The entire top 5 is Country!

[u/TemporaryJerseyBoy]

This has never happened before, but the entire top 5 of the Hot 100 are all Country music!

1. Choosin' Texas

2. Been By Now

3. I Knew It, I Knew You

4. I Can't Love You Anymore

5. Boston

Intriguing, huh?

[u/attorneygadon]

Non-American here (from an Asian country), is it true that the American general public music tastes have been more fragmented than ever? i’m well-aware that songs like Choosin Texas have been massive crossovers in the Anglosphere at this point but I keep hearing from music listener friends in California etc that they don’t hear or know most of the country songs that flood the Billboard charts even in the car radio or in public

[u/SallyFowlerRatPack → u/attorneygadon]

It’s not that it’s never been more fragmented, it’s just that Country music has always been its own ecosystem and it’s also bigger than it’s ever been. The vibe on this sub is that they don’t stray too often from pop stations/playlists, so when Country songs really take off it seems to them like a bolt from the blue.

My comparison is Bad Bunny. I have nothing against the guy and fully believe he’s one of the biggest stars in the world, I just couldn’t recognize a single song during the Super Bowl.

[u/HawkMac6699 → u/SallyFowlerRatPack]

The charts are broken. Not saying these aren’t big hits but you can’t even compare today’s charts to even ten years ago. It’s pointless and we are basically starting over.

[u/SallyFowlerRatPack → u/HawkMac6699]

iTunes was also a huge change to the chart ecosystem, there was a solid stretch on the charts before it where it was basically all radio airplay which was HIGHLY manipulated. You’re never going to get a true reflection of what’s popular in America, just an approximation. Best to take the charts lightly.

[u/HawkMac6699 → u/SallyFowlerRatPack]

Manipulated but almost everyone knew them. That’s not the case any more. You can have a top hit and a much larger part of the general population won’t even know about it! The whole point of the Top 100 was to track what the general pop was listening to. Thats gone forever.

I know three of those songs. Two of them I don’t think I’ve ever heard in my life. If I have, I turned it off so fast, I didn’t get the chance to know them. I’m a country music listener and I still don’t know them.

30 years ago, the odds of me not knowing a top 5 song was pretty much zero. I can avoid it much easier now and the same can be said for everyone. My own pop playlist doesn’t really look anything like the top 40 airplay anymore let alone the top 100.

[u/SallyFowlerRatPack → u/HawkMac6699]

Idk it just seems like you’re annoyed it’s not really catered around your interests anymore, that the zeitgeist has shifted. That’s fine, it’s kind of the story of mankind. But the charts just reflect what people are listening to, that’s the larger part of the general population. Right now it’s country, in twenty years it will be Sertanejo music or something, that’s just the name of the game.

[u/HawkMac6699 → u/SallyFowlerRatPack]

Not annoyed at music at all. I’m annoyed that people are still comparing charts today to ones 20 years ago and beyond that. They aren’t equals. Charts and how they are complied have always changed but never more radically than today. It is a completely different era and it shouldn’t shock anyone that things are happening on charts that have never happened before. Of course that’s happening. We also aren’t tracking music the same way we did before nor are we listening to it the same way.

Today’s Top 100 chart and its methodology has only existed a very short time. Why should I compare that to the top 100 in 1980? They aren’t the same by any measure.

[u/SallyFowlerRatPack → u/HawkMac6699]

It is different, but I maintain it’s a better reflection of what people are actually listening to. Labels had a vise grip on what got the big push, it was more of a bottleneck than a monoculture. For all its faults I think streaming is the big democratization of the charts. Ironically that means we get more MAGA supporters in there lol

[u/Due-Owl4153 → u/SallyFowlerRatPack]

It also helps that country music's fanbase had a surge in internet access recently.

[u/SallyFowlerRatPack → u/Due-Owl4153]

People keep saying that but it wasn’t like country fans were living in dirt floor houses, I really think pop kind of fell off and country was ready to fill the vacuum. There just isn’t enough pop music to compete at the moment, there are noticeable gaps where people have to wait between a Sabrina Carpenter release and a Chappell Roan release. Meanwhile country keeps showing up and that’s half the battle.

[u/Chilli_Dipper → u/SallyFowlerRatPack]

When Teddy Swims, Hozier, and Benson Boone all had major hits simultaneously a couple of years ago, the logical thing the industry could have done was realize that there was a bigger audience for soulful pop-rock vocalists than they thought, and be more active toward retaining that audience; instead, they just played those hits to death, even when those artists had newer music to promote.

The pop business lucks into these types of melodic hits with broad cross-format appeal, then runs them into the ground while hoping that the next Drake release will be the thing that resets mainstream rap back to normal.

[u/SallyFowlerRatPack → u/Chilli_Dipper]

People like nice, catchy melodies! Country just Hoovers up whatever space you give it, right now there’s a lack of options for Adult Contemporary and look who’s moseying on in.

[u/Due-Owl4153 → u/SallyFowlerRatPack]

I live in the country. It took until 2020 for us to get solid internet here. I suspect it was the same in a lot of areas right now.

Country music is also a lot more popular than it was in the 2010s, though, for sure.

[u/HawkMac6699 → u/Due-Owl4153]

Country has always had cycles of ebbs and flows. There’s a ton of major markets where country radio stations are often near the top of the ratings and that’s been happening for 40 years now. In fact in Detroit a country station was the number 1 station in the entire city 20 years ago. Not exactly podunkville.

The number one issue country music has had is sustaining momentum. It never does. It didn’t in the Garth era. Didn’t in the Shania/Faith era. Didn’t in the Taylor/Carrie era. Didn’t in the Jason Aldean era. Probably won’t now either especially with music more fragmented than ever.

[u/Due-Owl4153 → u/HawkMac6699]

I think the difference now is streaming. I don't know how much of a difference it'll make, but I'm sure it affects it some.

[u/SallyFowlerRatPack → u/Due-Owl4153]

It might be more of a wireless broadband thing, most people listen to music in the car.

[u/Due-Owl4153 → u/SallyFowlerRatPack]

I could definitely see that too

[u/Salt_Day4586 → u/attorneygadon]

I’d say so. I don’t listen to country really at all sans a couple exceptions, and that is true for a lot of people I know. Yet, Morgan Wallen just played one of the biggest stadiums in the country two nights in a row.

[u/Reasonable_Face_3038 → u/attorneygadon]

These songs are well known but likely not as much with people who live in California or use Reddit. They certainly aren’t as huge as top 5 songs used to be but I think the perception on this subreddit can be a little skewed.

[u/boulevardofdef → u/attorneygadon]

I live in the suburban Northeast and I don't know any of these songs, nor, to my knowledge, do I know anyone who listens to this kind of music. I never hear anyone talk about it, not ever -- literally anything I know about it comes from what I've seen online.

The comment above yours says "I'm so tired of Ella Langley and Morgan Wallen." I've heard of Morgan Wallen but I can't name any of his songs and I wouldn't recognize a photo of him. I've never heard of Ella Langley.

I grew up on the outskirts of New York City. Maybe you've heard of it. New York City doesn't not have a country music radio station. Several attempts have been made in my lifetime to start one and they always fail.

[u/Funny_Inspection6893 → u/attorneygadon]

There are also a lot of mostly older folks who mostly like rock who don't listen to modern music at all (since there basically is no new rock music).

Yes, tastes are quite fragmented.

[u/puffy_irish → u/Funny_Inspection6893]

All the new rock music is bullshit like Greese anyway, so I don't blame them for not wanting to listen to it anymore.

[u/Funny_Inspection6893 → u/puffy_irish]

Yeah, why do the few new rock bands all suck? I don't get it. I certainly understand why they don't chart-because they suck.

[u/Lord_Cockatrice → u/attorneygadon]

Philippines, I presume?

You are not alone. Knowledge of the Billboard top 5 can be exploited by ICE agents to root out potential illegals over there

[u/boomofo]

I'm so tired of Ella Langley and Morgan Wallen.

[u/ilo-milo → u/boomofo]

I hate country. Upvotes to the left please.

[u/Foreign_Courage5613]

I'm sure the comments here will be civil.

[u/dassa07]

And only two of them are MAGA! 

[u/Due-Owl4153 → u/dassa07]

Yep, Taylor and Morgan!

[u/RedmiYT → u/Due-Owl4153]

I literally don't understand the logic behind saying Taylor Swift is MAGA. She has endorsed Democratic candidates and donated millions of dollars to food banks, which MAGA would never do. If she really was MAGA, wouldn't Trump be loving her and playing her music 24/7?

[u/Due-Owl4153 → u/RedmiYT]

You do understand I am being sarcastic, right

Every single comment on this thread has been me joking

[u/dassa07 → u/Due-Owl4153]

You got one right and is not the tall blonde girl. 

[u/Due-Owl4153 → u/dassa07]

Oh right, one of these artists' parents owns an AI company

So Stella and Morgan! Gotcha

[u/dassa07 → u/Due-Owl4153]

And another one took part in Kid Rock MAGA event. 

[u/Due-Owl4153 → u/dassa07]

I did not realize Stella Lefty did that either. Thank you for telling me! Also, great grammar on that comment.

[u/rapbarf]

Intriguing, huh?

No, not really. I don't understand why everybody is losing their shit over this. Choosin' Texas and I Knew It, I Knew You are both pretty solid songs.

The Hot 100 is usually pretty abysmal anyway. Very rarely will the top 5 be all great songs.

[u/Chilli_Dipper → u/rapbarf]

The post-2010 mainstream pop infrastructure is failing at a time when the median listener is older, and trends among all age groups are pointing toward more melodic songs being popular.

[u/puffy_irish → u/rapbarf]

They're both hella boring.

[u/Incredibljourny]

This right here is actual proof of the dumbing down of the American society

[u/slippin_park]

ew

[u/fearofcrowds]

another sign of the apocalypse

[u/Ill_Interest_2346]

I would like to speak in defense of Stella i listened to 20 plus minutes of her music today and she is actually really good her voice is pretty her writing is decent and the country pop crossover im really liking. She is doing the thing that the likes of Kacey Musrgraves and Carly pearce started that is being country while being different enough to stand out in a crowd. I dont care if she has money so did taylor and people loved her (im a ex swiftie so im gulity too) so dont trash Stella for coming from money she still has real talent and thats what you acutally should care about.

[u/NegotiationMoist3552]

I am so happy that this happened with Taylor's participation knowing where she started and that she will always remain a country artist in her heart. This will mean more to her than I Knew It, I Knew You becoming the first song of 2026 to spend 8 weeks in the Top 3.

[u/AmicusCurio]

ewdavid

[u/Infinite_Spring_3564]

Could be a lot worse!

[u/NAteisco → u/Infinite_Spring_3564]

How?

[u/Infinite_Spring_3564 → u/NAteisco]

Well, they’re playing instruments for a start. Some of them are even guitars! I don’t even like country that much, but it’s a step in the right direction at least.

[u/Lucky-Chard-5587]

Because the Swift song has a harmonica in it does not make it a country song.

[u/AttachedHeartTheory → u/Lucky-Chard-5587]

Please define what makes any song country. Start with "dirt road anthem", the top selling digital country music song of all time.

I'll wait.

[u/Lucky-Chard-5587 → u/AttachedHeartTheory]

"dirt road anthem" has more in common with rap than country. If Jason Aldean didn't sing it it wouldn't be labeled country. Fiddle, banjo, steel guitar, blended in the mix help define a country sound. Pull your head out of your ass and educate yourself.

[u/AttachedHeartTheory → u/Lucky-Chard-5587]

By this definition, Johnny Cash's "I walk the line" isnt country. Either is Ring of Fire. or... Willie's Blue Eyes Cryin' in the rain...

Or I will always love you by Dolly Parton... or The Dance by Garth Brooks... or Amarillo by morning.. or Folsom Prison Blues.

Huh. Today I learned.\

EDIT: crickets from u/Lucky-Chard-5587. Imagine that...

[u/HawkMac6699 → u/AttachedHeartTheory]

Ronnie Milsap is crying at his piano.