Max McNown Hits a New Peak on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 With 'A Lot More Free'

A rising country singer has hit a new peak on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100.

Max McNown's "A Lot More Free" climbs to No. 32 in its fourth week on the chart. The Bend, Oregon singer released "A Lot More Free" in 2023 and landed on Billboard's Emerging Artists chart with it.

Now, a year later, the song is making a mark on the Canadian Hot 100 and is poised to enter the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 — it sits at No. 5 on the Bubbling Under chart. McNown is also making a debut on the Canadian Albums chart this week with his April album Wandering, which features "A Lot More Free," at No. 68.

The track's boost comes thanks to social media popularity translating into digital sales. Recent clips of McNown performing the song live have gone viral, including a clip from his September 24 show in Montreal.

McNown just finished a Canadian tour with Michael Marcagi, and his take on folk-country fits in alongside Marcagi and other breakout male singers of the last few years like Noah Kahan and Alex Warren, emphasizing anthemic choruses and acoustic strums. "A Lot More Free" also has some similarities to Benson Boone (who went to No. 1 this year), using dramatic pauses to highlight McNown's vocal power.

McNown's chart climb indicates that the Kahan effect doesn't seem to be waning anytime soon — and definitely not in Canada, where a love of folk-rock runs deep.

Elsewhere on the chart, Billboard Canada cover star Shaboozey ties the record for longest-running No. 1 with "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," while the Weeknd and Playboi Carti debut "Timeless" at No. 4.

There's a handful of other Canadian songs on the chart this week: country singer Josh Ross hits a peak with "Single Again" at No. 60, and Shawn Mendes' "Why Why Why" drops six spots to No. 67.

Emerging pop singer Devon Cole moves up from No. 99 to No. 84 with friendship anthem "I Got You" in her second week on the chart. Jamie Fine's "You're Like" falls three spots to No. 85 and Quebec's Mike Demero re-enters with Zagata collab "Take Me Away" at No. 94.

Check out the full chart here.