![]() ![]() It’s also not a commentary on Morgan Wallen’s character, which is where commentary on Morgan Wallen’s music regularly turns. None of this is a commentary on quality of the music itself of course. It’s Morgan Wallen’s world in mainstream country, and everyone else is just living in it. As we sit here, Morgan Wallen not only has the top two albums in the genre with the next closest competition (Zach Bryan) being so far behind he could sell 3x more and still lose, Morgan Wallen owns the first 16 slots on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and 36 of the top 42. Morgan Wallen isn’t just dominating mainstream country, he’s monopolizing it. Whatever type of contemporary country they appreciate, Morgan Wallen has them covered. ![]() ![]() It’s just that one artist is fulfilling them all, finding a space on a myriad of playlists, and appeal with a wide population of listeners. Morgan Wallen and One Thing At A Time are like their own genre, and it’s starkly evident of all the styles that congeal to create the mainstream country format. The album even has one or two of those superbly-written songs that sometimes steer independent and Americana fans into the mainstream space. Yet since the mainstream is slowly moving away from that sound and has opened an avenue for more country-sounding and sensible tracks indicative of artists such as Luke Combs and Parker McCollum, Morgan Wallen and One Thing At A Time have plenty of those songs too. One Thing At A Time has a whole selection of those songs too. Of course on the radio, neotraditional country still struggles for attention with the more hip-hop inspired Bro-Country sounds of 808 machine beats and rapped lyrics. One Thing At A Time has just as much, if not more traditional country on it than some of the latest albums from artists who specialize in being neotraditional revivalists. Maybe you’ve pigeon-holed Morgan Wallen and believe his popularity refutes that. Right now the hottest thing in mainstream country music is actual country music. Whereas other artists find their niche in country and serve that audience, Morgan Wallen looks to be all things to all people. Morgan Wallen is mainstream country music in 2023, and his new 36-song album One Thing At A Time in many ways reflects that. It very well may ultimately be the biggest album released in country music ever. It is likely to be the biggest release in country music in the last 25 years. And the only thing that will dethrone it is another Morgan Wallen album. No mater what anyone may think about this new album, it will be the #1 record in country music for the next two years. We’re talking Garth-level, generational, genre-defying, era-defining popularity that has put him at the very top of all popular music. Love him, hate him, find yourself among the population of the very few who feel indifferent about him, Morgan Wallen is the biggest thing in mainstream country, and at this point, by such multiples of scale, it truly is difficult to comprehend. ![]()
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