Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Why Country Music is Topping Charts and Filling Arenas

10/12/2024

Why Country Music is Topping Charts and Filling Arenas Country has exploded in popularity as new artists-and fans-flood in.

By

Alexander Gelfand

December 10, 2024

Illustration by Calef Brown

Country music is having a moment.

Country artists regularly top the Billboard Top 100 chart, which tracks the most popular songs in the US. The genre is the fastest growing in America, and 2023 was its best year ever, according to entertainment data firm Luminate. Pop stars like Post Malone and Lana Del Ray have been rushing to put out country albums. And global interest in country has been surging, with listenership rocketing in Germany and the UK, and festivals from Sydney to Stockholm attracting both homegrown and American talent.

I have been mind-blown by the European country fans. That, to me, is where I can say, Dang, that is crazy,' singer-songwriter Catie Offerman BM '13-who has played the Highways Festival at London's Royal Albert Hall and the C2C Festival, Europe's largest country event-says of the genre's rising popularity.

Catie Offerman BM '13

Image by David McClister

It's become cool, says Bob Stanton, a guitarist and associate professor at Berklee. In recent years, Stanton has seen growing numbers of students enroll in his country music class, through which generations of players-including guitarist Clay Cook '98 of the Zac Brown Band and Americana luminaries Gillian Welch PDM '92 and David Rawlings BM '92-have already passed.

The changing demographics of country musicians and fans, as well as the broadening of the genre, is driving this surge.

Much of the current demand is coming from Millennial and Gen Z listeners; and there are signs that the country music industry, which has historically sidelined women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community, is becoming more inclusive. This year's AmericanaFest in Nashville featured a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, along with OUTLaw Queer Country, a showcase for queer country performers.

Associate Professor Bob Stanton

Image by Lisa Stanton

I don't know how long it's going to take for there to be true acceptance. But I know it's getting better, says singer-songwriter Andrei Garthoff BM '13, whose experience as an Asian American country artist has veered from having hostile encounters with the KKK to playing AmericanaFest and the first Asian and Pacific Islanders Night at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. (Though he sees definite signs of improvement, Garthoff continues to encounter industry professionals who don't quite know what to make of an Asian American country artist; and he is now considering leveraging country's growing international appeal to build a following in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and mainland China to help garner industry support back in the US.)

At the same time, country's sonic palette is expanding, with more artists fusing traditional country elements with the sounds of contemporary rock, pop, and R&B-and breaking records in the process.

This year, Beyonc became the first Black female artist to top Billboard's country album chart with the wildly eclectic Cowboy Carter, which threw everything from Patsy Cline to Chicano rock into the mix. And the Nigerian American artist Shaboozey made history by simultaneously dominating all the major radio-airplay charts-including country, pop, and rhythmic, which tracks hip-hop and dance music-with the country-meets-hip-hop track A Bar Song (Tipsy), based on the 2001 song Tipsy by rapper J-Kwon.

Country has experienced spikes in popularity before, with artists such as Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, and Taylor Swift achieving mainstream success by appealing to broad popular tastes. Today, however, the entire genre seems poised to achieve newfound cultural prominence as it reinvents itself along multiple axes.

So what exactly is behind the rise of country music? And what does it mean for the future of the genre?

Andrei Garthoff BM '13

Image by Michael J. Patton

No BordersMembers of the Berklee community play many roles in the contemporary country scene, from performers and songwriters to producers and coaches.

Many say that the current ascendance of country music has as much to do with musical and technological trends as it does with country's traditional strengths. And as several point out, some of what appears to be new-namely, country's recent embrace of Black artists and contemporary R&B-has deep roots.

The people who invented country music were Black, says Stanton, referring to the many pioneering Black artists who helped develop the genre's musical repertoire and techniques in the 1920s and 1930s.

Indeed, what we now call country (and what record executives in the 1920s called hillbilly music ) emerged from a stew of African American and European American music that included English ballads, Appalachian string band tunes, spirituals, and the blues. Even the banjo, that quintessential early-country instrument, can be traced to West Africa.

Over time, country continued to draw on a range of sounds, from big-band swing to Mexican ranchera music, orchestral pop to arena rock, all while retaining an emphasis on narrative storytelling and relatable themes like heartbreak and loss.

Country music is storytelling, says Amanda Williams BM '99, a second-generation Nashville tunesmith (her late father, Kim Williams, is in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame) who provides coaching and career counseling to aspiring country songwriters through her Songpreneurs program.

According to Associate Professor Joel Schwindt, a musicologist at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee who is writing a book about authenticity in country music, there has long been a tension between the country community's desire to maintain a distinct musical identity apart from ma
LINK: https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/why-is-country-music-popular...
See more stories from berklee

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

13/08/2026

Dalet Demonstrates the Future of AI-Orchestrated Live Spo...

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced its participation in the IBC2026 Accelerator Media Innovation Pro...

13/08/2026

dzjinius to showcase new dzjinius on-set application at I...

dzjinius, the all-in-one production management platform for the media and entertainment industry, will showcase its new application, dzjinius on-set , at IBC20...

13/08/2026

BCE Demonstrates Sovereign Cloud Media Workflows powered...

Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE), a leading European provider of media services, system integration and product development, will demonstrate an end-to-end sove...

13/08/2026

Clear-Com to Showcase Communications Solutions for Broadc...

Clear-Com is returning to IBC 2026, taking place September 11-14 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. At Stand 10.D29, Clear-Com will spotlight the award-winning FreeSpe...

13/08/2026

Leader to highlight advanced Test and Measurement solutio...

Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, will showcase its comprehensive portfolio of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement ...

13/08/2026

KRK Brings Advanced Wireless Control to Professional Monitoring With New V Series Five Studio MonitorsKRK Brings Advanced Wireless

KRK Brings Advanced Wireless Control to Professional Monitoring With New V Serie...

13/08/2026

Anthony Noack Captures Artist's Journey in Estonia with Blackmagic Design

Anthony Noack Captures Artist's Journey in Estonia with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton August 12, 2026 0 Comments Solo filmmaker documents concept...

13/08/2026

ARRI Image Science makes its mobile debut in the HONOR Robot Phone

ARRI Image Science makes its mobile debut in the HONOR Robot Phone Brie Clayton August 12, 2026 0 Comments Hero image displays the HONOR Robot Phone, ...

13/08/2026

ASG Adds Eran Binyamin Zeitoun as Senior Technical Program Manager

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/08/2026

Vinten To Feature Manual, Robotic Camera Support Offerings At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/08/2026

SMPTE Unveils IBC 2026 Plans

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/08/2026

IP Showcase on the Water Announces Schedule for IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/08/2026

Spectrum, Optimum Ink New Deals for News Carriage and Ads

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/08/2026

IAB Tech Lab Updates Privacy Standards

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/08/2026

Suitest Highlights New AI-Powered Device Testing and Qual...

Suitest's Test Automation Platform Simplifies Video Quality Assurance, Monitoring, and Device Certification Across the OTT Ecosystem At IBC2026, Suitest, a...

13/08/2026

Cinegy showcases powerful, agile, cost-effective media so...

Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, will have its key software solutions ready to demonstrate at SET Expo 2026 (18 20...

13/08/2026

Scripps Research establishes endowed chair honoring Peter K. Vogt, influential pioneer in cancer research

Scripps Research has established the Peter K. Vogt Endowed Chair, a new faculty ...

13/08/2026

New research offers fresh insights for how to make better vaccines

LA JOLLA, CA-A vaccine's molecular structure plays a key role in determining how the immune system responds and prepares to protect the body from future exp...

13/08/2026

Class Is in Session: GeForce NOW Levels Up Linux, Chromebooks and More

GeForce NOW is giving cloud gaming an extra-credit upgrade just in time for back-to-school season. The native Linux app for GeForce NOW is officially out of be...

12/08/2026

Op-Ed: The Versioning Playbook - How Rights Holders are Getting More From Live Events

Traditional live sports production has focused on creating the best possible pro...

12/08/2026

IBC 2026: FOR-A to Demonstrate Production and Processing Solutions

FOR-A will showcase a range of broadcast and production products at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B53, Amsterdam RAI, September 11-14), including software-based switching, A...

12/08/2026

IBC 2026: AMWA and EBU to Demo NMOS BCP-008 Multi-Vendor IP Status Reporting

The Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and EBU will host live demonstrations of NMOS BCP-008 Minimum Status Reporting at IBC2026 (September 11-14) on th...

12/08/2026

IBC 2026: Dalet Launches Solution Suites for Media Production and Archive Management

Dalet has announced Dalet Solution Suites, a portfolio of cloud-native solutions...

12/08/2026

Net Insight Enables Centralized Remote Production of Blinkfestivalen 2026 for NRK

Net Insight has announced that DMC Production Norway has selected its Open Live ...

12/08/2026

Zixi Appoints Alyson Stewart as Senior Director of Sales

Zixi has appointed Alyson Stewart as Senior Director of Sales. Stewart will be responsible for direct sales and partnerships, with a focus on broadcasters, medi...

12/08/2026

LiveU Powers Host Broadcast Operations at 2026 Glasgow Games

LiveU's LU900Q intelligent production unit was deployed as part of the host broadcast operation for the Games in Glasgow (July 23-August 2, 2026). Host broa...

12/08/2026

Disney+ and ESPN Acquire Multi-Year Formula E Rights Beginning 2026/27 Season

Disney , ESPN, and Formula E have announced a multi-year deal bringing all Formula E races to Disney and ESPN in the U.S. and to Disney in most international...

12/08/2026

PSSI Launches X-LIVE Managed Service for Live Event Transmission

PSSI has launched X-LIVE, a managed service offering dedicated engineering resources and Appear encoding infrastructure for live event signal processing and tra...

12/08/2026

MoonPay X Games League Draws 18.3 Million Viewers in Inaugural Summer Season

The inaugural MoonPay X Games League Summer Season reached 18.3 million unique live viewers across three stops on ABC and ESPN, a 78.5% increase compared to the...

12/08/2026

IBC 2026: BBright Adds RIST Support to IP-Gateway

BBright will showcase an expanded IP-Gateway at IBC2026, adding support for all RIST profiles to its existing support for MPEG Transport Stream over IP with SMP...

12/08/2026

IBC 2026: BBright Adds EBU OGraf Graphics Support to UHD and ST 2110 Playout Platform

BBright will demonstrate EBU OGraf animated graphics support in its software-bas...

12/08/2026

Interra Systems to Showcase QC and Monitoring Solutions at SET Expo 2026

Interra Systems will demonstrate its ORION, BATON, BATON Captions, and VEGA solutions at SET Expo 2026 (August 17-20, Distrito Anhembi, S o Paulo) at partner Li...

12/08/2026

DPA Microphones Appoints Raul Contreras as West Coast Regional Sales Manager

DPA Microphones has appointed Raul Contreras as West Coast Regional Sales Manager. In the role, Contreras will oversee sales and customer relationships througho...

12/08/2026

Save the Date: SVG LIVE! Returns to LA Nov. 10 to Spotlight Sports & Entertainment Production

Live spectacles ranging from the Super Bowl and FIFA World Cup to the Oscars and...

12/08/2026

Love, Separation, and the Cost of Comfort in How to Divorce During the War

Writer-Director Andrius Bla evi ius and crew attend the premiere of How to Divorce During the War at The Ray Theatre on January 26, 2026, in Park City, UT. (P...

12/08/2026

SSL 360 gets a major update

Enhanced DAW & plug-in control for the UC1, UF8 and UF1 The software that powers SSL's range of control surfaces has just received a major update that d...

12/08/2026

Triton Audio launch the Tilt EQ

In-line preamp features one-knob EQ In addition to their range of in-line preamps, Triton Audio recently managed to squeeze a compressor into an enclosure t...

12/08/2026

AudioRoute from Arvital Audio

Captures system audio with or without a DAW Depending on your setup, capturing system audio in a DAW can be a tedious process, so much so that Arvital Audio...

12/08/2026

2026 NATIONAL NAIDOC AWARDS TO BROADCAST ON NITV LIVE AND DIRECT FROM MPARNTWE

2026 NATIONAL NAIDOC AWARDS TO BROADCAST ON NITV LIVE AND DIRECT FROM MPARNTWE 12 August, 2026 Media releases First Nations excellence will be celebrated l...

12/08/2026

More than six million sports fans stay with SBS for Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift

More than six million sports fans stay with SBS for Tour de France and Tour de F...

12/08/2026

Nielsen Introduces Groundbreaking Streaming Ad Measurement in Brazil

Nielsen is cementing Digital Ad Intel as the new go-to currency for digital ad intelligence in Brazil-now with streaming monitoring in the mix. S o Paulo, Augu...

12/08/2026

LPTV Advocates Petition FCC for Voluntary 5G Broadcasts

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Tubi Media Group Inks Content Discovery Deal with Gracenote

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Matrox Video Showcases IP-Based and Software-Defined Tech...

As Matrox Video celebrates 50 years of trusted innovation, the company will showcase its portfolio of interoperable IP technologies and software-defined innovat...

12/08/2026

SMPTE Showcases AI and Open Media Workflows and Industry...

SMPTE, the home of media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced a program of expert-led sessions, professional workshops and networking eve...

12/08/2026

Berklee Announces Full Details for Inaugural Block Party, a Music Festival Next to Fenway Park

Berklee Announces Full Details for Inaugural Block Party, a Music Festival Next ...

12/08/2026

ACLU Requests ABC Station Probe Documents from FCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...