The 20 Best Country Radio Hits of 2021
2021 has been a
weird year for country. In January, Morgan Wallen released an album that was
doing insane numbers not seen in country since ‘90s Garth Brooks. And then a
month later Wallen got caught saying the N-word on camera, and the country
establishment did a decent job of responding (pulling his music from radio
rotation, removing him from competition for awards, etc.). But his sales and
streaming numbers continued to be historically huge, and by the end of the year
a Wallen single had started creeping up the airplay charts. But there was a lot
of better music this year, country doesn’t really need to cling to Morgan Wallen as
its marquee star. Here’s the Spotify playlist and the other lists for pop, rap,
rock/alternative, finishing up the set tomorrow with R&B.
1. Eric Church - "Hell Of A View"
#1 Country Airplay, #28 Hot 100
Eric Church has long cultivated a habit of kicking off an album cycle with one single that challenged country radio with different sounds or topical lyrics, and then ascending to #1 with a more palatable follow-up. In the run up to his 2021 triple album Heart & Soul, though, Church flooded the market with 6 songs, with “Hell Of A View” eventually fittingly becoming the airplay winner of the campaign, featuring one of the finest vocal performances of Church’s career and steady tempo reminiscent of his biggest and best hit, “Springsteen.”
2. Dustin Lynch - "Momma's House"
#5 Country Airplay, #59 Hot 100
There’s a lens through which the provocative way Dustin Lynch sings about hometown heartbreak on “Momma’s House” isn’t at all charming, in a time when headlines are often full of straight white guys who become violent in the face of romantic disappointment. But “I’d burn this whole town down if it wasn’t for my momma’s house” is a damn good chorus and the climax of a pretty impressive cinematic little country song.
3. Chris Stapleton - "You Should Probably
Leave"
#10 Country Airplay, #39 Hot 100
I’ve been kind of an agnostic about Chris Stapleton’s rise to become modern country’s reigning The Real Deal, he’s inarguably talented but the songs don’t always resonate with me. “You Should Probably Leave” is one of those songs that really stuck with me, though, and I was happy to see it slowly creep towards the top 10, only his fifth song to do so, over the course of the year. A great evocative lyric and some lovely Hammond B-3 from Tom Petty sideman Benmont Tench.
4. Lainey Wilson - "Things A Man Oughta
Know"
#1 Country Airplay, #32 Hot 100
The ‘tomato-gate’ reckoning of the bro country 2010s has calcified into a permanent status quo where women are a far smaller presence on country radio than they once were, but there are still encouraging bright spots. And one of the four #1s this year with a female vocalist was from a new artist, Lainey Wilson, who released an excellent Jay Joyce-related debut album in Feburary. Everyone loves Dolly Parton but you don’t necessarily hear her influence in a lot of vocalists, and Lainey Wilson really gets some Dolly phrasing on “Things A Man Oughta Know” and her album track “WWDD” (which, of course, stands for ‘what would Dolly do?’).
5. Jimmie Allen f/ Brad Paisley - "Freedom
Was A Highway"
#11 Country Airplay, #76 Hot 100
The Grammy for Best New Artist has a history of weird belated nominations, and Jimmy Allen just got a nod 3 years after his first album and first #1 country song. But it’s still pretty welcome recognition for one of the few Black stars in country and the only country star from my old stomping grounds of Sussex County, Delaware. And “Freedom Was A Highway” is probably my favorite song Allen has made to date, just a great anthemic road song with some typically excellent guitar leads from Brad Paisley.
6. Carly Pearce - "Next Girl"
#15 Country Airplay, #86 Hot 100
In the space of a few months, Carly Pearce released her second album, scored a #1 single, announced her divorce from fellow country singer Michael Ray, and released the first single from her third album, the barbed breakup song “Next Girl.” It took that song a year just to get to the upper middle of the country charts, but I’m happy that it did well enough to bring about the release of my favorite country album of the year, 29: Written in Stone.
7. Brothers
Osborne - "I'm Not For Everyone"
#40 Country Airplay
This year T.J. Osborne came out and became the first openly gay artist signed to a major country label, and his autobiographical song “Younger Me” was nominated for a Grammy. But even before that, Brothers Osborne’s latest single felt like a fitting ode to individuality and being different, full of nerdy musical references to zydeco and Townes Van Zandt.
8. Cole Swindell - "Single Saturday
Night"
#1 Country Airplay, #26 Hot 100
Cole Swindell has been kicking around the country charts for almost a decade, but “Single Saturday Night” is his biggest Hot 100 hit date and very deservingly so, this song is really hooky and has a nicely constructed lyric.
9. Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris - "Chasing
After You"
#2 Country Airplay, #24 Hot 100
Coutry singers seems to marry other country singers a lot, from George and Tammy or Tim and Faith on down to younger stars. This year two of Maren Morris's closet contemporaries, Kacey Musgraves and Carly Pearce, both wrote albums about the end of their short-lived marriage to less famous male country singers. But things seem to be going better for Morris and her husband, Ryan Hurd, who got his first top 10 hit with their duet.
10. Priscilla Block - "Just About Over
You"
#15 Country Airplay, #95 Hot 100
TikTok has powered chart hits in every genre now, even country, the biggest example being Walker Hayes’s cheeseball Applebees jingle “Fancy Like.” But TikTok also helped Priscilla Block crowdfund her beautifully written breakup song “Just About Over You” and helped her get a record deal, so it’s not all bad.
11. Luke Combs - "Forever After
All"
#1 Country Airplay, #2 Hot 100
Luke Combs is still on a historic streak as the first artist to send his first 12 singles to #1 on country radio (the previous record holders only got to 4 consecutive chart-toppers at the beginning of their careers). And 11th single in that streak “Forever After All,” is also notable for debuting at #2 on the Hot 100, the highest chart position for a country song since I guess Taylor Swift was considered country (although “Fancy Like” got to #3).
12. Maddie & Tae - "Woman You
Got"
#53 Country Airplay
Maddie & Tae hit #1 with a great song, “Die From A Broken Heart,” last year, and it’s disappointing that their next single disappeared so quickly. Hopefully they won’t take 5 years between albums again.
13. Callista Clark - "It's 'Cause I
Am"
#22 Country Airplay
Other than Maddie & Tae, there haven’t been a lot of teen stars on the country scene since Taylor Swift blew up. But it looks like someone is trying to follow the blueprint: Swift’s old label Big Machine released 17-year-old Callista Clark’s debut EP this year, which was produced by Swift’s early collaborator Nathan Chapman. “It’s ‘Cause I Am” wasn’t a big hit, but I hear a lot of potential on the EP, which Clark wrote all the songs for.
14. Dan + Shay - "I Should Probably Go
To Bed"
#2 Country Airplay, #28 Hot 100
If you told me that the recently disbanded Rascal Flatts simply rebranded as Dan + Shay, I’d believe you. Despite the fact that Shay Mooney was once a protégé of T-Pain, Dan + Shay’s brand is the same kind of pop country balladry that’s sold well for decades. I find a lot of their hits mawkish, but “I Should Probably Go To Bed” makes great use of a slow piano-driven build to a quiet/loud climax.
15. Tenille Arts - "Back Then, Right
Now"
#41 Country Airplay
Tenille Arts continues to sprint ahead of Tenille Townes in the astronomically unlikely battle of country singers named Tenille born in Canada in 1994.
16. Justin Moore - "We Didn't Have
Much"
#1 Country Airplay, #41 Hot 100
Justin Moore’s latest album Straight Outta The Country was a musical and commercial disappointment that barely charted. And that’s weird because he’s on the hottest hitmaking streak of his career, with 5 of his last 6 singles hitting #1, and “We Didn’t Have Much” is a simple folksy tune that makes great use of his Arkansas drawl.
17. Miranda Lambert - "Settling
Down"
#6 Country Airplay, #41 Hot 100
Miranda Lambert made an excellent back-to-basics album this year, The Marfa Tapes with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, but her 2019 album Wildcard had legs well into 2021.
18. Scotty McCreery - "You Time"
#1 Country Airplay, #50 Hot 100
Scotty McCreery won "American Idol" in 2011, only the 2nd country singer to win the show after Carrie Underwood, back in the tail end of the days when "Idol" could actually launch a successful recording career (three country singers have won in the last decade, I've never heard of them and neither have you). But McCreery, a boyish 17-year-old when he became a TV star, has slowly and steadily grown up to be a radio star: "You Time" is his 4th country radio #1 in a row,
19. Lady A - "Like A Lady"
#13 Country Airplay, #85 Hot 100
Lady Antebellum had an awkward rebranding in 2020, finally dropped the problematic second half of their name but officially adopting the name Lady A, which was already in use by a Black soul/blues singer. Each Lady A has sued the other and the whole thing seems unresolved, but the more famous country trio has plowed ahead, recently releasing their first album under the name. I think they’ve handled this whole thing pretty badly, but they can still write a catchy hook.
20. Taylor Swift f/ Chris Stapleton - "I
Bet You Think About Me"
#23 Country Airplay, #22 Hot 100
Since officially “going pop” and no longer submitting most of her music to country charts in 2014, Taylor Swift has sporadically promoted some of her more acoustic tracks to country radio with minor success, including “New Year’s Day,” “Betty,” and “No Body, No Crime.” But this re-recorded outtake from 2012’s Red recently became Swift’s biggest country radio hit since Red’s title track (not counting a featured appearance on a Sugarland single). “I Bet You Think About Me” is another petty, humorously self-aware breakup song possibly inspired by Jake Gyllenhaal, but I think it works better than the more famous “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”
The 10 Worst Country Radio Hits of 2021:
1. Brantley Gilbert f/ Toby Keith and HARDY - "The Worst Country Song Of All Time"
2. Walker Hayes - "Fancy Like"
3. Aaron Lewis - "Am I The Only One"
4. Chase Rice f/ Florida Georgia Line - "Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen."
5. Morgan Wallen - "Sand In My Boots"
6. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood - "Shallow"
7. Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard - "Undivided"
8. Thomas Rhett - "What's Your Country Song"
9. Gabby Barrett - "The Good Ones"
10. Brett Young - "Lady"
#1 Country Airplay, #28 Hot 100
Eric Church has long cultivated a habit of kicking off an album cycle with one single that challenged country radio with different sounds or topical lyrics, and then ascending to #1 with a more palatable follow-up. In the run up to his 2021 triple album Heart & Soul, though, Church flooded the market with 6 songs, with “Hell Of A View” eventually fittingly becoming the airplay winner of the campaign, featuring one of the finest vocal performances of Church’s career and steady tempo reminiscent of his biggest and best hit, “Springsteen.”
#5 Country Airplay, #59 Hot 100
There’s a lens through which the provocative way Dustin Lynch sings about hometown heartbreak on “Momma’s House” isn’t at all charming, in a time when headlines are often full of straight white guys who become violent in the face of romantic disappointment. But “I’d burn this whole town down if it wasn’t for my momma’s house” is a damn good chorus and the climax of a pretty impressive cinematic little country song.
#10 Country Airplay, #39 Hot 100
I’ve been kind of an agnostic about Chris Stapleton’s rise to become modern country’s reigning The Real Deal, he’s inarguably talented but the songs don’t always resonate with me. “You Should Probably Leave” is one of those songs that really stuck with me, though, and I was happy to see it slowly creep towards the top 10, only his fifth song to do so, over the course of the year. A great evocative lyric and some lovely Hammond B-3 from Tom Petty sideman Benmont Tench.
#1 Country Airplay, #32 Hot 100
The ‘tomato-gate’ reckoning of the bro country 2010s has calcified into a permanent status quo where women are a far smaller presence on country radio than they once were, but there are still encouraging bright spots. And one of the four #1s this year with a female vocalist was from a new artist, Lainey Wilson, who released an excellent Jay Joyce-related debut album in Feburary. Everyone loves Dolly Parton but you don’t necessarily hear her influence in a lot of vocalists, and Lainey Wilson really gets some Dolly phrasing on “Things A Man Oughta Know” and her album track “WWDD” (which, of course, stands for ‘what would Dolly do?’).
#11 Country Airplay, #76 Hot 100
The Grammy for Best New Artist has a history of weird belated nominations, and Jimmy Allen just got a nod 3 years after his first album and first #1 country song. But it’s still pretty welcome recognition for one of the few Black stars in country and the only country star from my old stomping grounds of Sussex County, Delaware. And “Freedom Was A Highway” is probably my favorite song Allen has made to date, just a great anthemic road song with some typically excellent guitar leads from Brad Paisley.
#15 Country Airplay, #86 Hot 100
In the space of a few months, Carly Pearce released her second album, scored a #1 single, announced her divorce from fellow country singer Michael Ray, and released the first single from her third album, the barbed breakup song “Next Girl.” It took that song a year just to get to the upper middle of the country charts, but I’m happy that it did well enough to bring about the release of my favorite country album of the year, 29: Written in Stone.
#40 Country Airplay
This year T.J. Osborne came out and became the first openly gay artist signed to a major country label, and his autobiographical song “Younger Me” was nominated for a Grammy. But even before that, Brothers Osborne’s latest single felt like a fitting ode to individuality and being different, full of nerdy musical references to zydeco and Townes Van Zandt.
#1 Country Airplay, #26 Hot 100
Cole Swindell has been kicking around the country charts for almost a decade, but “Single Saturday Night” is his biggest Hot 100 hit date and very deservingly so, this song is really hooky and has a nicely constructed lyric.
#2 Country Airplay, #24 Hot 100
Coutry singers seems to marry other country singers a lot, from George and Tammy or Tim and Faith on down to younger stars. This year two of Maren Morris's closet contemporaries, Kacey Musgraves and Carly Pearce, both wrote albums about the end of their short-lived marriage to less famous male country singers. But things seem to be going better for Morris and her husband, Ryan Hurd, who got his first top 10 hit with their duet.
#15 Country Airplay, #95 Hot 100
TikTok has powered chart hits in every genre now, even country, the biggest example being Walker Hayes’s cheeseball Applebees jingle “Fancy Like.” But TikTok also helped Priscilla Block crowdfund her beautifully written breakup song “Just About Over You” and helped her get a record deal, so it’s not all bad.
#1 Country Airplay, #2 Hot 100
Luke Combs is still on a historic streak as the first artist to send his first 12 singles to #1 on country radio (the previous record holders only got to 4 consecutive chart-toppers at the beginning of their careers). And 11th single in that streak “Forever After All,” is also notable for debuting at #2 on the Hot 100, the highest chart position for a country song since I guess Taylor Swift was considered country (although “Fancy Like” got to #3).
#53 Country Airplay
Maddie & Tae hit #1 with a great song, “Die From A Broken Heart,” last year, and it’s disappointing that their next single disappeared so quickly. Hopefully they won’t take 5 years between albums again.
#22 Country Airplay
Other than Maddie & Tae, there haven’t been a lot of teen stars on the country scene since Taylor Swift blew up. But it looks like someone is trying to follow the blueprint: Swift’s old label Big Machine released 17-year-old Callista Clark’s debut EP this year, which was produced by Swift’s early collaborator Nathan Chapman. “It’s ‘Cause I Am” wasn’t a big hit, but I hear a lot of potential on the EP, which Clark wrote all the songs for.
#2 Country Airplay, #28 Hot 100
If you told me that the recently disbanded Rascal Flatts simply rebranded as Dan + Shay, I’d believe you. Despite the fact that Shay Mooney was once a protégé of T-Pain, Dan + Shay’s brand is the same kind of pop country balladry that’s sold well for decades. I find a lot of their hits mawkish, but “I Should Probably Go To Bed” makes great use of a slow piano-driven build to a quiet/loud climax.
#41 Country Airplay
Tenille Arts continues to sprint ahead of Tenille Townes in the astronomically unlikely battle of country singers named Tenille born in Canada in 1994.
#1 Country Airplay, #41 Hot 100
Justin Moore’s latest album Straight Outta The Country was a musical and commercial disappointment that barely charted. And that’s weird because he’s on the hottest hitmaking streak of his career, with 5 of his last 6 singles hitting #1, and “We Didn’t Have Much” is a simple folksy tune that makes great use of his Arkansas drawl.
#6 Country Airplay, #41 Hot 100
Miranda Lambert made an excellent back-to-basics album this year, The Marfa Tapes with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, but her 2019 album Wildcard had legs well into 2021.
#1 Country Airplay, #50 Hot 100
Scotty McCreery won "American Idol" in 2011, only the 2nd country singer to win the show after Carrie Underwood, back in the tail end of the days when "Idol" could actually launch a successful recording career (three country singers have won in the last decade, I've never heard of them and neither have you). But McCreery, a boyish 17-year-old when he became a TV star, has slowly and steadily grown up to be a radio star: "You Time" is his 4th country radio #1 in a row,
#13 Country Airplay, #85 Hot 100
Lady Antebellum had an awkward rebranding in 2020, finally dropped the problematic second half of their name but officially adopting the name Lady A, which was already in use by a Black soul/blues singer. Each Lady A has sued the other and the whole thing seems unresolved, but the more famous country trio has plowed ahead, recently releasing their first album under the name. I think they’ve handled this whole thing pretty badly, but they can still write a catchy hook.
#23 Country Airplay, #22 Hot 100
Since officially “going pop” and no longer submitting most of her music to country charts in 2014, Taylor Swift has sporadically promoted some of her more acoustic tracks to country radio with minor success, including “New Year’s Day,” “Betty,” and “No Body, No Crime.” But this re-recorded outtake from 2012’s Red recently became Swift’s biggest country radio hit since Red’s title track (not counting a featured appearance on a Sugarland single). “I Bet You Think About Me” is another petty, humorously self-aware breakup song possibly inspired by Jake Gyllenhaal, but I think it works better than the more famous “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”
1. Brantley Gilbert f/ Toby Keith and HARDY - "The Worst Country Song Of All Time"
2. Walker Hayes - "Fancy Like"
3. Aaron Lewis - "Am I The Only One"
4. Chase Rice f/ Florida Georgia Line - "Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen."
5. Morgan Wallen - "Sand In My Boots"
6. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood - "Shallow"
7. Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard - "Undivided"
8. Thomas Rhett - "What's Your Country Song"
9. Gabby Barrett - "The Good Ones"
10. Brett Young - "Lady"
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