Kenny Chesney crowned country music king by Billboard

Kenny Chesney was the most dominant country music artist for the first quarter of the 21st century, according to a new Billboard analysis.

• No wonder he's going into the Country Music Hall of Fame this year.

Between the lines: The Billboard review is focused on commercial and radio success. It includes data from the country album and song charts from 2000-2024.

State of play: Chesney debuted on the Billboard charts in 1993, but the majority of his biggest successes came during the new millennium.

• Between 2000 and 2020, he logged 17 No. 1 albums and 20 No. 1 songs.

Zoom out: Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, Toby Keith and Keith Urban rounded out the top five. (Of course, this list only reflects the explicitly twangy portion of Swift's career.)

Fun fact: Chris Stapleton's 2015 classic "Traveller" is the top country album of the century, according to Billboard.

• It has spent a wild 525 weeks and counting on the country albums chart.