If you have listened to the radio recently or shuffled any “Top Hits” playlists, it is hard not to notice the huge presence of country music. Names like Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan, and Luke Combs are currently dominating the industry, inspiring artists outside the country genre to follow suit. Right now is the most attention country music has gotten in a long time, why?
Arguably, the artist who deserves the most thanks for this is Morgan Wallen. Despite competing on the singing show The Voice in 2014, Morgan Wallen only really became a superstar fairly recently. Wallen has taken over the music industry, with over 25 million monthly listeners on Spotify and over 963 million streams on his latest album, “One Thing at a Time,” which will be released in 2023. His 2023 tour alone amassed 284 million dollars for 44 shows, making his Dangerous Tour the sixth most profitable tour of 2023 globally. With such impressive numbers, it only makes sense that he is dominating not only the country charts but also global music as a whole. All these impressive accomplishments considered, the question of how he and other popular country artists gained so much fame only recently still remains.
Country music has always been decently popular, but as stated, only recently has it become extremely mainstream and hard to avoid. In the case of Morgan Wallen, being the face of country music alone is impressive, but now, his and many other country artists’ music is heard globally across all stations and playlists, which was uncommon only a few years ago. As most current trends are, TikTok is arguably the biggest factor in shooting these singers up to new levels of fame. Luke Combs’ hit “Fast Car,” Zach Bryan’s ‘Something in the Orange,” and “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen are two of the most viral TikTok songs of this last year, which boosted each artist’s streams.
It did not take long for artists of other genres to notice the success of these artists and want to take part as well.
Long-time chart-topping rapper Drake posted the music video for his hit song, “You Broke My Heart,” with none other than Morgan Wallen making a cameo at the beginning of the video. Although he does not do anything musically in the video, his presence alone was enough to have people all over the internet talking about the video.
That is only one minor example of how country music has crossed genre bounds. Lana Del Rey, an alternative artist, has recently announced at an event that her next album, “Lasso,” will be country. At one point, she even stated, “If you can’t already tell by our award winners and our performers, the music business is going country,” honoring the big success the country genre has had as of late.
Similarly, after her Super Bowl LVIII commercial, the queen bee herself, Beyonce, announced that she was releasing two surprise songs, but the contents of these songs shocked her devout fanbase and the industry as a whole. “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” are Beyonce’s new country songs that have been topping the charts since their release. With the songs came two album covers featuring Beyonce wearing traditional cowboy accessories glamorized in a classic Beyonce fashion. Although many were surprised by these songs, her most recent album, “Renaissance,” has an album cover that features her riding a horse and alternative versions of her pictured in a cowboy hat. So it is possible the queen bee had this planned all along.
With all of these examples, it is evident that country music will only be on the rise from here, and it is important to prepare appropriately. Get yourself some cowboy boots and a hat and jam out to some of the trending country songs to make sure you are well-equipped for the country takeover.