Country music is having a watershed moment. As Billboard reported earlier this week, for the first time since the Billboard Hot 100 launched in 1958, the top five is composed of all country songs.
For the chart dated Aug. 8, remaining at No. 1 for a record-breaking 16th week is Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” while Morgan Wallen enters the chart at No. 2 with “Been by Now.” Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” is No. 3, Langley and Wallen return at No. 4 with their duet, “I Can’t Love You Anymore” and newcomer Stella Lefty rounds out the top 5 with “Boston.”
While this is the first time country music has achieved such a feat — reflective of how strong the genre has been for the last few years — it’s been tantalizingly close before: For the chart dated Sept. 9, 2023, country occupied the top four spots, with “I Remember Everything” from Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves at No. 1, “Fast Car” by Luke Combs at No. 2, Wallen’s “Last Night” at No. 3 and “Rich Men North of Richmond” by Oliver Anthony Music at No. 4.
(The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming — official audio and official video — radio airplay and sales data reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers.)
This week’s milestone reflects a confluence of events that have been building for the last several years leading to country music’s most popular period since the early 1990s, when acts like Garth Brooks, Clint Black and Alan Jackson ruled the Billboard 200 and country charts. Back then, of course, streaming didn’t yet exist and those artists didn’t receive pop airplay and largely bypassed releasing commercially available physical singles (a then-requirement to chart on the Hot 100). Additionally, all five entries, like so many country songs these days, easily bridge both pop and country, broadening their appeal beyond any one genre.
Below, we look at five reasons why country music dominates the Billboard Hot 100 top 5 this week and how country music has been leading to this moment.