The 50 Most Popular Country Music Stars

Arizona native Marty Robbins learned to play guitar while serving in the Navy during World War II. From 1959 to 1976, Robbins piled up 11 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country song chart. His first hit, “El Paso,” was a crossover success, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning him the first of his two Grammy Awards.

This Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter, once a member of the group Pure Prairie League, is the only performer to have won five consecutive Country Music Association awards for Best Male Vocalist (he has also tied with George Strait for the most overall victories in that category). Vince Gill has also collected some 21 Grammy Awards, more than any other male country singer.

After getting her start opening for Garth Brooks on tour, Martina McBride released her first album in 1992, followed by her second a year later, which marked her first commercial success. A 14-time Grammy nominee, McBride has been called “the Celine Dion of country music” for her vocal range.

The one-time leader of the contemporary bluegrass band The SteelDrivers and a songwriter whose work was recorded by George Strait, Brad Paisley, and many more (even pop singer Adele), Chris Stapleton emerged as a star in his own right in 2015 with his debut album, “Traveller,” one of three albums to top the Billboard country album chart. This won him Country Music Association awards for Album of the Year, New Artist of the Year, and Best Male Vocalist, as well as Grammys for Best Country Album and Best Country Solo Performance — and many more honors have followed.

Linda Ronstadt first rose to fame as the lead singer of folk rock trio Stone Poneys, whose hit “Different Drum” peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968. Ronstadt soon embarked on a solo career that emphasized her country roots, and has since garnered nearly every possible accolade in the genre. To date, Ronstadt has clocked four No. 1 country albums, 10 Grammy Awards, a Country Music Award, and in 2019 received a Kennedy Center Honor for her contribution to American culture.

Ronnie Milsap, a singer and piano player who has been blind since birth, has had an astounding country music career. Born in a poor rural area in North Carolina, the six-time Grammy Award winner has amassed 35 No. 1 singles from 1974 to 1989. Two of his four No. 1 albums on the Top Country Albums list are greatest hits collections.

Until recently, Billy Ray Cyrus was mostly known as the father of combustible pop star Miley Cyrus and as the singer of the hit “Achy Breaky Heart” from 1992. Then in 2019 he collaborated with rapper Lil Nas X, creating an unlikely pairing that produced “Old Town Road,” which made history by staying atop Billboard’s Hot 100 for 19 weeks, the longest stretch in the chart’s 60-year history.

The richly baritoned two-time Grammy winner changed the cadence in country music in the 1950s. The Texan experimented with a more relentlessly rhythmic sound that is still called the “Ray Price beat” in country circles. Price scored six No. 1 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart, including “The Same Old Me” in 1959 and “City Lights” in 1958. He also enjoyed crossover triumphs with “For The Good Times” in 1971.

Tanya Tucker first made her mark in country music at 13 years old in 1972 with the single “Delta Dawn,” which reached No. 6 on the Hot Country Songs chart. Even greater success would follow for the Texas native. The next year, she had the first two of her 10 No. 1 hits on the Hot Country Songs list — “What’s Your Mama’s Name” and “Blood Red and Goin’ Down.” Tucker has had 40 Top 10 country hits over her nearly 50-year career.

Miranda Lambert, the singer-songwriter who’s won two Grammys, has scored five No. 1 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart, including “Somethin’ Bad,” “Heart Like Mine,” and “Over You.” The Texas native, whose father played guitar and wrote songs, has enjoyed even more success with her albums, notching seven No. 1 country LPs, including “Kerosene” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”

Honey-voiced country-pop balladeer Jim Reeves is famous for such hits as “He’ll Have to Go.” Reeves was one of the biggest country stars of the 1950s and ’60s. His songs continued to chart even after his untimely death in a plane crash, at the age of 40, in 1964.

One of the cowboy-hat-sporting “hat acts” that emerged on the Nashville commercial country scene in the early 1990s, Clint Black became the first male country singer to make it to No. 1 on the country charts with his debut single, “Better Man.” He’s had 13 songs top the Hot Country Songs chart, including “Nothin’ But The Taillights” and “When I Said So.” Married to actress Lisa Hartman (“Knots Landing”), he released his most recent album in 2015.

Singer-songwriters Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn both had solo careers before linking up as a duo in 1990. Their 1992 single “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” is credited with helping to launch the line dancing craze, and their 2001 song “Only in America” was featured in the presidential campaigns of both Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Twenty of their singles in all have reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard country chart.

Like music wunderkinds Tanya Tucker (see No. 42) and Brenda Lee, LeAnn Rimes broke into the music industry in a big way as a young girl. When she was 11, the Oklahoma native released her first album on an independent label called Nor Va Jak. Two years later, her debut single “Blue” got the industry’s attention, and her powerful voice drew comparisons to Patsy Cline. Rimes has had more success with her albums, scoring five No. 1 hits on the Top Country Albums chart. Her album “Blue” spent 28 weeks atop the chart.

Hank Williams Jr. is the son of the original Hank Williams, the most influential and revered figure in country music — even if not among the 100 most popular according to sales and page-view metrics. Williams Jr. has carved out his own niche in a rollicking country-rock vein with a string of hits, including “All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down),” “Honky Tonkin’,” and “Born to Boogie.” Known for his right-wing political views, he wrote a song called “McCain-Palin Tradition” for the 2008 presidential election and considered running for the Senate in 2012.

Brad Paisley scored his first No. 1 country hit in 1999 with “He Didn’t Have to Be.” He became the youngest musician ever inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2001, at the age of 28. His 2003 album “Mud on the Tires” yielded four Top-10 singles (one of them reaching No. 1). Paisley has had numerous hits and won a number of awards since then, among them three Grammys.

Born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, Conway Twitty was a rock and rockabilly star in the 1950s, transitioning to the country realm in the mid-1960s. He charted dozens of hits of his own and a total of 14 Top Ten country hits in duet with Loretta Lynn (see No. 30). He later had success with country versions of such pop songs as the Eagles’ “Heartache Tonight” and the Pointer Sisters’ “Slow Hand,” before dying suddenly of an aneurysm in 1993.

Consisting of Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, and Dave Haywood, this contemporary-country trio, formed in 2006, hit it big three years later when the single “Need to Know” (from the album of the same name) climbed to No. 1 on the country charts and peaked at No. 2 in the Billboard Hot 100 in 2010. The group took a break in 2016 but returned to recording the following year, producing the Grammy-nominated album “Heart Break.” They’ve won five Grammy Awards.

The group changed its name to “Lady A” in June 2020 to diminish the name’s connection with slavery and the pre-Civil War South in the wake of the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. The name change led to a dispute with gospel singer Anita White, who had already been using that same name.

Music was in Eddy Arnold’s genes. Arnold’s father, a Tennessee sharecropper, played the fiddle, and his mother played the guitar. He climbed to the top of the country music industry and scored seven No. 1 hits on the Billboard country charts, all in the 1960s. One of those hits, “Make The World Go Away,” crossed over to reach No. 6 on the Hot 100 in 1965.

The Georgia native struck gold with his third album, “Wide Open,” in 2009, which made him a star. It produced three No. 1 songs on the Billboard country chart: “She’s Country,” “The Truth,” and “Big Green Tractor.” The next album, “My Kinda Party,” was an even bigger hit with top-selling singles “Don’t You Wanna Stay,” “Dirt Road Anthem,” and “Fly Over States.”

Few country singers, male or female, have had as storied a career as Loretta Lynn, whose songs brim authenticity. The motion picture “‘Coal Miner’s Daughter,” with Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones, is about her life. The three-time Grammy Award winner from Kentucky, Lynn is most famous for the songs “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Woman of the World,” “Love Is the Foundation,” and “Don’t Come Home A ‘Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind).” Lynn has notched 51 Top 10 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart, including 16 No. 1 songs. Ten of her albums reached the zenith of the Top Country Album chart.

Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox, and Joe Don Rooney got together to form Rascal Flatts in 1999, releasing their self-titled debut album — which yielded four hit singles — the following year. In 2006, their fourth studio LP, “Me and My Gang,” had the largest first-week sales of any album in any category, and they were the top-selling group in any musical genre for the entire year.

Glen Campbell had a slew of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, including the often-covered “Rhinestone Cowboy,” one of his five No. 1 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart. The Arkansas native won six Grammy Awards. The beloved singer-songwriter fought a public battle with Alzheimer’s disease before succumbing to the affliction at age 81 in 2017.

Formed as a bluegrass-oriented band in 1989 by sisters Martie and Emily Erwin and Natalie Maines (daughter of revered pedal steel player and record producer Lloyd Maines), the Chicks — who changed their name from the Dixie Chicks in 2020 — pivoted to more commercial country music in 1998 with their first hits, “There’s Your Trouble” and “Wide Open Spaces.” Their career nearly tanked after in a London concert in 2003 Maines spoke out on stage against the Iraq war and President George W. Bush, sparking a widespread country-music-industry boycott. But their 2006 comeback album, “Taking the Long Way,” and its lead single “Not Ready to Make Nice,” won a total of four Grammys, and the criticism died down. Earlier this year, the group

Georgia native Luke Bryan is a certified hitmaker, posting 11 No.1 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart. One single, “That’s My Kind Of Night,” spent 12 weeks on top of the Hot Country Songs chart. The “American Idol” judge has also recorded eight No. 1 albums on the Top Country Albums.

Texas-born George Jones has put more songs on the Billboard country singles chart than any other artist, placing 143 in the top 40, with 13 going to No. 1. Many of his songs are about heartbreak, and Jones had a lot of that in his life, with multiple divorces and a drinking problem. His best-known song is “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” Jones’s first No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs list was “White Lightning” in 1959, penned by J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.

Carrie Underwood used her exposure on “American Idol” to launch her singing career, and it took off. The Oklahoma native’s debut album, “Some Hearts,” soared to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in 2005, and Underwood has had four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200. Underwood has gone on to win seven Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Best Female Vocal Country Performance for “Jesus Take The Wheel” in 2006.

From New Zealand comes Keith Urban, who acquired his love for American country music from his parents. After proving himself in Australia in the late 1980s, he came to Nashville seeking stardom. But success wasn’t immediate and he succumbed to substance abuse, a demon he continues to fight. He persevered and has had 16 No. 1 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart. One of them, “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” held the lead spot for 12 weeks.

Named Best New Artist last year by the Country Music Association, Luke Combs is known for his R&B-tinged modern country sound. His first full-length album, “This One’s for You,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard country chart, and his hit 2018 ballad “Beautiful Crazy” won him a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist the following year.

Toby Keith was a semi-pro football player before turning to music, releasing his self-titled debut album in 1993, featuring “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” which hit the top spot on the country charts. A series of honky-tonk-flavored albums and singles followed (including duets with Willie Nelson and Sting), but what made the singer a household name was his controversial 2002 recording “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American”), which garnered an avalanche of publicity when ABC-TV wouldn’t let him perform it on a Fourth of July special.

Buck Owens popularized the twangy, electrified Bakersfield sound in the 1960s, when he recorded almost all of his 21 No. 1 Top Country Songs chart. Owens boosted his profile, and that of country music, as co-host of the country-themed primetime variety television show “Hee Haw.” The Texas-born singer influenced generations of country music.

Most people know Blake Shelton as one of the coaches on the television show “The Voice.” But the Oklahoma native has carved out a remarkable career in his own right. Shelton has achieved 14 No. 1 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart, including “God’s Country,” which held the top spot for seven weeks. Thirty-one of his songs reached the Top 10. Six of his albums reached the pinnacle of the Top Country Albums list.

Randy Travis brought country music back to its roots in the 1980s. He has also sung extensively about his Christian faith. The seven-time Grammy winner has recorded 16 No. 1 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart, with songs like “On the Other Hand” and “Three Wooden Crosses.” Travis has won seven Grammy Awards.

Waylon Jennings personified the outlaw country era, a swaggering, guitar-wielding figure in the 1970s. The Grammy-winning singer from Texas began playing in a band by age 12. By the time he died in 2002, Jennings had recorded 15 chart-toppers on the Hot Country Songs chart, including the “Theme From the Dukes of Hazzard (Good Ol’ Boys)” and two duets with Willie Nelson (see No. 9).

Merle Haggard emerged from a hardscrabble existence in Depression-era California, where he served time in San Quentin prison, to become a country music legend. Haggard amassed 38 No. 1 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart. His first authored No.1 song was “Branded Man” in 1967, and he churned out hits through the late 1980s. Haggard won two Grammy Awards and was nominated 13 times.

Between 1966 and 1984, Charley Pride — an erstwhile Negro American League baseball player who became the first major African American country star — released 52 singles that became country Top-10 hits. He continued to have success through the latter ’80s and ’90s and released his most recent album, “Music in My Heart,” in 2017 at the age of 83.

One of the biggest country stars of the 1990s, Alan Jackson released his first album at the beginning of the decade, scoring four top-five country hits — one of which, “I’d Love You All Over Again,” made it to No. 1. Many other top-ranked hits ensued, including the Nashville-music-industry satire “Gone Country,” a cover of “It Must Be Love” by Don Williams (see No. 57), and the crossover duet with Jimmy Buffett, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.” Jackson has had 26 country No. 1 hits.

Reba McEntire is considered to have been country music’s biggest star in the 1980s, with hits like “One Promise Too Late” and “Love Will Find Its Way to You,” but she went on to enjoy crossover success in the pop field as well. In the 2000s, McEntire turned to acting, appearing on Broadway, in films, and on TV (she had her own sitcom, “Reba,” for six seasons), but never gave up country music. In 2019, she released “Stronger Than the Truth,” an album hailed as a return to her roots.

Kenny Chesney is not cut from the old school country mode — he studied marketing at East Tennessee State University and didn’t get into music until he was in college. Once he did, Chesney forged an image as an emotionally frank heartthrob. And he parlayed that into a string of 23 No. 1 hits on Billboard’s country charts. Chesney’s single “How Forever Feels” occupied the top spot for six weeks.

Canadian-born Shania Twain ruled the country airwaves in the 1990s with her slick country pop. Her first album came out in 1993, but it was her second, 1995’s “The Woman in Me” that launched her to stardom, with its No. 1 single “Any Man of Mine.” After a lull between 2008 and 2011, Twain returned to touring and recording, and her 2017 album “Now” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard country and Top 200 charts.

One of the most iconic cultural figures of the 20th century, Elvis popularized rock and roll around the world and cultivated a celebrity that still sells albums today. His influence and output spanned multiple genres, including country, blues, pop, and gospel.

While Elvis’ cultural dominance is better demonstrated through his performance on the pop charts, his country credentials are impressive. The boy from Tupelo has seven No. 1 albums on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, and 12 Top-10 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart. To date, Elvis has sold over 146 million albums in the United States alone, making him the third best-selling recording artist of all time.

The rough-hewn Texas troubador has posted 20 chart-topping singles on Billboard’s country charts, beginning with “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” in 1975 and extending to “Beer for My Horses” in 2003. In between, the pony-tailed Nelson recorded some of the most recognizable country hits, like “Always On My Mind” in 1982, “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” in 1984, and “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys,” his 1978 duet with Waylon Jennings (see No. 17). A passionate populist, the 10-time Grammy winner was one of the organizers of Farm Aid in 1985 that aimed to provide relief for family farms.

Tim McGraw has piled up the accolades in his almost-30-year career: four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, 26 No. 1 country singles, three Grammys, 11 Country Music Association honors, and overall sales of more than 80 million records worldwide. Son of Mets and Phillies pitcher Tug McGraw and husband of country star Faith Hill (see No. 53), he has also had an acting career, with feature roles in a number of TV shows and movies such as “The Blind Side.”

A country mega-star whose international fame crosses categories, Dolly Parton first recorded at the age of 13. At age 24, she had her first No. 1 country hit, “Joshua” — the first of many efforts to lead the country and pop charts. Collaborations with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris (see No. 72), Ricky Van Shelton (see No. 81), and many others followed, as did starring roles in such popular films as “9 to 5” (whose title song became Parton’s first No. 1 pop single) and “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” Parton even co-owns her own theme park, Dollywood, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Johnny Cash’s decades-long career began with his first recordings at the fabled Sun Records in Memphis in the mid-1950s. This legendary country icon — known as “the Man in Black” — continued recording through the early 2000s (he died in 2003), culminating with his late-career American Recordings LPs. The latter albums featured songs by Tom Waits, Nick Lowe, and Beck, among others, and guest appearances by such musicians as Tom Petty, Mick Fleetwood, and Flea. Among his indelible hits were “I Walk the Line,” “Ring of Fire,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and “A Boy Named Sue.” Cash had nine country singles chart-toppers and 11 No. 1 country albums.

Kenny Rogers tasted musical success during his stints with The New Christy Minstrels and The First Edition. His first major hit as a solo artist came with “Lucille” in 1977, a success on both the country and pop charts — establishing Rogers as a crossover artist almost from the start. Between 1978 and 1980, Rogers had nine straight No. 1 singles (including “The Gambler,” which became a signature for him and inspired a movie of the same name), later scored with duets with Dottie West and Dolly Parton (see No. 7), partnered in a fast-food chicken chain, and remained a major concert attraction even as his album sales slowed. Rogers passed away earlier this year.

Formed in Fort Payne, Alabama, in 1977 by cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry, the group put country bands out front rather than in support of a singer, as had been the practice of country music acts. That may sound more like a rock act, and indeed the two-time Grammy winners were influenced by that genre, and they have had six songs chart in the top 40 Billboard Hot 100. But Alabama is a country group, as evidenced by their success on the Hot Country Songs list — 33 No. 1 hits, most of them charting in the 1980s, including “High Cotton” and “Face To Face.”

The Texas-born Strait is an exemplar of traditional country music, and his influence has extended to more contemporary performers like Randy Travis (see No. 18), Dwight Yoakam (see No. 76), and Garth Brooks (see No. 1). Forty-four of his singles have topped the Billboard country chart, the first in 1982 (“Fool Hearted Memory”) and the last in 2009 (“River of Love”). Over that span, Strait has been nominated for a Grammy 16 times and has won once.

Taylor Swift is equally at home in the pop and country genres and has become one of the most powerful women in music. The Pennsylvania native has recorded five albums that have climbed to No. 1 on the country charts. Ninety-seven of Swift’s songs have reached the Billboard Hot 100, including five No. 1 hits, such as “Blank Space” (No. 1 for seven weeks) and “Shake It Off,” both in 2014. Swift was the best-selling recording artist of 2019, according to IFPI, the organization that represents the music industry worldwide. She earned that honor in 2014.

The most popular country music star on our list is Garth Brooks. The singer-songwriter from Oklahoma is the most prolific solo performer in U.S. history with more than 148 million albums sold. Seventeen albums went to No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, among them “No Fences,” “Ropin’ The Wind,” and “Fresh Horses.” He’s also had 19 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs list, such as “Two Pina Coladas” and “If Tomorrow Never Comes.” The two-time Grammy Award winner is the only artist to have won seven Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year awards. He is married to fellow country music star Trisha Yearwood (see No. 56).