In October 2006, Chris Young dropped his self-titled debut album on Sony Music’s RCA Nashville imprint.

More than 13 years later, Chris is still signed to RCA Nashville. He has released seven studio albums through the label, with an eighth, Raised on Country, on the way. While Chris has scored 11 No. 1 singles during his time with RCA Nashville, his first three singles—“Drinkin’ Me Lonely,” “You’re Gonna Love Me” and “Voices”—barely made dents on the chart at No. 42, No. 48 and No. 37, respectively. But RCA Nashville stuck with Chris—and the rest, as they say, is history: 2 billion on-demand streams, 12 million singles sold, 11 career No. 1 singles, 2 Grammy nominations and more.

As Chris told Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown, he’s “grateful” for his longtime label partner, because “RCA believed in me” when many artists under similar circumstances would have been “done.”

“Just the fact that I’m still on the same label from the beginning of my career until now is incredible,” says Chris to Kix. “And, you know, it’s a testament to working with RCA. When I first started out, the first three singles tanked, so most artists are done by like tank number two [laughing], if not the first one. It was cool that RCA believed in me. That was back when Joe Galante was running the label. That guy was—and still is—a very shrewd businessman, a very smart guy, and one to not pull punches, so the fact that he saw something there and said, ‘I want to keep this guy around and make another record,’ and now, you look at what that’s turned into . . . I’m pretty grateful for that.”

Chris’ new single, “Drowning,” which he co-penned with Corey Crowder and Josh Hoge, is currently No. 25 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart after 30 weeks.