Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 2008, 26 different songs topped the chart in 52 issues of the magazine, based on weekly airplay data from country music radio stations compiled by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. [1]
At the start of the year the number one was "Our Song" by Taylor Swift, which had risen to the top in the issue dated December 22, 2007. [2] It remained at the top of the chart until the issue dated February 2, when it was replaced by "Letter to Me" by Brad Paisley. Both Swift and Paisley had three songs at number one in 2008. Paisley reached the top with "Letter to Me", "I'm Still a Guy" and "Waitin' on a Woman" and Swift with "Our Song", "Should've Said No" and "Love Story". Carrie Underwood also had three chart-toppers in 2008 with "All-American Girl", "Last Name" and "Just a Dream". Paisley and Swift tied for the most weeks at number one by an artist in the year, each spending eight weeks at the top. The last number one of the year was "Roll with Me", the final number one single by Montgomery Gentry.
Four acts topped the chart for the first time in 2008. The first was James Otto, who reached number one for the first time in May with "Just Got Started Lovin' You". [3] Although it only spent two weeks at number one, Otto's song was ranked number one on Billboard's year-end chart of the most popular country songs. [4] In October, former Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker scored his first country number one with "Don't Think I Don't Think About It", making him the first African-American to have a solo number one since Charley Pride in 1983. [5] Jimmy Wayne and the Zac Brown Band also topped the chart for the first time in 2008. [6] [7] Additionally, veteran reggae band The Wailers received a secondary credit on Kenny Chesney's song "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" for one of its two weeks in the top spot. This gave the group its first appearance at number one on Hot Country Songs and marked the first appearance at number one on the chart by any act of the reggae genre and the first by any act from Jamaica. [8]
Darius Carlos Rucker is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. He first gained fame as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Carolina along with Mark Bryan, Jim "Soni" Sonefeld, and Dean Felber. The band released five studio albums with Rucker as a member and charted six top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Rucker co-wrote most of the songs with the other members of the band.
Bradley Douglas Paisley is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Starting with his 1999 debut album Who Needs Pictures, he has released twelve studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashville label, with all of his albums certified Gold or higher by the RIAA. He has scored 35 Top 10 singles on the US Billboard Country Airplay chart, 20 of which have reached number one. He set a new record in 2009 for the most consecutive singles (10) reaching the top spot on that chart.
Blake Tollison Shelton is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin" from his first album, Blake Shelton. "Austin" spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The now Platinum-certified debut album also produced two more top 20 entries.
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. Underwood's single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the first 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), produced the single "Cowboy Casanova", which had one of the biggest single-week upward movements on the Hot 100.
Australian country music singer Keith Urban has released 12 studio albums, four compilation albums, and 57 singles. He began his career in 1991 with the release of his self-titled debut album on EMI and Capitol Records in Australia. After an American album in 1997 as a member of The Ranch, he embarked on a solo career there as well, subsequently releasing five more studio albums. His highest-certified album in the US is 2004's Be Here, which is four-times-platinum.
American country music 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.
The discography of Brad Paisley, an American country music singer, consists of 12 studio albums, three compilation albums, and 46 singles. All but two of Paisley's singles have hit the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, with all but six reaching the top ten. He has 21 number ones, including a streak of ten consecutive, starting with the 2005–06 Dolly Parton duet "When I Get Where I'm Going". When "Waitin' on a Woman", reached number 1 in late 2008, Paisley set a new record for the most consecutive number ones (10) by any country artist since the inception of Nielsen SoundScan in 1990. This streak lasted until mid-2009's number 2 single "Welcome to the Future".
Fearless is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Under the Big Machine Records imprint, it was released in the United States and Canada on November 11, 2008, and elsewhere on March 9, 2009.
Joey + Rory was an American country and bluegrass duo composed of singer-songwriters Rory Feek and Joey Feek, who were husband and wife. Both members of the duo were vocalists and songwriters, with Rory also playing acoustic guitar. Rory Lee Feek had written singles for other artists prior to the duo's foundation. The duo was the third-place finalist on CMT's competition Can You Duet in 2008. The duo recorded eight studio albums for Vanguard Records and Gaither Music Group and charted three singles on Hot Country Songs.
American singer Lady Gaga has released five solo studio albums, two collaborative studio albums, two film soundtracks, three remix albums, two compilation albums, four EPs, two live albums, 40 singles, and 14 promotional singles. Gaga made her debut in August 2008 with the studio album The Fame, which peaked at number two in the United States, where it was subsequently certified triple Platinum, while topping the charts in Austria, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Its first two singles, "Just Dance" and "Poker Face", reached number one in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and for the latter, becoming the world's biggest single of the 2009 calendar year. The album spawned three more singles: "Eh, Eh ", "LoveGame" and "Paparazzi". The latter reached the top ten in many countries worldwide, and number one in Germany.
American country music band Zac Brown Band has released seven studio albums, two extended plays, two live albums, and twenty-nine singles. Fourteen of those singles reached number one on either the US Billboard Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay chart, while one reached number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.