‘Goodbye Joe’ & ‘God Bless the U.S.A.’ Nos. 1 & 2 on Digital Song Sales Chart After Election
Two election-related tracks head up Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart dated Nov. 16, as Tom MacDonald and Nova Rockafeller’s “Goodbye Joe” debuts at No. 1 and a new version of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” with Drew Jacobs opens at No. 2.
In the week ending Nov. 7, “Goodbye Joe” sold 12,000 downloads in the U.S., according to Luminate. “God Bless the U.S.A.” sold 11,000.
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“Goodbye Joe” is MacDonald’s fourth Digital Song Sales No. 1, following “Fake Woke” in 2021, “Ghost” in 2023 and “You Missed” this July. Rockafeller’s previous best was alongside MacDonald and Brandon Hart on “No Good Bastards,” which peaked at No. 15 in 2021.
“Goodbye Joe,” which also debuts at No. 1 on the Country Digital Song Sales chart, finds the pair celebrating the upcoming end of President Joe Biden’s term in office after he withdrew his candidacy for a second term in July. Former President Donald Trump won a second term on Election Day, Nov. 5, four days after the song’s release.
“God Bless the U.S.A.,” meanwhile, is a rock redo of Greenwood’s 1984 patriotic single, which hit No. 7 that year on Hot Country Songs. He’s joined by Jacobs, who previously reigned on Digital Song Sales as part of a cover of Blake Shelton’s “God’s Country” alongside State of Mine in 2021.
In addition to its No. 2 bow on Digital Song Sales, “God Bless the U.S.A.” bows at No. 1 on Rock Digital Song Sales, marking Greenwood’s first leader and Jacobs’ second, following “God’s Country.” It also starts at No. 2 on Country Digital Song Sales. Greenwood’s original “God Bless the U.S.A.” led Digital Song Sales for a week in July 2020.
Concurrently, the new version of “God Bless the U.S.A.” debuts at No. 28 on the multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. In addition to its song sales, the tune earned 371,000 official U.S. streams. “Goodbye Joe,” meanwhile, starts at No. 49 on Hot Country Songs, with 1.6 million streams in addition to its sales.
Both “Goodbye Joe” and “God Bless the U.S.A.” were released Nov. 1, capitalizing on the then-imminent U.S. presidential election. Greenwood’s solo original version concurrently re-enters Digital Song Sales at No. 13 (3,000 sold, up 267%).
All Billboard charts dated Nov. 16 will update on Billboard.com on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
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