List of Billboard number-one country songs of 2021
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File:Parmalee CumberlandCountyFair 2012.jpg scored their first number one single in more than seven years in March with "Just the Way".{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/pro/parmalee-blanco-brown-top-country-airplay-chart/|title=Parmalee & Blanco Brown Top Country Airplay Chart: 'This Song Is About Celebrating the Women in Our Lives'|last=Asker|first=Jim|date=March 16, 2021|accessdate=March 13, 2022|url-access=subscription|magazine=Billboard|archive-date=March 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313165320/https://www.billboard.com/pro/parmalee-blanco-brown-top-country-airplay-chart/|url-status=live}}]]
Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay are charts that rank the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. Hot Country Songs ranks songs based on digital downloads, streaming, and airplay not only from country stations but from stations of all formats, a methodology introduced in 2012.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/27/arts/music/billboards-chart-changes-draw-fire.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|title=Changes to Charts by Billboard Draw Fire|work=The New York Times|last=McKinley, Jr.|first=James C.|date=October 26, 2012|accessdate=December 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103005222/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/27/arts/music/billboards-chart-changes-draw-fire.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|archive-date=November 3, 2012|url-status=live}} Country Airplay, which began publication in 2012, is based solely on country radio airplay, a methodology that had previously been used from 1990 to 2012 for Hot Country Songs.
The year began with "Big, Big Plans" by Chris Lane returning to number one on the Country Airplay chart, having previously topped the listing in the issue of Billboard dated December 19, 2020,{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/country-airplay/2020-12-19|title=Country Airplay chart for December 19, 2020|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=January 28, 2022|archive-date=June 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608193745/https://www.billboard.com/charts/country-airplay/2020-12-19|url-status=live}} while "I Hope" by Gabby Barrett held the top spot on Hot Country Songs, the song's 22nd week atop the chart. Barrett thus continued to extend her record for the longest-running number one song on that chart by a solo female artist, having broken the record two weeks earlier.{{cite web|url=https://tasteofcountry.com/gabby-barrett-billboard-hot-country-chart-record/|title=Gabby Barrett Makes History on the Billboard Hot Country Chart as 'I Hope' Returns to No. 1|work=Taste of Country|publisher=Townsquare Media|last=Liptak|first=Carena|date=December 16, 2020|accessdate=December 9, 2021|archive-date=December 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209095053/https://tasteofcountry.com/gabby-barrett-billboard-hot-country-chart-record/|url-status=live}} The song was displaced from the top spot in the issue dated January 23 by Morgan Wallen's "Wasted on You", but returned to the peak position the following week. In February, Taylor Swift debuted atop Hot Country Songs with a re-recorded version of her 2008 number one single, "Love Story". It was her first chart-topper on that listing since 2012's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and her first to enter at the top of the chart. Furthermore, it made Swift the second artist to top the chart twice with different recordings of the same song after Dolly Parton with "I Will Always Love You".{{Cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2021/02/taylor-swift-love-story-taylors-version-number-one-country-chart.html|title=Taylor Gets Her First Country No. 1 Debut With 'Love Story (Taylor's Version)'|first1=Justin|last1=Curto|work=Vulture|date=February 22, 2021|accessdate=December 9, 2021|archive-date=December 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209093853/https://www.vulture.com/2021/02/taylor-swift-love-story-taylors-version-number-one-country-chart.html|url-status=live}}
In March, Niko Moon gained his first number one as a performer when "Good Time" topped both charts; he had previously written a number of chart-toppers for the Zac Brown Band. It was the first debut single to simultaneously top both listings since 2014.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cmt.com/news/1831230/niko-moon-good-time-no-1-billboard-country-airplay-chart/|title=Niko Moon Lands First No. 1 as an Artist as "Good Time" Reaches Top of Billboard Country Chart|publisher=CMT|first=Jessica|last=Nicholson|date=March 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316033749/http://www.cmt.com/news/1831230/niko-moon-good-time-no-1-billboard-country-airplay-chart/|accessdate=June 18, 2021|archive-date=2021-03-16}} Walker Hayes achieved his first chart-topper in July when "Fancy Like" topped Hot Country Songs; the song had become a viral success based on a video on social media site TikTok,{{cite web|url=https://tasteofcountry.com/walker-hayes-viral-tik-tok-fancy-like/|title=Walker Hayes Goes Viral With a 'Fancy Like' TikTok Dance Party, Featuring His Daughter [Watch]|work=Taste of Country|publisher=Townsquare Media|last=G|first=Holly|date=June 20, 2021|accessdate=September 21, 2021|archive-date=September 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913184000/https://tasteofcountry.com/walker-hayes-viral-tik-tok-fancy-like/|url-status=live}} and by the end of the year had spent 20 weeks atop the listing. In September, Lainey Wilson gained her first number one when "Things a Man Oughta Know" reached the peak position on Country Airplay,{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/9637951/lainey-wilson-tops-emerging-artists-chart-things-a-man-oughta-know|title=Lainey Wilson Hits No. 1 on Emerging Artists Chart Thanks to 'Things a Man Oughta Know'|first=Xander|last=Zellner|magazine=Billboard|date=September 29, 2021|accessdate=October 19, 2021|archive-date=October 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019220654/https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/9637951/lainey-wilson-tops-emerging-artists-chart-things-a-man-oughta-know|url-status=live}} and the following month "My Boy" topped the same chart to give Elvie Shane, a contestant on the fifteenth season of American Idol his first chart-topper.{{cite web|url=https://musicrow.com/2021/10/elvie-shane-scores-first-no-1-with-debut-single-my-boy/|title=Elvie Shane Scores First No. 1 With Debut Single "My Boy"|work=MusicRow|date=October 19, 2021|first=Lorie|last=Hollabaugh|accessdate=October 19, 2021|archive-date=October 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019154527/https://musicrow.com/2021/10/elvie-shane-scores-first-no-1-with-debut-single-my-boy/|url-status=live}} Canadian singer MacKenzie Porter gained her first number one in December as a featured artist on Dustin Lynch's "Thinking 'Bout You",{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/pro/dustin-lynch-mackenzie-porter-thinking-bout-you-country-airplay-chart/|title=Dustin Lynch & MacKenzie Porter's 'Thinking' Caps Country Airplay Chart|date=December 7, 2021|accessdate=December 9, 2021|magazine=Billboard|first=Jim|last=Asker|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207200047/https://www.billboard.com/pro/dustin-lynch-mackenzie-porter-thinking-bout-you-country-airplay-chart/|archive-date=December 7, 2021}} which ended the year atop the chart. The longest-lasting Country Airplay number one was Luke Combs's "Forever After All", which spent six weeks at the top. The song was his 11th consecutive number one on that chart from the start of his career, extending his own record.{{Cite magazine |last=Asker |first=Jim |date=June 1, 2021 |title=Luke Combs Continues Career-Opening No. 1 Streak on Country Airplay Chart With 'Forever After All' |url=https://www.billboard.com/pro/luke-combs-forever-after-all-tops-country-airplay-chart/ |access-date=April 22, 2022 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US |archive-date=April 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419200807/https://www.billboard.com/pro/luke-combs-forever-after-all-tops-country-airplay-chart/ |url-status=live }} Combs spent a total of thirteen weeks at number one and had four chart-topping singles, both more than any other act during 2021. Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Florida Georgia Line, and Jason Aldean were the only other acts to achieve more than one chart-topper during the year, with two each.
Chart history
File:Gabby....jpg continuing a record-breaking run at number one on the Hot Country Songs chart with "I Hope". She achieved a second number one in April with "The Good Ones".]]
File:Taylor Swift 2 - 2019 by Glenn Francis (cropped).jpg gained her first country number one for more than eight years with a new recording of her 2008 single, "Love Story". This also made her the second artist in history to top the chart twice with two different versions of the same song.]]
File:Lainey Wilson 2020.jpg gained her first number one in September with "Things a Man Oughta Know".]]
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