Voices

Album: The Man I Want To Be (2008)
Charted: 53
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Songfacts®:

  • This was the first release from Country musician Chris Young's second album, The Man I Want To Be. It became Young's first Top 40 entry on the Billboard Country chart, going on to peak at #37. Despite this, the song didn't catch fire at Country radio as much as was anticipated. In 2010 it was re-released as the follow-up to "The Man I Want To Be." "We've had a lot of people tell us 'that song got lost in the shuffle' or 'we missed that song,'" Young told The Boot. "People from radio have wanted us to put that song back out, and there are a lot of people that have no idea we put this song out before. They think it's a brand new song."
  • Young co-wrote this cut with Chris Tomkins and Craig Wiseman. He told The Boot that he has always believed in the song and what it says. "I'm a co-writer on the song and the basis of the song is a lot about family and things that your dad said or your mom said or your grandparents said that really stuck with you," he said. "That's something everybody can relate to and I'm excited about it."
  • The song finally topped the Country songs chart in February 2011 and in doing so, Young became only the second artist in Billboard Country chart history ever to release the same single and same recording of a song and see it go to the top of the chart. The previous artist to do so was Randy Travis, who reached #1 with "On the Other Hand," which peaked at #67 in 1985, only to reach the summit the next year as the follow-up to Randy's single, "1982." "It's so funny to see this song [do so well], since it's technically been out twice," said Young. "I laugh about it, and it really is truly amazing how much Country radio really has embraced me as an artist and stuck up for this song, and people are obviously loving to hear it."
  • The song took 51 weeks to ascend to the Country Songs peak position, the longest climb in the chart's history. The longevity record of "Voices" is split between its two chart runs. It spent 20 weeks in the chart in 2008 and after re-entering Country Songs on the July 24, 2010 tally, it topped the tally in the 31st week of its second visit.
    In case you're wondering, Tracy Lawrence holds the record for longest uninterrupted trip to the summit. His "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" reached #1 in its week in June 2007.
  • The song won Best Single at the 2011 American Country Awards. Young also won breakthrough artist at the same ceremony.

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