Carrie Underwood took a Louisville slugger to Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart two decades ago, when “Before He Cheats” stomped into the No. 1 position on the Nov. 11, 2006, list.
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Underwood was not the original target for the feisty title. Songwriters Chris Tompkins (Dierks Bentley’s “Drunk on a Plane,” Florida Georgia Line’s “Dirt”) and Josh Kear (Lady A’s “Need You Now,” Lainey Wilson’s “Watermelon Moonshine”) had “Redneck Woman” singer Gretchen Wilson in mind for the story of a woman who trashes her cheatin’ boyfriend’s vehicle in a fit of anger.
Underwood had developed a brand as a heartland girl next door as a competitor on Fox’s American Idol, which she won in May 2005. “Cheats” broke that mold, though she didn’t need coaching to recognize its potency; she identified it as a song she wanted to record the first time she heard it.
Produced by Mark Bright (Rascal Flatts, Sara Evans), “Cheats” emerged as the third of four radio-promoted country singles from Underwood’s debut album, Some Hearts, released by Arista Nashville on Nov. 15, 2005. After “Jesus, Take the Wheel” became her first Hot Country Songs leader on Jan. 21, 2006, follow-up “Don’t Forget to Remember Me” reached No. 2 that August. “Cheats” snuck onto the list in February and charted during most of the run of “Forget,” becoming an obvious single in the process.
“Cheats” also became a crossover smash, climbing to the top 10 on Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay and Adult Contemporary in 2007. That June, it rode to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 during a 64-week run on the chart overall, then the fifth-longest in the ranking’s history.
“Cheats” won single of the year from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association, and it also set up Underwood as a powerful voice for take-no-prisoners female anthems.
