Oliver Anthony Says His First Royalty Check From “Rich Men North Of Richmond” Was $800,000

No more working overtime hours for BS pay I guess.

Oliver Anthony made history when he dropped what would become his debut single, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” back in 2023.

The video was originally uploaded to YouTube by RadioWV and quickly went viral, racking up millions and millions of views before he even released the song on streaming platforms.

Since its release, the song has racked up over 300 MILLION streams on Spotify alone, along with 200 million on the original video. The song debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making the first time that an artist had ever debuted at the top of the chart with their first single.

But of course there was plenty of criticism of the song too – which no doubt helped its popularity.

Many on the political left blasted the populist song as shaming welfare recipients due to the line about “fudge rounds,” and self-righteous blowhard Jason Isbell even said that Anthony should have blown up the entire song and written a new one.

Of course the criticism didn’t really hurt him any. At the time, Anthony (whose real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford) said that he turned down $8 million contract offers during the song’s success. And during a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Anthony revealed just how much money he was making during the height of the song’s popularity:

“The first check from ‘Richmond’ was $800,000. I could have lived a long time off of that money, you know? I don’t need a whole lot. That was crazy. That was a decade or more of work for me, easily, So I was like, ‘Heck yeah, I’m good.'”

Not a bad payday for an overnight sensation.

It’s hard to tell how much he’s made from the song since that first check, but Anthony released his debut album he hasn’t been able to replicate the success of “Rich Men North of Richmond.” His latest single, “Scornful Woman,” was released last week and has 2 million streams on Spotify, while his debut album came back in 2024 and doesn’t have any songs that have even broken 5 million streams.

Regardless, he’s clearly doing well not only riding the success of “Rich Men North of Richmond” but parlaying it into tours and his ministry work.

Last year, Anthony said that while he would still be releasing music, he would be leaving the “music business” and would instead focus on ministry with his “Rural Revival Project.”

“I’m in the process of getting out of the music industry. It’s a big joke. The plan is to eventually change my entire focus to traveling ministry work. It’s all part of this Rural Revival thing. I just have to go at it in baby steps since it’s completely DIY.”

He confirmed at the time that he still plans to continue releasing music:

“No, I’ll still be releasing music just like normal, I’ll just be set up legally as a ministry.”

And he further outlined his vision to bring music and ministry to rural areas:

“I have this vision… I want to create a routing schedule that runs parallel to Nashville, circumvents the monopoly of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, and goes into towns that haven’t had music in them in a long time. It stimulates their economy, showcases their culture, it uses local vendors and local musicians. You’re not having to drive out to Pittsburgh to a concrete amphitheater to see a show. It’s done out on a farm or on a main street that desperately needs the economic impact.”

Well with a checks rolling in like he got from his debut single, there’s no doubt that Anthony can pretty much forge his own path now.The post Oliver Anthony Says His First Royalty Check From “Rich Men North Of Richmond” Was $800,000 first appeared on Whiskey Riff.