There have been 17 No. 1 songs on the country chart this year, but only five of them have had back-t0-back weeks at the top.
Make that six.
Luke Bryan’s “Waves” landed its second consecutive week at No. 1 and is likely to stay there for at least one more week. The closest contender is Lainey Wilson’s “Things a Man Oughta Know,” which surged three spots to No. 2. The rest of the Top 5 is “We Didn’t Have Much” by Justin Moore (No. 3), “Country Again” by Thomas Rhett (up two to No. 4) and “Glad You Exist” by Dan + Shay (down three to No. 5).
Chase Rice’s “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.” fell nine spots to No. 13, carrying it outside of the Top 5 for the first time since July 14, and outside of the Top 10 for the first time since June 16. The week’s most notable dip was Luke Combs’ “Forever After All,” which is the odds-on favorite to finish 2021 as “Song of the Year.” By falling 10 spots to No. 24, “Forever After All” slipped outside of the Top 20 for the first time since March 31. Carley Pearce’s “Next Girl” fell five spots to No. 21, putting it on the other side of the Top 20 for the first time since June 9.
Two notable songs exited the Top 40 this year, including former No. 1 “Single Saturday Night” by Cole Swindell. The song spent three weeks at No. 1 and was on the chart at No. 40 when we started tracking on January 6. The other big exit was make by “Lil Bit” by Nelly & Florida Georgia Line. The song spent 21 weeks on the chart and peaked at No. 9.
Other trends in this week’s chart:
Biggest movers:
- “Fancy Like” by Walker Hayes (up five from No. 21 to No. 16)
- “One Mississippi” by Kane Brown (up 11 from No. 40 to No. 29)
Biggest drops:
- “Next Girl” by Carley Pearce (down five from No. 16 to No. 21)
- “Forever After All” by Luke Combs (down 10 from No. 14 to No. 24)
Re-entries:
- “Sand in My Boots” by Morgan Wallen (No. 35, last on the chart at No. 35 on June 6)
- “Memory” by Kane Brown and Blackbear (No. 40, last on the chart at No. 40 on August 11)
Debut:
- “Wild Hearts” by Keith Urban (No. 39, one week on the Side Burner chart)
Exits:
- “Single Saturday Night” by Cole Swindell (34 weeks on the chart, three weeks at No. 1, last week No. 29)
- “Lil Bit” by Nelly and Florida Georgia Line (21 weeks on the chart, peak of No. 9, last week No. 35)
- “Steal My Heart” by Dan + Shay (one week on the chart, last week No. 36)
Here are this week’s “Personal Picks” — songs that haven’t appeared in either of our charts but that we think deserve at least one listen.
| Personal Picks | |
| (Songs that haven’t appeared in our charts … but they deserve a listen.) | |
| Song | Artist |
| My Masterpiece | Darius Rucker |
| Old School | Toby Keith |
| Rather Leave Loving You | Jared Hovis |
Here is the updated chart for the week of September 2, 2021. Each song is linked to its official video on YouTube, where possible. To listen to the full playlist of these songs, visit our page on Spotify.
| Pos | Song | Artist | LW | Chg | Wks | Peak |
| 1 | Waves | Luke Bryan | 1 | 0 | 19 | 1 |
| 2 | Things a Man Oughta Know | Lainey Wilson | 5 | 3 | 23 | 2 |
| 3 | We Didn’t Have Much | Justin Moore | 3 | 0 | 32 | 3 |
| 4 | Country Again | Thomas Rhett | 6 | 2 | 18 | 4 |
| 5 | Glad You Exist | Dan + Shay | 2 | -3 | 29 | 1 |
| 6 | Cold Beer Calling My Name | Jameson Rodgers | 8 | 2 | 17 | 6 |
| 7 | Memory I Don’t Mess With | Lee Brice | 9 | 2 | 19 | 7 |
| 8 | You Time | Scotty McCreery | 7 | -1 | 17 | 7 |
| 9 | Chasing After You | Ryan Hurd & Maren Morris | 12 | 3 | 21 | 9 |
| 10 | If I Didn’t Love You | Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood | 13 | 3 | 6 | 10 |
| 11 | I Was On a Boat That Day | Old Dominion | 11 | 0 | 13 | 9 |
| 12 | My Boy | Elvie Shane | 10 | -2 | 26 | 9 |
| 13 | Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen | Chase Rice | 4 | -9 | 28 | 1 |
| 14 | Cold As You | Luke Combs | 17 | 3 | 6 | 14 |
| 15 | Knowing You | Kenny Chesney | 15 | 0 | 17 | 15 |
| 16 | Fancy Like | Walker Hayes | 21 | 5 | 10 | 16 |
| 17 | Like a Lady | Lady A | 19 | 2 | 13 | 17 |
| 18 | Famous Friends | Chris Young | 18 | 0 | 34 | 1 |
| 19 | Tequila Little Time | Jon Pardi | 20 | 1 | 13 | 19 |
| 20 | Freedom Was a Highway | Jimmie Allen & Brad Paisley | 22 | 2 | 12 | 20 |
| 21 | Next Girl | Carley Pearce | 16 | -5 | 33 | 15 |
| 22 | Whiskey and Rain | Michael Ray | 23 | 1 | 12 | 22 |
| 23 | You Should Probably Leave | Chris Stapleton | 24 | 1 | 16 | 23 |
| 24 | Forever After All | Luke Combs | 14 | -10 | 25 | 1 |
| 25 | Thinking ‘Bout You | Dustin Lynch | 27 | 2 | 9 | 25 |
| 26 | Just About Over You | Priscilla Block | 25 | -1 | 23 | 25 |
| 27 | Same Boat | Zac Brown Band | 26 | -1 | 12 | 26 |
| 28 | Buy Dirt | Jordan Davis | 28 | 0 | 8 | 28 |
| 29 | One Mississippi | Kane Brown | 40 | 11 | 2 | 29 |
| 30 | It’s ‘Cause I Am | Callista Clark | 30 | 0 | 11 | 30 |
| 31 | Home Sweet | Russell Dickerson | 31 | 0 | 12 | 31 |
| 32 | Half of My Hometown | Kelsea Ballerini | 32 | 0 | 13 | 32 |
| 33 | To Be Loved By You | Parker McCollum | 33 | 0 | 9 | 33 |
| 34 | Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home) | Elle King & Miranda Lambert | 34 | 0 | 21 | 16 |
| 35 | Sand In My Boots | Morgan Wallen | Re-E | Re-E | 11 | 5 |
| 36 | Give Heaven Some Hell | Hardy | 38 | 2 | 5 | 36 |
| 37 | That’s What Cowboys Do | Garth Brooks | 37 | 0 | 3 | 37 |
| 38 | Heart on Fire | Eric Church | 39 | 1 | 3 | 37 |
| 39 | Wild Hearts | Keith Urban | New | New | 1 | 39 |
| 40 | Memory | Kane Brown & Blackbear | Re-E | Re-E | 2 | 40 |
There are five songs that show signs of invading the chart in the coming weeks. Songs that appeared on this list previously are marked with an asterisk for each week they’ve been on the list. (You can listen to them in our “On the Side Burner” playlist on Spotify):
| On the Side Burner | |
| (Songs that haven’t appeared in our chart but were closest to making it this week) | |
| Song | Artist |
| Ride the Lightning (717 Tapes)******* | Warren Zeiders |
| South on Ya | Luke Combs |
| Tennessee Whiskey******** | Chris Stapleton |
| Getting Over Him* | Lauren Alaina & Jon Pardi |
| That Ain’t Me No More******** | Matt Stell |
Note: “Sand in My Boots” was previously on the chart and fell off on June 16 because it was removed from airplay. As the airplay charts are recognizing it, it was allowed to re-enter the chart because of its score in our algorithm.
The American charts all have their whims. We look across the pop music landscape to put together a reliable snapshot of what is truly trending today. We are currently tracking 78 songs that have trended in various ways in the past week.
Copyright © 2021 Doug DeBolt.
