We compared US Google search data for "country music" and four headline artists in 2022 and 2025. Each artist is measured against the genre word in the same query. Morgan Wallen went from 1.5x to 2.3x the searches for "country music" itself, and Zach Bryan from 45% to 98%. State maps show where the growth came from. Morgan Wallen's 2025 top states include Wisconsin, Ohio, Arizona, and Zach Bryan's include Michigan, Colorado. In 2022 both artists' top states were concentrated in the South and the Plains.
Artist searches as a multiple of "country music" (US, same query each year)
| Artist | 2022 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| morgan wallen | 1.55x | 2.34x |
| zach bryan | 0.45x | 0.98x |
| luke combs | 0.64x | 0.50x |
| chris stapleton | 0.59x | 0.60x |
Top 8 states by artist, 2022 vs 2025 (each map top = 100)
| Artist | 2022 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| country music | Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, South Carolina, Iowa, North Dakota, Mississippi, South Dakota | Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, South Carolina, South Dakota, Montana, Oklahoma, Alabama |
| morgan wallen | Tennessee, West Virginia, Mississippi, North Dakota, Kentucky, South Dakota, Arkansas, Missouri | Tennessee, Wisconsin, Ohio, Arizona, Kentucky, West Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama |
| zach bryan | West Virginia, Oklahoma, Montana, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Tennessee | West Virginia, Michigan, Colorado, Indiana, Oklahoma, Montana, South Dakota, New Jersey |
| luke combs | Maine, Nebraska, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia | Tennessee, Iowa, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Indiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota |
| chris stapleton | Kentucky, North Dakota, Arkansas, Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee, New Hampshire, Indiana | Kentucky, Indiana, South Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, Montana, Colorado, Utah |
Biggest gains in "country music" state index, 2022 → 2025
| State | 2022 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montana | 42 | 51 | +9 |
| Oklahoma | 39 | 47 | +8 |
| Texas | 28 | 36 | +8 |
| District of Columbia | 12 | 20 | +8 |
| South Dakota | 45 | 52 | +7 |
| Nebraska | 34 | 41 | +7 |
| New Jersey | 25 | 32 | +7 |
| Utah | 22 | 29 | +7 |
What it means
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Method
- Google search interest, US, web search, Jan–Dec 2022 and Jan–Dec 2025 (two separate queries). The five terms were queried together each year, so ratios compare within a year.
- State maps are each term's own state index (top state = 100) for that year.
- Wyoming and Kansas are not included in state tables.
Cite and download
Free to use and cite with a link back to this page.
aisong.lol Research. (2026). The country music boom, measured: which states drove the 2023–2026 surge. aisong.lol. https://aisong.lol/research/the-country-music-boom-measured-which-states-drove-the-2023-2026-surge
Use this data. Every table in this study as one spreadsheet-ready file.
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