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.
Jason Aldine Williams, known professionally as Jason Aldean, is an American country music singer. Since 2005, he has been signed to Broken Bow Records, a record label for which he has released eleven albums and 40 singles. His 2010 album, My Kinda Party, is certified quadruple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His 2012 album Night Train is certified double-platinum, while his 2005 self-titled debut, 2007 album Relentless, 2009 album Wide Open, and 2014 album Old Boots, New Dirt are all certified platinum. Aldean has received five Grammy Award nominations throughout his career, twice for Best Country Album.
American country music singer Miranda Lambert has released ten studio albums, one extended play, one video album, and has made 23 other album appearances. She has released 39 singles, nine promotional singles, and 37 music videos. Lambert has sold 7 million albums in the United States, with her first seven studio albums being certified platinum. In 2001, Lambert released a self-titled and self-financed independent album. After gaining exposure as the third-place winner of the television competition Nashville Star, Lambert signed with Epic Nashville in 2004.
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 country music singer Jason Aldean has released eleven studio albums, one extended play, and forty solo singles. All of his music has been released through BBR Music Group, with Michael Knox as his sole record producer.
Hillary Dawn Scott-Tyrrell is an American singer and songwriter who rose to fame as the co-lead vocalist of the country music group Lady A. She is signed to Big Machine Records.
Thompson Square is an American country music duo composed of husband and wife Keifer and Shawna Thompson, who alternate as vocalists. They signed to Stoney Creek Records, a sister label of Broken Bow Records, in 2010. The duo has released three albums, which have produced a combined ten chart singles on the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. Of these singles, two — "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not" and "If I Didn't Have You" — reached No. 1.
"Need You Now" is a song recorded by American country music trio Lady A. The band co-wrote the song with Josh Kear, and produced it with Paul Worley. It serves as the lead-off single and title track to their second studio album of the same name, and was first released in the US on August 11, 2009, and it features lead vocals from both Scott and Kelley. The song also served as their debut single in the UK and Europe, where it was released May 3, 2010. It won four Grammy Awards in 2011, including for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, the only country song to win both honors since "Not Ready to Make Nice" by the Chicks won in 2006.
Dallas Davidson is an American country music singer and songwriter from Albany, Georgia, who has written for artists such as Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Cole Swindell, Jake Owen, Luke Bryan, Randy Houser, Lady Antebellum, and Billy Currington. He generally writes with others, notably as a member of The Peach Pickers.
"The Truth" is a song written by Brett James and Ashley Monroe, and recorded by Trent Willmon for his 2008 album Broken In. The song was then covered by Jason Aldean on his album Wide Open. Aldean's version was released to radio on September 28, 2009, as the third single from the album, following the number one hits "She's Country" and "Big Green Tractor."
Lady A are an American country music group composed of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. They have released nine studio albums, two extended plays, two box sets, and 23 singles, not counting guest appearances or digital-only releases. The lead singers are Charles Kelly and Hillary Scott. All ten of their full-length releases have debuted in the top ten on the Top Country Albums chart, including five number-ones. They have sold 10.2 million albums in the US as of February 2016.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 2011.
Lauren Alaina Kristine Suddeth is an American singer and songwriter from Rossville, Georgia. She was the runner-up on the tenth season of American Idol. Her debut studio album, Wildflower, was released on October 11, 2011. Her second album, Road Less Traveled, was released January 27, 2017. Alaina later achieved her first number one on the Country Airplay chart with the album's title track. Her second number one came later that year when she simultaneously topped five Billboard charts with her friend and former classmate Kane Brown on their duet "What Ifs". In addition to this song with Brown, Alaina became an in-demand duet vocalist throughout the next few years, appearing on number one collaborations with Hardy, Devin Dawson, and Dustin Lynch. Her third studio album, Sitting Pretty on Top of the World, was released on September 3, 2021.
Thomas Rhett Akins Jr. is an American country singer-songwriter. He is the oldest son of singer Rhett Akins.
Florida Georgia Line was an American country music duo founded in 2010 by vocalists and songwriters Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley of Florida. Their 2012 debut single "Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was downloaded over seven million times, making it the first country song ever to receive the Diamond certification, and it became the best-selling digital country song, with 24 weeks at number one, until it was surpassed in July 2017 by Sam Hunt's "Body Like a Back Road". Their music style is described as "bro-country", which incorporates production elements from rock and hip hop music, and tends to cover subject matter such as partying, drinking, driving trucks and sexual attraction.
American country music artist Eric Church has released seven studio albums, two live albums, three extended plays, and 29 singles. He made his debut on the Billboard Hot Country Songs with his 2006 single "How 'Bout You". Church charted eight more singles between then and 2011 when he achieved his first number-one single with "Drink in My Hand". This would be the first of six solo number-one singles for him in his career, the other five being "Springsteen" in 2012, "Give Me Back My Hometown" and "Talladega" in 2014, "Record Year" in 2016, and "Some of It" in 2019. Church was also a featured artist on four other songs that have reached the top of the country music charts. These are Jason Aldean's "The Only Way I Know" in 2012, Keith Urban's "Raise 'Em Up" in 2015, the multi-artist collaboration "Forever Country" in 2016, and Luke Combs' "Does to Me" in 2020.
