Jake Owen Reflects on His 12-Year Career After Earning Seventh No. 1 Single

It was 12 years ago this week that Owen released his first album.

Written by Lauren Laffer
Jake Owen Reflects on His 12-Year Career After Earning Seventh No. 1 Single
Jake Owen; Photo credit: Joseph Llanes

Time to head to Vegas because Jake Owen just earned a lucky number seven with the No.1 song in the country. The Florida native’s nostalgic tune “I Was Jack (You Were Diane)” climbed to the top of both the Billboard and Country Airplay/Mediabase charts marking his seventh time in the peak position.

In a reflective post to his Instagram, Owen recalled his first album release, a project called Startin’ With Me, that debuted 12 years ago this week. At 24-years-old, the singer had no idea where his journey would take him over the course of the decade.

12 years ago, this week,…I was 24 years old and my first album came out. It was called “Startin’ With Me.” I had no idea what was in store for me, but I was excited to just hop on this train of “life” and see where it led me. Of course I had dreams, goals, aspirations… but a man can only do so much on his own. In those 12 years, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some unbelievably talented people that worked tirelessly to help mold and guide my career. From the fans, to radio, to my record label friends and family,.. to my band and crew and management… the super talented songwriters that have graciously given me great songs through the years, and oh yeah.. and my bus driver Mike, who drives me all over this country… THANK YOU!! I can’t express that enough. 12 years later, on this beautiful Sunday morning, I have the #1 song on Country Radio. It’s my 7th. Lucky number 7. Thank you @johnmellencamp for trusting us and allowing us to pay our respects to you and everything you’ve done to pave the way for so many of us in the music industry. I feel like I’m just getting started. I have a lot more left in my tank. Thanks to every one of you who’ve reached out to me and said congratulations. What a ride it’s been. I love ya. @bigloud @williammurraygolf 📸: @matthewpaskert

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“…I had no idea what was in store for me, but I was excited to just hop on this train of ‘life’ and see where it led me. Of course, I had dreams, goals, aspirations, but a man can only do so much on his own,” wrote Owen. “I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some unbelievably talented people that worked tirelessly to help mold and guide my career…on this beautiful Sunday morning, I have the #1 song on country radio. It’s my 7th. Lucky number 7.”

Added the singer, “Thank you @johnmellencamp for trusting us and allowing us to pay our respects to you and everything you’ve done to pave the way for so many of us in the music industry. I feel like I’m just getting started…”

“I Was Jack (You Were Diane)” marks Owen’s fastest rising single and has earned more than 25 million streams. His follow-up single will be announced soon.