Ready To Feel Old? Here Are 30 Country Songs Turning 30 In 2026

Happy 2026, y’all.

If you’re reading this, congratulations, you made it to another new year. We’re now officially more than a quarter of the way through the century, which is pretty insane to think about because if you were around and old to remember the year 2000 it seems like just yesterday everybody was freaking out over Y2K and computers crashing and a global disaster striking at midnight.

Well as we all know, you can’t slow down the hands of time. If we’re lucky enough to make it another year, everybody will get to celebrate another birthday and getting another year older. And as I was looking back at the list of songs that are turning 30 this year, it reminded me just how quick time flies.

Songs turning 30 this year were (obviously) released in 1996, a time in most of our lives when country music was arguably at its peak. It’s the year Tim McGraw married fellow country star Faith Hill, and Brooks & Dunn were nominated for a Grammy for “My Maria.”

We unfortunately lost the legendary Minnie Pearl and Faron Young in 1996, but another future country superstar named Zach Bryan was born that same year. Brooks & Dunn were dominating awards shows, being named Entertainer of the Year at both the CMA Awards and the ACM Awards. And the top new artists were up-and-comers named Trace Adkins and LeAnn Rimes.

In fact, a 14-year old Rimes was dominating awards shows with her debut single “Blue” and was well on her way to becoming one of the biggest country artists of the late ’90s. And at the CMA Awards, a newcomer named Bryan White won the Horizon Award (now known as New Artist of the Year), and while he would go on to have considerable success in the later half of the decade, it wouldn’t prove as long-lasting as some of the other new artists from that year. (“Sittin’ On Go” is still a banger though).

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to look back at some of the songs turning 30 this year just to see where country music was at 3 decades ago.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be more depressing than fun, and made me feel old that these songs I was listening to during my childhood (I was 8 years old in 1996) are now 30, but anyway, here they are:

“Blue Clear Sky” – George Strait

“My Maria” – Brooks & Dunn

“Strawberry Wine” – Deana Carter

“Every Light In The House” – Trace Adkins

“Heads Carolina, Tails California” – Jo Dee Messina

“Little Bitty” – Alan Jackson

“Time Marches On” – Tracy Lawrence

“Carried Away” – George Strait

“Bigger Than the Beatles” – Joe Diffie

“Does That Blue Moon Ever Shine On You” – Toby Keith (10)

“Wild Angels” – Martina McBride

“Too Much Fun” – Daryle Singletary

“She Never Lets It Go To Her Heart” – Tim McGraw

“No News” – Lonestar

“Like The Rain” – Clint Black

“Living In A Moment” – Ty Herndon

“To Be Loved By You” – Wynonna Judd

“Hypnotize The Moon” – Clay Walker

“Guys Do It All The Time” – Mindy McCready

“Daddy’s Money” – Ricochet (20)

“The Beaches of Cheyenne” – Garth Brooks

“All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down” – The Mavericks

“It Matters To Me” – Faith Hill

“Learning As You Go” – Rick Trevino

“Jacob’s Ladder” – Mark Wills

“One Way Ticket (Because I Can)” – LeAnn Rimes

“Rebecca Lynn” – Bryan White

“Stars Over Texas” – Tracy Lawrence

“Lonely Too Long” – Patty Loveless

“Mama Don’t Get Dressed Up For Nothing” – Brooks & Dunn

So many great songs. It’s easy to look at a list like this and wonder whether in 30 years we’ll still be celebrating any music released in 2026, or whether anything released today will quickly fade rather than stick around like so many songs from the ’90s.

Regardless, it’s fun to take a trip down memory lane and see the songs that have big anniversaries coming up this year.

Even if it does remind me that I’m inching closer to signing up for AARP every year…The post Ready To Feel Old? Here Are 30 Country Songs Turning 30 In 2026 first appeared on Whiskey Riff.