Maddie & Tae’s Start Here Debuts at #2 Behind Luke Bryan

Sep 8, 2015
2 min read

Duo Scores Coveted Spot as One of Two Country Acts in Billboard’s All-Genre Top 200 Albums

Nashville, TN – MADDIE & TAE didn’t know what to expect when they put out the table-turning “Girl In A Country Song” and they admit everything since then has been a bit of a surprise. The pair had a publishing deal at 15, a record deal at 17 and 18 followed by a history-making #1 single at 19. The duo certainly weren't expecting to hear they'd outsold every Country act last week except reigning ACM and CMA Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan, but with almost 28,000 copies sold and streamed, that’s just what the keep-it-real songwriters had done. “It’s been like a bobsled this year,” said Maddie. “Every time we turned around, there was some incredible piece of good news! What happened with the single. What happened with the video…the ACM Vocal Duo of the Year nomination… touring with Dierks! You never want to take things lightly, because they’re exactly what we’d hoped for.” “To think that the songs Maddie and I write about our lives reflect what is happening in so many other people’s lives,” Tae continues. “It makes you feel connected to the fans even more! We are pretty regular girls with a very special job – and to know our music means enough for people to want to buy it the very first week it comes out? That’s an incredible feeling.” After a prestigious NPR First Listen, Maddie & Tae found themselves keeping company with the Weeknd, Halsey and Lorde in reviews in papers ranging from The New York Times and The Washington Post, while Rolling Stone praised their “feminist Country with hooks,” citing an outlook that was “tough-minded and stout-hearted.” SPIN concurred, with a headline announcing, “Maddie & Tae Tell the Bros to Shut Up and Fish on ‘START HERE,” writing, “START HERE speaks loudest with its small-scale anecdotes of teenage mishaps and first-time thrills.” As “Fly,” the faith in the falter follow-up single, hits the Top 10, Maddie & Tae are just beginning. Hitting Billboard’s all-genre Top 200 Albums chart, after being awarded a Platinum-certified single for “Girl In A Country Song” at their Nashville release event, the duo are seeing people respond to their songs about growing up, figuring life out, mean girls, dating and the incredible power of friendship to see you through. “We’ve been very blessed,” Tae offers. “Maddie and I write these songs a lot of times to figure out things in our own lives. We get that benefit, and then when people come to our shows and sing these songs back to us? That’s the greatest feeling in the world.” “Yeah,” Maddie continues. “The idea someone else understands this stuff too makes you feel like you’re not the only one! If we can give that to someone else in these songs, that’s awesome. Now if we can just catch Luke Bryan.