Nashville in the Charts: Tracing Country Music’s Mainstream Expansion, 1990–2024

Abstract This paper investigates the growing presence of country music on the Billboard Charts between 1990 and 2024, examining the factors behind the genre’s mainstream crossover and commercial rise. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach, the study combines analysis of Billboard Year-End charts, Chartmetric data, and song credits. It defines ‘country crossover’ songs as tracks appearing on both the Billboard Year-End Charts and the Hot Country Songs charts within the same year. The dataset is examined through the frequency and roles of artists, songwriters, producers, and labels, with particular attention to collaboration trends, gender, audience demographics, and chart performance. Key developments include the 1990s country-pop surge, the ‘bro-country’ wave of the 2010s, and the recent chart dominance of Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan, and Luke Combs. The findings highlight the musical, structural, and cultural factors shaping country music’s mainstream evolution.