Just How Popular Were All The Songs That Went #1 On Country Radio In 2025… Actually?

Making sense of the madness.

Despite country radio clearly losing the decades-long stranglehold it has had on consumers for the better part of the past five or so years, there’s no denying that it’s still a major player in terms of introducing casual listeners to music as it has throughout history. As pretty everyone knows by now, however, country radio has taken what can only be described as a nose-dive in quality over the years.

Gone are the days when you can fire up your local station and hear some stone-cold country songs, complete with some fiddle and steel, or even some hidden gems that a local DJ caught wind of early. Of course, that ended when major corporations such as iHeartRadio bought out the majority of radio stations around the country. Nowadays, you admittedly have to actively seek out the best country music has to offer, whether it’s here at Whiskey Riff, on streaming services or online on various different social media platforms.

You always hear about how bad country radio is, but the question that remains is just how bad is it?

Well, U.S. Radio Updater, a prominent, award-winning radio chart tracker on X, posted every song that went #1 on US Country Radio in 2025, and the list is quite the doozy.

Unsurprisingly, Morgan Wallen owns the most #1s on country radio in 2025 with four entries (“Love Somebody,” “I’m The Problem,” “Just In Case” and “I Got Better”). While you can certainly argue a lot about the quality of Wallen’s musical output, there’s simply no denying that there’s an overwhelming demand for his music to be played on stations around the country, especially considering the fact that he was named Billboard’s Top Artist of the Year earlier in the month.

Undeniably, there are a bunch of other admittedly quality, popular songs that also went #1 throughout the year. In particular, Zach Top’s “I Never Lie,” Ella Langley’s “weren’t for the wind,” Riley Green’s “Worst Way” and “Don’t Mind If I Do” as well as Luke Combs’ “Back in the Saddle” were some of the bright spots that actually hit the trifecta of being quality songs, organically popular and reaching #1 on country radio.

However, when you take a look at the rest of the songs present on the list of #1s throughout the year, there are quite a few headscratchers.

Before I dive into the discrepancy between some of the songs that went #1 on country radio throughout 2025, here’s the full list.

Every #1 Song On Country Radio (2025)

1. “Wind Up Missin’ You” – Tucker Wetmore
2. “Boys Back Home” – Dylan Marlowe & Dylan Scott
3. “Bigger Houses” – Dan + Shay
4. “Love Somebody” – Morgan Wallen
5. “4X4XU” – Lainey Wilson
6. “Guy For That” – Post Malone ft. Luke Combs
7. “I Ain’t Sayin'” – Jordan Davis
8. “Liar” – Jelly Roll
9. “I’m Gonna Love You” – Cody Johnson & Carrie Underwood
10. “This Town’s Been Too Good To Us” – Dylan Scott
11. “Hometown Home” – LOCASH
12. “Friends Like That” – John Morgan ft. Jason Aldean
13. “Forever To Me” – Cole Swindell
14. “Texas” – Blake Shelton
15. “I Never Lie” – Zach Top
16. “I’m The Problem” – Morgan Wallen
17. “Whiskey Drink” – Jason Aldean
18. “Am I Okay?” – Megan Moroney
19. “Worst Way” – Riley Green
20. “Backseat Driver” – Kane Brown
21. “This Heart” – Corey Kent
22. “weren’t for the wind” – Ella Langley
23. “Just In Case” – Morgan Wallen
24. “Single Again” – Josh Ross
25. “Country House” – Sam Hunt
26. “Park” – Tyler Hubbard
27. “Fix What You Didn’t Break” – Nate Smith
28. “Country Song Came On” – Luke Bryan
29. “After All The Bars Are Closed” – Thomas Rhett
30. “Backup Plan” – Bailey Zimmerman & Luke Combs
31. “Good News” – Shaboozey
32. “Happen To Me” – Russell Dickerson
33. “Bottle Rockets” – Scotty McCreery ft. Hootie & The Blowfish
34. “Heart of Stone” – Jelly Roll
35. “Bar None” – Jordan Davis
36. “I Got Better” – Morgan Wallen
37. “Back In The Saddle” – Luke Combs
38. “Heavens To Betsy” – Jackson Dean
39. “Darlin'” – Chase Matthew
40. “Somewhere Over Laredo” – Lainey Wilson
41. “3,2,1” – Tucker Wetmore
42. “Don’t Mind If I Do” – Riley Green ft. Ella Langley
43. “Cowgirl” – Parmalee

Obviously, there’s no hard and fast way to judge a song’s popularity nowadays. While chart success is always one of the easiest ways to do so, you also have to factor in other things, such as pure streaming numbers on platforms such as Spotify, virality on social media platforms like TikTok and more.

For the sake of this exercise (and to truly find out how out of touch country radio is currently), I’m going to be evaluating all 43 #1 songs on country radio in 2025 based on two key metrics: Spotify streams and placement on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, given the fact that Spotify streams do not take radio play into account, and the Hot Country Songs chart also accounts for other factors such as streaming and digital sales. While it’s not a perfect system, it gives a more rounded look at how individual tracks are performing across multiple different measurements instead of simply radio.

I’ll be judging and ranking songs in three separate groups: popular, moderately popular and unpopular. How does one receive these rankings, you might ask? For this experiment, I’ll be evaluating them using two separate thresholds that a song must cross: 50 million streams on Spotify and a Top 10 placement on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. If a song hits both, it will be deemed popular. If a song hits one of the two, it will be deemed moderately popular. And if a song fails to reach either, it will be named unpopular.

While there could be different ways to evaluate the songs present on the list, I feel this gives an overall look at how well a song is performing to the general public, not just in the eyes of radio programmers across the country.

Without further ado, let’s see which songs truly made an impact outside of radio in 2025.

Popular Songs

• “Wind Up Missin’ You” – Tucker Wetmore
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #6
  • Spotify Streams: 393 million
• “Love Somebody” – Morgan Wallen
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #1
  • Spotify Streams: 400 million
• “4X4XU” – Lainey Wilson
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #9
  • Spotify Streams: 140 million
• “Guy For That” – Post Malone ft. Luke Combs
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #7
  • Spotify Streams: 298 million
• “Liar” – Jelly Roll
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #5
  • Spotify Streams: 176 million
• “I’m Gonna Love You” – Cody Johnson & Carrie Underwood
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #7
  • Spotify Streams: 100 million
• “I Never Lie” – Zach Top
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #6
  • Spotify Streams: 280 million
• “I’m The Problem” – Morgan Wallen
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #1
  • Spotify Streams: 317 million
• “Worst Way” – Riley Green
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #5
  • Spotify Streams: 336 million
• “weren’t for the wind” – Ella Langley
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #4
  • Spotify Streams: 230 million
• “Just In Case” – Morgan Wallen
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #1
  • Spotify Streams: 270 million
• “After All The Bars Are Closed” – Thomas Rhett
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #8
  • Spotify Streams: 96 million
• “Backup Plan” – Bailey Zimmerman & Luke Combs
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #6
  • Spotify Streams: 101 million
• “Good News” – Shaboozey
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #3
  • Spotify Streams: 201 million
• “Happen To Me” – Russell Dickerson
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #6
  • Spotify Streams: 84 million
• “Bar None” – Jordan Davis
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #6
  • Spotify Streams: 50 million
• “I Got Better” – Morgan Wallen
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #1
  • Spotify Streams: 218 million
• “Don’t Mind If I Do” – Riley Green ft. Ella Langley
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #5
  • Spotify Streams: 170 million

Moderately Popular Songs

• “Boys Back Home” – Dylan Marlowe & Dylan Scott
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #18
  • Spotify Streams: 84 million
• “I Ain’t Sayin'” – Jordan Davis
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #12
  • Spotify Streams: 102 million
• “This Town’s Been Too Good To Us”
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #17
  • Spotify Streams: 175 million
• “Am I Okay?” – Megan Moroney
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #12
  • Spotify Streams: 156 million
• “Single Again” – Josh Ross
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #22
  • Spotify Streams: 71 million
• “Fix What You Didn’t Break” – Nate Smith
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #14
  • Spotify Streams: 61 million
• “Bottle Rockets” – Scotty McCreery ft. Hootie & The Blowfish
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #6
  • Spotify Streams: 26 million
• “Back in the Saddle” – Luke Combs
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #4
  • Spotify Streams: 44 million
• “Darlin'” – Chase Matthew
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #13
  • Spotify Streams: 93 million
• “Somewhere Over Laredo” – Lainey Wilson
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #7
  • Spotify Streams: 27 million
• “3,2,1” – Tucker Wetmore
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #14
  • Spotify Streams: 35 million

Unpopular Songs

• “Bigger Houses” – Dan + Shay
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #20
  • Spotify Streams: 45 million
• “Hometown Home” – LOCASH
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #21
  • Spotify Streams: 6 million
• “Friends Like That” – John Morgan ft. Jason Aldean
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #16
  • Spotify Streams: 19 million
• “Forever To Me” – Cole Swindell
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #25
  • Spotify Streams: 25 million streams
• “Texas” – Blake Shelton
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #16
  • Spotify Streams: 41 million
• “Whiskey Drink” – Jason Aldean
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #25
  • Spotify Streams: 25 million
• “Backseat Driver” – Kane Brown
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #16
  • Spotify Streams: 32 million
• “This Heart” – Corey Kent
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #27
  • Spotify Streams: 41 million
• “Country House” – Sam Hunt
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #27
  • Spotify Streams: 12 million
• “Park” – Tyler Hubbard
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #24
  • Spotify Streams: 24 million
• “Country Song Came On” – Luke Bryan
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #25
  • Spotify Streams: 8 million
• “Heart of Stone” – Jelly Roll
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #14
  • Spotify Streams: 22 million
• “Heavens To Betsy” – Jackson Dean
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #20
  • Spotify Streams: 9 million
• “Cowgirl” – Parmalee
  • Hot Country Songs Peak: #17
  • Spotify Streams: 3 million

And there you have it.

If you weren’t counting, out of the 43 #1 songs in 2025, there were 18 popular songs, 11 moderately popular and 14 unpopular songs populating the top of country radio throughout the year. Keep in mind, this is not a hit against any of the songs or artists present on this list; it’s simply a guide to deciphering how country radio is currently operating at this stage in its life.

If there’s anything to gather from this exercise, it’s the fact that country radio is surprisingly doing a pretty good job playing music that people want to listen to. Again, there’s a LOT to be said about the quality of a majority of the songs on this list, but the fact that 18/43 of the songs that went this #1 are, by all measures, universal hits to the public shows that, for the most part, programmers are still in tune with what the public wants to hear.

The one thing that cannot be ignored, however, is the MAJOR discrepancies with some of the middling songs in my appointed “unpopular” tier. The fact that songs like LOCASH’s “Hometown Home” and Parmalee’s “Cowgirl” (which is a multi-week #1, mind you) can shoot all the way to #1 with an astonishingly low amount of streams (6 million and 3 million, respectively) point to not only some incredible chart gaming from the artists’ labels but also the potential of songs being forced into regular rotation across the nation by said labels. The same can be said about Luke Bryan’s “Country Song Came On” and Jackson Dean’s “Heavens To Betsy,” which also share similarly low streaming numbers. Of course, some songs can credit any and all of their streaming numbers to being featured on country radio, which in turn also gets them onto certain Spotify playlists to boost streams, but that makes it all the more interesting when a song tops the country charts and does NOT stream well.

Ultimately, it’s been well-documented that radio in general is slowly but surely dying thanks to the rise of streaming. While I wouldn’t consider this list and further exercise a nail in the coffin in terms of radio’s vitality or reputation, some of the less popular songs present here do raise some interesting questions surrounding just how much power major labels still have on influencing stations across the country.The post Just How Popular Were All The Songs That Went #1 On Country Radio In 2025… Actually? first appeared on Whiskey Riff.