Country Songs Are Dominating the Hot 100. We Shouldn’t Be Surprised

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Country Songs Are Dominating the Hot 100. We Shouldn’t Be Surprised

Rolling Stone · 3 hours ago

Country music has achieved an unprecedented chart milestone: all five top positions on the Billboard Hot 100 are now occupied by country tracks, a feat never achieved before—not even during the 1990s heyday of Garth Brooks and Shania Twain. The occupants include Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas," Morgan Wallen's "Been By Now," Taylor Swift's "I Knew It, I Knew You," a Wallen-Langley collaboration, and Stella Lefty's "Boston." Langley's track has been particularly dominant, maintaining the number-one position for 16 consecutive weeks and surpassing previous chart records held by major pop and R&B artists.

This breakthrough caps a multi-year surge in country music's chart performance. In 2023, Wallen and Luke Combs secured the top two positions for the first time in four decades, and 2024 saw Shaboozey's "Bar Song" log 19 weeks at number one. Wallen himself set a record with 37 Hot 100 entries in a single week. The article contextualises the trend by noting that iconic country artists like Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton hold deep cultural status in America, and that Taylor Swift built her initial fame in the country genre before transitioning to pop.

  • Five country songs occupy the Billboard Hot 100's top five positions for the first time in history, led by Ella Langley's 'Choosin' Texas' with 16 weeks at number one.
  • The milestone reflects a broader resurgence of country music's commercial dominance, with major chart achievements in 2023–2024 preceding this record-breaking week.

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