Riley Green is reflecting on her career. While performing at the Big Machine 20 Concert in Nashville, Tennessee, Green shouted out his fans for making him a success.

“Thank you all very much,” he said. “A few years ago, I was doing construction work for a living. I signed with Big Machine Records. Now I got songs on the radio.”

“Thank you all so much for supporting country music,” Green added. “This right here is my first number one on country radio, a song I wrote called ‘There Was This Girl.’”

Green released “There Was This Girl” as his debut single in 2018. It went No.1 on Billboard‘s Canada Country chart. In the U.S., the song came in at No. 3 on the Country Airplay chart, No. 11 on the Hot Country Songs chart, and No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Riley Green’s Career

An ACM and CMA award winner, Green hit No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart with his 2024 Ella Langley collab, “You Look Like You Love Me,” and his 2025 song “Worst Way.”

In a recent interview with MusicRow, Green reflected on his recent success.

“It’s been a really great last year and a half,” he said. “Obviously now that people are really listening, I need a lot of great songs. You just can’t write enough.”

Green said views touring the same way, noting that he’s working to evolve his live show as his popularity grows.

“You can’t get comfortable. You’ve got to bring the energy every night,” he said. “… It’s about taking a show that’s worked for me for years and making it even better.”

Whatever comes next, Green said he’s “already been way more successful in music than I ever thought I would be.”

“Playing the Grand Ole Opry, doing a benefit concert for Jacksonville State, playing Red Rocks on a sold-out tour—those things are incredible,” he said. “As far as my real goals and aspirations, I’m so surprised by how far I’ve been able to come in this business that I’m pretty content. I just want to get as much out of it as I can. I know the opportunities I’ve been given, and that’s why I don’t take my foot off the gas.”

Photo by Catherine Powell/Getty Images