What Is Walker Hayes’ Net Worth?
Walker Hayes is an American country singer and songwriter based in Tennessee and has a net worth of $5 million. He is known for his 2022 hit “Fancy Life.” Charles Edgar Walker Hayes was born on December 27, 1979, in Mobile, Alabama, and raised by his mother and late father.
Growing up, Hayes gravitated toward music and sports but always knew he would eventually pursue a career as a professional musician.
The Alabama native graduated high school then attended Birmingham-Southern College, where he graduated in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in music, majoring in piano.
Hayes followed up this accomplishment by attending the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to further his musical studies.
Considering Nashville is the hub for aspiring and up-and-coming musicians, Hayes decided to relocate to the city with his wife to submerge himself in the music scene.
This seemed like the most practical choice to get his career started.
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Not too long after he settled into his new home, he landed a job as a songwriter with Mercury Records Nashville.
His role there was short-lived as he eventually moved onto Capitol Records-Nashville, serving in the same capacity.
Although Hayes was writing songs for other artists, he was still working on becoming a country artist. Accordingly, he spent his time applying what he learned and writing songs for himself.
Within seven years of living in Nashville, Hayes was ready to show the world his work.
Debut Single
In 2010, he released his debut single “Pants.”
It ranked at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart.
He released the music video on December 29, amassing over 1 million views.
Following the success of his first single, Hayes worked on finishing his album.
The follow-up album, Reason To Rhyme, was released on October 20, 2013, through Capital Records.
The 11-track album included his debit single “Pants.” While the album failed to chart, it still acted as a catapult for his career.
In 2014, he began partnering with artists to co-write songs and offer his vocals.
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He and Colt Ford hit up the studio to write the song “Dirty Side,” released on the album Thanks for Listening.
The song was a flop, adding stress to Hayes.
Despite this, he knew he had to pump out as much music as possible.
Eat Sleep Love You Repeat
As such, he partnered with Rodney Atkins to co-write the single “Eat Sleep Love You Repeat.”
The song failed to rank in the charts, worsening Hayes’s relationship with his record label.
Consequently, he was dropped from Capitol Records, putting his musical career on hold.
He spoke publicly about the devastation this caused for him and his wife as he had no additional skills he could leverage for temporary alternative employment to pay the bills.
As a result, Hayes needed to accept a job working for Costco to make ends meet.
He took a shift working from 4:00 am – 11:00 am to spend his days working on his music career. He worked diligently to accumulate many singles for his upcoming album for the next two years.
In 2014, Hayes signed a publishing and production deal with Shane McAnally’s SMACKsongs.
Together they released two extended plays, “8Tracks Vol. 1 & 2.” Shortly after this, he was signed with Monument Records, and through them, he released his first single, “You Broke Up With Me,” co-written by Hayes, Kylie Sackley and Thomas Archer.
Cody Alan, Walker Hayes and Macie Banks visit SiriusXM Studios on February 01, 2024 in Nashville – @Getty
This was followed by the release of his second studio album, Boom. The 10-track album was released on December 8, 2017, and charted No. 6 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums.
This was a massive success for Hayes that propelled him into the big leagues in the musical space.
His follow-up single “90’s Country” was released on August 30, 2018, through Momentum Records.
Though the single failed to chart, it performed excellently with his growing fanbase. Hayes released the music video on October 11, 2018, and it accumulated over 4 million views on YouTube alone.
His career began to show significant traction, so he wasted no time writing his best songs in the studio. His biggest fear was a repeat of his previous failure.
Unbeknownst to Hayes, his music would take off in the next few years, gravitating him to an A-list country singer.
In 2021, he released his fifth E.P. Country Stuff.
On August 21, he released the single, “Fancy Like,” and the moment it hit the airways, it went viral.
The song was co-written with Cameron Bartolini, Josh Jenkins, and Shane Stevens and co-produced by Shane McAnally and Joe Thibodeau.
Hayes re-released a mixed version ft. Kesha on September 10, 2021.
The song charted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs, No. 1 on Billboard’s U.S. Country Airplay, and No. 3 on Billboard’s U.S. Hot 100.
One lyric in the song referred to Applebee’s dated Oreo Cookie Shake, which then triggered the restaurant to bring the item back to their menu.
Additionally, Applebee’s began using the song in their corporate commercials on August 23, 2021. Fancy Like turned out to be a massive marketing campaign for the franchise.
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Wife
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In addition to his music career, Hayes is also a family man.
Walker Hayes is married to his longtime girlfriend, Laney Beville Hayes, who he credits for sticking by his side through the dark times in his career.
They currently reside in Thompson’s Station, Tennessee, with their six children.
Net Worth
So, how much is Walker Hayes worth? Hayes earned most of his wealth from selling copies of his albums and EPs, ads on YouTube, and Spotify. Therefore, Walker Hayes has an estimated net worth of $5 million.
On YouTube, Hayes has over 359 million views — about $1.1 million in revenue.
In February 2023, Walker sold his house in house in Thompson’s Station, Tenn., for about $750k.
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I am Bulgarea Candin Stefan, and I founded FamousPeopleToday.com in 2018. I’m using my bachelor’s degree in economics and 9 years of experience in blogging to guide millions of people through the incredibly complex world of celebrity net worths.