Blue Ain't Your Color

2016 single by Keith Urban

"Blue Ain't Your Color"

Single by Keith Urban

from the album Ripcord

Released

8 August 2016 (2016-08-08)

Recorded

2016

Genre

Country blues
country pop

Length

3:50

Label

Hit Red
Capitol Nashville

Songwriter(s)

Steven Lee Olsen
Hillary Lindsey
Clint Lagerberg

Producer(s)

Dann Huff
Keith Urban

Keith Urban singles chronology

"Wasted Time"
(2016)

"Blue Ain't Your Color"
(2016)

"The Fighter"
(2017)

"Blue Ain't Your Color" is a song recorded by New Zealand-born Australian country music singer Keith Urban and written by Steven Lee Olsen, Hillary Lindsey, and Clint Lagerberg. It was released on 8 August 2016 as the fourth single from Urban's 2016 album Ripcord.

The song has been a big commercial and chart success. In the United States, it reached number one on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts for 12 straight weeks in that position on the former.^[1] It also peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Blue Ain't Your Color" also received two Grammy nominations at the 59th Grammy Awards – Best Country Solo Performance for Urban and Best Country Song for its songwriters. It also won both the CMA Award for Single of the Year and the American Music Award for Favorite Country Song in 2017. The song was even nominated for Single for the Year at the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards.

Content

"Blue Ain't Your Color" is about a male observing a lonely woman at a bar who is dissatisfied in her current relationship. This song is set in the key of G major and has a 6/8 time signature and a main chord pattern of G–Am–C–D–G.^[2]

Chart performance

In the US, "Blue Ain't Your Color" reached number one on the US Country Airplay chart and number one on the US Hot Country Songs chart, and remained there for twelve consecutive weeks at that spot until it was knocked off by "Better Man", performed by Little Big Town.^[3]

Blue Ain't Your Color debuted at number 73 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and eventually reached its peak at number 24 on the chart.^[4] It became Urban's nineteenth top 40 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, his seventh top 30 hit and first top 30 hit since "We Were Us" in 2013. In June 2017, the song reached a million copies in sales.^[5] As of December 2017, the single has sold 1,163,000 copies in the US.^[6] On March 18, 2019 the single was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and streaming data of over four million units in the United States.^[7]

Music video

The music video was directed by motion picture director Carter Smith and premiered in September 2016. It shows Urban singing on the stage while a woman (played by Amber Valletta) comes into the bar crying and playing the jukebox and dancing to the song.^[8]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2016–2017)	Peak position
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)^[9]	40
Canada Country (Billboard)^[10]	1
US Billboard Hot 100^[11]	24
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)^[12]	14
US Country Airplay (Billboard)^[13]	1
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)^[14]	1

Year-end charts

Chart (2016)	Position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)^[15]	39

Chart (2017)	Position
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)^[16]	30
US Country Airplay (Billboard)^[17]	47
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)^[18]	13

Decade-end charts

Chart (2010–2019)	Position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)^[19]	9

Certifications


Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)^[20]	2× Platinum	140,000^‡
Canada (Music Canada)^[21]	Platinum	80,000^‡
United States (RIAA)^[22]	6× Platinum	6,000,000^‡
^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

^ "Keith Urban's "Blue Ain't Your Color" Remains #1 On Hot Country Songs; Little Big Town's "Better Man" Top 5". Headline Planet. 13 December 2016.
^ "'Blue Ain't Your Color' sheet music". musicnotes.com. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
^ "Keith Urban's "Blue Ain't Your Color" Reaches #1 On Hot Country Songs". Headline Planet. 7 November 2016.
^ "Keith Urban – Chart history – Billboard". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2018-05-04. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
^ Bjorke, Matt (June 11, 2017). "Top 30 Digital Country Singles Sales Chart: July 11, 2017". Roughstock.
^ Bjorke, Matt (December 19, 2017). "Top 30 Digital Singles Chart: December 19, 2017". Roughstock. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
^ "RIAA Certifications - Keith Urban". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
^ "CMT : Videos : Keith Urban : Blue Ain't Your Color". Country Music Television. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
^ "Keith Urban Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
^ "Keith Urban Chart History (Canada Country)". Billboard. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
^ "Keith Urban Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
^ "Keith Urban Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
^ "Keith Urban Chart History (Country Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
^ "Keith Urban Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
^ "Hot Country Songs – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
^ "Adult Contemporary Songs – Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
^ "Country Airplay Songs – Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
^ "Hot Country Songs – Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
^ "Decade-End Charts: Hot Country Songs". Billboard. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2023 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
^ "Canadian single certifications – Keith Urban – Blue Ain't Your Color". Music Canada. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
^ "American single certifications – Keith Urban – Blue Ain't Your Color". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 10, 2022.

External links

Lyrics of this song
Keith Urban - Blue Ain't Your Color on YouTube

Keith Urban singles

Discography

Keith Urban

"It's a Love Thing"
"Your Everything"
"But for the Grace of God"
"Where the Blacktop Ends"

Golden Road

Be Here

Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing

"Once in a Lifetime"
"Stupid Boy"
"I Told You So"
"Everybody"

Greatest Hits: 19 Kids

"You Look Good in My Shirt"

Defying Gravity

Get Closer

"Put You in a Song"
"Without You"
"Long Hot Summer"
"You Gonna Fly"

Fuse

"Little Bit of Everything"
"Shame"
"We Were Us"
"Cop Car"
"Somewhere in My Car"
"Raise 'Em Up"

Ripcord

"John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16"
"Break on Me"
"Wasted Time"
"Blue Ain't Your Color"
"The Fighter"

Graffiti U

"Female"
"Parallel Line"
"Coming Home"
"Never Comin Down"

The Speed of Now Part 1

"We Were"
"God Whispered Your Name"
"Polaroid"
"Superman"
"Change Your Mind"
"One Too Many"

TBA

"Wild Hearts"
"Nightfalls"
"Brown Eyes Baby"
"Street Called Main"
"Straight Line"
"Messed Up as Me"

Collaborative songs

Other songs

"Arms of Mary"
"For You"

v t e American Music Award for Favorite Country Song
"Behind Closed Doors" (1974) "The Most Beautiful Girl" (1975) "Rhinestone Cowboy" (1976) "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" (1977) "Lucille" (1978) "Blue Bayou" (1979) "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" (1980) "Coward of the County" (1981) "Could I Have This Dance" / "On the Road Again" (1982) "Love Will Turn You Around" (1983) "Islands in the Stream" (1984) "Islands in the Stream" (1985) "Forgiving You Was Easy" (1986) "Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Ol' Days)" (1987) "Forever and Ever, Amen" (1988) "I Told You So" (1989) "Deeper Than the Holler" (1990) "If Tomorrow Never Comes" (1991) "The Thunder Rolls" (1992) "Achy Breaky Heart" (1993) "Chattahoochee" (1994) "Whenever You Come Around" (1995) "Humble and Kind" (2016) "Blue Ain't Your Color" (2017) "Heaven" (2018) "Speechless" (2019) "10,000 Hours" (2020) "The Good Ones" (2021)

American Music Award for Favorite Country Song

"Behind Closed Doors" (1974)
"The Most Beautiful Girl" (1975)
"Rhinestone Cowboy" (1976)
"Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" (1977)
"Lucille" (1978)
"Blue Bayou" (1979)
"Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" (1980)
"Coward of the County" (1981)
"Could I Have This Dance" / "On the Road Again" (1982)
"Love Will Turn You Around" (1983)
"Islands in the Stream" (1984)
"Islands in the Stream" (1985)
"Forgiving You Was Easy" (1986)
"Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Ol' Days)" (1987)
"Forever and Ever, Amen" (1988)
"I Told You So" (1989)
"Deeper Than the Holler" (1990)
"If Tomorrow Never Comes" (1991)
"The Thunder Rolls" (1992)
"Achy Breaky Heart" (1993)
"Chattahoochee" (1994)
"Whenever You Come Around" (1995)
"Humble and Kind" (2016)
"Blue Ain't Your Color" (2017)
"Heaven" (2018)
"Speechless" (2019)
"10,000 Hours" (2020)
"The Good Ones" (2021)

v t e CMA Single of the Year
1967−1970	"There Goes My Everything" (1967) "Harper Valley PTA" (1968) "A Boy Named Sue" (1969) "Okie from Muskogee" (1970)
1971-1980	"Help Me Make It Through the Night" (1971) "The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A." (1972) "Behind Closed Doors" (1973) "Country Bumpkin" (1974) "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" (1975) "Good Hearted Woman" (1976) "Lucille" (1977) "Heaven's Just a Sin Away" (1978) "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" (1979) "He Stopped Loving Her Today" (1980)
1981-1990	"Elvira" (1981) "Always on My Mind" (1982) "Swingin'" (1983) "A Little Good News" (1984) "Why Not Me" (1985) "Bop" (1986) "Forever and Ever, Amen" (1987) "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" (1988) "I'm No Stranger to the Rain" (1989) "When I Call Your Name" (1990)
1991-2000	"Friends in Low Places" (1991) "Achy Breaky Heart" (1992) "Chattahoochee" (1993) "I Swear" (1994) "When You Say Nothing at All" (1995) "Check Yes or No" (1996) "Strawberry Wine" (1997) "Holes in the Floor of Heaven" (1998) "Wide Open Spaces" (1999) "I Hope You Dance" (2000)
2001-2010	"I am a Man Of Constant Sorrow" (2001) "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" (2002) "Hurt" (2003) "Live Like You Were Dying" (2004) "I May Hate Myself in the Morning" (2005) "Believe" (2006) "Before He Cheats" (2007) "I Saw God Today" (2008) "I Run to You" (2009) "Need You Now" (2010)
2011-2020	"If I Die Young" (2011) "Pontoon" (2012) "Cruise" (2013) "Automatic" (2014) "Girl Crush" (2015) "Die a Happy Man" (2016) "Blue Ain't Your Color" (2017) "Broken Halos" (2018) "God's Country" (2019) "The Bones" (2020)
2021-2030	"Starting Over" (2021) "'Til You Can't" (2022) "Fast Car" (2023)