With the passing of country music icon Loretta Lynn this week, we honor her by counting down who we believe are the Top five Country Music Queens of all time.
It was hard to choose just five, but five stood out from all the rest.
5 - Miranda Lambert
With her first win for Entertainer of the Year from the ACM in 2021, Miranda has secured her status as Queen of Country Music. She has been honored with more Academy of Country Music Awards than any artist in history. Miranda is also a seven-time winner of the CMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year, beating a record once held by Reba. She is also a three-time Grammy winner, with her most recent Grammy win in 2021 for Best Country Album for “Wildcard.” Lambert is currently playing her first Las Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood.
4 - Reba McEntire
Reba’s superstardom in country music started in the 1980s and is still going strong today. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 25 of which reached the number one spot. She has sold 75 million albums in her career, including acting and even her own sitcom in the early 2000s called “Reba.” She is currently working on a couple of Lifetime movies and has a role on ABC TV’s “Big Sky,” where she plays a villain for the first time in her acting career. She has won countless country music awards, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2011, and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2018.
3 - Carrie Underwood
The current Queen of Country Music, along with her friend Miranda Lambert, Carrie is a proud member of the Grand Ole Opry, known as country music’s church, and plays the Opry whenever she can. She has won the Entertainer of the Year honor from both the ACM and the CMA and has sold a whopping 70 million albums in her career since her debut in 2005. Carrie has 42 songs on Billboard and over 25 number-one hits.
2 - Loretta Lynn
Loretta started as the first country music “Queen” and the first female to win the coveted Entertainer of the Year Honor from the CMA in 1972. Her remarkable career has spanned six decades and influenced countless country queens, including Dolly and Reba. Loretta, whose life story was chronicled in an Oscar-winning movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter” in 1980, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988.
1 - Dolly Parton
Dolly has been the Queen of Country Music for generation. Although Loretta came before her, Dolly has sold more than 100 million albums in her long career, which started when she moved to Nashville straight out of high school at age 18. She has influenced countless women that came after her in all genres of music, which is evident by her upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month. Dolly was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999. Her award-winnings are countless, and her heart is just as big as her wallet as she gives millions of dollars away to those in need, including her million-dollar donation for the COVID vaccine. She also received a Kennedy Center honor in 2006.