Morgan Wallen Is Coming Under Fire

Country star Morgan Wallen is facing a backlash on social media over the continued success of his album One Thing at a Time on the Billboard 200 charts.

The album, which was initially released in March 2023, has returned to the top of the charts in Luminate's most-recent tracking figures, per Billboard. In the week ending January 11, it sold the equivalent of 61,000 album units.

Wallen's continued success has seen him spend 17 nonconsecutive weeks atop the charts with the album. This is the most weeks at No. 1 since Adele's 21 clocked up 24 nonconsecutive weeks in the top spot in 2011 and 2012.

Newsweek contacted representatives of Wallen via email on Tuesday for comment.

When One Thing at a Time debuted in March, it went straight to the top of the chart, where it spent its first 12 weeks through early June. It returned to the top for another three weeks in a row in late June and early July. Another week at No. 1 came on the October 14 chart.

In the weeks since the album has been released, it has not dipped below the sixth position on the chart.

On Sunday, Pop Crave shared the stats on X, formerly Twitter, alongside the news that One Thing at a Time has "now spent 17 weeks atop the chart—the most of any album this decade."

While the news is something for Wallen and his fans to celebrate, several social-media users voiced their outrage at the album's success. "I'm not exaggerating when I say this is the worst album of all time," wrote one detractor.

"No one knows him outside of the US," wrote one X user, while another posted: "It is so very undeserved."

"Still have never heard a song by this person," another stated, as one X user branded Wallen's album success "a disgrace."

Several other detractors called Wallen "racist," in reference to his controversy around using a racial slur. In February 2021, TMZ shared video footage of a drunk Wallen casually using a racial slur while walking into his house after a night out.

While TMZ published an apology from the country music star, the reaction was swift and severe. His songs were removed from radio, he was fired by his booking agency, he was disqualified from award events, and his own label suspended him.

In his apology at the time, Wallen said that he had used what he described as "unacceptable and inappropriate" language.

Amid the backlash over Wallen's ongoing album success, a number of fans expressed their support for the musician.

"You know you've made it when your album spends 17 weeks at [No. 1]," wrote one. "Congrats, Morgan Wallen!"

"This is pure talent," one posted, while another added: "Love you Morgan!"

Last month, Wallen broke his silence on his racial slur scandal in an interview with Billboard. "There's no excuse. I've never made an excuse. I never will make an excuse," he told the publication. "I've talked to a lot of people, heard stories [about] things that I would have never thought about because I wasn't the one going through it.

"And I think, for me, in my heart, I was never that guy that people were portraying me to be, so there was a little bit of like, 'Damn, I'm kind of actually mad about this a little bit because I know I shouldn't have said this, but I'm really not that guy,'" Wallen said.

"I put myself in just such a s*** spot, you know? Like, 'You really messed up here, guy.' If I was that guy, then I wouldn't have cared. I wouldn't have apologized," he added. "I wouldn't have done any of that if I really was that guy that people were saying about me."

After the video made the rounds, Wallen met with several Black leaders in an effort to educate himself, including 300 Elektra Entertainment chairman/CEO Kevin Liles and Grammy-winning gospel artist BeBe Winans. He also had conversations with the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) and other groups "to learn and try to be better." Wallen told Billboard that, following the incident, he did a 30-day stint in rehab in Southern California.

Wallen said the experience in 2021 showed him "just how much that people listen to me" and said he has learned how much his words matter. "That person is definitely not the same person I am now," Wallen added.

The incident wasn't the first time Wallen's behavior raised flags. After a disturbance at Kid Rock's Nashville club in May 2020, he was arrested for public intoxication and disorderly behavior. Five months later, Saturday Night Live withdrew its invitation for him to perform because he had broken the show's COVID-19 safety regulations. Two months later, he appeared on the show.

Since those incidents, Wallen's reputation has largely recovered, and he has experienced tremendous success on the music charts, as is evidenced with the performance of his album One Thing at a Time.

Last year, he was the biggest winner at the Billboard Music Awards, which are based on year-end performance metrics on the Billboard charts. The singer-songwriter won 11 trophies, including top male artist, top Hot 100 artist and top country artist, as well as top Hot 100 song for "Last Night" and top Billboard 200 album.