Zac Brown Band Details
In 2008, the Zac Brown Band topped the country music charts with their debut single, “Chicken Fried.” Their subsequent debut album did even better: The Foundation ultimately went 5x Platinum in the U.S., with singles “Toes,” “Highway 20 Ride” and “Free” also topping the country charts. It seemed like a rise to domination out of nowhere—who goes No. 1 with their debut single? But that was hardly the case for Zac Brown, who formed the first iteration of the Zac Brown Band in 2002. The band played 200 gigs in its first year, touring behind music it released on an independent label that Brown founded himself. Between then and 2008, Brown opened a restaurant with his father and toured with other bands, among other ventures. But once the Zac Brown Band broke into success, there was no looking back.
In 2010 the band released its second album, You Get What You Give, which became its first to hit No. 1 on both the country chart and the overall U.S. chart. It was a sign of things to come: Uncaged (2012) and Jekyll + Hyde (2015) also each conquered both charts, and Welcome Home, released on May 12, 2017, debuted at No. 2 on the U.S. chart and No. 1 on the country chart. The Zac Brown Band released its biggest post-”Chicken Fried” single in 2011, as the Jimmy Buffett-featuring “Knee Deep” peaked at 18 on the U.S. singles chart.