One Thing at a Time

In the contemporary world, One Thing at a Time has gained unprecedented relevance. Whether due to its impact on society, its role in popular culture or its relevance in academia, One Thing at a Time has become a recurring topic of conversation. In fact, it is not surprising that One Thing at a Time is the subject of debate and analysis in numerous areas, since its influence extends to multiple aspects of modern life. In this article we will explore the One Thing at a Time phenomenon in depth, addressing its various facets and analyzing its importance in the current context.

For the song by Morgan Wallen, see One Thing at a Time (song).
One Thing at a Time
Studio album by
Morgan Wallen
ReleasedMarch 3, 2023 (2023-03-03)
StudioAbbey Road Studios
GenreCountry pop
Length111:36
Label
Producer
Morgan Wallen chronology
Dangerous: The Double Album
(2021) 		One Thing at a Time
(2023) 		I'm the Problem
(2025)
Singles from One Thing at a Time
  1. "You Proof"
    Released: July 18, 2022
  2. "Thought You Should Know"
    Released: November 7, 2022
  3. "Last Night"
    Released: February 6, 2023
  4. "One Thing at a Time"
    Released: March 13, 2023
  5. "Everything I Love"
    Released: June 26, 2023
  6. "Thinkin' Bout Me"
    Released: September 7, 2023
  7. "Man Made a Bar"
    Released: November 13, 2023
  8. "Cowgirls"
    Released: April 15, 2024

One Thing at a Time is the third studio album by American country music singer Morgan Wallen. It was released on March 3, 2023, through Big Loud, Republic, and Mercury Records.[1] One Thing at a Time features guest appearances from Eric Church, Hardy, and Ernest, and was produced by Wallen himself, Joey Moi, Cameron Montgomery, Charlie Handsome, and Jacob Durrett. One Thing at a Time was primarily recorded in London at Abbey Road Studios, in studio number-two.[2]

With a running time over 111 minutes, One Thing at a Time consists of 36 tracks and spawned eight singles: "You Proof", "Thought You Should Know", "Last Night", the title track, "Everything I Love", "Thinkin' Bout Me", "Man Made a Bar", and "Cowgirls", alongside the promotional single "Don't Think Jesus". Predating the release of One Thing at a Time, an extended play was released on December 2, 2022, and included three tracks: the title track, "Days That End in Why", and "Tennessee Fan".[3] After One Thing at a Time was announced on January 30, 2023, three more tracks released: "Everything I Love", "I Wrote the Book", and "Last Night"—the latter became his first Billboard Hot 100 number one, peaking the chart for 16 non-consecutive weeks.[4]

Despite receiving mixed reviews from music critics for being too monotonous,[5][6] One Thing at a Time debuted atop the US Billboard 200 and spent 19 non-consecutive weeks atop the chart throughout 2023 and 2024.[7] The album broke the record set by Garth Brooks' Ropin' the Wind for the longest-running number-one country album on the respective chart, and has spent 76 weeks atop the Top Country Albums chart.[7] In March 2025, the album would become the second album to spend at-least 100 weeks within the top-ten of the US Billboard 200, after Wallen's own Dangerous: The Double Album achieved the milestone in 2022.[8] Aside from the US, the album would additionally peak atop the charts in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Canada—where the album holds the record for the most weeks spent at number-one. In support of the album, Wallen embarked on the One Night at a Time Tour in April 2023.[1]

Background and themes

On December 2, 2022, Wallen would release One Thing at a Time (Sampler), his fourth extended play that consisted of three tracks: the title track, "Tennessee Fan", and "Days That End in Why".[9] The three respective tracks would appear on One Thing at a Time when released. After the album was announced on January 30, 2023, Wallen himself stated and explained that One Thing at a Time would "bring together the musical influences that have shaped as an artist – country, alternative and hip-hop". He additionally revealed that the album would have 36 songs "because just kept exploring with fresh lyrics, music and production ideas and these are the songs that felt right" to him.[10] Billboard would further describe the album as "genre-blending".[11] The cover-art for the album was taken at Wallen's grandfather's home in Sneedville, Tennessee.[11]

One Thing at a Time is a country album that incorporates elements of country pop, alternative, and hip-hop—the latter genre is most relevant on the tracks "Ain't That Some", "Neon Star (Country Boy Lullaby)", "180 (Lifestyle)", and "Cowgirls".[12] American rock band The Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider" was interpolated on the track "Everything I Love", while Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug's "Lifestyle" was interpolated on the track "180 (Lifestyle)".[12][13] One Thing at a Time explores themes of love, break-up, heartbreak, personal struggles, drinking, and redemption—[14] while the tracks "In the Bible", "Don't Think Jesus", "Outlook", and "Dying Man" explore themes of Wallen's religious beliefs—believing in God, and rediscovering your spirituality.[14][15]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic47/100[16]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[17]
Pitchfork4.1/10[18]
Slant Magazine[19]
Holler8.5/10[20]

One Thing at a Time received mixed reviews from critics, with a score of 47 out of 100 based on six critics' reviews at review aggregator Metacritic.[16] Paul Attard of Slant Magazine found One Thing at a Time to be "wildly uneven" with "little here that could be considered fresh by Wallen's standards", as "his music is typically concerned with one of three things: getting shitfaced, being lovesick, or Jesus" while still having several "production flourishes" that see Wallen "experimenting, if ever so slightly, with his sound".[19]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that the album's "untrammeled sprawl means offers a little something for everybody", with "party songs, sad songs, songs that lift liberally from classic rock standards" as well as "songs about beer, songs about whiskey, and songs about wine".[17] Sam Sodomsky of Pitchfork criticized the length, apparent ethos of "Wallen being true to only himself" while having 49 co-writers, and the tracks "covering the same thematic territory", although acknowledging there are occasional "minimalist rhythms" that "accentuate his gift for delivering tugging, bittersweet pop melodies" as well as "couplets clever enough to catch you off guard". Sodomsky felt that the title "seems to acknowledge that Wallen considers this a transitional moment" and concluded that "none of this leads to anything interesting enough to change how you think of Morgan Wallen".[18]

In contrast, Maxim Mower of Holler praised the album as evidence of Wallen's artistic evolution since Dangerous, writing "with One Thing at a Time, Wallen has crafted an album that is more lyrically intricate, emotionally mature and sonically fulfilling than his record-breaking, standard-setting opus".[21]

Commercial performance

One Thing at a Time debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 dated March 18, 2023, with 501,000 album-equivalent units, including 111,500 pure album sales. It is Wallen's second consecutive US number-one album and marks the biggest week of 2023 for album units earned, and overall biggest week for a country album since Red (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift in November 2021. Its 36 tracks earned a total of 498.28 million on-demand streams. The album has spent 19 weeks at number-one on the chart,[22] surpassing Bad Bunny's Un Verano Sin Ti as the album with the most number one weeks this decade, as well as becoming to longest-running number one country album of all time.[23]

In the week of the album's release, all 36 tracks entered the Billboard Hot 100, breaking the record set by Drake in 2018 for most songs by an artist on the chart at one time, as well as the record for most debuts on the chart, with 27.[24] Wallen also occupied five of the top 10 songs and achieved his first number-one song with "Last Night".[25] The album was named the number one album for 2023 in Billboard's year-end album chart, making Wallen the first country artist to capture both the year-end number one positions for album and single in the same year.

Track listing

One Thing at a Time track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Born with a Beer in My Hand"
3:07
2."Last Night"
2:43
3."Everything I Love"
3:05
4."Man Made a Bar" (featuring Eric Church)
3:09
5."Devil Don't Know"
3:24
6."One Thing at a Time"
  • Gorley
  • Smith
  • Vojtesak
  • Wallen
3:26
7."'98 Braves"
  • Byron
  • Josh Miller
  • Travis Wood
2:58
8."Ain't That Some"
  • Chris LaCorte
  • Chase McGill
  • Miller
  • Blake Pendergrass
2:37
9."I Wrote the Book"
  • Wallen
  • Hardy
  • Cameron Montgomery
3:00
10."Tennessee Numbers"
  • Jordan Minton
  • Pendergrass
  • Wood
3:45
11."Hope That's True"
  • Wallen
  • Smith
  • Vojtesak
3:05
12."Whiskey Friends"
3:24
13."Sunrise"
  • Byron
  • Pendergrass
3:01
14."Keith Whitley"
  • Thomas Archer
  • Brad Clawson
  • Mullins
3:07
15."In the Bible" (featuring Hardy)
  • Byron
  • Jeff Garrison
  • Jon Hall
  • Ben Johnson
  • Geoffrey Warburton
3:14
16."You Proof"
  • Wallen
  • Gorley
  • Smith
  • Vojtesak
2:36
17."Thought You Should Know"
3:34
18."F150-50"
3:10
19."Neon Star (Country Boy Lullaby)"
  • Wallen
  • Smith
  • Thompson
  • Vojtesak
2:51
20."I Deserve a Drink"
3:24
21."Wine into Water"
3:43
22."Me + All Your Reasons"
  • Wallen
  • Gorley
  • Smith
  • Vojtesak
2:53
23."Tennessee Fan"
  • Wallen
  • Gorley
  • Hardy
  • Mark Holman
3:18
24."Money on Me"
  • Michael Lotten
  • Pendergrass
  • Matt Roy
2:55
25."Thinkin' Bout Me"
  • Byron
  • Gorley
  • Taylor Phillips
  • Vojtesak
2:57
26."Single Than She Was"
  • Byron
  • Johnson
  • Vojtesak
2:40
27."Days That End in Why"
  • Byron
  • Pendergrass
  • Driver Williams
2:41
28."Last Drive Down Main"
3:13
29."Me to Me"
  • Wallen
  • Gorley
  • Smith
  • Vojtesak
2:18
30."Don't Think Jesus"
3:44
31."180 (Lifestyle)"
3:07
32."Had It"
3:18
33."Cowgirls" (featuring Ernest)
  • Block
  • Gorley
  • James Maddocks
  • Smith
  • Vojtesak
3:01
34."Good Girl Gone Missin'"
  • Wallen
  • Gorley
  • Maddocks
  • Smith
  • Vojtesak
2:54
35."Outlook"
3:13
36."Dying Man"
  • Johnson
  • Pendergrass
  • Thompson
3:02
Total length:111:37

Notes

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal[27] and the album's liner notes.[28]

Musicians

  • Morgan Wallen – vocals
  • Jerry Roe – drums (tracks 1, 3–8, 10–12, 14–24, 26–32, 34–36), percussion (1–7, 9, 11, 15, 17–19, 23–25, 27, 28, 30, 32, 34–36)
  • Mark Hill – bass (6)
  • Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass (1, 3–5, 7–15, 17–24, 26–33, 35, 36)
  • Tom Bukovac – electric guitar
  • Dominic Frost – electric guitar (23, 29)
  • Charlie Handsome – electric guitar (3, 25), programming (2, 16, 25, 31, 34)
  • Derek Wells – electric guitar (1, 3, 11)
  • Todd Lombardo – acoustic guitar (5, 16, 27, 30, 35), mandolin (17, 30)
  • Bryan Sutton – acoustic guitar (1–15, 17–29, 31–34, 36), banjo (8), bouzouki (36), Dobro (11), mandolin (4, 7, 8, 14, 15, 20, 23, 28–30, 33, 36), ukulele (2), resonator guitar (unspecified tracks)
  • Dave Cohen – keyboards (all tracks), Hammond B3 organ (17, 30, 35)
  • Dan Dugmore – steel guitar (4, 10, 14, 20, 36)
  • Paul Franklin – steel guitar (5, 7, 17, 30, 32)
  • Wes Hightower – background vocals (3, 14, 15, 28, 33)
  • Ashlyne Wallen – background vocals (35)
  • Zach Abend – programming (1)
  • Jacob Durrett – programming (8, 9, 13, 19, 31, 33)
  • James Maddocks – programming (34)
  • Cameron Montgomery – programming (9)
  • Ben Stennis – programming (18)
  • Eric Church – vocals (track 4)
  • Hardy – vocals (track 15)
  • Ernest – vocals (track 33)

Technical

  • Joey Moi – production, mixing
  • Charlie Handsome – co-production (tracks 2, 16, 25, 34)
  • Jacob Durrett – co-production (9, 13, 19, 31, 33)
  • Cameron Montgomery – co-production (9)
  • Ted Jensen – mastering (1–5, 7–22, 24–26, 28–36)
  • Justin Shturtz – mastering (6, 23, 27)
  • Josh Ditty – recording, editing (all tracks); co-mixing (3, 35)
  • Elvind Mordland – editing (all tracks), co-mixing (1, 25, 26)
  • Ryan Yount – editing, recording assistance
  • Scott Cooke – editing
  • Steve Cordray – recording assistance
  • Joey Stanca – recording assistance
  • Sean Badum – recording assistance
  • Lucas Glenney-Tegtmeier – recording assistance
  • Ally Gecewicz – production coordination

Visuals

  • Morgan Wallen – art direction
  • Tori Johnson – art direction, graphic design
  • Ryan Smith – photography
  • David Lehr – cover edit, graphic design
  • Annette Kirk – graphic design

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for One Thing at a Time
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[52] 2× Platinum 140,000‡
Canada (Music Canada)[53] Platinum 80,000‡
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[54] Gold 10,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ)[55] 2× Platinum 30,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[56] Gold 100,000‡
United States (RIAA)[57] 7× Platinum 3,500,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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