Lady A had already scored several hits previously, but their career changed forever when they released "Need You Now" in 2009.

The trio of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood co-wrote "Need You Now" with Josh Kear, and they released it in August of 2009 as the lead single from their album of the same name. The song ascended to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in November of 2009, where it stayed for five weeks. It also reached the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40 charts.

"Need You Now" was certified platinum that December, and it earned double platinum certification on Feb. 18, 2010. The career-altering song also won numerous awards, including four Grammys, a CMA, Award two ACM Awards and the BMI Pop Award, among others.

The song is a real group showcase for the members of Lady A, who performed at that time under their original name, Lady Antebellum (the trio announced they were shortening their name in June of 2020, dropping "antebellum" due to its association with slavery).

"Everybody brought in a little piece of that song after I started playing some of the basic chords," Kelley tells the Boot about the writing process. "But I’m not that great of a guitar player, so I put the guitar back in Dave’s hands. And with his expert knowledge, he just took it to the next level. That’s the beautiful thing about co-writing. I had that little piece of melody, but I told Hillary it would probably be a more beautiful melody if she sang it."

The song came close to not making the album, Scott told Taste of Country in 2016.

“It was literally … the last song," the singer recalls. "Like Charles randomly was like, ‘Oh wait, let me play you this work tape. It’s probably crap but let me play it for you.'"

Find "Need You Now" in the Top Songs of the Century:

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