2021 in country music

This is a list of notable events in country music that took place, or will take place, in 2021.

2021 in music

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By topic
List of albums released

List of years in country music (table)
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Events[]

• January 4 – Florida Georgia Line duo members Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley announce plans to release solo music, but will not be separating.^[1]
• January 20 – Following the release of his album Dangerous: The Double Album, Morgan Wallen becomes the first artist to have six songs in the top ten of the Hot Country Songs charts at the same time.^[2] He also becomes the first artist to debut at the top of the Hot Country Songs and Top Country Albums charts simultaneously, as well as the first artist to have more than one song debut at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart.^[3]
• January 27 – At the age of 84, legendary singer-songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson officially announces his retirement from performing after more than five active decades in the entertainment industry.^[4]
• February 3 –
  • Morgan Wallen, whose album Dangerous was number one on the Billboard 200 at the time, has his recording contract with Big Loud Records indefinitely suspended after a video emerges of him using a racial slur. Wallen was also removed from numerous playlists and dropped from more than 400 radio stations. The Academy of Country Music Awards subsequently announced that he would be removed from eligibility for their forthcoming 2021 ceremony.^[5][6]
  • T.J Osborne, frontman and half of successful duo Brothers Osborne, comes out as gay, making him the first openly gay male artist signed to a major country label.^[7]
• February 23 – Taylor Swift's "Love Story (Taylor's Version)", a re-recorded version of her 2008 hit "Love Story", debuts at #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart, becoming the first artist to hit #1 twice on that chart with a single song, since Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You", in 1974 and 1982.
• March 5 – Lonestar lead singer Richie McDonald announces that he will be leaving the band to pursue a career with The Frontmen of Country, a trio also consisting of Tim Rushlow and Larry Stewart, the former lead singers of Little Texas and Restless Heart, respectively, and will be replaced with former Sons of the Desert lead singer Drew Womack. McDonald previously departed Lonestar in 2007 to pursue a solo career, but then returned in 2011.^[8]
• March 22 - Morgan Wallen's Dangerous: The Double Album becomes the first album to spend its first ten weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 since 1987.^[9]
• April 1 – Confederate Railroad lead singer Danny Shirley breaks his back in an undisclosed accident.^[10]
• June 11 – High Valley mandolin player Curtis Rempel announces he is leaving the group and moving back to his hometown in Alberta to pursue a business with his wife, leaving older brother and frontman Brad Rempel as the last remaining of three brothers who formed the group.^[11]
• July 13 – Ashley Monroe announces that she has been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer.^[12]
• July 16 – Tanya Tucker announces she underwent emergency hip replacement surgery and was forced to postpone three tour dates.^[13]

Grand Ole Opry[]

• January 21 – The members of Lady A are invited by Darius Rucker to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, effective immediately.^[14]
• February 6 – A year after her invitation on February 29, 2020, Rhonda Vincent is officially inducted by Dierks Bentley as an Opry member after her initial induction date was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[15]
• June 22 – Carly Pearce was invited by Dolly Parton to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry and she was officially inducted on August 3, 2021 by Trisha Yearwood.
• August 11 – Southern gospel group The Isaacs are invited by Ricky Skaggs to become Opry members, with their induction set for September 14.

Top hits of the year[]

The following songs placed within the Top 20 on the Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay, and/or Canada Country charts in 2021:

Singles released by American and Australian artists[]

Songs	Airplay	Canada	Single	Artist	References
1	15	12	"7 Summers"	Morgan Wallen	[16]
13	—	—	"865"	Morgan Wallen	[16]
25	25	4	"All Night"	Brothers Osborne	[17]
7	5	6	"Almost Maybes"	Jordan Davis	[18]
1	—	—	"Am I the Only One"	Aaron Lewis	[19]
7	1	2	"Beers and Sunshine"	Darius Rucker	[20]
1	1	1	"Better Together"	Luke Combs	[21]
5	1	1	"Blame It on You"	Jason Aldean	[22]
4	1	3	"Breaking Up Was Easy in the 90s"	Sam Hunt	[23]
7	1	1	"Champagne Night"	Lady A	[24]
9	17	32	"Chasing After You" [A]	Ryan Hurd with Maren Morris	[25]
21	20	26	"Cold as You" [A]	Luke Combs	[21]
13	11	22	"Cold Beer Calling My Name" [A]	Jameson Rodgers featuring Luke Combs	[26]
9	8	1	"Country Again" [A]	Thomas Rhett	[27]
15	—	—	"Cover Me Up"	Morgan Wallen	[16]
17	—	—	"Dangerous"	Morgan Wallen	[16]
5	1	1	"Down to One"	Luke Bryan	[28]
3	1	7	"Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen."	Chase Rice featuring Florida Georgia Line	[29]
11	34	45	"Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)" [A]	Elle King & Miranda Lambert	[30]
2	1	1	"Famous Friends"	Chris Young featuring Kane Brown	[31]
1	27	30	"Fancy Like" [A]	Walker Hayes	[32]
1	1	1	"Forever After All"	Luke Combs	[21]
29	19	47	"Freedom Was a Highway" [A]	Jimmie Allen & Brad Paisley	[33]
2	1	8	"Glad You Exist" [A]	Dan + Shay	[34]
2	2	2	"Gone"	Dierks Bentley	[35]
1	1	3	"The Good Ones"	Gabby Barrett	[36]
1	1	10	"Good Time"	Niko Moon	[37]
10	2	10	"Happy Does"	Kenny Chesney	[38]
2	1	1	"Hell of a View"	Eric Church	[39]
6	2	1	"Hole in the Bottle"	Kelsea Ballerini	[40]
18	4	33	"How They Remember You"	Rascal Flatts	[41]
4	2	26	"I Should Probably Go to Bed"	Dan + Shay	[34]
16	12	4	"I Was on a Boat That Day" [A]	Old Dominion	[42]
2	15	45	"If I Didn't Love You" [A]	Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood	[22]
3	1	1	"Just the Way"	Parmalee & Blanco Brown	[43]
24	16	31	"Knowing You" [A]	Kenny Chesney	[38]
7	1	9	”Lady”	Brett Young	[44]
26	17	14	"Like a Lady" [A]	Lady A	[45]
3	42	—	"Lil Bit" [A]	Nelly & Florida Georgia Line	[46]
4	1	1	"Long Live"	Florida Georgia Line	[47]
1	57	—	"Love Story (Taylor's Version)"	Taylor Swift	[48]
3	1	1	"Made for You"	Jake Owen	[49]
9	—	—	"Memory"	Kane Brown & Blackbear	[50]
20	13	23	"Memory I Don't Mess With" [A]	Lee Brice	[51]
12	9	9	"Minimum Wage"	Blake Shelton	[52]
2	—	—	"Mr. Perfectly Fine"	Taylor Swift	[48]
8	5	35	"Momma's House"	Dustin Lynch	[53]
19	—	—	"More Surprised Than Me"	Morgan Wallen	[16]
19	12	36	"My Boy" [A]	Elvie Shane	[54]
18	—	—	"Neon Eyes"	Morgan Wallen	[16]
23	15	2	"Next Girl" [A]	Carly Pearce	[55]
2	54	—	"No Body, No Crime"	Taylor Swift featuring Haim	[48]
5	2	23	"Nobody"	Dylan Scott	[56]
10	10	1	"One Too Many"	Keith Urban featuring P!nk	[57]
5	39	—	"Sand in My Boots" [A]	Morgan Wallen	[16]
6	6	1	"Settling Down"	Miranda Lambert	[58]
4	1	2	"Single Saturday Night"	Cole Swindell	[59]
1	2	3	"Starting Over"	Chris Stapleton	[60]
31	21	4	"Tequila Little Time" [A]	Jon Pardi	[61]
8	9	10	"Things a Man Oughta Know" [A]	Lainey Wilson	[62]
23	16	4	"Undivided"	Tim McGraw & Tyler Hubbard	[63]
10	—	—	"Warning"	Morgan Wallen	[16]
1	—	—	"Wasted on You"	Morgan Wallen	[16]
6	4	1	"Waves" [A]	Luke Bryan	[28]
14	3	8	"We Didn't Have Much" [A]	Justin Moore	[64]
1	1	1	"What's Your Country Song"	Thomas Rhett	[27]
6	—	—	"You All Over Me"	Taylor Swift featuring Maren Morris	[48]
18	28	44	"You Should Probably Leave" [A]	Chris Stapleton	[65]
22	10	39	"You Time" [A]	Scotty McCreery	[66]

Singles released by Canadian artists[]

Songs	Airplay	Canada	Single	Artist	References
—	—	1	"All Night to Figure It Out"	Jade Eagleson	[67]
—	—	12	"Been a Minute" [A]	Hunter Brothers	[68]
—	—	1	"Boys"	Dean Brody featuring Mickey Guyton	[69]
—	—	20	"Diamonds in a Whiskey Glass"	Gord Bamford	[70]
—	—	5	"Drinkin' Songs"	MacKenzie Porter	[71]
—	—	15	"Every Time You Take Your Time"	Aaron Goodvin	[72]
—	59	8	"F-150"	Robyn Ottolini	[73]
—	—	1	"A Few Good Stories"	Brett Kissel	[74]
—	—	8	"Fighting"	Tyler Joe Miller	[75]
—	—	19	"Girl Who Didn't Care" [A]	Tenille Townes	[76]
—	—	6	"Give It to Me Straight"	Tenille Arts	[77]
—	—	10	"Good on You"	Lindsay Ell	[78]
—	—	17	"It Didn't"	Madeline Merlo	[79]
—	—	7	"Lightning Bug" [A]	Dean Brody	[69]
—	—	17	"Lightning in a Bottle" [A]	Nate Haller
—	—	1	"Make a Life, Not a Living"	Brett Kissel	[74]
—	—	15	"Mapdot"	Jess Moskaluke	[80]
—	—	16	"Me Without You" [A]	Tim & the Glory Boys	[81]
—	—	13	"Neverland"	Andrew Hyatt	[82]
—	—	13	"Never Giving Up on You"	Meghan Patrick	[83]
—	—	5	"Not Gonna Not"	Reklaws	[84]
—	—	11	"Only a Woman"	Matt Lang	[85]
—	—	6	"Over All Over Again" [A]	James Barker Band	[86]
—	—	1	"River's Still Running"	High Valley	[87]
—	—	12	"Shotgun Rider"	Tebey	[88]
—	—	1	"Some Things Never Change"	Dallas Smith featuring Hardy	[89]
7	3	9	"Somebody Like That"	Tenille Arts	[77]
—	—	10	"Without a Prayer"	Tim & the Glory Boys	[81]

Top new album releases[]

US	Album	Artist	Record Label	Release Date	Reference
3	Body Language	Blake Shelton	Warner Nashville	May 21	[90]
2	Country Again: Side A	Thomas Rhett	Valory	April 30	[91]
1	Dangerous: The Double Album	Morgan Wallen	Big Loud	January 8	[92]
3	Famous Friends	Chris Young	RCA Nashville	August 6	[93]
1	Fearless (Taylor's Version)	Taylor Swift	Republic Records	April 9
6	Gold Chain Cowboy	Parker McCollum	MCA Nashville	July 30
3	Greenfields	Barry Gibb	Capitol	January 8	[94]
3	Heart	Eric Church	EMI Nashville	April 16
3	Life Rolls On	Florida Georgia Line	BMLG	February 12	[95]
7	The Marfa Tapes	Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall	RCA Nashville	May 7	[96]
1	My Savior	Carrie Underwood	Capitol Nashville	March 26	[97]
8	Ruthless	Gary Allan	MCA Nashville	June 25	[98]
9	Still Woman Enough	Loretta Lynn	Legacy	March 19	[99]
2	Soul	Eric Church	EMI Nashville	April 23
9	Weekends Look a Little Different These Days	Brett Young	BMLG	June 4	[100]
2	Where Have You Gone	Alan Jackson	EMI Nashville/ACR	May 14
5	You Hear Georgia	Blackberry Smoke	3 Legged/Thirty Tigers	May 28

Other top albums[]

US	Album	Artist	Record Label	Release Date	Reference
34	The Album	Chase Rice	Broken Bow/Dack Janiels	May 28
26	Country Stuff (EP)	Walker Hayes	Monument	June 18
41	In It for the Money (EP)	Jameson Rodgers	Columbia Nashville	August 6
40	Land of the Free	Home Free	Home Free	June 25
35	For You	Parmalee	Stoney Creek	July 30
29	Same Ol Same Ol	Upchurch	Redneck Nation	June 25
45	Sayin' What I'm Thinkin'	Lainey Wilson	Broken Bow	February 19
49	Set in Stone	Travis Tritt	Big Noise Label Group	May 7	[101]
38	Straight Outta the Country	Justin Moore	Valory	April 23
18	29 (EP)	Carly Pearce	Big Machine	February 19	[102]
12	& (EP)	Eric Church	EMI Nashville	April 20

Announced[]

Album	Artist	Record Label	Release Date
Every Girl (Deluxe)	Trisha Yearwood	Gwendolyn	August 13[103]
Good Things	Dan + Shay	Warner Nashville	August 13
The Cry of the Heart	Connie Smith	Fat Possum	August 20[104]
Encore	Wanda Jackson	Big Machine	August 20[105]
The Ballad of Dood and Juanita	Sturgill Simpson	High Top Mountain	August 20
Good Time	Niko Moon	RCA Nashville	August 27
Sitting Pretty on Top of the World	Lauren Alaina	19/Mercury Nashville	September 3
Bet You're from a Small Town	Jameson Rodgers	Columbia Nashville	September 17
Same Truck	Scotty McCreery	Triple Tigers	September 17[106]
29: Written in Stone	Carly Pearce	Big Machine	September 17[107]
Remember Her Name	Mickey Guyton	Capitol Nashville	September 24[108]
Revived Remixed Revisited	Reba McEntire	MCA Nashville	October 8[109]
Peso in My Pocket	Toby Keith	Show Dog-Universal	October 15
Girl to Girl	Tenille Arts	19th + Grand	October 22[110]
What a Song Can Do	Lady A	Big Machine	October 27[111]
Raise the Roof	Robert Plant and Alison Krauss	Rounder Records	November 19[112]
Red (Taylor's Version)	Taylor Swift	Republic Records	November 19[113]

Deaths[]

• January 1 – Misty Morgan, 75, American country singer (Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan), cancer.^[114]
• January 7 – Jamie O'Hara, 70, American country singer-songwriter ("Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Old Days)") and member of The O'Kanes ("Can't Stop My Heart from Loving You"), cancer.^[115]
• January 8 – Ed Bruce, 81, American actor, country singer-songwriter ("Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" and "You're the Best Break This Old Heart Ever Had"), natural causes.^[116]
• January 14 – Larry Willoughby, 73, American country singer-songwriter ("Building Bridges" and "Operator, Operator") and music executive, vice-president of A&R at Capitol Records, COVID-19.^[117]
• January 16 – Jason "Rowdy" Cope, 42, guitarist for The Steel Woods.
• January 18 – Jimmie Rodgers, 87, American pop singer ("Honeycomb" and "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine") who also charted several country singles.^[118]
• January 21 – Randy Parton, 67, American country singer-songwriter ("Hold Me Like You Never Had Me" and "Shot Full of Love"), younger brother of Dolly Parton, cancer.^[119]
• February 3 – Jim Weatherly, 77, songwriter ("Midnight Train to Georgia" and "Someone Else's Star"), natural causes^[120]
• February 9 – Richie Albright, 81, American drummer (Waymore's Outlaws).^[121]
• February 10 – Lee Sexton, 92, American banjo player.^[122]
• March 12 – Scott Whitehead, 61, member of Hometown News (natural causes)^[123]
• April 14 – Rusty Young, 75, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and co-founder of American country rock group Poco.^[124]
• April 23 – Charlie Black, 71, songwriter ("Come Next Monday", "A Little Good News", and "You Lie")^[125]
• May 2 – Tommy West, 78, American record producer and singer-songwriter, producer of works by Ed Bruce, Jim Croce, Holly Dunn, Anne Murray, and others.^[126]
• May 19 – Johnny Ashcroft, 94, Australian country singer.^[127]
• May 22 – Glenn Douglas Tubb, 85, American singer-songwriter ("Home of the Blues", "Skip a Rope", and "Two Story House").
• May 23 – Dewayne Blackwell, 84, American songwriter ("Friends in Low Places" and "I'm Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home")^[128]
• May 29 – B.J. Thomas, 78, American singer who scored country, pop and Christian hits in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s ("Hooked on a Feeling" and "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"), lung cancer^[129]
• July 4 – Sanford Clark, 85, American rockabilly singer (COVID-19).^[130]
• July 10 – Byron Berline, 77, American fiddler.^[131]
• August 4 – Razzy Bailey, 82, American country singer from 1970s and 1980s who charted seven number one singles on the Hot Country Songs chart between 1980 and 1982 ("Friends", "Loving Up a Storm", and "Midnight Hauler").^[132]
• August 13 – Nanci Griffith, 68, American country folk singer-songwriter ("From a Distance", "Love at the Five and Dime", and "Outbound Plane")
• August 20 – Tom T. Hall, 85, American country singer-songwriter ("That's How I Got to Memphis", "Harper Valley PTA", "I Love", "Little Bitty") ^[133]
• August 21 – Don Everly, 84, one-half of The Everly Brothers.^[134]

Hall of Fame inductees[]

Bluegrass Hall of Fame[]

• Alison Krauss
• Lynn Morris
• The Stoneman Family

Country Music Hall of Fame[]

• Eddie Bayers
• Pete Drake
• Ray Charles
• The Judds

Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame[]

Major awards[]

Academy of Country Music Awards[]

Americana Music Honors & Awards[]

American Music Awards[]

ARIA Awards[]

Billboard Music Awards[]

CMT Music Awards[]

(presented on June 9 in Nashville)

• Video of the Year - "Hallelujah" (Carrie Underwood featuring John Legend)
• Male Video of the Year - "Worship You" (Kane Brown)
• Female Video of the Year - "The Good Ones" (Gabby Barrett)
• Duo/Group Video of the Year - "Wine, Beer, Whiskey" (Little Big Town)
• Breakthrough Video of the Year - "Nobody" (Dylan Scott)
• Collaborative Video of the Year - "Famous Friends" (Chris Young) featuring Kane Brown)
• CMT Performance of the Year - "The Other Girl" (Kelsea Ballerini featuring Halsey)
• Family Feature - "The Best Day" (Taylor Swift)
• CMT Equal Play Award - Linda Martell

Country Music Association Awards[]

Grammy Awards[]

International Bluegrass Music Awards[]

Juno Awards[]

References[]