Best Billy Currington Songs: 20 Essential Country Anthems

The country star from Savannah, Georgia, has amassed a remarkable array of anthems since bursting onto the scene in 2003. We’re celebrating that body of work with a 20-song, story-so-far countdown of the best Billy Currington songs.

Over the course of half a dozen albums, Currington has no fewer than 11 country No.1s to his name, with endless platinum and gold certifications. In May 2019, UMG Nashville were proud to announce that he has also been streamed a staggering three billion times. Then in the summer of 2021, he surprised his fans with the release of a seventh studio set, Intuition.

So here are the 20 best Billy Currington songs as we see (and hear) them. Have we missed any of your favorites? Let us know in the comments section.

Listen to the best of Billy Currington on Apple Music and Spotify.

20: Details

Billy Currington has been paying close attention to your details. That’s the lyrical hook of his summer 2019 single, which found the country favourite in typically exuberant form. In terms of giving his fans what they want, he’s been doing that since day one.

19: Walk A Little Straighter

Currington’s hit songbook had a perfect first chapter, thanks in no small part to the opening single from his self-titled debut album. After failing an Opryland audition and relocating to Nashville, there were dues to be paid and day-jobs to be done. But in the spring of 2003, after some early success as a songwriter for others, the would-be country star began to convert his dreams into real life.

His first single was “Walk A Little Straighter,” co-written by Currington with Casey Beathard and Carson Chamberlain. It drew on his personal experiences with an alcoholic father and hit a chord, giving him a first-ever country chart showing on May 3, 2003. Enduring mainstays such as Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, and Keith Urban were prominent among those charts, and soon Billy was too, climbing to No.8.

18: I Got A Feelin’

Currington’s debut album arrived in September that year and parked snugly in the country Top 20, also topping Billboard’s Heatseekers chart for developing artists. It provided a second hit, this time even bigger, when “I Got A Feelin’” reached No.5 in the country chart. The album was certified gold in 2017.

17: Bring It On Over

With 15 years of incredible achievements behind him, October 2018 saw Currington release the first taste of his next project, with the sensual “Bring It On Over.” It was a track that mirrored the dance-friendly country sound of fellow stars such as Thomas Rhett and Keith Urban.

16: Love Done Gone

The third single from 2010’s Enjoy Yourself, the brassy “Love Done Gone,” was something of a sonic shift for Currington – a Shawn Camp/Marv Green composition that had previously been on hold for George Strait. “I was thinking of a situation my brother was in at the time,” said Green. “He was going through a break-up, and he was at the point in the relationship where he was fine with it coming to an end. They had their fun, but it was over.”

15: Party For Two (Shania Twain, featuring Billy Currington)

Billy’s two initial hits and the impact of his debut album soon put him in exalted company. In 2004, as Shania Twain prepared to release her Greatest Hits album, the new song “Party For Two” became its forerunner, in two mixes. The pop version featured Mark McGrath, while Currington had the honour of the spotlight on the country mix.

14: Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right

When he returned solo in 2005, there was a new landmark in the shape of the single “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right.” That December, more than six months after starting its slow ascent, the ballad became Currington’s first country No.1. Written by Marty Dodson and Patrick Jason Matthews, it also snuck into the pop Top 40 at No.39.

13: Don’t It

2014’s “Don’t It” was written by Ross Copperman, Ashley Gorley and Cadillac 3 frontman Jaren Johnston, and previewed Currington’s Summer Forever album. It would become the first of three more airplay No.1s from the record. Roughstock wrote that the song “blends the best of those contemporary songs with what has always worked well for Currington, his rootsy, country-soul sound, a sound which he has owned since launching his career in 2003.”

12: Tangled Up

In 2007, Currington and Mercury Nashville took the unusual step of releasing a non-album single. “Tangled Up” marked his debut as a co-producer, with James Stroud, and the artist was once again the co-writer, this time with Chris Lindsay and Aimee Mayo. The track was later featured on the Icon compilation, released in 2011.

11: Just For You (Lionel Richie, featuring Billy Currington)

2012 brought another superstar collaboration, when soul-pop royalty Lionel Richie released his country-themed album, Tuskegee. Named after his Alabama home town, the hugely successful record featured remakes from his catalogue with a host of country notables, including Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, Blake Shelton, Shania Twain, and Little Big Town. Currington stepped up to guest on a new version of the relatively recent Richie tune “Just For You.”

10: Don’t

Autumn 2008 brought Little Bit Of Everything, Currington’s third studio album, on which he shared production duties with Carson Chamberlain. The opening single, “Don’t’,” which featured a spontaneous wah-wah guitar detail by Brent Mason, travelled to No.2 on the country bestsellers.

9: We Are Tonight

2013’s We Are Tonight album further endorsed Currington’s status with the inclusion of a duet with Willie Nelson, “Hard To Be A Hippie,” The set went Top 5 on the country chart and Top 10 pop, and produced a perfect scorecard as its second and final single, the title track, also went to No.1 on the Country Airplay listings.

8: That’s How Country Boys Roll

Almost a year after the 2008 release of Little Bit Of Everything, the album yielded not just a third hit, but Currington’s fourth No.1. “That’s How Country Boys Roll” was another co-write by Billy, this time with the highly successful composers Dallas Davidson and Brett Jones. The feelgood tune took another scenic route to the top, reaching the chart summit six months after it first made the Hot Country Songs listing, and ending the four-week reign of Josh Turner’s “Why Don’t We Just Dance.”

7: Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer

Billy’s extraordinary run showed no signs of slowing as he prepared to unveil his fourth album, Enjoy Yourself. Its flagship single, released in May 2010, was the relaxed and down-to-earth “Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer.” The Troy Jones song was accompanied by a video set around a pool party, directed by Potsy Ponciroli.

6: Let Me Down Easy

The Enjoy Yourself album followed in September 2010 and was soon offering up yet another No.1. “Let Me Down Easy” was a far more reflective, slow-rolling number that won a comparison from Billboard with the smooth sound of his soon-to-be singing partner Lionel Richie. Chamberlain and Currington’s production blended acoustic guitar with organ and pedal steel detail, and the effect was irresistible. In April 2011, the song became the star’s fourth consecutive, and sixth aggregate, chart-topper.

5: People Are Crazy

The second single from 2008’s Little Bit Of Everything had a distinguished co-writing credit from Bobby Braddock. The Country Music Hall Of Fame inductee was the co-composer of such all-time staples as Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” and George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” Those were among Braddock’s 13 No.1s as a writer, of which Currington’s “People Are Crazy” became the last, winning two Grammy nominations for good measure.

4: Hey Girl

“Hey Girl” was the March 2013 introduction to Currington’s We Are Tonight album. This marked a change of pace with a new producer, Dann Huff, and a complete set of external compositions. But the effect was the same, as the single cruised to the top of the Country Airplay chart, going gold by September and platinum the following year.

3: Good Directions

Currington’s sophomore album, again produced by Carson Chamberlain, was saliently titled Doin’ Somethin’ Right. After a second single that he co-wrote, called “Why, Why, Why,” which reached a respectable No.13, it was back to the country chart’s top table – and platinum status again – with “Good Directions.” The song was co-written by a man who would soon emerge as a major player in his own right, Luke Bryan.

2: It Don’t Hurt Like It Used To

“It Don’t Hurt Like It Used To” was another gold-selling Country Airplay No.1 which Currington co-wrote with Cary Barlowe and Shy Carter. Taste Of Country compared its sound to the folk-rock blend of Mumford And Sons, describing the song as a “midtempo pop-country anthem.”

1: Do I Make You Wanna

No.1 on our countdown of the best Billy Currington songs is the track that, at the time of writing, is by some distance his most-streamed hit on Spotify. “Do I Make You Wanna” was released in November 2016 and became the third No.1 from Summer Forever. It spent most of 2017 as a country radio staple, reaching the top of the Country Airplay chart in August that year, in the very week that it was certified platinum by the RIAA. The song stands tall among Billy’s mighty collection of hits.