10 Best Country Songs of 2025: Staff Picks

It was another banner year for country artists in 2025.

Morgan Wallen continued his domination on both the country and pop charts, while Lainey Wilson, Megan Moroney, Ella Langley, Russell Dickerson and Riley Green all reached new levels of success.

In addition to Moroney and Langley, there was a new class of artists all of whom experienced their first major flushes of success, including Zach Top, Tucker Wetmore, Carter Faith, Josh Ross, John Morgan and Chase Matthew. Top ushered in a growing neo-traditionalist movement that also includes artists like Jake Worthington and Braxton Keith. With all of the above artists releasing new music, it was a rich and varied musical year.

On Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, Wallen reigned, taking four different songs to the pinnacle in 2025, including “I’m the Problem,” which tied Jelly Roll’s “Liar” for the longest run at the top at five consecutive weeks. Fun fact: in 2025, Hootie & The Blowfish logged their first No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart for their appearance on Scotty McCreery’s “Bottle Rockets,” which features the Darius Rucker-led group singing their 1994 hit, “Hold My Hand.” In comparison, 21 songs hit No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart in 2025 (through Dec. 15), compared with 28 in 2024.

On the Country Songs chart, Wallen and Tate McRae’s “What I Want” spent 20 weeks at No 1, while Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” logged another 13 weeks at No. 1, following a staggering 27 weeks in 2024. That left little room for other songs, with only five other tunes reaching the summit in 2025 (through Dec. 15).

Below, Billboard spotlights our 10 favorite country songs that were released this year. Some were chart hits, but not all. Mainly, they found themselves on repeat on our own personal playlists.

Honorable mentions go to Kaitlin Butts’ “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me),” Carly Pearce’s “Dream Come True,” Chris Stapleton and Miranda Lambert’s “A Song To Sing,’ Megan Moroney’s “6 Months Later,” Russell Dickerson’s “Happen to Me,” Nate Smith’s “Fix What You Didn’t Break” and Thomas Rhett and Lanie Gardner’s “What Could Go Right.”