Thomas Rhett and Blue Highway Records, the Nashville-based label owned by HYBE America, announced on Tuesday (October 6) the launch of Fifty-One/Forty-Nine Records, which will serve as the home for Rhett's recorded music. The companies describe it as an "artist-led record company" built around long-term ownership, creative independence and artist development. "I knew I didn't simply want to make another deal. I wanted to build something that reflected the legacy and shaped the future of my music," Rhett said in a statement quoted by Music Business Worldwide, Variety and Billboard.

The deal follows more than a decade of shared success: Rhett signed to The Valory Music Co., part of Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Label Group, in 2011. HYBE rebranded BMLG as Blue Highway Records in February after Borchetta's departure, folding Valory in. Blue Highway calls Rhett "a cornerstone artist" and credits him with 25 No. 1 singles and more than 16 billion streams. CEO Jake Basden, who told MBW in February he brings "a manager's mentality" to the role, praised Rhett's "honest kind of country."

Blue Highway's roster — which per Billboard also includes Brett Young, Midland, Justin Moore, Jackson Dean, Preston Cooper and Mae Estes — now anchors its flagship artist to a structure built around artist development. Rhett's 25th No. 1, "Ain't a Bad Life" with Jordan Davis, topped the Mediabase/Country Aircheck chart in April 2026, so the new label inherits an active hitmaker. Whether other Blue Highway artists follow Rhett's ownership model is the open question the announcement leaves unanswered.