Oliver Anthony has the No. 1 song in the country with the folksy, working-class anthem, “Rich Men North of Richmond.”
The relatively unknown country crooner has made history on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week — becoming the first-ever artist to debut a new song in the top spot, without having charted anywhere else before. The Virginia-based singer-songwriter independently released the song earlier this month, and it rapidly gained traction online.
According to Billboard, the self-penned tune — which takes aim at Washington D.C. legislators, the misuse of tax dollars and dead-end jobs — amassed more than 17.5 million streams and sold 147,000 downloads over the past week.
“Rich Men North of Richmond” hit No. 1 on Apple Music’s U.S. and global top 100 charts on Friday, while a YouTube video of Anthony performing live has clocked in more than 30 million views as of Monday evening. Fans sharing clips across social media helped the song become a viral sensation.
Meanwhile, outspoken conservatives such as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kari Lake have openly embraced the guitar-laden track, which appears to tout some very common right-wing talking points.
Georgia congresswoman Greene retweeted the song to her 2.5 million followers, calling it “the anthem of the forgotten Americans who truly support this nation, and unfortunately the world, with their hard-earned tax dollars.”
Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial candidate, shared similar sentiments, saying that she can’t listen to it “without getting chills.”
Progressives, however, have wondered if Oliver is a plant — considering he appears to have come out of nowhere and has suddenly become a hero for the right wing.
Alternative country band American Aquarium called the song out on Twitter for “the fatphobia and ‘welfare queen’ trope,” thanks to a line that says, “If you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds, taxes ought not to pay for your bags of Fudge Rounds.”
Anthony, meanwhile, has declared himself nonpartisan.
“I sit pretty dead center down the aisle on politics and always have,” he said in a YouTube video.
Politics aside, the red-headed upstart is now in a rare group (of only six) in Billboard chart history to debut a first solo at No. 1 on the Hot 100. Former One Direction singer Zayn Malik, DJ Baauer, and ”American Idol” alums Clay Aiken, Fantasia and Carrie Underwood have all done so, but only after previously charting elsewhere or with a group.