2023 was a year popularly known for girlhood as Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” and Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” broke records left and right. Despite these figures’ monumental influence on pop culture, last year’s best-selling US album was not Midnights or SOS, nor the Barbie soundtrack. Rather, One Thing At A Time by Morgan Wallen, a rising country star, debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and collected 6.657 billion on-demand streams in the U.S.
However, this was not Wallen’s first time around. In 2021, the Tennessee singer’s, Dangerous, had similar success, and was named Luminate’s year-end No. 1 album. His songs – which loosely revolve around women, faith, and whiskey – have become mainstream anthems, appearing in TikTok audios, backyard barbeques, and even in local nail salons’s speakers.
Wallen, surprisingly, is not a lone wolf when it comes to mainstream country success. Popular names such as Luke Combs, Zach Bryan, and Lainey Wilson have recently been tossed around quite a bit. With record breaking streams and financial success unheard of in this genre, singers like Morgan Wallen have skyrocketed country music’s fanbase. It seems that somewhere in the rising climate of liberals and “wokeness”, people decided to take a break, put on a cowboy hat, throw on some boots, and listen to some good ‘ol country music.
Major pop stars, however, skipped the break, and bought cowboy boots right away. Earlier this year, Beyoncé released Cowboy Carter, a unique take on classic country sounds. Later, Post Malone delivered with F-1 Trillion which included features with household country names such as Dolly Parton, Blake Shelton, Morgan Wallen, and Tim Mcgraw. Swifties also await an exciting announcement from Taylor Swift on re-recording her debut country album to make it Taylor’s Version. In a recent interview, Lana Del Rey stated “ the music business is going country” and so is she, as she plans the release of her next album Lasso.
Country music is having its moment, but why now? Some say it’s politics, some say it’s shifting to pop sounds. However, a more supported belief is streaming services. Companies like Spotify and Apple Music have boosted the genre’s listeners to numbers never seen before, due to widespread access as opposed to radio and album sales. Country music’s rise and Morgan Wallen’s success follows similar trends from the 2010’s and rap music, specifically Drake. If this comparison is at all credible, then it seems country music might be sticking around for a while, so grab some cowboy boots, a fake accent, do some line dancing, and enjoy some hillbilly music.
