"Blue Ain't Your Color" is a song recorded by New Zealand-born Australian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...

, and written by

Steven Lee Olsen Steven Lee Olsen (born November 25, 1985) is a Canadian country music artist and songwriter. He is best known for his singles "Raised by a Good Time" and "Outta Yours", as well as for co-writing the Grammy-nominated single "Blue Ain't Your Color" ...

Hillary Lindsey Hillary Lee Lindsey (born August 11, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has written songs with or for a number of artists including Michelle Branch, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Shakira, Lady A, Gary Allan, Sara Evans, Carrie Unde ...

and Clint Lagerberg. It was released on August 8, 2016, as the fourth single from Urban's 2016 album '' Ripcord''. To date, this is Urban’s most recent number one song. The song was a commercial and chart success. In the United States, it reached number one on the US ''

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 advertis ...

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 along with digital sales and streaming. ...

, and

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...

charts for 12 straight weeks in that position on the former. It also peaked at number 24 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "Blue Ain't Your Color" also received two

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

nominations at the

59th Grammy Awards The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 12, 2017. The CBS network broadcast the show live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility yea ...

– Best Country Solo Performance for Urban and

Best Country Song The Grammy Award for Best Country Song (sometimes known as the Country Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1965. The award is given to the songwriter(s) of the song, not to the artist, unless the artist is also the songwriter. There have ...

for its songwriters. It also won both the CMA Award for Single of the Year and the

American Music Award for Favorite Country Song The American Music Award for Favorite Song – Country (formerly known as Favorite Country Single 1974-1995) has been awarded since 1974. The category was retired for over a decade in 1995, before returning in the 2016 ceremony. Years reflect the y ...

in 2017. The song was even nominated for Single for the Year at the

52nd Academy of Country Music Awards The 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the 2017 ACM Awards, were held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 2, 2017. Nominations for the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards were announced on February 16, 2017. Luk ...

Content

"Blue Ain't Your Color" is about a male observing a lonely woman at a bar who is dissatisfied in her current relationship. This song is set in the key of

G major G major is a major scale based on G (musical note), G, with the pitches G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, C (musical note), C, D (musical note), D, E (musical note), E, and F♯ (musical note), F. Its key signature has one sharp (music ...

and has a

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

and a main chord pattern of G–Am–C–D–G.

Chart performance

In the US, "Blue Ain't Your Color" reached number one on the US

chart, and number one on the US

chart. It remained at that position for twelve consecutive weeks until it was knocked off by " Better Man", performed by

Little Big Town Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group from Homewood, Alabama. Founded in 1998, the group has had the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Roads), Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook. Fa ...

. ''Blue Ain't Your Color'' debuted at number 73 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and eventually reached its peak at number 24 on the chart. It became Urban's nineteenth top 40 hit on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, his seventh top 30 hit and first top 30 hit since "

We Were Us "We Were Us" is a song written by Nicolle Galyon, Jimmy Robbins, and Jon Nite and recorded by New Zealand-born Australian country music singer Keith Urban as a duet with American country music singer Miranda Lambert. It was released in September ...

" in 2013. In June 2017, the song reached a million copies in sales. As of December 2017, the single has sold 1,163,000 copies in the US. On March 18, 2019, the single was certified

quadruple platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

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) for combined sales and streaming data of over four million units in the United States.

Music video

The music video was directed by motion picture director

Carter Smith Carter Smith (born September 6, 1971) is an American filmmaker and fashion photographer. He is best known for directing the films '' The Ruins'' (2008), '' Jamie Marks Is Dead'' (2014) and ''Swallowed'' (2022). Life and career A native of Bowdoi ...

and premiered in September 2016. It shows Urban singing on the stage while a woman (played by

Amber Valletta Amber Evangeline Valletta (born February 9, 1974) is an American model and actress. She began her career as a fashion model, landing her first of 17 American '' Vogue'' covers in February 1993. During the 1990s, Valletta reached the status of su ...

) comes into the bar crying and playing the jukebox and dancing to the song.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
* {{authority control 2016 songs 2016 singles Keith Urban songs Capitol Records Nashville singles Songs written by Hillary Lindsey Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Country ballads Songs written by Steven Lee Olsen Songs about colors