As Florida Georgia Line Cruises Toward a (Permanent?) Break, Revisit Some of the Duo’s Biggest Milestones
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Earlier Monday (Aug. 22), Hayley Hubbard posted an Instagram story of her husband Tyler Hubbard onstage with his Florida Georgia Line partner Brian Kelley playing Canada’s Country Thunder Alberta festival over the weekend with the caption, “Got a little emotional last night knowing this was one of the last FGL shows.”
With only two concerts left on their schedule for Aug. 26 and Aug. 31, one of country music’s most successful duos is putting a (perhaps temporary) cap on their collective career, ending what has been a barnburner decade for the twosome.
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Though Hubbard and Kelley have never officially announced that they are splitting, both are working on solo music, and Hubbard talked openly about their parting on The Bobby Bones Show in late July.
“We’re not breaking up, we’re just taking a break,” Hubbard told Bones, describing their next chapter. He says despite rumors that began when the two unfollowed each other briefly on social media around the 2020 presidential election, the split is not over politics. “They can’t just say, ‘Oh the guys want to have some individuality and do something different,’ but ultimately, it does bum me out because that’s not the narrative.”
After the rumors of a split first surfaced in late 2020, Hubbard and Kelley posted a video in early 2021 saying they planned to pursue solo projects, while continuing to work on FGL music, leading up to the February 2021 release of their fifth album, Life Rolls On. While Hubbard wouldn’t say the split was permanent to Bones, it’s clear they’re looking at a much longer break now, telling Bones that maybe they will get back together in 10 to 15 years and even says they would “probably not” come back together for $1 million to play a wedding.
The duo has also been quietly unwinding some of their businesses: The pair sold its interest in Old Camp whiskey, the brand they launched in 2016, back to Proximo Spirits in 2021, Hubbard told Billboard in July. In June, Nashville Post reported that Kelley and Hubbard had sold the two properties in Nashville’s Hillsboro Village that housed their Meet + Greet café, retail store Tribe Kelley Trading Post and their Tree Vibez music publishing company for $6.9 million. (Sources tell Billboard that the music publishing company remains active.) Round Here Records, the boutique label Hubbard and Kelley started in 2019 to put out music by singer-songwriters signed to Tree Vibez, most recently released two new songs from RaeLynn this spring. FGL House, a 22,000-square-foot entertainment space that the pair opened in 2017 in partnership with LRC Restaurant LLC, also remains open.
Hubbard, now managed by Borman Entertainment, is preparing his solo album for EMI Records Nashville while his debut single, “5 Foot 9,” rises to No. 12 this week on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. He will tour with Keith Urban this fall. After releasing an album, Sunshine State of Mind, on Warner Music Nashville last year, Kelley, managed by Vector Management, is now signed to Big Machine Records and working on new material as well as kicking off a 20-date residency in Grayson Beach, Fla., in September. Sources confirm that the duo’s contract with Big Machine Label Group Records has ended.
But what a run it has been. Here are some of the highlights of Florida Georgia Line’s impressive career — so far.
-Starting with their 2012 debut single, “Cruise,” FGL has scored 16 No. 1s on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (with 26 total entries) and four No. 1 albums on Top Country Albums.
-The duo landed 47 entries on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, including six No. 1s. FGL’s “Meant to Be” (with Bebe Rexha) holds the record for the most weeks spent at No. 1 on the chart at 50 weeks, while the pair also hold the record for the most combined weeks at No. 1 on the chart with 106 weeks.
-Although they canceled their 2021 I Love My Country fall tour, citing COVID concerns, FGL has been a powerhouse on the road, reporting a gross of $191 million for 3.8 million tickets sold across 319 headlining shows between 2013 and 2019, according to Billboard Boxscore. (This does not include festival dates, which they are playing a handful of right now.)
-Florida Georgia Line are the only country act to receive two diamond-certified singles from the Recording Industry Association of America, for the 11 times platinum “Cruise” and the 10 times platinum single “Meant to Be.” According to Big Machine Label Group Records, FGL has earned more than 13.2 billion global streams and sold more than 40 million tracks.
-The pair’s myriad accomplishments are on display in the Mix It Up Strong exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame through Jan. 1, 2023.
Of course, FGL aren’t the first wildly popular country duo to take some time away from each other. In 2009, Brooks & Dunn announced their split after 20 years of hitmaking. In 2015, they reunited for a Las Vegas residency and completed a successful arena tour this spring. In between, in 2019, they released Reboot, their first album of new material in 12 years.
In other words, never say never.
