Scotty McCreery has a lot of reasons to celebrate — more than a million to be exact. The American Idol alum’s “Five More Minutes,” the first of his five consecutive No. 1 hits, has just earned Triple Platinum certification, for sales in excess of three million, while “Damn Strait” just earned Platinum certification.

“I’ve always said that ‘Five More Minutes’ is my favorite song I’ve ever written,” McCreery says. “For it to become my first Triple Platinum single means it has really connected with the fans, and as a songwriter that’s what you hope for. ‘Damn Strait’ is one of the most fun songs I get to sing live each night. I’m excited to see the success of both of these songs recognized by the fans and the RIAA.”

“Five More Minutes” is McCreery’s biggest song to date, at least in terms of sales, but it almost didn’t even happen. McCreery recently revealed that he released that song on his own, without the support of a major label, after Interscope Records, his label home after winning Idol in 2011, dropped him when “Southern Belle” failed to chart. The move was surprising to McCreery, who had already planned on releasing “Five More Minutes” next. Undeterred, he forged ahead on his own, with the song landing at the top of the charts.

“After ‘Southern Belle’ to getting ‘Five More Minutes’ out was hell,” McCreery recalls on the latest episode of CMT Stages..“2016 for me was probably the worst year of my life, just going through that. I thought the next moves were, ‘Okay. We’ll go find a new label, and we’ll put this song out, and it will all be fine and dandy.’ And then I realized that that stack of papers that was as tall as me that I signed for Idol and stuff, I realized what it all said. And it’s not that easy to just go find a new label.”

As “Five More Minutes” began gaining traction on its own, the North Carolina native gained the attention of Thirty Tigers, a record label that he still proudly calls home.

“I think it all worked out the way it was supposed to,” he says. “I can look back now and see things that I thought were so bad that were really blessings in disguise.”

“Damn Strait” also set a milestone for McCreery, with the song spending three weeks in the No. 1 spot. “Damn Strait” is one of only two that he didn’t write on his Same Truck album, but he knew as soon as he heard it that he wanted it for himself.

“I was writing songs left and right,” McCreery tells Everything Nash. “We had the songs put on there, but for me, when I heard a song ‘Damn Strait,’ I immediately raised my hand and said, ‘Me, me, me.’ It’s such a cool song. It’s so cleverly written. And obviously, I’m a massive George Strait fan. It just sounded so much like me.”

McCreery is currently on the road with Brooks & Dunn on their REBOOT 2023 Tour,   Find music and tour dates  ScottyMcCreery.com.

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