page_title: 2000s in music
section_title: Country
hierarchical_section_title: 2000s in music / North America / Country
caption_attribution_description: English: The Oak Ridge Boys performing at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
context_page_description: In American culture, various styles of the late 20th century remained popular, such as in rock, pop, metal, hip hop, R&B, EDM, country and indie. As the technology of computers and internet sharing developed, a variety of those genres started to fuse in order to see new styles emerging. Terms like "contemporary", "nu", "revival", "alternative", and "post" are added to various genres titles in order to differentiate them from past styles, nu-disco and post-punk revival as notable examples.
  In this decade, grime was a genre invented in the UK, while Chillwave became popular in the United States.
  The continued development of studio recording software and electronic elements was observed, through this decade. One such example is the usage of pitch correction software, such as auto-tune that appeared in the late 1990s. Another great impact to this decade was the ongoing development of the internet and user-friendly media players, such as iTunes, and music and video sharing websites such as Napster and YouTube, respectively.
context_section_description: Country music sales continued to rise, as the Billboard 200 all-genre album chart frequently had albums recorded by country music artists listed; several of those titles were certified double platinum or better, indicating the genre continued to have a strong niche in the music industry.
  In 2002 The Statler Brothers effectively retired from music, truly bringing an end to an era of Country Music. Jimmy Fortune struck out on his own as a solo artist with the help of The Oak Ridge Boys and continues to record music and tour today.
  One of the most successful new artists of the decade was Carrie Underwood. In 2005, the Checotah, Oklahoma native became the first American Idol winner to record primarily country music, instead of pop, rap or rhythm and blues. By the end of the decade, Underwood had amassed eight No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, along with numerous awards from the Country Music Association, Academy of Country Music and others.
  Country pop, a subgenre which has its roots in the Nashville Sound of the late 1950s-early 1960s, continued to flourish in popularity. The most prominent act was Shania Twain, with her album Up!, released in 2002, Other top performers in the genre included Dixie Chicks, Lonestar, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts. In the middle of the decade, an informal group of singers and songwriters called the MuzikMafia formed to promote their mesh of honky-tonk and outlaw brand of country music; the most prominent members were "Big" Kenny Alphin and John Rich (of the duo Big & Rich) and Gretchen Wilson, who enjoyed success in the middle part of the decade.
  Many non-country artists enjoyed success in the country music during the 2000s. The most successful of these artists has been former Hootie & the Blowfish lead singer Darius Rucker, who had three No. 1 hits in 2008–09: "Don't Think I Don't Think About It", "It Won't Be Like This for Long" and "Alright." The Eagles, a California-based country-rock group, had their first major success on the Hot Country Songs chart in more than 30 years in 2007–08 with the songs "How Long" and "Busy Being Fabulous." Pop-rock singers Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp forced The Wreckers and had two top 10 hits, including the No. 1 hit "Leave the Pieces." Other non-country artists who had success in the genre were Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, Robert Plant, Jewel, Jessica Simpson, Bon Jovi and Miley Cyrus.
  In the late 2000s, teenager Taylor Swift became the first country artist to enjoy widespread mainstream popularity since the 1980s. Swift's self-titled debut album produced several top-ten hits on Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, while her second album Fearless spawned two of Swift's biggest international hits – "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me" – both reached the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 (and No. 1 on several of the Hot 100s component charts) after topping the Hot Country Songs chart. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Swift became the first country artist to win a VMA award when she won in the Female Best Video category for "You Belong With Me". Swift's self-titled album became the longest charting album of the 2000s decade on the Billboard 200 chart, across all music genres. Fearless topped the same chart for 11 weeks, a feat that has not been matched by another country album since then. In 2016, Billboard wrote that "the country landscape is much different today, thanks in part to Swift and her insistence on following a game plan that many considered unorthodox" and noted the favorable views toward country music since her debut.
  Not everyone celebrated the success of artists such as Underwood and Swift, reflecting the continued discontent and debate over what constituted "real" country music, a debate that had been on and off since the 1970s. Despite the fact that country music songs had long been crossing over to pop radio (and charting since the start of the Billboard charts in 1940), some critics continued to state opinions that the pop-oriented sound was little more than repackaged pop music. In 2
caption: The Oak Ridge Boys
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