American Country Countdown

In January, country music trio Rascal Flatts—comprised of Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney—revealed they will disband at the end of the year to tackle individual projects. While the COVID-19 pandemic put a kibosh on their Farewell Tour, the trio continued to entertain their fans by releasing a seven-song EP, How They Remember You, […]

Led by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, the Outlaw Movement of the 1970s was a musical revolt against the so-called Nashville Sound, the polished country/pop fusion created to lure listeners back to country music in the late ’50s when rock came rolling along. Artists like Kris Kristofferson, Jessi Colter, Jerry Jeff Walker, David Allan Coe, […]

Lee Brice’s “One of Them Girls” is No. 2 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart for the second straight week as Luke Combs’ “Lovin’ On You” continues its four-week reign atop the chart. The tune follows Lee’s No. 1 single, “Rumors,” which topped the charts in July 2019, and his collaboration with Carly Pearce, “I […]

Keith Urban released his new studio album, The Speed of Now: Part 1, on Sept. 18. While the idea for the album’s title came to Keith in October 2019, many of the tunes on the 16-song project were created in 2020 when Keith immersed himself in music during his self-quarantine. Keith’s time at home—where he […]

Lindsay Ell released her new concept album, heart theory, on Aug. 14. Produced by Dann Huff, heart theory is comprised of 12 tracks that journey through each stage of grief: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing and acceptance. Lindsay co-penned 11 tracks on the new project with a host of top songwriters, including Brandy Clark, […]

Lauren Akins released her new memoir, Live in Love: Growing Together Through Life’s Changes, on Aug. 18. The new book chronicles Lauren’s childhood friendship with husband-to-be Thomas Rhett, explaining how they reconnected as young adults, got married and are now raising three girls. The book also delves into many of the “challenges they faced as […]

Luke Bryan may be busy hitting the talk-show circuit this week to promote his brand-new album, Born Here, Live Here, Die Here, but one month ago he was using his free time to check an item off of his bucket list. In July, Luke loaded up all of his boys—Til, 18, Bo, 12, and Tate, […]

Lee Brice is trying to score his eighth No. 1 single with the release of “One of Them Girls.” Penned by Lee, Ashley Gorley, Dallas Davidson and Ben Johnson, “One of Them Girls” is currently No. 18 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart after 16 weeks. The new tune follows Lee’s previous No. 1 singles, “Rumors,” […]

Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s 2017 collaboration, “Meant to Be,” spent a record-smashing 50 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2017/2018. The tune’s closest competitor on the all-time list is Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road,” which spent 34 weeks at No. 1 in 2017. Co-penned by […]

By sampling Webb Pierce’s 1953 No. 1 hit, “There Stands the Glass,” in his current single, “Hard to Forget,” Sam Hunt has introduced Webb’s iconic song to a new generation of country music fans. While hardcore, old-school country fans may liken Sam’s sampling to blasphemy, the closer truth is that Sam has opened up the […]