Billboard Hot Country Songs
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Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from
Nielsen BDS Broadcast Data Systems (also known as BDS or Luminate BDS), is a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts published by co-owned ...
along with digital sales and streaming. The current number-one song, as of the chart dated December 24, 2022, is "
You Proof "You Proof" is a song by American country music singer Morgan Wallen. It was released as a promotional single on May 13, 2022, before being released to country radio on July 18, 2022. The song was written by Wallen, along with Ashley Gorley, Erne ...
" by
Morgan Wallen Morgan Cole Wallen (born May 13, 1993) is an American country singer and songwriter. He competed in the sixth season of ''The Voice'', originally as a member of Usher's team, but later as a member of Adam Levine's team. After being eliminated ...
.


History

''Billboard'' began compiling the popularity of country songs with its January 8, 1944, issue. Only the genre's most popular
jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...
selections were tabulated, with the chart titled "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records". For approximately ten years, from 1948 to 1958, ''Billboard'' used three charts to measure the popularity of a given song. In addition to the jukebox chart, these charts included: * The "best sellers" chart – started May 15, 1948, as "Best Selling Retail Folk Records". * An
airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...
chart – started December 10, 1949, as "Country & Western Records Most Played By Folk Disk Jockeys". The juke box chart was discontinued in June 1957. Starting with the October 20, 1958, issue, ''Billboard'' began combining sales and radio airplay in figuring a song's overall popularity, counting them in one single chart called "Hot C&W Sides". The chart was published under the title Hot C&W Sides through the October 27, 1962, issue and "Hot Country Singles" thereafter, a title it would retain until 1990. On January 20, 1990, the Hot Country Singles chart was reduced from 100 to 75 positions and began to be compiled entirely from information provided by
Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems Broadcast Data Systems (also known as BDS or Luminate BDS), is a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts published by co-owned ...
, a system which electronically monitors radio airplay of songs. Four weeks later, on February 17, the chart was retitled "Hot Country Singles & Tracks". Beginning with the January 13, 2001, issue, the chart was reduced from 75 to 60 positions, and all songs on the chart at the time had their tally of weeks spent on the chart adjusted to count only weeks spent at No. 60 or higher. Effective April 30, 2005, the chart was renamed "Hot Country Songs". Starting in 1990, the rankings were determined by
Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...
-tallied listener audience for each spin that a song received. The methodology was changed for the first chart published in 1992 to tally the amount of spins a song received, but in January 2005, the methodology reverted to the audience format. This change was brought on because of " label-sponsored spin programs" that had manipulated the chart several times in 2004. The Hot Country Songs chart methodology was changed starting with the October 20, 2012, issue to match the ''Billboard'' Hot 100: digital downloads and streaming data are combined with airplay from all radio formats to determine position. A new chart, the
Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...
chart, was created using airplay exclusively from country radio stations. Following the change, songs that were receiving airplay on top-40 pop were given a major advantage over songs popular only on country radio, and as an
unintended consequence In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was popularised in the twentieth century by Ameri ...
, such songs began having record-long runs at the top of the chart. The first song to benefit from this change was
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...
's "
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her fourth studio album, '' Red'' (2012). It was released for digital download and to U.S. pop radio as the lead single from ''Red'' on A ...
", which had been declining in popularity but shot up to number one on the chart the first week the change took effect and stayed there until it set an all-time record for the most weeks at No. 1 by a solo female. This was followed almost immediately by
Florida Georgia Line Florida Georgia Line is an American country music duo founded in 2010 by Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley of Florida, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. Their 2012 debut single " Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was ...
's " Cruise", which had the longest stay at number one of any song in the country chart's history (24 weeks), until it was surpassed by
Sam Hunt Sam Lowry Hunt (born December 8, 1984) is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Cedartown, Georgia, Hunt played football in his high school and college years and once attempted to pursue a professional sports career before signing with MCA ...
's "
Body Like a Back Road "Body Like a Back Road" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Sam Hunt. It was released to country radio, by MCA Nashville on February 2, 2017, as the lead single from his second studio album ''Southside''. The song is ...
" in 2017 (34 weeks). The record was subsequently broken by
Bebe Rexha Bleta Rexha (; born August 30, 1989), known professionally as Bebe Rexha ( ), is an American pop singer and songwriter. After signing with Warner Records in 2013, Rexha received songwriting credits on Eminem's single " The Monster" (which later ...
and Florida Georgia Line's " Meant to Be" in 2018 (50 weeks). ''Billboard'' has not explicitly defined how it determines which songs qualify for the country chart and which ones do not, only that "a few factors are determined (...) first and foremost is musical composition" and that a song must "embrace enough elements of today's country music" to qualify. The 1990–2012 chart did not have such ambiguity, being objectively measured by airplay from specifically identified country stations alone. A later statement from ''Billboard'' elaborated on what those "few factors" entailed: "most notably the song's musical composition, but also how the song is marketed and promoted, the musical history of the artist, airplay the song receives and how the song is platformed on streaming services". The 2019
country rap Country rap (or country hip hop and sometimes hick hop) is a fusion genre of popular music, blending country music with hip hop–style singing or rapping. History Prototypes Early influences on the emergence of country rap as a distinct genre ...
record "
Old Town Road "Old Town Road" is the debut single of American rapper Lil Nas X, first released independently in December 2018. After gaining popularity, the single was re-released by Columbia Records in March 2019. Lil Nas X also recorded a remix with America ...
" by
Lil Nas X Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his country rap single " Old Town Road", which first achieved viral popula ...
was a subject of controversy over this ambiguous standard after it initially appeared on the country chart, where it debuted and peaked at number 19, before ''Billboard'' took the song off subsequent charts, claiming it had made a mistake in including it. The song gained popularity through viral memes rather than radio, as only one country station, Radio Disney Country, had played it at the time of the charting.


Hot Country Songs chart achievements


Songs with most weeks at number one

These are the songs with 15 or more weeks at number one. Sixteen songs accomplished this feat between 1944 and 1964, but none did so again until after the 2012 reformulation; between " Almost Persuaded's" nine-week run in 1966 and the chart's reformulation in 2012, no song spent more than eight weeks atop the chart. Prolonged runs became commonplace again in 2012. , eight songs from this period have topped the chart for at least 16 weeks, and the top five longest chart runs have all been since 2012. Note: Songs marked achieved the listed run on the Most Played in Juke Boxes chart (published 1944-58). Songs marked achieved the listed run on the Best Sellers on Stores chart (published 1948-58). Songs marked § achieved the listed run on the Most Played by Jockeys chart (published 1949-58). All these songs also had shorter runs at number one on the other charts not indicated. In 1958 the three charts were merged to create Hot C&W Sides (now Hot Country Songs).


Artists with most cumulative weeks at number one

With at least 50+ weeks at # 1. ''As of the issue of Billboard dated December 25, 2019''


Artists with the most number one hits

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for ...
has the most number one hits, at 44.
Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...
has the most number ones of any female artist, with 25.


See also

*
List of number-one country hits (United States) ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine has published Billboard charts, charts ranking the top-performing country music songs in the United States since 1944. The first country chart was published under the title Most Played Juke Box Folk ...
*
American Country Countdown ''American Country Countdown'', also known as ''ACC'', is a weekly internationally syndicated radio program which counts down the top 40 country songs of the previous week, from No. 40 to No. 1, according to the ''Billboard'' Country Airplay cha ...
*
List of years in country music This page indexes the individual year in country music pages. Each year is annotated with a significant event as a reference point. __NOTOC__ Pre-1920s - 1920s - 1930s - 1940s - 1950s - 1960s - 1970s - 1980s - 1990s - 2000s - 2010s ...
*
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Hot country chart This is a list of recording artists who have reached number one on the weekly country music singles chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine. From January 8, 1944 to May 15, 1948, the only country music chart was the Juke Box chart. A Best Sell ...
*
Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...


References


Further reading

* Whitburn, Joel. ''Top Country Songs 1944-2005 - 6th Edition''. 2006.


External links


Billboard Hot Country Songs chart
– online version. {{Billboard American country music Billboard charts