This ain't Texas! Country music renaissance in UK as genre surges 67% in 2024

From Beyoncé's socio-political reclaiming of the genre, to viral hits for Shaboozey and Dasha, country music is bigger than ever in the UK.

Giddy up and then some. Today, Official Charts can confirm that 2024 is the year of the country music renaissance in the UK, with the genre experiencing a 67% surge year-on-year.

New research by the Official Charts Company reveals that combined sales and streaming-equivalent sales of country singles in the UK so far in 2024 have already reached 11.5 million and counting, versus the 6.9 million for 2023 in the same time period (21 weeks).

Two weeks ago, Post Malone's collaboration with US country singer Morgan Wallen, I Had Some Help, debuted at Number 2 on the Official Singles Chart. The first single from a new country-influenced record by Posty, I Had Some Help made its mark as the first UK Top 10 single for Morgan Wallen, a veritable country superstar in America, who scored the biggest hit of 2023 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his single Last Night. It's not alone either, I Had Some Help is one of a hat-trick of country tunes currently riding in the UK Top 10.

Bolstered by several viral TikTok hits - like A Bar Song (Tipsy ) by Shaboozey (Number 3 peak) and Austin by Dasha (Number 7 peak) - and of course Beyoncé's chart-topping eighth studio album COWBOY CARTER, the streaming numbers for country as a genre are even more impressive...and opening the doors for newer artists to make their mark on a global scale.

MORE: The UK's most-streamed country songs of all time

"A lot of people I listen to are getting their flowers," Shaboozey, the rising self-styled maker of "music for modern cowboys" told Official Charts not long before earning his first Top 10 hit. "Vincent Neil Emerson from Texas, Leon Bridges; all homies that’ve been here for a while. Sierra Ferrell, as well."

"They’ve all been doing their stuff for years and the world’s finally come around to them. They’re some of the new pioneers of this new resurgence of Western music."

So far in 2024, country songs have claimed 1.3 billion UK streams, a 63% increase on the 800.1 million streams they received throughout the same time period in 2023.

And it's not just zeitgeist-y singles that are reaping the rewards of country's newfound popularity in the UK; country albums have also seen a 29% increase so far this year, going from a year-to-date total of 846,000 in 2023 to 1.1 million in 2024, a number that will only rise in the coming weeks and months.

MORE: See this week's Official Country Albums Chart

In news that will surprise practically no-one, Beyoncé's well-publicised heel turn into country this year with COWBOY CARTER proved to be no fluke for the sake of headlines. Delivering the first ever Number 1 country album in the UK by a black artist, Bey's exploration of country was an experiment in thoughtfully interrogating country music's relationship with race. Drawing a line between some of the black country musicians whose contributions to the genre have been mostly forgotten (including Linda Martell, who featured on several of the album's tracks), while also highlighting exciting new black musicians seeking to build a place of their own in the genre, like Shaboozey (A Bar Song's ascent was massively aided by the spotlight provided by his Beyoncé features) and Tanner Adell.

As it stands, COWBOY CARTER's lead single TEXAS HOLD 'EM right now ranks as the biggest country song of 2024 so far in the UK, as well as the fourth biggest overall, regardless of genre. According to Official Charts Company data, TEXAS HOLD 'EM has accumulated 655,000 UK chart units to date, including 71 million streams.

Earlier this year, TEXAS HOLD 'EM reached Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart. It was Queen Bey's sixth UK chart-topper and, with five non-consecutive weeks at the top, is also her longest-running Number 1 single.

But the story does not stop here.

Country music rides all the way into the UK Top 10

Official Charts Company data reveals that, throughout the entirety of 2023, just five country tracks made it into the Top 40 of the Official Singles Chart. Zach Bryan's emotive duet with Kacey Musgraves, I Remember Everything (a Number 1 hit for the duo in the US) was the highest-charting of the lot, reaching Number 19, becoming both acts' first Top 20 single here in the UK.

Every country song that reached the Official Chart Top 40 in 2023

TITLE	ARTIST	PEAK
I REMEMBER EVERYTHING	ZACH BRYAN FT KACEY MUSGRAVES	19
RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND	OLIVER ANTHONY MUSIC	23
LAST NIGHT	MORGAN WALLEN	28
FAST CAR	LUKE COMBS	30
DIAL DRUNK	NOAH KAHAN	32

But already in 2024, we have seen a sharp uptick in country music's impact on the Official Chart. May is yet to draw to a close and already the number of country songs entering the Official Singles Chart Top 40 has surpassed the whole of 2023.

A total of seven songs have reached the Top 40, all of which landed inside the Top 20. We've seen a country song reach Number 1 in the UK, with a further five charting in the Top 10.

Beyoncé, of course, leads here with chart-topping TEXAS HOLD 'EM, with a further two tracks from COWBOY CARTER, Dolly Parton cover-come-rewrite JOLENE (8) and Miley Cyrus duet II MOST WANTED (9) joining the party.

Hits from Post Malone & Morgan Wallen, Shaboozey and Dasha are currently riding high in this week's Top 10, while Zach Bryan & Kacey Musgraves flew even higher this year, with I Remember Everything hitting a brand new peak of Number 14.

Every country single to reach the Official Chart Top 40 in 2024 so far

TITLE	ARTIST	PEAK
TEXAS HOLD 'EM	BEYONCE	1
I HAD SOME HELP	POST MALONE/MORGAN WALLEN	2
A BAR SONG (TIPSY	SHABOOZEY	3
AUSTIN	DASHA	7
JOLENE	BEYONCE	8
II MOST WANTED	BEYONCE/MILEY CYRUS	9
I REMEMBER EVERYTHING	ZACH BRYAN FT KACEY MUSGRAVES	14

Check out the Official Chart Top 10 in 60 seconds as Country music accounts for 30% of this week's rundown.

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More country music coming in 2024

As well as an expected new country-focused album from Post Malone, there have long been rumblings that one of the greatest songwriters of her generation, Lana Del Rey will also be issuing a country record, rumoured to be titled Lasso, in September. Given that country songs emphasise narrative storytelling through lyricism, this seems like the perfect fit for Lana, whose writing has become increasingly self-effacing and esoteric. Zayn, whose previous solo work has sat comfortably in the Pop and R&B camp, has just released his own country album, Room Under The Stairs.

For the longest time, country has been a relatively hard genre to break in the UK. Dolly Parton has never achieved a UK Number 1 single, and neither has Shania Twain, though her crossover effort Come On Over in 1998 marked her as the first ever female country artist to reach Number 1 on the UK Official Albums Chart; the record also went on to become of the best-selling albums of all time here. Shania is still achieving chart-topping success into the 2020s, with last year's Queen of Me becoming her third Number 1 album.

These country icons paved the way for Taylor Swift to achieve monolithic cultural success when she properly transitioned from country singer to pop star with 2014's 1989. It's also worth noting Red, Swift's 2012 LP which mixed country with varying styles of pop and rock was her first UK Number 1 album.

Commenting on this new trend, Martin Talbot, Chief Executive of Official Charts says "The explosion of country music in the UK this year is a reflection of the growing interest in guitar and story-telling music over recent years, spanning country, Americana, folk and roots. Beyonce is undoubtedly this year’s queen of country (claiming Number 1 in the Official Singles and Albums Charts earlier this year with Texas Hold ‘Em and Cowboy Carter) – but she really does represent the tip of an iceberg, as the latest offerings involving Dasha, Shaboozey, Post Malone, Morgan Wallen, and many others indicate.

"Lana Del Rey is expected to release a country album later this year – and more broadly, the likes of Noah Kahan, Benson Boone, Teddy Swims and Michael Marcagi have staked a claim for drums and guitars in the current Official Singles Chart Top 10 recently. After a period dominated by beats-driven pop music in recent years, perhaps we are seeing the beginnings of a resurgence for more instrumentation-led repertoire?"

But why is country speaking to so many of us in the UK right now? We don't have the answer, but some of the artists who have seen their careers explode this year might.

Speaking exclusively to Official Charts, Dasha talked of country music entering "a new era" in 2024, saying that the success of the genre reflects a state where "it brings a touch of authenticity that's been missing from pop music for a while."

It's hard to argue with that statement.