Country pop
Other crossover hits during the 1960s included Skeeter Davis's "The End of the World", Sonny James' "Young Love", Billy Joe Royal's "Down in the Boondocs",Jeannie C. Riley's "Harper Valley PTA", and Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey".
The Nashville sound eventually evolved into countrypolitan during the 1970s and had varying levels of success, with several artists recording in the style: Ray Price ("For the Good Times" 1970), Lynn Anderson ("Rose Garden" 1970), Charley Pride ("Kiss an Angel Good Morning" 1971), Mac Davis ("Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me" 1972), Donna Fargo ("The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A." 1972 and "Funny Face" 1973), Marie Osmond ("Paper Roses" 1973), Kris Kristofferson ("Why Me" 1973), Charlie Rich ("The Most Beautiful Girl" 1974), Billy Swan ("I Can Help" 1974), Ray Stevens ("The Streak" 1974), Jessi Colter ("I'm Not Lisa" 1975), and Crystal Gayle ("Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" 1977) all charted pop-influenced country hits during the 1970s.
[13] "Rhinestone Cowboy" was produced by blue-eyed soul writer team Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter and written by Larry Weiss.
The Bellamy Brothers' "Let Your Love Flow", Amazing Rhythm Aces' "Third Rate Romance" (1976), Glen Campbell's Southern Nights (1977), and Anne Murray's "You Needed Me" (1978) were additional examples of late '70s pop country hits.
[14] After "Lucille", Rogers had a string of songs that did well on both the country and pop charts around the world, including "Daytime Friends", "The Gambler", and "Coward of the County", all of which were produced by Larry Butler.
[15] Her big country hits included "Sleeping Single In a Double Bed" and "(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right."
"[16] Parton earned another big hit with "9 to 5", which topped both the country and pop singles charts in early 1981, supplemented by the 1980 film of the same name.
Kenny Rogers also had a duet hit with Parton, the Bee Gees–penned "Islands in the Stream", which topped the country and pop singles charts in late 1983.
Oak Ridge Boys, Alabama, Eddie Rabbitt, Juice Newton, Bertie Higgins, and Ronnie Milsap also had crossover success during the early 1980s.
Country star Juice Newton also achieved country-pop success with several crossover hits in the early '80s, including "Queen of Hearts", "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)", and Grammy-winner "Break It To Me Gently"; in addition, she wrote "Sweet Sweet Smile", the only country hit for easy-listening act the Carpenters.
The commercial boom in the industry during this time was also attributable to the rise of talented artists who coincided with the implementation of new marketing strategies that were meant to attract a larger fan base; this further pushed the genre into a pop musical style with an emerging new image.
Rimes also had a hit with the pop songs "Can't Fight the Moonlight" and "I Need You", the latter of which required a remix to be suitable for country radio.
Incorporating elements of pop into country music became extremely popular by the late '90s, thus producing many crossover hits and artists, especially on the adult contemporary charts.
In addition to Brooks, Twain, Martina McBride, and Rimes, Billy Ray Cyrus, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Dixie Chicks, Jo Dee Messina, Lonestar, Mary-Chapin Carpenter and Wynonna Judd all had songs cross over to Top 40 and/or Adult Contemporary radio, sometimes with remixes eliminating steel guitars and other "country" elements to be more suitable for pop radio.
Brooks, Reba McEntire, and other artists also maintained high profiles on the album charts despite having less radio crossover success.
Other examples of prominent country-pop artists from this decade included Lady A, Sugarland, Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, and Kenny Chesney.
The 2010s saw many changes for the country-pop genre, not only in sound, but also in values; there was a significant shift away from big-voiced power ballads to more casual, hip-hop influenced styles.
One such trend was the controversial bro-country subgenre, which Vulture described as "music by and of the tatted, gym-toned, party-hearty young American white dude.
Other records to hit on both the pop and country charts included Miley Cyrus' "The Climb", Lady A's "Just A Kiss", the Band Perry's "If I Die Young", Kelly Clarkson's "Mr. Know It All", Hunter Hayes' "Wanted", and Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise".
In 2016, Morgan Wallen signed to Big Loud, releasing his debut album, If I Know Me in 2018, with strong hip-hop elements like trap beats and snap tracks.
This included Chris Stapleton who collaborated with Justin Timberlake on Hot 100 top ten single "Say Something"; Urban-pop star Bebe Rexha whose duet with the country duo Florida Georgia Line "Meant to Be" reached No.
2 both in Australia and in the U.S.; and German DJ Zedd whose dance hit "The Middle" featured main vocals from Maren Morris and peaked at No.
The way audiences consumed their music also changed during the 2010s, as streaming services became more prominent, thus affecting how artists marketed their songs.
[36] In 2020, American Idol finalist Gabby Barrett topped Billboard's Hot Country Songs for over 20 weeks with her single, "I Hope", which was later remixed into a duet with pop singer-songwriter Charlie Puth.
[39] Two artists who were influential in shifting mainstream attitudes about the genre's more pop-inflected sound were Sam Hunt and Maren Morris.
As NPR Music wrote, "Sam Hunt and Maren Morris arrived on the scene in the years that followed, each of them possessing fluency in the postures and cadences of millennial pop that turned heads and blurred boundaries.
"[40] Jon Caramanica said: "Think of all the ways dissenters have tried to upend country in recent years: by sneaking in rhythmic vocal tics learned from rappers, by thinning out the genre's musical baggage, by pledging inclusive values.
[45] In January 2021, Nashville Scene pointed out the commercial impact and critical acclaim brought on by songs considered to be crossover hits, writing, "The walls around the country genre seem evermore flimsy these days.
Thanks in part to streaming, 'Old Town Road' became the most-certified song in RIAA history earlier this month, racking up 14 million sales.
[47] Billboard, however, pointed out that Musgraves was hardly the first to face controversy from the Grammys; previous records nominated in Pop categories included Dolly Parton's "Here You Come Again" and "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell.
