Welcome back to Country Music 4 Ever! Is AI taking over country music? No, not exactly, but if you read recent country music headlines, you may think that is the case. You might’ve seen stories about AI country singer Breaking Rust having the number one country song with “Walk My Walk.” This is true, but it’s not how it seems.

If you’re not familiar, Breaking Rust is a new country artist that is completely AI. That’s right, it’s not even a real person. Somebody created an AI cowboy who has been releasing music for a little over a month, and all the songs are written by AI as well. Breaking Rust now has the number one song on Billboard’s “Country Digital Sales” chart, which is based off downloaded music.

As many of you know, downloading music is not popular anymore. Streaming has taken over, and I’m sure people don’t even remember what iTunes is anymore. Digital downloads peaked in 2012 when they made up 43% of total U.S. recorded music revenue. In 2024, that number dropped to 2%. So, you can see how people have lost interest through the years.

Since there are so few downloads anymore, it doesn’t take much for a song to reach the number one spot on the digital sales chart. So, before anyone gets too upset about AI taking over country music, I would just remember that this is taking place on a meaningless chart.

I wouldn’t consider AI much of a problem in country music right now. If this was occurring on the airplay chart, then I would be upset about that, but I don’t think it’s time to panic yet.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back soon!