When Lee Greenwood released “God Bless The USA” in the spring of 1984, “it wasn't a huge hit,” says the 82-year-old country music icon. Bulletin board.
The song reached No. 7 in July 1984 Bulletin boardon the Hot Country Songs chart, but has returned to the charts several times over the decades, including the July 4th weekend of 2020, the first year of the pandemic — when it hit No. 1 on the Digital Songs Sales chart.
The anthem's enduring appeal led to it being played in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the assassination attempt on the former president Donald Trump. It's been covered by Beyoncé, Dolly Parton, and on Friday (November 1), Drew Jacobs released a rock version. And, of course, it's been played consistently at political events, including every Republican National Convention since 1988 — Greenwood sang it live last July — and now as the theme song for former President Trump.
“To be honest, for President Trump to use 'USA' as his go-to song everywhere he goes is a dream come true for any artist,” says Greenwood, who adds that he wrote the song for all the Americans. “Millions of people listen to my song on a weekly basis because President Trump uses it.”
So what is it worth? Bulletin board spoke with Greenwood and ran the numbers to calculate how much he stands to gain from the Trump beatdown.
FLOW
Greenwood says he owns the writing and publishing rights to “God Bless The USA” and that peermusic manages the publishing and sync license for it and other songs in his catalog.
Greenwood says he has never charged the former president, whom he knows through his wife, for using “USA” at rallies Kim Greenwoodcollaboration with the Miss Universe Organization. He says he charged it Ronald Reagan $1 campaign to use the song in 1988, but “precisely because they wanted to have 'paper for the deal.'
“I don't see money as a driver for my music,” he adds.
That said, “God Bless The USA” earned Greenwood some nice coin this year. The song experienced a notable increase in consumption, especially in the immediate weeks following Greenwood's performance at the Republican National Convention.
In the 16 weeks since the RNC, “USA” has averaged more than 4,100 song equivalents in the United States, according to Luminate. That's an increase from the roughly 3,000 US song equivalents it averaged in the 27 weeks of 2024 leading up to the deal.
This post-contract total includes an average of 568,000 US audio streams mostly on demand compared to 468,000 in the pre-contract weeks.
Compared to Greenwood's “USA,” Sam & Dave's “Hold On I'm Coming” has seen a smaller midrange bump. This song is currently the subject of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed in August by the estate of Isaac Hayes, who co-wrote the song. The complaint alleges that the song has been used multiple times during rallies without permission.
“Hold On I'm Coming” averaged over 5,200 song equivalents in the US. from the RNC, just a fraction of the 5,000 US song equivalents it averaged in the 27 weeks leading up to the convention.
Looking at the songs' U.S. streaming and download revenues, the master recording rights to “Hold On” grossed more overall than “U.S.” after the conference — averaging $4,613.81 per week, compared to of $3,337.24.
However, the hit that got the songs' master recording rights was bigger for “USA” than “Hold On”. Master recording rights to Greenwood's signature song brought in $744 more per week on average from the convention, compared to $148 for “Hold On.”
That adds up to an estimated Trump raise of about $12,000 from the main recordings of the song over the past 16 weeks. Those calculations are for label revenue, and Greenwood's share of that amount will depend on his contract, the details of which are not known.
On the publishing side, Greenwood's song averaged about $675 per week from US streams and downloads in the 27 weeks leading up to the convention and $845 per week after. That means the song generated an average of $3,267 per week — master recordings and releases combined — leading up to the convention and $4,182 per week after the convention.
Bulletin board estimates that Greenwood's US master recording catalog revenue, not including publishing, has generated $219,000 for his label so far this year compared to nearly $184,000 in 2023 – a Trump increase of about $35,000 year to date.
TRUMP… PROBLEM?
Not all of the songs used at Trump events enjoyed the same post-rally glow. “My Hero” by Foo Fighters was played as an intro Robert Kennedy Jr. at an August rally for the former president in Arizona without a permit, according to the band. At the time, a Foo Fighters spokesman said any royalties earned from the games after the song's rally would be given to Trump's challenger, VP Kamala Harriscampaign. (A representative for the band did not respond to a request for comment for this story.)
Since “My Hero” was played at the rally, its popularity has declined, according to data from Luminate. Prior to the conference, the song's US streams and downloads averaged nearly $10,100 in master recording revenue per week. But after the band sued the Trump campaign's use of the song, average weekly audio streams dropped by nearly 200,000 from 1.668 million to 1.488 million. As a result, revenue that averaged nearly $10,100 per week fell to just under $9,200 per week, a weekly drop of about $900.
