday.
According to Billboard, whose Hot 100 reflects performances from all records, streams and radio, all musical genres in the United States, this is the first time a songwriter has ever appeared in any hits. -parade achieves such a feat.
Released August 11 on YouTube, immediately topping a country chart on Apple Music’s iTunes platform, Rich Men North of Richmond was streamed some 17.5 million times and downloaded 147,000 units in one week , according to Billboard.
The YouTube video featuring Anthony — a red-haired guy with a thick beard, wearing a green T-shirt, an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder playing and singing into a microphone — has had 30 million views.
Accompanied by bluegrass music, a branch of country, the lyrics denounce the harshness of the life of the working class and the most deprived in the face of the privileges of the rich and the elites of the first world power.
The right and far right in the United States quickly picked up the piece.
Conservative tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid, The New York Post, dubbed it “the political anthem of blue-collar workers” with a verse that pits “people on the streets with nothing to eat” against “obese people who suck up the allowances”.
A newspaper columnist praises a “libertarian” and “populist” song on Monday.
Rich Men North of Richmond makes a big deal about the fact that the country is politically split between the rural, conservative South and Central, and the progressive East and West Coast cities.
Ultra-conservative commentators Laura Ingraham and Matt Walsh have been enjoying it for the past few days, according to the New York Times, and Republican elected representative from Georgia (south) in Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene, supporter of Donald Trump and follower of conspiracy theories , hailed on X (formerly Twitter) “the anthem of Americans long forgotten by our government.”
But the piece also appeals to the left.
Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said on X that “progressives should listen too” to this song against “shitty wages and elite power.”
In fact, Oliver Anthony has very political accents.
At a free Saturday concert in North Carolina that Fox News TV attended and broadcast Monday on X, the musician said, “I don’t see our country lasting another generation if we keep going on this. way. We need to get back to the roots of what made this country great. We are the melting pot of the world and that’s what makes us strong.”
