"Famous Friends" 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, ...

singers Chris Young and

Kane Brown Kane Allen Brown (born October 21, 1993) is an American singer. Brown first came to the attention of the public through social media. He released his first EP, titled '' Closer'', in June 2015, and followed it with a new single, " Used to Love ...

. It was released on November 20, 2020, as the third single from Young's eighth studio album of the same name. Young wrote and produced the song with Corey Crowder, with additional writing from

Cary Barlowe Cary Barlowe (born 1982) is an American country music songwriter, and a former member of the rock band Luna Halo. Born in Virginia and raised in North Carolina, Barlowe originally performed with his older brother Nathan in the rock group Luna ...

Background

In 2017, Young joined Brown for the duet "Setting the Night on Fire" on the deluxe edition of Brown's self-titled album. At the

2020 CMT Music Awards The 2020 CMT Music Awards were held in Nashville, Tennessee on October 21, 2020. Kane Brown, Sarah Hyland and Ashley McBryde were the hosts for the show. The CMT Music Awards are a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television perf ...

, Young performed "

Drowning Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer a ...

" in honor of Brown, whose drummer, Kenny Dixon, was killed in a car accident in October 2019, during CMT Artists of the Year. Since then Young and Brown developed a deep beloved friendship. Young told to ''People'': "Kane and I have gotten to know each other over the years, from him being on tours with me, from us writing together, from me guesting on his album in the past. All of this stuff came together. 'Famous Friends' is fun, it's super uptempo and I got to sing with my buddy Kane. All of this worked out as perfect as it possibly could on one song." Rutherford,

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

and

Davidson Davidson may refer to: * Davidson (name) * Clan Davidson, a Highland Scottish clan * Davidson Media Group * Davidson Seamount, undersea mountain southwest of Monterey, California, USA * Tyler Davidson Fountain, monument in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA * ...

counties in Tennessee are referred to in the lyrics, as Rutherford and Hamilton are the home counties of Young and Brown, respectively, while Davidson is where

Nashville 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 the ...

is located.

Commercial performance

"Famous Friends" reached number one on the ''

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 advertise ...

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 dated July 17, 2021, becoming Young's tenth number one single, and Brown's sixth. In December 2021, it was declared by ''Billboard'' the number one Country Airplay single of the year.

Music video

The music video was released on March 26, 2021, directed by

Peter Zavadil Peter Zavadil is an American music video director who works primarily in the field of country music. He has directed many music videos since the late 1990s. He has won the Country Music Association Award for Video of the Year twice from seven nomin ...

. It was filmed in Gallatin, Tennessee, and included Young's and Brown's real-life friends, such as a firefighter, a dog walker, a teacher, a musician, and a cook, and footage of them performing on a housetop in

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Kane Brown 2021 singles 2021 songs Chris Young (singer) songs Kane Brown songs Male vocal duets Songs written by Cary Barlowe Songs written by Corey Crowder (songwriter) Songs written by Chris Young (singer) RCA Records Nashville singles Billboard Country Airplay number-one singles of the year Songs about Tennessee Music videos directed by Peter Zavadil