We’ve run down the Best Country Albums of 2026 So Far. Now it’s time to consider the best songs and singles. What we’re looking for with “songs” are legitimate Song of the Year contenders. This means were not searching for the catchy ditties and toe tappers. We’re looking for songs that elicit a deep emotional response. These are songs that can change a life, change the world, or change someone’s perspective.
With “singles,” you still want them to be well-written. But it’s more about unlocking the sheer joy in music, and more about the performance than the writing necessarily.
Opinions on songs (and singles) are always more varied than even with albums. But the point of this exercise is to help inform the public about a song they might have missed. Feel free to leave your list of favorite songs and singles below.
BEST SONGS OF 2026 SO FAR:
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Ashley McBryde – “Bottle Tells Me So”
There’s no subtle deliveries that paint in nuanced colors when it comes to Ashley McBryde. If she isn’t blowing out your speakers with flamethrowing chainsaw guitar, she’s drowning you in a torrential downpour of waterworks with a power ballad. Even the more hushed moments come with a smoldering intensity.
Co-written with Shelly Fairchild and Terri Jo Box, “Bottle Tells Me So” is from Ashley McBryde’s new album Wild. Even though the arrangement is rather contemporary, the way the writing and hook of the song works is totally classic country. Blending “bottle” with “Bible” is an overused trope in country songs. But as Ashley McBryde proves, there was one angle that had yet to be explored. Being able to take a country cliché and turn it into something genius is what great country music is all about.
J.D. Graham – “Truth In Tears”
Sharing dispatches from the seedy and downtrodden side of life that ultimately blossoms into inspiring stories of redemption and renewal, JD Graham fearlessly mines the very depths of emotion as he explores the most involved contours of the songwriting discipline.
Perhaps the masterpiece of his latest album Uppers & Downers is the second song, “Truth in Tears,” presented as a duet with Tulsa music legend John Fullbright. Every day we all engage in fake smiles and put-on pleasantries as part of routine. But tears never betray the emotions behind them. Leave it to JD Graham to express this in a way that rings so true.
Kaitlin Butts – “Never Really Mine”
“Never Really Mine” is a pure, traditional country song with steel guitar, a waltz beat built from brushes on snare, and super country writing from Kaitlin Butts at her “double cross me and die” best. Yes, she did solicit some co-writers for the song, but in the form of fellow acclaimed kiss-off country composers Maggie Antone and Lola Kirke.
Despite all the praise an old fuddy duddy country fan might have for “Never Really Mine,” you can also hear how the lyricism, and maybe even the sound is something that would resonate wide with country audiences in the post “Choosin’ Texas” environment. Unlike some other performers who are zagging when they should be zigging, Kaitlin knows this moment in country is country, and serves the people up the kind of country they want. (read more)
Emily Scott Robinson – “Time Traveler”
What kind of towering power is music capable of? To bask in the audience of Emily Scott Robinson’s voice and songs, you feel like anything is possible through the marriage of words and melody. It’s hard to not slip into hyperbole when listening to Emily Scott Robinson. Her new album Appalachia doesn’t make it any easier on you.
Addressing Alzheimer’s in songs has been fashionable for songwriters lately, because the emotional buttons are so easy to push. But you can put “Time Traveler” up there with the best in the series.
Low Gap – “Heroes”
Straddling the border between Kentucky and Ohio, youth and maturity, divinity and sin, sobriety and drunkenness, two brothers going by the names Gus and Phin deftly explore the duality of life and man in songs that carry wisdom well beyond their years.
The exquisitely-written “Heroes” involves a harrowing assessment of life, death, and stardom that should give both performers and their fan pause, and send them into deep contemplation about the complexities of how all of this stuff often so tragically unfolds. “I think I may go out like Cobain. Start using the stuff that killed Elvis and Hank. And I bet my songs would get radio play all the time…” the song says.
Charlie Marie – “Montana”
Charlie Marie’s voice remains such a stellar vessel for carrying any song from the imagination into the audible world, it feels almost inconsequential what kind of genre you classify it in. But clearly Charlie Marie was uninterested in continuing to recycle classic country tropes in hopes it would result in her finding fulfillment as an artist, or as a human on her new album Signs.
Charlie released a live version of “Montana” previously with Western AF. The one that appears on the album comes with a stronger beat, and a less country disposition. But it’s still a stellar song of heartbreak.
HONORABLE MENTION:
Vincent Neil Emerson – “Chippin’ At The Stone”
Presley Haile – “Just Drivin’”
Ward Davis – “Downright Awful Stupid Beautiful Lie”
BEST 2026 SINGLES SO FAR
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Kenny Whitmire – “I Gave Her The Moon”
To some, the constricting nature of traditional country is stifling to creativity. But in truth, it presents a greater creative challenge to country writers and performers to work within such limited parameters, making the need for creativity to be even more paramount.
Conveying a timeless sentiment in a new way is what Kenny Whitmire accomplishes with his new song ” I Gave Her The Moon,” and does so while evoking a chilling effect in how similar he sounds to Keith Whitley. It’s classic, it’s immediately comforting, while also being a clever piece of writing by Whitmire and co-writers Lynn Hutton and Cam Newby. (read more)
Emily Zeck – “Old Is Gold”
“Old Is Gold” is an incredibly infectious, yet well-written song from Emily Zeck that gives you goosebumps in how it reminds you of vintage Dolly Parton. Zeck is no newcomer, but it’s been hard to tell over the years where the artist begins, and the “content creator” ends. With “Old Is Gold,” the promise of a true artist emerges. Having recently gave birth to a child, Zeck might now be more interested in pursuing a country music career more seriously.
Colby Acuff – “Lipstick On a Pig”
Coby Acuff goes full-blown Outlaw on his new album Handmade Horsepower, laying grooves down, giving into two-tone beats, featuring a little phaser on the guitar every now and then, and getting outright mouthy about the ills of the music industry with a devil-may-care attitude about who might catch wind of it, or any collateral damage it might cause to his career.
“Lipstick On A Pig” is a knock down, drag out, full-throated rebuke of the music industry and it’s worst aspects, from fixed awards to hyper crazes, uncaring of who or what might get caught in the crossfire of Colby’s curses. It kind of gives into to every country protest song cliché. But it’s also one hell of a good time, and hard to not pump your fist with.
Drayton Farley – “What You Gonna Do”
Songwriting with purpose that’s unafraid to grow older and wiser with its audience, clothed in country rock music that’s unafraid to yearn for wide and infectious appeal—this is the enjoyable experience listening through Drayton Farley’s latest record, A Heavy Duty Heart.
“So what you gonna do when you catch that dream you’re chasing?” Drayton asks in “What You Gonna Do” in a way that you feel in your bones. Drayton’s answer is to do what he’s done from the beginning, which is write about his life with unencumbered honesty, whatever that entails. It just happens to be that life now revolves around a wife and kids, touring that takes him away from them, and returning home that makes him appreciate these things that much more.
Cole Goodwin – “Howdy”
Listening to Cole Godwin’s new single will immediately fill your heart with the confidence that country music will be just fine for the present and future. It’s not just Zach Top bringing back the neotraditional sound. It’s a whole slew of artists like Cole Goodwin. He separates himself from the herd with “Howdy.”
Cole Goodwin grew up in a musical family, with his mom performing in local clubs and honky tonks, as well as a Gospel group with her family. Goodwin says he spent hours upon hours while growing up watching old country artists like Merle Haggard, George Jones, Keith Whitley, Waylon Jennings, Hank Jr., and Mark Chesnutt on YouTube. This comes through in Cole Goodwin’s music.
Kimmi Bitter – “Love Me or Leave Me”
Kimmi Bitter is a national treasure, whether the nation knows it yet or not. Many performers can sing good and get your toe tapping. Few if any can so consistently make chills run up and down your spine with their incredible interpretation of classic country like Kimmi Bitter can.
“Love Me or Leave Me” is just the latest specimen of this goosebump-inducing affect that Kimmi Bitter’s music can have, but she has a whole catalog of them, and a new album on the way.
Kacey Musgraves – “Loneliest Girl”
Exploring the in-between moments in life, and the in-between spaces on the American continent that often go forgotten is what the new Kacey Musgraves album Middle of Nowhere ventures to accomplish—along with exploring a more country sound that wasn’t just promised, but was delivered via the album’s 13 tracks.
“Middle of Nowhere” might be the title track of Kacey’s new album. But “Loneliest Girl” is its theme song that really captures the essence of what Kacey is trying to convey through this release. The chorus melody here is so devilishly good. Then you put Paul Franklin on top putting on a veritable clinic, and you’re lost in country music goodness.
Charley Crockett – “Waylon Rides Again”
It might have pure coincidence that Charley Crockett co-wrote this song with Shooter and released it on an album where he basically pulled a Waylon and flipped off his record label and the rest of the industry. Regardless, it’s the prefect way to end the set, with a punchy, rock-driven attitude, and a melody that evolves into Waylon’s “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” at the end. Great song, with the over-driven vocals setting the attitude perfectly.
This song from Crockett’s album Clovis was recorded in the same place some of Waylon’s earliest recordings happened. The song is currently not available for streaming due to a dispute between Crockett and Island Records.
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