The DMDB’s list of the top 100 country songs of all time was created by aggregating 90 best-of lists focused on country songs. This included awards for Best Song and/or Single from the Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, the Grammys. See the resources at the bottom of this page. This was first posted on the DMDB Facebook page on April 3, 2011 and then on the blog on August 28, 2011.
Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.
1. Patsy Cline “Crazy” (1961)
2. George Jones “He Stopped Loving Her Today” (1980)
3. Tammy Wynette “Stand by Your Man” (1968)
4. Garth Brooks “Friends in Low Places” (1990)
5. Willie Nelson “Always on My Mind” (1982)
6. Johnny Cash “I Walk the Line” (1956)
7. Johnny Cash “Ring of Fire” (1963)
8. Hank Williams “Your Cheatin’ Heart” (1953)
9. Charlie Daniels Band “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (1979)
10. Marty Robbins “El Paso” (1959)
11. Randy Travis “Forever and Ever, Amen” (1987)
12. Lee Ann Womack with Sons of the Desert “I Hope You Dance” (2000)
13. Roger Miller “King of the Road” (1965)
14. Kenny Rogers “The Gambler” (1978)
15. Conway Twitty “Hello Darlin’” (1970)
16. Loretta Lynn “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1970)
17. Dolly Parton “Jolene” (1973)
18. Merle Haggard “Mama Tried” (1968)
19. Garth Brooks “The Dance” (1990)
20. Dolly Parton “I Will Always Love You” (1974)
21. Patsy Cline “I Fall to Pieces” (1961)
22. Hank Williams “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (1949)
23. Johnny Cash “Folsom Prison Blues” (1956)
24. Tim McGraw “Live Like You Were Dying” (2004)
25. Lonestar “Amazed” (1999)
26. Carrie Underwood “Before He Cheats” (2006)
27. Glen Campbell “Rhinestone Cowboy” (1975)
28. Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson “Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” (1978)
29. Jeannie C. Riley “Harper Valley P.T.A.” (1968)
30. Lady Antebellum “Need You Now” (2009)
31. Tennessee Ernie Ford “Sixteen Tons” (1955)
32. Kitty Wells “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels” (1952)
33. Merle Haggard “Okie from Muskogee” Merle Haggard (1969)
34. Sammi Smith “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (1971)
35. Charlie Rich “Behind Closed Doors” (1973)
36. Charley Pride “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” (1971)
37. Ernest Tubb “Walking the Floor Over You” (1941)
38. Willie Nelson “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” (1975)
39. Waylon Jennings “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)” (1977)
40. Alan Jackson “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” (2001)
41. Jim Reeves “He’ll Have to Go” (1959)
42. Hank Williams “Hey, Good Lookin’” (1951)
43. Faith Hill “Breathe” (1999)
44. Ray Price “For the Good Times” (1970)
45. Lynn Anderson “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” (1970)
46. Eddy Arnold “Make the World Go Away” (1965)
47. Faron Young “Hello Walls” (1961)
48. Florida Georgia Line with Nelly “Cruise” (2012)
49. Hank Williams “Lovesick Blues” (1949)
50. George Strait “Amarillo by Morning” (1983)
51. The Carter Family “Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Bye and Bye)” (1935)
52. Alan Jackson “Chattahoochee” (1992)
53. Buck Owens “Act Naturally” (1963)
54. Lee Greenwood “God Bless the U.S.A.” (1984)
55. Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton “Islands in the Stream” (1983)
56. John Denver “Take Me Home Country Roads” (1971)
57. Roy Acuff & the Smoky Mountain Boys “Wabash Cannonball” (1938)
58. Shania Twain “You’re Still the One” (1998)
59. Billy Ray Cyrus “Achy Breaky Heart” (1992)
60. Ray Price “Crazy Arms” (1956)
61. Reba McEntire “Fancy” (1991)
62. Deanna Carter “Strawberry Wine” (1996)
63. Waylon Jennings with Willie Nelson “Good Hearted Woman” (1975)
64. Dixie Chicks “Wide Open Spaces” (1998)
65. Crystal Gayle “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” (1977)
66. Martina McBride “Independence Day” (1993)
67. Brooks & Dunn “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” (1991)
68. LeAnn Rimes “Blue” (1996)
69. The Oak Ridge Boys “Elvira” (1981)
70. Glen Campbell “Wichita Lineman” (1968)
71. Bill Monroe “Blue Moon of Kentucky” (1947)
72. Johnny Paycheck “Take This Job and Shove It” (1977)
73. Dolly Parton “Coat of Many Colors” (1971)
74. Ronnie Milsap “Smokey Mountain Rain” (1980)
75. Don Gibson “Oh Lonesome Me” (1958)
76. Patsy Cline “Sweet Dreams of You” (1963)
77. Johnny Horton “The Battle of New Orleans” (1959)
78. Hank Snow “I’m Moving On” (1950)
79. Alan Jackson “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” (1991)
80. The Carter Family “Wildwood Flower” (1928)
81. Patsy Cline “Walkin’ After Midnight” (1957)
82. Tim McGraw with Faith Hill “It’s Your Love” (1997)
83. The Statler Brothers “Flowers on the Wall” (1965)
84. Freddy Fender “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” (1975)
85. John Michael Montgomery “I Swear” (1993)
86. Buck Owens “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail” (1965)
87. Jack Greene “There Goes My Everything” (1966)
88. Willie Nelson “On the Road Again” (1980)
89. Tammy Wynette “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” (1968)
90. Sons of the Pioneers “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” (1934)
91. Keith Whitley “When You Say Nothing at All” (1988)
92. David Allen Coe “You Never Even Call Me by My Name” (1975)
93. George Strait “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” (1987)
94. Taylor Swift “Love Story” (2008)
95. Lefty Frizzell “Long Black Veil” (1959)
96. Glen Campbell “Galveston” (1969)
97. Patti Page “Tennessee Waltz” (1950)
98. Ray Charles “I Can’t Stop Loving You” (1962)
99. George Jones “She Thinks I Still Care” (1962)
100. Rascal Flatts “Bless the Broken Road” (2004)
101. Johnny Cash “A Boy Named Sue” (live, 1969)
102. Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys “Faded Love” (1950)
103. Hank Williams “Jambalaya on the Bayou” (1952)
104. Osborne Brothers “Rocky Top” (1968)
105. The Band Perry “If I Die Young” (2010)
106. Gretchen Wilson “Redneck Woman” (2004)
107. Johnny Lee “Lookin’ for Love” (1980)
108. Jimmie Rodgers “Blue Yodel #1 (T for Texas)” (1928)
109. Eric Church “Springsteen” (2011)
110. Faith Hill “This Kiss” (1998)
111. Leroy Van Dyke “Walk on By” (1961)
112. Hank Williams “Cold, Cold Heart” (1951)
113. Miranda Lambert “The House That Built Me” (2010)
114. Bobbie Gentry “Ode to Billie Joe” (1967)
115. Sam Hunt “Body Like a Back Road” (2017)
116. Randy Travis “On the Other Hand” (1985)
117. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” (1950)
118. Keith Urban “Somebody Like You” (2002)
119. Tanya Tucker “Delta Dawn” (1972)
120. Jimmy Dean “Big Bad John” (1961)
121. Johnny Cash “Sunday Mornin’ Coming Down” (1970)
122. Hank Williams Jr. “Family Tradition” (1979)
123. Dolly Parton “9 to 5” (1980)
124. Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys “San Antonio Rose” (1939)
125. Jimmie Davis “You Are My Sunshine” (1940)
126. Tom T. Hall “Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine” (1972)
127. Trisha Yearwood “She’s in Love with the Boy” (1991)
128. Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash “Jackson” (1967)
129. Alan Jackson with Jimmy Buffett “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” (2003)
130. Dwight Yoakam “Guitars, Cadillacs” (1986)
131. Dolly Parton “Here You Come Again” (1977)
132. Sugarland “Stay” (2007)
133. Brad Paisley with Alison Krauss “Whiskey Lullaby” (2004)
134. Zac Brown Band “Chicken Fried” (2008)
135. Vince Gill “Go Rest High on That Mountain” (1994)
136. David Houston “Almost Persuaded” (1966)
137. Eddy Arnold “Cattle Call” (1945)
138. Patsy Cline “She’s Got You” (1962)
139. Johnny Cash “Hurt” (2002)
140. Hank Locklin “Please Help Me, I’m Falling” (1960)
141. Rosanne Cash “Seven Year Ache” (1981)
142. Eddy Arnold “Bouquet of Roses” (1948)
143. Hank Thompson “The Wild Side of Life” (1952)
144. Alabama “Mountain Music” (1982)
145. Carrie Underwood “Jesus Take the Wheel” (2005)
146. Loretta Lynn “Don't Come Home A'Drinkin' with Lovin' on Your Mind” (1967)
147. Freddie Hart “Easy Loving” (1971)
148. Kenny Chesney “The Good Stuff” (2002)
149. C.W. McCall “Convoy” (1975)
150. Darius Rucker “Wagon Wheel” (2013)
151. Lefty Frizzell “If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time” (1950)
152. Vince Gill “When I Call Your Name” (1990)
153. Elvis Presley “Heartbreak Hotel” (1956)
154. The Everly Brothers “Bye Bye Love” (1957)
155. Vern Gosdin “Chiseled in Stone” (1988)
156. Connie Smith “Once a Day” (1964)
157. Patsy Montana & the Prairie Ramblers “I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart” (1936)
158. Kacey Musgraves “Follow Your Arrow” (2013)
159. Ray Price “Heartaches by the Number” (1959)
160. Clint Black “A Better Man” (1989)
161. Thomas Rhett “Die a Happy Man” (2015)
162. George Strait “Check Yes or No” (1995)
163. Donna Fargo “The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.” (1972)
164. Charlie Rich “The Most Beautiful Girl” (1973)
165. Kenny Rogers “Lucille” (1977)
166. George Strait “Love Without End, Amen” (1990)
167. Bebe Rexha with Florida Georgia Line “Meant to Be” (2017)
168. Kenny Rogers “Lady” (1980)
169. Travis Tritt “Here's a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares” (1991)
170. Shania Twain “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” (1997)
171. Hank Williams “I Saw the Light” (1948)
172. Hank Williams “Kaw-Liga” (1953)
173. Sonny James “Young Love” (1956)
174. Little Big Town “Girl Crush” (2015)
175. Kathy Mattea “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses” (1988)
176. Don Gibson “I Can’t Stop Loving You” (1958)
177. The Judds “Mama He’s Crazy” (1984)
178. Porter Wagoner “Green, Green Grass of Home” (1965)
179. The Highwaymen (Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, & Kris Kristofferson) “The Highwayman” (1984)
180. John Denver “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” (1974)
181. Garth Brooks “If Tomorrow Never Comes” (1989)
182. The Soggy Bottom Boys “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” (2001)
183. Johnny Cash “Daddy Sang Bass” (1968)
184. Roger Miller “Dang Me” (1964)
185. Merle Haggard & the Strangers “Today I Started Loving You Again” (1968)
186. Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” (1984)
187. Alabama “Love in the First Degree” (1981)
188. Toby Keith “How Do You Like Me Now?!” (1999)
189. Dixie Chicks “Cowboy Take Me Away” (1999)
190. Hank Williams Jr. “A Country Boy Can Survive” (1981)
191. Tim McGraw with Patty Loveless “Please Remember Me” (1999)
192. Buck Owens “Together Again” (1964)
193. LeAnn Rimes “How Do I Live” (1997)
194. Gene Autry “Back in the Saddle” (1939)
195. Jimmie Rodgers “Blue Yodel #9 (Standing on the Corner)” (1930)
196. Glen Campbell “Gentle on My Mind” (1967)
197. Randy Travis “Three Wooden Crosses” (2003)
198. Kenny Rogers “Coward of the County” (1979)
199. Hank Williams “I Can't Help It if I'm Still in Love with You” (1951)
200. Webb Pierce “There Stands the Glass” (1953)
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First posted 8/3/2011; last updated 11/4/2021. | 
The top 100 country songs all came prior to 1965 in my opinion. I don't know where the data came from but very much flawed and distorted. The 1965 and later stuff could be tin the 2nd 200 maybe. Today's country is trash.
ReplyDeleteYou can see where the data came from. I sourced the 60+ lists which where aggregated to make this page. Just scroll up to see them.
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