The All-Time Top 10 Digital Songs of Country Music

Florida Georgia Line, image from parade.com

According to Nielsen SoundScan, who tracks sales for Billboard magazine, these are the top-selling digital songs for country music. Personally, I think some of these really challenge the definition of “country music” (Miley Cyrus “The Climb”?, Taylor Swift “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”?) but this is their list, not mine.

1. Florida Georgia Line “Cruise” - 6.33 million

2. Lady Antebellum “Need You Now” - 6.27 million

3. Taylor Swift “Love Story” - 5.66 million

4. The Band Perry “If I Die Young” - 4.74 million

5. Taylor Swift “You Belong With Me” - 4.41 million

6. Zac Brown Band “Chicken Fried” - 4.06 million

7. Jason Aldean “Dirt Road Anthem” - 3.94 million

8. Carrie Underwood “Before He Cheats” - 3.90 million

9. Taylor Swift “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” - 3.77 million

10. Miley Cyrus “The Climb” - 3.71 million

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Resources and Related Links:

• Billboard.com: Florida Georgia Line’s ‘Cruise’ Sets All-Time Country Sales Record (1/6/2014). By Wade Jessen.

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Academy of County Music Awards 2013

2013 ACM Awards hosts Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan, image from minnesotacountry.com

Here were the winners at the 2013 Academy of Country Music Awards:

Entertainer of the Year: Luke Bryan
Male Vocalist of the Year: Jason Aldean

Jason Aldean, image from countryweekly.com

Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert
Vocal Duo of the Year: Thompson Square

Thompson Square, image from blog.zap2it.com

Vocal Group of the Year: Little Big Town
New Artist of the Year: Florida Georgia Line
Album of the Year: Eric Church Chief

Single Record of the Year: Miranda Lambert “Over You”
Song of the Year: Miranda Lambert “Over You” (composed by Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton)

Miranda Lambert “Over You”

Songwriter of the Year: Dallas Davidson
Video of the Year: Little Big Town “Tornado”

Little Big Town “Tornado”

Vocal Event of the Year: Jason Aldean with Luke Bryan & Eric Church “The Only Way I Know”

“The Only Way I Know” live at the 2012 CMAs

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Resources and Related Links:

• Academy of Country Music (acmcountry.com)
• TheBoot.com: ACM Awards Winners 2013

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2012 CMT Video Music Awards

image from cmt.com

On June 6, Country Music Television held its annual awards . President Barack Obama and likely challenger Mitt Romney opened the event with a taped segment where they weighed in on the “debate” about whether or not Toby Keith or Kristen Bell should serve as the host. Naturally the candidates didn’t take a stand one way or another and Keith and Bell co-hosted. Here were the night’s awards:

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“Good Girl” by Carrie Underwood
(Video of the Year)

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“I Don't Want This Night to End” by Luke Bryan
(Male Video of the Year)

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“Over You” by Miranda Lambert
(Female Video of the Year)

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“We Owned the Night” by Lady Antebellum
(Group Video of the Year)

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“I Got You” by Thompson Square
(Duo Video of the Year)

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“The Trouble With Girls” by Scotty McCreery
(Breakthrough Video of the Year)

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“Remind Me” by Brad Paisley with Carrie Underwood
(Collaborative Video of the Year)

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“Tattoos on This Town” by Jason Aldean
(CMT Performance of the Year)

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Resources and Related Links:

• CMT.com
• Usmagazine.com2012 CMT Awards: All the Winners! (6/7/2012)
• Yahoo.com: Obama, Romney to go country at CMT Awards (6/6/2012)

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2011: Top 25 Albums

First posted 12/31/2011; updated 1/8/2021.

Dave’s Music Database: Top Albums of 2011

Based on a combination of year-end lists (see sources at bottom of page) and overall status in Dave’s Music Database, these are the top 25 albums of 2011: Adele 21 Drake Take Care PJ Harvey Let England Shake Lady Gaga Born This Way Michael Bublé Christmas Bon Iver Bon Iver Jason Aldean My Kinda Party Florence + the Machine Ceremonials St. Vincent Strange Mercy Jay-Z & Kanye West Watch the Throne Ed Sheeran Plus (+) Eric Church Chief Foo Fighters Wasting Light Beyoncé 4 Coldplay Mylo Xyloto The Black Keys El Camino James Blake James Blake Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues Arctic Monkeys Suck It and See The Decemberists The King Is Dead Frank Ocean Nostalgia, Ultra Trey Parker & Matt Stone with Robert Lopez (composers) The Book of Mormon cast album Rihanna Talk That Talk One Direction Up All Night Radiohead The King of Limbs Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “Other Year-End Album Awards” About.com AlbumOfTheYear.org All Music Guide Amazon.com American Songwriter AV Club BBC Music Writers BestEverAlbums.com Bigger Than Sound Billboard Billboard (critics’ picks) Clash Fact Filter The Fly Guardian Idolator iTunes Mojo NME Paste Magazine PopBlerd.com PopMatters.com Q magazine Rolling Stone Rough Trade Spectrum Culture Spin magazine Spinner.com Uncut magazine