"Helluva Life" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Frankie Ballard Frank Robert Ballard IV (born December 16, 1982) is an American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist. He has released two albums each for Reprise Records and Warner Bros. Records, and has charted eight singles on the Hot Country Songs ch ...

. It was released in July 2013 as the first single from Ballard's second studio album, '' Sunshine & Whiskey'', which was released on February 11, 2014. The song was written by

Rodney Clawson Rodney Dale Clawson (born in Gruver, Texas, United States) is an American country music songwriter. Clawson has written singles recorded by Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Faith Hill, George Strait and Luke Bryan, among others. Biography Cla ...

Chris Tompkins Christopher G. Tompkins (born Muscle Shoals, Alabama) is an American songwriter based in Nashville. Since 2002 he has co-written songs for pop, rock, and country artists Jimmy Buffett, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean ...

and

Josh Kear Josh Kear is a multi-Grammy Award winning songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2007, Kear co-wrote Carrie Underwood's hit " Before He Cheats" with Chris Tompkins. The song dominated the US Hot Country Songs chart for five weeks and earned ...

Content

"Helluva Life" is about a man thinking about his future while encountering a woman at a bar.

Critical reception

Billy Dukes of ''

Taste of Country Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

'' gave the song three and half stars out of five, writing that " allard isa sincere vocalist who doesn’t try to stretch his capabilities and the blend of steel guitar that pins him down is just perfect." Dukes stated that the song "lacks specificity" but added that "the arrangement and the singer’s delivery tie the many elements together." Matt Bjorke of ''Roughstock'' gave the song four stars out of five, saying that "Frankie Ballard sings the melody with laid-back ease while the production never drowns out the singer as he sings about the things that make him grateful for his life." Bjorke praised the chorus, Ballard's performance and the "laid-back, less frenetic mood" of the song, predicting that it would become "the biggest hit of Frankie Ballard's career to date."

Music video

The music video was directed by Mason Dixon and premiered in December 2013.

Commercial performance

"Helluva Life" debuted at number 57 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...

chart for the week of August 3, 2013. It also debuted at number 45 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart for the week of October 5, 2013. It also debuted at number 89 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

chart for the week of December 21, 2013. It also debuted at number 98 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

chart for the week of March 15, 2014. The song was certified Gold by the RIAA on May 6, 2014. As of May 2014, the song has sold 516,000 copies in the US.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2013 singles Frankie Ballard songs Warner Records singles Songs written by Rodney Clawson Songs written by Chris Tompkins Songs written by Josh Kear Song recordings produced by Scott Hendricks 2013 songs Song recordings produced by Marshall Altman