"Big Green Tractor" is a song written by Jim Collins

Jim Collins (singer)

Jim Collins is an American country music singer-songwriter. Between 1985 and 1998, Collins released three studio albums. He also charted seven singles on Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart...

 and David Lee Murphy

David Lee Murphy

David Lee Murphy is an American country music artist. Signed to MCA Nashville Records in 1994, Murphy made his first appearance on the Billboard country charts that year with "Just Once", a song from the soundtrack to the 1994 film 8 Seconds. A year later, Murphy's debut album Out with a Bang was...

, and recorded by American country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 artist Jason Aldean

Jason Aldean

Jason Aldine Williams is an American country music singer, known professionally as Jason Aldean. Since 2005, Aldean has recorded for Broken Bow Records, an independent record label for which he has released four albums and twelve singles...

. It is the second single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 release from his 2009 album Wide Open

Wide Open (Jason Aldean album)

-Album:-Certifications:-End of year charts:-Singles:...

, as well as the eighth single of his career. The song debuted at number 48 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 chart in May 2009 and in September of the same year, it became his third number-one hit.

Content

The song is a mid-tempo where the narrator asks if his lover wants to go to town with him, or if she would rather ride with him on his tractor.

David Lee Murphy

David Lee Murphy

David Lee Murphy is an American country music artist. Signed to MCA Nashville Records in 1994, Murphy made his first appearance on the Billboard country charts that year with "Just Once", a song from the soundtrack to the 1994 film 8 Seconds. A year later, Murphy's debut album Out with a Bang was...

 told The 9513 that the idea for the song came to him when he was out driving his own tractor: "The next day I was writing with Jim Collins

Jim Collins (singer)

Jim Collins is an American country music singer-songwriter. Between 1985 and 1998, Collins released three studio albums. He also charted seven singles on Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart...

, who had written 'She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy

She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy

"She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" is the title of a country music song written by Jim Collins and Paul Overstreet. It was recorded by Kenny Chesney for his 1999 album Everywhere We Go, from which it was released as the album's third single...

' for Kenny [Chesney]

Kenny Chesney

Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

. I walked in there and asked him if he’d be willing to tackle another tractor song." Collins agreed, but said that this song should take on a different direction than "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," which he called "tongue-in-cheek." Regarding his decision to record the song, Aldean said that Murphy is "a good friend and his style is a lot like mine, really uptempo, fun kinda stuff." Aldean said that he considered the song "romantic."

Reception

The song received mixed reviews. Karlie Justus of The 9513 gave the song a thumbs-up, calling it "Aldean’s best song to date" and saying that it "delivers a catchy chorus with an authentic country feeling without blatantly pandering to stereotypical farm life", although she also said, "Despite its lackadaisical appeal and imminent commercial success, 'Big Green Tractor' will likely be largely forgotten in a year." Matt Bjorke of Roughstock was less favorable, saying that the melody was derivative of Jason Michael Carroll

Jason Michael Carroll

Jason Michael Carroll is an American country music artist. After being discovered at a local talent competition in 2004, Carroll was signed to the Arista Nashville label in 2006, releasing his debut album Waitin' in the Country that year...

's "Livin' Our Love Song

Livin' Our Love Song

"Livin' Our Love Song" is the title of a song by country music singer-songwriter Jason Michael Carroll. It is the second single released from his 2007 album Waitin' in the Country. Carroll co-wrote the song with Glen Mitchell and Tim Galloway....

" and Craig Morgan's later releases for Broken Bow. He added, "So while 'Big Green Tractor' is likely to continue Jason Aldean's radio success, it isn't the kind of song that will inspire many fans to buy his Wide Open album."

Music video

The music video for the song was released on July 25, 2009, and was directed by Ivan Dudynsky. It is footage of a live performance in February 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee. It also uses an alternate live version of the song.

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 48 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in May 2009, and entered the top 40 in its second chart week. It became his third number one on the chart week of September 5, 2009. It spent four weeks at number one, becoming the first song to spend that long at the top of the country charts since Brad Paisley

Brad Paisley

Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

's "Letter to Me

Letter to Me

"Letter to Me" is a single by American country music singer Brad Paisley. It is the third single released from his 2007 album 5th Gear. The song spent four weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in February 2008, becoming his sixth consecutive Number One on that chart, as...

" in February 2008, thus ending an eighteen-month streak in which no songs spent more than three weeks at number one. It was also his highest-peaking single on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

, where it reached number 18, until it was surpassed by "Dirt Road Anthem

Dirt Road Anthem

"Dirt Road Anthem" is the title of a song written by American country music artists Colt Ford and Brantley Gilbert , both of whom recorded their own versions of the song. Jason Aldean re-recorded the song for his 2010 album My Kinda Party, and released it as the third single from the album in April...

" in 2011.

On September 2, 2009, the song received a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America

Recording Industry Association of America

The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

 (RIAA) for 1,000,000 registered downloads

Music download

A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

. It is the second single of his career to earn this certification; three others were certified gold.
As of June 2011, "Big Green Tractor" is Aldean's best-selling single, having been sold 1,754,000 times in the United States. This also makes it the top selling single by any male solo country artist.
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Chart (2009)	Peak position

End of year charts

Charts (2009)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	75

Certifications

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country
! Certification

Music recording sales certification

Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

(sales thresholds)
|-
| United States

Recording Industry Association of America

The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

| Platinum