From sold out stadium shows to albums that play for nearly two hours, Morgan Wallen is doing things big, to say the least. It’s why we’ve included him on our list of modern country artists who are important to the genre.
From The Voice to His Voice
A native of Sneedsville, Tenn., the country hitmaker was not destined to do music. In fact, he had a dream of playing baseball professionally until an injury sidelined him, thus making way for a musical pivot.
The move wasn’t completely out of left field (pun totally intended). Wallen grew up around music learning to play both the piano and violin. He also sang at the church his father pastored. When his baseball dreams were dashed, he took up playing guitar.
In 2014, Wallen auditioned for The Voice and competed on season six, first for Team Usher and then for Team Adam Levine. He would be eliminated during the playoff rounds, but that wouldn’t be the last America saw of him.
Morgan Wallen’s Mass Appeal
His collaboration with Florida Georgia Line on “Up Down” was his first foray into mainstream country music. With the duo at the height of the bro era of country, it was just the catalyst Wallen needed to launch his career.
From there he has released numerous songs on just a handful of albums. His four studio albums have produced 120 tracks, which is enough material for 10 albums when taken into account that the average album is about 12 songs.
In addition to his massive catalog, Wallen is filling seats at his shows — lots of seats. He made the jump to stadium shows fairly quickly and his Still the Problem Tour has been filling up college, NFL and MLB stadiums to the brim on back-to-back nights, no less.
His overwhelming appeal to the masses and his ability to pump out large amounts of music that resonates with fans is why we’ve included him in the top five on this list.
Criteria: This list of the 25 Most Important Modern Country Artists was curated by Taste of Country staff, who considered hard data (charts, streaming numbers, ticket sales etc …), perceived influence, awards and recognition and (most important) recent releases. We zoomed in on who is shaping country music with popular releases today.
Artists who’ve not released an album or notched a hit song on airplay or streaming charts in the last three years need to show their influence in other ways. An example is Carrie Underwood, who’s not released a new album in four years but is the most influential voice on America’s most popular singing reality show.
No: 25 Riley Green’s Top Songs | No. 24 Kelsea Ballerini’s Top Songs | No. 23 Tim McGraw’s Top Songs | No. 22 Blake Shelton’s Top Songs | No. 21 Eric Church’s Top Songs | No. 20 Jason Isbell’s Top Songs | No. 19 Kenny Chesney’s Top Songs | No. 18 Keith Urban’s Top Songs | No. 17 Dan + Shay Songs | No. 16 Jason Aldean’s Top Songs | No. 15 Megan Moroney’s Top Songs | No. 14 Tyler Childer’s Top Songs | No. 13 Carrie Underwood’s Top Songs | No. 12 Zach Top’s Top Songs | No. 11 Miranda Lambert’s Top Songs | No. 10 Kacey Musgraves’ Top Songs | No. 9 Shaboozey’s Top Songs | No. 8 Jelly Roll’s Top Songs | No. 7 July 1 | No. 6 July 2 | No. 5 July 3 | No. 4 July 4 Morgan Wallen’s Top Songs | No. 3 July 5 | No. 2 July 6 | No. 1 July 7
Morgan Wallen’s Top 10 Songs That Make Him An Important Modern Country Artist
Honestly, Morgan Wallen could be considered one of the most important modern country artists based on the face that he’s released so much music on just a few albums. His projects have consistently been double albums since Dangerous arrived in 2021.
However, Wallen’s music is not just quantity, it’s quality and it has caught on with a wide audience – very wide. Despite his ups and downs in his career, he always brings raw honesty and self-deprecating content to his lyrics, making him a favorite among country music fans.
Plus, selling out stadiums back-to-back nights on his tours certainly shows how in-deman Wallen in.
We’ve rounded up this country hitmaker’s top 10 songs that prove his worth in the genre.