There are a number of metrics used to measure a song’s success: chart performance, sales, streaming and more.
While those figures are convenient when it comes to defining an artist’s career success, Keith Urban uses his own benchmark. As Keith told Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown, the measure of a song’s success is the “singalong,” which is a gold standard that rapper Drake fully embraces.
“I always think [that] the best, ultimate, simple answer to that is people coming to see you in concert and singing along,” says Keith. “I think recently there was an award show that Drake got up and did an acceptance thing, and he made some comment to that which was so spot on. He said, you know, for a lot of you younger artists out there, these [awards] are fantastic, but the real reward is when you come to someone’s town and they traipse through rain and the snow and all the stuff ’cause they just want to come and sing that song live with you. He said that if you get that, you’ve won. It was so powerful what he said, and it really is true—that’s the best baseline success of a song.”
Keith was referencing Drake’s acceptance speech at the 2019 Grammy’s for Best Rap Song, when he said, in part, “You’ve already won if you have people singing your songs word for word, if you’re a hero in your hometown. Look, if there’s people who have regular jobs coming out in the rain, in the snow, spending their hard-earned money to buy tickets to come to your shows. You don’t need this [award] right here. I promise you, you already won.”
