Top 100 country music songs of all-time

The top 100 country music songs of all-time have been revealed for fans to celebrate, criticise and cogitate.

The experts at US music publication Billboard created the list to commemorate “the roughly 100 years” country music had been recognized as its own distinct genre.

“Country music is rooted in storytelling and the decades are filled with songs that have defined a movement and artists whose arrival has helped usher in a new sound,” they said.

With the list littered with stars, such as Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers, the group landed on Dolly Parton’s Jolene as the greatest country music song of all time, edging out Patsy Cline’s Crazy.

Billboard Executive Digital Director Joe Lynch said Jolene was Parton the songwriter’s finest moment.

“Hitmaker, business mogul, beloved personality, movie star, fashion trailblazer – Dolly Parton is so good at so many things that it’s sometimes easy to forget she is also one of the best songwriters of the 20th century, no qualifiers necessary,” Mr Lynch said.

Explore the full list below and visit the Billboard site for comments on all the hits:

1. Dolly Parton, Jolene.
2. Patsy Cline, “Crazy”.
3. Willie Nelson, “On the Road Again”.
4. George Jones, “He Stopped Loving Her Today”.
5. Johnny Cash, “I Walk the Line”.
6. Hank Williams, “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”.
7. Loretta Lynn, “Coal Miner’s Daughter”.
8. The Carter Family, “Can the Circle Be Unbroken”.
9. Garth Brooks, “Friends in Low Places”.
10. Tammy Wynette, “Stand By Your Man”.
11. Merle Haggard, “Mama Tried”.
12. Marty Robbins, “El Paso”.
13. Charley Pride, “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’”.
14. Glen Campbell, “Wichita Lineman”.
15. Kenny Rogers, “The Gambler”.
16. Lefty Frizzell, “Long Black Veil”.
17. George Strait, “Amarillo by Morning”.
18. Randy Travis, “Forever and Ever, Amen”.
19. Hank Williams, “Your Cheatin’ Heart”.
20. Johnny Cash, “Ring of Fire”.
21. Charlie Daniels, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”.
22. Merle Haggard, “If We Make It Through December”.
23. Reba McEntire, “Fancy”.
24. Ernest Tubb, “Walking the Floor Over You”.
25. Garth Brooks, “The Dance”.
26. Roger Miller, “King of the Road”.
27. The Chicks, “Wide Open Spaces”.
28. George Jones, “The Race Is On”.
29. Bobbie Gentry, “Ode to Billie Joe”.
30. Miranda Lambert, “The House That Built Me”.
31. Dolly Parton, “I Will Always Love You”.
32. Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings, “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys”.
33. Faron Young, “Hello Walls”.
34. Ray Charles, “You Don’t Know Me”.
35. Carrie Underwood, “Before He Cheats”.
36. Keith Whitley, “I’m No Stranger to the Rain”.
37. Shania Twain, “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”.
38. Chris Stapleton, “Tennessee Whiskey”.
39. Don Williams, “Good Ole Boys Like Me”.
40. Alan Jackson, “Chattahoochee”.
41. Glen Campbell, “Rhinestone Cowboy”.
42. Jimmie Rodgers, “Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)”.
43. The Judds, “Why Not Me”.
44. Conway Twitty, “Hello Darlin’”.
45. Eddie Rabbitt, “Drivin’ My Life Away”.
46. Alabama, “Mountain Music”.
47. The Highwaymen, “Highwayman”.
48. Patsy Cline, “I Fall to Pieces”.
49. Kitty Wells, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”.
50. Hank Williams, “Lovesick Blues”.
51. Kris Kristofferson, “Me and Bobby McGee”.
52. Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, “Jackson”.
53. Buck Owens, “Act Naturally”.
54. Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, “Islands in the Stream”.
55. George Strait, “The Chair”.
56. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, “Fishin’ in the Dark”.
57. Jamey Johnson, “In Color”.
58. Webb Pierce, “There Stands the Glass”.
59. Brooks & Dunn, “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”.
60. Vern Gosdin, “Chiseled in Stone”.
61. John Denver, “Take Me Home, Country Roads”.
62. Waylon Jennings, “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)”.
63. Ronnie Milsap, “Smoky Mountain Rain”.
64. Roy Acuff, “Wabash Cannonball”.
65. Ray Price, “For the Good Times“.
66. Freddy Fender, “Before the Next Teardrop Falls”.
67. Tim McGraw, “Live Like You Were Dying”.
68. Charlie Rich, “Behind Closed Doors“.
69. Loretta Lynn, “The Pill”.
70. Brad Paisley feat. Alison Krauss, “Whiskey Lullaby”.
71. Trisha Yearwood, “The Song Remembers When”.
72. Tanya Tucker, “Delta Dawn”.
73. Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson, “Pancho and Lefty“.
74. David Allan Coe, “You Never Even Called Me By My Name”.
75. Toby Keith, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy”.
76. Emmylou Harris, “Boulder to Birmingham”.
77. Eddy Arnold, “Make the World Go Away“.
78. Sam Hunt, “Body Like a Back Road”.
79. Bob Wills, “San Antonio Rose”.
80. Hank Williams Jr., “Family Tradition”.
81. Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn, “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man”.
82. Dwight Yoakam, “Guitars, Cadillacs”.
83. Little Big Town, “Girl Crush”.
84. Alan Jackson, “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)”.
85. Vince Gill, “Go Rest High on That Mountain”.
86. Lee Ann Womack feat. Sons of the Desert, “I Hope You Dance”.
87. Lady A, “Need You Now”.
88. DeFord Bailey, “Pan American Blues”.
89. Martina McBride, “Independence Day”.
90. Deana Carter, “Strawberry Wine”.
91. Kacey Musgraves, “Follow Your Arrow”.
92. The Chicks, “Goodbye Earl”.
93. Morgan Wallen, “Whiskey Glasses”.
94. Tom T. Hall, “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine”.
95. Lee Greenwood, “God Bless the U.S.A.”.
96. Old Crow Medicine Show, “Wagon Wheel”.
97. Skeeter Davis, “The End of the World”.
98. Eric Church, “Drink in My Hand”.
99. LeAnn Rimes, “Blue”.

100. Rascal Flatts, “Bless the Broken Road”