Kenny Chesney's 'Da Ruba Girl' Tops Chart Upon Release

EBM | December 10, 2022

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(EBM) Kenny Chesney's new charity single "Da Ruba Girl" claimed the No. 1 on the iTunes chart soon after it was released on Friday (December 9th). EBM shared the following details:

Sometimes, out of the greatest pain comes the greatest gifts and deepest healing. After years of requests to put out "Da Ruba Girl," a fan favorite song that aired on Kenny Chesney's No Shoes Radio on SiriusXM, the songwriter/superstar from East Tennessee decided to honor the passing of the rescued Ruby by making the song available to fans on iTunes and various streaming platforms.

With the proceeds benefitting Stray Rescue of St. Louis, established in 1998 to help and heal the most unwanted dogs, the man the Los Angeles Times called "the People's Superstar" hoped that her life and the love she gave everyone in her world could help other dogs in critical need have better lives. As he explained to PEOPLE.com of the choice of charity, "they find the dogs people abandon and throw away, who may have been abused or just left somewhere and they heal them, then find them homes where all that love they have can be returned. "

When the song dropped Friday morning, Chesney hoped it would have enough success to be able to send the rescue a nice Christmas gift. By noon, "Da Ruba Girl" had hit No. 1 on the iTunes chart, in front of Mariah Carey's holiday must have "All I Want for Christmas Is You," plus major hits by Sam Smith & Kim Petras, Morgan Wallen, Meghan Trainor and Taylor Swift.

"We're out here, taking Da Ruba Girl to her favorite places, to scatter her ashes in the places she loved," Chesney reports. "She loved the ocean, the road, the sunshine, really every little thing... and so, that's what we're doing! But when we got the call that 'Da Ruba Girl' - this little song I'd written about how much love can be in a rescue dog's heart that we played on No Shoes Radio because the people in No Shoes Nation loved it so much - had hit No. 1, we couldn't believe it.

"And yet, especially at this time of year, everyone wants to give a little extra love to the child or dog that nobody wanted, right? To recognize not just how much love they have, but how much love they deserve. For Ruby, all this love seems like the perfect way to send her to heaven!"

As the song offers, "You needed her, she needed you/To hold, to help fill a space
Last in line, last cage at the rescue/Was a love that no one could replace
Lying there like a lost string of pearls/Was Da Ruba Girl..."

Touching a chord inside so many, Southern Living and PEOPLE.com also joined in praising the soft Calypso-leaning song that offers snapshots from a dog's life as well as a big slice of truth about profound love coming from unlikely places. The talk of morning drive across America's country stations, the momentum had its own velocity.

"She showed us better ways to be human. Losing her has left a hole there are no words for," Chesney explained. Today he added, "The power of a love like Ruby's is it keeps giving back, it brings people and dogs together, and it reminds how special and unconditional a dog's love is. She loved the sun so much; so many times, we'd be together, watching the sun come up - and we both just knew. What a gift she was - and what a gift she's creating. Someone even gave an anonymous $10,000 donation to honor Da Ruba Girl, which allows their 60 dedicated staff members, 1,000 volunteers and 400 foster families help provide trauma and vet care to make life good for the animals who come in waiting on their forever humans."

"Da Ruba Girl," still available at iTunes as well as on all streaming platforms, has done the unthinkable. With all proceeds from the song being donated to Stray Rescue of St. Louis, this is Ruby's Christmas gift to her fellow rescues and the humans they'll rescue.

Additional donations may be made through Stray Rescue of St. Louis' website: www.strayrescue.org. Please note "In Honor of Da Ruba Girl" - and you can be part of helping other abandoned animals have bright holidays brighter.