"World on Fire" is a song 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 ...

singer Nate Smith, written by Smith,

Ashley Gorley Ashley Gorley (born April 29, 1977) is an American songwriter, publisher, and producer from Danville, Kentucky, who is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Gorley has written 81 number 1 songs and has over 400 songs recorded by artists including Luke ...

, Taylor Phillips and Lindsay Rimes. It was released on June 5, 2023, as the second single from his self-titled debut album.

History

The idea for the song "World on Fire" came during a songwriting session among Nate Smith,

, Lindsay Rimes, and Taylor Phillips. Phillips, who is also a

volunteer firefighter A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respond ...

, came up with the title "world on fire" after using that phrase to recount a fire at a construction site. He then thought the idea of a narrator's world being "on fire" would convey the end of a relationship. Smith, meanwhile, was inspired to build on the idea as he remembered the

Camp Fire A campfire is a fire at a campsite. Campfire or Camp Fire may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Campfire'' (James Blundell album) (2017) * ''Campfire'' (Kasey Chambers album) (2018) * ''Campfire'' (Rend Collective album) (2012) * "Camp ...

, a

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

that affected his hometown of

Paradise, California Paradise is an incorporated town in Butte County, California, United States, in the Sierra Nevada foothills above the northeastern Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 4,764, a decline of over 80% from the 26,218 ...

, in 2018. Rimes then recorded the demo, which featured multiple guitar tracks from him and guitarist Sol Philcox-Littlefield; Rimes told ''

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 ...

'' that his inspiration for the arrangement was the work of the

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

. As Smith had already submitted the master tracks for his album to his label, he could not add the song without overriding pre-sale sales figures. As a result, the label chose to issue a deluxe version, with "World on Fire" and five other tracks, which would be released the same day as the regular version of the album.

Music video

Smith released a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

on July 12, 2023, directed by Chris Ashlee. The video features Smith singing the song as a

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

occurs around him. As of March 2025, the music video for "World on Fire" has over 13 million views on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Chart performance

The song reached number 21 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and became Smith's second number-one hit on the

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 December 23, 2023, spending ten consecutive weeks there until it was dethroned by

Warren Zeiders Warren Donald Zeiders is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has released four studio albums under Warner Records: ''Acoustic Covers'' (2021), '' 717 Tapes the Album'' (2022), ''Pretty Little Poison'' (2023), and ''Relapse'' (20 ...

's " Pretty Little Poison" on the chart dated March 2, 2024. The song's ten-week run at the top tied a record with

Morgan Wallen Morgan Cole Wallen (born May 13, 1993) is an American country pop singer from Sneedville, Tennessee. He competed in the The Voice (American season 6), sixth season of ''The Voice (American TV series), The Voice''. After being eliminated in the ...

's 2022 single "

You Proof "You Proof" is a song by American country music singer Morgan Wallen. It was released as a promotional single on May 13, 2022, before being released to country radio on July 18, 2022. The song was written by Wallen, along with Ashley Gorley, Ern ...

" for the longest-running number one single in the chart's history. In December 2024, Billboard Year-End declared "World on Fire" the number 1 song of the year on Country Airplay.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Nate Smith (singer) 2023 singles 2023 songs Nate Smith (singer) songs Songs written by Ashley Gorley Songs written by Lindsay Rimes RCA Records Nashville singles Billboard Country Airplay number-one singles of the year