Singer of Top Hit 'Rich Men North of Richmond' Raking in Estimated $40,000 a Day
CORRECTION, Aug. 24, 2023: Oliver Anthony is making an estimated $40,000 a day from sales and streams of all of his music, according to reports. An earlier headline for this article inaccurately attributed that income to one song.
Oliver Anthony — the singer and songwriter of the hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” — is making an estimated $40,000 a day from those streaming his music.
Los Angeles Times pop music critic Mikael Wood reported Monday that Anthony’s song “topped the iTunes chart” and “Spotify’s U.S. Top 50.”
Anthony was “raking in an estimated $40,000 a day from sales and streams of his music, according to the trade journal Hits,” Wood added.
“Hits” showed Anthony’s song streamed over approximately 17.4 million times last week.
iTunes Charts has the artist holding four of the top 10 spots, including “Rich Men North of Richmond” at No. 1 and “Ain’t Gotta a Dollar” at No. 2.
His latest release, “I Want to Go Home,” dropped on YouTube Tuesday, has already garnered over 1.3 million views. It is No. 9 on the iTunes Charts.
Anthony lives on his farm in central Virginia in a 27-foot camper with a tarp covering a hole in the roof, the U.K. Daily Mail reported. He most recently was employed at a paper mill in neighboring North Carolina.
The 31-year-old wrote in a Facebook post last week, “People in the music industry give me blank stares when I brush off 8 million dollar offers. I don’t want 6 tour buses, 15 tractor trailers and a jet. I don’t want to play stadium shows, I don’t want to be in the spotlight.
“I wrote the music I wrote because I was suffering with mental health and depression. These songs have connected with millions of people on such a deep level because they’re being sung by someone feeling the words in the very moment they were being sung. No editing, no agent, no bull****,” he added.
WARNING: The following post contains vulgar language that some may find offensive.
“Rich Men North of Richmond” is about an overbearing federal government and an economy in which working people struggle to make ends meet because of high inflation and low pay.
“Livin’ in the new world with an old soul. These rich men north of Richmond, Lord knows they all just wanna have total control,” Anthony sang.
“Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do. And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do. ‘Cause your dollar ain’t sh** and it’s taxed to no end, ’cause of rich men north of Richmond.”
WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers may find offensive.
“I Want to Go Home” is about a yearning to be in heaven and free from the modern world’s struggles.
“Well, if it weren’t for my old dogs and the good Lord, they’d have me strung up in the psych ward. ‘Cause every day livin’ in this new world is one too many days to me.”
People lined up as far as the eye can see for a chance at a picture with @AintGottaDollar… hard to describe what I’m witnessing 😭 pic.twitter.com/A8bBAUGQJR
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) August 13, 2023
“Son, we’re on the brink of the next world war, and I don’t think nobody’s prayin’ no more,” Anthony continued. “And I ain’t sayin I know it for sure I’m just down on my knees.”
“People have really gone and lost their way. They all just do what the TV say. I wanna go home,” the Virginian sang.
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