"Tonight I Wanna Cry" is a song co-written and recorded by Australian

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, ...

artist

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is an Australian-American musician, singer, guitarist and songwriter known for his work in country music. Recognized with four Grammy Awards, Urban also received fifteen Academy of Country Music Award ...

. It was released in November 2005 as the fifth and final single from his 2004 album '' Be Here''. The song peaked at number 2 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 advertise ...

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 ...

chart. Urban wrote this song with

Monty Powell Monty Powell (born June 1, 1961) is an American country music songwriter best known for collaborating with Keith Urban, and for producing albums by Diamond Rio. Powell's first songwriting credit was a jingle for an Allstate commercial. After mov ...

Music video

The accompanying music video for this song was directed by

Chris Hicky Chris Hicky is a writer/director from Forrest City, Arkansas, United States, best known for directing many of Keith Urban's videos. Hicky has also directed videos for many other artists in the country music genre, including Dierks Bentley, Madd ...

and premiered in early 2006.

In popular culture

The song was later sung by

Ace Young Brett "Ace" Young (born November 15, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He gained national recognition while appearing on the fifth season of ''American Idol''. Young is married to ''American Idol'' season-three runner-up Diana ...

on ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' on 4 April 2006, which was designated a

theme. Chad Doucette sang it on ''

Canadian Idol ''Canadian Idol'' is a Canadian reality television competition show which aired on CTV, based on the British show ''Pop Idol''. The show was a competition to find the most talented young singer in Canada, and was hosted by Ben Mulroney. Jon Dore ...

''. It was also covered by

Chris Richardson Christopher Michael Richardson (born February 19, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter who was the fifth-place finalist on the sixth season of ''American Idol''. Personal life Richardson was born in Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe ...

on American Idol on 6 March 2007 Urban's version was also featured in the 31 January 2007 ''

Medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane *Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

'' episode, ''Very Merry Maggie''. In August 2011, The song was performed on the

X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

by contestant, Mitchell Callaway. Following this performance, Keith's version entered the Australian singles chart at #72. In February 2013, The song was also performed on "

" by Paul Jolley and Lazaro Arbos in front of

himself during the "Sudden Death Round" in Las Vegas.

Chart performance

"Tonight I Wanna Cry" debuted at number 42 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart for the week of 3 December 2005.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{Keith Urban singles 2005 singles Keith Urban songs Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Songs written by Monty Powell Songs written by Keith Urban Capitol Records Nashville singles Music videos directed by Chris Hicky 2004 songs Country ballads