With Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” and Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” reigning as the nation’s top album and song of 2026, respectively, country music’s U.S. appeal has never been more visible. Over half of American adults now say they listen to country music, and for the first time in history, the top five songs on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 are occupied by country artists. But the genre’s rising cultural clout doesn’t fade where this country ends.
All across the world, country music is growing.
According to Spotify data gathered to coincide with the nation’s 250th anniversary, “streams of American country music have grown more than 94% outside the U.S.” in just the last five years.
A Country Music Association press release said country is “the fastest-growing genre” in the U.K., and has been for the past three straight years. Outgoing CMA CEO Sarah Trahern told The Tennessean, this is no fluke. Country music is becoming more popular worldwide, regardless of cultural differences.
“What we’re seeing right now with the genre here at home isn’t happening in isolation. It’s part of the same wave of growth we’re watching build in markets around the world,” she said. “I’ve stood in crowds at countless shows throughout Europe and in Australia, and I’ve heard thousands of fans sing every word back to an artist, in another country, with the same passion you’d find at a show here stateside. That tells you this music isn’t borrowed, it belongs to those audiences now, too.”
While this international growth does bring tourism dollars back home, especially in Music City, where the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp estimated that tourists came from 39 countries for CMA Fest in June 2026 and spent a whopping $93 million, this trend has also bolstered country music festivals abroad.
Country artists have been making inroads in the U.K., in particular, for over a decade. Back in 2013, when the first C2C: Country to Country festival brought Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood to the O2 Arena in London, the format was an American novelty. Since then, CMA data indicates country music has become the “5th largest genre in the U.K. market,” with growth outpacing the overall music industry for three consecutive years.
Wallen has been a significant driver behind that growth. Before 2024, U.K. listeners got their country music from legacy acts like Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash. Since then, CMA surveys show they’ve preferred contemporary artists like Wallen and Luke Combs. Even better, emerging acts like Shaboozey and Dasha show up on the list of most popular performers, suggesting U.K. fans are digging deeper into the genre.
“What’s especially exciting is that this momentum isn’t limited to established headliners,” Trahern said. “Streaming and social platforms have opened doors for emerging artists to find international audiences much earlier in their careers than ever before. And we’re seeing local industry infrastructure grow right alongside that fan base.”
That infrastructure is easily seen. In the United States, one of the defining elements of country music is the summer fair and festival circuit. Artists mix stand-alone tour dates in with appearances at local and state fairs, plus a ballooning lineup of music festivals. That experience is now going international.
Concert giant Live Nation released a press release stating that international country tours have doubled their live attendance globally since 2019. A total of 50,000 U.K. country fans reportedly visited the State Fayre festival in Chelmsford in late June, after the Buckle & Boots festival celebrated its 10th anniversary with a three-day event in Manchester earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the touring Summer in Nashville festival is currently bringing “the full Southern experience” to 15 small towns and U.K. cities, headlined by tribute acts and expanding to Dubai in October. It’s billed as “a traveling Nashville takeover.”
As such, the CMA is ramping up support for international country music events.
“We’re intentional about strengthening international partnerships and helping local markets build ecosystems that let the genre grow in ways that feel authentic to their own culture,” Trahern said. “That’s the difference between a trend and something built to last, and everything we’re seeing right now points to the latter.”
In Australia, country music has seen even sharper growth. Luminate data indicates that Australia is the third most popular country for county music streams, behind the U.S. and Canada, tallying 6.6 streams annually. With an outdoorsy culture and a large rural population, the themes of American country music have always resonated down under. It has famously produced stars like Keith Urban and supported massive events such as the annual 10-day Tamworth Country Music Festival. Now Australia’s country market demand has grown even stronger.
The Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) said revenue from country music crossed $1 billion for the first time in 2025. That’s nearly double the 2019 figure of $619 million, and in that same timeframe Live Nation Australia counted a “746% increase in country music ticket purchases.”
This all coincides with big gains across continental Europe and beyond, with artists like Kip Moore even intentionally re-centering his career on international markets, like South Africa.
Back home, the momentum pushing country’s international uptake continues to build, driven by its elite acts.
Luminate’s 2026 Mid-Year Report on the full music industry showed Wallen and Langley dominating across genres. Wallen scored two albums in the Top 10, while Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” nearly doubled the total of the next-most-streamed track, Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need.”
Just this week Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” is back No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200, and Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” leads the Billboard 100 for a 15th week straight. There’s more coming from Wallen, too, with a new song (“Been By Now”) starting to climb Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. It will be chasing the current No. 1 (Wallen’s “Don’t We”) and No. 2, Langley’s “I Can’t Love You Anymore” featuring Wallen.
Ultimately, Nashville’s top stars are punching far above their weight, and that is helping send country music far beyond its native shores. Perhaps it’s actually a language we all speak.
“Country music has always traveled well because it’s honest,” Trahern said. “The emotion underneath it, whether it’s love, heartbreak or joy, doesn’t need translation.”
source
Thanks for visiting our page. Don’t forget to go to our home page for more microtonal and indie music news.