Linda Maria Ronstadt is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, and an ALMA Award. Many of her albums have been certified gold, platinum or multiplatinum in the United States and internationally. She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award. She was awarded the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by the Latin Recording Academy in 2011 and also awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by the Recording Academy in 2016. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. On July 28, 2014, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities. In 2019, she received a star jointly with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their work as the group Trio. Ronstadt was among five honorees who received the 2019 Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements.
George Harvey Strait Sr. is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is known as the "King of Country" and is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was a prominent and pioneering figure in the neotraditional country movement, famed for his simple cowboy image and roots-oriented sound at a time when the Nashville music industry was dominated by country pop crossover acts.
Andrew Tyler Griggs is an American country music artist. He has released three albums for RCA Records Nashville and a fourth for Montage Music Group. These four albums have accounted for 13 singles and 6 Top Tens on the Billboard country chart, the highest being "You Won't Ever Be Lonely" and "She's More", both of which peaked at #2. He also charted "Grow Young With You", a cut from the soundtrack to the film Where the Heart Is.
Samuel Timothy McGraw is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums. 10 of those albums have reached number one on the Top Country Albums charts, with his 1994 breakthrough album Not a Moment Too Soon being the top country album of 1994. In total, McGraw's albums have produced 65 singles, 25 of which have reached number one on the Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay charts. Three of these singles – "It's Your Love", "Just to See You Smile", and "Live Like You Were Dying" – were respectively the top country songs of 1997, 1998, and 2004 according to Billboard Year-End. He has also won three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 Country Music Association (CMA) awards, 10 American Music Awards, and three People's Choice Awards. His Soul2Soul II Tour, which was done in partnership with his wife, Faith Hill, is one of the highest-grossing tours in country music history, and one of the top five among all genres of music. He has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Kenneth Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has recorded more than 20 albums and has produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, 32 of which have reached number one. Many of these have also charted within the Top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100, making him one of the most successful crossover country artists. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
Jo Dee Marie Messina is an American country music artist. She has charted six number-one singles on the Billboard country music charts. She has been honored by the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, and has been nominated for two Grammy Awards. She was the first female country artist to score three multiple-week number-one songs from the same album. To date, she has two platinum and three gold-certified albums by the RIAA.
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. Her single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the only solo country artist in the 2000s to have a number-one song on the Hot 100. Her debut album, Some Hearts (2005), was bolstered by the successful crossover singles "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and "Before He Cheats", becoming the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history. She won three Grammy Awards for the album, including Best New Artist. The next studio album, Carnival Ride (2007), had one of the biggest opening weeks of all time by a female artist and won two Grammy Awards. Her third studio album, Play On (2009), was preceded by the single "Cowboy Casanova", which had one of the biggest single-week upward movements on the Hot 100.
Rascal Flatts was an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus, and Joe Don Rooney. DeMarcus is LeVox's second cousin, a brother-in-law of country music singer James Otto, and a former member of the contemporary Christian music duo East to West.
Craig Morgan Greer is an American country music artist. A veteran of the United States Army as a forward observer, Morgan began his musical career in 2000 on Atlantic Records, releasing his self-titled debut album for that label before the closure of its Nashville division in 2000. In 2002, Morgan signed to the independent Broken Bow Records, on which he released three studio albums: 2003's I Love It, 2005's My Kind of Livin', and 2006's Little Bit of Life. These produced several chart hits, including "That's What I Love About Sunday", which spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard country charts while also holding the No. 1 position on that year's Billboard Year-End chart for the country format. A greatest hits package followed in mid-2008 before Morgan signed to BNA Records and released That's Why later that same year. After exiting BNA, Morgan signed with Black River Entertainment and released This Ole Boy in 2012, followed by A Whole Lot More to Me in 2016.
Miranda Leigh Lambert is an American country music singer and songwriter. She started out in early 2001 when she released her self-titled debut album independently. In 2003, she finished in third place on the television program Nashville Star, a singing competition which aired on the USA Network. Outside her solo career, she is a member of the Pistol Annies formed in 2011 alongside Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley. Lambert has been honored by the Grammy Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards. Lambert has been honored with more Academy of Country Music Awards than any artist in history.
Some Hearts is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Carrie Underwood, released in the United States on November 15, 2005, by Arista Nashville. The album contains the number one country singles "Jesus, Take the Wheel", "Don't Forget to Remember Me", "Wasted", and "Before He Cheats". The North American version contains the Billboard Hot 100 number one single, "Inside Your Heaven", as a bonus track.
Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her narrative songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and widespread media coverage. Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 14 to pursue a career in country music. She signed a songwriting contract with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2004 and a recording deal with Big Machine Records in 2005, and released her eponymous debut studio album in 2006.
American country singer Carrie Underwood has released nine studio albums, one greatest hits album, and 29 singles. Underwood rose to fame after winning the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. Her debut album, Some Hearts, was released in 2005 and is the fastest-selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history. It also became the best-selling solo female country debut in Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) history, as well as the top-selling debut album of any American Idol contestant in the United States.
Thriller 25 is the 25th anniversary edition reissue of American singer Michael Jackson's sixth studio album Thriller (1982). The original album has sold 70 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling album of all time. Thriller 25 was released by Sony BMG's re-issue division, Legacy Recordings. It is the first Jackson album with an age certificate. Along with the original material, the reissue contained remixes, new material, a DVD and collaborations with several contemporary artists. Thriller 25 was one of the last recorded works released during Jackson's lifetime, which he was moreover deeply involved with, as Jackson co-produced all of the newly remixed tracks.
Play On is the third studio album by American country music singer Carrie Underwood. It was released in the United States on November 3, 2009, through Arista Nashville. Play On was produced by Mark Bright who also produced Underwood's Carnival Ride and seven other songs off of Some Hearts.
David Wesley Haywood is an American country musician and songwriter. He is one-third of the American country music band Lady A, in which he plays guitar, piano and mandolin, and sings backing vocals.
Christopher Pierre Janson is an American country music singer and songwriter. Janson has recorded three full-length albums, Buy Me a Boat, Everybody, and Real Friends, through Warner Bros. Records Nashville, along with one extended play each for Bigger Picture Music Group, Columbia Records, and Warner Bros. Nashville. He has charted multiple singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, including "Good Vibes" and "Done", both of which went to number one on the latter. In addition to his material, Janson has performed on albums by Holly Williams and Lee Brice and has co-written singles for Tim McGraw, LoCash, Randy Houser and Hank Williams Jr.
Speak Now is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 25, 2010, through Big Machine Records. Swift wrote the album in a two-year period while she was promoting her second studio album Fearless (2008). Inspired by her transition from adolescence into adulthood, Speak Now is a loose concept album about love and heartbreak; a few songs are about her public image. Produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, the album combines country pop, pop rock, and power pop, with rock sensibilities and melodies characterized by acoustic instruments and dynamic electric guitars, string instruments, and drums.
The following is a detailed discography of all albums released by country music singer Willie Nelson, since his professional debut in 1962. Nelson's discography includes 97 studio albums, 13 live albums, 51 compilation albums and 41 video albums as well as the soundtracks of The Electric Horseman and Honeysuckle Rose.
25 is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Adele, released on 20 November 2015 by XL Recordings and Columbia Records. The album is titled as a reflection of her life and frame of mind at 25 years old and is termed a "make-up record". Its lyrical content features themes of Adele "yearning for her old self, her nostalgia", and "melancholia about the passage of time" according to an interview with the singer by Rolling Stone, as well as themes of motherhood and regret. In contrast to Adele's previous works, the production of 25 incorporated the use of electronic elements and creative rhythmic patterns, with elements of 1980s R&B and organs. Like when recording 21 (2011), Adele worked with producer and songwriter Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder, along with new collaborations with Max Martin and Shellback, Greg Kurstin, Danger Mouse, the Smeezingtons, Samuel Dixon, and Tobias Jesso Jr.
