The Best Mainstream Country Albums of 2025

As time has gone on, what we regard as “independent” music continues to acquire market share and launch artists up to the arena level, while what’s considered “mainstream” is harder and harder to define. The independent is becoming the mainstream, including how major labels continue to pick the pockets of independent labels, and launch performers without the help of more conventional means such as commercial radio and awards shows. It used to be that you had to be signed to a major label to be mainstream. Then it was receiving commercial radio play that made you mainstream. Now all of these rules seem superfluous. Jake Worthington is signed to a major label in Big Loud, but does that make him “mainstream?” Charles Wesley Godwin is signed to the same label, and most certainly isn’t mainstream. Chase Rice is now on an independent label, but still feels like he could be considered a mainstream performer, even though his music these days is more indicative of independent singer/songwriters. And what do we do with country legends who have just aged out of mainstream radio play and relevance like Trisha Yearwood? Irrespective of the definitions, the point of highlighting the best “mainstream” albums each year is to reward artists and the industry when they get it right within the closest proximity to Music Row in hopes to encourage more of the same. But complicating this already complicated exercise is the fact that in 2025, there weren’t a lot of these projects to highlight. Where in the previous few years there was a healthy handful of top albums and they felt on the rise, in 2025 there were quite a few letdowns, and not as many top shelf mainstream releases. Even the top albums come with a dose of deserved criticism. All of this speaks to the fear that the country music revolution launched around 2015 is losing steam. So along with trying to highlight some of the best mainstream releases in 2025, this exercise feels like a good time to assess what’s happening in mainstream country in 2025, and the challenges it’s facing.

This album received a mixed (5/10) review at Saving Country Music, but has been the toast of the mainstream in 2025, coming in at or near the top of many end-of-year lists, along with receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Country Album.But Evangeline vs. The Machine is producer Jay Joyce at his worst, where every square inch of the record must be hyper stylized to the point where it snuffs out the simple beauty of a melody or lyrical expression, and nothing is allowed to breathe. And make no mistake about it, there is little or nothing about this album that is “country.” But there’s not really much that’s truly bold and progressive about the album either. Putting drum loops on a song that also features French horn might be “bold” on paper. But the result is just a musical mess.You’ll either love this album and think it’s the best thing you’ve heard in years, or you’ve heard albums from Sturgill Simpson, Billy Strings, Daniel Donato, or Garrett T. Capps, and think this album is stretching to be artsy. It’s chic to say this album is groundbreaking and spellbinding, and perhaps for a certain audience, it is. But that might be just as much of a commentary on the mainstream of country as it is this album. Nonetheless, due to all the critical praise, we’ll include it here if for no other reason than it makes an important discussion point. (read review)

When the histories are written about this neotraditionalist era in country music, fair credit will be given to Jon Pardi for being one of the fearless performers to insist on his country music sounding country at a time when this was counter to most everything coming out of major label Nashville. But as the rest of country music seems to be following Jon Pardi’s lead, Jon Pardi himself seems to be staying static, if not heading in the other direction ever so slightly. Though this moment in time could be the opportunity for Pardi to lay on the honky tonk pedal and double down on his more traditional sound and songwriting, he’s just released perhaps his most anodyne and pop album yet.Honkytonk Hollywood is not a bad album overall, and it has some good songs. But the fat need to be trimmed, and the emphasis needed to be on the twang. This could have been the moment Pardi finally found the prestige he’s deserved. Country is becoming more country, so much that even pop stars are making country albums. But Jon Pardi has been here. He should act like that. This is his turf.

Instead, we get the idea that pandering to pop radio is the path to popularity here in 2025. The good news is there are still some good songs to take away from this effort. (read more)

The sound of this self-titled album is really what’s most quizzical at the start. McCollum and Frank Liddell are not the first, and probably won’t be he last to attempt to make an Americana record for the mainstream country market that might misunderstand Americana’s grit for general inferiority. The musical signals are a little too muted, distressed, mono mixed, and “dirty” on this album. The solos feel purposely sloppy and uninspired. It sounds like good musicians trying to perform subpar because that’s what “Americana” is. It’s “gritty.”That’s not to say the album doesn’t also have its strong points, or that McCollum shouldn’t get credit for attempting to do something a little more offbeat for major label audiences. The opening song “My Blue” feels like Parker McCollum taking those Chris Knight influences, and finally synthesizing them into a song of his own. Plenty of people die in the track, just like a Chris Knight saga. “Watch Me Bleed” feels almost like the roots version of an Oasis song. It showcases a strong chorus, which McCollum has a knack for composing.

Parker shows his chorus skills off again in the album’s big radio single “What Kinda Man.” When you get to the song at the 11th slot of the 14-song album, you say, “Okay, here’s an actual Parker McCollum song,” even if it’s the more mainstream version of him as opposed to the Texas one. (read review)

From Austin, TX, the music of Ty Myers is a soulful and bluesy version of Texas country music that is clean, polished, and refined, yet still earthy and organic. It can appeal to Texas country music fans, mainstream country music fans, while still being appealing to traditional country as well. It feels fresh, but it’s also classic. It pulls strongly from various influences, but comes in a unique mix of them. It’s not wholly original, but it’s distinct enough to separate Myers from the sameness of the Zach Bryan doppelgangers.Even among the wave of new and promising country performers, Ty Myers is still unique. At only 17 years old, he’s just a pup with ruddy cheeks. But he stands confidently on stage, writes his own songs, sings them with a strong and soulful delivery, and is no slouch as a guitar player either.

Ty Myers was already a shooting star ahead of the release of his debut album The Select. And like so many of these wunderkind performers, Myers is already signed to a major label, though on his terms, since Myers already had a swelling fan base to support him. This album became on the the best selling titles in country in 2025 allowing Myers to break into the mainstream. (read review)

Is this a “mom country” album, meaning an album full of flowery affirmations about self-worth, adult contemporary sounds overlaying country sensibilities, and music ideal for listening while sipping Merlot during a ladies night in? Yes, it is.

But The Mirror is also a Trisha Yearwood album. It’s an album that feels inspired, passionate, and purposeful. It’s the best album Trisha Yearwood could make in this season of her career. It’s an album from women, by women, and for women and the men that love them. It will be well-received by those who’ve always found Trisha Yearwood to be an artist they enjoy in country music, because she speaks to their lived experiences.

If you love Trisha Yearwood, you will love this album. But even if you don’t love Trisha Yeawood but appreciate her ’90s output, you can still appreciate The Mirror and how it got made. It’s inspiring to see more mature country artists still pushing themselves and putting out meaningful music as opposed to chasing trends. Yearwood can look in The Mirror and be proud. (read review)

Welcome to Carter Faith’s Cherry Valley, which feels both decadent and quaint, inviting and a little intimidating, full of delights, but with temptations and heartbreaks around every turn, where the bitterness is chased with sweetness. It’s a musical universe this young artist originally from North Carolina has created for herself as an emotional haven that she lets the audience peer into through the portal of her debut album.Some might find themselves cherry picking their way through Cherry Valley, especially during the first half of the album. But with 15 tracks, you can still walk away with a good bushel of songs that sound sweet to you. Carter Faith exudes nothing but promise, and turns in some moments that peak the emotional meter on this auspicious debut. (read review)

Produced by Shooter Jennings at his Snake Mountain Studio, it’s like nothing you ever heard from Jake Owen or really any current or former mainstream country music before. It’s the guy who was country music’s sexpot before Riley Green completely and utterly leaving his established sound behind, and not just making a decidedly Country record with a capital ‘C’, but putting the capital ‘O’ back in Outlaw.

There are no half measures taken, or an attempt at a smooth transition from his previous sound. Dreams To Dream is half time beats about bad habits, bad times, bad men, and the women who love them. With co-writers like Kendall Marvel, Channing Wilson, Dean Dillon, Waylon Payne, Scotty Emerick, William Beckmann, and Jamey Johnson who also appears as a guest on this album, Jake Owen went directly to the source of today’s Outlaw country for material, and co-wrote a few of the tracks himself. (read review)

Reflective, grateful, deeply personal, strikingly potent, touching, and completely self-penned, you can tell Vince put a lot of heart into composing this album. It might be the first of a dozen EPs. But Gill approached it like it might be the last album he ever releases.

The opening song “I Gave You Everything I Had” could be taken like a self-engraved epitaph, with Gill telling both his fans and his family that he left it all on the stage, and at home during his Hall of Fame career. “I Hope Everybody Lives To Be A Hundred” is the name of the second song, but it’s the hook of “but we’re all gonna die someday,” and the lesson of living in the moment, and resolving your grievances and debts that’s the biggest takeaway.Will Vince Gill be able to sustain this level of passion in his songwriting, and the high bar he sets on the emotional Richter scale for 11 more EPs in the impending months to come? Will he even fulfill that obligation? Even if we don’t get a single other EP, 50 Years From Home: I Gave You Everything I Had includes moments that were worth the 50 year wait. (read review)

It seems like everywhere you turn these days you’re accosted by the unfamiliar, the newfangled, the latest version of whatever it is, if not an outright scary and dystopian perspective on an uncertain future, and all while the older and allegedly obsolete sure felt superior, and probably was. As the world becomes more complex, faster-paced, and frenetic, we tend to turn to the things that feel genuine. Time tested. That is why the pull of nostalgia has become so potent.

It’s within this environment that the neotraditionalist sound of Zach Top has not just thrived, but excelled to a degree that nobody could have predicted a few short years ago, certainly defying conventional wisdom as he’s risen to very near the top of the country music industry. Young and old, male and female, they all find something warm, comforting, familiar, and assuring from the experience. This is what country music is, was, and what it always should be.Zach Top embodies this all as he illustrates the timeless appeal of true country music. He isn’t just making music that’s curiously popular for its older sound. He’s ushering in an entirely new era for the country music genre. (read review)

Endearing herself to you with simple but prophetic country-isms sung on top of traditional but sensible instrumentation, Hailey Whitters makes for one of the most navigable bridges between the independent and mainstream, and the classic and contemporary. She offers something entertaining and enlightening to just about everyone on her new album Corn Queen for 16 solid tracks.Appearances by Charles Wesley Godwin, Molly Tuttle, and The Wilder Blue further ingratiate this mainstream-facing artist with independent audiences, and those tracks are some of the album’s best. “Corn Queen” really is a great way to characterize the Hailey Whitters experience. She’s received recognition and accolades from some of country music’s highest institutions, yet like a corn crop, there’s an everyman commonality to her and her music, and you can still see her perform for $25.

Though Whitters and Corn Queen might not compete with the top crop of critically acclaimed independent releases this growing season, amid the cash cow crop of heifers in the mainstream, it distinguishes itself from the herd, and leads the pack, helping to put actual country songs and sounds back in the popular genre. That’s what makes an artist like Hailey Whitters and an album like Corn Queen so important. (read review)

The Castellows – Homecoming (read review) – It’s hard to know if we should consider the Castellows “mainstream” or not. They’re on a major label, but haven’t received major radio play, and don’t really fit the mold as “mainstream” artists. They haven’t even officially released their debut album yet. But for artists in development, they hold just about as much promise as anyone, and that’s illustrated in Homecoming. Jake Worthington – When I Write The Song (read review) – Jake Worthington has enjoyed some brushes with mainstream fame, is signed to a major label (Big Loud), but it doesn’t feel right to call him a mainstream artist just yet. What he can be accused of is releasing perhaps the greatest traditional country album in 2025. Zach Top’s running buddy should be topping charts, but he still doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. Chase Rice – Eldora – The co-writer of Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” continues to enact the biggest career 180 perhaps in the history of country music, save for Jake Owen. The dilemma for Chase is that barely anyone is paying attention, cratering his mainstream popularity. But one of the great things about this Chase Rice era, he doesn’t seem to care. He can coast off his “Cruise” royalties, and continue to write deep songs like “Circa 1943.” Muscadine Bloodline – …And What Was Left Behind and Longleaf Lo-fi – Muscadine Bloodline continue to be “The Little Country Music Duo That Could,” cutting a path between the mainstream and independent with songs that appeal to both. You see that in how both of these records landed at the top of many people’s end-of-year favorites irrespective of their country music stripes. Bryce Leatherwood – Self-Titled (read review) – Just like Jake Worthington, Bryce Leatherwood comes from the realty TV competition world, is a staunch traditionalist, is on a major label, and should be receiving mainstream radio play in the wake of Zach Top’s success. But he still feels like he’s on the outside looking in. Just like Worthington, he should have been part of the neotraditionalist wave of 2025 that didn’t really materialize. Willow Avalon – Southern Belle Raisin’ Hell – A album of the year contender for some released on Atlantic Records, Willow could definitely be a mainstream contender in the coming years, and already boasts some breakout singles like “Tequila or Whiskey.” But questions remain if she can sustain in the post TikTok moment, and if her writing has the gusto to appeal to more independent listeners to boost her mainstream signal. – – – – – – –

Bryce Leatherwood, Carter Faith, Chase Rice, Eric Church, Hailey Whitters, Jake Owen, Jake Worthington, Jon Pardi, Muscadine Bloodline, Parker McCollum, The Castellows, Trisha Yearwood, Ty Myers, Vince Gill, Williw Avalon, Zach Top

Honestly thought about doing that. I feel like Christmas music deserves to be in its own category though. I did highlight the album in the Christmas Playlist this year, and might have a review up for it before the 25th. But honestly, if a Christmas record is competing on something like this, it tells you how weak the field is.

the four I enjoyed the most this year out the top list in no particular order were Jake Owen, Ty Myers (honestly didn’t know he was considered mainstream) Parker McCollum, and Zach Top. Thanks for mentioning the new Chase Rice album, man that was a good record. I bet the Castellows will be on the list next year if they put a record out.

“The Select” by Ty Myers was in the Top 20, and at times in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country Albums chart consistently throughout the year. I have not seen the final end-of-year list past the Top 10 yet, but it will be much higher than the recent albums of folks we think of as “mainstream” like Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett, etc. He’s got a huge following and is selling out shows left and right while few if anyone in the media is paying attention, including radio.

Yes, it’s getting a little murkier on what’s actually mainstream, but you did a great job deciphering it Trig. Of these nominees, the Ty Myers record got many spins, and he played an amazing sold out show here in March, he’s got a great future ahead of him, which I hope leans more Country. Obviously Zach Top and Jake Worthington still sit atop the headline rotation in the Jeep. I’d love to see Jon Pardi come back next time with a short, concise 100% Country album. For my money, and I’ve made no secret about it, Hailey Whitters’ Corn Queen deserves my vote. The songs are so good, and hubs Jake Gear’s production is spot on.

Disappointed you didn’t review or otherwise mention Vincent Mason’s debut, “There I Go,” or Hardy’s “Country! Country!” Mason is easily trad/twangy enough to rate at least a 7 on your tough scale, while I could easily substitute the Hardy album for either of your bottom two with no reservations at all. It’s flawed, but there’s just enough more good than bad on it to lift it above either Pardi or Church, at least to my ears. Also, I just recently checked out the Ty Myers album — late to the party since I’m not wild about his single — and I’m impressed. He’s very promising. I wish country singers would put out two albums a year like they used to, but if you’re going to try for radio airplay, singles that take 50 to 60 weeks to hit No. 1 in airplay aren’t exactly conducive to rapid-fire follow-up albums.

No questioning your top two. Hailey and Zach were clearly ahead of the rest. I wonder if Hailey is happy with her status at Big Loud, which hasn’t used its clout to get anything from “Corn Queen” on the radio.

That Vincent Mason was an overachiever by me, it’s pop country no doubt but there’s some pretty decent fully cooked songwriting there, and more hooks than a tuna boat.

I would include the Elizabeth Nichols ep as well. It has seven songs. Numbers wise I am not sure it got a “mainstream” audience. I do think that is what they were going for production wise though. The songs are very catchy with good hooks. Nichols has sole writing credit on a few and secondary on the rest. I think it is very good.

SiriusXM’s The Highway channel has her “Oh! The Things Men Do!” in its regular rotation, but nothing else by her, as far as I can tell. Strange, since that’s supposed to SXM’s current mainstream country channel, yet that song has no chance of ever getting played on a mainstream country FM.

It’s hard to understand why a band as great as the Castellows isn’t played on the radio. They have some very catchy songs.
By the way, it’s interesting that their first European headline shows in July 2026 (Amsterdam, London, Dublin) sold out very quickly, with London selling out so fast they upgraded to a bigger venue.

I don’t know where we put either of these artists vis-a-vis country music, but I rather enjoyed both Jason Isbell’s and Amanda Shires’ dueling divorce albums.

Whenever I see Willow Avalon mentioned as good I feel as though I am taking crazy pills. An obvious industry plant with the most horrible fake voice I have ever heard in my life. That fake vibrato gave her nodes which caused her to cancel many shows, and I almost feel bad for her if not for the many hardworking country singers she is so cynically copying with big industry $$ behind her because she fits a certain look.

I remember once reading an interview with Amanda Shires and she said that a producer (likely Dave Cobb) once told her, “less goat, more note” about her singing. That definitely would apply to Willow Avalon.

So glad to see Hailey Whitters leading this pack. Her first album was one of my favorites of this decade and have listened to it more times than I care to admit and figured that her next album couldn’t live up to it, well it definitely accomplished that feat, and surpassed it! I agree even putting it above Zach as you did. I love Mr. Top and his debut album had heavy rotation, but this new one isnt hitting me like the first. It’s still good, but definitely a slight step back. Great lineup!