Did you catch Billboard’s list of 100 greatest country artists recently?
Ahead of the CMA Awards, the publication unveiled their list of who they consider the 100 greatest country artists of all time – and as expected, it was a complete joke.
At the top of the list was Dolly Parton, so it’s hard to argue that one. But then you get further down and see Morgan Wallen ranked at 79, two spots above Ernest Tubb at 81. And the legendary Toby Keith is ranked 65th, behind names like Taylor Swift and, notable, The Chicks, who are ranked 25th – of all time.
Meanwhile Hank Williams Jr. is criminally low at 57, one spot behind Eric Church at 56 (who is also criminally low, while both are still also behind Taylor Swift). And Maren Morris is also included on the list at 99.
Just a total mess.
Of course Billboard has received plenty of criticism for their rankings, including from Jason Aldean, who was left off the list entirely.
Kurt Allison, guitarist for Aldean and co-writer of his #1 single “Try That In A Small Town,” shared a post on Instagram calling Billboard a joke for not including Aldean despite his title as ACM Artist of the Decade and his 28 #1 hits:
“What a joke Billboard – but not surprising considering the source.
Despite holding the crown as the reigning ACM Artist of the Decade with 28 number one hits in his back pocket, Jason Aldean was somehow not listed as one of Billboard’s 100 Greatest Country Artists of All-Time.”
And Aldean himself responded in the comments – admitting he’s not surprised at being left out:
“This shouldn’t come as a shock…
And people ask if we still have a chip on our shoulder and feel like we have something to prove??? Hell yea we do and this is a prime example why!! We’ll just keep hammerin and do what we do. Same as we always have.”
But Aldean wasn’t the only one who sounded off on being left out. His wife, Brittany, took to her Instagram story to share her thoughts on her husband’s exclusion from the list.
In her post, Brittany blamed it on their decision to speak out in favor of President Donald Trump, with Jason even performing at the Republican National Convention earlier this year when Trump was officially chosen as the Republican nominee for president:
“Remember when I said it’s been a journey standing up for what we believe in??
This is a prime example of Jason being left out of things in the industry. Billboard your wokeness obviously overrides your ability to give credit where it’s due, and it’s sad.”
And look, say what you will about Jason Aldean’s music, but his success speaks for itself. When you include artists like Luke Bryan, who haven’t been politically outspoken, and also Maren Morris and Brothers Osborne, who have been outspoken against the Aldeans while not having near the success that Jason Aldean has had, it’s easy to question whether he was left out because of his politics.
But then again, the list was clearly intended as clickbait anyway, because there’s no way that’s a serious ranking of the 100 greatest country artists of all time. And it worked, because here we are talking about it.