Country music had a record-setting year in 2023, thanks to hit songs released by Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Oliver Anthony Music, Zach Bryan, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll and other big artists.
But underpinning every chart-topping, impactful hit were the songwriters and writer-artists who weave together lyric, melody, rhythm and rhyme into a unique composition that pulls at the heartstrings, inspires a rollicking good time and/or lays bare relatable truths. Last year brought history-making success for many songwriters and writer-artists, who further added to their songwriting legacies.
Tracy Chapman became the first Black songwriter to earn the CMA’s song of the year honor, after Combs recorded Chapman’s 1988 smash “Fast Car.” Wallen’s “Last Night,” written by Ashley Gorley, John Byron, Jacob Kasher Hindlin (JKash), and Ryan Vojtesak (a.k.a. Charlie Handsome), spent 25 weeks atop the Hot Country Songs chart. Oliver Anthony Music (real name: Chris Lunsford) found unprecedented success when “Rich Men North of Richmond” debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 — with Anthony having previously notched zero entries on any Billboard chart.
Meanwhile, Bryan spent nearly 20 weeks at the pinnacle of the Hot Country Songs chart this year, thanks to his songs “Something in the Orange” and the Kacey Musgraves duet “I Remember Everything.” And thanks to the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in July 2023, Taylor Swift saw several of her re-recorded versions of songs from her 2010 album Speak Now show up on this year’s Hot Country Songs chart.
Here, we look at Billboard‘s 2023 Year-End Hot Country Songwriters Chart, highlighting the songwriters who dominated the Hot Country Songs chart in 2023. (The weekly Hot Country Songs chart lists the week’s most popular current country songs across all genres, ranked by streaming activity data by online music sources tracked by Luminate, radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Mediabase and provided by Luminate and sales data as compiled by Luminate.)