Morgan Wallen setting a record for the most weeks at #1 by a solo artist, in any genre. Luke Combs hanging in the top five for weeks. Jason Aldean stirring up a minor firestorm. Oliver Anthony Music appearing out of nowhere and improbably debuting at #1. The top three songs in the US are country songs, and it's happened only once before. The only previous time was one month ago. I have been struggling to come up for a reason as to why this is happening now. It makes sense that in times of collective trauma, such as COVID-related forced isolation and mass uncertainty, that people would turn to acoustic, homeland music. Except that COVID was three years ago, and Taylor Swift already made the mood-defining indie-folk lockdown albums. So once again, why now?
I really don't know what's happening, but I am quite sure that any time an artist can upend industry conventions like Oliver Anthony Music has done, then it's a good thing. A musician who had zero prior chart exposure hit number 1 without any resources at his disposal -- no record labels, A&R people, or corporate sponsors. Just a guy and his guitar, performing in the woods. It seems nearly inconceivable, but then again, Justin Bieber was discovered on youtube and "Killing In the Name Of" was the UK Xmas number one a few years back thanks to a viral campaign, so perhaps I should stop being surprised by such unusual occurrences.
