Tim Hicks’ first #1 hit came from a very intimidating moment: rejection. He wrote “What a Song Should Do” with two Canadian songwriters in Nashville, Karen Kosowski and Emma-Lee. But he credits Emma-Lee with the inspiration for the song. In a video documentary on his website, Tim said:

“She was describing this experience she had with this big time record producer in Nashville where he kind of kicked her out of the write and said, ‘Listen, your ideas aren’t good….If you’re gonna write a song, it needs to do one of two things. It needs to make you say, “Hell, yeah,” or “Me, too.”’ And he goes, ‘Don’t come back until you’ve got something that makes you go “Hell, yeah,” or “Me, too.”’ So, we thought ‘what a great idea for a song’…talking about what a song really should do when you hear it.”

Last September, Tim performed the song with Madeline Merlo and Tebey on the Canadian Country Music Awards show with the single released earlier this year from his “New Tattoo” album. Today, the song is at the top of the new weekly Billboard Canadian Country National Airplay chart, a first for Hicks. It comes just days as Tim heads to the Country Music Association of Ontario awards in Ottawa this weekend, tied with Meghan Patrick for the most nominations (6) by an artist.

It’s also the tenth time this year a Canadian has topped the chart, which is dominated by American artists, considering all the airplay they get in Canada. Not only is this a huge new trend, but out of those ten hits, eight are by Canadians who reached the summit for the first time—and the year is only half over!

Congrats, Tim! Here’s hoping it’s the first of many more #1’s.