Just how much do country songs actually talk about liquor?

The other day I found myself listening to some more modern country songs and seeing as how alcohol is frequently on my mind I realized that a *seriously* large amount of them had alcoholic references.  Having grown up on country music that was hardly surprising but I thought maybe other people might get a kick out of the real numbers…

Top 50 Country songs of 2018:

23 Songs with explicit Mentions of Alcohol
2 Songs with implications of alcoholic situations
6 Songs that are almost exclusively about drinking

Song Title	Alcohol?	Drugs?
Cry Pretty	no	no
Desperate Man	no	no
Feels Like a Party	yes	no
Friends Don’t	no	no
Parallel Line	no	no
Goodbye summer	yes	no
Better Boat	no	no
Meet me in the Middle	no	no
Butterflies	no	no
The Champion	No	no
Babe	no	no
Deserve to be	yes	no
Got my name changed back	no	no
Hands on you	yes	no
Love Aint	yes	no
Get to You	no	no
Downtowns dead	yes	no
Space Cowboy	no	no
Make it Sweet	no	no
A little dive bar in Dahlonega	yes	no
What happens in a small town	yes	no
Coming Home	no	no
Girl Like You	yes	no
Caught up in the Country	no	no
Never Coming Down	yes	no
There was this girl	yes	no
Kiss Somebody	yes	no
Good as You	no	no
Love wins	no	no
Born to love you	no	no
All on me	no	yes
Greatest Love story	yes	no
Take it from me	50/50	no
Good Girl	50/50	yes
When I was Jack and you were Diane	yes	no
Drunk Me	YES	no
Down to the Honkey Tonk	YES	no
Five More minutes	no	no
Shoot me straight	YES	no
Woman, Amen	no	no
Get along	yes	no
Burning Man	No	no
Everything’s gonna be alright	yes	no
Singles you up	yes	no
Break Up in the End	YES	no
Drowns the Whiskey	YES	no
Lose it	no	no
Best Shot	no	no
You make it easy	no	no
Tequila	YES	no
Speechless	No	no

Many of these songs had only a passing reference to alcohol, usually drinking on a tailgate and busting out a 6 pack as you fall in love with a characteristically boot clad young lady that you’ve never spoken to, but many of them also mention bars as social (or antisocial) gathering places.

Interestingly, only 2 songs had references to any other kind of inebriation, and both of those were more along the lines of “Getting High” on someones love or presence, not any actual substances.  I am very excited to further investigate other genres and see how they might compare.

For those of you doubting your parenting right now *Coughmomcough* and wondering about all those delightful, family value, classic country music you’ve inundated your children with, fear not! The rates are significantly lower on googles top 50 country songs of all time! Almost half as many, actually.

Top 50 Country Songs of all time:

11 mentions of alcohol
1 implied alcoholic situation
5 songs dedicated primarily to liquor

Song Title	Alcohol?	Drugs?
How do you like me now?	no	no
Shes in love with the boy	no	no
Wichita Lineman	no	no
It’s 5 O’clock somewhere	YES	no
Somebody like you	no	no
Check yes or no	no	no
Boot Scootin’ Boogie	yes	no
When I Call your name	no	no
My Maria	no	no
The Chair	YES	no
Harper Valley PTA	yes	no
When I said I do	no	no
I cross my heart	no	no
This Kiss	no	no
Bless the Broken Road	no	no
Your still the one	no	no
Amarillo By Morning	no	no
Chicken Fried	yes	no
Luckenbach, Texas	no	no
Kiss an Angel Goodmorning	no	no
Take me home country road	no	no
Your Cheatin Heart	no	no
Speechless	no	no
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain	no	no
Strawberry Wine	YES	no
The Gambler	yes	no
Mamas don’t let your babies…	no	no
I like it, I love it	no	no
Rhinestone Cowboy	no	no
Achy Breaky Heart	no	no
Before He Cheats	yes	no
Folsom Prizon Blues	no	no
Live Like you were dying	no	no
Chattahoochie	yes	no
Hello Darlin	no	no
Mama Tried	no	no
Need You now	YES	no
Always on my mind	no	no
When you say nothing at all	no	no
The Dance	no	no
Forever and Ever, Amen	no	no
Stand by your Man	50/50	no
It’s Your love	no	no
I hope you dance	no	no
So lonesome I could cry	no	no
Ring of Fire	no	no
I fall to pieces	no	no
He stopped loving her today	no	no
I walk the line	no	no
Friends in low places	YES	no
Amazed	no	no

Some caveats: Two of the very alcoholic songs were ones I would not consider to be “Classic” country music, they were made in the last 5 years.  Also,  the mentions of alcohol that were there were generally significantly less optimistic and party-ish than in the 2018 list.

Also, apparently “Speechless” by Dan & Shay is good enough to make it onto both lists so congrats to them.  They are now among the greats!

Take away from this little picture whatever you wish!