In pretty good company. Justin Moore recently scored his 14th career #1 single with “Time’s Ticking,” which in the process set the record for the longest climb to the top of the charts with its 67 week run. Obviously fourteen #1 hits is impressive for any artist. There are plenty out there who go their entire career and never top the charts, and Justin has managed to be a consistent hitmaker for nearly two decades now with #1 hits like “Small Town USA,” “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away,” “Why We Drink,” and “You, Me and Whiskey.” In fact, Justin’s 14 chart-toppers puts him in the top 40 ALL TIME in country music – and ties him with another country legend, George Jones. It may be hard to believe, because he’s quite possibly the greatest country artist of all time, but the Possum only scored 14 #1 hits throughout his 50-year plus career. And Justin had a priceless reaction to finding out he had actually tied Jones with his latest hit. After “Time’s Ticking” topped the charts, Justin was speaking with radio hosts Big D & Bubba when they revealed to him that his fourteen chart toppers put him into a tie with not only Jones, but also country hitmaker Keith Urban. And it’s safe to say Justin was shocked to find himself in such good company: “Are you kidding me? Oh my gosh. That’s insane.” Justin admits that his goals have changed over the years, saying that at one point he would have been fine with just getting a record deal: “I mean, I remember when I moved to town, I was 18, this was ’02, and I thought, ‘Man, if I can just get a record deal, even if I don’t ever get to put anything out, then I can go back home and be proud.’ You know, stand tall, puff my chest out. And then we had a hit and I thought, ‘It’s alright if I’m a one hit wonder.’ Then you have one more, and another one, and another one. It’s amazing, man.” He sums it up with a goal that’s much more important than notching #1 hits: “I’m still trying to make my mom and dad proud.” Aren’t we all. I’ve said before it’s insane how underrated Justin is, especially considering the success he’s had at country radio. Justin is one of the few artists who got his start in the mid-2000s and managed to make it through the 2010s without falling into the “bro-country” sound that dominated the decade. The closest he came to changing his sound was on his 2016 Kinda Don’t Care album with singles like “Somebody Else Will” – but on that same album were stone-cold country songs like the album’s title track, as well as one of my favorite songs Justin’s ever recorded, the heartbreaker “Hell On A Highway.” To remain true to your sound for nearly 20 years is an impressive feat in and of itself, especially in an industry where the sound changes so drastically over the years and artists are quick to chase the next big thing. And not only has Justin remained authentic throughout his entire career, but he’s also been consistently releasing hits in three separate decades now: His first #1 single came in 2009 with “Small Town USA,” and his latest was his 2024 single “This Is My Dirt.” That’s an impressively long career of hits, especially considering all of the flash-in-the-pan artists who have come and gone over that time span. It’s a disservice to Justin, though, to only talk about his #1 hits when discussing his career. Some of his best songs – and in fact, some of his biggest hits – never hit #1 on the charts, and many of them never even made it to radio. One of the first songs you think about when you think of Justin Moore is probably “Bait A Hook,” a song that was released in 2011 and still goes viral every few months on TikTok. Though it’s one of Justin’s biggest hits, it only peaked at #17 on the charts. And songs like “Someday I Gotta Quit” from his 2019 Late Nights and Longnecks album or “Old Habits,” his duet with Miranda Lambert from Justin’s 2013 Off the Beaten Path album, are some of the best that he’s recorded. It’s no doubt a little shocking to find yourself in the company of greats like George Jones, or modern country legends like Keith Urban. Justin has often talked about the impact that Jones had on his career, and a couple of years ago even performed at a star-studded tribute concert to the Possum. Having 14 #1 hits is an impressive accomplishment for any artist, but there’s no doubt that for Justin, reaching the heights of one of his heroes like George Jones makes it just a little bit sweeter. The post Justin Moore Had A Priceless Reaction To Finding Out He Has The Same Number Of #1 Hits As George Jones first appeared on Whiskey Riff.