
First posted on Facebook on April 3, 2011 and then on the blog on August 28, 2011.
The DMDB’s list of the top 100 country songs of all time was created by aggregating more than 60 best-of lists focused on country songs. See the resources at the bottom of this page.
- “Crazy” Patsy Cline (1961)
- “He Stopped Loving Her Today” George Jones (1980)
- “Stand by Your Man” Tammy Wynette (1968)
- “Friends in Low Places” Garth Brooks (1990)
- “El Paso” Marty Robbins (1959)
- “I Walk the Line” Johnny Cash (1956)
- “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” Charlie Daniels Band (1979)
- “Your Cheatin’ Heart” Hank Williams (1953)
- “Always on My Mind” Willie Nelson (1982)
- “Ring of Fire” Johnny Cash (1963)
- “King of the Road” Roger Miller (1965)
- “Forever and Ever, Amen” Randy Travis (1987)
- “I Hope You Dance” Lee Ann Womack (2000)
- “Sixteen Tons” Tennessee Ernie Ford (1955)
- “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” Hank Williams (1949)
- “Coal Miner’s Daughter” Loretta Lynn (1970)
- “Mama Tried” Merle Haggard (1968)
- “I Fall to Pieces” Patsy Cline (1961)
- “The Gambler” Kenny Rogers (1978)
- “Hello Darlin’” Conway Twitty (1970)
- “I Will Always Love You” Dolly Parton (1974)
- “Folsom Prison Blues” Johnny Cash (1956)
- “Jolene” Dolly Parton (1973)
- “The Dance” Garth Brooks (1990)
- “Live Like You Were Dying” Tim McGraw (2004)
- “Help Me Make It Through the Night” Sammi Smith (1971)
- “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels” Kitty Wells (1952)
- “Before He Cheats” Carrie Underwood (2006)
- “Amazed” Lonestar (1999)
- “Rhinestone Cowboy” Glen Campbell (1975)
- “Behind Closed Doors” Charlie Rich (1973)
- “Harper Valley P.T.A.” Jeannie C. Riley (1968)
- “He’ll Have to Go” Jim Reeves (1959)
- “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” Alan Jackson (2001)
- “Need You Now” Lady Antebellum (2009)
- “Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson (1978)
- “Okie from Muskogee” Merle Haggard (1969)
- “Walking the Floor Over You” Ernest Tubb (1941)
- “For the Good Times” Ray Price (1970)
- “Lovesick Blues” Hank Williams (1949)
- “Hey, Good Lookin’” Hank Williams (1951)
- “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” Willie Nelson (1975)
- “Breathe” Faith Hill (1999)
- “Can the Circle Be Unbroken (Bye and Bye)” The Carter Family (1935)
- “Hello Walls” Faron Young (1961)
- “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)” Waylon Jennings (1977)
- “Amarillo by Morning” George Strait (1983)
- “Wabash Cannonball” Roy Acuff & the Smoky Mountain Boys (1938)
- “Make the World Go Away” Eddy Arnold (1965)
- “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” Charley Pride (1971)
- “Act Naturally” Buck Owens (1963)
- “Crazy Arms” Ray Price (1956)
- “Coat of Many Colors” Dolly Parton (1971)
- “The Battle of New Orleans” Johnny Horton (1959)
- “I Can’t Stop Loving You” Ray Charles (1962)
- “Good Hearted Woman” Waylon Jennings with Willie Nelson (1975)
- “God Bless the U.S.A.” Lee Greenwood (1984)
- “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” Sons of the Pioneers (1934)
- “Smokey Mountain Rain” Ronnie Milsap (1980)
- “Wildwood Flower” The Carter Family (1928)
- “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” Lynn Anderson (1970)
- “Sweet Dreams of You” Patsy Cline (1963)
- “Elvira” The Oak Ridge Boys (1981)
- “Cruise” Florida Georgia Line (2012)
- “Blue Moon of Kentucky” Bill Monroe (1947)
- “Take Me Home Country Roads” John Denver (1971)
- “You’re Still the One” Shania Twain (1998)
- “I’m Moving On” Hank Snow (1950)
- “Tennessee Waltz” Patti Page (1950)
- “Oh Lonesome Me” Don Gibson (1958)
- “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue...Crystal Gayle (1977)
- “Blue” LeAnn iRimes (1996)
- “Fancy” Reba McEntire (1991)
- “Islands in the Stream” Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton (1983)
- “Hurt” Johnny Cash (2002)
- “Wichita Lineman” Glen Campbell (1968)
- “Wide Open Spaces” Dixie Chicks (1998)
- “Faded Love” Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys (1950)
- “Stay” Sugarland (2007)
- “You Are My Sunshine” Jimmie Davis (1940)
- “Take This Job and Shove It” Johnny Paycheck (1977)
- “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” Freddy Fender (1975)
- “There Goes My Everything” Jack Greene (1966)
- “Flowers on the Wall” The Statler Brothers (1965)
- “Long Black Veil” Lefty Frizzell (1959)
- “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” Alan Jackson (1991)
- “Love Story” Taylor Swift (2008)
- “Jambalaya on the Bayou” Hank Williams (1952)
- “San Antonio Rose” Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys (1939)
- “Blue Yodel #1 (T for Texas)” Jimmie Rodgers (1928)
- “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs (1950)
- “Achy Breaky Heart” Billy Ray Cyrus (1992)
- “Walkin’ After Midnight” Patsy Cline (1957)
- “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail” Buck Owens (1965)
- “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” Brooks & Dunn (1991)
- “On the Road Again” Willie Nelson (1980)
- “Cold, Cold Heart” Hank Williams (1931)
- “Rocky Top” Osborne Brothers (1968)
- “Chattahoochee” Alan Jackson (1992)
- “Strawberry Wine” Deanna Carter (1996)
Resources and Related Links:
- original Facebook post (4/3/11)
- About.com (2008). “Top 500 Country Music Songs.” By Shelly Fabian.
- Associated Content (12/17/2008). Top 10 Country Songs of All Time.” By Cheap Cannuck.
- Billboard “Greatest of All Time Top Country Songs”
- Billboard (1997). “All-Time Top 100 #1 Hits, 1944-1997.”
- David Cantwell and Bill Friskics-Warren (2003). Heartaches by the Number: Country Music’s 500 Greatest Singles. Vanderbilt University Press and Country Music Foundation Press; 2003.
- Classic Country 1630 “Top 500 Classic Country Songs of All Time”
- Cleveland.com (2017). “25 Best Country Songs of the 21st Century”
- Ace Collins (1996). The Stories Behind Country Music’s All-Time Greatest 100 Songs. New York, NY; The Berkley Publishing Group.
- Country America (1992). “Top 100 Country Songs of All Time”
- Country Living (2019). “60 Most Classic Country Songs All Time”
- Country Music – A Film by Ken Burns: The Soundtrack (2019)
- Country Music Hall of Fame Jukebox.
- Country Music Television (2001?). “100 Greatest Songs of Country Music”
- Country Music Television (2010). “40 Greatest Songs of the Decade”
- Country Music Television (2005). “Top 12 Greatest Duets”
- TheDelite.com (2019). “The Best Country Songs of All Time – Ranked”
- Digital Dream Door (2/12/2014). “100 Greatest Bluegrass Songs.” Edited by Tom B. Lew.
- Digital Dream Door (11/19/2008). “100 Greatest Country Music Songs.” Edited by Chris F.
- Esquire.com (2018). “The 50 Best Pop Country Songs of the Last 20 Years”
- FAQs.org (2009). “Top Country Songs of All Times”
- Heavy.com (2017). “The Top Ten Best Old Country Songs”
- imeem.com “Top 100 All Time Best Country Songs”
- Insider.com (2018). “25 Country Music Songs Everyone Should Lisen to in Their Lifetime”
- JustRichest.com “10 Greatest Country Songs Worth Listening To”
- jwpepper.com “The Best Country Songs Ever”
- K92 (2005). “All Time Favorites 600, 1975-2005”
- Hal Leonard Corporation (1984). “Best Country Songs Ever”
- LiveAbout.com (2019). “25 Best Country Pop Crossover Songs of All Time”
- LiveAbout.com (2018). “Top 20 Country Music Songs of All Time”
- D.J. McAdam “100 Greatest Country Songs”
- MoneyInc.com (2019). “The Top 20 Selling Country Songs of All-Time”
- New Musical Express (NME) (2018). “The 25 Best Country Music Songs of All Time”
- Phoenix New Times (2019). “The 10 Most Iconic Country Songs”
- PJMedia.com (2019). “The 12 Best Country Songs of All Time”
- PopMatters.com/McClatchy-Tribune (2007). “Country’s Top 100.” By Shirley Jinkins and Malcolm Mayhew.
- Ranker.com “The Best Classic Country Songs”
- Ranker.com. “The Best Country Pop Songs Ever”
- RollingStone.com (6/2014). “100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time”
- SavingCountryMusic.com (2013). “Saving Country Music’s Greatest Songs of All Time”
- Sirius XM (2019). “Sirius XM Just Aired Their Top 1000 Country Songs of All-Time”
- Slacker Radio “55 Greatest Country Songs of the Century”
- Spotify.com “Country’s Top 100: All-Time Best Songs”
- TasteOfCountry.com (2016). “100 Greatest Country Songs”
- Tennessean.com (2019). “What are the All-Time Greatest Country Songs? These 100 Top Our List”
- TimeOut.com (2018). “The Best Country Songs of All Time”
- TopCountry.ca (2019). “Top Classic Country Songs”
- TheTopTens.com “Top Ten Best Country Songs of All Time”
- Traditional Country Hall of Fame.
- Ultimate Twang “The All Time Top 100”
- Ultimate Twang “Celebrating Songs that Defined the 2000s, 1990s, 1980s, 1970s, and 1960s”
- USA Today (2019). “Playlist: The Most Popular Country Songs in Hot 100 History”
- WatchMojo.com “Top 10 Country Songs of All Time”
- WeddingDetails.com “Top 25 Country Songs”
- WideOpenCountry.com (2017). “15 of the Greatest Classic Country Songs”
- Yahoo! Classic Pop Music Group (5/31/2012). “Country Music’s All-Time Classics”