The Best of Country Music | 2021 | Stingray Listeners Have Their Say

Everybody has a little country music in them.  

That’s because we’ve all had our hearts broken, had too much to drink, longed for the open road or dreamed of a life outside the city.

This is the universal stuff country thrives on. You don’t need to be a cowboy or Hank Williams fanatic to relate.  

And maybe that explains the genre’s rapid rise in recent years. Country continually challenges rock, hip-hop, and pop for chart supremacy. Big pop hooks, colorful personalities, and crossover collaborations haven’t hurt either. Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus teamed up for 2019’s unexpected smash hit. This mashup trend continued with bolder, fascinating pairings this year: Keith Urban and P!nk, Miranda Lambert and Elle King, and Parmalee’s collab with rapper Blanco Brown are just a few highlights to date.  

With International Country Music Day upon us (September 17), we thought it was the perfect time to look back on some of 2021’s country music highlights so far.   

And who better to pick the best than Stingray listeners? You sure know your stuff!  

Without further ado, we present:

The Top 10 Most Played Songs on Stingray Hot Country in 2021 (so far!)   

1. “Famous Friends” - Chris Young & Kane Brown  

2. “Next Girl” - Carly Pearce 

3. “Undivided” - Tim McGraw & Tyler Hubbard  

4. “Breaking Up Was Easy in the 90's” - Sam Hunt  

5. “Gone” - Dierks Bentley  

6. “Minimum Wage” - Blake Shelton 

7. “Hell of a View” - Eric Church  

8. “Make a Life, not a Living” - Brett Kissel  

9. “Glad You Exist” - Dan + Shay  

10. “Settling Down” - Miranda Lambert  

And if that list puts you in a down-home, country mood, here are some Stingray playlists bound to satisfy y’all: