Country Music Is Finally Starting To Dominate In The Streaming Era, And I Couldn’t Be Happier

Welcome to the modern era, country music

---

Photo by Tommy van Kessel on Unsplash

Years Of Streaming Failures

Country music has had a slow start in the streaming era. From the lack of Billboard 200 number 1s compared to other genres to the overshadowed moments at the Grammys, country music has been an underdog genre for over a decade. It may be time for country music to be a legacy genre, like jazz or blues. Devoted fans could enjoy the genre in clubs and bars dedicated to the music’s classics. Time and time again, industry heads have commented on the decreased sales of country music, noting that country music was “no longer the fad of the moment,” Perhaps skeptics are currently right about the fall of country music for once.

Think again.

Country music artists are setting a laundry list of records with their songs and albums. Unlike many critics, I optimistically highlighted country music’s positive trends in a 2021 Medium article. In the piece, I said country music was going through a renaissance thanks to four factors:

• The genre’s growing closeness to pop.

• Hip-hop’s influence and dominance

• Maren Morris’s irreverence and feminist attitude progressed the genre forward.

• Kacey Musgraves’ star power.

I was optimistic because of the fast pace at which these trends were moving and the excellent music country stars were making. When Musgraves won the Grammy for Album Of The Year, I knew mainstream music fans would soon follow her. In my 2021, I noted, “Unlike previous country superstars who quickly moved through the scene and into other musical ventures (Taylor Swift, Shania Twain), Musgraves continues to ease the genre into a serener, more open-minded, and captivating space.”

While the four factors I mentioned helped, the country music industry has also adapted to the streaming era in several other ways:

This Billboard article outlined five critical reasons for country music’s insane year. Two of the five strategies have been particularly pivotal to their growth. The first is their adoption of long albums, like Morgan Wallen’s One Thing At A Time and Luke Comb’s Gettin’ Old, each sporting over 18 tracks. These Big Mac-sized albums helped country music start to compete on the Billboard 200 with heavyweights in the pop and hip-hop realm. The second strategy was country artist’s “balanced consumption numbers.” In other words, country music isn’t just performing well on the radio; its digital and streaming sales are healthy, too. Seeing country music record labels better allocate their marketing budgets is encouraging. These clever adaptions have contributed to the dawn of a new golden age for country music.

All of the general hype aside, what explicitly have country stars accomplished last year?