America’s Most-Downloaded Country Artist? AI

The most-downloaded country song in America isn’t written or sung by a human, but by artificial intelligence (AI) alone.

Why It Matters

This is truly uncharted territory. For both the No. 1 and No. 3 spots on the paid download charts, the artists, the music, and the lyrics — the songs themselves — are not created by real people. And yet, these songs have captured the hearts of real listeners.

The Bigger Picture

The rise of AI-created country music is likely to cause concern among human artists and music professionals. AI, still in its early, flawed stages, is already producing country hits and surpassing human performers on the charts.

The success of AI “artists” Breaking Rust and Cain Walker highlights the growing competition between AI technology and human songwriters, musicians, and industry professionals.

Breaking Rust, an AI-generated outlaw blues-country singer, has the No. 1 song on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart with the single “Walk My Walk.” Meanwhile, Cain Walker, an AI R&B singer, sits at No. 3 with “Don’t Tread On Me.”

Threat Level

The rise of AI on the country charts is raising alarm in Nashville — the heart of America’s music industry, especially in songwriting and music publishing. Nashville has long been a hub for singer-songwriters, and the success of AI artists threatens to disrupt this.

By the Numbers

• Breaking Rust has 2.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
• Cain Walker has over 842,000.

In comparison, rising country artist Jackson Dean, whose single “Heavens to Betsy” is climbing the country radio charts, has 1.6 million monthly listeners.

Reality Check

Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart only tracks paid downloads, a relatively small part of the current music market. It doesn’t account for streaming or radio airplay, both of which factor into the more influential Hot Country Songs chart.

Zoom Out

In the past few months, at least six AI or AI-assisted artists have appeared on various Billboard rankings. This number is likely higher, as it becomes harder to determine which songs are created by AI and to what extent. AI elements are even being mixed into re-recorded versions of older tracks across genres from gospel to rock to country.

Sign of the Times

Billboard now uses an AI tool to detect AI “fingerprints” in songs. There’s also a London-based producer who specialises in “humanising” AI tracks, further blurring the lines between human and machine-created music.

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