Every No. 1 Single of the 2000s: Tim McGraw, “My Next Thirty Years”

“My Next Thirty Years”

Tim McGraw

Written by Phil Vassar

Radio & Records

#1 (6 weeks)

December 8, 2000 – January 12, 2001

Billboard

#1 (5 weeks)

December 16, 2000 – January 13, 2001

A Place in the Sun was a transitional album for Tim McGraw.

It captured his strengthening vocal talent right at the moment that his voice matured, giving his new material a gravitas that he couldn’t deliver before.

But that growth was masked by the step backward in the quality of the material, with a couple of the big hits from this album falling short of the standard he’d set with the classics from Everywhere.

I’d say “Please Remember Me” and “My Next Thirty Years” are the only No. 1 hits from Sun that find the quality of the material and the elevation of it by his stronger vocal are enough to place themselves among McGraw’s best hits.

“My Next Thirty Years” would’ve been a bit obnoxious in McGraw’s more nasal earlier style, but he breezes effortlessly over the floating piano melodies so closely associated with songwriter Phil Vassar’s compositions. “Years” sounds just like those big Jo Dee Messina hits that Vassar wrote, which is unsurprising as McGraw produced those Messina records. He sounds genuinely grateful as he recounts his life so far and shares his determination to make the next thirty years the best years of his life.

This joyous record captured the optimism of the new millennium, which wound up being a fleeting moment with 2001 right around the corner. McGraw’s authentic performance was the perfect match for such hopeful material, and this remains one of his most enduring hits.

“My Next Thirty Years” gets an A.

Every No. 1 Single of the 2000s

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