1. 2000: Tim McGraw – An American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw’s albums and singles have outdone the country music charts. Giving him the advantage to accomplish total album sales in surplus of 40 million units. He is married to country singer Faith Hill and is the son of ex-baseball player Tug McGraw. His trademark hit songs include “Indian Outlaw”, “Don’t Take the Girl”, “I Like It, I Love It”, “Something Like That”, “It’s Your Love” (featuring his wife, Faith Hill), and “Live Like You Were Dying”.
I love the songs “Don’t Take the Girl” and “I Like It, I love It”. My husband and I have those on the computer.
McGraw had eleven successive albums debut at Number One on the Billboard albums charts. Twenty-one singles hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country 100 chart. Three singles became the #1 country song of the year (“It’s Your Love”, “Just To See You Smile”, and “Live Like You Were Dying”). He has won 3 Grammies, 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 Country Music Association (CMA) awards, 10 American Music Awards and 3 People’s Choice Awards. His Soul2Soul II Tour with Faith Hill is the maximum earning tour in country music history, and one of the top five among all fields of music.
McGraw has undertaken acting, with supporting roles in the new movie with Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side and Friday Night Lights and The Kingdom. With a lead role in 2006’s Flicka and a supporting role in Four Christmases with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. He was a marginal owner of the Arena Football League’s Nashville Kats. Taylor Swift’s debut single, “Tim McGraw”, submits to him and his song, “Can’t Tell Me Nothin’.
2. 2001: Lee Ann Womack – An American country music singer and songwriter, best identified for her old fashioned-styled country music songs that frequently confer to subjects such as cheating and lost love. Her 2000 single, “I Hope You Dance” was a major crossover music hit. Reaching #1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100. The song became her title song.
Lee Ann Womack surfaced as a modern country artist in 1997 with the release of her first album. Her material closely bears a resemblance to that of Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette. The mix of Womack’s music is composed of an old-fashioned approach with contemporary fundamentals. This divided her from her equals. Her 2000 release I Hope You Dance, on the other hand, was an entirely different sound. By means of pop music elements as an alternative to long-established country. This helped to institute Womack as a pop crossover artist. It was not until the release of There’s More Where That Came From in 2005 that Womack revisited conventional country music.
At this moment in time, Womack has released an amount to six studio albums and two assemblages. Four of her studio albums have time-honored a Gold certification or higher by the RIAA. She has sold over five million records in the United States. Moreover, she has received five Academy of Country Music Awards, five Country Music Association Awards, and two Grammy Awards.
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/leeannwomack
3. 2002: Alan Jackson – One of the foremost admired country singers of the 1990s. Blending both honky tonk and conventional country sounds and penning many of his own hits. In his occupation, he has recorded twelve studio albums and more than a few compilations. All on the Arista Nashville label. More than fifty of his singles have reached Top 30 on the Billboard country charts. Including twenty-five Number Ones. He is the receiver and nominee of multiple awards. Jackson is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and initiated into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2001.
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/alanjackson
4. 2003: Martina McBride – An American country music singer and songwriter. She’s known for her inspiring style ballads about women and children. McBride has been called the “Céline Dion of Country Music” for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range.
McBride was endorsed to RCA Records in 1991 and made her debut the next year as a neo-traditionalist country singer with the single, “The Time Has Come.” It was not until 1997, when she released her fourth album, Evolution, which she bust through into the country music industry with a new pop-styled crossover sound. Similar to that of Faith Hill and Shania Twain. From there on, McBride has had a string of major hit singles on the Billboard country chart and intermittently on the adult contemporary chart. Five of these singles went to #1 on the country chart between 1995 and 2001, and one peaked at #1 on the adult contemporary chart in 2003.
McBride has recorded a total of nine studio albums, one “greatest hits” compilation, one “live” album, a “Christmas” compilation, as well as two additional compilation albums. Seven of her studio albums and two of her compilations have received an RIAA qualifications of “Gold”, or higher. Worldwide, she has sold over 16 million albums. Into the bargain, Martina has won the Country Music Association’s “Female Vocalist of the Year” award four times (tied with Reba McEntire for the most wins) and the Academy of Country Music’s “Top Female Vocalist” award three times.
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/martinamcbride
5. 2004: Keith Urban – A New Zealand-born Australian country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose marketable success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban began his career in Brisbane having moved to Caboolture, Australia at an early age. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States in 1992. Ultimately, Urban found work as a session guitarist before opening a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Records and charted two singles on the Billboard country charts.
Still signed to Capitol, he made his solo American debut in 1999 with the album Keith Urban. Certified platinum in the U.S., it also formed his first American Number One in “But for the Grace of God”. His leap forward hit was the Number One “Somebody Like You”, from his second Capitol album Golden Road (2002). It was with this album that Urban took home his first Grammy Award win for “You’ll Think of Me”. Its fourth single and the third Billboard Number One of his career. Be Here (2004), his third American album, produced three more Number Ones, and became his highest-selling album, earning a four-time Multi-Platinum certification. Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing was released in 2006, manufacturing the record-setting #17 country chart debut of “Once in a Lifetime”. As well as Urban’s second Grammy for the song “Stupid Boy”, while a Greatest Hits package entitled Greatest Hits: 18 Kids followed in late 2007. This album was re-released a year later as Greatest Hits: 19 Kids with one track added: the number one “You Look Good in My Shirt”. Which he had formerly recorded on Golden Road. Urban’s latest work, Defying Gravity was released in March 2009.
Urban has released eight studio albums (one of which was released only in the United Kingdom), as well as one album in The Ranch. He has charted more than fifteen singles on the U.S. country charts, including ten Number Ones. Urban plays acoustic and electric guitar, as well as ganjo, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, and bouzouki.
When you get to know Urban musical history, you come to appreciate him and his music more. He really struggled to get where he is. You also have to give him kudos for getting married to the fabulous Nicole Kidman. Hubba, hubba.
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/keithurban
6. 2005: Gretchen Wilson – An American country music artist. She made her debut in 2004 with the Grammy Award-winning single “Redneck Woman”. A number-one hit on the Billboard country charts. The song operated as the lead-off single of her debut album, Here for the Party. Wilson followed this album one year later with All Jacked Up, the title track of which became the highest-debuting single for a female country artist upon its 2005 release. A third album, One of the Boys, was released in 2007.
On the whole, Wilson has charted thirteen singles on the Billboard country charts, of which five have reached Top Ten: the Number One “Redneck Woman”, as well as “Here for the Party” (#3, 2004), “When I Think About Cheatin'” (#4, 2004), “Homewrecker” (#2, 2005), and “All Jacked Up” (#8, 2005). The record Here for the Party was certified a five-time Multi-Platinum by the RIAA for sales of five million copies, while All Jacked Up was certified platinum and One of the Boys certified gold.
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/gretchenwilsonmusic
7. 2006: Keith Urban – Same information. But was considered artist of the year.
8. 2007: Carrie Underwood – An American country singer and songwriter from Checotah, Oklahoma. She climbed to recognition as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol. She has since become a multi-platinum selling recording artist, a multiple Grammy Award winner, initiated into the Grand Ole Opry, a three-time Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Female Vocalist winner, and is the current ACM Entertainer of the Year.
Her debut album, Some Hearts, was certified a seven-time platinum. It wass the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history. And it is also the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history. Some Hearts” brought on three number one hits on the country charts in the United States. They were “Jesus, Take the Wheel”, “Wasted”, and her biggest hit to date” Before He Cheats”.
Her second album was Carnival Ride. It released on October 23, 2007. It has so far sold over 3 million copies, and fashioned four number one country hits on the country charts, “So Small”, “All-American Girl”, “Last Name” and “Just a Dream.
Underwood released her third album, Play On, on November 3, 2009. It has so far sold over 1 million copies since its release. Her first single off the album, “Cowboy Casanova”, released to country radio on September 14, 2009. The single hit at number one on the country charts, which made Underwood the artist with the most top 10’s on the country chart in the midst of solo women this decade, followed by Faith Hill and Martina McBride each with nine.
In November 2009, Underwood managed total national album sales of 11 million and became the highest-selling American Idol album in the United States. Outshining Kelly Clarkson by precisely 500,000 units. Clarkson, nevertheless, remains the highest-selling American Idol album overall. With over 23 million albums sold all-inclusive to Underwood’s 14 million.
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/carrieunderwood
9. 2008: Brad Paisley – His style crosses between traditional country and pop rock, and his songs commonly laced with humor and pop culture references.
Paisley is the leading 2008 CMA and ACM Male Vocalist of the Year winner and one of the largely popular acts in country music. Opening with the release of his 1999 album Who Needs Pictures, Paisley has picked up seven studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashville label. With all of his albums certified gold or higher by the RIAA. In addition, he has charted 25 singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 14 of which have arrived at #1 with a record 10 repeated singles reaching the top spot on the charts.
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/bradpaisley
10. 2009: Taylor Swift – An American country pop songwriter and guitarist. Also a beginning actress. In 2008, her albums have put on the market a pooled four million copies. Making her the best-selling musician of the year in the United States, consistent with Nielsen SoundScan.
In 2006, she released her debut single “Tim McGraw”. Then her self-titled debut album, which was consequently, certified Platinum several times by the Recording Industry Association of America.
In November 2008, Swift released her second album, Fearless. Fearless and Taylor Swift finished 2008 at number three and number six in that order. With sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. Fearless has topped the Billboard 200 in 11 non-consecutive weeks. No album has spent more time at No. 1 since 2000. Forbes has classified Swift as 2009’s 69th-most strong celebrities. Earning $18 million. Swift was Artist of the Year by Billboard Magazine in 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_in_country_music#Major_awards
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_McGraw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_in_country_music#Major_awards
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ann_Womack
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_in_country_music#Country_Music_Association
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Jackson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_in_country_music#Country_Music_Association
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martina_McBride
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_in_country_music#Country_Music_Association
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Urban
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_in_country_music#Country_Music_Association
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretchen_Wilson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_in_country_music#Country_Music_Association
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_in_country_music#Country_Music_Association
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Underwood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_in_country_music#Country_Music_Association
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Paisley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_in_country_music#Country_Music_Association
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift
