Top 10 Darius Rucker Songs

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From 1986 until 2008, Darius Rucker was the lead vocalist for the American rock group known as Hootie & the Blowfish. From 2008 until 2018, Rucker enjoyed a career as a highly successful soloist in the country music genre. In 2018, he reunited with Hootie & the Blowfish when the band decided to record and go on tour again. As a member of Hootie & the Blowfish and a solo artist, Rucker has been nominated for and won several recognition awards in the music industry. Most recently, he received the Gary Haber Lifting Lives Award in 2018 from the Academy of Country Music Awards for his dedicated fundraising involvement with the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

After Hootie

While Darius Rucker’s vocal talent contributed towards the remarkable success level of Hootie & the Blowfish achieved, the singer has also established himself to become every bit as successful as the band. As a solo artist, Darius Rucker won New Artist of the Year in 2009 with the Country Music Association Awards and International Album of the Year in 2015 with the British Country Music Association Awards for his 2015 album “Southern Style.” So far, Darius Rucker has released seven studio albums and twenty singles. Nine of those singles have become chart-topping hits, reaching all the way to number one.

Top 10 Darius Rucker Songs

# 10 – Forever Country

In celebration of the Country Music Awards’ fifty years’ worth of awards shows, an extensive collection of country music artists came together to perform “Forever Country,” which is credited to be the biggest music video in country music history. Darius Rucker’s contribution to the 2016 song should not go unnoticed. The song was released on September 16, 2016, combining the epic songs of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” and Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”

This is a stunning recording. The song starts with a bit of an Eagles feel. I love the way they all switch off lines instead of verses, making it sound more like a group song.

On the music charts, it reached number one on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs and even New Zealand’s Heatseekers chart. The Recording Industry Association of America certified the single as Gold, and to top it off as if a crowning achievement, the rival American Country Music Awards even gave Forever Country Music Video of the Year in 2016.

# 9 – Homegrown Honey

Yeah, I’m really digging this funky groove of this hip song. This sounds nothing like the Hootie era. Darius has such a “good time feel” to his voice. Coming from the 2015 album “Southern Style” is the single “Homegrown Honey,” which peaked as high as number two on the US Billboard Country Airplay chart and sixth on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. With over 500,000 copies sold to certify the song as Gold, it solidified Darius Rucker just as deserving to be considered among the top country music stars like Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, and Toby Keith.

# 8 – Beers and Sunshine

On August 6, 2020, Darius Rucker released the single “Beers and Sunshine” while the COVID-19 pandemic continued to headline the news. When the song debuted on the US Billboard Country Airplay chart, it was at number twenty-four, making it the highest-debuting single Rucker had since going solo in 2008. In the short period since the song’s release, it has already achieved Gold Certification from the RIAA and Platinum Certification from Music Canada.

# 7 – This

The “Charleston, SC 1966” album was released on October 12, 2010. It was Darius Rucker’s third studio album as a soloist but second as a country artist after signing with Capitol Nashville. It’s interesting to look back at Darius’s success in the country music world because when you listen to this song called “This}, it pretty much sounds like a Hootie & The Blowfish song. From the introduction to the pre-chorus and the chords that lead into the hook, it is just pure Hootie & The Blowfish style material. The album earned Gold Certification from the RIAA, and the song “This” became Platinum. The song also achieved the top spot on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and fourth on the Canada Country Billboard chart.

# 6 – Come Back Song

July 2010 saw the radio release of “Come Back Song” by Darius Rucker and his second studio album as a country artist, “Charleston, SC 1966.” Those opening chords reminded me of early America (the band). I love the chorus on this one in how Daruous stretches out the vowels. It’s really beautiful. There are some pretty funny lyrics in the song, too. This song was number one on the US Billboard Country Airplay chart, with Canada Country Billboard’s chart in eighth place. The RIAA also certified this single as Platinum for selling over a million copies despite receiving mixed reviews from music critics.

# 5 – If I Told You

Coming from the album “When Was the Last Time,” which was released on October 20, 2017, is the single “If I Told You.” This beautiful ballad written in the modern country music style has been so popular over the past couple of decades. The lead single was released over a year beforehand, on July 5, 2016. On the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, it peaked at fourth place but faired out even better on the US Billboard Country Airplay at number one. In sales, enough copies of the song earned it Platinum Certification with the RIAA. When asking fans what makes this song so unique, the overall response is that they relate to it and how well Darius Rucker performs it.

#4 – Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It

The single ‘Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” comes from Darius Rucker’s 2013 album “Learn to Live” and is the first of three hits that would come it. On the music charts, it peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs, which was the first time an African-American country artist achieved this since Charley Pride’s 1983 hit “Night Games.” The overall reception of the song was favorable; apparently, the fans agreed enough to purchase enough copies to become certified Platinum by the RIAA.

# 3 – I Won’t Be Like This for Long

The second single from Darius Rucker’s “Learn to Live” album is “I Won’t Be Like This for Long.” On the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, it peaked at number one and did the same on Country Canada Billboard. Since the song’s release, it has also received the certification of Platinum from the RIAA for having sold over one million copies since its November 2008 release date. When the song was first released, it received mixed reviews from the critics, but what matters most, in the end, is how the fans respond to it, which, in this case, was most favorable.

# 2 – Alright

At the 2016 Country Music Awards, the single “Alright” earned a nomination for Performance of the Year but lost to Carrie Underwood’s intensely popular “Smoke Break.” From Rucker’s “Learn to Live” album, Alright was the third and most commercially successful single, earning Double Platinum Certification from the RIAA. On the music charts, it peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs and second on the Country Canada Billboard chart.

# 1 – Wagon Wheel

“Wagon Wheel” peaked at number one on the music charts of US Billboard Hot Country Songs, US Billboard Country Airplay, and Country Canada Billboard. It is also the first single that earned Darius Rucker a Grammy Award for his performance, a Grammy Award in 2013 for Best Country Solo Performance. Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor co-wrote this song. This is the one Darius Rucker song that sounds very different from the music he recorded with Hootie & The Blowfish.

Rucker’s performance in 2013 earned the song a series of nominations. Rucker’s cover of Wagon Wheel has also earned the single RIAA’s Platinum Certification nine times and LMLusic Canada’s Platinum Certification three times. As for its album, “True Believers,” also sold enough copies to become certified Platinum.