The Unfiltered Boom: Why Country is Taking Over the Charts
Country is quickly establishing itself as a core genre of music and it continues to gain listeners. This trend has taken a grip at Riverdale, where students like ninth-grader Elena Popel are intensifying the trend. Popel, who enjoys Country music, especially Zach Bryan, started listening two years ago, when she was introduced to it by a friend of hers. She says she has noticed a huge influx, particularly over the past year, of people starting to share her love for Zach Bryan and the genre as a whole. When asked why she prefers to listen to Country rather than another genre, she said “There’s no autotune. It’s just the artist and their guitar, and it feels more real. All the artists are really talented.”
In 2015, Country music was a minor player in the streaming landscape. With 14.1 billion audio and video streams, the genre accounted for around 4.5% of the 317.2 billion total music streams in the US. This was a far cry from the dominance of Hip-Hop (29%) and Pop (21%). According to abcnews, in 2025, Country music streams exploded, reaching 122.5 billion in the US, a staggering increase of 768% since 2015, per Digital Music News. Conversely, Hip-hop and Rap have been losing popularity. In 2025 only 16% of Billboard’s Year-End Hot 100 Chart songs were Rap, compared to 24% in 2024 and 41% in 2020. According to San Francisco Chronicle, while many factors have contributed to Rap’s recent fall in popularity, Country is certainly one of them. Country songs are replacing Rap songs on the charts, with 28% of songs in 2025 and 32% in 2024. This cultural pivot is also evidenced by mainstream artists, including Beyonce, Post Malone, and Lana Del Rey, who have recently declared themselves Country artists or have begun releasing Country albums.
Country’s quick ascent to the mainstream was unexpected. Music teacher Mr. Susman believes that “people are really hungry for songwriting again.” By contrast, senior Bella Kavilanz and junior Charlie Greenberg are not on board with the trend. “I hate country music,” Kavilanz says; “I find the inane lyrics distracting,” commented Greenberg. Perhaps it is the perceived flaws in modern pop music that drove people to country. A lot of pop songs have committees with seven or eight writers and modern hip-hop has heavy sampling trends. This makes the songs feel less authentic, like they have less feeling put into them. Many Hip-hop songs can feel overly explicit and Pop songs commonly have thinly veiled references to explicit topics, such as in Sabrina Carpenter’s song “House Tour.” Country, on the other hand, often has only one or two writers, less heavy production or autotune, and more simple, authentic, and relatable lyrics. These trends indicate how Country appeals to the public because of its personal impact and coherent storytelling. It is important to note that these trends do not apply to the genre in its entirety, only various popular songs within it.
Another possible reason for Country’s quick ascent could be modern cross-genre work, like Morgan Wallen and Lil Durks’ song ‘Broadway Girls,’ which appeals to a larger group of people and can introduce a group of listeners to aspects of Country music that they might like. A third possible reason is the inclusion of modern production capabilities that were not present in older songs.
While streaming platforms like Spotify are the main way people listen to music today, in-person concerts are still extremely popular, and live music is an area that Country music has always excelled in. Earlier this school year, Popel attended Zach Bryan’s concert at the Big House, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Big House is the largest stadium in the western hemisphere, and Zach Bryan was the first artist to ever perform there.
His concert had an attendance of 112,408, making it the biggest ticketed event in US history. As the amount of listeners continues to rise, events like this will only become more common, and Country will surely leave a lasting impact on global music and concert culture.