When you’re hot, you’re Hardy. Country music singer/songwriter Michael Wilson Hardy is a songwriter in high demand. And rightly so. He started out 2022 by winning the 2022 ACM Songwriter of the Year. He followed up that honor with the 2022 AIMP Songwriter of the Year Award. Then there was the BMI Songwriter of the Year Award. And there’s an incredible catalog of Hardy songs. Take a look below. Did you know Hardy wrote these 24 hit songs?

Music Row said Hardy has earned a reputation as “one of Nashville’s most trusted songwriters.” Sure, he has scored a few hits on his own, from his debut single, “Rednecker,”  to his recent smash with Lainey Wilson, “Wait In The Truck.” But, Hardy has long been the go-to hit songwriter for many artists, especially his good friend and frequent tour mate, Morgan Wallen.

After a summer on tour with Morgan, he earned his wings as a rock star performer for those of us who never had the chance to see him live before. There is so much passion behind his songs and his performances. He’s a man who feels things deeply and shares his every thought through songwriting.

Hardy started his career as a writing partner to Florida Georgia Line, before becoming Wallen’s #1 collaborator. His 2023 album, The Mockingbird & the Crow, showcases his love of country music and rock. Each genre is represented on the project. The first have being country, and second half, rock music. The singer/songwriter picked up his first CMA Awards this year, for “Wait in the Truck,” with Lainey Wilson. They won the Musical Event of the Year and Music Video of the Year awards.

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest hits this talented artist has written for other artists, in addition to himself.  Did you know Hardy wrote THESE 24 hit songs?

• 1. Beers On Me - Dierks Bentley

  Hardy co-wrote this Dierks Bentley #1 hit with a lot of help. Ashley Gorley, Luke Dick, Ross Copperman, Breland, and Dierks all had a hand in making this a smash last Spring. Hardy and Breland are also featured on the track. This song marked the 18th #1 career hit for Bentley, and Hardy’s 2nd, as well as Breland/s first. 

  “Beers On Me”

• 2. Come Back As A Country Boy- Blake Shelton

  This song went top 12 early in 2022 for Blake Shelton. Hardy co-wrote “Come Back as a Country Boy” with  Jordan Schmidt and Josh Thompson. 

• 3. Give Heaven Some Hell - Hardy

  Hardy gave us this original in 2021, from his album The Rock. He co-wrote “Give Heaven Some Hell” with Ashley Gorley, Ben Johnson and Hunter Phelps. Hardy scored a top 11 hit with the song he called a “stirring” tribute to anyone who has lost a loved one. He also said it was one of his favorite songs he’d ever written.

• 4. God's Country- Blake Shelton

  Written with  Devin Dawson, and Jordan Schmidt, Hardy helped Blake Shelton score one of the biggest hits of his career. “God’s Country” was a commercial and critical success. And presented Blake with a different sound. It was named single of the year at both the ACM and CMA Awards, and earned Blake a couple of Grammy nominations. According to Devin Dawson, they wrote the song on a Thursday, “Blake heard it and  by Monday he had recorded it.”

• 5. Hell Right- Blake Shelton (featuring Trace Adkins)

  Another hit for Blake, thanks in part to Hardy. This time Hardy enlisted the talents of  writers David Garcia and Brett Tyler.  “Hell Right” is song is about taking things to the limit. “You can raise hell or raise hell right.” It’s peaked at #18 in 2019.

• 6. Holy Water- Michael Ray

  Another collaboration with the usual suspects for Hardy. He, along with Ashley Gorley, Ben Johnson and Hunter Phelps first pitched “Holy Water” to Blake Shelton before Michael Ray ended up with it.

• 7. I Don't Know About You- Chris Lane

  For this triple platinum selling 2018 Chris Lane smash hit, Hardy worked with Hunter Phelps and Jameson Rodgers. It’s a guy walks into a bar and sees “the girl” story. And it took Chris Lane to the top of the charts for a couple of weeks.

   

• 8. More Than My Hometown- Morgan Wallen

  Over the summer when Hardy was in town with Morgan Wallen, I told him I had written this article, he asked me what my favorite Hardy song was. I drew a blank, and before I could answer, he told me “More Than My Hometown” was his personal favorite. This one is yet another Morgan Wallen/Hardy team effort, that also included the efforts of singer/songwriter Ernest and Ryan Vojtesak. “More Than My Hometown” became Morgan’s 4th consecutive #1 hit. The song was released in May of 2020, and seemed to resonate with so many people, at a very difficult time in the world.

• 9. New Truck- Dylan Scott

  “New Truck?”  Who knew? Most of us knew about the hits Hardy helped write for Blake Shelton and Morgan Wallen, even Cole Swindell. But this one might have surprised you.  Dylan Scott co-wrote “New Truck” with Hardy, Hunter Phelps, Ashley Gorley and Ben Johnson. It was based on Scott’s real life; a time when he broke up for several months with the woman who would become his wife, Blair. Dylan scored his 2nd #1 hit with the song this past August.

• 10. One Beer- Hardy (featuring Lauren Alaina and Devin Dawson)

  Written by Hardy, along with Hillary Lindsey and Jake Mitchell, “One Beer” is a story song about how one night, and one beer changed 2 peoples lives forever. The happy ending to this story, the twist of fate may have taken their plans off the table, but ultimately led to a happy family of three. “One Beer” is Hardy’s first and only #1 hit as the lead artist, so far…

• 11. One Big Country Song- LoCash

  “One Big Country Song” became one big hit for the duo LoCash in 2019. Hardy worked with Ashley Gorley and Jesse Frasure to write this one, and Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard produced it.

• 12. Praise The Lord - Breland (featuring Thomas Rhett)

  Rising star Breland took us to church at the 2022 ACM Awards,performing this live, and brought Thomas Rhett along for the ride. Hardy had a hand in writing this spiritual piece of art. He had a lot of help writing this, enlisting the talents of Breland, Julian Bunetta, David Garcia, Jacob Durrett, Jessie Jo Dillon, Kyle Fishman, and Thomas Rhett. In fact Rhett had made it known that the first time he heard this song, he danced and threw his hands in the air. He was grateful Breland allowed him to write a verse in the song. 

   

• 13. Sand In My Boots- Morgan Wallen

  One of Hardy’s best here, he co-wrote this gem with his frequent collaboraters Ashley Gorley and Josh Osborne. Apparently Luke Bryan had a great interest in this song, but Morgan snatched it up and took it to #1 early in 2022.

• 14. Simple- Florida Georgia Line

  This Hardy, Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley writing collab resulted in a 2018 #1 hit for Florida Georgia Line. Tyler Hubbard told Nash Country Daily that the song served as “Just a little reminder to simplify things every now and then and have a good time while you do it.” 

• 15. Single Saturday Night- Cole Swindell

  There was a lot of writing going on during the pandemic. Hardy and Cole Swindell worked with Mark Holman and Ashley Gorley to come up with “Single Saturday.”  Cole released it as the leadoff single for his album Sterotype in May of 2020. It went on to become one of his biggest hits to date. 

   

• 16. Some Girls- Jameson Rogers

  For this 2020 #1 hit, Hardy collaborated with CJ Solar and Jake Mitchell. It served at Jameson’s debut single, from his debut studio album Bet You’re from a Small Town (2021)

• 17. Talk You Out Of It- Florida Georgia Line

  Hardy teamed up with Hunter Phelps, Jameson Rodgers and Alysa Vanderheym to write this one for Florida Georgia Line. “Talk You Out Of It” entered the top 11 in 2018.
  

• 18. Up Down- Morgan Wallen (with Florida Georgia Line)

  Hardy enlisted the help of  Brad Clawson, and CJ Solar for this Morgan Wallen hit. In 2018 it became Morgan’s first #1 hit. Hardy even appears in the video. 

• 19. Wait In The Truck - Hardy (Featuring Lainey Wilson)

  When Hardy debuted “Wait in the Truck” at the CMA Awards last year, it blew everyone away. This song is served as the leadoff single for Hardy’s second studio album The Mockingbird & the Crow. 

  According to Songfacts, “Hardy wrote ‘Wait In The Truck’ with Hunter Phelps and Jordan Schmidt on March 18, 2021 at Schmidt’s home studio. “Something very spiritual happened the day that we wrote that song,” he told The Tennessean. “We just kind of looked down at our pen and paper and we looked up and the song was written, it was amazing to be a part of it. It speaks on something very important, domestic violence. At the end of the day I just really hope that this gives somebody a platform to speak out.”

• 20. Drinkaby- Cole Swindell

  Earlier this year, Cole re-released his 2022 album, Sterotype with some extra cuts and called it Sterotype Broken. He included this jam written by Hardy, Jon Pardi, Jordan Schmidt and Hunter Phelps. Swindell shared with Taste of Country that he picked this song he “pictured it being a show-opener.”

• 21. Take Her Home- Kenny Chesney

  According to Taste of Country,  Chesney was extremely flattered getting a message from Hardy a while back. He said, “I was sitting in front of my computer one day, and I got a text from Hardy. He goes, ‘Me and couple guys wrote this with you in mind, would you mind listening to it?” He went on to share his excitement; “When you get that text from Hardy, you’re going to listen to it, right? So I listened to it and went ‘wow‘ in my head. I knew it was a song that I had been looking for for a while, and that was obviously very well done. I knew that it had a really good chance of resonating with my audience.” Hardy wrote this “life moment” song with Hunter Phelps and Zach Abend.

• 22. Truck Bed- Hardy

  Hardy occasionally shares his gems with no one. He kept this hit for himself. The current hit “Truck Bed” is a drinking song but one about regret. And unlike his last truck song, “Wait in the Truck” (with Lainey Wilson), this one rocks, but takes it’s time doing so. The man is a machine.

• 23. See You Next Summer- Brian Kelley

  After so many successful years with Florida Georgia Line, Brian Kelley has embarked on a solo career. So, who do you enlist to write your debut solo release? The mighty pen, Hardy, of course.  This top 30 hit was written by David Garcia, Michael Hardy, and Hillary Lindsey. It tells the story of a summer fling that turns into much more. Brian told American Songwriter, “When I first heard it, I was smiling the whole way through. I’ve lived this song. It was striking chords all over my body, I felt it in my soul.”

• 24. Hate My Heart- Carrie Underwood

  From her Denim & Rhinestones album, Carrie co-wrote this 2023 top 20 hit with Hardy, Hillary Lindsey and David Garcia. Carrie’s love of rock music shows up big in this country hit. She said Hardy brought a cool vibe to the writing session. Who knows maybe there will be more writing collabs with him in the future.

   

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