Author
Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist who’s worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer and is a founding editor of bettorsinsider.com.
Ranking New York’s Favorite Country Singers
Nashville might be the home of country music, but the genre is now popular everywhere, including in New York.
EmpireStakes.com decided to take a moment away from covering New York sports betting and all the state’s pro teams to try to determine which country singers are the most popular in the state.
We started by utilizing Billboard.com’s 2022 Top Country Artists on the year-end charts to develop a list of the Top 50 country music artists. With the list in hand, we utilized Google Trends to find the most popular country music artists in the state of New York over the past 12 months (June 2022-June 2023).
So, according to research done by EmpireStakes.com – your source for NY sportsbook promos - these are the five most popular country artists in the state.
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New York’s Favorite Country Singers
Morgan Wallen Tops This Chart
Morgan Wallen. At the moment, Tennessean Wallen is most likely the most popular country music artist in the country. His 2023 album “One Thing at a Time” has topped the Billboard album charts for three months. Wallen first found recognition as a contestant on the 6th season of “The Voice” – he didn’t win – and he released his first EP, “Stand Alone,” in 2015. Wallen’s career began to pick up mainstream steam in 2018, but a 2020 arrest over intoxication and a 2021 scandal over his use of racial slur, were bumps in the road. Wallen, however, apologized, and became more popular than ever, with hit singles, offbeat collaborations and a sold-out tour. In 2022, he won the Academy of Country Music Album of the Year Award for “Dangerous: The Double Album.”
Shania Twain. “The Queen of Country Pop” has sold more than a 100 million records and was one of the biggest solo stars of the 1990s. Her combination of earworm song hooks, feminist empowerment, midriff-bearing aerobics attire and good looks, helped pave the way for artists as diverse as Britney Spears and Taylor Swift. Her recording career hasn’t hit the same levels as when she was working with her former producer/songwriter Robert “Mutt” Lange (who also produced Def Leppard’s biggest hits), but Twain, who hails from Canada, has remained a popular live attraction and has had residencies in Las Vegas, an autobiography, a documentary, and appeared in movies and on television. This year she released her second album since 2002, “Queen of Me.”
Luke Combs. Combs hails from North Carolina and has been recording for a little less than a decade. His breakthrough came in 2017 with the album “This One’s for You,” which debuted at No.1 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart, and over two years spent more than 40 weeks in the top spot. His second album, “What You See Is What You Get,” was released in 2019, followed by “Growin’ Up” in 2022, and “Getting’ Old” in 2023. Hits include “The Kind of Love We Make” and a cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.”
Chris Stapleton. Hailing from Kentucky, but living in Nashville since 2001, Stapleton started primarily as a songwriter, penning hits for others, before his critically acclaimed breakout album, “Traveler,” in 2015. His version of “Tennessee Whiskey” became a monster hit, and his powerful, yearning voice has crossed over to work with artists in other genres. It’s made his brand of country-roots-bluegrass-Americana music trendy with listeners from all walks of life. This year he sang the National Anthem at Super Bowl LVII.
Luke Bryan. Now a judge on “American Idol,” this Georgian also started as a songwriter back in 2004. His first album, “I’ll Stay Me,” was released in 2007 and he’s since released six more. Bryan had a Las Vegas residency in 2022 and has had a slew of hits such as “I Don’t Want This Night to End,” “Drunk on You,” “Crash My Party,” “Drink a Beer,” “Kick the Dust Up,” “Strip it Down,” and “Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day.”
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