Thirty-eight of the 40 most-played country songs of 2025 have one thing in common, and it’s not what you’d expect.
Taste of Country actually looked at the 500 top radio songs up to Aug. 21, 2025. Once you get past No. 100, you begin to see more older songs, known as “recurrent” or “gold” songs at radio stations.
Before getting to that Top 40, here are some general observations, with more to come in additional articles:
- Two of the 500 most played songs at country radio this year were released in the 1980s (none earlier).
- Forty-six songs are ’90s country hits, with Tim McGraw‘s “Something Like That” topping this era.
- The largest percentage (225 total songs / 45 percent) are 2020s hits.
- Morgan Wallen songs accounted for 8.6 percent of the total spins among these 500 artists.
Data is according to Mediabase, a music industry service that monitors airplay in more than 150 markets.
Top 40 Country Songs of 2025 (So Far)
The full list of the Top 40 country songs of 2025 appears below. They’re listed in terms of airplay, with the most-played song coming last.
Related: The 40 Most-Played Songs at Classic Rock Radio In 2025
Inside the numbers you’ll find three songs from female solo artists, four songs from Black men and eight duets in the Top 40. It’s surprising how few were actually released this year.
Only two songs out of 40 were released in 2025, and they’re both by Morgan Wallen (“I’m the Problem” at No. 5 and “Just in Case” at No. 30). The remainder were mostly released in 2024, aside from three from 2023 and one from 2022.
The reason for this has to do with the pace at which radio stations increase airplay and promotional cycles lasting 30 to 60 weeks. A new song — even from an established artist — will begin in “light” rotation before graduating to medium, heavy, etc …
Streaming platforms tend to put a song into heavy rotation much quicker because these platforms can measure listener demand much more accurately. A case in point is Wallen’s duet with Tate McRae, “What I Want.”
It’s a streaming leader this week and has spent 14 weeks atop Billboard‘s multi-faceted Hot Country Songs chart, but it’s not among the 500 most played songs on country radio.
Nearly 80 songs from last year are among the 500 most-played songs. Next is 2023 (47), 2025 (38) and 2022 (37). Here’s the full list. Are you surprised to learn which song bested everyone else?
40 Most-Played Country Songs of 2025
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
