"Brokenheartsville" is a song written by Donny Kees, Blake Mevis,

Randy Boudreaux Ronald "Randy" Boudreaux is a producer and songwriter of country music. Early life Boudreaux grew up in ake Charles, LA Ake (or Aké in Spanish orthography) is an archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It's located in ...

, and Clint Daniels and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

singer

Joe Nichols Joseph Edward Nichols (born November 26, 1976) is an American country music artist. Between 1996 and 2001, he held recording contracts with the Intersound and Giant labels. In 2002, he signed with Universal South Records, now known as Show Dog- ...

. It was released in November 2002 as the second single from Nichols' 2002 album '' Man with a Memory''. The song became Nichols' first number one hit on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

(now Hot Country Songs) chart and earned him his second consecutive Grammy nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. The song also was later covered by

Johnny Rodriguez Juan Raoul Davis "Johnny" Rodriguez (born December 10, 1951) is an American country music singer. He is a Tejano and Texas country music singer, infusing his music with Latin sounds, and even singing verses of songs in Spanish. In the 1970s and ...

on his 2011 album ''Live from Texas''.

Critical reception

Wade Jessen of ''

'' called the song a "beer-can-crushing, honky-tonk lament of lost love."''

'', March 29, 2003

Music video

The video starts out with Nichols drinking at a rotating bar in the city, and talking to his friends. They watch a singer sing live on stage. The subplot is that his girlfriend rides off with another man in an Eldorado convertible; in contrast to the lyrics calling the car a "Coupe de Ville," which ends up breaking down, much to her dismay. The new boyfriend just shrugs his shoulders as if nothing is wrong. Several of the bar patrons sitting with Nichols as well as the bartender are seen mouthing the final words of each line of the first chorus. In the second verse, when the singer is done on stage, Nichols takes the stage and sings the final verse and two choruses with his band, before returning to the bar and having a drink, to which he toasts with his buddies before taking a sip and giving a blunt face by not liking the taste. The video was filmed in downtown

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

and the outside shots of the car were filmed near the

Bridgestone Arena Bridgestone Arena (originally Nashville Arena, and formerly Gaylord Entertainment Center and Sommet Center) is a multi-purpose venue in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Completed in 1996, it is the home of the Nashville Predators o ...

. The video was directed by Trey Fanjoy.

Chart performance

"Brokenheartsville" debuted at No. 56 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

chart for the week of November 2, 2002. The song spent 31 weeks on the chart, reaching number one for the week ending March 29, 2003, where it remained at the top spot for one week.

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2002 singles Joe Nichols songs Music videos directed by Trey Fanjoy Songs written by Clint Daniels Songs written by Randy Boudreaux Show Dog-Universal Music singles Song recordings produced by Brent Rowan Songs written by Blake Mevis 2002 songs Songs written by Donny Kees