Oliver Anthony continues to blaze a path of unconventional success with self-penned songs that are touching the hearts of millions of Americans.
Oliver Anthony has turned down multimillion-dollar record deal offers and packed stadium shows in exchange for doing things his own way. The singer claims that he has no desire for the spotlight and only wants to connect with people through his candid and heartfelt songs. Without the pressure of music industry expectations, Oliver Anthony has the freedom to make career decisions that would likely be unpopular otherwise…and he’s done just that.
During his third live concert performance Wednesday night (August 23), before Oliver Anthony sang a single note, the former Virginia factory worker opened up his Bible on stage and read from the book of Revelation. The passage he read was from Revelation 21 which speaks of God’s promise to destroy the “unbelieving.”
“Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur,” the passage reads, in part.
Anthony also opened his debut show at Morris Farm Market with a Bible reading from Psalm 37. The massive crowd packed around the small canopy Oliver was performing under and erupted with cheers and applause after he read.
Oliver Anthony has now packed out three shows since the viral success of “Rich Men North of Richmond.”
In the days that followed the video’s release on August 8, Oliver Anthony released a series of his original songs to streaming services. Almost immediately Oliver’s songs dominated the iTunes chart with five of the Top 10 spots on the all-genres chart being his songs.
Just this week, the singer made history by becoming the first artist to ever debut atop the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart without any prior chart history. In addition, Oliver Anthony also became the sixth artist ever to top the Billboard Hot 100 with their debut single. Zayn, Baauer, Carrie Underwood, Fantasia and Clay Aiken all accomplished that feat previously. It’s also worth noting that “Rich Men North of Richmond” is the first song by a solo male to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Hot Country Songs charts simultaneously.
It has also been reported that Oliver Anthony is making roughly $40K a day from streams and downloads alone, despite turning down huge offers from record labels.
Watch Oliver Anthony read the Bible and perform at North Street Press Club Wednesday night in the video below.