Ingrid Andress Has Her Biggest Streaming Day in Almost 2 Years After Viral National Anthem
Although Ingrid Andress’ rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” on Monday night drew heavy criticism online, the moment fueled the country singer-songwriter to her best streaming day in nearly 20 months as discussion of the performance spiked interest in her wider catalog.
For July 15-16, the day of and day following the performance, Andress’ song catalog registered a total of 1.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to initial data reports submitted to Luminate. The two-day figure marks a 229% surge from her catalog’s 370,000 stream haul on July 13-14, the two days preceding her performance. (“The Star-Spangled Banner” did not contribute to any counts as the song is not available as a recording on streaming services.)
Of those totals, 941,000 streams alone occurred on June 16, the single-best streaming day for Andress’ catalog since it registered 964,000 clicks on Nov. 23, 2022, when she appeared on a pre-Thanksgiving episode of Drinkin’ With on Country Music Television (CMT) and its social channels.
Andress sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby in Arlington, Texas, on Monday night, and her performance immediately went viral across social media. Many users posted clips referenced some of the competing players appearing to hold back laughter as the cameras cut to them, while others debated technical miscues of pitchiness and questionable runs and likened it to Fergie’s poorly received version of the national anthem from the 2018 NBA All-Star Game.
The next day, Andress posted on her X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram accounts that she was “drunk” during the performance and would voluntarily seek treatment. “I’m not gonna bulls–t y’all,” she wrote, “I was drunk last night. I’m checking myself into a facility today to get the help I need. That was not me last night. I apologize to MLB, all the fans, and this country I love so much for that rendition.”
A day ahead of the Home Run Derby, Andress announced a new single, “Colorado 9,” would be released on July 24. In her career, Andress has landed four tracks on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, with her highest peak belonging to “More Hearts Than Mine,” which reached No. 5 in 2020.
Trevor Anderson
Billboard