Three Days Grace bassist pitches "most-#1s" tour with Shinedown

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If Billboard chart battles are your thing, then Three Days Grace and Shinedown have been serving up quite a doozy.

Over the past few years, the two bands have been trading the record for the most #1 hits on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. TDG first took the record in 2018 with 14 leaders, breaking a mark long held by Van Halen. Shinedown then tied TDG's total, which had grown to 15, in 2020 and took sole possession of the record later that year.

A few back-and-forths later, Shinedown still holds the record, now with 17 #1s, though Three Days Grace's 16 could grow to tie the record with the single "Lifetime," which currently sits at #3 on Mainstream Rock Airplay.

"It is funny because it seems like every week we switch positions with Shinedown," TDG bassist Brad Walst tells ABC Audio. "They've got the most, then we have the most."

"I think some day we need to get a hold of them and go on tour and have, like, the most-#1s-ever-in-the-universe tour," he laughs. "I think it would be cool to have dueling stages. Maybe a stage at each end of the arena or whatever, and go back-and-forth with the #1s."

Beyond the chart battle, TDG and Shinedown have been long connected. In fact, TDG's first tour with new singer Matt Walst, who joined the group in 2013 following the sudden departure of Adam Gontier, was with Shinedown.

"We talked to [Shinedown front man] Brent [Smith], and he was like, 'Nah, man, let's do this!'" Brad remembers. "Looking back, I think he could've just said, 'Forget it,' and squashed the tour, but I think if we hadn't done that tour and we hadn't continued playing, things might be different right now."

Wednesday, June 22, 2022 at 6:00AM by Josh Johnson Permalink