Country music has had a massive resurgence in the last five years, thanks in large part to a crop of new artists who are taking the genre by storm. We found four artists who have had success from the begining in the 2020s, with their very first single.
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1. "Things A Man Oughta Know" by Lainey Wilson
Lainey Wilson is far from an overnight success story. Wilson moved to Nashville in 2011, and tried for years to get her music heard. But by the time she released "Things A Man Oughta Know," she was ready, and so was country music.
Wilson wrote "Things A Man Oughta Know" with Jason Nix and Jonathan Singleton. The song became a No. 1, multi-platinum hit for Wilson. She also began her winning streak, taking home the ACM Award for Song of the Year for her debut single.
"We really spoke about all the things that we thought a man oughta know," Wilson recalls to Digital Journal. "The list was way too long so we condensed that list. We discussed my childhood and the things that my parents taught me growing up. This song is really about having good character."
2. "Tennessee Orange" by Megan Moroney"
When Megan Moroney released "Tennessee Orange" in 2022, the song became an immediate hit in country music. Showcasing Moroney's ability to tell a story through song, the song went four times platinum, and was nominated for Song of the Year at the CMA Awards.
While some say the song was inspired by Morgan Wallen, who Moroney is rumored to have dated, the Georgia native doesn't specifically name Wallen when talking about the song.
"There was a day that I found myself wearing a Tennessee shirt," Moroney told Songwriter Universe. "And being from the South, you know you don't put on another school's shirt or anything like that. So I jokingly had the shirt on, and I was like...'My mom would kill me if she saw me wearing this Tennessee shirt.' And so I thought of the hook, 'In Georgia, they call it a sin, I'm wearing Tennessee Orange for him.'"
3. "Sounds Like the Radio" by Zach Top
As soon as Zach Top released "Sounds Like the Radio," both new and seasoned country music fans fell in love with the song, and with Top. Embracing the sounds of traditional country music, Top later said the song was inspired partly by his own life.
"Sounds Like the Radio" not only became a hit at radio and helped launch his career, but he also scored a spot opening for Alan Jackson on his final tour.
"We didn't set out to write it as a biopic, but it kind of turned out that way," Top tells ABC News of the song, which he wrote with Carson Chamberlain and Wyatt McCubbin. "It's a little bit of my story of how I fell in love with country music, and that's just a fun one."
"You don't hear many dancing songs anymore," he adds. "I think that's a perfect song to get out there with your girl and two-step."
4. "Son Of A Sinner" by Jelly Roll
"Son Of A Sinner" wasn't technically Jelly Roll's debut single. By the time the song came out in 2022, Jelly Roll had already been releasing music on his own. But after signing with BBR Music Group, Jelly Roll dropped "Son Of A Sinner" as a single to radio, and nothing was ever the same for him.
The vulnerable and honest song, from his debut Ballads of the Broken album, became an almost overnight hit, making the Nashville native an almost instant superstar.
"There [are] points in the song where it becomes extremely autobiographical," Jelly Roll tells Billboard. "Some music's meant to be heard, and some music is meant to be felt. Personally, I try to make the kind of music that's meant to be felt."
