Updated on November 18, 2025 at 2:50 p.m.
Artificial intelligence has left the country. The AI-generated song “Walk My Walk” by Breaking Rust recently debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s “Country Digital Sales” chart. While this isn’t noteworthy enough to earn a slot on Billboard’s Hot 100, Josh Antonuccio, director of the Ohio University School of Media Arts Studies and music industry expert, believes it’s noteworthy for a number of reasons.
“It’s not the first time that an AI song has charted, but I think it’s significant that an AI-generated artist has topped the Billboard charts,” Antonuccio said. “This is an important indicator of how AI music is starting to generate revenue and attention for creators.”
“Walk My Walk” isn’t the only song that has caught the attention of listeners. Antonuccio also noted that one-third of country songs were generated by AI, including the No. 1 and No. 3 songs on last week’s Billboard Country Song Sales chart. Country music is a staple of American authenticity, so the recent trend of AI-generated country comes as a surprise to some.
“Country music is a genre that tells stories in music,” Antonuccio said. “Most people would think genres like electronic and ambient would be easier to generate songs from AI, but country music feels much more sacred to the history of American music and storytelling.”
Antonuccio said AI-generated or AI-assisted songs, regardless of genre, will likely chart more often.
“It’s going to be a wide range of artists, not just fully generated AI artists, but established and emerging artists who use AI as part of their workflow,” he said.
Streaming large numbers of AI songs will have a huge impact. The 1 million monthly listeners previously generated by viral AI band The Velvet Sundown have now been significantly surpassed by Breaking Rust, Cain Walker, and Xania Monet (all AI artists generating millions of listens), and AI artist Ennly Blue’s top song recently surpassed 10 million listens.
“There is now a completely different ecosystem in the recorded music space, with AI-generated music competing directly with human artists on streaming platforms,” Antonuccio explained. “AI artists are generating incredible audience benefits at very minimal cost. The bigger question for fans and listeners is: Are they interested in scrutinizing whether the music they’re listening to is human?”
