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{{short description|Weekly chart published by Billboard}}File:Cheyenne Frontier Days (28690466397).jpg|thumb|right|250px|Florida Georgia Line holds the records for the most cumulative weeks atop the Hot Country Songs chart (106) and the most weeks atop the chart for a single song (50 for "Meant to Be", a collaboration with pop singer (Bebe Rexha]]).MAGAZINE,weblink Billboard Country Update: November 12, 2018, Billboard, November 12, 2018, November 13, 2018, November 13, 2018,weblink live, )Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sales and streaming.The current number-one song on the chart as of issue May 18 is "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozey.MAGAZINE,weblink Hot Country Songs, Billboard, May 15, 2024, May 15, 2024,

History

Billboard began compiling the popularity of country songs with its January 8, 1944, issue. Only the genre's most popular jukebox selections were tabulated, with the chart titled "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records".BOOK, Campbell, Michael, Popular Music in America:The Beat Goes On, 1 January 2012, Cengage Learning, Chapter 30 Honky Tonk, 125, 978-1133712602,weblink 25 April 2018, 4 April 2023,weblink live, For approximately ten years, from 1948 to 1958, Billboard used three charts to measure the popularity of a given song. In addition to the jukebox chart, these charts included:

• The "best sellers" chart – started 15 May 1948, as "Best Selling Retail Folk Records".
• An airplay chart – started 10 December 1949, as "Country & Western Records Most Played By Folk Disk Jockeys".

The juke box chart was discontinued in June 1957. Starting with the 20 October 1958, issue, Billboard began combining sales and radio airplay in figuring a song's overall popularity, counting them in one single chart called "Hot C&W Sides". The chart was published under the title Hot C&W Sides through the 27 October 1962, issue and "Hot Country Singles" thereafter, a title it would retain until 1990.BOOK, Joel Whitburn's Top Country Songs: 1944–2005, ix, Joel, Whitburn, Joel Whitburn, Record Research, 2005, 9780898201659, On 20 January 1990, the Hot Country Singles chart was reduced from 100 to 75 positions and began to be compiled entirely from information provided by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, a system which electronically monitors radio airplay of songs.MAGAZINE, R&B Enjoying Rare Dominance Over Rap, Billboard, 24 April 2004, 68,weblink 25 April 2018, 4 April 2023,weblink live, Four weeks later, on February 17, the chart was retitled "Hot Country Singles & Tracks". Beginning with the January 13, 2001, issue, the chart was reduced from 75 to 60 positions, and all songs on the chart at the time had their tally of weeks spent on the chart adjusted to count only weeks spent at No. 60 or higher.MAGAZINE, Jessen, Wade, January 13, 2001, Country Corner, Billboard,weblink Effective April 30, 2005, the chart was renamed "Hot Country Songs".Starting in 1990, the rankings were determined by Arbitron-tallied listener audience for each spin that a song received. The methodology was changed for the first chart published in 1992 to tally the amount of spins a song received, but in January 2005, the methodology reverted to the audience format. This change was brought on because of "label-sponsored spin programs" that had manipulated the chart several times in 2004.JOURNAL, 20 November 2004, Country returns to audience-based chart, 88,weblink 15 March 2016, 4 April 2023,weblink live, The Hot Country Songs chart methodology was changed starting with the 20 October 2012, issue to match the Billboard Hot 100: digital downloads and streaming data are combined with airplay from all radio formats to determine position. A new chart, the Country Airplay chart, was created using airplay exclusively from country radio stations. Following the change, songs that were receiving airplay on top-40 pop were given a major advantage over songs popular only on country radio, and as an unintended consequence, such songs began having record-long runs at the top of the chart. The first song to benefit from this change was Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", which had been declining in popularity but shot up to number one on the chart the first week the change took effect and stayed there until it set an all-time record for the most weeks at No. 1 by a solo female.NEWS, Jessen, Wade, Taylor Swift Makes Country Songs History,weblink 5 April 2018, Billboard Magazine, Billboard Musix, 6 December 2012, 17 May 2018,weblink live, This was followed almost immediately by Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise", which had the longest stay at number one of any song in the country chart's history (24 weeks),MAGAZINE, Jessen, Wade, Florida Georgia Line's 'Cruise' Sets Record For Longest No. 1 Run On Hot Country Songs,weblink August 18, 2013, Billboard (magazine), Billboard, August 1, 2013, August 7, 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130807054448weblink">weblink live, until it was surpassed by Sam Hunt's "Body Like a Back Road" in 2017 (34 weeks). The record was subsequently broken by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line's "Meant to Be" in 2018 (50 weeks).Billboard has not explicitly defined how it determines which songs qualify for the country chart and which ones do not, only that "a few factors are determined (...) first and foremost is musical composition" and that a song must "embrace enough elements of today's country music" to qualify. The 1990–2012 chart did not have such ambiguity, being objectively measured by airplay from specifically identified country stations alone. A later statement from Billboard elaborated on what those "few factors" entailed: "most notably the song's musical composition, but also how the song is marketed and promoted, the musical history of the artist, airplay the song receives and how the song is platformed on streaming services".WEB,weblink "Old Town Road" is only the third country song in 30 years to make it to make it to number one, 11 April 2019, 16 April 2019, 5 October 2019,weblink live, The 2019 country rap record "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X was a subject of controversy over this ambiguous standard after it initially appeared on the country chart, where it debuted and peaked at number 19, before Billboard took the song off subsequent charts, claiming it had made a mistake in including it. The song gained popularity through viral memes rather than radio, as only one country station, Radio Disney Country, had played it at the time of the charting.MAGAZINE,weblink Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road' Was a Country Hit. Then Country Changed Its Mind, Elias Leight, March 26, 2019, March 27, 2019, Rolling Stone, June 13, 2019,weblink live, After his death, Toby Keith broke a record, having nine of the top 10 songs on the Country Digital Song Sales chart at one time, topping the charts with “Don’t Let the Old Man In” MAGAZINE, Asker, Jim, 2024-02-13, Toby Keith Makes History as First Artist With 9 of the Top 10 on Country Digital Song Sales Chart,weblink 2024-02-18, Billboard, en-US,

Hot Country Songs chart achievements

Songs with most weeks at number one

These are the songs with 16 or more weeks at number one. Fifteen songs accomplished this feat between 1946 and 1964, but none did so again until after the 2012 reformulation; between "Almost Persuaded's" nine-week run in 1966 and the chart's reformulation in 2012, no song spent more than eight weeks atop the chart. Prolonged runs became commonplace again in 2012. {{as of|2024|February}}, twelve songs from this period have topped the chart for at least 16 weeks, and the six longest chart runs have all been since 2012.{| class="wikitable"! Weeks !! Song !! Artist !! Year(s) !! Source

	Meant to Be (Bebe Rexha song)>Meant to Be"	Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line	2017–18	HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/CHARTS/COUNTRY-SONGS/2018-11-17>TITLE=HOT COUNTRY SONGS	BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE)>BILLBOARD	ACCESS-DATE=2019-09-17	ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20181113084156/HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/CHARTS/COUNTRY-SONGS/2018-11-17, live,

	Body Like a Back Road" >	Sam Hunt >			TITLE=FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE NOW HAS 3 OF THE 5 LONGEST-LEADING HOT COUNTRY SONGS NO. 1S, THANKS TO 'MEANT TO BE'	ACCESS-DATE=APRIL 5, 2018	DATE=APRIL 3, 2018	ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20180403190602/HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTICLES/COLUMNS/CHART-BEAT/8280778/FLORIDA-GEORGIA-LINE-BEBE-REXHA-MEANT-TO-BE-NUMBER-ONE-HOT-COUNTRY-SONGS-18-WEEKS, live,

	I Hope (Gabby Barrett song)>I Hope"	Gabby Barrett	2020–21	HOT COUNTRY SONGS CHART>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/CHARTS/COUNTRY-SONGS/2021-03-20/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD	ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20221225213441/HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/CHARTS/COUNTRY-SONGS/2021-03-20/, live,

	Last Night (Morgan Wallen song)>Last Night"	Morgan Wallen	2023	MORGAN WALLEN CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/MORGAN-WALLEN/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

24	"Cruise (song)	" >| Florida Georgia Line|2012–13|

Fancy Like" >	Walker Hayes >			MAGAZINE = BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE)	>ACCESS-DATE = 2021-12-01	ARCHIVE-URL = HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20211130040839/HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/WALKER-HAYES/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/, live,

21	"I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms)"{{dagger}}	Eddy Arnold	1947–48	EDDY ARNOLD CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/EDDY-ARNOLD/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

"I'm Moving On (Hank Snow song)	"{{double-dagger}} >	Hank Snow >			ACCESS-DATE=JUNE 22, 2023	BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE)>BILLBOARD,

"In the Jailhouse Now"{{dagger}}	Webb Pierce	1955	HANK SNOW CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/WEBB-PIERCE/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

| "10,000 Hours"

Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber>			URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTICLES/BUSINESS/CHART-BEAT/9331413/MAREN-MORRIS-THE-BONES-KANE-BROWN-HOMESICK-TOP-COUNTRY-CHARTS	DATE=MARCH 10, 2020	ACCESS-DATE=MARCH 11, 2020	ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20200327054129/HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTICLES/BUSINESS/CHART-BEAT/9331413/MAREN-MORRIS-THE-BONES-KANE-BROWN-HOMESICK-TOP-COUNTRY-CHARTS, live,

20	"I Don't Hurt Anymore"{{dagger}}{{double-dagger}}	Hank Snow	1954	THE BILLBOARD BOOK OF TOP 40 COUNTRY HITS>FIRST=JOEL	DATE=1996	PUBLISHER=WATSON-GUPTILL	515>URL-ACCESS=REGISTRATION,weblink

Crazy Arms"§>	Ray Price (musician)>Ray Price	1956	THE BILLBOARD BOOK OF TOP 40 COUNTRY HITS>FIRST=JOEL	DATE=1996	PUBLISHER=WATSON-GUPTILL	516>URL-ACCESS=REGISTRATION,weblink

"I Remember Everything (Zach Bryan song)	" >	Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves >			ACCESS-DATE=FEBRUARY 13, 2024	BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE)>BILLBOARD,

19	"Bouquet of Roses (song)	"{{double-dagger}}>	Eddy Arnold>	|

The Bones (song)>The Bones"	Maren Morris	2020	HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/MAREN-MORRIS/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/>TITLE = MAREN MORRIS	BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE)>BILLBOARD	ARCHIVE-DATE = 2021-11-18	URL-STATUS = LIVE,

Walk On By (Leroy Van Dyke song)>Walk On By"	Leroy Van Dyke	1961–62	LEROY VAN DYKE CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/LEROY-VAN-DYKE/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

You Proof" >		|

	"H.O.L.Y."	Florida Georgia Line	2016

17	"Heartbreak Hotel"{{double-dagger}}	Elvis Presley	1956	ELVIS PRESLEY CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/ELVIS-PRESLEY/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

"Slowly (song)	"{{dagger}}{{double-dagger}} >		|

"Slippin' Around"{{double-dagger}}	Jimmy Wakely and Margaret Whiting	1949–50	JIMMY WAKELY CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/JIMMY-WAKELY/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

Die a Happy Man" >	Thomas Rhett >			MAGAZINE = BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE)	>ACCESS-DATE = 2021-12-01	ARCHIVE-URL = HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20210516023201/HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/MUSIC/THOMAS-RHETT/CHART-HISTORY/CSI, live,

16	"Love's Gonna Live Here"	Buck Owens	1963–64	BUCK OWENS CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/BUCK-OWENS/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

"Lovesick Blues"{{double-dagger}}	Hank Williams	1949–50	HANK WILLIAMS CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/HANK-WILLIAMS/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

"Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)"{{dagger}}	Tex Williams	1947–48	TEX WILLIAMS CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/TEX-WILLIAMS/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

"New Spanish Two Step"{{dagger}}	Bob Wills	1946–47	HANK SNOW CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/BOB-WILLS/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

"Guitar Polka"{{dagger}}	Al Dexter	1946–47	AL DEXTER CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/AL-DEXTER/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

Note: Songs marked {{dagger}} achieved the listed run on the Most Played in Juke Boxes chart (published 1944–58). Songs marked {{double-dagger}} achieved the listed run on the Best Sellers on Stores chart (published 1948–58). Songs marked § achieved the listed run on the Most Played by Jockeys chart (published 1949–58). All these songs also had shorter runs at number one on the other charts not indicated. In 1958 the three charts were merged to create Hot C&W Sides (now Hot Country Songs).

Artists with most cumulative weeks at number one

With at least 50+ weeks at # 1. As of the issue of Billboard dated July 22, 2023{| class="wikitable"! Weeks atnumber one !! Artist !! Source

106}}	Florida Georgia Line	HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTICLES/COLUMNS/CHART-BEAT/8477966/FLORIDA-GEORGIA-LINE-MARKS-100-WEEKS-ON-HOT-COUNTRY-SONGS>TITLE=FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE MARKS ONE HUNDRED TOTAL WEEKS ATOP HOT COUNTRY SONGS WITH 'MEANT TO BE'	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD	ARCHIVE-DATE=OCTOBER 4, 2018	URL-STATUS=LIVE,

84}}	George Strait	HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTICLES/COLUMNS/CHART-BEAT/8466527/BEBE-REXHA-FLORIDA-GEORGIA-LINE-MEANT-TO-BE-BREAKS-NEW-RECORD>TITLE=BEBE REXHA & FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE'S 'MEANT TO BE' BREAKS NEW RECORD	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD	ARCHIVE-DATE=JULY 24, 2018	URL-STATUS=LIVE,

82}}	Buck Owens

73}}	Tim McGraw	TIM MCGRAW CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/TIM-MCGRAW/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

72}}	Kenny Chesney	KENNY CHESNEY CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/KENNY-CHESNEY/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

60}}	Alan Jackson	ALAN JACKSON CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/ALAN-JACKSON/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

58}}	Morgan Wallen

57}}	Sonny James	SONNY JAMES CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/SONNY-JAMES/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

56}}	Merle Haggard	MERLE HAGGARD CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/MERLE-HAGGARD/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

53}}	Toby Keith	TOBY KEITH CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/TOBY-KEITH/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

52}}	Sam Hunt	SAM HUNT CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/SAM-HUNT/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

50}}	Keith Urban	KEITH URBAN CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/KEITH-URBAN/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

50}}	Bebe Rexha	BEBE REXHA CHART HISTORY>URL=HTTPS://WWW.BILLBOARD.COM/ARTIST/BEBE-REXHA/CHART-HISTORY/CSI/	MAGAZINE=BILLBOARD (MAGAZINE), Billboard,

Artists with the most number one hits

George Strait has the most number one hits, at 44.MAGAZINE,weblink George Strait, Billboard (magazine), Billboard, 2021-12-01, 2020-10-30,weblink live, Dolly Parton has the most number ones of any female artist, with 25.MAGAZINE,weblink Dolly Parton, Billboard (magazine), Billboard, 2021-12-01, 2022-06-19,weblink live,

See also

• List of number-one country hits (United States)
• American Country Countdown
• List of years in country music
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Hot country chart
• Country Airplay

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

• Whitburn, Joel. Top Country Songs 1944-2005 - 6th Edition. 2006.

External links

• Billboard Hot Country Songs chart – online version.

{{Hot Country Songs}}{{Billboard}}