"Dirt" is a song 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, ...

duo

Florida Georgia Line Florida Georgia Line is an American country music duo founded in 2010 by Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley of Florida, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. Their 2012 debut single " Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was ...

. It is the first single from their second studio album, ''

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap ant ...

'', which was released on October 14, 2014.

Content

Written by

Rodney Clawson Rodney Dale Clawson (born in Gruver, Texas, United States) is an American country music songwriter. Clawson has written singles recorded by Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Faith Hill, George Strait and Luke Bryan, among others. Biography Clawson w ...

and

Chris Tompkins Christopher G. Tompkins (born Muscle Shoals, Alabama) is an American songwriter based in Nashville. Since 2002 he has co-written songs for pop, rock, and country artists Jimmy Buffett, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, ...

, the song is a mid-tempo ballad about various life events centering on dirt. The final lines of the song include the lyrics "You know you came from it / Someday you'll return to it", which the duo initially did not want to include as they felt it was a cliché. However they eventually decided to include the line. Brian Kelley, one-half of the duo, told the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'', "I think a '

Cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...

'-type song would have been accepted, but just when you think you have FGL figured out, we wanted to go against the grain and change it up with a song like 'Dirt'".

Music video

The music video was directed by

Nigel Dick Nigel Dick (born 21 March 1953) is a British music video and film director, writer and musician from Catterick, England, now based in Los Angeles, California. He directed the Britney Spears videos " ...Baby One More Time" and " Oops!... I Did I ...

. It follows the life of a married couple, alternating between the past and present, where the family is gathered for the mother's funeral. The video has a lot of visual references to dirt. Dirt is portrayed as a substance that you can smear in the face of your loved ones one minute, then bury family in it the next. It stars

J. D. Souther John David "J. D." Souther (born November 2, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He has written and co-written songs recorded by Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles. Souther is probably best known for his songwriting abilities, especi ...

in the leading role and Lindsay Heyser as the young Rosie.

Commercial performance

"Dirt" debuted at number 16 on the

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

chart for the week of July 26, 2014, becoming the highest-airplay debut by a country duo. "Dirt" also debuted on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 11 and on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

the same week at number 10, being the "Hot Shot Debut" of the week on both charts. Also during the same week, "Dirt" jumped from number 40 to number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart. On its final week on the chart, for the week of January 10, 2015, the song jumped from number 22 to number 11 on the Hot Country Songs chart and was the airplay garner for the week. Afterwards, however, the song dropped off the charts. "Dirt" is the sixth consecutive single of the duo to peak in the top 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart. The song reached its million sales mark in the US in October 2014. As of December 2014, the song has sold 1,272,000 copies in the US. Sales figures give
here
/ref> The song was certified double Platinum on April 30, 2015. In Canada, the song sold 17,000 downloads in its debut week.

Chart positions

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2014 singles 2014 songs Florida Georgia Line songs Songs written by Rodney Clawson Songs written by Chris Tompkins Song recordings produced by Joey Moi Republic Records singles Republic Nashville singles Music videos directed by Nigel Dick Country ballads