"Talladega" is a song co-written 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, ...

singer

Eric Church Kenneth Eric Church (born May 3, 1977) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has released nine studio albums through Capitol Nashville since 2005. His debut album, 2006's '' Sinners Like Me'', produced three singles on the ''Billboar ...

. It was released in September 2014 as the fourth single from his 2014 album '' The Outsiders''. Church wrote this song with

Luke Laird Luke Robert Laird (born May 4, 1978 in Hartstown, Pennsylvania) is an American country music songwriter and producer. He has written over 20 number one ''Billboard'' singles, including Carrie Underwood's "So Small", "Temporary Home", and " Un ...

Background and content

"Talladega" is a song about a man who is sharing memories from a trip made to

Talladega Superspeedway Talladega Superspeedway, nicknamed “'Dega”, and formerly named Alabama International Motor Speedway (AIMS) from 1969 to 1989, is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base ...

with friends after his senior year in high school. According to Church, this song was written and partially recorded on July 7, 2012, while he was on tour. It was later recorded with his band in Nashville for release on ''The Outsiders''. Church took inspiration from watching a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

race on television, but both he and co-writer

said that the song is not really about racing. Rather, Church said that the race and the song represents "that experience, whatever that is: the experience with the person next to you, and knowing that that’s probably a finite time in your life. It’s not gonna last forever."

Commercial performance

"Talladega" debuted on the Country Digital Songs chart at No. 29, and Hot Country Songs at No. 41, with 14,000 sold when the album '' The Outsiders'' was released in February 2014. After the song was released as a single in September, it debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart at No. 90 for the charted dated November 8, 2014. It peaked at No. 43 on the Hot 100 for the chart dated February 7, 2015, and at No. 2 on the Hot Country Songs chart a week later. As of March 2015, the single has sold 534,000 copies in the United States. Sales figures give
here
/ref> It was certified Platinum by the RIAA for a million units in sales and streams on November 11, 2016.

Music video

The accompanying music video of this song was 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 ...

and premiered in December 2014. Despite its title, the video was not filmed at

, but was filmed at

Nashville Superspeedway Nashville Superspeedway is a motor racing complex located in Gladeville, Tennessee, United States (though the track has a Lebanon postal address), about southeast of Nashville. The track was built in 2001 and is currently hosting the Ally 400, ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Eric Church 2014 singles Country ballads 2010s ballads Eric Church songs Songs written by Eric Church Songs written by Luke Laird Song recordings produced by Jay Joyce EMI Records singles 2014 songs Music videos directed by Peter Zavadil