"Winner at a Losing Game" is a song written and 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 ...

group

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American Country music, country music band formed in 1999 in Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background voc ...

. It was released in October 2007 as the second single from their album ''

Still Feels Good ''Still Feels Good'' is the fifth studio album by American country music group Rascal Flatts. It was released September 25, 2007 as their fifth album for Lyric Street Records. The album sold 2,192,000 copies in the United States up to May 2009 an ...

'', as well as their nineteenth chart single overall. The song peaked at number 2 on the ''

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 ...

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. ...

charts in February 2008, spending four weeks at that position behind " Letter to Me" by

Brad Paisley Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You (David Kersh song), Another You". After this, he signed with ...

History

Rascal Flatts' three members (

Gary LeVox Gary LeVox (born Gary Wayne Vernon Jr., July 10, 1970) is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known for being the lead vocalist of the contemporary country music band Rascal Flatts, and his stage name was taken from the studio-console l ...

Jay DeMarcus Jay DeMarcus (born Stanley Wayne DeMarcus Jr.; on April 26, 1971) is an American musician, vocalist, record producer and songwriter. He is a member of the country music band Rascal Flatts. Early life DeMarcus was born in Columbus, Ohio. He grad ...

, and

Joe Don Rooney Joe Don Rooney (born September 13, 1975) is an American guitarist. He is the lead guitarist and high octave harmony singer in the country music band Rascal Flatts. In addition to the electric guitar, Rooney plays the acoustic and bass guitars, ...

) wrote the song on their tour bus after a show late one night.Tucker, Ken (25 August 2007), "CAN RASCAL REPEAT?" ''Billboard''. 119 (34):20-22 According to DeMarcus, the trio began a conversation about their musical influences, when the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

, a popular

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

band, was mentioned. Inspired by the fact that they would be performing with the Eagles at the 2007

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

, the trio decided to write a song that was stylistically similar to the music of the Eagles. All three members then began to write the song that night. They came up with a verse and chorus that, according to ''

Country Weekly ''Country Weekly'' (known as ''Nash Country Weekly'' from 2015–16) was an American magazine about country music. It was in circulation between April 1994 and May 2016. The publisher, Cumulus Media, now maintains the site Nash Country Daily. O ...

'', "achingly express sa feeling we have all experienced — loving someone who just doesn't love you the same way". The next day, DeMarcus added the hook "If love is really forever, then I'm a winner at a losing game", and the song was soon finished. LeVox considered the song special because it is the first single to be written entirely by the band's three members. In 2024, DeMarcus ranked the song #5 amongst his favorite songs he and the band had recorded.

Critical reception

Ken Tucker of ''

'' wrote that the song is "fresh, familiar and conjures '70s country rock".

Chart performance

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winner At A Losing Game 2007 singles 2007 songs Rascal Flatts songs Songs written by Jay DeMarcus Songs written by Gary LeVox Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Lyric Street Records singles