Country music fans know that the 2010s wasn’t exactly the brightest era for the genre, but there was still some good music that came out of the decade that wrapped up almost seven years ago.
Isn’t that crazy? The calendar is getting close to flipping to 2027, all while I still feel like 2020 was “a couple of years ago.” Fortunately, country music has swung away from what it was doing in the 2010s. But you can’t blame artists like Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan for figuring out the “Bro Country” formula was working, and leaning into it.
As you scroll through this list, each year’s top song (the one that spent the most time at No. 1 on the charts) is listed, along with some other massive hits from artists you’ll definitely recognize. Go ahead and dive in, and feel free to let us know if there’s any songs that you feel like we left out in the “honorable mention” sections for each year.
And yes… “Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line does top one of lists. There’s also a Taylor Swift that earns the “Top Song” spot, even though it’s hardly a country song. Oh, and fair warning, towards the end of the list, things get very, very pop/bro country… that is until Luke Combs set things back on track heading into the 2020s:
2010
“The House That Built Me” by Miranda Lambert
Honorable Mentions: “Consider Me Gone” by Reba McEntire, “Why Don’t We Just Dance” by Josh Turner, and “All About Tonight” by Blake Shelton
2011
“Honey Bee” by Blake Shelton
Honorable Mentions: “Felt Good on My Lips” by Tim McGraw, “Somewhere With You” by Kenny Chesney, and Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson’s duet “Don’t You Wanna Stay.”
2012
“We Are Never Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift
Honorable Mentions: “Drunk on You” by Luke Bryan, “Springsteen” by Eric Church, “Alone With You” by Jake Owen, and “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck” by Kip Moore.
2013
“Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line
Honorable Mentions: “Sure Be Cool If You Did” by Blake Shelton, “That’s My Kind of Night” by Luke Bryan, and a duet from Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert titled “We Were Us.”
2014
“Burnin’ It Down” by Jason Aldean
Honorable Mentions: “Drink a Beer” by Luke Bryan, “Something in the Water” by Carrie Underwood, and the FGL/Luke Bryan collab “This Is How We Roll.”
2015
“Girl Crush” by Little Big Town
Honorable Mentions: “Take Your Time” by Sam Hunt, “Strip It Down” by Luke Bryan, and another song from Sam Hunt: “House Party.”
2016
“H.O.L.Y.” by Florida Georgia Line
Honorable Mentions: “Die A Happy Man” by Thomas Rhett, “Somewhere on a Beach” by Dierk Bentley, and “Blue Ain’t Your Color” by Keith Urban.
2017
“Body Like A Back Road” by Sam Hunt
Honorable Mentions: “What Ifs” by Kane Brown & Lauren Alaina, “Better Man” by Little Big Town, and “When It Rains It Pours” by Luke Combs.
2018
“Meant To Be” by Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line
Honorable Mentions: “Lose It” by Kane Brown and “Speechless” by Dan + Shay are the only other two songs that charted during 2018.
2019
“Beautiful Crazy” by Luke Combs
Honorable Mentions: “The Git Up” by Blanco Brown, “10,000 Hours” by Dan + Shay/Justin Bieber, and “God’s Country” by Blake Shelton.
