Americana music is a celebration of roots-oriented musical forms that are heavily associated with the United States. It reaches back hundreds of years to traditional music, gospel, Negro spirituals, folk, blues, and country for its influence although it is framed in a more modern context. It really surfaced in the late ‘60s as an outgrown of the folk rock movement with artists like The Band and The Grateful Dead becoming some of the best known groups to incorporate it into their music. Check out the Dave’s Music Database list The Top 100 Americana Songs from the 20th Century.
Americana, however, was not restricted to the 20th century. In the 21st century, Grammy wins for Album of the Year for the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand, and Mumford & Sons’ Babel made it clear that Americana was not just a throwback sound that had peaked in the 20th century. Therefore the list below is a celebration of New Americana, or Americana in the 21st century.
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1. Johnny Cash “Hurt” (2002)
2. The Lumineers “Ho Hey” (2012)
3. Hozier “Take Me to Church” (2013)
4. Passenger “Let Her Go” (2012)
5. Hozier “Too Sweet” (2024)
6. Noah Kahan “Stick Season” (2022)
7. Zach Bryan & Kacey Musgraves “I Remember Everything” (2023)
8. The Dixie Chicks “Not Ready to Make Nice” (2006)
9. Mumford & Sons “I Will Wait” (2012)
10. Kacey Musgraves “Follow Your Arrow” (2013)
11. Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow “Picture” (2001)
12. Chris Stapleton “Tennessee Whiskey” (2015)
13. Noah Kahan with Post Malone “Dial Drunk” (2023)
14. The Lumineers “Ophelia” (2016)
15. Mumford & Sons “Little Lion Man” (2009)
16. Brandi Carlile “The Joke” (2017)
17. Ray LaMontagne “You Are the Best Thing” (2008)
18. Zach Bryan “Something in the Orange” (2022)
19. Brandi Carlile “The Story (I Was Made for You)” (2007)
20. Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová “Falling Slowly” (2006)
21. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit “If We Were Vampires” (2017)
22. Bright Eyes “First Day of My Life” (2005)
23. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats “S.O.B.” (2015)
24. Alabama Shakes “Hold On” (2012)
25. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros “Home” (2009)
26. The Soggy Bottom Boys “Man of Constant Sorrow” (2001)
27. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss “Please Read the Lette” (2007)
28. Beck “Lost Cause” (2002)
29. Chris Stapleton “White Horse” (2023)
30. Loretta Lynn & Jack White “Portland, Oregon” (2004)
31. Chris Stapleon “Broken Halos” (2017)
32. John Mellencamp “Our Country” (2006)
33. Mumford & Sons “The Cave” (2009)
34. The Lumineers “Stubborn Love” (2012)
35. Wilco “Jesus, Etc.” (2002)
36. Leonard Cohen “You Want It Darker” (2016)
37. Mumford & Sons “Guiding Light” (2018)
38. Mumford & Sons “Believe” (2015)
39. Brandi Carlile “Right on Time” (2021)
40. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss “Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)” (2007)
41. The Highwomen “Crowded Table” (2019)
42. Bob Dylan “Things Have Changed” (2000)
43. Buce Springsteen “Devils & Dust” (2005)
44. Fleet Foxes “White Winter Hymnal” (2008)
45. Chris Stapleton “Starting Over” (2020)
46. Sturgill Simpson “Turtles All the Way Down” (2014)
47. Lord Huron “The Night We Met” (2015)
48. The Head and the Heart “All We Ever Knew” (2016)
49. Kacey Musgraves “Justified” (2021)
50. Hozier “Someone New” (2014)
51. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats “You Worry Me” (2018)
52. Bon Iver “Skinny Love” (2007)
53. Jason Isbell “24 Frames” (2015)
54. Chris Stapleton “You Should Probably Leave” (2020)
55. Kacey Musgraves “Rainbow” (2018)
56. Lucinda Williams “Righteously” (2003)
57. The Lumineers “Gloria” (2019)
58. Ryan Adams “New York, New York” (2001)
59. Zach Bryan “Pink Skies” (2024)
60. Lyle Lovett “12th of June” (2022)
61. Alabama Shakes “Don’t Wanna Fight” (2015)
62. Zach Bryan with The War & the Treaty “Hey Driver” (2023)
63. Courtney Barnett “Pedestrian at Best” (2015)
64. Zach Bryan & the Lumineers “Spotless” (2023)
65. Sharon Van Etten “Seventeen” (2019)
66. Noah Kahan & Hozier “Northern Attitude” (2023)
67. Kacey Musgraves “Merry Go Round” (20120
68. Sufjan Stevens “Chicago” (2005)
69. Brittany Howard “Stay High” (2019)
70. Tracy Chapman “Telling Stories (There Is Friction in the Space Between)” (2000)
71. Bon Iver “Holocene” (2011)
72. John Mellencamp with Bruce Springsteen “Wasted Days” (2021)
73. Kacey Musgraves “Space Cowboy” (2018)
74. The Avett Brothers “Ain’t No Man” (2016)
75. Nathaniel Rateliff “And It’s Still Alright” (2020)
76. The Head and the Heart “Lost in My Mind” (2011)
77. Mumford & Sons “The Wolf” (2015)
78. John Mellencamp “If I Die Sudden” (2008)
79. Hozier “Eat Your Young” (2023)
80. The Avett Brothers “I and Love and You” (2009)
81. Hozier with Mavis Staples “Nina Cried Power” (2018)
82. Neko Case “Hold on Hold On” (2006)
83. Old Crow Medicine Show “Wagon Wheel” (2004)
84. The Head and the Heart “Missed Connection” (2019)
85. Mumford & Sons “Lover of the Light” (2012)
86. Bonnie Raitt “Just Like That” (2022)
87. The Decemberists “This Is Why We Fight” (2011)
88. Sturgill Simpson “In Bloom” (2016)
89. The Lumineers “Life in the City” (2019)
90. Ray LaMontagne & the Pariah Dogs “Beg, Steal or Borrow” (2010)
91. Fleet Foxes “Helplessness Blues” (2011)
92. Neko Case, k.d. lang, & Laura Veirs “Atomic Number” (2016)
93. Phoebe Bridgers “Motion Sickness” (2017)
94. Patty Griffin “Heavenly Day” (2007)
95. Mindy Smith “Come to Jesus” (2004)
96. Keb’ Mo’ with Jaci Velasquez “This Is My Home” (2019)
97. John Prine “I Remember Everything” (2020)
98. The Avett Brothers “Kick Drum Heart” (2009)
99. Shakey Graves “Dearly Departed” (2014)
100. Josh Ritter “Getting Ready to Get Down” (2015)
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First posted 11/22/2025. | 
