From Bad to Catastrophic: MULTIPLE AI Artists Now On Country Chart

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As predicted, the matter of AI artists infiltrating Billboard’s country charts and the music industry in general has gone from bad to absolutely catastrophic in the matter of a singular human-measured week. And with AI’s exponential growth, we could be measuring the utter evisceration of the entire human-based recorded music industry in a matter of weeks—not months—unless dramatic, emergency steps are taken.

Forget “Saving Country Music.” This is about saving all music, and all human creative expression. This is an existential threat. You cannot be too hyperbolic in this moment. And the most alarming thing is that it might already be too late to do anything about it. AI music has escaped the lab, and those entrusted with protecting human creators are facilitating the pandemic levels of its spread, afraid of taking hard stances and being accused of “gatekeeping.”

Remember just earlier this week when you probably saw your favorite music outlet, social media influencer, or maybe even one of your favorite artists talking about how an AI “artist” named Breaking Rust topped the Billboard Country Digital Song Sales Chart with a 100% AI song called “Walk My Walk”? Well now the next week’s chart is out, and not only is “Walk My Walk” still at #1, another completely AI-generated artist named Cain Walker has 100% AI-generated songs at the #3, #9, and #11 spots on that same chart.

It’s AI artist Breaking Rust’s “Walk My Walk” at #1, Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” at #2, and AI artist Cain Walker’s “Don’t Tread On Me” at #3. We’re not just talking about an AI anomaly on the top of this particular chart. AI is dominating it.

That said—and this is extremely important to understand—this is only happening on Billboard’s Country Digital Songs Sales chart, which only measures downloads of songs. Despite much reporting and anecdotal accounts to the contrary, Breaking Rust’s “Walk My Walk” is not the #1 song in country music. In fact, it’s not even close. It’s only charting at all due to digital downloads, which are arguably the easiest metric to manipulate because spending $5,000+ to get 5,000 downloads can immediately put you in contention on this chart, if not topping it.

However, as we have seen the story about Breaking Rust’s “Walk My Walk” charting in country become the biggest story in all of music, this has created a feeding frenzy/Streisand Effect that has funneled even more attention, and even more spins, streams, and downloads for the song, along with a large share of press coverage and social media buzz boosting this song significantly, very specifically due to how the song is topping a chart.

There isn’t just one surreptitious market manipulation going on with these AI songs. There are multiple ones that go beyond the artificial generation of the artist and the track itself. Few if anyone downloads songs anymore, and the people that do are unlikely to find appeal in tracks like Breaking Rust’s “Walk My Walk” and Cain Walker’s “Don’t Tread On Me.” These AI artists are very likely being astroturfed via downloads, and probably via fake streams as well, as Billboard allows these songs to top and dominate one of their charts virtually unscrutinized.

If there is any silver lining, As Saving Country Music demanded be done earlier this week, these artists are being marked as “virtual acts” by Billboard. But that is the extent of the curation by the publication. Otherwise, they are being 100% permissive to these tracks, taking the download data at face value.

One question many people might have is, why has country been targeted by these AI artists as opposed to genres like pop, hip-hop, or dance/EDM where electronic-generated tracks and elements are common? Country is one of the very last genres where it is mostly human musicians playing actual instruments, and writing/singing songs organically.

There are likely multiple reasons for this. Remember when Lil Nas X gripped the music world when his single “Old Town Road” charted on the country charts in 2019? Lil Nas X and his manger Danny Kang admitted later that the reason Lil Nas X submitted the song to country as opposed to hip-hop was they knew it was likely to chart higher, and create a bigger buzz as opposed to just being another track in hip-hop.

In 2023 when addressing the emerging AI issue amid the rise of Chat GPT, the opinion was given that country music would be more insulated from AI’s effects specifically due to how country is more organic and human-based compared to other genres. But ironically, this might actually be the reason these AI creators are targeting country first. Some country fans are notoriously gullible, and country is also very popular right now. And if they can infiltrate country, the rest of music will be a piece of cake.

Also, Billboard’s country charts and chart managers have proven in the past to be managing the most permissive charts in all of music. As Beyoncé released an album even she said “ain’t a country album,” Billboard and other institutions rubber stamped it, worried about accusations of racism, while the communities of hip-hop, EDM, dance, rock, and even pop are more guarded and gated these days with what’s allowed in.

It wasn’t Lil Nas X’s inclusion on the country charts with “Old Town Road” that stimulated controversy. Barely anyone even paid attention. It was his removal that made it the most popular song in all of music, the biggest hit of 2019, and ultimately, one of the biggest songs of all time. Lil Nas X wanted to stir controversy to create the same kind of buzz we’re currently seeing for Breaking Rust’s “Walk My Walk.”

But even amid all the backlash, Billboard stood by their decision to remove “Old Town Road” from the country charts. It was the right decision then, and removing these AI songs that are clearly being artificially boosted (let alone artificially made) is the right decision now, and is likely to be met with applause as opposed to controversy. This is a Milli Vanill-level fraud being perpetrated on music consumers, facilitated by Billboard’s permissive approach to their charts.

There is a very big decision that needs to be made right here, right now. Will Billboard and other institutions put their foot down and disallow intellectual property pirates who are exploiting their permissive systems be the spark that ignites the AI revolution in music, and ironically, through the placement on a chart in a genre that prides itself in organic authenticity and instilling the human touch in its creative expressions? Or will they do the only reasonable thing and impede this unethical and surreptitious activity that is actively manipulating the market?

AI is here, and it will dominate the music industry sooner than later, irrevocably, and catastrophically for human creators. Every single other concern plaguing the industry is downstream from this. But it is in critically-important moments like this when decisions can be made that will at least give human creators a fighting chance moving forward, meaning not having to compete on charts with songs clearly made artificially, and boosted artificially.

Billboard must remove these AI tracks from the Country Digital Song Sales charts, if not because they’re AI, then because they’re being propped up by what is very likely fraudulent activity.

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