"Smoke" is a song recorded by American country music group A Thousand Horses. It is their debut single and the first from their album ''

Southernality ''Southernality'' is the debut studio album by American country music band A Thousand Horses. It was released on June 9, 2015 via Republic Nashville. The album includes their debut single "Smoke", which reached number 1 on Country Airplay. Criti ...

''. The track is a country ballad about comparing one's love to tobacco and trying to let it go. The band's lead vocalist Michael Hobby co-wrote the song, along with

Ross Copperman Ross Copperman (born October 1, 1982) is a Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter and producer with 29 number one radio hits. After his experience as an artist in the UK, Copperman discovered his talent for writing and producing country mus ...

and

Jon Nite Jon Nite (born March 19, 1980) is a Grammy-nominated, CMA and ACM award winning singer/songwriter who has written 16 No.1 hits. Nite's songs have been recorded by artists such as Charlie Puth, Keith Urban, Dan & Shay, Gabby Barrett, Luke Bryan, Br ...

. "Smoke" reached number one on the ''Billboard''

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, making A Thousand Horses the first country group to top that chart with their debut single since the Zac Brown Band's "

Chicken Fried "Chicken Fried" is a song by American country music group Zac Brown Band, which frontman Zac Brown co-wrote with Wyatt Durrette. The song was first recorded in 2003 for the 2005 album ''Home Grown''. A second version was then released in 2006 by ...

" in 2008. It also peaked at numbers 5 and 47 on both the

Hot Country Songs 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 sal ...

and

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

charts respectively. The song was certified Gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA), and has sold 474,000 copies in the United States as of July 2015. It achieved similar chart success in Canada, giving the band their first number-one hit on the Canada Country chart and number 53 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 ...

chart. It received a Gold certification from

Music Canada Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It a ...

, denoting sales of 40,000 units in that country. A music video 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 ...

was made to promote the single and features the band performing the song live, as they're watching an exotic dancer perform on stage.

Content

The song is a ballad in which the narrator compares his lover to the substance dependence of tobacco, referring to her as a "habit that I can't let go".

Reception

Critical

Giving it a "B+", Jim Casey of '' Country Weekly'' praised the song's Southern rock and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

influences, adding that "The forlorn lyrics are despairing, but frontman Michael Hobby's gritty vocals…drive the song into an endorphin-releasing euphoria."

Commercial

The song debuted at number 48 on the

chart dated for the week ending January 24, 2015. It debuted at number 48 on the ''Billboard''

chart dated for the week ending January 24, 2015. It debuted at number 9 on the ''Billboard''

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart dated for the week ending February 14, 2015, and then entered the

at number 90 on chart dated March 14, 2015. "Smoke" reached number one on the Country Airplay chart dated June 13, 2015, making A Thousand Horses the first country group to send a debut single to number one since the Zac Brown Band's "

" in December 2008. As of July 2015, the song had sold 474,000 downloads in the US. Sales figure give
here
/ref> The song debuted at number 42 on the ''Billboard'' Canada Country chart for the week of March 14, 2015. It also debuted at number 92 on the

chart for the week of April 18, 2015.

Music video

The music video was directed by

. In the video, the band performs the song live about an erotic dancer they are watching on stage. Joseph Hudak of '' Rolling Stone'' compared the video to that of " Girls, Girls, Girls" by

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...

Chart performance

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2015 songs 2015 debut singles A Thousand Horses songs Republic Nashville singles Country ballads Music videos directed by Peter Zavadil Songs written by Ross Copperman Songs written by Jon Nite Song recordings produced by Dave Cobb