Posted by 
A decade ago, Hozier had a moment. With his 2013 debut single, the solemnly hearty sex jam “Take Me To Church,” Irish singer-songwriter Andrew John Hozier-Byrne made it all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Ever since then, Hozier has maintained a solid career, scoring lots of hits back home in Ireland and popping up in the presence of artists like Haim, boygenius, and a roots-rock all-star band assembled at the Newport Folk Festival. Hozier never went away, but it seemed like his big mainstream moment had come and gone.
Recently, though, he’s been surging back into the spotlight, as artists like Noah Kahan, Zach Bryan, and Teddy Swims bring his brand of burly folk-rock back into vogue. Last year he returned to the Hot 100 for the first time since “Take Me To Church” with a series of tracks including a remix of Kahan’s “Northern Attitude” and his own “Eat Your Young.” This year, he’s been in the top 10 for weeks with “Too Sweet,” a crisply modern retro soul song that sounds like the Black Keys covering Gnarls Barkley. Hozier’s headlining festivals left and right. And now, “Too Sweet” has surpassed “Take Me To Church” to become his highest-charting single.
As Billboard reports, “Too Sweet” is the #1 song in America. Remarkably, it’s the first time an Irish artist has topped the US chart since Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” way back in 1990. (The only other Irish artists to do it are Gilbert O’Sullivan and U2, twice.)
Also this week, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” which we greatly enjoyed, debuts at #7, becoming her first top-10 hit. We hope she and Hozier enjoy these accomplishments for this fleeting moment before new Taylor Swift songs occupy the entire top 10.