@Ash Kothari

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Hear the elegance and magic of jazz in a whole new way.

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

As it had done in the previous decade, country followed an analogous path to rock 'n' roll in the '60s. Just as rock reached a new level of pop-friendly studio polish early in the decade, so had country with the continuing success of crossover legends like Patsy Cline, Eddy Arnold and Jim Reeves. Mid-decade, when The British Invasion was helping to bring rock back to its rough-hewn roots, Bakersfield boys like Merle Haggard and Buck Owens were likewise injecting some rawness back into country. And the late-'60s countercultural explosion that expanded rock in a million directions blew the lid off of Nashville too, as artists like Tom T. Hall, Roger Miller and Glen Campbell began exploring more musically and lyrically complex avenues, coming up with new definitions of what country music could mean in the new American era.

Country music busted out into a multitude of directions in the ’80s, developing a higher profile than ever before in the process. Hitmaking crossover queens The Judds and K.T. Oslin were edging further into pop turf, while rough-hewn mavericks like Steve Earle laid the groundwork for the rockin’ sound of alt-country, and back-to-basics New Traditionalists such as Randy Travis and George Strait brought about a return to the music’s roots. Rising stars Alabama and Eddie Rabbitt were breaking through to the pop mainstream and putting new faces on the Nashville scene with hook-heavy good-time grooves. At the same time, the ’80s saw such legends as George Jones, Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson flexing their musical muscles and finding new ways for their sound to fit into the ever-evolving country continuum. And the entrance of Lionel Richie and Julio Iglesias onto the country charts underlined the scene’s constant state of redefinition.

Since country was a key ingredient of first-generation rock 'n' roll, in retrospect it's not too surprising that the former's path in the '50s somewhat mirrored that of the latter. The first half of the '50s were something of a honky-tonk holdover, with the hard-driving, heavy-drinking barroom country sounds established in the '40s by rough-edged trailblazers like Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb continuing to hold sway. And when rock 'n' roll hit mid-decade, the rockabilly crossover of artists like Johnny Cash kept some roughage in the country diet. But just as rock began to grow more polished and less punky toward the end of the decade, so did country. Even Cash's recordings were being layered with background vocal harmonies, and the emergence of artists like Patsy Cline as a major force in Nashville underlined the rise of the Nashville Sound, which favored pop-friendly productions over the rough-and-ready appeal of honky-tonk.

Country music exploded in the ’90s. Early in the decade, stars like Brooks & Dunn and Shania Twain had people line-dancing to their crisp, tight beats. By the end of it, they—alongside a new generation of stars—were selling out stadiums and topping the pop charts—feats almost unheard of even a decade earlier. Of course, the sound of country music grew alongside its audience. With female stars often in the lead, artists energized their records with the flashy guitar sounds and big production tricks of classic rock and metal without ever losing their signature twang.

In the ‘10s, country hit an intriguing divide. On one side of the fence, there was the full flowering of hip-hop and R&B influences; on the other were the mavericks stirring things up by combining old-school roots and a kind of neo-outlaw stance. If Luke Bryan's stomping "That's My Kind of Night" and Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" represent the club bangers, then Kacey Musgraves' gently subversive "Follow Your Arrow" and Chris Stapleton's burly "Tennessee Whiskey" exemplify the other side. And with such 20-somethings as Kelsea Ballerini and octogenarian Willie Nelson alike earning attention in the era, ’10s country had something for everybody.

Country music has always been grounded in the lived experience, but in the 2000s the genre paid especially close attention to the little moments in our days: not just the joys of drinking and falling in love but also the pleasures as simple as heating a bowl of rice in the microwave. This natural development was a way to take stock of American life in the turbulent time after 9/11 and during the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Some responded with hard-rocking patriotism, while others took out the fiddles and tried a different approach.

If you’re after just the hits, this is where you’ll find them: a handpicked selection of anime music's biggest songs of the past few years. Our editors update this playlist regularly, so if you hear something you like, add it to your library.