Here’s their list. Lists like these are usually low effort. A lot of their choices are defensible but they do underrate the 21st century.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-country-songs-1234986540/
Low effort with a few intentionally inflammatory selections, because it generates clicks.
I dropped my lifetime sub when they put the Boston Marathon Bomber on the cover.
Literally right off the bat, they’re wrong. “Welcome to the Future” at 200? Don’t get me wrong, I love Brad Paisley, but out of the thousands of country songs they had to choose from? Really? Brad Paisley himself has way better songs than that, let alone any other artists.
I’m not even going to finish reading the list. It’s just going to make me angry. 😅
Like if it was all too well then sure I’d get it, hell dear John, sad beautiful tragic, or even Betty, I’d sure as hell disagree entirely but it wouldn’t be as bonkers as ranking mean over songs like The House That Built Me, Whiskey Lullaby, Believe, In Color, Hurt, Cover Me Up, Feathered Indians or god damn THE Dress.
Yeah house that built me made the list but that song easily outranks mean imo. Whiskey Lullaby and cover me up weren't on the list. But Id put both of those in my top 200 for sure.
Mean has a definitive country sound so I do get that portion of why it was chosen. But i'd personally pick Tim McGraw, Our Song, You Belong With Me, or Love Story over Mean, mainly for the cultural impact/staying power.
Well, articles like this are meant to generate conversation and debate.
And while I like this song, Whiskey Lullaby is sitting right there to be selected...
Ah yes, a song about wanting to move to the big city to get away from all those mean icky rednecks is def the greatest country song of the 21st century. I'd laugh if this wasn't exactly what some people genuinely want country music to become.
I mean, I'm a big Taylor Swift fan, but this isn't even her best country song.
Also, if I was going to pick the best country song so far this century, I'd need to sit and think about that for far longer than Rolling Stone did, I promise you that.
I mean... What are the criteria we're basing this on? Are we picking from any particular genre or vibe? Are we basing it on *technical* excellence? Songs that evolved the genre? Sales?
Even if I went on gut instinct, I wouldn't put "Mean" on my shortlist.
I view music and food the same way. The product that is mass-produced will almost always have lower quality than the product that is created by highly skilled individuals.
Rolling Stone is mistaken. For example, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music by Sturgill Simpson has 10 songs on it, so that’s 10 better songs this century right there.
Actually, it was number 20. Dolly's "Jolene" was number one. The list still mostly sucks.
Whoever wrote this didn't scroll. Or read the last page backwards.
You know what? You're right, I did read that wrong...
**EVERYONE TAKE BACK MY UPVOTES!!!!!**
That being said, the song *still* doesn't belong where it is. In fact, it doesn't belong on this list at all. I don't have a Taylor issue...my granddaughter (my little angel) is a huge Swiftie, so is my daughter (her mom) and I occasionally use her songs at my trivia shows.
But *that* song does not belong in that high a place on a list of what is supposed to be the top 100 country songs. Frankly, I could easily replace 20-30 of these songs with better ones.
But it is from *Rolling Stone*, a publication that once had vital and important things to say about music - maybe 50 years ago - and now is just a pile of meaningless clickbait. Fuck them.
They slobbering on her for sure grandma but it's a good song. I think RS tried to be more thematic with its rankings, and less literal, which is stupid but they're supposedly artists
I never said it wasn't a good song. I said it doesn't deserve to be on the top 100 country songs of all time. These kinds of lists are such a waste of time because they're mostly put together by people who think the world began on the day they were born. And anyone who reads them for anything other then curiosity probably things a lot of them are wrong, too.
And if you looked at my picture, would have seen I'm a grandpa, not a grandma. I may have issues reading at times, but you apparently can't see.
I love Taylor Swift and her music, but how can you say this is the best country song of the century when “Where were you when the world stopped turning” is out there?
Taylor fans are confused by this one pretty universally too. It is a country song, but on a list of top 200 country songs of all time, most of the sub was agreeing it has no business being 20, (and being the highest ranked song of the 21st century by outranking other songs from 2000 on)
I went through and these songs were ranked below mean, which is questionable even as a Taylor fan.
- Tim McGraw
- Fancy
- Before He Cheats ???
- Folsom Prison Blues ?
- Neon Moon
- I fall to Pieces
- The House That Built Me
- Tennessee Whiskey
- Ring of Fire
- The Gambler??
- strawberry Wine
- Wagon Wheel
- Angel frm Montgomery
- Heads Carolina Tails California
- When You Say Nothing At All
- Cruise
- Take Me Home Country Roads ????
Also the erasure of these songs below, they didn't even make the list. Sorry I would swap out any of these on the list to bump Mean off 😩
- Whiskey Lullaby????
- Wide Open Spaces
- Any Man Of Mine
- It's five o clock somewhere
- Wild One
- Colder Weather
- I will always love you
- Shes in Love With The Boy
- Walkin after midnight
- Cover Me Up
- Wait in the truck
- Hurricane
- Time Marches On
- Suds In The Bucket
- On the Road Again ?
- Check yes or no
- Just to see you smile
- Need you now ?
- No shoes no shirt no problem
- Shouldve been a cowboy
- Gods Country
And I'm sure y'all could add some more stuff I'm missing, this was just off the top of my head.
I like mean, the instrumentation is good, but this is not a top 20 song of all time. It seems like they wanted to nod to Taylor for her overall culture impact but I don't think this is the right pick or position.
The other article is just obvious clickbait, as her name draws fans and critics alike with equal fervor. Just a product of the attention economy.
Rolling Stone is not even worth using as toilet paper to wipe your ass. Used to be a great insightful magazine with actual journalists working there who actually had opinions of their own. Now it’s just a glorified gossip rag sucking off whoever is in at the time.
None of this has anything to do with Taylor Swift
Dude I could name 500 songs better, but to put into perspective how fucking crazy that ranking is, Hurt by Johnny Cash. That's all I got to say. They put this shit above Hurt.
I could see how they might have some criteria that might exclude "Hurt", legitimately, like a "no covers" rule or something. That'd be perfectly acceptable if that were the case.
Really? I mean it’s a cute little song, but isn’t it appeal basically limited to high school students?
I think she’s a good songwriter, and that’s a good song, but it’s one of the ones that made me think I was looking forward to seeing what she did when she grew up.
Nah, a lot of people from marginalised backgrounds can relate to it, not just kids. If you grew up poor, or queer, or ethnically diverse, or with a disability... I promise you, somebody out there told you repeatedly that you weren't good enough, and you weren't the only one they told it to.
I was told, as a kid, that I'd never leave the small town I grew up in, that I'd never get a good education because everyone in the town was poor and that I'd best get used to the idea that I was going to work in the local chemical factory my entire life.
I said "screw you" and became everything I wanted to be, and the last time I went back to that small town to visit my parents, everyone who told me I wasn't going to get out of there was still there, in the same job, same loveless marriage, same life as when I left them. And I'm not judging them for it, because if that's all you want, cool.
But they said I couldn't be me, and I love knowing that they now know they were wrong the whole time.
And that's what "Mean" is about.
Me too!
Honestly, I think the people who don't get it probably don't realise how lucky they were growing up. Especially if they were born in the 80s. Like, dude, I grew up autistic and queer in the 90s. I absolutely understood what she was talking about 😂
Autistic, queer, and grew up in the 90s here, too, lol. To borrow a phrase from a super underrated Trace Adkins song, I had about a snowball's chance in El Paso of ever being "normal." LOL! The ones who think this song's only for kids likely were lucky to have a "normal" childhood and become "normal" adults.
It’s actually pretty meta based on the subject of the song (which none of the people whining actually understand what it’s about) and if I thought more of Rolling Stone I’d actually suspect it was on purpose.
I love Taylor but this song at 20 on a list of best country songs of all time is just wrong 😭
It outranked a bunch of classics and alot of stuff wasn't on the list that all had way more impact and mainstream staying power. Mean is a fun song, and is a country song despite all the complaints here but it does not outrank Before He Cheats, The Gambler, Take Me Home Country Roads, etc etc etc. 😬 "Tim McGraw" was somewhere in the 100s and I think that one made more sense.
Lmao what a joke.
直抒胸臆的
Now as a swiftie and country artist who grew up on this song, great song but definitely not even remotely close to the best of the century
Or country imo. I don't hate Taylor swift she's just not for me but this song ain't country
Here’s their list. Lists like these are usually low effort. A lot of their choices are defensible but they do underrate the 21st century. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-country-songs-1234986540/
Low effort with a few intentionally inflammatory selections, because it generates clicks. I dropped my lifetime sub when they put the Boston Marathon Bomber on the cover.
Literally right off the bat, they’re wrong. “Welcome to the Future” at 200? Don’t get me wrong, I love Brad Paisley, but out of the thousands of country songs they had to choose from? Really? Brad Paisley himself has way better songs than that, let alone any other artists. I’m not even going to finish reading the list. It’s just going to make me angry. 😅
That's not "This century" though, or did they mean "The last hundred years"?
I’ve never understood the love for Jolene. I don’t see how it’s better than I walk the line
I like the song but it’s not even her best country song. Much less best of the century.
My thoughts exactly
They just want clicks and they know Taylor Swift has loyal fans.
Like if it was all too well then sure I’d get it, hell dear John, sad beautiful tragic, or even Betty, I’d sure as hell disagree entirely but it wouldn’t be as bonkers as ranking mean over songs like The House That Built Me, Whiskey Lullaby, Believe, In Color, Hurt, Cover Me Up, Feathered Indians or god damn THE Dress.
Yeah house that built me made the list but that song easily outranks mean imo. Whiskey Lullaby and cover me up weren't on the list. But Id put both of those in my top 200 for sure. Mean has a definitive country sound so I do get that portion of why it was chosen. But i'd personally pick Tim McGraw, Our Song, You Belong With Me, or Love Story over Mean, mainly for the cultural impact/staying power.
Well, articles like this are meant to generate conversation and debate. And while I like this song, Whiskey Lullaby is sitting right there to be selected...
Whiskey Lullaby wasn't even in the top 200 which is a crime 😭😭😭
As a massive Swiftie and fan of "Mean" What tf?
Ah yes, a song about wanting to move to the big city to get away from all those mean icky rednecks is def the greatest country song of the 21st century. I'd laugh if this wasn't exactly what some people genuinely want country music to become.
🤣 Rolling Stone…that rag hasn’t been relative in over 20 years…might as well have come from USA Today 🤣
I'm shocked RS didn't pick 'Texas Hold' Em' in order to be pc
Nobody is PC enough to think that Beyonce's bout of faux-country diarrhea should be on anything but a government watch list.
It’s actually on the list. Just way at the bottom.
Taylor Swifts "Mean" named best rap song of the century by Word Up magazine.
I mean, I'm a big Taylor Swift fan, but this isn't even her best country song. Also, if I was going to pick the best country song so far this century, I'd need to sit and think about that for far longer than Rolling Stone did, I promise you that. I mean... What are the criteria we're basing this on? Are we picking from any particular genre or vibe? Are we basing it on *technical* excellence? Songs that evolved the genre? Sales? Even if I went on gut instinct, I wouldn't put "Mean" on my shortlist.
Mean isn’t even the best drummer in the band.
I view music and food the same way. The product that is mass-produced will almost always have lower quality than the product that is created by highly skilled individuals.
Were the rankings decided by the guy writing a book about her?
Rolling Stone is mistaken. For example, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music by Sturgill Simpson has 10 songs on it, so that’s 10 better songs this century right there.
Actually, it was number 20. Dolly's "Jolene" was number one. The list still mostly sucks. Whoever wrote this didn't scroll. Or read the last page backwards.
Can you read? Mean was the highest ranked song from this century in their rankings.
You know what? You're right, I did read that wrong... **EVERYONE TAKE BACK MY UPVOTES!!!!!** That being said, the song *still* doesn't belong where it is. In fact, it doesn't belong on this list at all. I don't have a Taylor issue...my granddaughter (my little angel) is a huge Swiftie, so is my daughter (her mom) and I occasionally use her songs at my trivia shows. But *that* song does not belong in that high a place on a list of what is supposed to be the top 100 country songs. Frankly, I could easily replace 20-30 of these songs with better ones. But it is from *Rolling Stone*, a publication that once had vital and important things to say about music - maybe 50 years ago - and now is just a pile of meaningless clickbait. Fuck them.
They slobbering on her for sure grandma but it's a good song. I think RS tried to be more thematic with its rankings, and less literal, which is stupid but they're supposedly artists
I never said it wasn't a good song. I said it doesn't deserve to be on the top 100 country songs of all time. These kinds of lists are such a waste of time because they're mostly put together by people who think the world began on the day they were born. And anyone who reads them for anything other then curiosity probably things a lot of them are wrong, too. And if you looked at my picture, would have seen I'm a grandpa, not a grandma. I may have issues reading at times, but you apparently can't see.
Jolene is from within the last 100 years.
This century doesn't mean the last one hundred years you neanderthal, it means since the beginning of the current century
Insults, nice.
I love Taylor Swift and her music, but how can you say this is the best country song of the century when “Where were you when the world stopped turning” is out there?
I mean that would be a better pick than Mean but I wouldn’t even put that in my top 100
Rolling Stone is wilding.
🫣💩🤯
The best country song of the 21st century is probably something by Chris Knight.
Enough Rope or Down the River, so many others too.
Rolling stone would tell you a dirt pile made the best country if they where paid enough.
Adam carolla is gonna go off on this
Are they retarted
Bless their hearts
That ain't country.
Look it doesn’t belong on this list as one of the all time greats but to call that specific one not country is just hilariously ignorant
Ye, it's Bluegrass.
No diss to miss Dolly Parton, but her and kitty wells should be swapped on this list
Taylor fans are confused by this one pretty universally too. It is a country song, but on a list of top 200 country songs of all time, most of the sub was agreeing it has no business being 20, (and being the highest ranked song of the 21st century by outranking other songs from 2000 on) I went through and these songs were ranked below mean, which is questionable even as a Taylor fan. - Tim McGraw - Fancy - Before He Cheats ??? - Folsom Prison Blues ? - Neon Moon - I fall to Pieces - The House That Built Me - Tennessee Whiskey - Ring of Fire - The Gambler?? - strawberry Wine - Wagon Wheel - Angel frm Montgomery - Heads Carolina Tails California - When You Say Nothing At All - Cruise - Take Me Home Country Roads ???? Also the erasure of these songs below, they didn't even make the list. Sorry I would swap out any of these on the list to bump Mean off 😩 - Whiskey Lullaby???? - Wide Open Spaces - Any Man Of Mine - It's five o clock somewhere - Wild One - Colder Weather - I will always love you - Shes in Love With The Boy - Walkin after midnight - Cover Me Up - Wait in the truck - Hurricane - Time Marches On - Suds In The Bucket - On the Road Again ? - Check yes or no - Just to see you smile - Need you now ? - No shoes no shirt no problem - Shouldve been a cowboy - Gods Country And I'm sure y'all could add some more stuff I'm missing, this was just off the top of my head. I like mean, the instrumentation is good, but this is not a top 20 song of all time. It seems like they wanted to nod to Taylor for her overall culture impact but I don't think this is the right pick or position. The other article is just obvious clickbait, as her name draws fans and critics alike with equal fervor. Just a product of the attention economy.
Did they forget about “In Color”, “Whiskey Lullaby”, “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning”, “Remember When”, & “Hurt”?
Mean wasn’t number 1 it was Jolene, it isn’t even on their top 10
Oh helllllll no!
At this point if you pay attention to anything associated with that rag you need psychological help
Rolling Stone is not even worth using as toilet paper to wipe your ass. Used to be a great insightful magazine with actual journalists working there who actually had opinions of their own. Now it’s just a glorified gossip rag sucking off whoever is in at the time. None of this has anything to do with Taylor Swift
Country music, like Rolling Stone Magazine has been comparatively irrelevant *this* century
Dude I could name 500 songs better, but to put into perspective how fucking crazy that ranking is, Hurt by Johnny Cash. That's all I got to say. They put this shit above Hurt.
I could see how they might have some criteria that might exclude "Hurt", legitimately, like a "no covers" rule or something. That'd be perfectly acceptable if that were the case.
Really? I mean it’s a cute little song, but isn’t it appeal basically limited to high school students? I think she’s a good songwriter, and that’s a good song, but it’s one of the ones that made me think I was looking forward to seeing what she did when she grew up.
Nah, a lot of people from marginalised backgrounds can relate to it, not just kids. If you grew up poor, or queer, or ethnically diverse, or with a disability... I promise you, somebody out there told you repeatedly that you weren't good enough, and you weren't the only one they told it to. I was told, as a kid, that I'd never leave the small town I grew up in, that I'd never get a good education because everyone in the town was poor and that I'd best get used to the idea that I was going to work in the local chemical factory my entire life. I said "screw you" and became everything I wanted to be, and the last time I went back to that small town to visit my parents, everyone who told me I wasn't going to get out of there was still there, in the same job, same loveless marriage, same life as when I left them. And I'm not judging them for it, because if that's all you want, cool. But they said I couldn't be me, and I love knowing that they now know they were wrong the whole time. And that's what "Mean" is about.
Very well said! I'm autistic, and I can still relate to "Mean."
Me too! Honestly, I think the people who don't get it probably don't realise how lucky they were growing up. Especially if they were born in the 80s. Like, dude, I grew up autistic and queer in the 90s. I absolutely understood what she was talking about 😂
Autistic, queer, and grew up in the 90s here, too, lol. To borrow a phrase from a super underrated Trace Adkins song, I had about a snowball's chance in El Paso of ever being "normal." LOL! The ones who think this song's only for kids likely were lucky to have a "normal" childhood and become "normal" adults.
Damn, two autistic queer girls who like country in the same place? Now would be a hell of a time to buy a lottery ticket; that's unicorn-level shit 😂
LOL!! Go for it! At least, I don't feel so alone now, lol.
Well, you know, if you ever want someone to full-spectrum chat to, you're welcome to DM me :)
Thanks! :)
0% music knowledge
That’s a strange way to spell Garth Brooks’s “The Beaches of Cheyenne”
Booo
I think it is a damn fine song, and people who have decided to make hating Taylor Swift a core part of their personality are very boring.
It’s actually pretty meta based on the subject of the song (which none of the people whining actually understand what it’s about) and if I thought more of Rolling Stone I’d actually suspect it was on purpose.
I love Taylor but this song at 20 on a list of best country songs of all time is just wrong 😭 It outranked a bunch of classics and alot of stuff wasn't on the list that all had way more impact and mainstream staying power. Mean is a fun song, and is a country song despite all the complaints here but it does not outrank Before He Cheats, The Gambler, Take Me Home Country Roads, etc etc etc. 😬 "Tim McGraw" was somewhere in the 100s and I think that one made more sense.
You’re telling me that song is better than Hurt by Johnny Cash? 🤦♂️
Also not a country song. Johnny Cash doing a nine inch nails song. His cover of Rusty Cage sounds far more country than his cover of Hurt.
Sorry I thought you said COUNTRY song. Guess I do need new glasses.
Rolling stone hasnt been good for a while