Who is Morgan Wallen, Country artist leading Billboard Hot 100

Country singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen consolidated his position at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his single track Last Night for a fourth week. The song first ruled the charts in March and its continued success is a testament to its popularity among listeners. Here's everything about Wallen who became the country artist with the most career entries in the Hot 100.

Wallen's album, One Thing at a Time, released in March 2023, broke streaming records on its first release day. With 52.29M streams on March 3, Wallen's 36-song album—with songs like Last Night—became Spotify's most-streamed country album in a single day. His 2021 release—Dangerous: The Double Album, was the third most-streamed album in the US in 2022, just behind Bad Bunny and Harry Styles.

Wallen's popularity scenario is similar to Paramount's Yellowstone drama series—the most popular show in small markets or segments in the US. "I'm just a normal small-town kid who doesn't have a clue how to get into music—other than this," elaborated the 20-year-old Wallen, who gained recognition by appearing in The Voice in 2014. Wallen released his debut album, If I Know Me in 2018.

The 29-year-old country artist grew up in Sneedville, Tennessee, an isolated town located near the Virginia border. As a young boy, Wallen took violin lessons which were shortly interfered with by his family's shift to Knoxville, where his interests in radio-friendly rock bands like Breaking Benjamin and Nickleback piqued. "Once I started writing songs, it just naturally sounded country," told Wallen in an interview.

In 2021, Wallen, in an inebriated condition, was seen shouting a racial slur used against black people outside his Tennessee house. This video came mere months after the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. After the video went viral, his label put him on indefinite hiatus. Moreover, he was disqualified from the 2021 Grammys and the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Even though Wallen's reputation was tainted by the controversy, for which the singer later apologized in a self-filmed video, his commercial base remained intact. Meanwhile, in 2022, Wallen was awarded the Album of the Year by the Academy of Country Music Awards. Currently, Wallen's single track Last Night, off his recently released album, drew 47.7M radio airplay audience impressions, according to Luminate.