Oliver Anthony

Christopher Anthony Lunsford (born June 30, 1992), known professionally as Oliver Anthony, is an American singer-songwriter from Farmville, Virginia. In August 2023, he released the single "Rich Men North of Richmond" independently, which debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 and made him the first artist to achieve this without any prior charting history in any form.

Career Career beginnings A singer of the country-folk genre, Lunsford adopted his grandfather's name "Oliver Anthony" as his stage name in homage to the Depression era in which he lived.

Anthony started writing music in 2021, and since 2022 has released music as Oliver Anthony Music. Winston Marshall compared Anthony's performance on his song "Doggonit"—a song which contrasts consumption of insect protein and self-driving cars with Anthony's rural abode —to that of a character from Hillbilly Elegy. His music has been influenced by Hank Williams. Anthony had been struggling with mental health issues and alcohol abuse for five years, and according to Twitter user Jason Howerton who had interviewed him, in July 2023 Anthony broke down and promised God that he would get sober if he helped him follow his dream. Around 30 days later, West Virginia music channel Radiowv asked him to record a song for its YouTube music channel, and the result was "Rich Men North of Richmond".

Anthony performed a free show at a farmers' market in Barco, North Carolina, on August 13, which Anthony opened with the reading of verses from Psalm 37 about evildoers. He was joined by surprise guest Jamey Johnson. which reached No. 3 on the Apple platform.

"Aint Gotta Dollar", a song about self-reliance without spending money, and ranked Anthony's fourth best by Taste of Country, reached number 1 on the Viral 50 list in Spotify Anthony said that members of the public had reached out to tell him that the song had connected with them powerfully.

In a Facebook post on August 17, Anthony described what he believes to be the reasons for his popularity: "I wrote the music I wrote because I was suffering with mental health and depression. These songs have connected with millions of people on such a deep level because they're being sung by someone feeling the words in the very moment they were being sung. No editing, no agent, no bullshit. Just some idiot and his guitar."

"Rich Men North of Richmond"

The video of Anthony performing "Rich Men North of Richmond" was uploaded to YouTube on August 8, 2023, and to number 1 on the Spotify U.S. and Apple Music charts a few days later. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares called Anthony's performance "unreal Virginia talent." NBC News reported on August 14 that the original video upload had over nine million views in the space of five days, and noted a comment on it which had attracted 11,000 likes: "And just like that you became the voice of 40 or 50 million working men." Within days of the song's release, John Rich publicly offered to produce Anthony's first album. He said that five more acoustic songs had been recorded at Anthony's farm at the same sessions as "Rich Men", to be released soon. There were also concert bookings until the end of 2023, he said. It was followed on September 2 by a video for his song "90 Some Chevy", a song initially released in April that compares certain aspects of romantic love to an older vehicle. A live recording of the same song was also released, with 1.3 million views of the video in two days." "I Want to Go Home" was the 39th most-downloaded song of 2023 in the United States, above "All I Want For Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey, "What Was I Made For?" by Billie Eilish, and "Kill Bill" by SZA.

On March 29, 2024, Anthony announced his debut studio album Hymnal of a Troubled Man's Mind, which was released on March 31.

Firsts In addition to being the first songwriter to debut at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with no prior chart history in any form, Anthony is the first male songwriter to chart 13 songs simultaneously in the top 50 Digital Song Sales while still alive—Prince and Michael Jackson exceeded that count only following their deaths.

Industry observers noted these milestones were reached despite virtually no radio play; nonetheless, when country music stations such as WGH-FM in Virginia and KBAY in California started playing Anthony, he debuted a few days later at No. 45 on the Country Airplay list.

Artistry Anthony plays the resonator guitar, Don Cusic described Anthony's style as straining and sincere, with "a voice that just cuts through."

Personal life

Anthony was born and raised in the Piedmont area of Virginia and currently resides in Farmville, Virginia. As of August 2023, he lived with his wife and two children in a $750 camper on an off-the-grid 90-acre property, where he said he intends to raise livestock. After his fame, his wife divorced him; Anthony subsequently wrote a song about her seeking half of his assets.

Anthony dropped out of high school in 2010 at the age of 17, and later received a General Educational Development diploma; he went on to work in industrial jobs in North Carolina and Virginia. He wrote in a Facebook post that from 2014 through 2023 he worked in outside sales in manufacturing, visiting factories and job sites. Later that month, he said he was bothered by others who "wrap politics" around his work. "I see the right trying to characterize me as one of their own, and I see the left trying to discredit me, I guess in retaliation. That shit's got to stop", he said.

In February 2025, Anthony spoke and performed at the 2025 conference of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, an international conservative organization affiliated with psychologist and political commentator Jordan Peterson. Anthony's speech featured religious themes and criticized the influence of social media on human life, as well as promoting his activism to revive rural America.

Discography Studio albums + List of studio album, with selected details and chart positions Title Details Peaks USHeat. Hymnal of a Troubled Man's Mind Released: March 31, 2024 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download, streaming, CD, Vinyl 13

Singles + List of singles, with selected chart positions, showing year released, certifications and album names Title Year efn-ua|Indicates year of release. Anthony's first song to chart was "Rich Men North of Richmond", USCou. USCou.Air. AUS CAN IRE NZ SWE UK WW "Aint Gotta Dollar" 2022 82 21 — — — — — — — — "Rich Man's Gold" — — — — group=upper-alpha|"Rich Man's Gold" did not enter the Billboard Canadian Hot 100, but peaked at number 49 on the Canadian Digital Song Sales chart. — — — — — — — — — — "Virginia" — 35 — — group=upper-alpha|"I've Got to Get Sober" did not enter the Billboard Canadian Hot 100, but peaked at number 16 on the Canadian Digital Song Sales chart. RMNZ: Platinum "Cowboys and Sunsets" 2024 — — — — — — — — — — "Scornful Woman" 2025 — — — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.