Country Music Has Never Been More Popular

Jason Aldean leads a trio of country musicians who are currently making history by taking the top three spots on the Billboard Hot 100 char. The first time the genre has occupied all three positions in the 65-year existence of the listing.

While Aldean continues to face a backlash over the lyrical content and music video for his track "Try That in a Small Town," the controversial song has earned the star his first ever number-one hit on the chart, followed by Morgan Wallen's single "Last Night" in second place and Luke Combs' country cover of the Tracy Chapman classic "Fast Car" taking the number-three spot.

Country is enjoying a huge resurgence in 2023, with the genre showing year-on-year sales and streaming growth of more than 20 percent. Last year two country artists sold more than 100,000 albums by this point, while this year that already stands at four, with Wallen having sold 308,000 so far.

The record-breaking feat has left stars from other genres—Olivia Rodrigo ("Vampire), Rema and Selena Gomez ("Calm Down"), and Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice ("Barbie World")—trailing in the top 10-selling singles of the week. Taylor Swift, who is classed as a pop and country musician, sits in sixth place with "Cruel Summer."

Country music's current chart dominance correlates with Billboard's July 6 report on the remarkable growth of the genre over the past year. Citing information from music and entertainment data company Luminate, the magazine reported that consumption of country music in the U.S. has risen by 20.3 percent year-on-year in the first 26 weeks of 2023. Comparatively, consumption of country saw a growth of just 2.5 percent over the same period in 2022.

The recent boom in the genre's popularity places it third in growth this year, with K-pop (46.2 percent) and Latin (20.6 percent) seeing phenomenal growth figures. Meanwhile, rock is up 11.4 percent this year, followed by pop (7.6 percent), and R&B/hip-hop (4.9 percent). Despite this, each of the genres stands dominant in market share, with 25.3 percent for pop, 24.7 percent for R&B/hip-hop and 20.1 for rock.

All genres have benefited from on-demand streaming, a hugely popular market that has seen a growth of 15 percent over the first six months of 2023.

In terms of numbers, country musicians sold 3.84 million albums in the first 26 weeks of 2022. At the time, Swift and Chris Stapleton led the pack of country artists, being the only stars in the genre to break past the 100,000 mark in album sales.

This year sees Wallen and Swift selling 308,000 and 258,000 albums, respectively. Meanwhile, Luke Combs has broken through the 100,000 barrier with 135,000, followed by Stapleton with 108,000.

Per Billboard, Swift's first four albums, Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, and Red, are classified as country by Luminate.

The success of the genre comes as chart-topper Aldean faces continued scrutiny over his controversial single "Try That in a Small Town." Aldean caused a stir when he released the music video for his track in July. The song compares city life and small-town lifestyles. It includes the lyrics that if somebody "cross[es] that line," to "cuss out a cop, spit in his face" or "stomp on the flag and light it up," to "try that in a small town."

Aldean also sings: "Got a gun that my granddad gave me. They say one day they're gonna round up/ Well, that s*** might fly in the city, good luck."

Aldean has also faced criticism for his music video. A clip was filmed outside of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, where a white mob killed Henry Choate, a Black man, in 1927. The video also shows riots and protests in different parts of the country.

After having the video in rotation for three days, Country Music Television (CMT) dropped the clip from its broadcasts. A spokesperson for the station told Newsweek that the music clip was no longer on rotation on the channel, but did not offer any further information as to why the decision was made.

Parts of the video appear to have since been altered, with the removal of footage from news coverage of a Black Lives Matter protest, among other imagery.

Criticism over the purported promotion of gun violence in the song has been particularly pointed since Aldean had performed at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas in 2017, when nearly 60 people were killed and hundreds more were injured in the nation's worst ever mass shooting.

Aldean—who has won the support of former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, among others—has called the accusations of racism "not only meritless, but dangerous" in a tweet, while adding that there is "not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it" and "there isn't a single video clip that isn't real news footage."

During a July 21 show in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a part of his current "Highway Desperado" tour, Aldean decried "cancel culture" as he reflected on his "long week" of controversy.

"It's been a long week, and I've seen a lot of stuff," he told the crowd, Entertainment Weekly reported. "I've seen a lot of stuff suggesting I'm this, suggesting I'm that. Here's the thing, here's one thing I feel: I feel like everybody's entitled to their opinion. You can think something all you want to, it doesn't mean it's true, right?"

"What I am is a proud American," Aldean went on. "I'm proud to be from here. I love our country, I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bulls*** started happening to us. I love our country, I love my family, and I will do anything to protect that. I can tell you that right now."

Meanwhile, Wallen, who is at number two in the Billboard Hot 100 with his single "Last Night," is also enjoying chart success after weathering his own share of controversy. In 2021, a video leaked of him using a racial slur, which led to a widespread backlash. Amid the furor, his music was removed from many radio stations' playlists and the Academy of Country Music ruled that his recent album at the time would be ineligible for any of its awards.

The beleaguered musician was also temporarily suspended by his record label Big Loud.

Wallen released an apology following the incident, acknowledging that he had used what he described as "unacceptable and inappropriate" language.

Newsweek contacted Aldean, Wallen and Combs' teams for comment via email on Tuesday.