It took 10 years and multiple singles to get there, but MCA Nashville artist David Nail finally broke through with his first-ever No. 1 single this week with “Let It Rain.” For the radio programmers who strongly supported the single—and the artist—it was just a matter of having the right single at the right moment and, as Wilks Broadcasting/Kansas City VP of operations Mike Kennedy puts it, “all the stars lining up at the right time.” (For more on how MCA’s promotion team broke the single—and a chart record for longevity along with it—see our companion “Anatomy Of A Hit” feature.)

Tyler Media/Oklahoma City PD Kevin Christopher says Nail (pictured) finally gained entrance into the No. 1 club with “Let It Rain” because “the lyrics are just haunting. I’ve heard a lot of cheating songs, but this one describes it in a way I don’t believe I’ve ever heard before. Plus, it really sticks in your head.”

Agrees CBS Radio/Charlotte, N.C., OM/PD D.J. Stout, “‘Let It Rain’ was just a great song with a great hook, and once you heard it, you had a hard time getting it out of your head. [Mix that] with the fact that David has one of the best voices in our format, and he really sings ‘Let It Rain’ with a lot of heart and passion. I think listeners feel that every time they hear [it].”

Randy Chase, the PD at KCYY San Antonio, and a Cox country format leader, calls it a “great song that had a cool vibe and didn’t sound like everything on the radio.”

Radio listeners agreed. Says Christopher, “We were seeing this build in research going back to early summer, [and] playing it in rotations way ahead of its chart position.”

In Charlotte, Stout says, “Listener feedback was great. It took time to get going, but once it did it was consistently one of our best testing and most requested songs.”

And in San Antonio, Chase says, “Listeners loved this song from day one. With less than 100 spins, ‘Let It Rain’ was testing top five in call-out and never fell.”

It’s not just the song that impressed radio. Nail’s vocal chops did too.

Says Stout, “He has one of the best voices in the format, and a very unique style. I felt that eventually people would get it, and that he just needed that great song to push him through. I think [previous top 10 single] “Red Light” got the momentum going [in 2009,] and ‘Let it Rain’ took it to another level. He doesn’t have a bad song on either of his albums, and he has more hits on the new record, so this should be a great year for him.”

Agrees Kennedy, “All you have to do is dig out David’s [prior] singles and you’ll see why this is long overdue.”

Christopher says of Nail, “His music is unique and certainly a little left of center, so to see him have some success is exciting.”

And Chase says the success of “Let It Rain” suggests three takeaway points:

“1. This reminds all of us that different can work.
2. A great song will find a way, and
3. The focus must remain on the consumer, and that’s what David does.”