Hot 100 First-Timers: Hailey Whitters Debuts With ‘Everything She Ain’t’

Hailey Whitters is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting hitmaker, as her breakthrough single “Everything She Ain’t” debuts on the latest list (dated May 27) at No. 94.

The song, released in January 2022 via Songs & Daughters/Pigasus/Big Loud Records, tallied 9.3 million radio audience impressions (up 4%), 3.9 million official streams (up 14%), and 1,000 downloads sold (up 45%) in the U.S. in the May 12-18 tracking week, according to Luminate.

The track also rises 28-25 on Hot Country Songs, in its 33rd week on the chart, and 24-22 on Country Airplay, in its 55th week. Notably, in the 33-year history of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, only three songs by female artists have had longer runs than “Everything She Ain’t”: Priscilla Block’s “Just About Over You” and Tenille Arts’ “Somebody Like That” (both 64 weeks in 2020-21), and Maddie & Tae’s “Die From a Broken Heart” (59 weeks, 2019-20).

Whitters, 33, from Shueyville, Iowa, is a newcomer to Billboard’s charts as a recording artist. “Everything She Ain’t” is her first solo song as a billed artist to chart. Her first entry on Billboard’s rankings was with her 2022 album Raised, which includes “Everything She Ain’t,” on Big Loud. The set reached No. 9 on Heatseekers Albums.

In a 2022 interview with Billboard, Whitters said that “Everything She Ain’t” was a late addition to Raised. “This song was one of the absolute last songs we cut,” she said. “To be completely honest, in my mind, my record was done.” As for its content, in which Whitters playfully spells out to a prospective beau why she’d make a better girlfriend than his current one, “The world is heavy, and it was heavy when we were writing this and it’s gonna continue to be heavy,” she mused. “I’m not trying to change anyone’s life. I’m just trying to make someone’s day. I feel like this song does that in two minutes and 30 seconds.”

Whitters performed the song at the 58th ACM Awards on May 11, where she also took home the trophy for new female artist of the year.

Outside of “Everything She Ain’t,” Whitters is an accomplished songwriter, having written tracks for Alan Jackson, Little Big Town and Martina McBride. Little Big Town’s “Happy People,” which she co-wrote with Lori McKenna, reached No. 40 on Hot Country Songs and No. 46 on Country Airplay in 2017. She received a Grammy nomination for song of the year in late 2021 as one of eight writers of Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile’s “A Beautiful Noise.”

Earlier this year, Whitters embarked on her first solo tour, the Raised Tour. She’s currently on the road as the supporting act on multiple treks: Shania Twain’s Queen of Me Tour, the Cody Johnson & Friends Tour, Eric Church’s The Outsiders Revival Tour and Luke Bryan’s Country On Tour.