Country is a genre of popular music that takes its roots from genres such as blues and old-time music, and various types of American folk music including Appalachian, Cajun, and the cowboy Western music styles of Red Dirt, New Mexico, Texas country, and Tejano. Its popularized roots originate in the Southern United States of the early 1920s.
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actress, author, businesswoman, and humanitarian, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album debut in 1967 with Hello, I'm Dolly. With steady success during the remainder of the 1960s, her sales and chart peak came during the 1970s and continued into the 1980s. Parton's albums in the 1990s did not sell as well, but she achieved commercial success again in the new millennium and has released albums on various independent labels since 2000, including her own label, Dolly Records.
Troyal Garth Brooks is an American singer and songwriter. His integration of rock and pop elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the country music single and album charts, multi-platinum recordings and record-breaking live performances, while also crossing over into the mainstream pop arena.
Eilleen "Shania" Twain is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and among the best-selling music artists of all time. Her success garnered her several honorific titles including the "Queen of Country Pop".
Emmylou Harris is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2018 she was presented the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Audrey Faith McGraw, known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and record producer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide.
Billy Ray Cyrus is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He has released 16 studio albums and 53 singles since 1992, and is known for his number one single "Achy Breaky Heart", which became the first single ever to achieve triple platinum status in Australia. It was also the best-selling single in the same country in 1992. Due to the song's music video, the line dance rose in popularity.
Loretta Lynn is an American singer songwriter. In a career which spans six decades in country music, Lynn has released multiple gold albums. She is famous for hits such as "You Ain't Woman Enough ", "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' ", "One's on the Way", "Fist City" and "Coal Miner's Daughter" along with the 1980 biographical film of the same name.
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band, on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. While a sophomore in college at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, she performed the National Anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City and caught the attention of country artist Red Steagall who brought her to Nashville, Tennessee. She signed a contract with Mercury Records a year later in 1975. She released her first solo album in 1977 and released five additional studio albums under the label until 1983.
Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Rimes rose to stardom at age 13 following the release of her version of the Bill Mack song "Blue", becoming the youngest country music star since Tanya Tucker in 1972.
Kenneth Ray Rogers was an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres, and topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His fame and career spanned multiple genres: jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country. He remade his career, and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of all time.
Samuel Timothy McGraw is an American singer, actor, and record producer. McGraw has released fifteen studio albums. 10 of those albums have reached number 1 on the Top Country Albums charts, with his 1994 breakthrough album Not a Moment Too Soon being the top country album of 1994. All of these albums have produced 65 singles, 25 of which have reached number 1 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 5 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 record producer. He has recorded more than 20 albums. He has also produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, 31 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.
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting with his 1999 debut album Who Needs Pictures, he has released eleven 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 32 Top 10 singles on the US Billboard Country Airplay chart, 19 of which have reached number 1. 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". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "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, songwriter and record producer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. Her debut single, "Inside Your Heaven", made her the only country artist to debut at number one on 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, the fastest-selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history and the best-selling country album of the last 17 years. She won three Grammy Awards for the album, including Best New Artist.
Keith Lionel Urban is an Australian singer, songwriter and record producer. Born in New Zealand, he grew up in Australia and in 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, charting four singles in Australia before moving to the United States the following year. He found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Nashville and charted two singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
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.
Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her narrative songwriting, which often centers around her personal life, has received widespread critical plaudits and media coverage. Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, Swift relocated to Nashville, Tennessee in 2004 to pursue a career in country music. Her 2006 eponymous debut studio album was the longest-charting album of the 2000s on the Billboard 200. Its third single, "Our Song", made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Swift's second studio album, Fearless (2008), expands Swift's country pop styles and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Buoyed by the success of crossover singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. Speak Now (2010), her third studio album, annexed her country styles with rock sensibility, and spawned the Hot 100 top-10 singles "Mine" and "Back to December".
Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan is an American country music singer and songwriter. He began his music career writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington – before signing with Capitol Nashville with his cousin, Chad Christopher Boyd, in 2007.
