Chart Article
Hard to believe it's been decades since country music's big renaissance blossomed in the '80s when Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt, Randy Travis and Clint Black became household names. To celebrate the genre's big week with Billboard's Country Summit, we've combed the Billboard Country Songs and Country Albums charts to rank the top 25 country artists from 1985-2011. (For all the details on how this chart was compiled, please scroll to the bottom of this page). With the list updated for 2011, Taylor Swift's huge showing over the last year has moved the 21-year-old into the top 25.
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With shoulder-length hair and a deep love for southern rock and outlaw country, Tritt's breakthrough hit was the unapologetically unsophisticated "Country Club" in late 1989. Although the Georgia native fancies himself an energetic country rocker, his biggest hits have ironically been his ballads. He topped the Country Songs chart for the first time when the gripping "Help Me Hold On" shot to No. 1 in 1990. In fact, all of Tritt's five No. 1 songs are ballads. His reedy baritone is equally compelling on hard-driving fare like "Put Some Drive In Your Country" or his most recent No. 1, the tender "Best of Intentions" (2000).
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She may be a relative newcomer and she may be only 21 years old, but Taylor Swift has proven herself to be a country music powerhouse in just a few years. All three of her studio albums her self-titled 2007 debut, 2008's "Fearless" and 2010's "Speak Now" - have been Country Albums No. 1s. She's also placed a whopping 20 songs on the Country Songs chart, including four No. 1s: "Our Song," "Should've Said No," "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me."
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Martina McBride used to sell t-shirts on the road with Garth Brooks while her husband worked the tours as a lighting and sound technician, but the McBrides left all that behind when she scored her first smash, "My Baby Loves Me," in 1992. The Grammy Award-winning Kansas native's biggest hits are often heart-wrenching and profound, but she's just as capable of delivering chart-topping hits with whimsical and lighthearted fare. She gained her biggest Country Songs hit with "I Love You" (1999), which spent five weeks at No. 1. She's been a member of the WSM Grand Ole Opry since 1995.
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Few country artists in the past three decades have enjoyed as much multi-faceted success as this traditional singer/songwriter. In addition to 39 visits to Country Songs, including two No. 1s, Yoakam's resume includes 180-degree acting turns as an abusive alcoholic in "Sling Blade" and a terrorizing home invader in "Panic Room." (And, have you tried his "Bakersfield Biscuits," available in the frozen section at your local supermarket?)
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After winning the Academy of Country Music's 1987 top new artist award, the singer/songwriter collected 10 No. 1s on Country Songs through 1991, including the Dolly Parton duet "Rockin' Years." The Grit, Virginia-raised Shelton retired from touring in 2006 and these days,
according to his website, enjoys time "flying his airplane, working on his 150-acre farm, gardening, repairing his collection of classic cars and antiquing."
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Text by Wade Jessen and Chart Beat Columnist Gary Trust
How This Chart Was Created
The Top County Artists 1985-2011 ranking is based on actual performance on the weekly Country Songs and Country Albums charts dated Jan. 5, 1985-June 4, 2011. Artists are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at the lower end of the chart earning the least.
Prior to the Country Songs chart's implementation in January 1990 of monitored radio airplay by Nielsen BDS and the Country Albums list's incorporation of point-of-purchase sales date from Nielsen SoundScan in May 1991, titles on those lists had shorter reigns at No. 1 and shorter chart lives. To ensure equitable representation from all 25-plus years, earlier time frames were each weighted to account for the difference between turnover rates from those years and the turnover rates that have occurred since the advent of Nielsen Music data.
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