Florida Georgia Line was an American country music[4][5] duo founded in 2010 by vocalists and songwriters Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley of Florida. Their 2012 debut single "Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was downloaded over seven million times, making it the first country song ever to receive the Diamond certification, and it became the best-selling digital country song, with 24 weeks at number one, until it was surpassed in July 2017 by Sam Hunt's "Body Like a Back Road".[6] Their music style is described as "bro-country", which incorporates production elements from rock and hip hop music, and tends to cover subject matter such as partying, drinking, driving trucks and sexual attraction.[4][7]
Musicians Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard met in 2008 at Belmont University through a campus worship group, and following graduation, decided to give themselves two years to succeed as a country duo. They moved in together and began several odd jobs to pay bills, while playing clubs on the weekends.[11] While independent, they recorded and digitally distributed their first EP, Anything Like Me (2010). They were discovered by Nickelback producer Joey Moi at a county fair, and the three began recording in studio together.[12] Unlike typical country music sessions, the group spent days polishing songs, which were collected on the duo's second EP, It'z Just What We Do (2012). The band modeled their sound on bands such as Nickelback, Shinedown, and Three Days Grace, while Moi aimed for each song to resemble hair metal group Def Leppard in structure.[12] Major labels became interested when the song "Cruise" first aired on The Highway channel on Sirius XM and began selling well in the iTunes Store, leading to a deal with Republic Nashville and Big Machine Records.[12]
2010: Anything Like Me
Florida Georgia Line's first EP, released on December 14, 2010, is a six-song EP produced with Wesley Walker. All of the songs were written by either Hubbard or Hubbard and Kelley. The EP consists of the songs "You're Country", "Now That She's Gone", "Man I Am Today", "Never Let Her Go" (co-written with "Cruise" co-writer Chase Rice), "Black Tears", and "Backwoods Beauty Queen". The song "Black Tears" was also on Jason Aldean's 2012 album Night Train.[13]
2012–2013: It'z Just What We Do and Here's to the Good Times
The duo's second EP is a five-song EP produced by Joey Moi on Big Loud and released on May 15, 2012. It starts off with "Cruise" and also includes "Get Your Shine On", "Tip It Back", "Tell Me How You Like It", and the title track "It'z Just What We Do".[14]
The duo's first studio album, Here's to the Good Times, was an 11-song album produced by Joey Moi on Republic Nashville and released on December 4, 2012. The pair's first full-length, Here's to the Good Times, was the sixth-best-selling album of 2013 (topping Drake and Katy Perry, among others).[15] "Cruise", the first single, reached number one on the Country Airplay chart dated December 15, 2012.[16] A remix of "Cruise" featuring Nelly later hit number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. In January 2014, "Cruise" became the best-selling country digital song of all time.[17] The song spent a record 24 weeks at number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, which was the longest reign in the history of the chart until July 2017 when it was surpassed by Sam Hunt's "Body Like a Back Road".
The album's second single, "Get Your Shine On", was released to country radio on January 21, 2013, and reached number one on the Country Airplay chart in May 2013. It was co-written by the duo along with Rodney Clawson and Chris Tompkins. "Round Here" was released as the album's third single on June 3, 2013, and reached number one on the Country Airplay chart in September 2013. The album's fourth single, "Stay", was released in October 2013.[18] It was co-written and originally recorded by Black Stone Cherry, produced by Joey Moi and the music video featured Josh Henderson.[19] It reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart and the Country Airplay chart in December 2013.
A deluxe edition of Here's to the Good Times titled Here's to the Good Times... This Is How We Roll was released on November 25, 2013.[20] A music video for "It'z Just What We Do" premiered on December 13, 2013,[21] with the video being uploaded to YouTube on December 26, 2013.[22] "This Is How We Roll", a collaboration with Luke Bryan, was released from the deluxe edition as the album's fifth and final single on February 10, 2014, and reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart in March 2014.
In early 2013, Florida Georgia Line toured the United States as part of the Dirt Road Diaries Tour with Thompson Square and headlining act Luke Bryan.[23] In June 2013, the album reached number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.[24] It stayed at the top spot for ten weeks.
2014–2017: Anything Goes and Dig Your Roots
Florida Georgia Line on Jason Aldean's Night Train Tour, 2014
The duo revealed on August 15, 2014, that their second studio album would be titled Anything Goes with a release date of October 14, 2014.[25] The album's first single, "Dirt", was released to country radio and digital sales outlets on July 8, 2014, and became the sixth consecutive single by Florida Georgia Line to make the top five on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. "Sun Daze" was released to digital sales outlets on September 16, 2014. A week later, the album's title track, "Anything Goes", was released on September 22, 2014. Florida Georgia Line also appeared on the Hot Tours recap.[26] "Confession" was released to country radio on November 3, 2015 as the album's final single, and reached number one on the Country Airplay chart in April 2016.
In 2016, Florida Georgia Line became the first and only country artist to receive the Digital Diamond Award, for their single "Cruise" crossing the 10× Platinum threshold.[27][28]
2018–2022: Can't Say I Ain't Country, Life Rolls On, and Greatest Hits
The duo released "Simple" to country radio on June 1, 2018.[31] Since then, they have released the preview tracks "Colorado", "Talk You Out of It", and "Sittin Pretty".[32] "Talk You Out of It" was announced as the second single from the album, and was released to country radio on November 5, 2018.[33] On December 11, 2018, the duo announced their fourth studio album, Can't Say I Ain't Country, which was released on February 15, 2019.[34] On September 30, 2019, they won the Breakout Artist of the Decade award, along with Single of the Decade for their Diamond-certified 2012 hit "Cruise", and Music Event of the Decade for "Meant to Be", their 2017 collaboration with Bebe Rexha. On September 23, 2019, Blessings was released as the third single to country radio.[35] On February 19, 2020, the duo featured on the country remix of Justin Bieber's single, "Yummy". The original song is the lead single of Bieber's fifth studio album, Changes, released five days before the remix.[36]
On March 27, 2020, the duo released "I Love My Country", the debut single off their upcoming fifth album.[37] The duo appeared on NBC's Songland where they premiered the track "Second Guessing".[38] On May 22, 2020, they released the 6-Pack EP.[39] In June 2020, they were featured on Christian music singer Chris Tomlin's "Thank You Lord" with Thomas Rhett.[40] The track was part of Tomlin's collaboration album Chris Tomlin & Friends, which included "Forever Home", another track they were featured on. Both members of the duo were co-executive producers of the album and co-writers on many of the tracks.[41] In September 2020, the duo released the single "Long Live".[42] They then released the single "Lil Bit", a collaboration with Nelly from his upcoming country-influenced album Heartland, a project the duo are co-executive producers on.[43] They were also featured on long-time friend Chase Rice's single "Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen.".[44] In December 2020, they announced their fifth studio album Life Rolls On, which was released on February 12, 2021, and includes "Long Live", as well as all six songs from the 6-Pack EP.[45]
In February 2022, Hubbard and Kelley announced that they would be "taking a break" from recording music together and would be on an indefinite hiatus from touring.[46] Both members of the duo confirmed in 2024 that the reason for their breakup was due to Kelley wanting to start a solo career and, despite rumors to the contrary from fans, there was no animosity between the two at the time of their split.[47]
The band has a brand of whiskey, "Old Camp Whiskey", promoted in their song Smooth and in their feature on Morgan Wallen's single Up Down. The two men launched Round Here Records in 2019; an independent label with Canaan Smith signed as the flagship artist.[49]
