Newcomer Bailey Zimmerman takes two songs and turns them into his first #1

This week, newcomer Bailey Zimmerman made it all the way to the top of the country chart with his debut single, “Fall in Love.”

In the beginning, Bailey’s breakthrough was actually two different tunes written by one of his co-writers.

“That was last year, 2021,” Bailey tells ABC Audio. “And I don’t even really know when. It was before winter of 2021. So it was kind of just like one day we just mashed two songs that Gavin [Lucas] had wrote together and made ’em one song.”

Incredibly, “Fall in Love” marks what Bailey considers the real beginning of his career as a songwriter.

“That’s honestly when I kind of started, like, really trying to figure out songwriting,” he reflects, “because beforehand I was just writing songs for no reason.”

“I was just writing them,” he continues, “and, like, they had feelings towards them, you know? But after writing ‘Fall in Love,’ it was like, ‘OK, I’ve got a meaning towards this. I think I understand how I think I want to write my songs."”

Bailey’s follow-up to his first number one is “Rock and a Hard Place,” which has already been certified Platinum. He’s set to make his TV debut December 27 on ABC’s Good Morning America. He heads out on tour with Morgan Wallen in 2023.