Report: Streaming Catapults Country Music

Country music is having its biggest boom in 30 years, with an unusual number of artists topping the charts, dominating streaming, striking branding deals and selling out shows and festivals, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

“It’s country music’s turn,” says Aaron Bay-Schuck, chief executive and co-chairman of Warner Records, home of Zach Bryan, whose intense, stripped-back country-folk songs have quickly garnered him a devoted following. A few years ago, Bryan was performing in Boston at a 1,200-capacity club. Now the Oklahoman is selling out multiple nights at the city’s nearby 65,000-capacity stadium.

Across the musical universe, country is cool again. This year, for the first time, the country festival Stagecoach sold out before its better-known mainstream counterpart, Coachella. Stagecoach sold around 85,000 tickets—a new high—at record-breaking speed, according to AEG Presents, the second-biggest global concert promoter, which runs both Stagecoach and Coachella. Legendary artist George Strait last month broke the record for most tickets sold at a U.S. concert—more than 110,000 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. Live-music juggernauts Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen are also packing stadiums.

“Authenticity is selling right now,” says rising country singer Megan Moroney, who opens for Kenny Chesney at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium in August. “Everyone, especially after the pandemic, is eager to hear honest songwriting and storytelling.”

Black country-hip-hop act Shaboozey recently topped the Billboard Hot 100 all-genre singles chart with his crossover smash, “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which simultaneously ruled the Hot Country Songs chart. Rock-infused country singer-songwriter Lainey Wilson opened for the Rolling Stones at a June 30 concert in Chicago. Even acts outside country like Beyoncé and Post Malone—both Texans—are jumping on the bandwagon with country albums. Breakout pop star Sabrina Carpenter’s summer chart-topper “Please Please Please” has a good bit of Nashville twang, too.

Source: TSE Entertainment

The country explosion in part reflects country fans’ belated embrace of streaming as a music format.

After years of lagging far behind other genres in popularity on streaming—due largely to older fans sticking with radio and CDs—country has caught fire online, driven by younger listeners and spearheaded by the sustained success of Wallen, a rock-and-hip-hop-influenced singer whose albums “Dangerous” (2021) and “One Thing at a Time” (2023) have, for years now, remained lodged near the top of the industry’s most important charts.