Some artists climb the ladder one rung at a time. Zach Top seems to have taken the elevator.
On Tuesday afternoon (September 29), his label Leo33 pulled the reigning CMA New Artist of the Year into Goodtimes, a dive bar in downtown Nashville, and surprised him with a whole stack of new RIAA and Canadian certifications. The headline: “I Never Lie” is now 4x Platinum in both the U.S. and Canada, and his album Cold Beer & Country Music is officially Platinum in the States.
Zach Top, flanked by RIAA Platinum and Gold records.
Photo Credit: Hunter Hart
If you’ve been riding with Zach since the early days, pour yourself something cold. This one’s for you, too.
The Big One: “I Never Lie” Hits 4x Platinum
“I Never Lie” has been the song most folks point to when they talk about Zach’s rise, and now the numbers back it up. A 4x Platinum certification from the RIAA means the single has moved four million units in the U.S., counting sales and streams together. Hitting the same mark in Canada at the same time tells you this isn’t a regional thing. People everywhere are singing along.
The title track, “Cold Beer & Country Music,” also went Gold on both sides of the border, while “Bad Luck,” “Use Me” and “South of Sanity” all added fresh plaques to the collection.
The Full List of New Certifications
United States (RIAA)
- “I Never Lie”: 4x Platinum Single
- Cold Beer & Country Music: Platinum Album
- “Bad Luck”: Platinum Single
- “Sounds Like the Radio”: Platinum Single
- “Use Me”: Platinum Single
- “South of Sanity”: Gold Single
- “Cold Beer & Country Music”: Gold Single
- “Lonely for Long”: Gold Single
- “There’s the Sun”: Gold Single
Canada
- “I Never Lie”: 4x Platinum Single
- “Bad Luck”: Platinum Single
- “Cold Beer & Country Music”: Gold Single
- “Good Times & Tan Lines”: Gold Single
- “South of Sanity”: Gold Single
- “Use Me”: Gold Single
That’s nine U.S. certifications and six Canadian ones handed out in a single afternoon. Not a bad Tuesday.
A Surprise Party at a Nashville Dive Bar
There’s something fitting about a guy whose whole sound is built on classic country getting his plaques in a dive bar instead of a fancy boardroom. Leo33 Co-Head Katie Dean read off the certifications one by one and made it clear the label saw this coming from day one.
“We all believed Zach was a generational talent when we began working together,” Dean said, “and sitting here today with this much to celebrate only reinforces that belief.”
Fellow Co-Head Shane Tarleton didn’t hold back either, calling Zach “the finest that country music has right now” and pointing out that every plaque on the wall stands for a song that found its way into somebody’s life.
921,820 Tickets and Counting
Here’s the number that really jumps off the page: 921,820. That’s how many fans have bought tickets to see Zach on his Cold Beer & Country Music Tour.
Zach admitted that seeing it written down hit different. “We knew we’d played to a lot of folks, however someone doing the math and now knowing 921,820 people have bought a ticket to come hear us play these songs is humbling,” he said. “I’m so grateful to the fans for sharing and loving country music.”
The industry is noticing too. Zach is currently on the cover of Pollstar, the live music trade bible, which described his rise as meteoric and labeled him a dependable arena, amphitheater and festival headliner.
Why Zach Top Matters Right Now
It’s easy to read a list of plaques and move on. But Zach’s run says something bigger about where country music is headed.
He’s not chasing pop crossover or trap beats. His records, made with producer Carson Chamberlain, lean hard into the fiddle-and-steel sound of ’90s country, and The New York Times has described him as an outlier in today’s industry, both in how he sounds and how he thinks about the music. For years, the conventional wisdom said that kind of traditional country couldn’t compete at the top of the charts and the box office. Zach is proving otherwise, one Platinum plaque at a time.
And he gets that the songs aren’t really his anymore. “At some point, they stop being just your songs,” he said after the event. “They become part of somebody else’s story, too.”
That might be the clearest explanation for all of this. When a song becomes part of your story (your road trip, your first dance, your Friday night with the windows down), you play it again. And again. That’s how you get to 4x Platinum.
What’s Next for Zach Top
The Cold Beer & Country Music Tour rolls on through the fall, so there’s still time to catch these certified hits live. Full tour dates are available at zachtop.com.
With a Grammy, a CMA New Artist of the Year trophy, CMA nominations for Male Vocalist and Album of the Year, and now a wall full of plaques, it’s safe to say Zach Top isn’t a “rising star” anymore. He’s arrived.
Let’s Hear From You
Which Zach Top song became part of YOUR story? Is it “I Never Lie,” “Bad Luck,” or a deep cut you think deserves its own plaque? Tell us in the comments, and let us know if you’ve caught him on the Cold Beer & Country Music Tour!
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