Getting more out of touch by the day.
Despite country radio clearly losing the decades-long stranglehold it has had on consumers for the better part of the past five or so years, there’s no denying that it’s still a major player in terms of introducing casual listeners to music as it has throughout history. As pretty much everyone knows by now, however, country radio has taken what can only be described as a nose-dive in quality over the years.
Gone are the days when you can fire up your local station and hear some stone-cold country songs, complete with some fiddle and steel, or even some hidden gems that a local DJ caught wind of early. Of course, that ended when major corporations such as iHeartRadio bought out the majority of radio stations around the country. Nowadays, you admittedly have to actively seek out the best country music has to offer, whether it’s here at Whiskey Riff, on streaming services or online on various different social media platforms.
Following the decline of the Bro-Country era, many would argue that mainstream country music has been WAY better in the past 5 years or so, and in many ways, it truly has. But you still always hear about how bad country radio is… so the question that remains is just how bad is it?
Let’s just say it’s quite horrific.
During a time in the genre where you have roots-based, authentic storytellers populating different subgenres, such as Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Turnpike Troubadours, Whiskey Myers, Flatland Cavalry, and many more simply dominating the alternative scene, you won’t find them sniffing a single spot on the Top 40.
Even if you ignore what’s going on in the alternative scene… let’s face it, we know that programmers are hesitant to play a lot of the popular tracks from the aforementioned artists… we still have some key artists who have taken the genre by storm in the mainstream while still producing quality music. Of course, this is highlighted by Ella Langley’s rise to all-genre superstardom, Zach Top leading the renaissance of traditional country music, Luke Combs remaining one of the most consistent artists from both a commercial and artistic standpoint and Cody Johnson taking his modernized Texas sound to Nashville. However, you won’t even see them appear much here.
I’ve said on multiple occasions that country music, at large, is at one of its healthiest and most exciting periods we’ve ever seen. Taking a look at Mediabase (a service that tracks and monitors radio station airplay across the U.S. and Canada) and their rolling chart, however, it looks bleak to put it lightly.
As it stands today, September 1st, the Top 10 consists of the likes of Taylor Swift, Stella Lefkofsky (aka Stella Lefty), Luke Combs, Kenny Chesney, Kane Brown, John Morgan, Morgan Wallen, Bailey Zimmerman, Luke Bryan and finally the biggest artist in the country right now, Ella Langley.
- “I Knew It, I Knew You” – Taylor Swift
- “Boston” – Stella Lefty
- “Be By You” – Luke Combs
- “Woman” – Kane Brown
- “Carry On” – Kenny Chesney
- “Kid Myself” – John Morgan
- “By Now” – Morgan Wallen
- “Chevy Silverado” – Bailey Zimmerman
- “Country And She Knows It” – Luke Bryan
- “I Can’t Love You Anymore” – Ella Langley & Morgan Wallen
If you thought the Top 20 would be any better, you’d be mistaken. Though you have some great tracks like Langley’s “Lovin’ Life Again” and Top’s “South of Sanity,” as well as HARDY’s mega-collab with Wallen, Eric Church and Tim McGraw on “McArthur,” you still see the likes of Dan + Shay, Jelly Roll and Luke Bryan appearing once again, who has been getting absolutely annihilated online thanks to some downright awful lyrics as of late.
Taking a deeper dive into the current Top 50, there are some true head-scratchers present here. These are highlighted by the fact that some of the poster boys for the worst that country music has to offer, such as Chase Matthew, Russell Dickerson, Dustin Lynch, Tyler Hubbard (of Florida Georgia Line), and the aforementioned Kane Brown, are all present within the chart.
As for some actual highlights, outside of the aforementioned Langley, Top and Combs, Koe Wetzel’s collab with Langley, “Jaded,” is rising quickly to #28, Johnson’s “Horseback” can be found all the way down at #31 and Parker McCollum slots in right behind him with “Killin’ Me” at #32. Additionally, you can find the likes of Flatland Cavalry with “Never Comin’ Back,” (#37) Kacey Musgraves with “Dry Spell” (#38) and Charles Wesley Godwin with “Better That Way” (#50) way down on the list. Looking at the latter three songs, their numbers are simply non-existent on the radio in the grand scheme of things, failing to crack 450 plays this week nationwide (compared to Swift’s 2,646).
And of course, female artists are still few and far between on country radio…
Keep in mind, this comes at a time when a track like Whiskey Myers’ “Broken Window Serenade” is becoming a staple in the genre and is currently sitting in the Top 15 on both Apple Music and Spotify’s all-genre songs charts. While yes, the song was released in 2011 and is not currently being issued to radio, it doesn’t change the fact that programmers around the country are outright ignoring trending songs that country fans actually want to hear.
Expanding on this concept even further, let’s use John Morgan’s “Kid Myself” as an example.
The song, which was released nearly a year and a half ago on April 25, 2025, is currently sitting at #6 at country radio. Despite this, it only has a meager 9.9 million streams on Spotify. Zach Bryan, on the other hand, has scored a staggering 115 million streams on his biggest hit of 2026, “Plastic Cigarette,” which was released on January 9th. From a pure numbers perspective, would the average person want to listen to “Kid Myself” or “Plastic Cigarette?” I think you can answer that question for yourself.
Of course, the Bryan vs. Morgan exercise above purposefully ignores the fact that Morgan and his label aggressively pushed the song to radio while Bryan has always ignored the format. However, that’s exactly what the issue is with country radio at this stage in its life. It’s not a true reflection of what country music fans want to hear… or even what they’re actively listening to. Country music feels so much better than it was 10 years ago, and yet, some of the buzziest artists in the format, are still nowhere to be found on country radio.
It’s simply a vehicle for labels to score #1s and arguably meaningless accolades while the general public fails to build a meaningful connection with their respective artists, something the likes of Eric Church have touched on before.
Before you go, fire up one of the only standouts inside the Top 20 right now, Zach Top’s “South of Sanity.”
