Thomas Rhett’s 2013 debut album, It Goes Like This, spawned three consecutive No. 1 singles: “It Goes Like This,” “Get Me Some of That” and “Make Me Wanna.”

When TR was planning his 2015 sophomore album, Tangled Up, he knew he needed a lead single that wouldn’t crash and burn. Ironically enough, Thomas Rhett chose to lead off his upcoming album with a single titled “Crash and Burn,” which was penned by Chris Stapleton and Jesse Frasure.

When it was released in April 2015, the R&B-infused break-up song burned a path up the charts, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart by September to become TR’s fourth No. 1.

As TR recently told Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown, “Crash and Burn” is a song that’s still very “close” to him.

“Any [demo] that I get pitched with Chris Stapleton’s voice, I’m more than likely gonna put it on hold in the first place, and then go cry myself to sleep ’cause I can’t sing like [him],” says Thomas Rhett. “And then I’m gonna wake up and figure out how I’m gonna make it my own. From the first time I heard ‘Crash,’ I just knew that I loved the melody and I loved Chris singing it—I didn’t even know what the song was about. Then, when I found out it was a song about heartbreak—it’s like the happiest break-up song that I’ve ever heard—I knew that I had to have it, and everybody at the label loved it. So the next task was, ‘How are we gonna go cut this and, you know, remotely compared to how Stapleton did it?’ So, we cut it, and, obviously, I had to drop it a few keys, but it turned out great, man. Now when I sing it, I feel like I was a co-writer on the song—that’s how close it is to me.”

Thomas Rhett scored his 15th No. 1 single in May 2020 with “Beer Can’t Fix,” which featured Jon Pardi.