Country music purists tend to believe the genre is an island by itself, without room for any crossover. Fortunately, plenty of artists have proven that theory wrong time and again. We picked four of our favorite country songs that also found a place on the pop charts, with massive success.
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1. "Need You Now" by Lady A
"Need You Now" became a No. 1 hit for Lady A (then as Lady Antebellum), in 2009. The song, the title track of their sophomore album, also landed at the top of the pop charts as well. It is a surprising success story for the song, written by band members Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood, along with Josh Kear, since they didn't expect it to even be released.
"We showed up to write with Josh Kear in Nashville, Tennessee," Haywood recalls to Smooth Radio. "He had a lot of another song kind of done. He was like, 'This song would be great for you guys'. And so we finished it. It didn't feel that exciting."
2. "Breathe" by Faith Hill
Faith Hill undoubtedly brought numerous pop music fans to country music, thanks to her 1999 hit, "Breathe." The song was actually a bigger hit at pop radio, spending an astonishing 17 weeks at the top of the charts. It also propelled Hill into global fame, thanks to the song and its accompanying sultry video.
After "Breathe," Hill dabbled in the pop world a bit more, with songs like "There You'll Be" and "Cry." But in spite of some backlash, Hill always insisted she was rooted in country music.
"I've got fans all over the world," Hill told The Gainesville Sun at the time. "But my country music fans are very important. I think they will appreciate and love the fact that I'm staying true to what it is that I need to do as an artist. They've heard bits and pieces of this kind of sound throughout my career and in my live shows."
3. "Love in the First Degree" by Alabama
It's hard to think of Alabama as anything but a country music band, but a few of their songs have dabbled on the pop charts as well. In 1981, Alabama released "Love in the First Degree" from their Feels So Right record, out the same year. The song is one of a few that hit the Top 10 on a non-country chart for Alabama, even if its crossover was unintentional.
"We're country first and crossover second," band member Teddy Gentry says (via
Classic Country Music Stories). "If crossovers come, that's great, but we would rather have a #1 country song than get lost in the middle of the country and pop charts."4. "Wasted on You" by Morgan Wallen
No list of country crossover songs would be complete without a Morgan Wallen song, and he has a long list to choose from. But one of his biggest crossover hits is "Wasted on You." The song, out in 2022 from his Dangerous: The Double Album, not only debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's country chart, but on all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart as well.
Wallen has written several of his own hits over the years. But even he knew he struck gold when he penned the song with Ernest, Josh Thompson and Ryan Vojtesak.
"I would say 'Wasted on You' is probably my favorite song I wrote on the record," Wallen says (via Taste of Country).
