What Unconventional Wins Taught Us About The Future Of Country Music

Something unusual happened at the 2023 Country Music Association (CMA) Awards: A song written over three decades ago won the award for song of the year.

While Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” first became a pop hit in 1988 — when it reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 — the song experienced a renaissance over the past year thanks to country singer Luke Combs’ faithful cover. Combs released his rendition to pop radio in April and country radio in June, helping it became a juggernaut that ultimately reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 and spent five weeks atop the Country Airplay chart.

“The success of ‘Fast Car’ is mind-blowing. But should it be?” asks Combs’ manager, Chris Kappy. He calls Combs’ connection to the song (the artist has said that it reminds him of his father) and his ability to deliver it to a new generation of fans “the perfect chemistry to create this moment.”

The fact that Combs scored one of the biggest hits of his career with a cover is illustrative of the unconventional success stories that defined country music in 2023 — all of which helped propel the genre to one of its most prominent years in Billboard chart history. Jason Aldean’s politically charged “Try That in a Small Town”; outlier Oliver Anthony’s out-of-nowhere hit, “Rich Men North of Richmond”; and Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves’ somber duet, “I Remember Everything” all ruled the Hot 100. Along with Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night,” which spent 16 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1, 2023 marked just the second time in Hot 100 history that four country songs reached the chart’s summit in a calendar year. And for the first time since the chart launched in 1958, country hits occupied the top three spots (“Small Town” at No. 1, “Last Night” at No. 2 and “Fast Car” at No. 3) in a single week on the Hot 100.

Yet in the same way that a decades-old single winning the song of the year CMA Award (a feat that also made Chapman the first Black songwriter to win that honor) marked an uncommon achievement, the biggest wins of country’s huge year all contained atypical wrinkles in their narratives. The success of “Try That in a Small Town” — and in particular, the song’s accompanying music video — was mired in controversy. Footage of Black Lives Matter protests was seemingly edited out of the original clip, while critics noted the performance itself was filmed in front of the site of a 1927 lynching. CMT ultimately pulled the video from its rotation — a move that led many to view the clip on YouTube and stream the song, some out of curiosity alone, which helped push it to No. 1 on the all-genre Hot 100.

In late August, independent artist Anthony broke through with one of the year’s most unexpected hits, the polarizing “Rich Men North of Richmond.” The song — with lyrics centering on greedy politicians, inflation, rising taxes and welfare abuse — was uploaded to YouTube out of the blue. And a little more than 10 days later, it debuted atop the Hot 100, making him the first artist to enter at No. 1 without any prior Billboard chart history. The video has been viewed over 98 million times on YouTube.

“Rich Men North of Richmond” stayed atop the Hot 100 for two weeks, during which time it became a lightning rod of controversy for political pundits on both the right and left. “The most special thing about it being on the chart at all is that it made it [there] without some big, corporate schmucky schmuck somewhere pumping a bunch of money into making it get there,” Anthony recently told Billboard. “It actually got to the top of the [Hot 100] because people genuinely wanted to listen to it and support it.”

As Country’s Radio Coach owner/CEO John Shomby says, “Now he’s going on a 40-plus-city tour next year. That tells you a lot.”

Then there’s the alternative, genre-fluid Bryan, who prior to signing with Warner Music in 2021 built a fan base with his independent releases and constant touring, and has a history of shucking industry expectations. He capped 2022 with a live album titled All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster and throughout his breakout 2023 has largely avoided press. In September, he and Musgraves each earned their first Hot 100 No. 1 with “I Remember Everything” off his self-titled album. The duet became the first song to simultaneously debut atop the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts — proving Bryan’s wide appeal.

A surplus of country artists have experienced similar crossover success, with hits that have both topped country charts and entered the upper echelon of the Hot 100. Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor” hit No. 13 on the Hot 100, Bailey Zimmerman’s “Rock and A Hard Place” entered the chart’s top 10, and Lainey Wilson’s “Watermelon Moonshine” reached No. 21 — and all three songs were Country Airplay No. 1s. Meanwhile, a few Hot 100 first-timers included rising stars like Hailey Whitters and Warren Zeiders along with Americana stalwart Tyler Childers.

“This year has shown us that the genre is not as painted into a corner as it was years ago,” says Shomby, who credits a younger generation of programmers moving into decision-making roles at radio stations as a driving factor in the span of country music sounds dominating charts in 2023. “The bigger companies, it’s going to take a little while, but some of these smaller organizations, you can see it already, with people taking chances on songs like the Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves duet, or Tyler Childers or the Post Malone song [titled “Pickup Man,” off HARDY’s HIXTAPE and featuring the late Joe Diffie, which debuted on Country Airplay in November]. They look at it as, ‘It sounds good, so I’m going to play it.’

“I come from the generation where we couldn’t care less whether it was rock or pop or country,” Shomby adds. “Then we started putting people into lanes. Thankfully, it’s starting to open up a little more. I’m not saying we’re there, but it’s the beginning of it.”

This story originally appeared in the Dec. 9, 2023, issue of Billboard.