It’s a special day for rising singer/songwriter Matt Stell as his debut single, “Prayed For You,” tops Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
The track is the only debut single to reach No.1 on Country Airplay in 2019 and Stell is the first artist to earn a debut No.1 since Jimmie Allen’s “Best Shot” reached the top of the charts on November 24, 2018.
“Prayed For You” is a certified hit, raking in an impressive 99 Million streams to date. It was also recently certified Gold by the RIAA.
“It’s hard to believe that ‘Prayed for You’ is Billboard’s No. 1 country song in the U.S. this week,” exclaimed Stell after hearing the news. “I won’t be able to ever thank my fellow writers, Ash Bowers and Allison Veltz, and my RECORDS/Arista Nashville/Wide Open/GCE team enough.”
Stell recently sat down with Country Now to talk about the song and its vast impact on listeners.
“Even if you don’t deserve something, or you feel like you don’t — like, the guy in the song doesn’t, you know? He [feels like he doesn’t deserve] to be as lucky as he is in this relationship — it’s the same thing with anything in life,” Stell explained. “Whether it’s a relationship, a job, school, having kids, adopting kids, any of those things where it’s a long process and nothing’s guaranteed. But that reward could be great, you know, if you just hang in there long enough and give something cool the opportunity to happen. I like to think that’s what people respond to in the song.”
“Prayed For You” is featured on Stell’s debut EP, Everywhere But On, which is available now.