Niall Horan scores his first-ever country chart hit with “Old Tricks,” his new duet with Thomas Rhett, while “What a Time” surges in sales after The Voice performance. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – MAY 26: Niall Horan performs during the 2023 Boston Calling Music Festival at Harvard Athletic Complex on May 26, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images for Boston Calling)
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Niall Horan is in between album eras at the moment. He delivered his last full-length The Show in the summer of 2023, which he promoted with multiple popular songs as well as a tour that saw him travel all around the world throughout much of 2024. Millions of fans are waiting for the former One Direction singer to announce a new chapter, but until then, he has two songs that are growing in popularity in America at the moment.
The first is a brand new cut, one which helps him reach a Billboard chart he’s never appeared on before — and likely never expected to during his musical career — while the other explodes in sales, but doesn’t quite manage to appear on any tally. What is clear is that there is still great interest among Americans in Horan’s music, and his current success seems to suggest that whenever he does drop something new, it’s bound to be popular.
Niall Horan’s Surprise Country Hit
Horan joins Thomas Rhett on the song “Old Tricks,” which debuts on the Country Digital Song Sales chart this frame. The duet opens at No. 12, making it the twelfth bestselling tune in that genre on platforms like iTunes and Amazon across the U.S.
Niall Horan Vs. Thomas Rhett on the Country Chart
Unsurprisingly, Horan appears on the Country Digital Song Sales chart for the first time in his life. Rhett is far from new to the ranking, as “Old Tricks” earns him his milestone fiftieth hit on the roster. Of that impressive count, 33 tunes have cracked the top 10 — a tier that “Old Tricks” just barely misses this time around.
Rhett has scored four No. 1s this far. “Die a Happy Man” led for 15 weeks, which is more than his three other winners – “Something About a Woman” with Teddy Swims, “Look What God Gave Her,” and “Be a Light,” a collaboration with Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin, and Keith Urban, which ruled the list for a combined four frames.
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – JUNE 06: Thomas Rhett performs onstage during the 2024 CMA Music festival at the Nissan Stadium on June 06, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
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Thomas Rhett and Niall Horan Revamp “Old Tricks”
“Old Tricks” is a reworked take on Rhett’s song of the same name. The tune was released as part of the deluxe edition reissue of the country star’s 2024 album About a Woman. The original version was also a duet between, Rhett and fellow genre powerhouse Blake Shelton. Horan revamped things and put his own spin on the cut, and his popularity helps it appear on the Country Digital Song Sales list for the first time.
“What a Time” Surges In Sales
At the same time that “Old Tricks” arrives, another one of Horan’s songs becomes a top seller again — though not a charting hit. “What a Time,” his collaboration with singer-songwriter Julia Michaels, sold just under 900 copies throughout the U.S. in the most recent tracking period, according to Luminate. That sum is up from single digits the period before, meaning “What a Time” experiences a sales increase of 17,260% from one frame to the next.
Why Is Niall Horan’s “What a Time” So Popular Right Now?
What’s responsible for such an incredible gain for a track that was released more than half a decade ago, in 2019, on Michaels’s EP Inner Monologue, Part 1? The tune was performed on a recent episode of the American reality singing competition series The Voice. Horan is a judge again this season, and two artists on his team — Aiden Ross and Ava Nat — dueted the track, bringing it to the attention of viewers, many of whom might not have been familiar with the song.
While “What a Time” has been certified platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), the tune did not make any serious impact on the Billboard charts — and it doesn’t manage to this frame either, despite its incredible leap in sales.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2025/11/03/niall-horan-charts-his-first-country-hit-while-an-older-tune-skyrockets/
