You love to see it. About a week ago, Cody Johnson finally released his official studio cover of “Travelin’ Soldier,” which fans have been begging him to do for years at this point. You’ve probably seen the mega viral video of Cody’s acoustic performance of the song, which first went viral back in June of 2020 during the height of the pandemic when CoJo did a live stream with his backing band. He eventually release an acoustic cover on his YouTube channel in March of 2022, and it exploded from there. As of today, the video has over 58 million views and 247,000 likes on YouTube alone. That’s not even counting the countless number of TikToks and other reposts of the cover on various platforms. It took nearly six years for us to finally get to this point, but I’m not complaining… it’s perfect. Cody explained that he’s known he would cut it for a while, and it’s been an incredible journey getting to hear so many stories from his fans about what this song means to them: “It’s been three years since we released an acoustic cover of ‘Travelin’ Soldier.’ The fans responded so enthusiastically and began requesting it during our live shows, so it’s remained on the set list. I had no idea that it was going to give me the opportunity to hear, see, and bring words to y’all’s stories. I knew at some point, when the time felt right, we needed to record it in the studio.  He says people constantly come up to him and ask him to perform it at live shows, so he’s known how special it is for a long time now, and I have had it on repeat since the morning it was released. And it sounds like I’m not the only one, as “Travelin’ Soldier” is officially the highest charting song of Johnson’s career, debuting at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart this week, which encompasses all musical genres. It also got nearly 15 million global streams in its first week, making it the No. 1 streamed country song for the week and placed it at No. 11 across all genres. The track also debuted Top 10 on Billboard’s Hot Country Chart, and clearly, it’s off to a hot start and it’s not hard to understand why when you listen to it. While many of us longtime fans were waiting on the edge of their seats for this release, it’s neat that so many others have clearly taken to it and proved that it’s the hit we all have known it is for years now. Who knows just how far it could go, and it would be incredible to see it crack the Top 1o on the Hot 100, which is pretty feasible at this point considering it only has to move up two spots for that to happen. “Travelin’ Soldier” was first written, recorded and released by Bruce Robison in 1996 on his self-titled debut album, and the song would then later be re-recorded by Ty England on his 1999 album, Highways & Dance Halls, before The Chicks, who were still going by Dixie Chicks at the time, released the song in 2002 and eventually scored a #1 hit on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart along with a platinum certification from the RIAA. Cody is also a four-time 2025 CMA Award nominee this evening, including his first-ever Entertainer of The Year nomination, as well as nods for Male Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year with Carrie Underwood for their song “I’m Gonna Love You (with Carrie Underwood),” so he’s likely to take home at least one or two of those, as well. He won’t be performing as he’s recovering from surgery for a ruptured eardrum that occurred in October. The 59th Annual CMA Awards will air live tonight from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena at 8PM ET on ABC, hosted by Lainey Wilson. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Cody’s rendition of “Travelin’ Soldier” is just perfect: “Travelin’ Soldier” The post Cody Johnson Scores Highest Charting Song Of His Career As “Travelin’ Soldier” Enters The Billboard Hot 100 Chart first appeared on Whiskey Riff.