On June 25, 2011, Blake Shelton’s “Honey Bee” notched its first of two weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
The track, which Rhett Akins and Ben Hayslip co-wrote, was released as the lead single from Shelton’s sixth studio album, Red River Blue, which launched at No. 1 on Top Country Albums, where he boasts seven leaders, and the all-genre Billboard 200, where he has banked two.
“Honey Bee” became Shelton’s ninth of 14 Hot Country Songs No. 1s. On Country Airplay, he has tallied 28 chart-toppers. His current single, “Minimum Wage,” ranks at No. 10 on the latter and No. 14 on the former.
Now 44, the Oklahoma native returns to the road on the Friends and Heroes Tour, which kicks off Aug. 18 in Omaha, Neb., with supporting acts Trace Adkins, Tracy Byrd, Lindsay Ell and Martina McBride. The busy Shelton and fiancée Gwen Stefani have announced a summer wedding, while he is also set to return for his 21st season as a coach on NBC’s The Voice, encompassing the show’s entire run, this fall.
