Keith Urban banks his 21st No. 1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart (dated Jan. 14), as "Blue Ain't Your Color" climbs 2-1 in its 20th week, increasing by 18 percent to 44.8 million audience impressions in the week ending Jan. 1, according to Nielsen Music.
Written by Steven Lee Olsen, Hillary Lindsey and Clint Lagerberg, the retro sound of "Blue" is a departure from most of Urban's past hits. "Despite the waltz time signature, I feel it is more of a soul song," Urban tells Billboard. "We worked for a long time in the studio to get the feel and simplicity to where it is. Certainly when [parent album] Ripcord came out [in May], it was definitely one of the tracks that people responded to immediately. Even when we kicked off the tour [in June], it was getting the same reaction live. I loved it the first time I heard it [and] I love playing it live, so it's really the best feeling when it connects the way that this one has."
As "Blue" rules Country Airplay, it also paces both Hot Country Songs (which combines airplay, sales and streaming data) and Country Digital Song Sales for a ninth week each. The track leads the latter list with an 88 percent surge to 48,000 downloads sold in the week ending Dec. 29, 2016 (a frame bolstered by holiday shopping). Since its release, "Blue" has shifted 651,000 downloads to date.