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As the world approaches the end of the year, several of the most iconic New Year’s Eve celebrations have been cancelled or significantly scaled back, signaling a shift in how global cities are responding to growing safety and security concerns. According to reporting by Express.co.uk, major festivities in Sydney, Paris, and Tokyo will not proceed […]

Russian officials have claimed that Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack targeting one of President Vladimir Putin’s official residences in the Novgorod region of Russia. According to Newsweek, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Ukraine “carried out a terrorist attack using 91 long-range UAVs against the Russian president’s state residence in the Novgorod region.” […]

AI’s early-2025 spending spree featured massive raises and trillion-dollar infrastructure promises. By year’s end, hype gave way to a vibe check, with growing scrutiny over sustainability, safety, and business models.

In this episode, we’ll take a look at several reports on the fraud and coverup that has been taking place in Minnesota and we’ll also touch on other states where there will, no doubt, fraud exposed, such as California and New York. In the end, people need to keep in mind that this is not …

A former Marine highlights the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the united States and points out that it was nothing more than a means to an end, fueling major military and oil contracts, as well as other business ventures. Consider how many Americans, Afghanis and Iraqis were pitted against one another for the sake …

Dierks Bentley has one, expensive closer. The “Cold Beer Can” singer – and some very talented friends – embarked on a 30-stop tour from May all the way to the end of August this past year to celebrate and share his 11th studio album: Broken Branches. Those “talented friends” joining Dierks just so happened to be duo known as The Band Loula, and the young country music star on a meteoric rise: Zach Top. Bentley recently joined 102.7’s Backstage Country to talk about how the tour came together, and how much thought and work he puts into it on the front end to make sure that his fans have the best experience: “Well, we don’t mess around. We put so much time into the tour. When we launch a new tour, it’s all new stage stuff. It’s new video content, new video look, and walls. I mean it starts with just a set list. Me and the band just going over every song we wanna keep in. Do you wanna do ‘I Hold On’ the same way? Do you wanna change it? What new songs do you want to get in there? How do we incorporate Zach Top into the show? How to incorporate The Band Loula into the show?” And while we’re speaking of incorporating other artists into Bentley’s show, I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up the legendary ’90s country group that no one heard of until the mid 2010s: The Hot Country Knights. The band, which always takes on the encore at Dierks’ concerts, consists of Douglas “Doug” Douglason, Trevor Travis, Marty Ray “Rayro” Roburn, Terotej “Terry” Dvoraczekynski, Barry Van Ricky, and Monte Montgomery. They might look a whole lot like Dierks Bentley’s regular road band… but they are completely different. Dierk Bentley said for a ragtag group of country artists from the 90s, they are quite the expensive component when it comes to planning out the tour: “The Hot Country Knights take up half the production budget.” But it all makes sense when the audience goes nuts for Dierks Bentley in a wig and sunglasses. Whoops, I mean DOUG DOUGLASON. When the crowd goes wild for Doug… that’s what I meant to say. Dierks was happy with what the Hot Country Knights cooked up to finish his Broken Branches shows, and it sounds like he’s heavily involved in the band’s decisions, even though he is just the one that goes on before them: “We got a great ending to the show this year with the Hot Country Knights. The fans have kind of come to expect the craziness to happen there. So that’s a lot of work. It’s just a lot of work, but it’s fun work.” Anything that the Hot Country Knights are involved in is fun. Have you caught up on their latest hits? I’m still holding out hope that we get more original music from the Knights, but until then, make sure you are caught up with the retro band’s most recent contributions: “Herassmeant (feat. Darla McFarland)” “Midknight Rodeo” The post Dierks Bentley Says The “Hot Country Knights” Take Up Half Of His Tour’s Production Budget first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Making sense of the madness. Despite country radio clearly losing the decades-long stranglehold it has had on consumers for the better part of the past five or so years, there’s no denying that it’s still a major player in terms of introducing casual listeners to music as it has throughout history. As pretty everyone knows by now, however, country radio has taken what can only be described as a nose-dive in quality over the years. Gone are the days when you can fire up your local station and hear some stone-cold country songs, complete with some fiddle and steel, or even some hidden gems that a local DJ caught wind of early. Of course, that ended when major corporations such as iHeartRadio bought out the majority of radio stations around the country. Nowadays, you admittedly have to actively seek out the best country music has to offer, whether it’s here at Whiskey Riff, on streaming services or online on various different social media platforms. You always hear about how bad country radio is, but the question that remains is just how bad is it? Well, U.S. Radio Updater, a prominent, award-winning radio chart tracker on X, posted every song that went #1 on US Country Radio in 2025, and the list is quite the doozy. Every #1 song on US Country Radio (Mediabase) in 2025: •Wind Up Missin’ You•Boys Back Home•Bigger Houses•Love Somebody•4x4xU•Guy For That•I Ain’t Sayin’•Liar•I’m Gonna Love You•This Town’s Been Too Good To Us•Hometown Home•Friends Like That•Forever To Me… — U.S. Radio Updater (@USRadioUpdater) December 28, 2025 Unsurprisingly, Morgan Wallen owns the most #1s on country radio in 2025 with four entries (“Love Somebody,” “I’m The Problem,” “Just In Case” and “I Got Better”). While you can certainly argue a lot about the quality of Wallen’s musical output, there’s simply no denying that there’s an overwhelming demand for his music to be played on stations around the country, especially considering the fact that he was named Billboard’s Top Artist of the Year earlier in the month. Undeniably, there are a bunch of other admittedly quality, popular songs that also went #1 throughout the year. In particular, Zach Top’s “I Never Lie,” Ella Langley’s “weren’t for the wind,” Riley Green’s “Worst Way” and “Don’t Mind If I Do” as well as Luke Combs’ “Back in the Saddle” were some of the bright spots that actually hit the trifecta of being quality songs, organically popular and reaching #1 on country radio. However, when you take a look at the rest of the songs present on the list of #1s throughout the year, there are quite a few headscratchers. Before I dive into the discrepancy between some of the songs that went #1 on country radio throughout 2025, here’s the full list. Every #1 Song On Country Radio (2025) “Wind Up Missin’ You” – Tucker Wetmore “Boys Back Home” – Dylan Marlowe & Dylan Scott “Bigger Houses” – Dan + Shay “Love Somebody” – Morgan Wallen “4X4XU” – Lainey Wilson “Guy For That” – Post Malone ft. Luke Combs “I Ain’t Sayin'” – Jordan Davis “Liar” – Jelly Roll “I’m Gonna Love You” – Cody Johnson & Carrie Underwood “This Town’s Been Too Good To Us” – Dylan Scott “Hometown Home” – LOCASH “Friends Like That” – John Morgan ft. Jason Aldean “Forever To Me” – Cole Swindell “Texas” – Blake Shelton “I Never Lie” – Zach Top “I’m The Problem” – Morgan Wallen “Whiskey Drink” – Jason Aldean “Am I Okay?” – Megan Moroney “Worst Way” – Riley Green “Backseat Driver” – Kane Brown “This Heart” – Corey Kent “weren’t for the wind” – Ella Langley “Just In Case” – Morgan Wallen “Single Again” – Josh Ross “Country House” – Sam Hunt “Park” – Tyler Hubbard “Fix What You Didn’t Break” – Nate Smith “Country Song Came On” – Luke Bryan “After All The Bars Are Closed” – Thomas Rhett “Backup Plan” – Bailey Zimmerman & Luke Combs “Good News” – Shaboozey “Happen To Me” – Russell Dickerson “Bottle Rockets” – Scotty McCreery ft. Hootie & The Blowfish “Heart of Stone” – Jelly Roll “Bar None” – Jordan Davis “I Got Better” – Morgan Wallen “Back In The Saddle” – Luke Combs “Heavens To Betsy” – Jackson Dean “Darlin'” – Chase Matthew “Somewhere Over Laredo” – Lainey Wilson “3,2,1” – Tucker Wetmore “Don’t Mind If I Do” – Riley Green ft. Ella Langley “Cowgirl” – Parmalee Obviously, there’s no hard and fast way to judge a song’s popularity nowadays. While chart success is always one of the easiest ways to do so, you also have to factor in other things, such as pure streaming numbers on platforms such as Spotify, virality on social media platforms like TikTok and more. For the sake of this exercise (and to truly find out how out of touch country radio is currently), I’m going to be evaluating all 43 #1 songs on country radio in 2025 based on two key metrics: Spotify streams and placement on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, given the fact that Spotify streams do not take radio play into account, and the Hot Country Songs chart also accounts for other factors such as streaming and digital sales. While it’s not a perfect system, it gives a more rounded look at how individual tracks are performing across multiple different measurements instead of simply radio. I’ll be judging and ranking songs in three separate groups: popular, moderately popular and unpopular. How does one receive these rankings, you might ask? For this experiment, I’ll be evaluating them using two separate thresholds that a song must cross: 50 million streams on Spotify and a Top 10 placement on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. If a song hits both, it will be deemed popular. If a song hits one of the two, it will be deemed moderately popular. And if a song fails to reach either, it will be named unpopular. While there could be different ways to evaluate the songs present on the list, I feel this gives an overall look at how well a song is performing to the general public, not just in the eyes of radio programmers across the country. Without further ado, let’s see which songs truly made an impact outside of radio in 2025. Popular Songs “Wind Up Missin’ You” – Tucker Wetmore Hot Country Songs Peak: #6 Spotify Streams: 393 million “Love Somebody” – Morgan Wallen Hot Country Songs Peak: #1 Spotify Streams: 400 million “4X4XU” – Lainey Wilson Hot Country Songs Peak: #9 Spotify Streams: 140 million “Guy For That” – Post Malone ft. Luke Combs Hot Country Songs Peak: #7 Spotify Streams: 298 million “Liar” – Jelly Roll Hot Country Songs Peak: #5 Spotify Streams: 176 million “I’m Gonna Love You” – Cody Johnson & Carrie Underwood Hot Country Songs Peak: #7 Spotify Streams: 100 million “I Never Lie” – Zach Top Hot Country Songs Peak: #6 Spotify Streams: 280 million “I’m The Problem” – Morgan Wallen Hot Country Songs Peak: #1 Spotify Streams: 317 million “Worst Way” – Riley Green Hot Country Songs Peak: #5 Spotify Streams: 336 million “weren’t for the wind” – Ella Langley Hot Country Songs Peak: #4 Spotify Streams: 230 million “Just In Case” – Morgan Wallen Hot Country Songs Peak: #1 Spotify Streams: 270 million “After All The Bars Are Closed” – Thomas Rhett Hot Country Songs Peak: #8 Spotify Streams: 96 million “Backup Plan” – Bailey Zimmerman & Luke Combs Hot Country Songs Peak: #6 Spotify Streams: 101 million “Good News” – Shaboozey Hot Country Songs Peak: #3 Spotify Streams: 201 million “Happen To Me” – Russell Dickerson Hot Country Songs Peak: #6 Spotify Streams: 84 million “Bar None” – Jordan Davis Hot Country Songs Peak: #6 Spotify Streams: 50 million “I Got Better” – Morgan Wallen Hot Country Songs Peak: #1 Spotify Streams: 218 million “Don’t Mind If I Do” – Riley Green ft. Ella Langley Hot Country Songs Peak: #5 Spotify Streams: 170 million Moderately Popular Songs “Boys Back Home” – Dylan Marlowe & Dylan Scott Hot Country Songs Peak: #18 Spotify Streams: 84 million “I Ain’t Sayin'” – Jordan Davis Hot Country Songs Peak: #12 Spotify Streams: 102 million “This Town’s Been Too Good To Us” Hot Country Songs Peak: #17 Spotify Streams: 175 million “Am I Okay?” – Megan Moroney Hot Country Songs Peak: #12 Spotify Streams: 156 million “Single Again” – Josh Ross Hot Country Songs Peak: #22 Spotify Streams: 71 million “Fix What You Didn’t Break” – Nate Smith Hot Country Songs Peak: #14 Spotify Streams: 61 million “Bottle Rockets” – Scotty McCreery ft. Hootie & The Blowfish Hot Country Songs Peak: #6 Spotify Streams: 26 million “Back in the Saddle” – Luke Combs Hot Country Songs Peak: #4 Spotify Streams: 44 million “Darlin'” – Chase Matthew Hot Country Songs Peak: #13 Spotify Streams: 93 million “Somewhere Over Laredo” – Lainey Wilson Hot Country Songs Peak: #7 Spotify Streams: 27 million “3,2,1” – Tucker Wetmore Hot Country Songs Peak: #14 Spotify Streams: 35 million Unpopular Songs “Bigger Houses” – Dan + Shay Hot Country Songs Peak: #20 Spotify Streams: 45 million “Hometown Home” – LOCASH Hot Country Songs Peak: #21 Spotify Streams: 6 million “Friends Like That” – John Morgan ft. Jason Aldean Hot Country Songs Peak: #16 Spotify Streams: 19 million “Forever To Me” – Cole Swindell Hot Country Songs Peak: #25 Spotify Streams: 25 million streams “Texas” – Blake Shelton Hot Country Songs Peak: #16 Spotify Streams: 41 million “Whiskey Drink” – Jason Aldean Hot Country Songs Peak: #25 Spotify Streams: 25 million “Backseat Driver” – Kane Brown Hot Country Songs Peak: #16 Spotify Streams: 32 million “This Heart” – Corey Kent Hot Country Songs Peak: #27 Spotify Streams: 41 million “Country House” – Sam Hunt Hot Country Songs Peak: #27 Spotify Streams: 12 million “Park” – Tyler Hubbard Hot Country Songs Peak: #24 Spotify Streams: 24 million “Country Song Came On” – Luke Bryan Hot Country Songs Peak: #25 Spotify Streams: 8 million “Heart of Stone” – Jelly Roll Hot Country Songs Peak: #14 Spotify Streams: 22 million “Heavens To Betsy” – Jackson Dean Hot Country Songs Peak: #20 Spotify Streams: 9 million “Cowgirl” – Parmalee Hot Country Songs Peak: #17 Spotify Streams: 3 million And there you have it. If you weren’t counting, out of the 43 #1 songs in 2025, there were 18 popular songs, 11 moderately popular and 14 unpopular songs populating the top of country radio throughout the year. Keep in mind, this is not a hit against any of the songs or artists present on this list; it’s simply a guide to deciphering how country radio is currently operating at this stage in its life. If there’s anything to gather from this exercise, it’s the fact that country radio is surprisingly doing a pretty good job playing music that people want to listen to. Again, there’s a LOT to be said about the quality of a majority of the songs on this list, but the fact that 18/43 of the songs that went this #1 are, by all measures, universal hits to the public shows that, for the most part, programmers are still in tune with what the public wants to hear. The one thing that cannot be ignored, however, is the MAJOR discrepancies with some of the middling songs in my appointed “unpopular” tier. The fact that songs like LOCASH’s “Hometown Home” and Parmalee’s “Cowgirl” (which is a multi-week #1, mind you) can shoot all the way to #1 with an astonishingly low amount of streams (6 million and 3 million, respectively) point to not only some incredible chart gaming from the artists’ labels but also the potential of songs being forced into regular rotation across the nation by said labels. The same can be said about Luke Bryan’s “Country Song Came On” and Jackson Dean’s “Heavens To Betsy,” which also share similarly low streaming numbers. Of course, some songs can credit any and all of their streaming numbers to being featured on country radio, which in turn also gets them onto certain Spotify playlists to boost streams, but that makes it all the more interesting when a song tops the country charts and does NOT stream well. Ultimately, it’s been well-documented that radio in general is slowly but surely dying thanks to the rise of streaming. While I wouldn’t consider this list and further exercise a nail in the coffin in terms of radio’s vitality or reputation, some of the less popular songs present here do raise some interesting questions surrounding just how much power major labels still have on influencing stations across the country.The post Just How Popular Were All The Songs That Went #1 On Country Radio In 2025… Actually? first appeared on Whiskey Riff.