Morgan Wallen becomes the first male country artist in 32 years to be crowned Billboard’s Top Artist of the Year, a feat last achieved by Garth Brooks.

The project spent 12 weeks at the pinnacle of the Billboard 200, with the ongoing success of his two previous records, One Thing At A Time and Dangerous, also helping to secure his place as the Top Artist of the Year. In addition, Wallen placed a whopping 41 songs on the prestigious Billboard Hot 100 this year – including his No. 1 single with Tate McRae, ‘What I Want’ – more than any other artist.

Wallen’s recognition as Billboard’s Top Artist of 2025 highlights just how dominant the Sneedville native has become in recent years. The ‘Last Night’ hitmaker is the first male country artist to earn this accolade since Garth Brooks in 1993.

He’s also the first artist who mainly records country music to take home the coveted accolade since Taylor Swift in 2009, before Swift pivoted to the pop world shortly after.

Wallen finishes above mainstream heavyweights such as Swift, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter, Bad Bunny, SZA, Billie Eilish, Tyler, The Creator and The Weeknd.

It showcases not only how Wallen has cemented himself as one of the biggest artists on the planet, but also how popular country music now is, thanks in no small part to Wallen.

Billboard’s newly unveiled Top Artist ranking is based purely on statistics and data from the past year, with Wallen being named the Top Country Artist of 2025 as well. This once again accentuates how strange it was that Wallen received no accolades at the CMA Awards in November, which was largely viewed as a snub. As the country titan wrly declared last week via Instagram when he was hailed as Apple Music’s Top Artist of the Year, “I like to let my fans do the talking”.

Well, the numbers don’t lie, and with another major tour lined up for 2026 and a possible deluxe version of I’m the Problem being teased, Wallen is showing no signs of slowing down.