Billy Ray Cyrus's "Achy Breaky Heart" cover.

Billy Ray Cyrus's "Achy Breaky Heart" cover.

Single by Billy Ray Cyrus
from the album "Some Gave All"

Released: March 23, 1992
Recorded: November 1991
Genre: Country
Length: 3:23
Label: PolyGram Mercury
Songwriter(s): Don Von Tress
Producer(s): Joe ScaifeJim Cotton

"Achy Breaky Heart" is a song written in 1990 by Don Von Tress. First released in 1991 by the Marcy Brothers with the title "Don't Tell My Heart", it was later recorded by American singer and actor Billy Ray Cyrus and released on his debut album, Some Gave All (1992).

The song is Cyrus's debut single and signature song. It became the first single ever to achieve triple platinum status in Australia and also 1992's best-selling single in the same country. In the United States, it became a crossover hit on pop and country radio, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Hot Country Songs chart, becoming the first country single to be certified platinum since "Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton in 1983. The single topped in several countries, and after being featured on Top of the Pops in the United Kingdom, peaked at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart.

It was Cyrus's biggest hit single in the U.S. until he was featured on "Old Town Road" by rapper Lil Nas X, which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 27 years later.