Analysis/Writing by Jason Joven, Research/Writing by David Choi

Chartmetric data/Hot Country week of: July 31, 2018 | Spotify rank: #7

“Spotify is serious about making an impact in country music, and the launch of the Hot Country enhanced playlist is only the first step…This opportunity is opening new doors for current and potential listeners of country music, in Nashville and around the world.” — Brittany Schaffer, Head of Artist and Label Marketing @ Spotify Nashville (via Spotify blog)

At the top of 2018, Nielsen revealed that hip-hop beat out rock to become the most popular genre in the US, and few would argue that Spotify’s #3 most followed playlist (10M+ follows) RapCaviar had a big hand in that. Spotify’s ever-growing playlist branding continued to grow with Viva Latino doing the same for the Latin music world.

Streaming continues to dismantle the geographic-centric, terrestrial-radio system that limited certain genres’ reach, and there’s certainly no reason country can’t join the rodeo.

So break out your slide guitars and freshest Stetson: here comes our breakdown of Spotify’s #7 most popular playlist, Hot Country (Chartmetric link).